"No! No! No! She can't stay here, she shouldn't stay here!" Brian thought to himself. Julia's surprise visit was more than enough to make him tense. Aside from the fear that she might see the corpse hidden in the basement, he also knew the ice had melted and it would start to stink soon. Because the house would fill with that disgusting smell, and getting rid of it would be very hard. The next morning, he'd have to go to work and leave Love with Vivian again. "Shit!" he said to himself, but there was no way out—Julia had already come inside.
"I'm sick of it, I'm sick of it!" Julia said the moment she walked in. "Why does it always have to be like this, fuck, why?!" she went on.
"What happened, are you okay?" Brian asked, still holding the doorknob, not even having closed the door yet. His whole body was facing the door; only his head was turned toward Julia.
"Ughhhh!" Julia said, bringing her hands to her head, but two or three seconds later she suddenly stood up. "I'm so sorry, showing up like this unannounced, but I had no one else to go to," she said.
"What happened, tell me already! You're making me worried," Brian said, then slammed the door shut with medium force and stood right in front of Julia. He was making direct eye contact, trying with his eyes to show her how uncomfortable he was with the situation. But Julia wasn't meeting his gaze at all; she looked completely lost in her own thoughts.
She headed toward the kitchen. "Can you make me a coffee?"
Brian had made the coffee, Julia was once again sitting at the kitchen table, and Brian was leaning against the counter in that iconic pose of his. While Julia was pouring out her troubles, Brian was biting his nails. One ear was on Julia, but the other ear—and all the rest of his senses—were completely focused on the corpse in the basement.
"It feels like you've been through a lot in your life, but you need to leave right now," Brian said in his head. He looked way too tense, way too full of fear.
"It's about the car, I just can't believe they could cut me out of the inheritance like that!" Julia took another sip of her coffee. "Anyway, Bri, can I spend the night here? If you'll let me, of course," she asked.
Brian, still with his hands in his pockets, leaning against the counter, looked at her. His mind was racing.
"Su-sure, why not, go ahead and stay," Brian said, but his voice was extremely reluctant. At the same time, he wanted Julia to notice that reluctance. Straight-up kicking her out would mean everything between them was over. But leaving a metaphorical door open while "kicking her out" meant that if he regretted it later—or once he got rid of the corpse—there'd still be a way to go back to her.
"Thank you so much." Julia stood up and hugged Brian tight. "You're amazing," she said.
Just an hour ago, they had been together, having a great conversation, secretly flirting beautifully. But now Brian's tension and Julia's shyness had shoved the iceberg that sank the Titanic right between them. Neither of them seemed happy about the situation, but neither could say anything to the other.
"Come on, let's get you in the shower, you'll relax, you look really stressed out," Brian said. Not wanting to be misunderstood, he quickly added, "you'll be the only one in the shower, of course." He really did seem genuinely concerned for Julia. Julia thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you have a spare towel?" When Brian answered yes, Julia was already in the shower.
A little later, Brian peeked through the door hole, not with the intention of being a creep, but just to see what stage Julia was at in her shower, to calculate his time. Julia hadn't even started lathering yet; she'd sunk into the tub, put on a slow song, rested her head on the edge of the tub, lying there naked, staring up at the ceiling. Brian calculated:
Minimum 10, maximum 30 minutes. But there was something making Brian's task harder. Julia's body had caught his attention way too much, and unwillingly, sexual urges had started spinning in his head. "Shit," he thought to himself, then stood up and muttered, "not the time and place, Brian, get your head straight." Even though the front of his shorts was getting tight, he went down to the basement, and right away wrapped the corpse in a carpet. He used the same duct tape he had used when wrapping Theo's body, taping certain parts of the carpet until he was sure it wouldn't come loose. Then he ran back upstairs and peeked through the door hole again. Julia was still in the shower, but this time things were different. Julia had started masturbating, lying in the tub with her eyes closed, mouth open.
Brian, even though he still had time, didn't move right away. He kept watching, getting more and more turned on, barely holding himself back from going inside. Then he said, "I shouldn't," and lifted his head. With so much still to do, he immediately picked up the corpse wrapped in the carpet, carried it upstairs. The sound of running water from the shower reminded him he still had time, so he rushed to put the body in the trunk. He laid the corpse right by the front door and peeked through the window. It looked like no one was around outside. Just as he was about to open the door, the bathroom door Julia was in opened.
"Hey Bria-" …