Brad leaned back in his chair, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “You should’ve seen him, man,” he chuckled, taking another swig of his beer. Across from him, Jay shook his head in amused disbelief.
“So, let me get this straight,” Jay said, laughing. “Your roommate not only didn’t pay rent on time but also embarrassed you in front of your date?”
Brad’s smirk faded slightly as he remembered the way his date had walked out the other night, rolling her eyes at his roommate’s antics. “Yeah, real smooth, right?” He set the beer down and leaned forward, a steely edge in his voice. “He forced my hand, dude. Something had to change.”
Jay raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “Oh yeah? What’d you do?”
Instead of answering, Brad calmly kicked off his left boot, placing it on the table between them. Jay frowned, confusion etched across his face, until Brad lifted his phone, snapped a quick picture inside the boot, and tilted the screen toward Jay.
Jay squinted, his eyes adjusting to the dim image of Brad’s roommate—only now, the guy was no more than the size of a bugl, pressed against the dark, humid insole of the boot. His tiny arms reached out, fingers spread in a silent plea for salvation, a scream frozen on his face, though the boot’s thick fabric swallowed any sound.
“Oh my God,” Jay whispered, disbelief and a hint of horror in his voice. The tiny man’s mouth hung wide open, and his pleading gaze seemed to pierce through the screen. Every inch of him radiated desperation as he was drowned in the stale, musty air of Brad’s well-worn shoe.
Brad chuckled, putting his phone back in his pocket. “He’s in there alright. Learning a thing or two about respecting boundaries and, you know… paying rent on time.” He leaned back, crossing his arms as if trying to convince himself more than Jay.
Jay raised a brow, both amused and wary. “Dude, that’s… diabolical.”
Brad picked up on Jay’s tone and sighed. “Look, I’m not proud,” he admitted, feeling Jay’s gaze linger on him. “I’m really not! I just… he just needs to understand some things the hard way, alright?”
Jay leaned back, taking a long drag of his smoke. “Sure,” he said with a lopsided grin, “or you could, you know, get a new roommate.”
Brad shook his head, grinning despite himself. “Nah, he’s fine. I’ll let him out soon. Let’s just enjoy the rest of this smoke before we go in, yeah?”
The two settled back, the hum of the city around them blending with the quiet rasp of their smoke. In the depths of the boot, Brad’s roommate could only watch helplessly from the darkness, hoping his plea would eventually find its way through.