Part 5 — Cleaning Up

"I'm so stupid..." Zap continued to spray the fire extinguisher across the kitchen. "Staying in your room when you were in the middle of cooking was a stupid idea. Well, now I'll have to live with this." Zap looked at the black burns around the kitchen. "Well, guess I'll have to put off some time cleaning something that took five minutes to cause... ugh."

Zap fastened his cleaning apron. He went to work, wiping off the burn and smoke marks on the house.

Three hours passed before he finished. He had failed to remember his phone, and it wasn't until he stepped on it that he remembered it.

"Shit. Well, good thing I never wear shoes inside a house." He picked up his phone, wiped it, and pocketed it. "You know, since I'm in the mood..."

Until the moon rose, Zap cleaned the apartment. Any spot that was visible was cleaned, and then he moved onto the less visible and smaller areas. "Didn't take as long as I expected," he muttered to himself, satisfied with how much he got done in the little time he had. "Guess I'm more efficient without Xin. Who knew? I hardly even clean this place... Maybe we should've switched jobs once in a while."

Yeah, but you know I can't cook! He could hear her say.

"And I'm now going insane." He sat down to collect his thoughts. And his rational thoughts were:

"It's literally only been a few months. We haven't even lived together long.

"We fight so much, we don't even do other things much.

"When's the last time I actually got along with her?" He stared at nothing ahead of him. "Wait. When did we ever get along?" He tried to think. "Never. Wow. And now I'm wondering why we were even roomates."