Day 61/62

Loud bangs and hammering noises were coming from behind Grosland's bedroom door. Beth and Erin ignored them for a few hours, but when Grosland still hadn't come out by 3:00pm, Erin asked, "What do you think she's doing in there?"

Beth looked up from her Dragon Age game, and glanced towards the bedroom. "Well," she admitted, "I'd hoped she was patching up that giant hole in her ceiling, but I doubt that would have taken this long."

They stared at the door a while longer, listening to the clanging of metal on metal. Then Erin said, "Suppose we should go check on her?"

Beth sighed. "Fine."

They put down their laptops and walked hesitantly toward the door. Erin raised her fist as if to knock, but Beth pushed past her and walked straight in. They both stopped immediately on the threshold.

The remains of their stolen spacecraft were spread throughout the room - which was still brightly lit from the alien-created 'sun roof,' which Gros had apparently not repaired. The main hull of the ship was propped up on several concrete blocks, and a pair of stubby legs that could only be Grosland's were sticking out from underneath the ship. As they watched, there was a minor explosion in the craft, and Grosland rolled out from under it coughing, her face smudged with grease.

Erin said, "Grosland, what are you doing in here?!"

Grosland coughed some more, then looked up at her roommates. They could see that her eyes were wild and frantic. Something must be terribly wrong. Grosland spoke in a raspy sort of panic, "I have to go back and fix it. I'm sorry. I made a promise - I'm so sorry!"

They stared at her. Beth said, "For an English major, you sure have some communication problems. What are you talking about?!"

Grosland looked around, fidgeting, then finally burst into a confession. "Last night, you went to your Dad's house, Beth, and Erin went to have a sleepover with her Mom because she was all alone and I promised that I would do the blog post because all I was doing was hanging out at the apartment by myself. But then I was watching Evita and eating ice cream on the couch and the musical was so epic that I totally forgot about everything else and I just went to bed without doing a blog post at all! When I woke up this morning and realized what had happened, I just knew I had to make it up to you guys, and then I realized that we still had this old ship and if I just added a few modifications I was sure I could turn it into a time machine so that I could go back and write a blog post and then everything would be fine!" She gasped for breath.

Beth and Erin had their mouths hanging open, completely incredulous. At last, Beth said, "It's just a blog, Grosland."

"But I promised!" Gros wailed.

"It's okay!" Erin was quick to soothe. "We don't mind. Honestly. You're our friend, Grosland. We understand that you just forgot."

Grosland's eyes and nose were running. She wiped a sleeve across them, and her face was now an indescribable mess. "Really?" she asked.

"Sure," Beth said, grinning. "Besides, I lie to you all the time. Like when I told you the doctors had done a radical experiment on me when I was a baby because my parents were too poor to afford the labor surgery."

"That wasn't true?!" Grosland asked, shocked.

"Hey, guys! I just realized we need to go buy groceries!" Erin interrupted, trying to ward off the impending argument. "Who wants gummy raspberries?"

Grosland and Beth both snapped their heads toward Erin, completely forgetting themselves. They raised their hands and jumped up and down in the air. "Ooh! I do! I do!"

So they went to the store and got gummy raspberries and all was well. And the time machine was never built or used to bring pet dinosaurs to the apartment or anything like that, ever.

I promise. ;)