“You believe in ghosts, O’Leary?” Minogue asked, placing another hot chip in his mouth.
This was their decompress routine, chips and chatting. The two had grown close and become good mates after being partnered in the force for so long. Minogue looked up to O’Leary and valued her opinions.
O’Leary chewed and contemplated. “I dunno. We’ve seen vampires, demons, and alien vegetation, I reckon there are ghosts too”
Minogue cheered, “that skeptic don’t know what she’s missin” he shook his head and smiled.
“Minogue, I reckon you’re quite keen on that skeptic?” O’Leary said, matter of fact.
“Me? Keen on her?” Minogue blushed and scoffed. "She was quite fit, eh?"
O'Leary nodded and they continued eating their chips in silence.
"You should ask her out" O'Leary encouraged. She pulled up the GPS history to see how far your house was. "It only a 10 minute drive" she added.
Minogue felt butterflies in his stomach. "I dunno O'Leary, won't I seem creepy?" He doubted.
"Only one way to find out" she pulled out and began driving back to your house.
—
Your flatmate had left for a weekend trip with her partner, so you were all alone this evening.
You curled up on your couch with a book and your nighttime glasses. You were lost in your fantasy book world when suddenly a knock on your door startled you.
"Just a second" you shouted.
You peeped through the tiny window next to your door to see Officer Minogue on your doorstep. “Unusual” you thought.
You opened the door, “Gidday Officer Minogue, everything going okay?” You ask politely, even thought you were confused by this evening house call.
“Uh ye, ye just wanted to check up on your flatmate, she going alright?” He scratched the back of his head.
“She’ll be right.” I reassured, “she’s gone for the weekend”.
“Is that so?” Minogue tried to keep the conversation flowing. “And you, how are you going?” He smiled, swaying back and forth.
“I reckon I should ask you the same, officer.” You put your hand on your hip. “Those roaches gave you quite a fright” you teased.
“Yeah” he chuckled, “I’ve got a thing about creepy crawlies”.
You smiled, you found his skiddishness cute and comforting.
“I’ve also got a thing about you” he tried to sound smooth. “That came out wrong, what I mean is..,” he stammered.
You blushed. “Should we go for a handle sometime?”.
Minogue relaxed and smiled. “Yeah, we should” um here’s my number. He handed you a piece of paper with the numbers 111 on it. You looked back puzzled. He grabbed the paper and crumbled it, “just a bit of police humor, eh?” and then he gave you his real number.
“Take it easy” he said walking back to the police car, officer O’Leary was watching the whole interaction go down, chuckling at the her straight male partner being scared of a woman.
Minogue sat down and once the car door closed, O’Leary started driving away.
“I think I’ve got a date, O’Leary.”
“Good on ya, mate!” She patted his arm.
