There was a knock at the door, and it somehow sounded like The Star-Spangled Banner.

Tom didn't know it was possible to knock out the American national anthem, but if someone was going to figure out how to do it, it would be Macey.  He didn't know too many people who would do something like that, so he knew that the former Marine was at his house right now.

He got up from his spot on the couch, where he'd been sitting under a blanket, watching Black Mirror on Netflix.  He opened the door, and sure enough, it was Macey, standing there with a smile on her face and a Tupperware container in her hand.

"Hi." His head moved just slightly when he said it.  His voice came out a bit raspy, and he coughed a bit to try covering it up.

Macey noticed, though. "I heard you were sick, so I made you some chicken noodle soup." She stuck out the container, and he took it from her. "Which, cliche as it may sound, my mom always made it for me when I was a kid, so I figured I'd bring some by and maybe it would help you."

"You made this for me?" He asked, though it was not what he'd meant to say.

"I didn't stand over a hot stove for hours on end, if that's what you're thinkin'," She told him. "It's just Campbell's, which is better than what I would've made, anyway."

"Thank you," He said, "But I just have a cold, and I'll be fine in a day or two."

"Well, when I talked to Chris, he made it seem like you were over here dyin'," She said, "And I didn't want you to die by yourself, so I came over."

"He likes to over exaggerate things," He said.

"I've noticed." She shook her head. "I also wanted to offer my company.  You're all by yourself - well, I guess, since you're sick and all - and that's no fun, so maybe we can hang out or something."

He was silent for a moment, and she bit her bottom lip as she waited for a response.  When he saw the nervous look on her face, he said, "Come in."

He moved out of the way, and she walked inside.

The house looked nice, Macey thought, considering he had only moved in not too long ago.  It looked... normal.  She wasn't expecting it to be covered in pentagrams and demon paintings, but just a regular old house was even weirder to her.

She noticed the TV on.  Netflix was paused during a show she didn't recognize.

"What are you watching?" She asked.

"Black Mirror," Tom replied. "We can watch something else, if you want."

"No." She shook her head. "This is fine.  It looks... interesting."

"You've never seen it?" He asked.

"It doesn't seem like my type of show." She shrugged.

"Well, what do you watch?"

"Have you ever heard of Gilmore Girls?"

"Uh, yes."

"I like that," She said. "Shows about families, like that one." She paused, looking at the TV in front of her. "This looks nice, too, though."

"How about you watch an episode of this, and if you don't like it, we can watch something else," He suggested.

"All right, that sounds fair."

***

The next thing Tom and Macey knew, they had finished season 4 of Black Mirror (which was what he had been watching when she showed up, so they didn't watch 4 seasons in one night).

"So, it's over?" She asked, looking at him sitting next to her.

"Until the next season, yes," He replied.

She looked out the window, only just now realizing that it was nighttime.  They had spent the past few hours watching the show and talking, and she hadn't realized that much time had passed.

"I better get goin'," She said.

Before she could stand up, he said, "Wait." She looked over at him. "Aren't you going to stay and eat this soup with me?"

She chuckled. "I only made enough for one person.  You're the sick one, remember?"

"But you just spent that last couple of hours with me," He pointed out. "For all we know, you might be sick, too."

"How do we know it's contagious?" She asked, smirking.

"We don't, which means you have to eat this soup with me," He said.

"With an argument like that, I have to eat with you."

"It's not dinner and movie if there's no dinner."

***

Get it? Because it was Netflix and soup, which = dinner and a movie.

Anyway, I just finished season 2 of GLOW earlier today, and Lacey Evans reminds me so much of Liberty Belle (the character, not Debbie).

So any of Lacey's dialogue in this chapter sounded like Liberty Belle's voice in my head.