schlep
verb (used with object)
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Why was everything so heavy? Nick was not thinking that on a conscious level, but some part of him certainly was. His conscious mind was too busy spouting out complaints to think about anything else.
“Oh, stop complaining. It’s not that heavy.” Jill said from the landing.
Nick plopped the large box he was lugging around. It was not a stable setting, but he needed to rest. His arms felt like Jello. The very thought of carrying more of them brought him to the edge of despair.
“Easy for you to say.” He said through deep breaths. “I can’t bench twice my own body weight like some people.”
“Twice? You need to update your info. I’m up to triple.” Jill said with obvious pride.
“Okay, that just makes the fact that you’re not helping so much worse.”
“What’re you talking about? I am helping. I’m handling the lighter stuff, while you, the big strong man, handle the big heavy stuff.” Jill said in an overly mocking voice.
Nick groaned. Jill was great in a lot of ways, but damn did she hold a grudge.
“You’re still on about that? It was last week, and I was drunk when I said it.”
Jill crossed her arms over her chest. “Uh-huh. And you say that like it should matter.”
“It does, yes. And you know it does. I mean, come on. How much of what you say when your drunk do you mean the next day?”
Jill looked like she was about to say something, but did not. Instead, she found a sudden interest in the railing. He did not say anything either.
“Okay, maybe you have a point about that.” She admitted. Nick could tell it was a reluctant admission, but he would take it. “But it still hurt you know. I worked really hard to get where I am. And then to hear my own boyfriend compare me to some…some She-Hulk—”
“Wait, hold on. That’s what you’re mad about?”
“Well, yeah. Shouldn’t I be?”
“Jill, you haven’t watched any of those Marvel shows when they were on, have you?”
“No. I don’t really like all that superhero stuff.”
“So you don’t know who She-Hulk is?”
“It’s a character? Not, like, a monster or something?”
Nick pulled out his phone and did a quick search. He groaned slightly as he climbed the few steps to her. Then he showed her the image.
“That’s…”
“That’s She-Hulk. The superhero.”
“So…you were comparing me to…her?”
“Yup.”
She worked her jaw for a moment, looking at the image on the screen. “So…you don’t think that I’m some big ugly thing and that only men should have muscles?”
“No, of course not. Why would you think that?”
“I just…the name, you know? It sounds like some big horrible bulky monster, so I just kind of assumed.”
“There’s no way I would ever think something like that. Especially about you.”
“Ah. So, uh, I…I’m just going to go help move some boxes now. And, uh, sorry about…all that.”
Nick sighed in relief as he watched her go down and lift the box that he had struggled with like it was nothing. He was glad this was an easy issue to resolve. Now he just needed to make sure not to make her mad about anything that was not fixable with a quick online search.
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