Young Writers Society

Jerica still wasn't quite sure what had happened. Had Lordshire really just told her...? She shook her head, realizing she was way too drunk to figure this out just then. This was future-Jerica's problem. So, instead, she focused on the immediate, and pulled open the group chat. "hope ur done bein couply bc it about 2 b throuply."

She squinted down at the message -- after she sent it, of course -- wondering if it actually made sense. Oh well. They'd figure it out.

There was a lightning speed response. Just the thinking emoji from Elias: 🤔.

Jerica smirked and flicked over to a text to Rek. "i'm goin 2 smoke w Elias and Mel, u should come."

"My gods, Jer, not again."

"u know u had fun."

"Is that what it was???"

"erryone like roleplaying."

"😤 whatever, have a good time, I'm working on my piano bachovensky."

Jerica blinked down at her phone. She was pretty sure Rek was just making up new words at this point just to see what she'd believe, but, she couldn't be bothered to Google to see if that was true.

"ok hab fun with ur bachky."

She hesitated, deciding to test her ideas against a sober person. "do u think lordshire's ever killed someone?"

"... Are you already high?"

"no... just very confused."

She let herself in to the building and quickly went up to Elias's apartment. She knocked twice, loudly, then tried the door. It was locked, so she decided to be obnoxious and just keep knocking until someone opened it for her.

She could hear a muffled voice behind the door. "Oh my god, okay, stop already!"

The door then flew open and revealed a very annoyed Mel, but her annoyance melted away when she saw her. "Oh! Jerica!" she said brightly. "I didn't know you were coming."

"Mellie!" She threw her arms around Mel in a quick hug, then invited herself in, deciding not to get into the whole Lordshire-thing with them. She was probably just being dumb. It's not like deans actually killed people. "Yeah, Elias said you were done being smexy so--" She cut herself off when she met the gaze of the prissy girl from class earlier, sitting on the couch near Elias and glaring at her. Although, maybe that was just her face. It was hard to tell. Jerica looked back at Mel, deciding on a sneak recovery. "So here I am! Y'all ready for partaaaay?"

Mel let out a short, quiet laugh, locking the door again and leading her into the living room. "Maybe not a party-party since we're spent out, but I'm cool with hanging out." She looked up at the other two. "Maybe until after dinner?"

Elias shrugged. "Chill with me. Not like I was actually going to do homework, anyways. It's supposed to be syllabus week."

Evaline offered Jerica a weak smile. "I don't mind," she said.

"Ayeee!" Jerica dropped to the floor in front of the couch, sitting with her legs criss-crossed and backpack in the middle of them. She looked up at Evaline, vaguely remembering something about her from earlier. Smoking. Elias. A light bulb lit up. "You wanna... help me hustle Elias yet?"

Evaline didn't look like she understood. "With...?"

"Snoop Dogggg." She looked back at Elias, wobbling slightly. How many shots had she had? Oh well. "Bribe still standing? She smoke, I get dough?"

Elias laughed. "Yo dude, are you drunk?"

"Define..." She paused a bit too long. "Drunk?"

Elias looked at Mel, nodding up at her. "See, this is why me and Jerica are already friends. I like her style."

Mel rolled her eyes, smiling. "Honey, I think your face would be the defintion."

"Never knew drunk was so pretty." Jerica put her hands under her chin and blinked dramatically.

"Hey, read this," Elias said as he smashed a book in front of her face. It was some textbook of his, filled with Latin words and a drawn medical pictograph of the female body, lines and arrows drawn out of different parts of the body.

"What? You finally find the--" She glanced at Evaline and cut herself off again. Then she looked down at the book, where Elias was still pointing even though the book was in her hands now. It was some... Latin bullshit. She was too drunk to give a shit. "Ohh, that? That's the fuckoff-is, next to the doilooklikeigiveashit?"

Elias snickered. "It actually does sound like Latin if you say it that fast," he said.

Jerica chuckled, then started unzipping her bag. "Shots?"

Elias was grinning but then looked at Mel and Evaline.



Jerica frowned as she watched the interaction. "There is enough for everyone and the two of y'all don't even have an excuse." She looked back down at her bag, then deflated, suddenly remembering. "Nevermind. I forgot he stole the rest of my rum."

Mel stepped in before Elias could even respond. "How about beers instead?" she said as she was already getting up to get three beers out of the fridge.

"I can't say no to a beer," Elias said with a shrug.

Jerica nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a beer kinda night, I guess."

Mel came back with three opened bottles of beer, and she slid one over to Elias. "Here's to a beer kind of night," she said as she lifted the bottle for a toast. The three of them clunked their bottles in unison.

Jerica laughed, taking a drink. "Hey, if you live every day like it's your last, eventually you'll be right."

"Wise words from our resident drunk," Elias said after a sip.



"Don't hate me 'cause you ain't me." Jerica took another drink, then set the bottle down by her leg. "So, are we actually gonna, like, pretend-pretend to do homework? Or just 'pretend'? Or, like, actually enjoy ourselves 'n shit?"

"That's what I've been saying," Elias said. "Let's go outside and throw a frisbee or something."

"That sounds like physics to me."

"Oh god, don't talk about physics," Elias said, recoiling. "That class is the reason why I'm a super senior."

"Yeah, that's totally the only reason," Mel said with smirk, taking another sip.

Jerica cackled then aggressively asked, "What's the first law of thermodynamics, Elias?"

"Garbage in, garbage out," he said without hesitation.

"No, that's your mom."

"Hah, got 'em."

"You guys are twelve years old," Mel said.

"Excuse you, I'm twelve and a half, get it right."

"Oh my bad," she said innocently. "Forgot I was babysitting."

Jerica smirked. "All good, baby."

She pulled out her Essentials of Cell Biology textbook, letting it flop on the ground dramatically. She sighed loudly. "What kind of asshole assigns homework during syllabus week? Gray can go get fucked."

"Man, that guy is the worst," Elias said. "I had class with him yesterday and basically fell asleep five minutes in. His voice is like a lullaby."

"Wait, you're in cell bio too?"

Elias finally looked down at the book she pulled out. "Huh," he said. "Are we in the same section? Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays, at 10AM?"

"Yeah, actually," she answered. "I got kidnapped by the football team yesterday so I didn't make it, but not excited. Thursday lab for you?"

"Great question. Lemme look at my phone."

Jerica laughed. "Well, you're fucked if it was a Tuesday lab."

He pulled out his phone to look at his schedule, zooming in on Thursday. "Huh," he said with an amused laugh. "Yeah, Thursday at the same time."

"Bro. We should be lab partners. Failing--" She leaned forward and held her hand out for a fist bump. "Together."

He grinned, lifting his fist to complete the bump. "Okay, but you're doing all the work."

She laughed and sat back again. Somehow, she didn't doubt that that was true. "LOL, as if any work is gonna be done in our group. C's get degreessss, baby."

She didn't actually have any C's, yet. C's got you a degree, if you wanted degrees you needed to put more effort in. But, then, she wasn't even sure why that thought was even in her mind. Only complete morons would think that grad school was a good idea. Why would she do that to herself?

Jerica didn't even pretend like she was studying. Like, didn't even open the book. She just laid down on her belly on the ground and started scrolling on her phone, spamming the group chat with various memes and tiktoks that she found. That, and getting distracted and talking to Elias and Mel. She couldn't be bothered to pay attention to whether Elias was trying to put on a more convincing performance or not.

Finally, a meme broke her brain.



She startled cackling, holding the phone out to show Elias and Mel, before laying on the floor and dissolving into a fit of giggles. Every time she started calm down, she glanced back down at her phone and started laughing all over again. Her sides were starting to hurt but she couldn't stop. "His daughter..."

Elias smirked at the dark humor, making fun of her while Mel offset the dark meme with a normie meme. Evaline, meanwhile, was basically invisible in the background, only providing comments if someone addressed something directly to her, or if she had some random quippy comment to add. For the most part, though, she didn't pay any attention to Jerica.

"I'm feeling kind of antsy," Elias said as he closed his book and suddenly got up on his feet. He turned to Jerica, grinning. "Wanna eat some cookies?"

"Antsy in your pantsy?" she giggled, then her brain slowly processed what he meant.

Mel rolled her eyes, suppressing a laugh. "Twleve years old, I swear," she said.

"You know it." Jerica winked at her dramatically, briefly forgetting to open her eye again. Then she looked back at Elias. "And of course. Mama didn't raise no bitch."

She took a deep breath, thinking about standing up.



She looked up at Elias with a little pout. "Cookies seem too hard to get to."

Elias had already passed Mel with a pat on her head, but then backtracked when he heard Jerica. He raised a brow at her words. "Can't walk now, huh?" he said, extending a hand.

"Mama mighta raised a lil bit of a bitch," Jerica murmured, taking his hand. And then. Still not trying to stand up. "Why is life so hard?"

"Ask me again after I eat a cookie," Elias said as he helped her up.

"I won't remember," she promised, grunting and following him over to the balcony. She watched as Elias packed a bowl, vague uneasiness settling over her. On one hand, she wanted to smoke. On the other, this was one of the worse ideas she'd had. And that was saying something.

He looked over at her before he lit it. "Do you want to smoke?" he asked. "You don't have to since you're, uh, ya know."

"Of course I want to," Jerica answered, but made no move to take it from him. "But I think I might literally die if I do."

Elias laughed through his nose, putting some of the weed back in the bag and then lighting the pipe. "Can't have that," he said, then took the hit.

"I mean, we could..." she trailed off, mind flicking back to Lordshire and his euphemisms... metaphors? She couldn't even remember at this point. "But, not in the mood to end up in any parks tonight."

Elias breathed out the smoke in his lungs after holding it in, not even coughing a little bit. "Eh. Freshman year, I got caught smoking in a park once. Police came and --"

"OH MY GOSH WAS IT AERIK?" she interrupted.

Elias gave her a long look. "Bro, I was high as fuck. I can't remember the popo's name."

Her enthusiasm died a bit. It would have been so funny if it'd been Aerik, and she definitely wanted to introduce them, sober, some day if it was. "Did you get arrested?"

"Nope. Got off on a warning. The dude with all the weed had to spend a day in a cell though. Was intense."

"I bet it was Aerik," she murmured. "Aerik's da shit. I wanna introduce you now and see if he remembers you."

"Hah. Sure, but maybe not when I have cookies," he said as he took another hit.

Jerica nodded slowly, trying to think of what Aerik would even do. "Probably a good idea. He'd probably 'confiscate' it all and then smoke it in front of you, mocking you the whole time... if it were in private, of course. He's got a reputation 'n shit, you know?"

Elias only laughed, taking another hit. "Sounds like a bro."

"Oh, he is." She nodded, smirking a bit as she thought about him. "Got sooooo pissy that time I got arrested, though. eMbArRaSsInG hIm in front of his friends or whatever."

"Arrested you say? Ooh, do tell," Elias said. "Lemme guess, public intox?"

"I think they..." She hesitated. "Honestly, I'm not really sure what the official story is. Aerik talked them out of actually hurting me... I just got drunk and beat up a frat boy that was feeling me up... guess the cops thought it was worse that college boy was hitting on the minor than it was that the minor beat him up." She laughed.

"Jesus," Elias said, glancing at her. "That sounds, uh... intense."

"Wasn't my fault." Jerica shrugged, even though it was, in fact, mostly her fault. For being there in the first place. For punching before thinking. For not hearing the cops coming until they were close enough to be able to chase down her drunk ass. "Or, maybe it was, who knows."

Elias let out a weak laugh, like he was almost uncomfortable with the sudden seriousness. "It doesn't sound like your fault to me," he said.

"Trouble follows me... Or maybe I follow trouble." She shrugged again, then nodded towards the apartment, deciding to change the subject. "And dat's why broody chick don't like me."

"Evaline?" he said with a laugh, sounding relieved for the topic change. "Eh. Takes a while for her to warm up to strangers, is all."

Jerica shrugged. "Her loss."

"Yeah," he said. "You're pretty cool. But also, a little cray."

"I'll take that." She smirked. "And, ditto, broski... I'm glad we already met. It's gon' be a lit semester."

Elias beamed at her before taking another hit. He laughed as the smoke escaped his lips. "God, it's only been two days. This is going to be a wild senior year."

"Heard that." She pushed herself to her feet as Elias finished the bowl, then walked back inside with him. Life had gotten so, so much harder to navigate -- but also, much funnier. Every little thing was making Jerica giggle at that point. She sprawled on the couch between Evaline and Mel, the few inhibitions that she had with the level of intoxicated she'd been when she showed up now completely and utterly gone, with the additional beers splashed on top.

Evaline seemed to inch as far away from Jerica as she could, and Mel did the opposite, coming in to sniff her.

"And here I thought ya'll actually ate cookies," Mel said with a laugh. "I thought you were literally twelve, but I can smell the adult cookies instead."

"I mean, I'll literally eat cookies, too," Jerica said, giving her a stupid grin, suddenly realizing that she was as hungry as if she actually had smoked. "Or chips... or tacos... anything, really. I'm just starving."

"Man," Elias said as he plopped on the free side of the couch, leaning over the book that was still on the page of the latin words. "I wish Bo were here. He'd cook us something good."

Without prompt, Nugget suddenly woke up in her little pen, fluttering around.

"Hey, Jer," Elias called. "Let out Nugs. She wants to roam the fields of this apartment."

"Hey Nug-Nug." Jerica leaned forward like she was going to stand up, but instead just tipped the rest of the way over and crawled on her hands and knees over to Nugget's pen and let her out. She tried to pick her up, but Nugget fluttered by, and Jerica didn't have enough coordination to even attempt to catch her. She was closer to Evaline now, and looked up at her from the floor. "So, you're uh... uh... I don't actually know who you are."

Evaline didn't seem interested in Nugget being near her and pulled up her legs to sit criss-crossed on the couch with a tablet stradded under her arms. "Evaline," she said. "I think we briefly met at Morrigan's class."

"Ohhh, right, Eva..." Jerica trailed off. That seemed like a lot of syllables to try to repeat just then. "Are you feeling better, Evie? You looked... sad."

She could hear Elias repressing a laugh, and Mel kicked him lightly. Evaline narrowed her eyes at Jerica when she said her new nickname, but then it tensed into... something else. Not sad. Still prissy-looking, though.

"Do I?" Evaline said quietly, suddenly sounding insecure.

"I'm not answering that," Elias said under his breath, and Mel only offered her a weak smile.

"Oh, wait." Jerica's eyes went wide, and leaned forward to put her hands on Evaline's knees. "I didn't mean it, like, a bad thing. It was like... like... didn't you do a--?"

Jerica put her elbows on Evaline's knee, and then held her own head in her hands, trying to mimic the way Evaline had been sitting in class when she walked in.

"Oh, we're playing charades now. I'm great at this," Elias piped up when Evaline looked at her blankly. He snapped his fingers. "Headache. Tired. Can't see anything since you're at the back of the class so you have to squint."

"I don't know, Elias," Jerica said dramatically, turning most of her upper body to look at him instead of just her head. "That's what I'm trying to figure out. But I think I'm making her sadder." She looked back at Evaline. "Don't really know how to make this better... Ev..." She forgot the rest.

Mel then sat up straight with a big smile like a light bulb went over her head. "Oh, I know!" she said. "You're talking about the car ride with Morri and Lordy, right? Oh my god, you won't believe who also came to the salon today: Morri and Lordy! They're your two professors, right? We exchanged stories about the joyride thing and the poems and other stuff. They're so funny. I adore them."

While Mel was talking, Evaline broke out of her sad-looking expression and gave Mel an appreciative smile, seemingly having a wordless conversation just then.

"Wait!" Jerica said dramatically, whirling around towards her. "You know Lordshire?"

"Yeah," Mel said with a smile. "He's your professor, right? He's also my regular at the salon."

"Yeah, he's that psycho dean I texted you about." Jerica leaned back to rest her weight on her hands behind her, looking at Mel lazily. "Didn't end up getting me kicked off the team... though I think he might have threatened to kill me? Don't really know how to read that dude."

"He's got dark sense of humor, yeah, but he's a big teddy bear once you get to know him."

"No... I'm pretty sure he actually threatened to kill me..." she murmured. Then she shrugged. "Ah, well."

Mel paused for a second, shrugged, then smiled. "He wouldn't hurt anyone," she said, then decided to voice her next thoughts out loud. "I wouldn't worry about it. He's a complete sweetheart in the salon. I call him Lordy and freshen up his nails. And there's also Morri, or Momo, and he's my regular for hair. Honestly though, they're both my regulars. I didn't know Lordy was a dean though."

"Morri!" Jerica said happily. "Dat dude seems like he's gonna be the shit." She hesitated, thinking back to her little bender with Lordshire. "Lordshire's not so bad either, turns out. Just pretending to be a hardass earlier with J.R., you know?"

"Hmm. Mmhmm," Mel hummed. "I told him about sassing J.R. at the party, but did something else happen?"

"I mean, he like, was threatening me before Morri's class." Jerica waved her hand vaguely. "I had it all under control, but Lordshire overreacted. Called me to his fucking office like he's the fucking principal or some shit." She shrugged. "But J.R. got expelled instead of me, so that was nice."

Elias rubbed the back of his neck, looking like he was trying to catch up with her words. "Man. That's some heavy stuff."

"Yeah," Mel agreed. "That all happened... today?"

"Oh, shit, I brought down the vibes," Jerica said, looking between them. "Sorry! We Gucci. You... salon-ed him?"

"It's okay!" Mel said quickly.

"Yeah, don't worry about vibes," Elias cut in. He found a small rubber ball and was tossing it in the air. "It's always good vibes up in here."

"But yeah, he came into the salon," Mel continued on, offering a smile. "But we just talked about small petty things, really. Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" Jerica answered quickly. "Still on the team, not expelled. Even got saved from that inevitable ass-kicking. What more could I want?"

Surprisingly, Evaline was the one who spoke next.

"It might not be in my place to suggest this," she said slowly and methodically, "but maybe it would help to reconsider other options. It seems that the environment around the football team is more toxic than it is worth." She looked up from her tablet as her eyes briefly flicked over to her bruises before meeting Jerica's eyes.

Jerica stared at her for a moment, brain moving slowly as she tried to understand the gist of what Evaline was saying. It was a lot of words to keep track of. Oh. It finally sank in. Jerica subconsciously rubbed the biggest bruise that stretched across her collarbone. "I mean, yeah, you're good, place 'n all, pretty sure there's a whole club forming of people who want me to quit the team."

She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling insecure. She had definitely brought the vibes down. But didn't know how she was going to recover from this one.

"Aww, Jerica," Mel cooed as she sat on the floor next to her and wrapped an arm around her for a hug. "People are such assholes. Fuck them, I say."

Elias nodded. "What's the name of the club?" he asked. "With enough free coffees, I'll convince Lordshire to take them down."

"No, no," Jerica said with a shake of her head and laugh, before she leaned into Mel's arms. She'd never say no to a hug... at least, as long as it was a hug and not a threat. "I was joking. Like... Rek... and Bo... and James... now Ev..a..lean." She looked at Elias and Mel. "Are y'all in it too?"

Evaline visibly tensed up and looked like she wanted to speak, but Mel didn't notice and cut in before she could say anything.

"In your fanclub?" she guessed. "Girl, I'd be your number one fan."

"I'll fight you for that position," Elias lightheartedly joked.

Jerica grinned, glad that the mood was getting lighter again. "Actually, I'm the VIP of that club." She winked at them, but it was clumsy in her drunken state. "Okay, but real-talk." She turned back to Evaline. "I'm not quitting the team, but do you have like... tips? On how to make them stop being assholes?"

Evaline looked up at her, glancing at Mel and Elias, but it seemed that all eyes were on her now. She let out a short, nervous laugh. "Well, there's still a lot I don't know about your situation. And I don't think there's any one way to turn off assholery. But, I guess... I don't know, I think there'd be a reason why they'd be mean to you, especially since they don't know you. Maybe it would help to... empathize with them?"

Elias stared at her. "So be friends with the assholes?"

"No, not friends. Just... I guess... find out why they're assholes," she quickly added.

"What if they're assholes just because?" he continued on.

"I don't know, Elias," Evaline said, already getting impatient. "I'm probably not the best person to answer this question. I'd like to believe there's a reason why people are the way they are, but sometimes it's not worth finding out."

"I mean, most of my friends are assholes." Jerica shrugged. "And I am too, so it's okay. I don't actually mind it. But all of these..." She gestured vaguely at herself, rubbing the bruise on her face. "Seem to concern everyone else more than they bother me. So."

Evaline looked up at her friends again, seemingly asking for help without asking, but they didn't say anything in response since she picked up that Jerica was looking for serious answers from a serious person.

Evaline sighed. "If something doesn't bother you, then you don't need to care what anyone else thinks," she said, giving Jerica her full attention. "But I think there is a line drawn for that statement, and I'd classify 'getting hurt' as being past that line. It might not bother you that your health is on the line, but it should because your health is on the line."

"What?" Jerica scoffed. "My health is fine. I'm fine."



Evaline gave her a long look.

Mel rubbed her back. "Hey, bruises suck," she said. "They're not--"

"What's your last name?" Evaline suddenly interjected, pulling out her laptop in her bag.

"Ainsley." Jerica pointed a finger at her warningly. "But don't try to get me kicked off the team, already had that scare happen once today. That's enough."

She was already typing away. "Is your first name spelled with a c or a k?" she asked, glossing over her comment.

"What are you--" Elias began as he peered over, but she swatted him away. "Ow."

"I..." Jerica frowned, not understanding at all what was happening just then. But she had a sense of dread settling over her that it was going to end badly for her, whatever it was. "Don't remember?"

"I'm pretty sure it's a c," Mel finished for her. "I thought it was a k, but then she texted me her name." She gave Jerica a warm smile. "Thanks for correcting me?"

"I mean, I thought her name was Jessica, so you're off to a better start than me," Elias continued on, throwing the ball in the air again.

"What is with you and Jessica?" Jerica scoffed. "And I swear to the gods above, if the three of you get me kicked off the team, you're all going off the fan club and into... onto? the shit list."

"I'm emailing you a few pages," Evaline said before Elias could cut in, clicking and typing away. "That's all. I figure it'd be easier if you read some things rather than listen to it."

"Oh." Jerica relaxed a bit, coming off the defensive. "Thanks. I never thought of Googling how to deal with asshole jocks. That's big brain."

Evaline laughed through her nose. "Yeah. I guess."

Jerica looked around. "I'm hungry. Isn't there applesauce around here somewhere?"

After Evaline walked away from James, Elias had texted her that Mel was coming over to his place and that she was free to join too. She had been in his apartment since then, talking with the two of them and, despite all their differences, enjoying their company.

She knew that they knew she tended to be quiet around strangers. She couldn't help it. It wasn't like she could control her disposition.

So when Jerica announced herself in the apartment to plop herself on the couch between her two friends, she couldn't help but feel a tad bit excluded, especially since she didn't even go to this university. But she sighed and quietly worked on her project as they chatted anyways, drawing in a distracted state as she partly listened and paid attention to the three around her.

"Man, this class sucks," Elias grumbled as he slid his notebook across the table. "I memorized the bone song freshman year but now I gotta learn all this Latin bullshit."

"What do you think about this?" Mel interrupted, showing Jerica a picture of [type of haircut she wanted]. "I also think that brown tips might look good. But have it be gradual, like an ombre."

"Sure," Jerica agreed, too lazy to look up what ombre meant. "Whatever you want, baby."

Mel hummed in though, pursing her lips and tilting her head.

"Hey, Evaline, good thing I found some other white chick to experiment on this time, huh?" she asked, looking up at her with a teasing snicker.

Evaline glanced up at her, grimacing as she remembered the time that Mel had first attempted to cut her hair and utterly failed. She had never let her cut her own hair again since then. She couldn't help but feel bad for Jerica... although, this was also a couple years ago while she was getting her cosmetology degree. Her skills probably got better by then. Probably.

"And lucky for you." Jerica grabbed the giant jar of applesauce, hesitating as she looked down at it. Spoon... there was no spoon. She put it to her lips and tipped her head back, taking a drink of it before she looked back at Mel. "This guinea pig is heavily motivated by treats."

"You're like a dog!" Mel said with a giggle, rolling her eyes as she slurped the applesauce.

"Did you just drink that?" Elias asked, squinting at Jerica.

"No you." Jerica took another drink, then held the jar towards him. "Mm?"

Elias pursed his lips in thought. "Apples do have a lot of Vitamin C and B-6 content."

"Oh shut up, you fuckin' nerd."

"Pfffff," Mel said flippantly. "Elias as a nerd. That's funny."

"What can I say," he said as he stretched his back. "I'm a genius."

"Yeah?" Jerica challenged. "What's the Latin word for that, huh?"

"Elias," he said without hesitation.

"I thought that was Latin for 'loser'."

"No, that's your mom."

"Ohh, that's right." Jerica leaned back against the couch. "What was your mom under? Was it... easy?"

"Nah, she'd be a boss ass bitch," he said nonchalantly. "Maybe. If I had met her."

Mel coughed. "Anyways," she said quickly. "Does anyone want some real food now? Not just chips and applesauce?"

"Nah, fam, we ain't playing da pity card," Jerica interrupted, ignoring Mel. "You're the one who brought up--"

"I think the Latin word for mom is madre," Elias interrupted.

"That's French, Dummy."

"I'm pretty sure that's Spanish," Evaline mumbled, barely audible.

"Spanish!" Jerica snapped her fingers. There were too many conversations happening right now. She looked back at Mel. "Yes, food." Then she looked at Elias. "And if you can't take it, don't dish it. I ain't ever met my madre either... doesn't mean I won't roast yours."

This conversation was getting tense, and Evaline couldn't help but look up to gauge the room. She could see Elias and Mel looking at each other like they were having a wordless conversation.

"Right, so food," Mel said slowly. "What are we thinking?"

There was a knock on the door, then it swung open before anyone answered it. Rek's eyes locked on Jerica instantly, but little did he know that Evaline was staring at him with wide eyes, frozen.

Rek? Wait, was this real? Just a second ago, the three of them were a second away from having a motherless pity party. And just a second before that, Evaline was barely paying attention to the random flow of the conversation while she drew.

Why was Rek here? This didn't feel real, and she felt her chest tighten.

"I fucking knew it, you liar." Rek glanced over his shoulder to ensure there was no one that way either. "J.R. isn't even here, is he?"

"Since you're here!" Jerica said brightly.

"No." Rek's eyes darted around the room, then widened when they locked on Evaline. He froze.

Evaline immediately looked away, biting her lip and looking down at her tablet, feeling the anxiety course through her veins.

Maybe he will just... go away? What was he doing in Elias's apartment? Did he even know him?

As if Elias had read her mind, he then spoke up.

"Oh, hey Rek," he called, patting the seat on the couch next to him, luckily on the opposite end of Evaline. "How are you feeling? Come hang out for a bit. We'll probably order some food if you're hungry."

"Oh, um, I uh..." Rek stumbled back, shoulder bumping into the still-open door.

Evaline dared to look up at him, and a second after she did, he once again locked eyes with her. It was impossible to keep, and as she looked down, she had to partially cover her face with her hand to hide the hot embarrassment and shame rising to her face.

"I..." Rek reached his arm back, planting his hand on the doorknob. He was getting flustered, blood rushing to his face. He looked back at Elias. "You know, really not all that... hungry, you know?" He flashed a tight grin. "Thanks anyway. Bye."

The door closed a bit too loudly behind him.

"Huh," Elias said, watching the door slam. "That was weird."

Jerica lazily looked at the door, then back at Elias. "I lied to him. He's prolly mad."

"What'd you say?" he asked.

"Well, I asked him -- nicely -- to come join us, you know?" Jerica took a deep breath. "Then I asked him -- not so nicely. And he still wouldn't come. So I said J.R. was here threatening me."

"Man, Jerica," Mel said, clicking her tongue. "That's kind of mean, don't you think? You freaked the man out for nothing."

"He knew I was lying." She waved her hand dismissively. "I never ask him for help if I'm getting my ass kicked."

"Didn't sound like he was lying," Elias mumbled.

"Alright, well, I'm hungry," Mel said, getting up on her feet and walking to the kitchen. "If no one is going to follow me to look at the take out menus on the fridge, I'm going to order your food for you."

"You do know what I want," Elias said under his breath as he flipped through his textbook, causing Mel to roll her eyes.

"Yeah, lazy." Jerica pushed herself to her feet, grunting with the effort. "With a side of whining." She trod after Mel.

Evaline watched as the two of them bickered over food, namely deciding what type of take out to order and from which restaurant. She felt her heart rate slowly return back to a normal speed, and she looked down at her tablet, suddenly losing all inspiration to draw.

"Sorry today probably sucked for you," Elias said to her without even looking up.

She paused for a second, her eyes flitting between him and the other two. They were outside of their earshot.

"It's whatever," Evaline said back softly, saving her work and turning off the tablet and pet. "I get you all have your social lives."

"Don't worry, we did have something planned though," he said with a smile.

"Let me guess," she said slowly. "You didn't pick a date and time to do it?"

"You're learning fast."

"I guess that's what happens when I've literally known you my whole life."

They both looked at each other with an amused smile for a moment, then simultaneously dropped it as Elias returned to look at the book and she returned her gaze at the girls.

"I think I'm going to step outside for a minute," Evaline said after a long pause, getting up and gathering her stuff.

"Is everything okay?" Elias asked with obvious concern.

"Yeah. Just need some time to think. You know."

He nodded. "Don't have to explain more to me. Text me when you need to get back in the building."

Evaline nodded him a goodbye and then sneaked up to the door, quietly opening it and somehow not triggering any response from Jerica or Mel. For that, she was grateful.

She sighed as the door gently closed behind her. She knew what she had to do, and she didn't think she would ever do this, but now that she knew that Mel and Elias knew Rek, she didn't think she could avoid this any longer.

If this was going to ever get out, she'd rather she be in control of the situation and smooth things over with Rek first. It was pitiful damage control, but at least it was something.

And she was not looking forward to it.

Pushing down the nerves and anxiety, she walked to the other side of the hallway and then stood in front of his door, pausing for far too long because she took a sharp breath and then knocked three times, half-hoping he wouldn't answer.

Rek pulled the door open, looking stricken before his gaze even landed on her eyes. He swallowed so hard his Adam's apple bobbed. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but instead just stepped to the side and pulled the door open wider for her, ducking his head a bit as he murmured. "Hi."

Evaline bit her lip in anticipation, and then took a heavy breath.

"Hi," she said back softly, glancing at the hallway to make sure no one else was around. Not that it mattered. "I thought, um..." she began, already failing at words. "I thought, maybe, we should talk."

"Yes," Rek agreed. "Do you want to... come in? Or... go outside? Or... somewhere public? Or..." He took a deep breath. "Up to you, whatever you're most comfortable with... I just... don't think the hall is a great option. Since they are... close."

"I -- hah, I mean," she began, forcing herself to not blurt out anything until he was done. "I'm okay with that. Somewhere else, I mean. Not here. But really, what are you comfortable with?" She laughed nervously. "Let's do that."

This was going terribly.

"It, uh, yeah, for sure." Rek grabbed a hoodie and pulled it on, then pulled the door shut behind him, starting down the hall without really waiting for her. "There's a... you know, an... outside."

"Outside, yes, let's go there," Evaline said quickly, following his steps.

He was going to fucking murder Jerica -- once she sobered up. He wanted to make sure she felt the full force of his wrath... even though it probably wouldn't really phase her. At the very least, maybe she'd feel guilty... not that that would make him feel better.

He all but ran back to his apartment and paced in his living room.

What was she doing there?

He'd figured Jerica was lying about J.R. -- she was too protective of him to put him in danger for her sake, even though he could hold his own -- but never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that Evaline was going to be there. He ran his fingers through his hair.

You gotta talk to her eventually.

She deserved an apology. An explanation.

But eventually didn't have to be tonight.

Oh my gods, how did we get here?

He went to the kitchen and grabbed Jerica's rum off the fridge, taking a drink. He coughed and swallowed hard, then rubbed his face. What would he even say to her? 'Sorry I'm gay'? 'Did you ever consider that piano means piano'? He swallowed hard again. He'd need to think through his apology. It wasn't her fault. It was just... the worst possible miscommunication in the history of miscommunications.

He just needed time. Once he thought through things, it'd be okay--

There was a knock on the door.

His heart lurched. He set the rum down and took a deep breath, but forced himself to walk to the door. It wasn't her. Couldn't be her. Not here. She wouldn't dare come back here, after... He shook his head. It wouldn't be--

It was her.

The next minute passed in a haze, though every bit as awkward as their last moments of interactions had been. He wasn't really sure whether it was going to be cold outside or not, or if he just wanted a security blanket, but he pulled on his hoodie and all but ran outside, unwilling to have this conversation before they got outside.

There's an outside outside, good job, Rek. He clenched his fists and hurried down the stairs, doing his best to stay a few steps ahead of her so there'd be an excuse for them to not talk. He pushed the door open and wanted to keep going, but his instincts wouldn't let him drop a door on a girl.

He took an awkward step forward, then spun around to hold the door for her, staring at the ground. His face was burning, shoulders tense.

Evaline gave him one of those tense smiles that you'd give to passing strangers on an elevator when making eye contact, and she quickly walked through and headed for the open field nearby.

"Is it okay to go that way?" she asked, gesturing in the general direction.

"Yeah, sure," Rek muttered, not really sure if it was okay or not. At that point, he didn't care. Getting arrested would be a welcomed distraction, at this point.

She was briskly walking ahead of him, heading towards a bench at the side of the open field where people were playing volleyball in the distance. There was a long, tense silence as they trudged forward across the field together. Rek's anxiety built with every step that he took, wishing he were anywhere else but right there, right then. He was lost in his thoughts when she abruptly turned around to face him, looking anxious and seemingly unable to handle the awkward silence anymore.

"Look, I'm really, really sorry," she blurted out through a pained expression. "I misread everything and I panicked. I don't even... I'm just... I'm sorry."

"I am too," he answered quickly, a strange sense of relief tugging at him at her not being angry with him. "I'm so sorry. I've been... thinking about it. So much. I can't stop. And I don't... I don't know what happened. But I am so sorry, and I promise I didn't mean to lead you on, I just... I didn't understand what was happening, and I still don't, but I know I hurt your feelings and I'm really sorry for that."

Evaline barely looked like she was keeping it together before, but now, she look completely frazzled, her face grimacing as it turned a rosy pink. She crossed her arms and put her hand on one side of her face, slightly turning her face away from him.

"You don't have to..." She began quietly, then took a deep breath. "Apologize. You don't need to apologize, especially since I -- well, I was the one who..." She nervously laughed. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you couldn't stop thinking -- I mean. My feelings are not important right now, and honestly, I'm... god, I don't even know what I'm saying. I'm sorry."

"Your feelings are very important." Rek's instincts urged him to reach out a hand to give her a reassuring pat, but he stopped it. He crossed his arms, to be careful he wouldn't accidentally touch her. It was hard to comfort when you couldn't touch, but... it just... he took a deep breath. "And they're valid. And..."

"I'm not usually like this," she continued to blurt out when he trailed off in thought. "This has never... I mean, I... It's not about--"

"No, it's okay," Rek cut in. "Gods, it's so okay. You can be however you want to be. And, gods, I would be the luckiest guy alive, if... I was..."

"No, I mean, yes, I -- it's not like..." She facepalmed herself in frustration, pinching the bridge of her nose, perhaps to try to hid the embarrassment.

"I don't wanna give you a trite 'it's not you, it's me' but gods Evaline, it's so me in this case." Rek had another impulse to reach out to comfort her, so he bunched up some of the fabric of his hoodie in his hands to still them.

"No, really," she persisted, still stubborn as she dropped her hand. "I guess, I don't know, I've been having a hard... stress. Stressful time lately, and I guess I just didn't stop to think -- in a new place too -- about how others could..." She took another frustrated sigh. "I guess that's what I get for trying to be spontaneous for a change," she said in a low voice, barely audible, presumably to herself.

"I..." Rek hesitated, having no idea how he was supposed to answer that. "I'm sorry that you've been stressed. And, for what it's worth, hook ups are a totally valid stress relief. Especially when... like, it's not where you live... it just..." He took a deep breath, this wasn't going to get better. Not until all the cards were on the table.

"No, I know," Evaline continued on, and he was beginning to realize that she was filling in any silences he left behind.

"You don't," Rek interrupted. "That's the thing. If you did, all of this could have been avoided, because... well, I assume you usually don't try to hook up with gay men." He laughed nervously, tensely watching her to see how she'd react.

Now that he'd said it, he felt even more panicked. What if she thought he was just making excuses? That'd be the real cherry on top, her thinking that he was pretending to be gay just so he didn't have to sleep with her.

Evaline looked up at him, freezing for a few moments and letting the seconds pass by interrupted, like she was waiting for him to elaborate, but of course, that was all there was to it.

"Oh," she said quietly. She looked like she had things to say, but words were failing her at the moment.

"Yeah." Rek swallowed, still not sure how to make this better. "And, like, you-- and I -- you know? I was trying, I just..." He uncrossed his arms so that he could wrap them around himself in a self-hug.

"I can understand," Evaline said quickly this time, but she immediately seemed to backpedal. "I mean, in some ways. Not everything, obviously. But I kind of know what it's like to misread -- you know, different... interests. I mean, obviously, it's not like I only like girls, but I know how embarrassing it can be when you -- you know. But this just feels different, and I can't believe that..." She groaned in frustration. "Sorry, just... I'm so bad at this. Let me think about what I'm trying to say here."

"Okay," Rek said softly, forcing himself to take a deep breath. So, she was bi? That actually made him feel a bit better, maybe she did understand a bit more... or, maybe she understood even less, since she was attracted to everyone. Or... could be? He didn't know. He'd explained it to Jerica that he had as little interest in girls as she did, and that seemed to help her understand. But... Evaline seemed harder.

The seconds ticked by as she gazed out at the open field, watching the people play volleyball in the distance. It felt a little awkward that they were both standing on the middle of a field, two strangers having a tense conversation, and now neither of them were talking.

"It honestly..." Rek said, when he couldn't handle the awkward silence between them anymore. He laughed mirthlessly. "It never really crosses my mind that girls might be attracted to me... I was... probably just really oblivious. I'm sorry. If I would have noticed sooner, I... gods, I would have played my cards differently. I swear I wasn't trying to... you know? It was so embarrassing -- for both of us -- and I just... heh."

Evaline watched him talk with brows raised in empathy, and she truly looked like she just wanted to understand and forget about the whole deal. At the same time, guilt still washed over her face, and he could still see the shame in her eyes.

"It's not your fault," she said softly. "I think I was just looking for something that wasn't there. I don't know."

Rek hesitated, looking at her sympathetically. It felt like all of the emotional intelligence he usually had was currently occupied in the unbridled anxiety surging through him, but trying to be understanding was the least he could do. "Oh?"

"Yeah," she said defeatedly. "Don't worry, it has nothing to do with you. I'm just recognizing it now."

"I know," he answered softly, not really understanding, but believing that it was true. He definitely wasn't what she was looking for. He reached out his hand to put it on her shoulder before he realized what he was doing. He yanked his hand away almost as soon as it touched her, and she watched it all happen. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay, I don't mind," she said softly, but didn't look up at him.

Well, that threw a wrench in things. Did she want him to try to comfort her? He decided not to push it, but did open up his stance again in case she wanted to initate some sort of... he didn't even know. But he was leaving this up to her lead.

"Well... I hope that you find, whatever it is that you're looking for..." He took a deep breath. "And... I know you probably don't want anything to do with me at this point, and I'd understand that. But, well... I did really like chatting, on the porch, you know? I don't just invite everyone over to see my piano." He laughed, too quick. "And, like... I don't know. If you wanted to... try? Being friends? Or just... talk it out? I don't know. You still don't live here, so I can be someone you vent to then forget about. I don't mind that, if that'd help you."

Evaline bit her lip in thought, her gaze falling back out to the field. "I don't know if it would," she said softly. "But thanks anyways."

"Oh." He turned away a bit, glancing out at some of the people picking up their books as they headed inside.

"I really am sorry," she added. "If I could go back in time and undo all this, I would, believe me. But I guess... if there's anything I can do to help you... just let me know."

"Yeah, no, it's fine." Rek shrugged, forcing a tense smile. He was getting confused again. He'd tried to reach out to her, she shut the door in his face, and now was cracking it back open again. "No worries."

"Okay then," she said quietly as she looked behind her. "I guess that's it."

"Yeah," he agreed, turning to start wandering back towards the plaza, but didn't charge ahead of her this time. Even though he still wanted to. There was a heavy sense of discontent that settled over him, and he couldn't figure out why. He'd thought this conversation would make him feel better, but he somehow felt much worse about... everything.

"You can go on ahead," she said as she started down a different pathway when the sidwalk forked away from the Plaza. "I'm just going to go take a walk."

Rek stopped, staring after her, bewildered. Why had she come to his apartment and asked to talk, if she didn't actually want to resolve anything? It was perplexing. And frustrating. "Okay..."

He took a step down the other path, but couldn't stand it. "You know what? No. This isn't okay. We haven't fixed anything between us, and... I just... why did you come to my apartment if you didn't want reconciliation? I don't understand."

Evaline stopped at his sudden outburst, slowly turning around, still genuinely looking concerned. It was hard to tell if it was directed towards him, towards herself, or something else entirely.

"What's there to fix?" she asked softly after a pause.

"Don't tell me you don't feel it," Rek scoffed. "This... I can barely breathe around you, I'm so tense. Are you... really gonna pretend like... like there's nothing wrong here?"

She uncomfortably shifted her weight and crossed her arms, with one hand landing on the back of her neck in thought as she fidgeted.

"I don't know," she finally admitted. "It might be different if... I don't know, if we were friends. But I guess... isn't it just easier to..." She couldn't seem to finish the thought.

"To what?" he asked a bit too crisply, the frustration escaping before he really thought about what it was he was saying. "To go back to Prestige and leave all this behind, while I stay here with my piano and bedroom and pretend like I don't remember?"

Evaline turned away, trying to hide the hurt that flashed across her face, she couldn't seem to be able to conceal it in time. "I was going to say 'not know one another,'" she said quietly.

Now he felt like the asshole. Again. He was still frustrated, but it wasn't fair to take that out on her... even if she was being frustrating. He took a deep breath and said softly, "I don't think we have that option at this point."

She looked from him to the sidwalk in the distance. "If it helps you," she said slowly, "I'm willing to give it a shot." She turned back towards him, but she was hard to read. "If it helps," she iterated again, quietly.

His cheek twitched slightly. Maybe she was right -- being friends with her seemed like it was going to be far more effort than it was worth, at this point. "I don't need a pity friend."

She watched him for a second, taking another deep breath. "I've upset you," she commented. "I'm sorry."

"I just..." He couldn't even deny that she was right, and he didn't know what to do with that. He was used to dealing with Jerica, so most other people were a breeze. But, now, here was Evaline. "Don't understand how you're expecting this to go. Are you just not planning to visit ever again? Because if you're here, I'd almost guarantee that we're going to be forced together at some point. Jerica and Elias get along... frighteningly well."

"Yeah. They do," she answered again, glossing over his first question. But her next question caught him off guard. "Do you get along with Jerica well? Even with all your differences?"

Now, they were getting into familiar territory. This was a classic Jerica move, trying to distract him so she wouldn't have to answer questions. He sighed tiredly. "Yes. She's my best friend, and she's earned that title. I trust her more than literally anyone else in this entire world."

Evaline nodded slowly. "Are you ever afraid that she'll leave you? Maybe move on without you? After graduation, maybe?"

Rek hesitated, uneasiness balling up in the pit of his stomach. The last year had been rough with them at different colleges for freshman year -- it was the first time they'd been apart in their entire lives. And she'd aggressively spammed him with memes and FaceTimes -- usually at wildly inopportune moments -- but... "I don't think she'd... do that to me," he answered slowly. "But... she... I need her a lot more than she needs me. And I don't know if she realizes that."

Evaline looked at him sadly even through the small smile. "I understand that," she said. "I was the same way as you, once." She paused for a moment. "But the person did leave me, so I guess that's what I meant when I said I'm looking for something that isn't there. So, there. I know you don't want to fill that role, or any role, so that's why I just think it's easier if..." She sighed. "I don't know. I hope that makes sense. I just didn't want to hurt your feelings again by saying that, but you seemed upset, so... I don't know."

Rek took a deep breath, feeling unsettled by her question, but glad that she was finally at least starting to open up. "You want someone you can trust, more than you even trust yourself?"

Evaline let out a short, nervous laugh. "I don't know what I want," she said quietly.

He hummed for a second. Now that, he'd believe. But, he nodded slowly. "Who was your person?"

She gave him a long look like she was debating in her head whether she wanted to just hand this information over. "An ex," she said finally.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"It's okay," said back, perking up a little. "I'm mostly over it now."

"That's not something you get over," he answered. "At least, not fully. I'd be crushed."

Despite the somber mood, she huffed air through her nose in amusement. "Hah. Yeah. You don't even know the half of it." Evaline offered him an appreciative smile. "But thank you. And I'm sorry, again, for my actions. Like I said, I was just... I don't know, I guess not in the right headspace and thinking things through. I know this means a lot to you, so if there's anything I can do for you..."

Rek hesitated, trying to think through the implications of what she was saying. So, trauma from a bad break up? That much he could understand. He walked to the nearby bench and sat down, looking up at her, wondering if she'd run or come to sit as well. "Nah, it makes sense. I went through a whole string of rebounds when Rynyr dumped me last year... it's like... something in you craves intimacy, so you try to fill it whatever way you can... and you think you want dick, when you really just want someone you can talk to."

Evaline laughed, and although it was short and airy, it was nice to see her genuinely smile and laugh at something. She hesitated for a moment, but then took some strides towards him, sitting on the opposite end of the bench.

"Yeah," she said after a while with an uptured smile, nodding her head. "I guess that's one way to put it. Except, I don't know if I'm craving someone I can talk to. I guess it's more like..." She paused in thought. "Companionship," she finished softly.

"Yeah. I mean... that's part of it, no?" He rubbed his neck, glad she sat down. "Just someone you can vibe with. Be your real self and not have to worry about what they're gonna think, because they love you no matter what."

"Yeah," she said again, quietly. "Be your real self." She seemed to be in thought, but didn't say any of the thoughts out loud.

"Best self to be." Rek offered a small smile. "But also the hardest."

Evaline smiled weakly, looking to look at him. "I wasn't my best self when I first met you, or even just a few minutes ago. But I'll work on getting better, starting now."

"Eh." Rek shrugged. "None of us will ever be as good as we could be. Just matters that you try to be a decent human and do your best. Everything else will come with time."

The thing was, Evaline didn't really know how to be herself. Rek had no idea that she was still trying to figure that out herself, and for the first time in a long time, she felt like she was starting a new page. It was just, well, a learning curve. And yesterday's action was a mistake she wouldn't repeat.

"Everything comes with time, after a while," she said. "I just wish it'd go faster sometimes."

"Mm, yeah," Rek answered. "There are some things that just can't be rushed, though."

"But, theoretically--" she began, turning her body towards him just a little bit, "--if it were possible, I wouldn't even hesitate to take that option. Just, like, skip ahead, and get to the good parts." She sighed. "Just a random thought I have sometimes."

"I mean, I definitely agree sometimes," Rek said. "But, like, I dunno. It's the lows that make us appreciate the highs. We wouldn't have a full range of emotions if things were always pleasant."

Evaline mulled this over. "That's rather poetic," she said after a pause.

"I do like poetry." He smiled at her a bit shyly. "All the beautiful things in life. Art, music, poetry. The things that make life worth living."

"I guess." She looked down at her bag in thought. Here on this bench sat an artist and a musician, bonding over a terrifying experience, and both of them had different perspectives on art. This seemed like a start of a dark comedy show. "To be honest, I'm not even sure if I like art," she admitted after a hesitation. "I'm good at it, but it doesn't mean I like it, or it makes my happy, or makes me feel like it's worth it, or whatever you said. Sometimes I feel like it's a part of my identity, and I didn't even choose to go down that path."

Rek took a deep breath, then sighed thoughtfully. "What does make you happy, then?"

Evaline bit her lip while thinking, only letting it go when she felt like she was just one small puncture away from bleeding. It forced her to think sometimes, but no amount of lip biting or fidgeting could help her think of an answer other than the depressing: I don't know.

"I guess that answer will come with time," she said with a weak laugh.

"Come now," Rek said. "Surely there's something you've found by now? Flowers? Reading? Netflix? Everyone has their thing, no matter how small."

"I do like reading, and I used to be into flower gardening," she said with a small smile. "I mean, there are things I don't mind doing. I like going on runs. I used to like to play the piano, once upon a time. But they're not really central to who I am, if that makes sense. They're just things I don't mind doing."

"Yeah, that's fair," Rek answered with a nod. He hesitated, then smirked playfully. "I mean, maybe you could come to like the piano again... like, the piano piano."

Evaline laughed through her nose. If she had heard the same sentence ten minutes ago, she probably would have felt a spike of anxiety. But now, despite a rocky start, she felt like she could begin to trust Rek.

"I swear on my life I will never misinterpret the word piano ever again," she said as she returned the smirk tugging her lips. "But if that's okay with you, then... I wouldn't mind that. Although, I'm probably very rusty."

"Sounds good," Rek answered, smile widening. "I like helping people with piano -- creating happiness, one key at a time... I think there's a piano in the union that people can use... or, ah... Jerica's home sometimes, too... or we can... agree on what piano means."

Evaline wanted to groan from both the cheesy line and the bad joke, but she repressed it. "How about we stick to the definition of the instrument? With the black and white keys, all 88 of them?" she said, trying to sound sarcastic, but then realizing that was probably in bad taste as well. "But also," she added quickly, "you don't need to show me anything if you don't want to. I think it's nice to listen to people talk about things that interest them, or hear songs they've played... if you'd rather do that."

"I like both." Rek smiled again, finally seeming to be relaxing a bit now that they were talking about music. "I've been working on Vivaldi Variation from Concerto in G Minor, if you want to hear sometime... I'm supposed to learn Balakirev Islamey by the end of the semester and..." He inhaled, then blew the air out. "We'll see if that happens."

Before Evaline had a chance to respond (not that she had much of a response since she only knew of Vivaldi), her phone kept vibrating nonstop. She quickly pulled it out of her pocket, shooting Rek an apologetic smile, and then looked down to see Elias spamming her with texts that varied from "are you done breathing yet" to "the food will be here in 5 min and i hope u will like it" to "it may or may not be vegan friendly, yet to be determined."

Rek also looked at his phone, shaking his head. "Apparently, and I quote, 'Mel knew ur a lying liar and got u food anyway, come back'."

Evaline laughed, pressing the power button on her phone and putting it away. "That sounds like Mel." She got up to her feet and looked over towards the Plaza. "I guess Jerica and Elias agreed to spam text us at the same time."

She wondered if they knew anything about them. They couldn't have, based on Rek's earlier comments of him wanting to go somewhere private.

"I know this is, um, a weird way to start a friendship, but if your offer still stands... I wouldn't mind being friends." She tore her gaze away from the plaza and looked back at him, trying to appear sincere. "And... it's up to you if you want to tell anyone about this."

"Oh gods no," Rek said quickly, shaking his head. "I mean..." He looked at her guiltily. "They all know something happened because I kind of..." He looked away, flushing. "Cried. Like, a lot, last night." He took a deep breath. "But for the love of the gods, Jerica can not find out it was you."

"That's okay," she said gently. "And... yeah." The thought of pissing off Jerica made her skin crawl. "I think that's probably best."

It had been a bit of a long day. He had a few classes at the start of the day, went to the gym for two hours, then went to another class. Well, not exactly a class, but a culinary benchmark exam. It was an assessment for seniors at the start to see where they were at, and it went a little long. Part of it was because one of the ovens stopped working, and so more people had to share ovens, and the teachers were stressed, and so was everyone else.

It all turned out okay. He'd made Hasselback Tomato Caprese and a Ginger-Carrot Souffle, but now his mind was mush. Keeping track of measurements, synching timers, making sure a million different pieces were balanced perfectly while sharing ovens, ingredients, and space just did something to him. It was great, and he loved it (otherwise he wouldn't be doing it) but today had been stressful.

He was glad to be home.

He rolled up to the plaza on his bike, parked in street parking, and made his way to the third floor at 9:30pm. Not exact, because he didn't really check the clock, but it was around that time.

When he stepped into his apartment, he noticed it was quiet. That meant Elias was probably asleep already, and Bo assumed Elias probably had another early shift. Poor guy.

After he locked the door behind him and stepped into the living room, he realized he wasn't alone. Evaline was still there, sitting on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her while she was on her phone.

"Oh," he said softly, not wanting to wake Elias - even though he was a heavy sleeper, which was proved everyday by his ten different wake-up alarms.

"Hey, Evaline. You doin' alright? Just chillin?" he asked as he hung up his leather jacket on the coat hook by the front door.

----------------------

Evaline wasn't particularly tired, even though she had a restless night of rest and it felt like so much happened today. On top of that, she was completely drained from sitting-in on the chaos of Elias and Jerica, as well as the heavy conversation with Rek. It was so exhausting. Her mind was tired, but her body wasn't. She was used to being up at later hours of the night to focus on her work, and so she knew it was impossible for her to sleep before 10PM, even though Elias miraculously chose to become responsible and sleep so he could be well-rested for his early morning shift tomorow.

James had shot her a text about half an hour ago, and she went back-and-forth with him until the conversation naturally died. Since then, she had been aimlessly scrolling through social media, gravitating towards Instagram. She didn't often use it as it was intended to, really. She hardly reacted to her feed or looked through people's stories, and it had been a few months since she uploaded anything - even with her art account. But boredom set in and she started to mindlessly scroll through her millions of notifications of likes and comments that were left unanswered, until she saw something capture her eye.

It was a notification from Instagram:

jameshawke, who you might know, is on Instagram.

Evaline hesitated, but curiosity got to the best of her, and... yes, she was stalking him, but anyone who said they didn't stalk their friends was a liar.

She clicked on his profile as her eyes drifted down to his bio.

James Hawke
HPU Senior. I have a horse. I like to read.

Yeah. That fit him. Although, she didn't know he owned a horse.

Scrolling down to his feed, she found many pictures of horses, farm animals, natures scenes, and sunsets. There were a few pictures of him and who she assumed was his family, and she recognized his sister Larrel that she drew. She made a lot of funny faces while James smiled by her side.

Evaline was mostly intrigued by the horse pictures, and she liked (but not actually liked on Instagram) the two selfies he posted with his horse. One was him grinning while he squished his face against the horse, and another was him kissing the horse on the nose. They were goofy and affectionate/ She found out the horse's name through a simple caption: "I gave Elliot a bath today after he rolled around in the mud. He hated it." She was deep in his feed to watch a video of him riding a horse, and that was when she realized that she hadn't ever met anyone who used horses as hobbies and a pet. Cons of living in a city all her life.

She was scrolling back up to look at the goofy selfie of Elliot one last time before she mindlessly scrolled through someone else's profile, but then the door was quickly unlocked and Bo walked in.

Evaline didn't really have a reason to be surprised since she knew he was coming home anyways, but she panicked anyways because it felt like she was being caught looking at something she wasn't supposed to be looking at, even though she knew Bo wouldn't be able to see. In a quick panicked motion, she swiped right to leave his profile and exit, but to her horror found out that she had accidentally double tapped.

Panic rushed through her as she dropped her phone on the floor to escape from it all, but then she realized that she had to quickly undo that, so she picked it back up.

But what if he sees the notification? Hah, yeah, great, he'll think I was stalking him now. Because I WAS stalking him. Maybe I should just own it. Pretend it wasn't an accident. Do I even have that level of confidence? Maybe he doesn't even have notifications enabled. I don't. Does he? What do I do?????

Evaline didn't even process Bo's words because she was too focused on trying to figure out what to do. He didn't have a ton of followers so he wouldn't get blown up with notifications. He probably kept them on, and there was no undoing what will come up on his phone. So she decided to keep it liked, and then followed him.

There. She'll just pretend this was on purpose. Yes. Not an accident.

Evaline took a deep breath and looked up at Bo waiting for a response.

"Hey. Welcome back," she said, casually sitting back on the couch.



Bo watched as her phone flew out of her hand onto the floor, and she scrambled to pick it up, pressing a few things before she finally composed herself. He had no idea what he'd just interrupted, or if he'd surprised her, or just come in at a bad time, but he figured he'd just play if off. He was clumsy for no reason too sometimes. It could've just been a funny meme for all he knew, and it was none of his business.

"Why thank you," he said with a goofy little bow of his head. "My triumphant return."

He kicked off his shoes by the door and walked over to the couch, plopping down on the opposite end with a small sigh as he leaned back.

"Long day. You?"

Evaline gave him a forced smile, sitting a little straighter on the couch, phone still in hand. "Something like that, yeah."

"Mmm, yes," he hummed. "I catch your vibes."

He kicked up one foot up on his knee, letting his mind power down just a little bit as he stared at the blank tv screen. It wasn't on. It was just the thing right across the room and in his line of sight.

"I had to make a souffle today," he said. "It's not that hard, unless you have two students breathing down your neck waiting to use the oven."

He laughed just a little in the back of his throat. A tired but genuine little laugh.

"I think I would do well on Hell's Kitchen. Just, constantly being yelled at. But making food, too. Or... gosh I can't remember the one where you like, have to grab ingredients in like ten seconds and then make something. Chopped! That's the name. It's hilarious. To watch, anyway. There's a moment where someone's like, 'I made chicken covered in breadcrumbs with a savory sauce' or something, and the judge is like 'Sir, these are chicken nuggets.'"

Bo giggled to himself at that. Maybe he was a little delirious after cooking for like, 3 hours straight. He shook his head.

"I don't know why but it gets me every time."



Evaline was caught a little off guard that Bo started to sit down and chat - or rather, just share a funny story. She wasn't used to strangers sharing stories about cooking to break the ice.

As he went on, she found herself setting her phone to the side and giving him her full attention to show that she was listening. She found herself smiling at the delivery of the joke, mostly because of the ridiculousness. She couldn't tell if the ridiclousness stemmed from the joke or the randomness of the situation.

"I don't think your new pet chicken would appreciate that joke very much," she said in response.



Bo looked at Evaline with a big smile, and he pointed at her with a finger gun.

"Eheheheh nice one," he said. "Elias keeps telling me to stop making chicken jokes like that. But I tell him, Elias, you already eat the unfertilized eggs, so what's what more yolk gonna do?"

He paused, grinning and squinting his eyes, looking at Nugget in the corner.

"It's nothing personal, babe," he said to the chicken. Nugget only stared at him blankly.

"I also got Nugget plenty of blankets and food and everything in that corner, so I think Nugget loves me. I bought her affection with gifts."

Evaline didn't respond to his joke, but she did tightly pressed her lips together like she was suppressing a smile. "I'm glad someone is taking care of her. I wouldn't even trust Elias with a succulent."

Now Bo was the one suppressing a smile. "Maybe a cactus. Those aren't as fussy."

"He had a cactus, once," she said. "It was about six inches long and it didn't grow for a year. He gave it to me, and within three months, it tripled in size. You want to know the secret?"

"Water?" he asked.

"Sunlight."

Bo clicked his tongue. "Brilliant. Who woulda thunk it. A desert plant, thriving in the sun. It's practically unheard of."

Evaline shrugged. "Guess it's not common knowledge, huh?"

"Well, Evaline, you have to consider what stress does to the brain. Elias has been studying to be a nurse. That's a lot of stuff. No room for cacti in there."

She finally laughed.

It didn't last very long and it wasn't very deep, but at least she wasn't repressing it.

"Yeah, that's nothing new. He's been empty-brained since kindergarten," she said, smirking at him.

Bo smirked back. "I think I've been empty-brained since conception."

"You might have to get Doctor Elias check that out, then."

"I will be diagnosed as empty-brained. The cure is memes. I feel like Elias would prescribe three memes a day. That would fix it," he said.

Evaline was still smiling in amusement, nodding. "Something like that, probably. With a dash of chaos, confidence, and carefreeness. Also known as Vitamin C."

"All of my favorite things about him, right there. His vitamin C is my favorite."

"That might be your favorite, but his is probably vitamin D," she said with a smirk.

Bo snorted loudly.

"Definitely not vitamin PG," Bo said with a slight wheeze.

"You're right," she said. "Not enough sunlight."

Bo started laughing and he grabbed the arm of the couch as he leaned forward, trying not to laugh too loud. Since he was trying to moderate his volume, a lot of it came out in high pitched wheezes. He managed to make it die down and pointed at Evaline again before lightly clapping.

"Brilliant. Bravo. Full circle."

Evaline looked pleased, like she was glad to make someone laugh. "Thanks. I'm a comedian."

"Glad to meet another one. There's not enough of us out there."

"Right. We're a dying breed. If we're not careful, the world will devolve into a humorless dystopia."

"Well we can't have that," Bo said with a smile, shaking his head. "On that note, this comedian probably needs to go do some self care aka sleep." He smacked his face with both his hands and dragged them down his cheeks a little bit.

"And I must wash myself of food smell. So many food smells. Mixing together making a generic food smell. I cannot describe. Brain too tired. Which is why sleep."

Evaline nodded. "You do that. I'll stay right here since I'm already on my bed." She paused. "Thanks for letting me sleep here, by the way. I appreciate it."

Bo got up off the couch and gave her a dismissal sort of wave.

"Oh, gurl, of course," he said, making his way for the hall. "It's not a problem at all. Did you need anything before I go? Need the bathroom? It'll be occupied for a bit."



Although the day had been long and exhausting, it was nice to have a lighthearted conversation for once. Elias never told her what Bo was like before; just that he liked to cook and he was a tall man. She could understand why they roomed together... more so from Elias's perspective more than Bo's, anyways.

Evaline thought about responding with another quippy comment, but then at the last second, decided against it to maintain the sincerity.

"No. I'm good, really. Thanks again, and have a good night," she said instead.

"Alright, well if for some reason you need to pee really bad or something, just knock three times and I'll hurry out. Peace." He flashed her a peace sign before he disappeared down the hall.

Evaline faintly smiled, sitting there in the empty room by herself again for a little bit, and then laid down on the couch, settling in to the blankets. Maybe she'll try to sleep now. That seemed like a good plan, especially since she was sure Elias was going to accidentally cause more ruckus in the morning and wake her up.

But she knew she couldn't sleep. Not yet. Not until she deleted Instagram off her phone so she could stop thinking about her mistake. It wasn't like that would undo what she did, but at least it gave her peace of mind. For now.

But maybe she was just overthinking things again.

Evaline had to hand it to them: the surprise was actually well-executed, even if late.

She was working on her project in the library tiers per James's recommendation, when all of a sudden she received a group text from Elias and Mel telling her that they ordered an Uber for her. If it had come from anyone else, of course she would have ignored it because she was not going to go in some random Uber without knowing where she was going. But she trusted her friends, and she was sure they had something planned.

She had to hold back a goofy smile when the car passed by a sign that read Blackhoof Park, and she saw Mel and Elias waving down the car a little bit ahead. Elias was holding a giant basket and backpack, and there were several blankets draped over Mel's hand.

They had planned a surprise picnic, just for her.

It was thoughtful.

"Hey!" Mel greeted as Elias thanked the driver and the car drove off. "Let's hike a little bit first. We know a good spot."

And they did exactly that, following a short path in the woods as the leaves and sticks crunched beneath them. It wasn't like Evaline didn't enjoy the week so far, but it was nice to finally have quality time with her friends. Mel gushed about how this was all able to happen because Lordshire had talked to her manager and got her time off so she could help host a show, but really they just wanted her to have the weekend off so that the three of them could spend some time together. Evaline thought about telling her how this sounded like a different Lordshire than she knew, but decided against it as even Elias was saying that he seemed to treat him differently ever since he found out they were dating.

Eventually, they led her to a small clearing in front of the lake's dock. A picnic table was nearby, as well as a swinging bench and a grill.



"We're here!" Mel exclaimed, unpacking the items while Elias started up the grill. "Sorry it took some time for us to set this up. It was hard to coordinate with our schedules."

"And for Bo to cook everything," Elias added. "Which he was happy to do, by the way. He's an awesome roommate. Did you talk to him at all, Ev?"

Evaline watched as Elias took out what appeared to be tofu and veggie kebabs on skewers and placed it on the grill as it was lighting up. "It's okay, and yeah, I did," she said. "He's a funny guy."

Mel popped open a hard seltzer and passed a beer to Elias. "Yeah, speaking of which, how have you spent your time this week? We were going to do this earlier, but you keep disappearing."

Evaline hesitated. It was a reasonably question, and now she was the one who felt bad that maybe she hindered any quality time between the three of them because she was not there. Because, well, she was with someone else -- specifically, James. Evaline wasn't usually fond of keeping up with casual conversations over text, but James was a good conversationalist, not only through text, but also in-person. They didn't really know each other that long, but it felt like they have, especially since they barely talked about their private lives. It was like they knew each other without really knowing each other, but maybe that was what kept it entertaining. They were just two private people who lived in two different cities with a time limit on their friendship.

"I made a friend," Evaline said, deciding it didn't really hurt to tell. "It hasn't been all that bad."

"Oh?" Mel said after she took a sip. "Already? Huh."

Evaline couldn't tell if she should have found it amusing or annoying that she was surprised she could make friends fast. Luckily this was just Mel, so she found it amusing more than anything.

"What's her name?" Mel asked after she paused in thought.

Elias snickered as he fueled the coals. "I'll bet you a dollar that her friend is actually a he," he said.

Evaline turned to narrow her eyes at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying," he said innocently with a shrug. "Mel is basically your only girl friend."

Evaline opened her mouth to protest, but then she realized that he was right. Instead she sighed in defeat, slumping in her seat.

"I knew it," he said triumphantly. "I'll Venmo request you a dollar."

Mel ignored him. "Do we know him? Or maybe he's part of your art class thing?"

Evaline shook her head. "No, he's not associated with Prestige. But I'm pretty sure you both know him..." She trailed off, now regretting mentioning this.

"Ooh, what's his name?" Mel simply asked.

She glanced back at Elias, internally groaning that she wished he would do his usual interjections and interrupt with guesses. Instead he quietly turned the kebabs, patiently listening.

"...James," she said after a long pause.

"Wait a second..." Elias murmured, brows scrunched together like he was doing an intense math problem in his head.

"James," Mel slowly echoed with a question in her voice. "Is that the guy with the, uh... eyebrows? Red head man?" She brushed her fingers along the top of her head as if to mimic how he had his hair swept up.

"I'm pretty sure he has brown hair," Elias said to Mel, then turned his attention back to Evaline. "Wait, so you're friends with James from Morri's class?"

"It's auburn," Evaline found herself automatically correcting, internally cringing that she seemed to know his hair color more than her two friends who should have known him more than her. "And yes."

"Nice," he said, with a smile and an approving nod. "James is cool. I can see it."

Mel let out a short laugh. "See what?"

"Friendship, or whatever. I dunno." He shrugged and then grinned. "And here I thought that he sat next to you in class because he thought you were pretty or something."

Evaline was grateful when Mel spoke next, changing the subject.

"Well, I'm glad you're making friends," she said with a smile and a glance at her. "Especially since you're coming back here, right? Like every month or something?"

"Yeah," she said softly with a small nod. "About once a month. Could be a weekend or a week... It just depends."

"I wonder if we can help her get her own place when she visits...?" Mel thought out loud, turning to talk to Elias as the food sizzled.

He scratched his head in thought. "Yeah, the couch can't be too comfy."

"Maybe I could stay with you and give her the keys to my place?"

"But how would she get to campus without a car? Plus, I'm pretty sure she thinks your roomies are so extra." He glanced at Evaline. "No offense, Ev."

"None taken," Evaline said quietly, repressing an amused smile that her friends were thinking out loud to make decisions for her when she was right there.

"Oh, I know," he continued on, directing his comments back to Mel. "Maybe I can ask Carter if I can sleep in one of his spare rooms, and then she can sleep in my room."

"Yeah, I guess that works," Mel said. "Would that bother Bo though?"

He scoffed. "I'm pretty sure Nugget would be more bothered by her than Bo, but yeah, I'll have to ask him. Unless..." He scrunched his lips before it turned into a silly grin, then peeped his head back to look at Evaline. "You wanna room with Carter and James instead?"

She could practically hear the implication from the silence that followed.

"Do you know if Jerica and Rek have extra room in their place?" Mel quickly said before Evaline could even think of a proper response.

Although she had already patched things up with Rek, the thought of rooming in the same apartment as him made her want to jump out of her skin.

Elias laughed. "Nah, they have the same layout as mine, but with less furniture."

"Hmm..."

"Have you ever heard of a stipend?" Evaline finally said, delivering the question blankly as she decided to shut the conversation down. "The studio class is a sponsorship. They don't pay me to do the project, but the school gives me a certain amount of money for travel and stay. I just don't have it now since school hasn't started yet for me."

"Oh," they both said at the same time, and Evaline decided then and there that now was not the time to mention that the stipend was a fixed finite amount that didn't allocate extra days. She could cross that bridge if she ever got there.

"That's good to know," Mel said.

"Food's ready!" Elias suddenly announced, turning off the grill.



Some time had passed. Evaline watched as Mel trotted away down the dock to go back to the car and grab the kite as well as the rest of the drinks. She thought about suggesting that they all go and get it together, but Mel insisted she get it by herself since it wasn't that far of a walk. In times like these, Evaline was reminded once again that Mel had a motherly instinct and often treated her and Elias like kids.

Which really wasn't too far of a guess from when they were kids, really.

Elias sat next to her also without shoes and with his pant legs rolled up so they could sit at the edge of the dock with their feet in the water. He was lazily swinging his legs in the lake, and there was a comfortable silence that sat between them after Mel was long gone. The birds chirped at the trees overhead near the base of the dock.

"Hey, can we have a serious moment for a second?" Elias suddenly said, breaking the silence as he looked ahead with a fading smile.

Evaline watched him closely. It was rare for him to suddenly turn his humor off like this, and she found herself sitting up straighter, giving him her full attention.

"Of course. What's wrong?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing wrong with me, or anything, per se. I'm just worried about you, because --"

"Elias --" Evaline interjected with a groan.

"-- of this summer, and I know, ya know, it was tough," he finished, then paused and blinked. "What?"

She sighed. "I don't need your sympathy."

"And I'm not going to give it to you unless you ask for it," he said stubbornly. "Which I know you never will, by the way."

"Great," she said curtly, wanting this serious moment to be over. It always made her skin crawl when he was like this. "Let's keep it at that."

"Evaline," Elias said gently, saying her name slowly. "You know you can tell us anything, right? I know our group has changed ever since we all graduated high school, but I'm still putting effort into maintaining friendships. And it goes both ways, you know. We've been friends since forever, and I don't plan on giving up."

She bit her lip and looked down into the water. It wasn't clear, so she couldn't see her reflection, but it was reflective enough for her to see her outline. "I know," she said softly.

Elias continued on. "It's just -- I didn't know any of those things were happening until it happened. Hell, Mel only found out because you couldn't get your story straight. And of course you told me nothing." He sighed again. "I'm just saying, at least I tried. To be there, I mean."

"No, I know," she quickly said, panicking and looking up to meet his serious eyes, but failing to hold it in place for more than a few seconds. "I guess... it was just easier," she said softly after some hesitation. "To not ruin this with... me. Especially since I was so far away."

Elias paused, and knowing him, he probably did so because he didn't want to say anything stupid in this rare moment of vulnerability.

He then quickly lifted up his foot and kicked some water towards her face.

"Hey!" she protested as droplets landed on her skin and hair.

"That's what you get for assuming I wouldn't drop everything I was doing to take out a loan and take the next flight over when you needed me," he said with a smug smile, leaning back on his hands triumphantly.

Evaline couldn't help but lightly smile in sincerity as she rubbed the water off her. Some of it seeped into her shirt. "Good," she said with a false sense of stubbornness. "Because that would be stupid. Private interest rates are really high these days."

"Riiiight," Elias said slowly. "Soooo stupid. Dumbest decision I'd make, by far."

"That's quite a statement," Evaline mused. "Considering you make a lot of stupid and dumb decisions."

"Har har."

"I mean, really," she continued on. "You're partly a super senior because you thought taking the beer, wine, and spirits class was going to be fun, but it ended up being too much bookwork, and you got too drunk on the samples to pass the exams. How many hours of work at that coffee shop did that cost you? Oh, wait, right. With the amount of coffees you finesse, it all evens out."

Elias turned to narrow his eyes at her, but when he saw that she was suppressing the biggest grin and laugh, he started to grin himself. "You are such a--"

Evaline flicked water to his face before he could finish that sentence. She watched as the water landed on his face and hair, and his surprised expression melted into one of playful revenge.

"You are so going to regret that," he said with a devilish grin as he brought one foot up to stand, but Evaline was faster and smarter.

She pushed him in the water when he was imbalanced, and he let out a yelp as he fell in the lake with a big splash.

The look on Elias's face when his head bobbed back to the surface was one Evaline couldn't easily forget. When she met his gaze, his eyes lit up in the same way they did when they were dumb kids throwing twigs at each other and shoving each other in the mud.

"Evaline!" he barked through a laugh, swimming to the edge and reaching for her leg, but she was already up on her feet and running down of the dock. "Get back here!"

"Nope!" she said with a laugh, and after Elias finally managed to lift himself back to the ground, they both ran down the dock laughing, throwing more roasts at each other before Mel could come back and hear any of it.

Bo was glad that after the whole piano girl thing (that he still wasn't super clear on) that Rek was still down to give him some piano lessons, because Bo was genuinely excited. Did he know much of anything? Well, nothing impressive. He did do some googling before meeting because he didn't want to sound like a complete noob, but he had a feeling he would anyway.

Oh well! That's what learning was for. Everyone starts somewhere, right?

They'd planned on a Thursday evening at 7pm to meet up, and Bo didn't want to be late, so he perfectly timed the minute he left his apartment and the 30 seconds it took him to walk down the hall so that he knocked on Rek's door right as it hit seven o'clock.

At that moment, he realized he didn't bring anything.

Should he have brought something? A notebook? Well it was too late now. Then again, he did live like, a few doors down. He didn't know why he was nervous all of a sudden.



Rek had been looking forward to the lesson most of the day. The only thing in the entire world better than playing music was teaching someone how to play music. The excitement in their eyes when they gained confidence. The way he could watch them improve, bit by bit, one week at a time. It made him feel like a proud father.

There was a knock on the door.

Rek set down the beginner's book he pulled out for Bo, then started down the hall. Jerica had been on the couch and got to the door first. She pulled it open then grinned. "Bobo!"

Bo laughed. "JerJer!"

"Hey, Bo!" Rek said brightly, pulling the door open wider. "Come on in!"

Bo smiled and nodded, stepping into the apartment and slipping off his shoes and socks before he walked into the living room.

"Out," Rek ordered, gesturing towards the door as he looked at Jerica.

"No," she scoffed.

"Out," he repeated more forcefully, grabbing her arm and shoving her towards the hall.

"Where am I supposed to go?" she argued. As if she ever had trouble figuring out places to go.

"I don't care," Rek answered. "Go bother Carter."

He shut the door and turned the lock then turned back towards Bo. He smiled at him. "You ready? I'm stoked for this."

Bo nodded very eagerly. "Yeah! I uh, have never had a music lesson in my life so I don't really know how this works, but uh, I'll follow your lead!"

"Hey, no shame in that!" Rek said brightly. "Everyone has a first lesson somewhere, right?"

"Like when my dad taught me how to boil hotdogs," Bo said. "And look where I'm at now."

"Exactly," Rek laughed. "And trust me, you didn't want to hear little-Rek's ruckus. I'm sure it was painful to everyone anywhere close to us."

"Fortunately, with keyboards, you can use headphones nowadays," Bo commented.

"True enough," Rek answered. He gestured down the hall. "The piano's this way... in my bedroom." He cringed a bit, but turned and led the way as Bo followed. Stop thinking about her. He opened the beginner's book and propped it up on the piano. "Sorry it's a little juvenile with the pictures and all, but this is the best intro book I've found so far."

"I like how the music notes have smiley faces," Bo said with a little grin. "Happy little notes." He laughed. "Like Bob Ross, but music."

Rek laughed and nodded. "I like that comparison."

He liked Bo, too. He could already tell these lessons were going to go well, regardless of how apt Bo was to learning. If nothing else, they'd have time to hang out and play some music and enjoy life. He doubted Bo was going to throw the metronome like Jerica had back before he'd given up on trying to get her to learn to play.



"Okay, so, you've never taken music lessons before. Do you know anything about the piano, or are we starting from scratch?"

Bo tried to remember things from youtube videos and his grandpa playing the piano in their old mansion.

"Uhhh..." he hummed, looking at the keyboard and scanning the keys. "My grandpa explained a few things sort of. Not like, teaching me, just... haha, saying things. Like--"

He poked the key in the middle of the piano.

"Middle C?" he asked.

"Perfect!" Rek said brightly, grinning at him. He pointed to the book. "That corresponds to this line right here."

"Ohhhh," Bo said, looking down at the keyboard, then at the sheet music marking the same note in front of him. He poked the key a few more times as he looked back and forth, trying to memorize the note placement and everything.

"And the notes have letter names. A, B, C, D, E, F, G." He paused for a moment. "It... it stops at G, right?"

"Exactly!" Rek said. "See? You're almost a pro already."

Bo chuckled. "Knowing how to do it in your head is a lot different than being able to actually do it with your hands." He wiggled his fingers. "Like chopping vegetables."

He looked back at the keyboard. "I think I could guess the letters based on where the C is, but that's really all I know. I don't know chords or anything. I know sharps and flats are a thing but I don't really know what that means or how to apply it, if that makes sense."

"Yeah, for sure, no worries," Rek said. "The flats and sharps are the black keys." He gestured at the keyboard. "But don't worry about them for now. Intro tunes stick to the white keys while you're still getting comfy with playing."

"I think reading sheet music will probably take a hot minute," he said, scanning the page rek had opened to. "'Cause I'll have to... memorize stuff."

It was hard to talk while he read. He squinted his eyes for a moment to focus. For some reason, his left eye was hurting a little as he focused. He ended up kind of winking at the page a little as he read.

"Yeah, reading the music is definitely the hardest part," Rek sympathized. "The rest is easy, just punching keys. But, don't worry about that, either. The intro books are good about working you up bit by bit so it's not overwhelming. See? For this tune, you only have to focus on these four keys."

Bo hummed and took a minute to connect the dots between the notes, the keys, and where they were. Hesitantly, he played the four-note tune very slowly.

"Hey!" Rek patted his back proudly. "You just played your first tune! Congrats!"

Bo smiled big and laughed a little. "Let's see if I can do it again."

He tried again, this time managing to go just a little faster. And he did it again, a few different times. It was strangely therapeutic but also nice to be able to accomplish such a small little task.

Rek had Bo put a pause on the playing for a moment to explain a little bit more about note names and sight-reading. He explained to Bo where all the letters on the keyboard would be marked on sheet music. Some notes took up the spaces, some were on the lines, and there were some fun little acronyms to help memorize where the letters were. Like, "All Cows Eat Green Beans." He liked that one. Or how the spaces could spell "FACE."

Rek showed Bo a few exercises in the book that he could write in and work on to help practice sheet music and get more understanding, but he also gave Bo a little assignment. They were working through what looked like the first lesson in the book, and it ended with "Hot Cross Buns" and "Jingle Bells". Not the full songs, really, but the main melodies that everyone knew. Those were the ones that Bo would learn to play.

Rek mentioned that there were a whole lot of other markings and notations in music. Like ones that told you to play louder, faster, slower, etc. But they'd get to those later, and Bo was glad for it. He knew it'd take him a bit to get all the letters down and memorize where they were on the keyboard before he could begin to play at different speeds and think about volume.

The lesson went about 45 mins before Rek called it a day and they felt like they reached a good stopping point. Bo felt comfortable in knowing what he had to do for the next week and was actually really happy. That wasn't as scary as his brain made it out to be!

But next time, he would bring a pencil. Because he had to borrow Rek's.

Bo got up off Rek's little piano bench with a smile.

"Thanks so much for doing this, man," he said. "Maybe in a year or so, I'll be decent enough to play something for my grandpa. He might like that. Even though, he's like, a piano god in my mind."

"Awww, I'm sure he'd love that." Rek grinned up at him. "You're a quick learner, you definitely got this. I just hope you'll want to stick with it."

"Oh! I definitely do!" Bo said quickly. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to learn. I just - it didn't really work out. But! This is great." He smiled again, and then reached into his pocket. He pulled out a 20 dollar bill.

"And this --" he said, grabbing Rek's hand and shoving the bill into it. "Is for the lesson. No take backs."

"No!" Rek shoved the money back at him. "Seriously, dude. I love this so much. I should be paying you." He laughed a bit.

Bo held the dollar with a little pout. "But my moneys..."

Rek patted his back again with another laugh. "You've already fed me plenty enough to have earned that and more."

Bo laughed. "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." He decided to pat Rek back. On the back. "Full tummies for heads full of tunes. Don't put that on a t-shirt. That was cheesy."

Rek laughed again. "Hey, whatever works. I'm definitely getting the better end of this deal."

Bo hummed. "You'll have to tell me all of your favorite foods. I am happy to pay with food too. Give me a list. Foods that make you happy. Go."

"Ooh! Options." Rek smiled, then hummed for a second. "I mean, I would die for your muffins. And -- ooh -- do you know how to make those little..." Rek gestured vaguely. "They're like brownies, but in cookie form, and covered in powdered sugar... you know what I mean?"

"Do they have the little hershey's kisses in the middle?" he asked, also motioning. Miming with him.

"Yeah!" Rek answered, grinning. "Oh my gosh, I've only had those once but they were sooooo good."

Bo grinned and laughed in the back of his throat. "Hohoho well now I know what to make first. Fantastic. Okay. This is good. Yes."

He grabbed the lesson book before he forgot and then pointed at Rek with it.

"Brownie cookies next week. And I will learn how to play jingle bells. I will also sing it because I can. Ha. Okay. Now uh--" he quickly pulled out his phone to check the time. "I should probably get home and do some homework. But I'll see you around later, man!" He started for the bedroom door and Rek followed him towards the front door.

"Yeah! Can't wait," Rek said.

Bo slipped his shoes back on and nodded. "Sweeeeet," he said as he opened the door. "Peace out, bro."

He's actually kicked her out. She scoffed at the door, standing in the hallway for a moment as she tried to think of what she'd do now. It actually wasn't all that surprising. And she didn't mind it too much, really. It was probably for the best. People tended to get so insecure when it came to their lessons with Rek, and her presence seemed to make their nervousness worse. And she didn't want to make Bo feel bad.

She turned down the hall.

Harrassing Carter was an option. She smirked and walked to their door, rapping on it sharply. There was no answer. Not even the hint of a shuffling inside. She deflated a bit. So, no harrassing Carter. Pity.

She looked down and remembered that she wasn't actually wearing shoes. She could always go back in the apartment to grab some, but that might make Bo anxious, and she didn't want that. So. She could...

She pulled her phone out, as if that would give her an idea. But it didn't. All her books were locked in the apartment along with her shoes. Elias wasn't home. Apparently, James and Carter weren't, either. She didn't have many options left, at this point.

Then an idea struck her.

Carter's things are still home...

His game room seemed like it cost more than she was ever going to make in her entire life. Okay, that might be an exaggeration. But, if it was sitting there, unused... She knocked on the door again. Still no answer. She slipped her student ID out of her phone case -- the one she always used to break into Rek's apartment -- then slid it next to the lock and popped the door open.

"Hello?" She stuck her head inside. Still no answer. She shrugged. It's not like she was doing anything wrong -- she wasn't stealing anything. Just using. Gently. Carter would have let her hang out in his game room if he'd been home... maybe.

She shut the door behind her, locking it again, then strode across the living room and down the hall into the game room. It was a nice space. Lots of bean bags and not one but two mini fridges packed full of beer. Okay, maybe she would steal something... but she'd replace the. Later.

She flopped down in one of those chairs that is shaped like a comma, grabbing a beer and a controller, then getting started with a first-person-shooter game. The longer she played, the bolder she got. And the more beers she drank, the louder she got. Soon she was wearing his headset, volume turned up as she leaned forward as she got to an intense part of the game.

One of the gamer boys started being a dick when he heard that she was a girl. Typical. She rolled her eyes and ignored him for a while, then got progressively more annoyed. He hadn't listened to any of her orders to stop being a jackass, and was distracting her from the game. Finally, she looked down at the dude's username, "Look, BorgBl@ss69, I know that you're very unfamiliar with -- and possibly afraid of -- vaginas, but that don't mean you get to be a mother--" She trailed off, looking up as she caught a glimpse of motion in the doorway. "Carter!" She leaned forward and popped the mini fridge open, then held a beer out to him vaguely, looking back at the screen as BorgBl@ss kept running his mouth.

Carter stopped in the doorway and didn't take the beer. Instead, he crossed his arms and leaned on the doorway with a curious but unimpressed sort of smirk.

"I don't recall letting you keep the key," Carter said.

"Oh, I don't need a key," she muttered. "I just -- MY GOOOOOOOOOD CAN YOU JUST FUCKING SHUT UP? KILL THE DUDE. IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE."

Carter slowly came over and sat beside her, watching the screen. He picked up the beer she offered a few second ago and popped it open with a bottle opener on his keyring.

"THERE!" She dramatically flicked a button on the controller. "No thanks to you!"

She flipped the headset off and pulled it off her head as she looked over at Carter. "Hey. Sorry. You know how the dudebros get online."

"Oh, trust me," he said with a nod of understanding. "I think many of them sell off the rest of their braincells that they don't use for gaming on ebay. And apparently they also auction off all of their respect for women. But in this apartment, we drink respect women juice."

Then he took a sip of beer.

Jerica laughed, picking up her own beer too. She lifted it in the air in a toast to herself, then took a drink. Then, it occurred to her that she should probably offer an explanation. Or, at least a half-hearted apology... or, something. "I did knock."

"I wasn't home," Carter said, lifting his eyebrows. "Yet."

"Which is why I thought you wouldn't mind," she said as charmingly as she could. "A temporary house sitter. For free." She glanced around at the empty bottles. "Almost free.... I can replace those."

Carter chuckled. "So can I. 'S long as you don't spill. Though I've learned you're quite a thorough cleaner."

"A proper drunk never spills her beer." Jerica laid her hand across her chest.

"Amen to that," he said, lifting his beer to toast.

She clinked her bottle against his. "Cheers!" She smirked mischeviously. "Boss man."

"I like that," he laughed before taking a quick three-gulp chug.

"I like your rates," she said, also laughing as she took a drink.

"I like the buzz," he said with a small shrug. "Takes the edge off, as they say."

"Oh, I meant the fittys you throw around like confetti," she said with a smirk. "I'd never judge another boozy bitch. Thursdays are rough."

Carter pursed his lips and sighed. "Only friends for the money?"

"No, no, don't--" She wagged her finger. "Only maid for the money. Friends for the good times."

Carter laughed, throwing his head back a little as he leaned back into the seat. "Mmm, yes. Good."

He paused, looking over at her, then at the screen.

"Want to play something?" he asked.

"Yeah!" She perked up, beaming at him. So, she was right. He didn't mind... well, at least he wasn't throwing her out. She leaned forward to grab another remote and handed it over to him. "But I swear to god... better not take after Borg-- whatever his face was." She laughed a bit.

Carter took it and set his almost-empty beer bottle to the side and sat up straight, taking the controller.

"Oh, please," he scoffed. "I'll shit-talk but at least I can back it up with some decent play. Let's see you do better."

Jerica laughed. "Oh, I'll kick your ass while I'm drinking your beer."

"Bet," he said, turning to her with a mischievous grin.

She returned it, then looked at the screen. "So, what do you feel like losing at first?"

"What about a good early 2000's classic," he said. "Call of Duty."

"Sure." Jerica tipped forward onto her knees and switched out the games, then sat back in the seat and settled in comfortably. She wasn't sure if Rek was done with Bo's lesson yet or not, but this was nicer. She'd much rather shoot virtual people than bash her head off a real biology book she couldn't understand.

Kazimir had planned this. And by "planned it," he meant, as of that morning, when he decided to surprise Bo for one reason: he wanted to see him. Also, he happened to have a long weekend off of work, so it was perfect. Nothing would be missed!

Kazimir knew what building Bo lived in because he'd stopped by a handful of times before the previous year, and he'd helped Bo move in. Mostly because his dad had given Bo this old bedframe made of pure mahogany that weighed like a million pounds to a regular person, but when shared between him and Bo, it wasn't too bad. It was hella bulky though. But pretty, if you liked wooden things.

He decided to find a hiding spot to surprise Bo. Or at least, he had at first. He thought maybe he could wait behind the wall, but what if Bo came from the other side? Then he thought maybe he could wait inside the building, but he didn't have a keycard, and even he was self aware enough to know that he looked a little too sketch to pull off sneaking in without potentially getting in trouble. If Bo wasn't involved, he would, but he didn't want to make things awkward for Bo with him getting in trouble.

He decided to just wait by the door, discreetly in the shade of one of the outside table's umbrellas. Sometimes the best places to hide were in plain sight. He looked down at his phone - or pretended to, mostly - as he kept and eye out for Bo.

In about fifteen minutes, he easily spotted Bo's towering figure approaching from around the corner. He was walking with a small group of people. Two dudes and two chicks that Kazimir didn't recognize, but Bo looked like he was talking and making them laugh and smile.

Bo almost passed where Kazimir was seated, but then paused, his eyes flicking over to him. At that moment. Kazimir was on his feet, and ran over to him. Bo had about two seconds to recognize him before he was swallowed up in a big bear hug. The two of them started laughing as they squeezed each other hard, and Bo ended up lifting Kazimir off his feet.

"Dad!" Bo said in surprise with laughter still in his voice. "What are you doing here?"

Kazimir gave Bo one last squeeze and kissed Bo on the cheek before he pulled away.

"I wanted to surprise you! I missed my boy!"

In unison, all of Bo's friends who were watching seemed to go: "Awwwwww." Bo rubbed the back of his neck bashfully before turning Kazimir to face his group of friends.

"Oh, yeah, well, this is my dad!" he said. Kazimir smiled and waved. "His name is Kazimir."

A woman of average height stuck out her hand. She had short cropped black hair that looked like it was bleached blonde on the top and dark brown skin. She had two eyebrow piercings (one on each eyebrow), some dangly earrings, and a flowery dress. She gave him a big, warm smile as he shook her hand firmly.

"Nice to meet you, Kazimir. I'm Melissa!"



Kazimir nodded, turning to the next guy who stuck out his hand. He was a real short, stocky guy. Brown skin darker than Melissa, and dreads that were maybe two inches long? He wore a big 'ol hoodie.

"Robin," he introduced.



"Nice to meet you both," Kazimir said as he turned to the next girl. She was about Robin's height, and a real skinny looking kid, and she looked the youngest out of all of them. Either she was a freshman, or she had chronic baby face. She had a button nose and big eyes and curly black hair that fell in ringlets around her face and light brown skin.

"Call me Dinny!" she said, shaking his hand with a shy smile.



"And last but not least--" Bo said, gesturing to his last friend. It was a taller fellow, who bore some resemblance to Melissa. He had a clean fade with a faint design on the side of his head and a very calm and cool kind of smile. Kaz liked that.

"Raj," he said. "Melissa and I are brother and sister."

"I'm older," Melissa said.

"And I'm taller," Raj said with a small smug grin.

"I think I've seen you two before," Kazimir said. "Bo talks about you guys. Melissa you're uh... med student?"

"Becoming a doctor is the goal!" Melissa said with a smile.

"I'm studying to become an architect," Raj said.

"Biology!" Dinny chirped. Kazimir looked at her blankly. "I want to work with fish and frogs," she added. Kazimir then nodded approvingly.

Robin was quiet for a moment, before Raj elbowed him lightly.

"Oh. Ha. Journalism."

Kazimir could tell Robin didn't sound too thrilled, but he nodded anyways. Then a thought occured to him.

"I didn't interrupt anything...?" he asked.

"Nah," Bo said. "We're just all getting home from lunch." He looked to the others and with a few quick glances communicated to his friends that they could leave. They nodded and smiled, waving goodbye.

"Nice to see you, Kazimir!" Melissa said.

"Yeah, hope you guys have a nice time," Raj added.

Kazimir didn't know what to say in response so he just gave a very dad thumbs up and clicked his tongue. He could see Bo roll his eyes with a small smile. Perfect. Success.

"So I guess you're not hungry, then," Kazimir said.

"Not really," Bo said. "But I haven't gone to the gym yet today."

Kazimir smacked Bo on the back. "That's my boy! No pains no gains."

Bo laughed. "Okay, okay. Let me go change and we can get going. You've got your stuff...?"

"Yeah, yeah, in my bike. We're good."

Bo smiled and walked to the door as Kazimir followed. "Okay. I'll let you in real quick."

Jerica was bored. And sore, from practice. But she was fairly used to that, at this point. The conditioning was nothing but an ego match, and unfortunately, her ego was just as massive as the rest of the teams', but her muscles were not. She'd get there. Some day.

She took a shower and tried to figure out where Rek was, but he was intentionally not telling her that when he answered her texts. Fine. Be like that. There were plenty of other people on this floor she could bother.

She slipped on shoes and started down the hall, not quite sure where she was heading. She considered Carter's door, then walked past it, deciding to check if Elias was home first. He'd be more fun to hang out with than simply stealing Carter's game room. Again. It'd become rather therapeutic, and he hadn't pressed charges, so it was win-win.

She got to Elias's apartment and knocked, then tried the handle, knowing fully well it was going to be locked --

She looked down, surprised, when the knob actually twisted. She poked her head in and saw Bo sitting on the couch with another man. She grinned. "Bobo!"

Bo looked over at her with a smile. "JerJer!" His smile faltered for a moment as he looked to the older man in a bit of confusion. "Did you forget to--"

"Ah, shit, sorry," the man said in a Russian accent.

"Oh," she said after a moment, brain finally clicking what he meant. "It was... unlocked... I can go?"

"No, no, it's chill, Jer. If you wanna chill," Bo said, getting up from the couch to walk over to her. He waved her in. "This is my dad," he said, pointing to the man on the couch. The man lifted a hand in an almost-wave.

Jerica threw her arms around Bo's abdomen in a quick hug. She'd accepted at this point she was never not going to feel like a child with her arms barely managing to touch when she wrapped them around him. But, it wasn't going to discourage her. He was clearly freshly showered, a vague minty scent radiating off him. She patted his chest. "You smell nice."

Then she turned around, running her fingers through her still damp hair, and lifted a hand in acknowledgement to the older man. She could see the resemblance to Bo. She nodded to him. "Bo Senior."

He snorted. "JarJar," he said.

Bo turned around to his dad. "Dad, her name is Jerica," he corrected.

"I like JarJar," Bo's dad said.

Jerica laughed. "Hey, I'll take JarJar from BoBo 2.0."

"The name's Kazimir," Bo's dad said. Bo was still on his feet and wandering towards the kitchen.

"You hungry?" Bo asked Jerica.

"When I'm in this apartment? Always." She grinned at him.

"She gets it," Kazimir said.

Bo just laughed. "Okay, okay, I'll grab something," he said as he disappeared into the kitchen for a moment.

Jerica turned back towards the couch, not quite sure what to do at that point. It felt awkward to follow Bo. It also felt awkward to sit on the couch. So instead, she just turned and awkwardly leaned against the side of the recliner next to her.

"Nice to meet you," Jerica said, deciding to be a little more serious now. "I'm Jerica."

"Yeah, he already said that," Kazimir said with a little laugh through his nose. "So you walk into his apartment all the time, huh?"

"I did knock," she defended.

Kazimir shrugged. "So do salesmen."

"Salesmen don't have keycards." She decided to lean the rest of the way back and sit on the arm of the recliner.

Kazimir raised his eyebrows and looked at her with a little smirk. "Ohhhh keycards, huh? I see, I see," he said, humming in thought. "Guess you gotta use what you've got on ya, huh. College kids can't afford lock picks these days."

"Lock picking takes longer," Bo said from the kitchen.

"Not if you're good at it!" Kazimir retorted.

"I mean, the cards are pretty slick if you're good at them, too," Jerica said with a shrug, deciding against sharing how she had pretty much made it a habit of breaking into Carter's apartment at this point in the semester.

"Don't act like you don't use cards too, dad," Bo chimed in again, still in the kitchen.

"I am not saying I do anything. I'm innocent," Kazimir said. "JarJar Binks is the criminal in this room."

Jerica could hear Bo's muffled snort. She laughed. She liked this man. Bo would always be the best, of course. But his dad had jokes, and she could respect the sass. The hustle.

Bo finally reappeared with a big plate half-full of cookies and half-full of freshly cut fruit. The presentation looked professional, with all the cookies stacked nicely and the fruit slices lying on each other in a pattern of colors. He laid the plate on the coffee table.

"Bone apple teeth," he said, plopping down beside his father. Kazimir grinned and grabbed three cookies in one hand. She followed his lead and grabbed a cookie, then sat back, still propped up on the arm of the recliner.

"Dad. Blood sugar."

"Doctors are liars," was Kazimir's excuse.

Bo pried the cookies out of Kazimir's hand. "The fruit."

"Hah!" Jerica gloated, taking a big bite of her cookie. "He lets me have the cookies."

Kazimir glared at Jerica, and then Bo. He then grabbed a handful of grapes, which he promptly shoved into his mouth. All of them. At once.

"He does this to get attention," Bo said.

Kazimir said something, but it was muffled by grapes. He was chewing quickly.

"I mean, it's working," Jerica said, nodding as she chewed the cookie. "That was impressive."

"Some call it an oral fixation," Bo said. "I think he just has baby brain still. Stick thing in mouth. That's baby brain."

Kazimir still couldn't protest anything understandable with his mouth full.

Jerica smirked between them, but decided that she didn't want in the middle of that one, whatever it was. Instead, she just shoved the rest of the cookie in her mouth and eagerly waited to see what Kazimir's angry grunting meant when it turned to words. Finally, he managed to chew and swallow all the grapes down and he cleared his throat loudly.

"How was that attention?" Jerica teased.

"I feel so alive," Kazimir said. "How's your cookie?"

"Mmmmmm," Jerica leaned forward a bit, reaching for another one deliberately as she looked at him mischeviously. "Can feel my blood sugar rising with each bite."

Kazimir grinned and narrowed his eyes, leaning back a little.

"Ona nakhal'naya. mne eto nravitsya," he said in what sounded like Russian.

"Oona ooga booga to you too."

Then, Bo started speaking in Russian in return.



"Nel'zya delat' komplimenty lyudyam na yazykakh, kotorykh oni ne ponimayut," he said. Then he turned to Jerica. "He said he likes your sass. I told him not to compliment you in a language you can't understand."

"Party pooper," Kazimir said.

"Awww." She grinned at the compliment. "I like your sass too." Then she looked back at Bo accusingly. "Wait, you're..." She gestured at him vaguely.

"Bilingual?" he asked.

"Yeah, and like..." She glanced at Kaz, finally piecing together that his accent made sense. "Like, Russian 'n shit?"

"...Yeah?" Bo said, looking from his dad to her. "Yeah. My grandparents moved to the U.S. when my dad was a kid." He looked at his father for confirmation.

"Yeah," Kazimir said. "I was twelve."

"That's cool!" Jerica grinned.

"Hell yeah it is," Kazimir replied, grabbing more fruit. Bo shrugged a little bit.

"And all this time I thought you were just named after tequila," Jerica said.

Kazimir bust out laughing, and Bo looked over at him with a much weaker laugh, but still a laugh. He patted his dad's back while Kazimir continued to laugh and wheeze.

"Like Patrón?" Bo asked.

"Yeah, I thought you were the Patrón to my Jose Cuervo," she snickered, but was more amused at Kazimer's reaction than her own joke. At least he appreciated her booze jokes.

Kazimir started laughing harder the moment she said Jose Cuvervo. His laughter was low and booming, and he kept slapping Bo's shoulder and back while Bo just grinned and patted Kazimir's back.

Jerica grinned and puffed up a bit, pleased at her comedic skills. She'd never actually made a good impression on anyone's dad before when she tried telling jokes.

"My uh, mom was from Brazil, actually. But all I know how to say in portugese is fart and pee," he said.

At that point, Kazimir was just losing it.

Jerica started laughing too. "I mean, priorities. I made a Mexican friend a while back and she told me the most important word for me to know is pendejo. Nothing else. Just that."

"I mean, that's really all you need to get by," Bo said as Kazimir's laughter was finally dying down. He tilted his head a little to look at his dad.

"You ok there pops?" he asked.

Kazimir let out one last wheeze and sat up straight, sticking a strawberry in his mouth, stem and all.

"You're a really aggressive fruit-eater," Jerica commented.

"Thank you," Kazimir said while chewing.

"He doesn't like utensils," Bo said with a hint of disappointment, but also a strange sense of affection as well. "His parents were really uh, strict?"

He shrugged.

"Is that why you like boiled hotdogs?"

Kazimir looked between Bo and Jerica. "Bo, you weren't bad-mouthing hotdogs again, were you?"

"Dad, it's only because I had them so much growing up. If you didn't give them to me so much maybe I would actually enjoy them," Bo answered.

"But when you like something, you have it all the time," Kazimir said matter-of-factly.

"Which brings us full circle to why I'm here," Jerica joked, gesturing at the door. "Because erryone likes me."

"Cheeky," Kazimir said.

"I mean, I can't argue with that," Bo said with a little smile. "You're fun to have around."

Jerica hesitated, not quite sure how to answer now that she was met with agreement instead of good-natured insults. Didn't think she'd get that far. She bowed dramatically. "I try."

At that point, Kazimir had worked through all of the fruit on the plate. It seemed sudden, how quickly the plate was cleared.

"Are there things in the fridge?" Kazimir asked, looking over Bo's shoulder towards the kitchen.

"Prolly no hotdogs," Jerica cut in playfully.

"Yeah, I can--" Bo started to say, but then Kazimir got to his feet and stepped over Bo's feet.

"Daaaaamn." Instead of just moving her eyes, she dramatically craned her neck to look all the way up to where he was standing over her. "You're big too." Then her eyes flicked down -- which was still directly in line of her vision where she sat -- and she saw that he had the same scaley looking tattoos on his arms that Bo did but in green ink instead.

She popped to her feet before she really thought about what she was doing. Well, didn't think about it at all.

Kazimir glanced back at Jerica, looking her up and down.

"Where do you think he gets it from?"

"I mean, it makes sense," Jerica said, pretending that she didn't feel tiny. She touched his arm. "You have his tattoos too."

Kazimir grinned a little. "Yeah. Except his are cooler. Mine are just snakes. He's got dragons."

Jerica grinned too, and then realized she was subconsciously standing a bit taller. As if that would help anything at all. Then, she decided to play it off and stood on her tip toes, spreading her arms a bit as if she had bigger muscles than she really did. "I don't know how you both play it off. Not fair."

Kazimir chuckled. "It's in the genes," he said, patting Jerica firmly on the shoulder. It wasn't a gentle pat, but it seemed affectionate. She grinned at him, falling back to being flat-footed instead of trying to maintain the tiptoes under the weight of his hand.

"You don't want to meet my old man, though," Kazimir said. "He's tall too, but wrinkly. Less impressive."

"Well, I'm sure you'll get there." She patted him on the back.

Kazimir rolled his eyes and headed into the kitchen. "I plan on being young forever," he said as he walked up to the fridge and crouched by the door, looking in.

Jerica watched Kazimir walk over, then looked back at Bo, still a bit stunned that another Bo existed. Sassier, and older, but big man with cool tattoos.

"He still thinks he's invincible," Bo said softly.

Jerica shrugged. "I mean, to be fair, I don't see myself outgrowing that opinion either."

Bo smiled a little, still speaking softly. "That's probably why you guys seem to vibe well."

"Well, we got a good middle man." She leaned down to where Bo was sitting on the couch, slightly offended at the fact she barely had to lean at all, and patted both his shoulders at once. "All good vibes up in here."

Bo laughed a little, and reached up to pat her arms. "Yes, yes. Good vibes and lots of patting," he said, clearly holding back laughter.

Jerica looked between them. She hadn't really noticed it before, but he did have a point. She tried to give him all the hugs he deserved, but pats were much easier to pull off, so she guessed she did give them more. She laughed softly and patted his shoulders again, then pulled away. Bo then started patting his stomach. Basically drumming it at that point.

"I see music lessons are going well," Jerica teased.

"I am a musical prodigy," Bo said, but his confident smile faltered a little. "I mean, not really. But yeah! They're going well."

Kazimir stuck his head out of the kitchen with a carrot sticking out of his mouth.

"You didn't tell me you were taking music lessons," he said.

"I was going to," Bo said. "I just didn't think to yet. It's a new thing, so I'm not very good yet or anything."

"Ah-ah," Jerica interrupted, wagging her finger. "No one insults Bo in this household."

Bo looked at her with a small, shy sort of smile. "I'm not insulting, just saying it like it is. I'm still on a beginner's book."

"I mean... I obviously haven't heard you, but you gotta be doing better than I did." Jerica shrugged. "I threw the metronome at Rek once."

"I have also thrown a metronome at my father," Kazimir said. "Wait -- so you're learning piano?"

Bo nodded. "Yeah."

Kazimir's face lit up a little and softened. He pulled the carrot out of his mouth. "Nice. Your grandfather would like that."

"I plan to surprise him," Bo said. "Next time I visit."

Kazimir nodded and hummed. "I'll keep my mouth shut, then," he said, disappearing back into the kitchen.

Jerica smiled stupidly. Things were starting to make so much more sense. She'd been fully prepared to fight -- well, okay, get crushed by -- Bo's dad if Kazimir started mocking Bo for learning to play the piano. But he actually seemed supportive. It was sweet. She nodded at Bo. "It's gonna be an amazing surprise. He'll be so proud."

Bo chuckled. "The moment I pull out Old MacDonald will be the day I become a star."

Jerica laughed. "Just you wait. Rek will have you playing..." She hesitated, trying to remember a musical term. All of the ones she thought of all seemed like they were mash ups of real words. "You know, I'm pretty sure he just makes up words at this point to mock me."

"Boppin' Chopin," Bo said.

Jerica nodded. Music stuff always made her feel so dumb. So, she switched to the one classical music claim she knew stuff about. "Have you heard 'Beethoven's Wig'?"

"Wig," Bo said.

She didn't know what he meant, but she'd never admit to not knowing slang, so she finger gunned him and made a mental note to look it up later.

"But actually, no I haven't, haha," Bo said a second later.

"It's dumb." Jerica shrugged. "For children... which is, of course, why Rek thought I would like it. They just put silly lyrics to classical music so it's actually fun to listen to."

"I am totally going to google that so I can sing them if I ever learn anything classical. Just for Rek," Bo said.

Jerica laughed. "Do it!" Then she made her voice comically deep and mimicked the song, "Beethoven's wig is heavy when he takes a walk, his wig is even bigger than the wig of Bach."

Bo snorted. "That's amazing."

Jerica laughed. "It really is. My favorite is the, uh, Fur Elise one -- they sing about something 'For Elise' -- it's cute." She plopped back on the arm of the recliner. "Isn't that one of the songs that is like advanced beginner? Or some shit?"

"I uhhh..." Bo looked up in thought. "I don't know."

"Play that shit for your pops and sing along," Jerica goaded. "You'll get the whole inheritance, just for you."

Bo snorted again, and Kazimir came back into the living room with a tupperware full of what looked like rice and curry. He was eating right out of it with a fork.

"Hey!" Jerica said with a playful smirk. "You're using a utensil. Good job."

Kazimir pointed at Jerica with the fork threateningly, jabbing it in the air.

Jerica put her hands up, but her smirk only widened.

"Small rice," was all Kazimir said as he sat down beside Bo again.

"Valid." Jerica nodded.

"So..." Bo said. "Do you know how to play poker? Not with money of course." He gave a pointed look at his dad.

"What? You don't want me hustling your old man?" Jerica teased.

"JarJar, I would hustle you," Kazimir said with a confident smirk.

"Bet."

Kazimir reached for what Jerica assumed was his wallet, but Bo grabbed his hand.

"We can prove that without money," he said. "If you win."

"Where are the damn cards?" Kazimir asked more like a demand.

"I'm going to get them," Bo said calmly as he got to his feet. "Just... finish your food."

"We could always play for cookies." She leaned forward to grab another one, locking eyes with him as she did her best not to smirk, but it was still cracking through. "...Oh, wait."

"Hope you're not a bad loser," Kazimir said, meeting her eyes.

"Dunno! Never lost yet."

Bo came back into the room with a small box of what sounded like poker chips. "Ok trash-talkers, let's see if you can back it up."

Lordshire's class was dismissed.

James had continued to do some TA work for Lordy, and so far, it resulted in a few strange interactions, but James kept it strictly business. Fortunately, the TA work didn't take up that much of his time. Lordy didn't seem to have a terribly rigid syllabus and his assignments were easy enough to grade. Benji would help here and there too, but he didn't always stop by Lordy's at the same time Benji did. He was grateful, though, when they were both there. It helped him feel like he wasn't the only sane person in the room.

Not that Lordy wasn't sane... he was just questionable.

Without homework to worry about and no classes right after class, James had started making a little habit of going out for lunch afterwards with Jerica. Sometimes, they would invite other people too. Like Elias, or Daniel, or anyone in his quickly-developed social circle (which he hadn't anticipated to gain). A few times Clanny even tagged along. He ended up sitting by her pretty often, and she was always fun to do group activities with.

But today, it was just him and Jerica. And he honestly preferred it that way. Things were starting to feel a little crowded in recent weeks.

He made eye contact with Jerica across the room and they both mutually understood to meet each other out in the hall, since it didn't make sense to wade through the group of exiting students just to find each other in that mess. He was always at the front of the room, anyway. Getting out took him longer.

He finally made his way out the door and started scanning the hallway for Jerica, but instead, his eyes caught on a man he'd never seen before.

At least, he shouldn't have seen him before, but for some reason, he felt familiar. Like he'd seen him in a dream.

James found himself staring a little too long at the tall man, his tanned skin, and his dark hair that was tied in a short ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was walking right for Lordshire's office door.

That must've been Lordshire's actual TA.

Just as the TA opened Lordshire's office door, James and the man locked eyes.

The man didn't hold eye contact though. Just a glance, and then he was gone.

James couldn't seem to shake the feeling that he'd seen him before. So strange.

"JAMES!" Jerica shouted, making her voice deep, and appeared in front of him with both hands raised for the high-fives that she'd settled on after deciding against hugging him like she did basically everyone else.

James fluttered his eyelashes and shook his head. "Oh," he said, with a second's delay before he high-fived her. "Sorry, I got distracted."

"All good, boo." She shrugged her shoulders, settling her backpack. "Where we headin' today?"

James hummed, looking down the hall towards the exit. "Chick-fil-a? We haven't been there in a minute."

"Iconic." She nodded.

"Quite so," he agreed.

"Let's do it." She started down the hall, and he followed, walking by her side. "How's you today?"

"Fine, I think," he answered. "I have a paper due in three days that I've been working on all week and it's been occupying most of my freetime. I can't stop thinking about aqueducts."

"Ew. Homework." She glanced at him, suddenly seeming to rethink her flippant response, then sheepishly added. "I mean, like, yeah, there's this lab report I got tomorrow that I'm a little worried about, or whatever."

"Have you started on it?" James asked as he spotted his car, parked on the side of the street.

"Pff, yeah... I mean... I will, obviously..." She shrugged. "But you don't have failure looming over you until you begin, so you just start late." She tapped her head.



James looked over at Jerica with his eyebrows pinched upwards.

"Jerica, that's not how it works," he said with a small smile.

"Okay, but, consider..." She steeped her fingers for a moment. It was clear from her expression that she didn't know where she was going with the sentence. "I don't want to."

James laughed lightly. "Sounds like a personal problem," he said with a small smirk as he walked up to his car on the drivers side. He pressed the unlock button on his keys so Jerica could get in on the other side as he hopped in.

"Okay, but, like, for real." She got in and shut the door, putting her bag between her feet as she looked over at him, emboldened by the lack of witnesses. "Like real talk? This Dr. Gray bullshit is kicking my ass. I've been studying like... I'm not even kidding. I studied like fifteen hours for the last test and he still gave me a C. I'm like... wiggin, dude. I've already studied like twenty hours for this one and... Don't tell Elias that."

"I wouldn't think to ruin your reputation," James said with another smirk. "Is everyone else struggling in Gray's class?"

She rubbed her face, frustrated. "Yeahhh... I've got a solid B, and it's near the top of the class -- don't tell Elias that either. Gray's such a dick."

"I wouldn't beat yourself up too much if everyone in the class is having a hard time," James said. "It sounds like Gray is just a very harsh teacher, and/or it's a very hard class."

"Yeahhh," she groaned. "It pisses me off when I actually try and still get a B."

"Trust me, I get it," James said, keeping his eyes on the road as he made a turn. He glanced at her once he was driving straight again. "When you put that much time and effort into someting and don't get the results you wanted, it's always going to be disappointing." He paused, then added. "All that to say, you're not alone. I hope the lab report goes alright. If you're holding up a B I think you'll do just fine. You're smart. You can do it."

Jerica smiled at him, then glanced away. She'd given up arguing with him that she wasn't, and always seemed embarrassedly-pleased when he said that she was. "I mean, like, yeah, what's the worst that can happen anyway?"

James could think of a number of bad things, but they were unlikely, and not helpful to say.

"Anyway!" She changed the subject abruptly. "Tell me about your... aqua... water ducks?"

James laughed. "Ducks might be more exciting," he said.

"Peace was never an option."

James glanced at Jerica with a mix of confusion and amusement. "I'm assuming that's a reference to something I don't get," he said.

"How do you not know any memes?" She sighed dramatically, but was grinning when she pulled her phone out. "Hold on, I'll send it to you."



"I'll check it when we get to the drive-thru," he said.

"Maybe it's a goose..." She squinted at the picture for a moment.

"Nuance. But you already know I'm not very active on social media. I don't really have time to be."

"I mean, you could be," Jerica said. "Consider. Be like me -- mediocre, but fun."

James looked over to her with a playful, challenging smile.

"So you're accusing me of not being fun, now? All because of memes." He shook his head as he looked back at the road.

Jerica laughed. "Noooo, of course, not, I would never." She put a hand on her chest in faux-innocence. "I'm just saying, one major is like three-quarters too much of a major for me. And here you are being all exxtra with two."

"Now, being extra is something I will gladly admit to being," James said with a little smug expression. He turned into the Chick-fil-a drive-through, getting in line. There were a few cars ahead of them. It looked pretty busy.

"Extra dweeby." She patted his shoulder affectionately.

"Wow." James rolled his eyes as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to look at the meme she'd sent him.

"Ah. I see. It's a goose," he hummed.

"Quack quack."

"No, no," James corrected. "It's more like quack quack."

"Ohhhh, nuance."

"Yes."

"But, wait, aren't gooses more like honk honk instead of quack quack?"

James sighed. Then, he decided to fully commit to his goose impression, and he did his best convincing honk. It ended up being very loud. "It's more like that," he said straight-facedly.

She burst out laughing. "Well, damn, okay, I believe you. You win. Best goosen-duck there is."

"Growing up on a farm comes with its perks," he said, still deadpanning. "Like learning how to communicate with wild geese."

"You're like Tarzan," she concluded with a nod.

"I was adopted by geese when I was an infant. It's my first language," he said.

"Haha, like that tag-group--" She glanced at him then cut herself off. "You don't even know what tag groups are do you?

"Of course I do. It's a group of people who play tag," he said. Then he rolled down the window as they came up to the menu to order.

"Boooooo," she said, then sat up to look at the menu. "I think I be feeling a 12 count nug with Coke today."

"What if we got a 30 count and shared?" James asked.

"Sure, yeah." Jerica shrugged. "Works for me, goose-man."

James narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before he leaned his arm out the window and made the order. Jerica looked down at her phone for a moment, took a screen shot, and then looked at him expectantly. He glanced at his phone, which was mounted on a little phone holder connected to the vent near his car stereo. A notification popped up from Jerica. As he pulled forward, he tapped his screen to see the message pop up.



He kept a straight face for a good few seconds before he finally broke into a smile and shook his head with a little laugh.

"Death by geese. I guess there are worse ways to go," he said, quickly collecting himself again.

"But not you," she pointed out. "You're the goose king."

"Only in this car," James said with a pointed look, as if to wordlessly communicate with her that this was to stay an inside joke.

"Mums da word." She pretended to lock her lips and toss away the key. "This magic car, with King Goose and Smart-Jer. Outside? No."

"Glad we're on the same page," James said with a grin as he pulled up to the window. They started handing him their food, which he handed to Jerica after handing them some cash.

Jerica had pulled out cash too. "You're going to have to let me get Chik-fil-A some day, James. It's not fair."

"But I've got to keep my streak going," James said innocently.

She snorted, but shoved the cash back into her pocket and grabbed the bags of food that he passed to her. She looked up. "Can I get BBQ?"

The person in the window nodded and handed James a packet of BBQ sauce, which James promptly handed to Jerica.

"Thanks, bro!" Jerica said, looking at the cashier.

"My pleasure!" he answered, too-cheerfully.

James then rolled up the window and started pulling out of the drive-thru.

"God bless Chick-fil-a workers," he said quietly.

"True dat," Jerica agreed. "Love my Jesus-chicken."

James suppressed another smile by sucking his lips in for a second.

"Where do you want to eat today?"

"Hmmmmmmmmm," she drug the word out far longer than she needed to. "Maybe a park? I don't think Lordshire's nearby haha."

James's eyes flicked over to her, but he decided not to tease out her last comment. He agreed that he didn't want Lordshire nearby, but he also didn't know why that would come up.

"Park works," he said.

He drove them to a park that was only about eight minutes away, and they sipped on their drinks on the way there while they waited to get out to actually eat. The park itself wasn't too busy. There was a group of students out in the middle of the grassy field sitting on a big blanket, and there was a couple or two walking the paved path, but other than that, it seemed pretty quiet. There was a small man-made pond that was stocked with fish and had a little fountain in the middle and some tables and benches under a gazebo.

Jerica wandered over to the pond first, distracted by the fish. James stood beside her, holding their drinks, while she had the bag with all the food. He peered into the water, seeing a fish wandering to the edge as its scales caught the light.

"Centrarchus... wait, shit, no. It's Centrarchidae... they're..." She scrunched up her eyes, visibly frustrated as she tried to think. "Lepomis! Sunfish! Have no idea which one, tho." She turned and started wandering away from the water.

James followed her. "You could've told me any of those names, and I would've believed you."

Jerica laughed. "Ohohoho out-nerding the nerd."

"Hey, I don't know everything," James said. "When it comes to animals I'm more familiar with farm animals and--"

"Gooses?"

James sighed. "Geese," he corrected.

"Geesen."

James couldn't help but cringe a little at that. "No," he said with a mild look of disgust.

Jerica laughed again, plopping down at one of the tables. "Okay, okay, sorry. Farm animals, and...?"

"I know more how to care for them than their scientific names," he said, setting their drinks down and sitting on the opposite side of the table from Jerica.

"Fair." Jerica began digging food out of one of the bags. "I took ichthyology as a, uh, summer elective or some shit, right before I came here. Cool class. Tons of memorization though... you could get like, really extra and add that too. Triple major dis shit."

"I would probably die first," James said, popping the lid off the nugget container. "I'm already at max-capacity."

"Fair," she repeated. "But fish are a lot cooler than aqua-ducks. I'm just sayin'."

James rolled his eyes and grabbed a nugget. He peeled open a sauce packet and dipped it in. "Believe it or not, I really like words, and history. More than fish. Sorry to say."

She gasped dramatically. "Take it back!"

James plopped the chicken nugget in his mouth and shook his head.

"You monster." Jerica went for a waffle fry.

James chewed quickly and swallowed. "What can I say--" he stopped abruptly as he caught sight of Carter - of all people - jogging up on the paved path that came past the gazebo. It didn't look like Carter saw them yet, but James knew he would soon be in Carter's line of sight.

He thought fast.

He picked up a fry and brought it to his mouth but pretended to accidentally drop it on the ground. He used that as an excuse to bend down under the table and grab it. He spent an extra second under there shaking it off. It was... questionably edible.

"Brooooo, we got plenty up here, dude," Jerica's voice came from above.

"Waste not want not," James said as he took his time coming back up. Carter was running away from them now. Facing the opposite direction. Good.

"I want none of your skanky ass fries down there."

James sat up straight and pointed the fallen fry at Jerica. "All good with me," he said before throwing it in his mouth.

"Ew." She wrinkled her nose at him. "Do you have any idea what you just did to your microflora?"



"Strengthens my immune system," James said with a smirk as he grabbed another nugget, not planning on dropping any more.

"Have fun with that." Jerica rolled her eyes and took a drink of Coke.

James nodded as he ate another nugget and let their conversation naturally lull for a moment as they both focused on eating and drinking. Eventually, he broke the silence again.

"So... how's football going?" he asked.

She gasped, perking up with a grin. "Okay, so last weekend, Frankie twisted his ankle in the third quarter, so Coach put me in, right? And I got a touch down! It was super cool! And I got, like, a ton of yards beyond that. So Coach is gonna let me start one of the games coming up!" She smiled at him eagerly, clearly expecting him to be excited too.

James smiled, trying to match her energy.

"That's amazing, Jerica," he said. "Was that during a game?"

"Yeah!" she said happily. "Like, a real game and everything. First time I've scored in a real game this year. Usually I'm bench-warmer unless we're like way-ahead, you know? Underclassman and all that. But no. Now I get to start a game."

James was still smiling wide. "When's your next game? What's the date and time?"

"You're gonna come?" She somehow got even more excited. "For like, real-real?"

"As long as I have enough notice, I totally can," James said.

"Aaa!" she squeeled happily. "I should get, like, an award. Coaxing a nerd to the football game. I feel impressive." She winked at him. "And it's next weekend -- like, week and a half from now. Friday. Seven."

James immediately pulled out his phone, checking his calendar. Normally, he tried to work Fridays, but he could request a day off because of how consistent he was normally. His boss was pretty agreeable.

He started putting it into his schedule. Friday, 7pm.

"Okay," he said as he typed. "I'll be there."

"Aah!" She drummed on the table happily. "If you hugged, I'd so hug you right now. I'm so happy! It's gonna be uh-MAZE-ing!"

"I don't doubt it," James said with a small smile. "I look forward to watching you play."

Jerica grinned broadly at him and then bounced happily in her seat as she dunked a nugget in BBQ and threw it in her mouth. James was glad to see she was so happy. He had never had any reasons to go to any of the school's football games, so it would be a first for him, but he wanted to be there for Jerica as a support.

"Will Rek be going too? I mean, I'm sure he is," James said. "I'm just thinking of people to go with."

"Yeah, he's a sap and comes to all my games even though I'm usually not even playing." She waved her hand dismissively, but couldn't hide a smile. "But, like, yeah! If people want to come and stuff, I bet like, Elias and Mel might come too, maybe? I dunno. It feels weird asking people to come. But I'm gonna have fun there, even though I can't really be with any of you during it all."

"I'll ask them for you," James said. "I'm sure they'd love to come."

She grinned at him, then tried to play it cool and glance away as she took a drink of her Coke. She set it on the table, managing a straight face for about 0.7 seconds, before grinning at him again. "Man, this is gonna be so cool... hopefully I don't just face plant. That'd be embarrassin'."

"I'm sure you'll do just fine," James said. He reached over to grab another nugget, and then he felt the hairs raise on the back of his neck. For a split second, he froze, and then he felt someone jump on his back, throwing their arms around his neck and laughing.

He immediately recognized it as Carter.

James had actually dropped the nugget this time as he flinched and felt his heart pound against his chest. Carter then roughly dug his fist into James's skull, giving him a noogie. James was too in-shock to really process it just yet. He was currently preoccupied with not giving into the fight intinct that seemed to pop up out of nowhere.

Carter let James go, still laughing, and shook James's shoulders. Carter smelled like he'd been running. Wonderful, that he'd just smothered him in his sweat.

"Didn't know you too frequented this park," Carter said, giving James one last aggressive pat before finally letting him go. James, at this point, was just putting up with it until it was over. He was still tense, anticipating Carter might grab him again.

"Carter!" Jerica grinned at him. "Wazzupppppp?"

James didn't look behind him, but he assumed Carter waved or something. Before he sat down right next to him, anyway.

"Jericaaaaa," Carter said. "Just finished a run. You know, exercise and all that."

"You smell like it," she agreed.

"Thank you," Carter said, before he bent down and picked up the chicken nugget James had dropped. He inpected it, blew on it, and offered it to James. James briefly looked at Jerica before hesitantly taking the nugget. He'd already dipped it in sauce, so the sauce had picked up... things.

"NO!" Jerica dove across the table and swatted it out of his hands. "I forbid."

"I wasn't going to eat it," James said defensively.

"You'd be surprised how low his standards are for food," Carter said.

"As low as yours are for girls?" She lifted an eyebrow.

Carter laughed. "No lower than yours are for boys."

"Hey, I'll have you know, [isome[/i] boys set that bar pretty high." She gestured at James, then looked at Carter and smirked. "And then there's you."

"And yet. You're still single," Carter said, patting James's back a little hard. It was unclear if he was saying that to Jerica or James.

"Hey, now," Jerica countered. She hesitated like she was also trying to figure out who Carter had just insulted.

Carter leaning in to James's shoulder and loudly whispered. "Don't act like you don't got game, bro."

James grimaced a 'smile' uncomfortably.

"All da game-- HEY! Speaking of games, imma be a starter on the next game. You better be there. Next Friday. Seven."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Carter said, grabbing a fry and plopping it in his mouth before anyone could object. He hopped off the bench and got to his feet. "I'll be cheering for you. Go team Jerica."

She grinned broadly. "As you should." She laughed.

Carter gave her a little wave and winked before he turned to leave. "Well, peace out. I'm going home. See you soon, James."

"Prolly me too," Jerica said playfully.

"Perfect!" was Carter's last contribution to the conversation before he jogged away.

Jerica looked back at James. "That was a lie. I'm way too stressed for this test for video games. Just gotta give him hell, you know?"

James nodded weakly. "Of course. Naturally."

Jerica squinted at him. "What's wrong?"

"I'm still grieving the lost nugget," he said quickly, flashing her a grin.

"Mm..." she nodded. "Legit. It's a tragic loss. Bye-bye skanky Jesus-chicken."

James laughed through his nose and grabbed another chicken nugget. "Rest in pieces."

It was nice that she had this weekend off from a game. She loved games, of course, but she also loved frat parties and it was nice to get to take time off football sometimes. The night was going so well. Bo was there. And Carter. And she'd seen Elias a few times but wasn't really sure where any of them were at that point. The -addeuses Thad and Chad were around too. Actually, most of the team was there, since they didn't have to be at a game.

She was splitting her time wandering around, getting progressively drunker as she saw people she knew. Even the sorority girls that hung out with Carter. She heard chanting from the living room and hurried out to see what was going on, and grinned broadly when she saw that the first keg stand of the night was in progress.

She shouldered her way to the front of the ring, cheering as loudly as everyone else. The boy was weak. He only managed a few moments before he tapped out. Her teammate Frankie came forward next, and had others lift his legs in the air.

He lasted much longer than the first dude had.

Which meant that now she had to see how she compared.

She stepped forward and a fresh cheer broke out with various "footballerrrrrrrr" and "Ansleys" breaking out. She'd given up trying to correct people that that wasn't her name at this point.

She walked up to the keg and threw her own legs into the air, not waiting for someone to lift her up, and balanced on top. Frankie grabbed her calves to help stabilize her and then they opened the tap and she chug chug chug chug--

Her vision started swimming as she swallowed as fast as humanly possible. Her eyes watered. Throat burned. Stomach already tossing as she assaulted it with a far higher volume than it was meant to have.

Finally, she coughed and let herself down.

More cheering. Congratulatory slaps on the back. She staggered to the side, laughing and coughing as she moved out of the center of attention, head feeling light and buzzy. Well, if she hadn't already been on her way to drunk, that was certainly gonna aid her.

She glanced around and a familiar face stuck out over the crowd. "BOBO!"

Bo's face lit up with recognition and he waved. "Jerjer! 'Sup?"

"Boozey-bitch stuff, you know?" She pushed her way towards him, shouldering people out of the way. She threw her arms around him in a hug that still seemed absurd, but she was drunk enough that she didn't care she was basically hugging his ribs. "How are you?"

Bo lifted a small cup out of the way (or maybe it just looked small in his hand) and smiled wide. "Just a little buzzed, but feelin' good." He patted her back and then returned the hug.

"Best way to be, babieeee." She grinned up at him. "C'mon I think they got marshy-mallows over by the fire."

"Sounds fantastic," Bo said. He pulled away from the hug and nodded towards the back door.

"Great!" She grabbed his hand and eagerly led him through the crowd. How lucky was it that she'd found Bobo, of all people, at this place. She smiled happily, thinking about how amazing the marshmallow was going to be and how sad she was going to be if the frat-dorks had forgotten the graham crackers.

When they stepped outside, Bo went straight for the fold-out table stocked with smore's ingredients. There were a lot of people filling the backyard. Some were sitting in lawn-chairs, some were sitting on blankets in the grass, and a few were huddled around the fire, sticking skewered marshmallows into the flame. The music from inside the frat house could still be heard, but outside it was a little more faint and less blaring. Strings of Christmas lights lined the edge of the porch and spun around the posts, and there were a few tiki-torches at the edges of the gathering. The backyard looked like it went further than the torches lit up, though. It looked like there was a pool, maybe, but it was covered and closed off at the moment.

"Have you heard about the game next week?" Jerica slurred her words a bit, but looked up at Bo, still leading him by the hand. "I'mma be... a uh -- I'm starting! You should come!"

"Oh yeah, oh yeah," Bo said. "James told me 'bout that. I'm gonna go."

One-handedly, it looked like he was trying to gather smore's ingridients on a paper plate.

Jerica grinned happily and turned loose of him to give him another hug. "Hell yeah! It's gonna be da bomb dot com."

She took the plate from him and looked for a roaster-er. "Hey, I can-- do the-- thingy, you know?" She patted his shoulder and took the marshmallows straight off the plate, leaving the rest in his hands, then started towards the fire. "I gots dis."

Jerica walked up to the fire and squatted next to it, staring at the flames intently as she tried to keep the marshmallows from catching on fire. Just above the flames, where they could kiss the marshmallows but not quite engulf them. She turned them... then turned them... then turned them a bit less patiently. They were taking forever.

She stuck them further in the flames, then her eyes went wide when they burst into flames. She pulled them out and blew on them desperately, trying to get the fire put out. They were... charred, now. But melty. They'd do.

"Hey, watch where you're steppin'," a male voice said a little loudly, and a little slurred.

She gently squeezed one of the marshmallows to make sure it was gooey enough inside.

"Oh, sorry, you okay?" came Bo's voice. Her ears snapped to attention, suddenly honed in on the conversation now that she realized Bo was involved in it.

"Fuckin' give me space, asshole," was the gruff reply. Jerica stood up and turned around, looking for the source of the voice. She saw another man standing just in front of Bo, chest puffed out as he tried -- and failed -- to loom over Bo. "And stop hovering over the table like--" the man made a mocking noise. The equivalent onamatopoeia was probably "Nyuhhruhrurh."

"Oh, I can get out of the way. I was just spacing--" Bo started to explain, but then the man - who was another big, heavy-set man maybe only a few inches shorter than Bo, pushed him hard. Bo swayed backward for a moment but quickly regained his balance.

Jerica threw down her stick, marshmallows forgotten as she started back towards them, enraged. How dare -- how dare this asshole shove Bo. No one shoved Bobo. No one.

"Someone's an angry drunk," Bo commented, wiping his chest. It looked like the man had sticky smore hands. "How 'bout you cool off--"

The dude was going for Bo again. Not on my fucking watch.

Jerica leapt forward, planting one foot on the edge of the s'mores-supply-table as she leveraged herself into the air. The next step carried her across it, and she landed with her fist crashing into the boy's face, shoving him away from Bo as she landed.

"Woah, woah, woah!" came Bo's voice. He grabbed for her waist, pulling her away from the angry man. Meanwhile, the angry man was recovering from the blow, stumbling a little on his feet as his hands went up to his nose and he turned his anger-filled eyes onto Jerica.

"Oh, you little..."

"Fuckin' try me." Jerica twisted out of Bo's arms and went for the man again, drawing herself up as high as she could as she drew back her fist again. "No one shoves Bo!"

"Hey, Jer, it's okay," Bo said as he grabbed her again. But this time, he didn't just pull her back. He seemed to effortlessly grab her waist and then lift her off the ground. This move seemed to visibly confuse the angry drunken man.

"It's not okay!" She flailed, trying to get out of his arms but she couldn't seem to figure out which way was down. "PUT ME DOWN BOBO! I'MMA KICK HIS ASS!"

At that moment, Carter seemed to appear out of nowhere, appearing from behind the angry man, standing a good foot or two shorter. It looked like he put his hand on the man's back to get his attention, and the guy looked down at Carter, whirling until he saw who it was, and his expression relaxed a little.

"Hey, Casey, chill out," Carter said, putting a beer in the guy's hands.

"Oh," Casey said, looking down at the drink. Carter reached up and opened it for him.

Bo, meanwhile, was still holding Jerica aloft, keeping her feet just out of range of either Carter or Casey.

"No need for ass-kickings," he said. "See? The guys' chilling out."

"Put! Me! Down!" Jerica put her hands on Bo's arm, trying to pull it off her, but not clawing him like she would have anyone else. She felt like a little child. But, an incredibly pissed off child. Carter's beer meant nothing to her. The man had still shoved Bo.

Bo looked like he was hesitating. He looked at Jerica, then down at Carter and Casey. Carter pulled at Casey's arm and said something that couldn't be heard over the music and the crowd, and Casey nodded, starting to walk away and go inside.

"HEY!" Jerica shouted after him, still flailing in Bo's arms. "WE'RE NOT DONE HERE! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE AND APOLOGIZE TO BO!"

Casey disappeared into the building. She deflated a bit, resigning herself to the fact that she wasn't going to manage to get out of his arms until he decided to put her down. Bo finally put her down on the ground, but he kept a hand on her shoulder.

"I appreciate it, Jer, but I can look after myself," Bo said with a small smile.

"And I prefer people not to leave my parties with broken noses and missing teeth," Carter added. "Kind of ruins the fun."

"Oh, he had it coming," Jerica spat, still fuming. She tried to pull her arm away but Bo's hand was, gently but firmly, holding her in place. She settled on glaring at Carter instead. "Bastard needs an ass kicking."

"Or maybe just a good healing hug," Bo said. Carter snorted. Jerica did too.

"Casey gets easily riled up over nothing, but he's also easily calmed down over nothing if you offer him food or beer," Carter said, like he'd figure it out a long time ago.

Jerica, unfortunately, wasn't quite as easily placated. She glared towards the house, trying to see if she could figure out where he'd gone. Bo had to let go of her eventually.

"Did uh, you finish the marshmallows?" Bo asked. "I'm... craving one."

Jerica kept glaring at the house, but, then, hesitated. She glanced back at Bo, then Carter, still scowling. Her job had been to roast the marshmallows. She scowled up at him. "He owes you an apology."

Bo shrugged. "I really don't think it's that big of a deal. Some things in life you just let slide. Choose your battles. All that."

"I choose all of them," she muttered, then looked at Carter, gesturing at Bo. "Get him an apology. He deserves it."

Carter looked at Jerica with a small smirk, and then bowed his head. "Yes, your highness." He turned to walk back into the house.

Jerica watched him go, then took a deep breath, the rage slowly dampening a bit. Maybe it wasn't that big of a deal. Bo didn't seem hurt. She sighed, remembering the fallen marshmallows. "I ruined them."

"That's okay," Bo said, finally lifting his hand off her shoulder. "We can always make more. There's plenty more. I don't think anyone will be worried about it."

Jerica cast another annoyed glare at the house. What kind of asshole started shoving people in the middle of a perfectly good party? She sourly looked back at Bo. "I could have taken him."

"But I'm glad you didn't," Bo said with a shy sort of smile. "I prefer no one getting hurt. All I got was a little sticky."

Jerica glanced down at her own hand and realized she'd cracked the skin on two of her knuckles. They weren't bleeding badly, but a few droplets of blood had dribbled out. She was sure the jerk's face was faring worse than her hand. She looked back up at Bo. "Well... good."

She wasn't really sure where to go from there. She was equal parts angry and craving s'mores at that point.

"Wanna grab more mellows?" Bo asked, glancing back at the table.

She took a deep breath and sighed, resigning herself to the fact that the fight was, apparently, over. Carter always appeared at the worst times, it seemed. Who watched someone shove Bo -- of all people -- and then gives the bully a beer and let him away? Absurd. She softened a bit and looked way up at Bo's face, concerned. "Are you sure you're really okay?"

Bo looked down at her with a smile. "Yeah, I'm good." His eyes dropped to her hands. "...Are you?" he asked, pointing to his own hand as a way of gesturing to hers.

"Oh, uh..." She glanced down at her hand again. It did kind of hurt. She shrugged it off, but did pick up her hand to examine it more closely. "Yeah, it's fine. I only hit him once."

"Don't pick at it," Bo said, picking up a paper napkin off the smore's table, handing it to her.

She finally smiled a bit, appreciative of the gesture. She took it and dabbed her knuckles off then flexed her hand. She looked back at Bo. "Well... I'm glad you're okay." She walked towards him with her arms clumsily going for a hug.

Bo laughed lightly and came to her, wrapping his big arms all the way around her head and shoulders. "You're a good friend, JerJer," Bo said.



"You too, Bobo," she said, head still pressed against his chest. Finally, she pulled away, offering him a smile. "Let's roast deez mellows."

"Yeah," Bo said with a smile.

They both turned and started for the fire.

Lordy brushed his jacket off as the last few student left the lecture hall. He packed up the stray papers on his desk and tucked them neatly under his arm while he grabbed cane with his free hand. Another day done. Lordy peeked out the window to see the sun still bright in the sky, wondering if Morri was busy for the rest of the afternoon.

As he made his way out of the room, he wondered if he had time for some spaghetti before he went to his office. He would hate to see it go bad being left on his kitchen table for so long. The hallway was relatively quiet as he made his way out of the building towards his car. As he started it up, he made sure to follow the least possible rules from his driver's saftey manual before he pulled out of his spot and down the road towards his house.

Lordy was gracefully bopping head to some opera singing on the radio as he flew down the road, ignoring every honking car and screaming pedestrian that threatened his almost suspended license. It wasn't until a roaring motorcycle appearing inches from the front of his car that he realized his brakes existed.

Lordy jammed his foot down and blared his horn at the person who had cut him off, as they were now at a stop sign. Winding his window down, he yelled out, "What the HELL is wrong with you?"

The rider flashed him the middle finger and Lordy could hear a muffled laugh behind the helmet.

Wait a minute, Lordy thought, I'd recognize that finger anywhere. "Is that? KAZ?!"

"DAMN RIGHT IT IS!"

Ignoring the cars beginning to pile up behind them, Lordy hopped out his car and ran up to Kaz like a schoolgirl being picked up from the first day of class, "WHAT are you doing here?"

"Hell you mean? My son lives here," Kaz said as if it was obvious. Then he shoved a helmet in Lordy's hands. "Hop on."

Lordy grabbed the helmet and ran back to his car, turning the key to shut the ignition off. Cars started honking behind him and people started shouting.

"Might wanna--" was all Kaz said as he motioned with his hand for Lordy to move the car over so people could pass.

"If it gets towed it gets towed," Lordy said, hopping behing him on his motorcycle, "Who the hell is your son?"

"I like your style," Kaz said, roaring the enging of his motorcycle before he rushed back into traffic. "And what do you mean? You can't see the family resemblance? Andrei Petrov. Only the biggest and best boy there is. Bo."

"Bo? He's YOUR boy? But he has actual MANNERS? I know he didn't learn that from you."

"There's things you don't know about me," Kazimir said with a deep, michievous sounding laugh. He took a turn, leaning with the bike.

"Hm," Lordy looked around them, "Where you going bud?"

"Where do you need to go?"

"I have spaghetti at home that will go bad if it isn't eaten. Are you hungry?"

"I always am," he said, taking the right turn toward Lordy's house without any instruction.

"Perfect! I just don't... have any sauce for it."

"Where is the sauce?" Kazimir said in disbelief. "Shaking my head. Bo would be disappointed."

Lordy ignored for the moment that Kaz decided to say the words shaking my head rather than actually perform the motion, "Well how about you invite Bo over and we can ALL have some spaghet?"

"Yes, I will do that, and he will bring the sauce," Kazimir said.

"Perfect!" Lordy caressed Kaz's back, "I hope he doesn't get lost in the sauce."

Kazimir laughed. "Bo showed me that meme."

"Oh no, I say this as a philosopher. Without the sauce, then you're lost. But the same man can get lost in the sauce."

"Yeah, I still don't know how you fuckin' became a philosopher, but still proud of you, kid," Kazimir said.

Lordy scoffed at the fact that he was called a kid before he could call Kaz one, "Well coming from you, that means so very much. What have you even been up to anyway?"

"Car mods," he said. "Workin at a shop. Just installed someone's sub-woofer. Also maybe a little bit of not-so-kosher street-racing if you catch my drift."

"Oh yeeeah," Lordy nodded his head, "I used to love playing with Hot Wheels when I was a kid too."

Kazimir snoted. "Explains your ride."

"Speaking of which, if you're so fancy with cars now, think you can change my exhaust? The thing is loud but I want it to wake up the whole block."

"For you, Lordy? I'll do it for free."

Lordy drew a heart on Kaz's back with his finger, "So sweet. Just have to... wait to get my car out the pound tomorrow morning."

"Can't wait," Kazimir said as he started slowing down, pulling up to Lordy's house.

"Now I'd ask how you know where I live," Lordy began, hopping off of the motorcycle, "But I have a feeling you won't tell me."

"The internet is a powerful resource," Kazimir said. It almost sounded like he was quoting someone else's words. He came to a stop and pulled off his helmet, looking over his shoulder to Lordy with a smile.

"You got bald," he said.

"It's a choice." Lordy snapped his finger at Kaz.

"It sells the philosophy professor look," Kazimir said. "Good call."

"No it solves the less DNA evidence look." Lordy glared at him.

Kazimir snorted and hopped off his bike. "You haven't changed at all."

"And you too old buddy," Lordy smiled at him, "Wanna come inside? You just gotta keep your socks on."

Kazimir laughed and smacked Lordy on the back, almost sending him flying, but Kazimir grabbed Lordy's collar and yanked him back up in the same movement.

"You Brits and your socks," Kazimir said. "So weird."

"Yes yes, call your son over will you? The food will go rotten if he takes too long."

Kazimir was holding his phone to his ear. "Shh, I'm calling him now," he said. "Hey! Bo, I'm at Lordy's -- yeah, no, yes. So he has spaghet but no sauce. I said you might be able to bring -- fantastic. Same brain. Ok, I'll send you the address. See you soon. Love you."

Lordy mimicked Kaz mockingly as he spoke, imitating a barf at his last words, "Now come inside before someone sees what I dragged in."

Lordy unlocked the door and held it open for Kaz.

"Didn't know you were allergic to affection, Lordy," Kazimir said with a smirk as he walked in and jabbed Lordy in the bellybutton.

"I'm only allergic to the affection my father never gave me," Lordy responded, rubbing his belly, "But I'm glad there's something on this planet you wouldn't murder."

"It's a small list," Kazimir said, taking off his shoes and leaving his socks on. "You're like, number five maybe. I don't count."

"Ha ha," Lordy made his way to the kitchen where his sphagetti, packed in a real container this time, was waiting for him, "Doesn't this look delicious?"

"Better n' prison food," Kazimir said.

"That reminds me," Lordy ran over to his freezer and flung it open. He dug around for a bit before he turned to Kaz, "I have HOT DOGS."

Kazimir's eyes lit up. "HELL YEAH."

"Hot dogs n spaghet. A hood classic." Lordy began filling a pot with water to set on the stove.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Kazimir said, leaning his hip on the kitchen counter and looking down into the pot.

Lordy reached under his counter and grabbed a bottle of rum. He set the pot down on to the stove and began pouring some rum inside, mixing it with the water.

"A little secret recipe," He winked at Kaz.

"Not so secret now," Kazimir said.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Kazimir whirled around and ran to the door. He watched as Kazimir flung the door open and Bo was standing there, taking up the whole doorway. He had tray in his hands with what looked like garlic bread, and a plastic bag on his arm.

"Hey, dad," Bo said with a warm smile. "I brought the sauce."

Kazimir pulled Bo in and hugged Bo tightly from the side, then took the tray from Bo. The muffled sound of Lordy gagging could be heard in the background.

"Glad to see you, son," Kazimir said before he walked back over to Lordy, setting the garlic bread on the counter as Bo followed behind.

"Hey, Dean Lordshire," Bo said with a smile. "Good to see you too."

"Bo my boy!" Lordy returned the smile, "If I had paid an ounce more attention to your actual name I would've figured your father and I went way back. It really is a small world huh."

"The smallest," Kazimir said.

"He has a way of making friends with all sorts of people," Bo added as he set the bag down on the counter and took two containers of red and white sauce out of it.

"I don't see why he wouldn't," Lordy walked up to Kaz and began stroking his arm up and down, "Big strong man like him."

Bo laughed weakly. "Yyyyeah."

Meanwhile, Kazimir flexed.

"Still hitting the gym I see?" Lordy asked Kaz.

"Can't afford to skip a day. I see you still hit the couch," Kaz said with a little laugh, pinching Lordy's arm.

"Mhm," Lordy eyed him up and down, "Maybe this time it can be with you."

"IIII'm gonna go to the bathroom," Bo said quickly, turning down a hall without asking where the bathroom was.

"To your left!" Kaz said. Bo took a hard left and disappeared. Then Kaz looked back to Lordy, briefly looking him up and down.

"Not in front of my kid, Lordy," he said.

Lordy smiled up at Kaz.



"I'm only messing with you," he began dumping hotdogs in the now boiling water, "Did you lose your sense of humor behind those bars?"

"Didn't lose it, just learned more about timing, audience, and context," Kazimir said casually. "Had to clean up my act for my boy. Didn't want him spending the rest of his days with an absent father."

"Aw." Lordy gave him a soft smile, "You sure you're the same Kaz I went to jail with?"

"Maybe just a little different," Kazimir said with a grin. "Still got a full head of hair, though."

Lordy squinted at him, "You know, give it a couple more years. I know those greys won't last forever." He picked up the bottle of rum and took a swig before holding it out to Kaz, "Drink?"

"Of course," Kaz said, taking the bottle for a drink before handing it back to Lordy.

"Does your boy drink?" Lordy set the rum down back on the counter and the hotdogs continued to boil, "If not, I have a buddy that we can get drunk with later if you aren't busy."

"Bo doesn't really drink much. He's more of a wine guy. Definitely didn't get that from me," Kazimir said with a little laugh. "But sure, invite your friend over. I don't have too many plans."

"Perfect! I could have him bring some wine as well, if it would make Bo stay longer. He's actually one of Bo's professors this semester!" Lordy scratched his chin, "Much smarter than us, I have to say."

"The bar's not very high in the first place," Kazimir said, pointing a finger at Lordy.

"Speak for yourself. I have tons of students that would beg to differ."

Kaz snorted again. "I was speaking for myself." He paused, and a look crossed his face, like he was processing. "You had Bo, right? In your class? I feel like he mentioned your class last year."

"I did," Lordy waved his hand dismissively, "A semester ago he was one of my shining pupils. He'd come to class smelling like a fresh bakery and it's the only thing that got me through my day."

Kazimir smiled. "Sounds like him. You passed him. Right?" There was a thinly veiled potential threat in his tone.

"Pff," Lordy looked at Kaz, "Hell no I failed him. Almost got him expelled too."

At that moment, Kazimir's eyes narrowed, and at the same time, Bo started walking back into the kitchen.

Lordy caught sight of Bo returning and kept his eyes on Kaz, "Daddy please, save it for later."

Bo and Kazimir exchanged a look, though Lordy couldn't quite see Bo's face from where he was standing.

"Keep it in your pants, sweetie," Kazimir said.

Lordy's cheeks puffed up as he tried his hardest to surpress a laugh. Eventually, it had to come out, "I'm joking Kaz my boy. Bo was the smartest kid in the class hands down. I'd quit before I let that boy fail."

Kaz stared intensely at Lordy for a second before his face broke into a big smile and he started laughing. "Good! I knew it," he said, reaching up and giving Bo a little noogie. Bo looked mildly embarassed, but it was unclear if it was because of the noogie or Lordy's flirting.

"Smartest is kind of an exaggeration," Bo said quietly.

"Lies," was Kazimir's response as he let Bo free of his hold.

Lordy took the stove off and looked between the two of them, "Of course, none as smart as me." He gave a small, dramatic bow and looked up, "Hot dogs anyone?"

"You know it," Kaz said with a grin.

Bo didn't look quite as enthused. "I think I'll pass on the dogs, but uh, can I use a pot or pan to heat up the sauce real quick?" he asked.

"Of course!" Lordy said stuffing his face and forgetting to chew, "Make yourself at home!"

Bo nodded and started searching the cupboards until he found a sauce-pan, and he turned on one of the stove-top's burners. He took the white sauce first and dumped it in the pan.

Meanwhile, Kazimir grabbed a hotdog and bit it in half.

Lordy looked at Kaz, "Well, why cant you uh... укуси меня вот так"

Kazimir looked up at Lordy, but his mouth was full. With a mouthful of food, he harshly said: "Хуй в жопу."

"...Dad," Bo said.

"Only if it's yours." Lordy winked at him.

"Like you'd survive that," Kazimir said, still with his mouth full of hotdog.

"How do you think I got through all those years of prison?"

"Being a punk ass bitch," Kazimir replied with no hesitation.

"Language please, there are children here." Lordy put his finger over his mouth.

"Children who can understand everything you're saying," Bo whispered loud enough for everyone to hear in what sounded like wearied exasperation.

"He started it," Kazimir said, finally swallowing his food and holding half a hotdog.

"hE sTaRtEd It-" Lordy mocked Kaz, picking the bottle of rum back up, "Drink?"

"Fuck it," Kazimir said, yanking the bottle from Lordy's hands and taking another drink.

"That's the Kaz I remember," Lordy smiled, stuffing his mouth with another hotdog, "Bo aren't you eating?"

"I had a lot of food after class today," he said. "When you make food for homework all the time, you're not really lacking for things to eat."

A sudden knock on the door interrupted them. Lordy eyed it curiosly before walking over and glaring through the peephole. A wide smile broke across his face as he threw the door open, "Morri! It's like you knew we were talking about you!"

Morri smiled back, "We?"

"Come inside," Lordy gestured towards the kitchen for Morri to follow, "I have a friend I'd like you to meet."

Morri slipped his shoes off and closed the door behind him as he made his was over to the kitchen table where he found Lordy, Bo, and another man he'd never seen before.

"Hello everyone!" Morri waved at them all as he took a seat next to Lordy.

"Kaz, this is Morri, my good friend from the University. He has filled the hole in my heart since you left." Lordy turned to Morri, "Kaz is my old prison buddy."

Kazimir smiled widely and walked over to Morri with arms open wide. Then he pulled Morri into a very strong, tight hug.

"Good to meet you, Morri!" Kazimir said gruffly. He gave one good squeeze before letting go and pulling away. "And Lordy makes it sound like I'm the one who left, but he got out of prison first." He looked back at Lordy. "So actually. You left me."

Morri wheezed a bit, "Your hug is like a fluffy blanket on a chilly winter night."

Lordy scoffed, "Don't butter him up. There's nothing wrong with admitting that I was on good behavior and that is why they let me out first. No one told you to act like a hooligan."

Kazimir scoffed. "He was a suck-up is what he was."

"Hello Bo." Morri smiled at Bo.

Bo nodded to Morri and smiled back, though his smile was a bit weak. "Hey."

"Suck up?" Lordy rolled his eye, "Just because I knew how to work the system doesn't mean I was a SUCK UP. If you had followed my lead you would have been leaving with me."

Kazimir looked at Lordy and sneered. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." He grabbed the rum off the counter and took another drink. "Morri. Lordy said you're a good drinking buddy."

"Did he?" Morri turned to face Lordy, "I certainly don't wake up with a hangover every other morning like he does." He gestured over to Kaz to hand him the bottle, which Kaz did.

"Neither do I," Kazimir said. "But for occasions like this, I say to hell with it."

"Well then I guess we have a long night ahead of us boys." Lordy looked between them all, "Bo, did you drive here?"

Morri took a sip from the bottle before setting it down, "What happened to you car?"

Lordy glanced over at Kaz and remembered when he saw him earlier that day.



"It's a long story. BUT! As long as we have a designated driver we will be okay."

Bo seemed to look relieved, but then faltered. "I, uh... rode on my motorcycle."

"Is..." Lordy looked between Kaz and Bo, "Is there anything you two do differently?"

"I can't cook for shit," Kazimir said.

"True, but you can eat." Lordy teased.

"I also don't have a criminal past...?" Bo said.

"Yet." Lordy looked at Bo.

"Hey," Kazimir said deeply, giving Lordy a pointed look.

"Is that sauce on the stove?" Morri asked.

"Yes!" Bo said a little too enthusiastically. "Red sauce and white sauce. For the spaghetti. They're both heated up now."

"Did you make that, Bo? It smells delicious." Morri turned to look at the steamy pots on the stove top.

"And we are all starving." Lordy added.

"Well then, let's eat!" Bo said, turning down the heat on the burners and pulling out spoons from Lordy's drawers for serving the sauce.

Lordy grabbed a plate and tossed some sphagetti on in before grabbing a cup and walking up to Bo with it. He held it out for Bo to pour the sauce into, which he hesitantly obliged. As he sat back down at the table, he picked up the spaghetti strands with his fingers and sucked them up with his mouth, drowning them down by sipping on the sauce in the cup. Morri looked unamused.

"Was that... really necessary?" Bo asked.

"When the apocalypse comes and you have no more spoons and forks," Lordy said between slurps, "What will you do with all of your etiquitte then?"

"Make spoons and forks," Bo said, turning to serve the others.



"Now see here," Lordy said over the loud, thumping music in the background, "This is why wolves travel in packs. Cus if they didn't, they'd just DIE of lonliness."

Morri pat him on the back, "He gets like this after a few shots. Always talking about some random animal and how it needs companionship to survive."

"We too, are animals Momo." Lordy took a sip out of his somethingteenth drink that night, "And we all long to find that other half that makes us whole. Right Kazy poo?"

"Used to be he'd just start flirting with anything that moved," Kazimir commented. "But yeah, sure. We need animals."

"I can imagine. He would tell stories about how much of a ladies man he was. I never quite believed them myself, but I'm sure you could vouch for him?"

Kazimir looked at Lordy with a smirk and then just started laughing. "Oh. Oh yeah. Totally."

"Oh who are YOU kidding Kazymoo?" Lordy got up and wobbled over to Kaz, putting his arm around his shoulder, "What would you know about my days as a bachelor, huh?"

"Haven't you always been a bachelor?" Kazimir countered.

"Well yeah... but not by choice." Lordy reached over to Kaz's head and gave him a small noogie.

Kazimir was frozen for half a second, and then his eyes widened, and he grabbed Lordy, and flipped him over his knees, sending Lordy flopping to the floor.

Morri watched in amusement and Lordy groaned on the floor, "Have to say, I've been waiting for that for a long time."

"Shut up." Lordy grabbed a chair nearby and pulled himself up, "You're lucky I can't see straight."

"When have you ever?" Kazimir countered, watching Lordy with narrowed eyes and a smirk.

"Listen," Lordy had finally gotten himself up and was now stretching, "You only live once."

"No you only die once," Morri chimed in, "So you better be careful of how you make it happen."

"Well maybe if people didn't go FLINGING me across the room I'd have more of a say, wouldn't I?!" Lordy glared at Kaz.

"What'd you expect when you tried to give me a noogie?" Kazimir said with a laugh. "You thought I was just going to take it?"

Lordy pursed his lips in thought, "Well... I kind of hoped so."

Morri pulled the chair next to him out so Lordy could sit back down, which he clumsily did, "He always ends up this way and we either get kicked out because he's too rowdy or I find him in the corner of the bar crying like a baby."

"I'd like to see crying like a baby please," Kazimir said.

"Well that," Lordy pointed at nothing in particular, "Is not going to happen. I have been teaching myself to channel my emotions into more productive outlets."

"Like what?" Morri asked.

"Walks in the park." Lordy sipped his drink.

"I thought you were going to say drinking," Kazimir said.

"Oh no, I was drinking WAY before I became an emotional wreck."

"Was he always like this? Even in jail?" Morri asked Kaz.

"Shh, he's a little sensitive. Don't want to make him cry," Kazimir said with a hand over his mouth, though his whispering wasn't very quiet.

"Oh shove it, everyone had nothing but respect for me in that prison." Lordy puffed out his chest and tried to make himself seem bigger, "Respect and fear."

"Because you're definitely the most intimidating person in this room." Morri teased.

"I'm so scared," Kazimir said in a mocking voice. "Morri, hold me."

"mOrRi HoL- I'm going to take a nap." Lordy laid his head down on the table, "Wake me up when you realize my worth."

Morri pat Lordy's head and turned to Kaz, "So how are you planning on spending your time here? Surely it can't be all wasting it in a bar with this one?"

Kazimir laughed. "After this, I'm spending as much time as I can with Bo."

"Aww," Morri gave him a warm smile, "That boy is special. You did an amazing job raising him."

"Thank you!" Kazimir said, pounding the table with his fist. "I did try damn hard. Fuckin' no one seems to realize."

Morri laughed, "We often overlook the good and focus on the bad. If no one has told you before then let me be the first to say you did a good job." He raised his glass for a toast.

Kazimir clinked his glass against Morri's. "Damn. Thanks, Morri." And then, he drank.

"Of course," Morri sipped his drink.

"gonnabeashamewhenifailhim." Lordy's muffled voice came.

Morri smacked the back of his head before turning back to Kaz, "I've always wanted to do that."

"You should do it more," Kazimir said with a grin.

"Oh I would if it wasn't for the fear that he would lose what little is left up there," Morri pointed at Lordys head.

Kazimir hummed. "True. He's only got one brain cell left kicking. Can't take that from him."

"Oh yeah, then he might ACTUALLY end up in prison again, and who's going to save him then?" Morri finished his drink and set it down.

"Well, not me," Kazimir said. "I'm not going back in."

"I would sure hope not! It'd be a shame if you weren't to come around more often." Morri waved for their server to come by, "I'll take the check please."

"Oh shit, man, you don't have to do that," Kazimir said. "Uh--"

He reached into his pocket.

"Shut it," Morri said, placing his card on the bill and handing it back to the server.

Kazimir pulled out a red jolly rancher. He slid the candy over to Morri.

Morri smiled and picked it up, "You're too kind."

"Don't tell anyone else that," Kazimir said.

"Oh no worries, the only person I talk to is this guy," Morri pointed over to Lordy, "And he won't believe it."

"Good," Kazimir said with a self-satisfied grin.

The server came back with the bill and Morri signed his reciept, handing it back to them with a smile. He turned again to face Kaz, "You okay to drive home?"

Kazimir pursed his lips. "In an hour, maybe."

Morri smirked at him, "Well good. I have to get Lordy home now, he does have to teach in the morning. But call us if you need anything. Or, well..." He peeked over at Lordy who was now snoring, "Call me anyway."

Kazimir pulled out his phone and offered it to Morri. "Need your number to do that first."

Morri took the phone and punched in his number, sliding it back over to Kaz when he finished, "Just text me your name and I'll save it. I'll see you around, yeah?"

Kazimir smiled and nodded. "Yeah. See you around."