Henry had once found himself wondering, what truly awkward situations were. This, he felt, was one of them. He wasn’t used to this kind of thing; normally, Henry was the odd man out. At family gatherings, Henry war with his mothers had made family dinners awkward for him, even though it normally went well for everyone else. But right now? Right now was next level. For starters, everyone except him and Justin were dressed to the gills. Henry had, quite casually, lied to Justin and told him that the dinner was ‘pretty casual, yo’ and ‘don’t trip too much on dressin’ up, nobody else is gonna! here, just wear this,’ which was why he and Justin were wearing matching tuxedo t-shirts. Henry hadn’t done it to ruin Justin’s chances with Cyndi, or Justin’s night. No, no Henry was just petty and liked to say ‘fuck Hailey’ whenever he got the chance, and that was why he’d decided to mock her dress code.

But… Henry had pretty quickly found out that he needn’t try to make things bad… they were already pretty shitty! He must have not been paying attention, which was… entirely possible, given that he had a hot Korean GF that lived with him. They were working on the language barrier, but sex and love were universal. Especially sex! The important point was that Henry had missed something. Hailey was glancing at Mother and Dad like she hated them, Mama was eyeing the entire table like it was going to spontaneously combust.

What the fuck had he missed? It must have been something big. Not even just that though, there was Hailey’s girlfriend, who looked so nervous she might fall out of her chair at any given time, and Justin — who just looked completely out of place, dude probably didn’t know anything about fine dining, and Min-seo’s eyes were wide and he could almost smell the fear on her… well, fear and pretty flowers, which he was pretty sure was her hair, which was so soft and velvety to the touch and… oh, oops, Henry was horny again. Jesus it was hard being a teenager. Appetizers hadn’t even been served yet for fuck’s sake! But, it wasn’t Henry’s fault that Min-seo smelled yummy!

Then, of course, there were the parents, the dad, Ty, who was as bright and jolly as ever. Nothing would ever bring him down, it seemed, even if Hailey looked so… venomous. Or, maybe Henry was just misjudging, and Hailey had to go to the bathroom… Upon second glance, no way. That was definitely just her bitch face. There was Julie, who had come with Ty to meet all the kids’s S.O.’s, and she just had a smile on her face. Mama, and Mother, who were both basically always on resting bitch faces…

Henry couldn’t handle the quiet, and the awkwardness, he couldn’t handle how his girlfriend looked terrified, and he most importantly couldn’t handle his big sister looking like she hated their parents. That was just, not okay. Henry hated her, sure, and he hated them too, sure, but he respected the bond they had. And dammit, deep down, Henry loved Hailey and he loved his parents and he couldn’t handle them being so WEIRD. Clearing his throat, Henry looked across the table at Justin.

“So, dinner parties, huh? Where’s the fire, am I right, yo? Or am I right?”

He tried, okay?

For once, Cyndi Green was relating to her brother, which was rare since her return. She couldn’t handle whatever this was. Why did Hailey want a formal dinner? Was it really to have the parents meet the two girlfriends and one boyfriend? Her eyes were like fire in water, passion in ice. She scanned the room, resting on each person for a second, and then stopping on Alyssa. The boss bitch of the house. She wanted to bite her cheek, but she had to be composed. She had to show her mother she was ready for a relationship, even though to her, this was far too fast. She barely knew her date!

When Cyndi looked at Alyssa, it was obvious that she sought out for constant approval and desired for mother to be happy with her, over her own happiness. Her right hand reached for her hair to twirl it, pull it, play with it, but she stopped herself. No fiddling! Instead, she grabbed her glass of water and took a sip of it, before placing it gently down. Turning her head, she looked at Justin, who most likely felt ten times worse than anyone at this table. One, they only went on their first date four days ago and two, he was sitting at the Green table. “I like your shirt.” She mouthed, hoping that gave him a boost in confidence. And well, she did like seeing his biceps and stuff. She wouldn’t allow just anyone to date her, after all.

“How often do you workout?!” Aunty Julie chirped in. Hey, she wasn’t one to lie about seeing a handsome young lad. And Justin there, he was fucking fine. She had yet to meet this mystery man that’s taken the heart of her Stella. It may have not been disclosed to her, but Julianna wasn’t dumb. Call it mother’s intuition or the fact that Stella literally hums wherever she goes in the house like a Disney princess, Julie knew there was someone and it was only a matter of time where she’d have to request (demand) to meet him. At this point, Julie was use to seeing Min around, but Hana was new for her. Since the attention was thrown on Justin, she didn’t want to take away the spotlight from him just yet so she turned her attention to Hailey and Hana respectively and gave them a giddy two thumbs up. She approved! And she loved the collar!

Justin hadn’t felt this nervous since the first time he worked out with Ryan Townsend, the Los Angeles Chargers legend. Somehow, this felt far, far worse to him. It was one thing to work out with one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, but to be sitting here with his… whatever Cyndi was to him at this point (because they definitely weren’t just friends anymore). It was bad enough that he was sitting here with the Greens practically boring holes into him with those gazes. It was even worse that he was sitting in a tuxedo shirt that was clearly too small for him. The color was nice though. Made his eyes pop.

Glancing at Cyndi, he saw her mouth something at him. He wasn’t exactly the best at reading lips, but he was pretty sure it was a compliment about his shirt. At least somebody liked it, and Justin showed his gratitude by flashing a quick smile at Cyndi. Justin felt like his shirt was going to pop and explode at any given minute if he so much as reached for a fork.

Suddenly, a nice lady from somewhere he couldn’t place had asked him a question. How often did he work out? It was hard for him to be humble about it. He couldn’t give a modest answer because nobody would believe it. Or, it might’ve given the impression that he was on steroids, which he was not on. He found it hard to figure out what sorts of answers to give in a situation like this.

“At least once a day, ma’am. Different groups every day.” For a brief second, Julianna Locke’s right eye twitched, but her smile never wavered from her face. He called her MA’AM. She’d have to cry about it later! Ask her husband if she was getting old and if she should start considering plastic surgery. Maybe her diet and workout plan was failing her! Oh no. She was absolutely UGLY.

The weirdest thing about the dinner for Hana Park wasn’t the eye-rolling fact that Henry and his cohort decided to take things incredibly seriously with their little t-shirt stunt nor was it the fact that Min-seo seemed to be dressed more for an Academy Awards after party rather than an assuredly awkward dinner. The weirdest thing was the thumbs up flashed her way by someone she assumed to be a family member. Hana used to think her family was big just because she had three siblings - but a family of six felt a lot smaller when she only ever saw four people at dinner at any one time. The Green family seemed nothing if not...elaborate and perhaps eccentric but that could well have been the opinion of someone on the outside looking in. Hailey didn’t talk much about her family and Hana didn’t ask - not that she often had a chance to do so in the first place. But she had made a conscious decision to not involve herself unless called upon. Nothing would be worse for Hailey and by extension herself than Hana piping in with a comment or remark that got promptly ignored or shot down. Fortunately the attention was on someone who Henry probably convinced cutting off the blood flow via a shirt was a good idea. But the night was young.

Until then, however, she held Hailey’s hand under the table, having given it a calming squeeze when the Tuxedo Terrors entered the room.

Hailey didn’t say a word, because what could she possibly say at this point? She didn’t want to speak to these people, and she almost didn’t want to be here. It was cringey to hear her mother-in-law (or whatever) lust after a man half her age, it was ridiculous to see the shirt that Henry and Cyndi’s boytoy were wearing, and the only good things going for Hailey was the simple fact that Korea raised their women to be quiet, heads down, and submissive. Neither Hana nor Min-seo had said something that would embarrass her or make it worse. Even so, Hailey didn’t say a word, she kept her hand on Hana’s, squeezing tighter and tighter as she got more and more frustrated. This was pointless, for fuck’s sake. There was no such thing as honor anymore! What was the point of this?

There wasn’t a point, that was the goddamn point of this. That it was, inherently, pointless! Henry’s attempt at conversation, his attempt at offering an olive branch to his sister was unsuccessful. All it had done was make her even more furious, shaking her head, Hailey looked at the head of the table, toward her mother, asking with her eyes.

“The food will be here shortly. For now, I suggest you make polite conversation with your family and their loved ones.”

In an instant, it was painfully clear where Hailey’s cadence and speaking habits came from.

There really was not enough wine for this night. None of the Greens and Lockes put together could act ordinary for once. They made dysfunctional look bearable. They made simple COMPLICATED. Just one normal night. Could Evelyn have that? Just once? Where she didn’t have to take care of everyone and make sure no one killed each other? It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this filthy rich family weren’t laid back and the ones that suffered? Those that were trying to get a glimpse at all the demons. Eerily picking up her glass, Eve took a sip wondering what it would take to make everyone behave and compliant. Find a happy middle ground. No one had to like each other in this damn family but they could at least act mature while there were guests over. Placing her glass down, she decided to break the tension with a subject everyone should be aware of: “Henry, Cyndi. It’s almost your birthday. I’d like to do something for you two, even if it’s small. And I’d prefer if we all could be together, as a family, like tonight.”

“The fuck?”

After speaking, Henry could feel the bewildered look of his father, and the icy stare of his mother on him, and he cleared his throat. “I mean, uhm. I thought we agreed, ma’am, that you and the rest of the family, ma’am, would leave me alone and let me go to Disneyland with Min-seo alone and you wouldn’t try to do something as a family, ma’am. So I could… enjoy myself, ma’am.” There, Henry couldn’t have spoken with more respect if his life depended on it. He’d said ‘ma’am’ like almost six times! Mission accomplished, he was surely free… why wasn’t Alyssa looking away from him? Why did it just seem like she was staring harder? “But perhaps…” Alyssa nodded slightly, and Henry kept going, slowly, deliberately. Carefully. “We could, ma’am, have a quick family breakfast before we left to Disney.”

Hm. Evelyn took another sip and nodded. That sufficed. She knew very well what the arrangements were, but as a mother that never got to spend time with her children, of course she’d bargain for more. Her eyes went to Cyndi. For her lack of friends, Eve was going to throw her a party but she wanted to see exactly what her daughter wanted. Henry and Hailey never failed to make things clear with her. Cyndi only cared to share with Alyssa. Cyndi focused on not breaking eye contact with her mama even if she wanted to run into her hole. She hated when the attention was all on her. She thought back on her date with Justin and then the conversation she had with both her siblings after it. What did she want? At first hesitant and then nodding to herself, she firmly answered (even if there was a slight shake in her voice), “I want to spend a weekend at our private beach, hopefully with friends if I get more by then.” Wow. She was such a sad soul.

That was easy enough. Okay, Eve was satisfied with the answers she’d received, now she’d allow someone else to talk. The lady of the Green family went back to her alcohol. She wasn’t going to direct anything toward Hailey because she knew Hailey was already past her limit.

While the Greens and Lockes were talking amongst themselves and taking care of family business, Justin took a page out of the Koreans' book and sat there idly, staring off into the distance. The awkward feeling was so thick that it had to be cut with a hot knife to do anything. Justin felt awkward, and he was more than sure that he wasn't the only person who felt the same way.

He was in over his head. Every single fiber of his being wanted to tear away from this situation and retreat home so he could sit on his couch and not be subjected to this torture. The Greens were a completely different caliber. Why did he let Henry convince him to wear something like this? He felt stupid. He felt embarrassed.

Justin really wished someone could save him before the tension would kill him.

“I’m not hearing polite conversation.” Alyssa said in a voice that was only one or two steps away from a flatout hiss. From her spot at the head of the table, Alyssa glared individually at every one there, casually swirling her wine glass in her hand. Did they not understand they were to do what they were told? This was the kind of person her children were ‘dating?’ Poor taste. They almost surely got it from their father. Who, by the way, was not helping things. At least Evelyn seemed pleased…

“So… Justin, right? Nice shirt, bud.” Cyndi’s father was speaking now, looking down at Justin who was sitting beside his youngest daughter. As he spoke, Henry raised his glass in his father’s direction. At least someone got it in this hellhole. “Trust me, if you think this is bad, you should see us at Christmas. There’s a fully stocked bar.”

"Yeah, it's Justin." He paused momentarily, "Thanks." Justin chuckled sheepishly. Right now Justin was more of a coward than the field general he was on the field. He couldn't get past how many eyes were on him, and he was pretty sure the head of the table just cursed him.

However Justin had no idea what he assumed to be Cyndi's dad was talking about, which was shown by the rather puzzled look on his face. He just glanced at Cyndi, before looking back at the elder Green. Evelyn had finished her glass and one of the butlers of the household immediately poured more, which was a perfect display of exactly what Ty was talking about.

“SO.” Evelyn took another sip. Her irritation increasing. “Let’s play an ice breaker game since no one wants to actually move the conversation anywhere. Two truths and a lie. When I go, Ty and Alyssa aren’t allowed to participate. Let’s see how well you all actually know each other.” Yeah, the alcohol was hitting the musician and if Hailey was just about having it, Eve was peaking as well. “I was born in Milan, Italy. I absolutely love Gummy candy. Specifically Gummy Bears. And I was twelve years old when my band started.”

Figuring nobody else was going to answer, especially the silent Koreans, Justin cleared his throat and made his guess. This was a total shot in the dark but Justin had a feeling that the gummy candy thing was a lie. There was a bit too much behind that answer which lead him to believe that wasn't the correct answer. "Gummy candy is the lie.".

“Correct. I prefer sour skittles. Gummy bears is their aunt Amity’s favorite. Now, you go.”

Justin did something. He was proud of the fact that he somehow managed to figure out the one lie his… Cyndi's aunt told (Eve was Cyndi’s mommy, Justin). Now he just had to figure out one of his own. That was hard. How much could he reveal about himself right now? What sorts of things should he say?

"Uhhh… I also play baseball. I love strawberries. Aaannndd…. I- I have a sister."

“This bitch ain’t like strawberries, no way.” While Henry was the first one to crop up, Alyssa seemed interested in the conversation for the first time since it had began. Were they talking about strawberries? That was something that deserved her interest. Henry took a sip from his soda, whatever it was. Coke? Vanilla coke? He wasn’t sure. “How ‘bout it, Justin. You like strawberries?”

"Nah, you got me." Justin chuckled, before glaring at the pile of strawberries in a nearby cornucopia. "Never liked them. Too sour." Strangely enough Justin did like strawberry flavored things, just not strawberries themselves. It was kind of like liking ketchup but not tomatoes. "Your turn, dude."

Alyssa raised an eyebrow. Eh! Wrong answer, pal. Alyssa had never found herself so quickly disinterested in someone before. Almost as a sign of defiance, she reached out and casually grabbed one of the strawberries, popping it into her mouth and munching on it. Henry watched his mother do that, and shook his head in Justin’s direction. He went straight for the jugular on the one thing she truly loved in life… even Cyndi looked displeased by this answer. Like mother, like daughter. When he took his turn, Henry leaned back in the chair, “I used to play the violin, I named my capybaras after my parents’s betrayal, and I like playing the flute.” There, that was good, surely.

Hailey looked up then, and scowled, shaking her head in her brother’s direction. “Neither of those are a lie! It’s literally in the name that one of them needs to be a lie! You can’t just bend every rule to fit yourself, Henry! That’s retarded.”

“Alright, alright! Damn.” Henry had to think. If one of them had to be a lie, then it wasn’t exactly an easy situation. Who made the rules to these stupid ass games, anyway? Two truths and a lie, about himself? “Uh…” Stupid ass game, stupid ass prizes. Pour another glass for yourself, you alcoholic bitch. Ain’t like Henry DIDN’T WANT TO BE HERE or anything. “I like k-pop, my capybaras are named after my parent’s betrayal —” Henry was trying to make a point. “My favorite movie is Cloud Atlas.”

Good fucking luck.

Min-seo made a move like she was ready to speak up at long last; she didn’t quite know the rules of the game - namely if she was allowed to answer or if someone specific had to, but if there was one thing she knew about Henry (and really she liked to think she knew a decent amount) she knew he wasn’t exactly a fan of k-pop. If he was he probably would’ve asked if she was related to a trainee in Seoul that shared her family name. She was but Henry didn’t know that.

”You don’t-”

“There’s no way your favorite movie is Cloud Atlas.” Hana spoke up, cutting Min-seo and her softer voice off. Min-seo closed her mouth and retreated back to her quiet space of awkward fidgeting. “That’s a three hour, high concept, genre-crossing, allegorical movie. The book even more so. Other than the Nea So Copros - sorry, the Neo Seoul - story there’s not even any action.” Cloud Atlas was ostensibly a science fiction novel and movie even if it crossed genres which, of course, made it a work Hana was incredibly familiar with. She preferred the book but she had seen the movie multiple times in theaters. It made her cry. She told no one, other than her sister. “Sonmi-451...the Fabricant in the movie? I told my sister that the actress looks like her but she just laughed and said they had different noses. And then she fell asleep. No way is that your favorite movie.”

At her end of the table, Min-seo was smiling to herself. "This should be funny.”

Henry leaned forward and shook his head, “WRONG ANSWER, PAL. What do you think I am, some kind of fuckin’, Marvel watchin’, fuckin’ The Rock movie watchin’, scrub ass, chad movies only little ass BITCH? Is that what you think over there? Call me an idiot in my own home, huh? Who do ya think you are?” Henry demanded, waving a peach at Hana as if it were a deadly weapon. Unfortunately for the middle Green, his words set off the ticking time bomb, as Hailey lifted up her fork and stabbed it into the table, causing Ty to wince and Cyndi to ‘eep’. He’d be hearing it from Alyssa over this tomorrow. It was an expensive table, to be fair.

“Do not speak to her, as if she is one of your slimy little friends! You are beneath her, and you will act like it, you little prick. Don’t think that just because, oh no, ‘the family is together for a nice little dinner’ that you’re immune. You do not have any right to be mean to her because she called you out as an idiot. WHICH IS WHAT YOU PRESENT YOURSELF AS!” Hailey’s brother had brought this down upon himself, but maybe it was all part of his plan to ruin their night and get out of it so he could go make out with that little brat who he’d fooled into liking her.

While Henry got ready to fire back, Alyssa took another sip from her wine glass, and turned her attention to the quiet girl in the room, Min-seo. Leaning forward, Alyssa spoke to her; though she was speaking not in English, but instead, Min-seo’s native language. “And what exactly, dear, do you see in this one?” Alyssa asked, gesturing with a strawberry toward her son.

Henry didn’t get an aggressive word out toward Hailey, because he stopped, and stared at his mother, and then at Min-seo. “Wait… what?” With her cheeks puffed in embarrassment, and big eyes, Cyndi was looking from Hana, to Min, to Henry, to Hailey, to her mother, then to Min again. She couldn’t even think about what was going on in Justin’s head anymore because this was probably the most intense family dinner she’s ever had, and they were usually pretty intense! When her mother spoke Korean, which she could actually catch on to most of the words, thanks to classes she took in Seoul, Cyndi anxiously waited for Min’s response. The anxiety of this whole night was killing her. It was obvious her mother was over Justin simply by the fact that he hated strawberry and now here she was giving the cute, timid one the floor. Could this night get any worse?!

Hana had every intention of following up on Henry’s predictable response with her own but Hailey took to the field in typical Hailey fashion. She could sit back and watch the fireworks and finally get an understanding as to the appeal of ‘white knights’. Though she doubted that term applied when the one doing the defending was actually her girlfriend. Hana just assumed Henry was getting super defensive because she was right in her claims; it was easy to say the lie wasn’t actually a lie just like it was easy to say you didn’t have a good hand in poker. At this table, Hana figured she was the best at telling lies anyway with the difference being all the lies she told had always been to herself.

Min-seo glanced up from looking between the table and the loud argument between siblings and turned her head towards Alyssa, a look of confusion to her face. Of all the places she figured she’d hear her native language she never figured it would be here. Most people she encountered only knew Korean through K-Pop which was like saying someone knew Japanese because they watched anime or Spanish because they knew the macarena. Min wasn’t going to question it, she was just glad to hear a language she understood. ”That’s...difficult to answer. But it’s because of how kind he is. He might not always show it, but he is a soft, sweetheart towards me and towards Parker. Of course he is cute but being cute doesn’t make up for a bad personality. I think...I think with me helping him with his...demons...he will be better off. I see...in him...the good parts.” Min-seo responded quickly, speaking longer and more fluently than she likely had since her arrival. Cyndi’s once confused expression turned into hopeful admiration. That was the nicest anyone’s talked about Henry. Her heart fluttered in excitement for her brother. He had such a good catch!

Alyssa tapped her chin. The plot thickened, and her interest was rising. Score one for the children, and to everyone’s (most importantly Alyssa’s) surprise, it was for her son. Hailey’s outburst wasn’t attractive, and the haughty words of the girlfriend didn’t help. At the very least, Alyssa was happy for Hailey and Cyndi, but it was Henry she was most proud of. He had, it seemed, done well. Or, at the very least, he’d tricked Min-seo. “Hm… We will talk later. For now, I do have one other question. My son, and this boy,” a lazy finger lifted up and toward Justin. “You will draw them together, yes? Like the ones I found in your room.” Alyssa’s words were accented with an almost smug, teasing smile.

It was fortunate that Min wasn’t in the middle of eating or drinking since the question posed to her would have caused something to be dropped from her hands and frankly, a broken glass in this house was probably worth a small fortune. How had Alyssa seen those drawings? Min had been careful to keep them out of sight...though there was that one evening where Parker demanded attention and Min...might have left a sketchbook behind but...she shook her head as her eyes darted around the table. No one else here spoke Korean, right? No one else knew? Then why did she feel like she did back in Seoul? Why did she feel like everyone was glaring at her, judging her, thinking ill of her? Min grabbed a glass of water, careful that it didn't spill with how shaky her hand was holding it, and took a long sip. Everyone was staring...everyone was looking...everyone was thinking the worst about her… ”Those...weren’t...I didn’t...I...I can’t….it...it wouldn’t be...right.”

“Of course it would. It is the American way, and you know what they say. When in Rome… Ask Cyndi about Tumblr. She will show you how to build a following for your art. It’s very good, and you can refine it… perhaps stop drawing your classmates, but… no one has to know.” Alyssa said, eating her strawberry, as Henry looked between his mother and his girlfriend. What was going on? What was he missing? What were they talking about? Why didn’t he speak Korean!? This was bullshit! “Trust me. You have a talent, don’t run from it. It is your turn in the game. English, please.” Alyssa cleared her throat and moved back to English, looking around the group. “It is Min-seo’s turn now.”

“What?! You can’t just talk to my girlfriend in a language I don’t even vaguely understand, and then just change the rules of the game in front of us! What the hell!? Mom, put a stop to this madness! Dad, step in! Raise your hand, threaten her! Julie make whiny noises! Does no one see the insanity being laid out before us!?”

The only parent that responded was unfortunately Alyssa, in a voice that was a thousand degrees colder than the one she had been using to speak with Min-seo. “I make the rules, Henry.”

Henry glared, but… Henry shut his mouth, and gave the floor to Min-seo.

They were still playing the game? Min blinked twice and returned to the present situation; the verbal fight between Henry and Hailey seemed to die down but Min-seo still had so many questions. What was a ‘tumblr’ and how much of her art had Alyssa seen and in what capacity? Min’s style of art wasn’t exactly the kind of thing they did gallery openings for, they had a very specific sort of audience and that audience was...not found at home. Once again she shook her head; it was probably not a good idea to wonder if her boyfriend’s mother looked at her yaoi art. ”I...have been in...teevee...video...I have...two...mom….I...have been..to...four...country.”

With her hands on her chest, Cyndi couldn’t help but feel Min’s embarrassment. She was too sweet for this world. Hopefully this would make her feel better. She chimed in, “I’m going to take an educational guess and say you haven’t been to four countries.” And then like her mother did, but more broken, Cyndi spoke in Korean, “Is… falsehood… countries? And…. I… will help… with… art…. I like.... that… art… and you… have… cute...” What was the word for ducks? What was the word for DUCKS?! She’ll just say it in English, “Ducks.”

Listening to the ordeal between the Green family and the Koreans had revealed a lot more about Cyndi’s family than he had previously anticipated. Alyssa could speak Korean? Damn, Justin didn’t speak Korean at all and from what it looked like, Alyssa already wasn’t the biggest fan of him. As a matter of fact, she seemed like the polar opposite of a fan. Justin could feel every single word from her that was directed at him penetrate into his soul.

He had to do something to turn the tide, because at the rate things were going the Greens would’ve probably pulled up to his house and relocated him to buttfuck nowhere, Nebraska to get him away from Cyndi. It was tough to figure out what to do. Maybe his opportunity would rise up later, but for the time being he was going to bide his time and wait for the opportunity should it come.

However, he couldn’t just leave Cyndi’s efforts alone. He was amazed at her efforts to speak Korean. It was tough for westerners to pick up the language, despite one just schooling the whole damn family in it just now. Justin took the opportunity to nudge Cyndi, before looking at her. “Nice Korean…”

Her cheeks were kissed pink with the compliment. Was her korean really okay? Justin seemed to think so. That was part of the reason she broke down and wanted to go home. She couldn’t handle the language barrier. “Thank you…” For the first time that night, Cyndi took a risk and went to hold her boyfriend’s hand under the table, officially deciding yes, she’d give him a chance.

Justin’s eyes widened as he felt a soft, warm object in his hand underneath the table. Taking a gander underneath, it turned out to be Cyndi’s hand. It… made him feel all warm and tingly inside. He smiled softly, before looking over at Cyndi again, squeezing her hand just a bit. “Always.”

Alyssa watched the exchanged between Cyndi and Justin with muted interest. Maybe there was something there, though she hadn’t been certain about Justin when he’d walked in, and she’d suddenly been less so after the strawberry incident, but… this was okay. She could learn to live with this, and be happy with it.

“HA. Y’all niggas gayyyyy.”

And then it was over.

With flaming red cheeks, Cyndi retracted her hand. Yeah, she wasn’t used to PDA and her brother ruined a moment for her! She actually showed Justin affection! What a jerk.

“Henry.” Evelyn tsked and when she did so, the food finally came in. “Oh, great. Game’s over. Let’s eat.” Cyndi’s embarrassment turned into a glare at her brother, as Xander put a plate in front of her and her boyfriend. Tonight they’d have Osso buco alla Milanese, which was a Lombard speciality cuisine. With a whisper, Cyndi’s butler hinted at the dessert, “And for dessert, tiramisu and gelato.”

”Delicious! Thank you so much.” With that, Xander finished his rounds, giving everyone a plate, since Hailey’s butler had better things to do and Henry’s butler was still overseas and then left the room to go back to his game of candy crush.

“Oh, great, yeah. No, no, this doesn’t make us look like rich, elitist prick McAssholes at all.”

At least Kit had worked everything out with her parents. She was a little stressed out about how hard it’d been to get through it, and it had taken a lot of measured self-reflection to realize that… her parents, in fact, didn’t really care. It wasn’t that big of a deal to anyone but Kit — maybe that was why it hurt so much. She’d thought the Doc would hate her, but the Doc had promised to get her a replacement. and her mother had smelled like rotten grapes but had also helped calm her down.

Still, Kit wasn’t exactly forgiving Hana yet. She hadn’t even texted the girl! That would show her! Maybe. Kit had kissed her though! Oooh, she’d have to tell True that. She had way more kissing experience than True did now, she was practically an expert. True, of course, was sitting in Kit’s messy bedroom, flopped on the bed and staring at her phone (Kit thought she’d caught True sniffing it once or twice, but she pushed that thought out of her mind), because there was some text message from one of the weed kids.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, at least if you asked Kit, the cultivators of the Devil’s lettuce had decided that they were going to put on their own King of Iron First Tournament. They were going to enter the Tekken, they were going to… play Kit in her own game and get their faces curbstomped. Kit wasn’t even sure that True had the right data, “hey, Truly.” Kit frowned when she didn’t get an immediate reaction, and she grabbed the open bag of Doritos off her desk and grabbed one of the chips. She took a bite of it — she wasn’t going to waste an entire fucking Dorito, she wasn’t some kind of savage — and then tossed it at Truly’s face. “Earth to True! You didn’t actually tell me anything about the tournament! Throw that Dorito back, please.”

Snapping back to reality, True side glanced toward her friend, still stuck between heaven and Earth, “What? Sorry I’m just waiting for him to propose already.” She sighed in desperation. Picking herself up, changing positions so that she was laying on her tummy, she tried to put her phone down to focus on her best friend, but… her hand had a TIGHT grip on it. She seemed to have not heard the Dorito comment because now it was crushed under her. “Oh oops.” It was hard to focus! Now, what did Kitkat ask her about? The date? Did she want to know more about her date? “KITTTT, HE’S JUST SO AMAZEBALLS. We had so much fun! And because I’m blind I crashed into him during laser tag and we stood there… for a minute.. or two… AND HE DIDN’T MAKE A MOVE.” She was defeated. They could’ve gotten so far.

“You should have made a move… Ugh, I can’t BELIEVE you crushed my Dorito! Those are the only thing that bring me joy. A cute Korean girl I’ve had a crush on since she started making YouTube videos about Final Fantasy kissed me yesterday and I’M STILL pretty freakin’ upset, and now my best friend is sitting on my Doritos! I don’t want BUTT flavored Doritos! At least not… your butt. And I didn’t even ask about the date!” Kit sighed and spun back in her chair to face her computer screen, clicking around. If True didn’t even want to help, then Kit was just going to look at r/cosplaygirls. “The video games, True! The video games! Tell me about the games!”

“Sorry! I’m here!” Truly Bliss squealed, not liking that she upset her bestie. Sitting up, she brushed the chip in her hand and hopped off the bed to throw it in the trash, near Kit’s desk. “They want to destroy ‘A, S, S,’ and ‘H, O, L’ at Burntown… that’s the skateboard place! I never pay attention to anyone else but Wyatt. A Tekken tourney! I laughed sooooo hard, but don’t worry. I didn’t share your secrets. THAT REMINDS ME.” Dramatically, True fell on the floor on a pile of Kit’s clothes, they were probably dirty, oh well, “WHAT IS OVERWATCH?!”

Kit watched as True fell on a pile of her clothes — yikes, that’s the dirty pile… oh well, I’ll tell her another time… — and then screamed about Overwatch. For once, it seemed True was speaking Kit’s language. Kit had been big on Overwatch for a little bit, briefly after she learned about Healsluts. That fell out of favor once the r/healsluts server learned that she, Kitastrophe, was in fact only 14 years old. After that, Kit mostly moved on — back to fighting games and League and CS:GO. BUT, she had been pretty good in her time! In fact, she’d even been ranked Master for a while.

The important part was, she could teach True how to play that! “Overwatch is an arena shooter that a lot of cute submissive girls play where they play Mercy and do this specific emote to tell you ‘hey, I wanna heal you and I want you to bully me because I’m not doing a good enough job.’ And there’s this guy who’s a monkey, and then there’s this other guy who’s a hamster and I used to like the hamster, but I also liked this Korean girl with a mech who’s named Hana. One day, I’ll meet a D. Va cosplayer… Here, look!’ Kit said, clicking around on her screen and bringing Overwatch up.

“And then there’s like this British girl that’s gay, and she’s like so cool and she’s gay and she makes it cool to be gay, so I can be gay and it’s not a big deal and like, representation matters. And there’s this other guy that’s like a Cyborg Ninja and he’s basically the MEGA CHAD of Overwatch. Like, like think Damian if he were Asian, right? Well, he got ATTACKED by some OTHER NINJAS and then they had to make him a robot! And he stopped having sex. It owns.”

True’s head poked behind the back of Kit’s gaming chair as she looked at all the things and retained NONE of it. She was panicking! How would he ever want to marry her if she couldn’t play Overwatch?! Was this the end as she knew it? YOU AREN’T A GAMER. WHY ARE YOU EVEN TRYING???? “That’s cool and all but can you teach me by tomorrow? I scheduled a ‘party up’ this weekend, which is now.”

“NO. Dude, shooters are honed through HOURS of practice and yelling at your computer screen! You think I can teach you by TOMORROW? No way! There’s no way! I’d have to be some kind of, some kind of TACTICAL GENIUS! I’d have to be some kind of ninja, some kind of…” Kit paused, hovering over one character as she tilted her head. The Thomas genius genes were waking up, the three hamsters that piloted Kit’s two brain cells were coming to life… a plan was formulating. “What if I play and you just wear my headset and pretend to be good at the game?”

Her almost sad demeanor took a 180 and the mastermind plan that could only be thought of from Kit! Jumping in the air, excitedly, True cheered, “You’d do that for me?! Oh my god. My DDR skills already stunned him. If YOU play for ME then he’d want to marry me! Right?!” She could already hear the wedding bells and soon she could showcase him to mommy and daddy and big brother. Then, they could play house and it’ll just be amazing! Who needed to be good at life when she had a friend to do that for her?! Her grin was wide and she couldn’t wait for tomorrow, just to hear his voice and the compliments. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

“Yeah, totally. And I bet he’d want to marry you or somethin’ like that.” Kit explained, shrugging her shoulders. It was a way to approach things! Sure, it was unethical, and frowned upon, but it wasn’t like anyone would know. In the meantime, Kit would teach True how to play for real, so that if Wyatt ever wanted to LAN, she’d be in the clear. “Can you get me some of your mom’s brownies? The really fudgy ones, not the ‘secret ones’ that she thinks we don’t know are weed brownies.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll bring ‘em tomorrow and other goodies. We’ll spend all night playing games then I’ll be sleepy for school, but a whiff of Wyatt should wake me up.” The small redhead smiled at her friend before retreating back to the bed where she had briefly left her phone. She went to go check it. Still nothing. Maybe he didn’t miss her. She was a failure as a lover. Wasn’t it his job to send the first text? Maybe she should. Or shouldn’t. She wanted to but she also didn’t want to scare him off.

Resting her head on Kit’s pillow, she heavily sighed, “It’s all surreal. He didn’t notice me at all last semester. Not at the halloween party or homecoming or anything. And now… we’ve gone on a date.” She couldn’t believe it. This was a fantasy and yet it was so daunting because maybe she WAS in over her head seeing how he didn’t even text her yet.

“Dude, you’re weird. But it’s like a good weird, and I bet he totally digs you. I would, if I was lucky enough to have someone love me so much they were ready to lie about the things they liked and did so that I’d give them a chance. See, you just had to GO for it.” Kit explained, through a mouthful of crunchy, delicious, Cool Ranch Doritos. Scratching her nose with a Dorito dusty hand, Kit stared at it for a second before she popped it into her mouth to eat the delicious dust. Then, she stood up and went over to the minifridge, grabbing a Red Bull out of it.

“You should probably have sex with him. My other best friend had sex with her boyfriend on Brian’s boat and now they like, sleep in the same room every night so they can have more sex. It’s probably the next, you know, logical step. Hey, do you want a Red Bull?”

“Redbull hurts my tummy, do you have a juicebox?” True asked before adding, “I’ll get another pep talk from Damian and Joy! All I remember from the first one is SPITTERS AIN’T QUITTERS. So I guess after we kiss I gotta explore whatever that means! Is sex scary?” Would Kit know? Her mother seemed opened about those kind of topics, maybe she would. Her phone vibrated, however, Truly wanted to hear the answer to the question before looking at her phone.

“Are you sure that’s what they said? Because I’m pretty sure it’s the opposite? The spitters are the quitters, because they spit out the… you know what, I’m gonna send you some links. Make sure you watch them with the door open and on Bluetooth to the surround sound….” Kit paused, and thought about it, withdrawing a single Capri Sun from the back of her fridge. “Uh, please don’t actually do that. Door shut, lights off, headphones in. ANYWAY, I don’t know that sex isn’t scary, but I think it is! I’ve only seen like, a bajillion porns and hentais and read doujins! My only real extensive sex knowledge is based off of a video I have of Min and Henry having sex, and it didn’t look scary. It looked like Min was gonna die for a brief second, and then she looked like, super happy.” With that, Kit threw the Capri Sun over to True.

“It’s Strawberry Kiwi and I don’t like that. And it’s from the back of the fridge… so don’t be surprised if it’s like, frozen or slushy.”

“Thank youuuu.” She took the straw and poked a hole into the juice. Hopefully she’d be able to suck it up even if it was hard! Well, frozen. “Oh, that’s right. Spitters are quitters. I guess I DID forget my brother’s lessons!”

“Maybe you should like, take notes, or record it. That’s a big thing to forget!”

After taking a harsh sip out of the Capri Sun, it was extremely cold, True’s eyes widened when she registered what her friend had said, “WHY ARE YOU WATCHING SEX VIDEOS OF PEOPLE WE KNOW?!” Quickly, she placed her drink on the nightstand and grabbed her phone, but still didn’t check it. THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION TOO WAS IMPORTANT.

“I dunno, because I like… wanted to? Min took the video for me! Henry knew about it. They were into it! It’s not like that’s weird or anything, it’s completely natural to want to watch sex instead of have it because you’re not that attracted to men, but you’d probably like, suck a dick if you could. But it’d have to be the right dick. So instead you just like, watch your friend do it! That’s not a bad thing, True! Keep it down, the Professor might hear you.”

“You’re so matureeeee.” True weeped at how advanced and smart her friend was in sexual things. Why was she so slow? Why was she so naive?! How could you watch other people? She knew she’d only be able to do it if Wyatt told her to, but she’d prefer just having sex with him. That’s what sex was for. To have sex with the one you love and she LOVED him. Finally, she looked down to her phone and unlocked her screen to see a text that stopped her heart. W-wha? Suddenly, and not on purpose, she threw her phone up in the air as if it was a hot potato and rolled off the bed, hard. THUMP. True was not quiet at all. She stared at the ceiling from the floor. Her face beaming red. Did he really want to?

Normally, friends would be concerned at this point. Normally. But Kit knew True well enough to know that she was arguably the most melodramatic, over the top person at their school. And that included Shauna and Marshall both. So, instead of checking on True, Kit just hopped out of her chair and headed over to the discarded phone and picked it up, “geeze, what’s got you so worked up? Oh, hey! Nice, go suck on his tongue. I got you.”

To: My Future Husband
Sure! Like… now? Can you come pick me up from my friends house?
She lives in the blue house on Third Street near the beach!

“There, with any luck, he’s on his way. Go get ‘em, killer!”

“KATHRYN, WHAT IS GOING ON? ARE YOU BOTH OKAY????! DO I NEED TO COME UP THERE???” The Professor yelled from the kitchen, as she drank wine and made a meal for her and the girls. The Doc was with his best friend, doing something.

“IT’S KIT, PROFESSOR! K, I, T! AND NO, IT’S FINE, TRUE IS JUST BEING… YOU KNOW, HERSELF! DON’T WORRY! PLEASE DON’T COME UP HERE!”

Hurriedly, True went to her phone, swiping it from her friend and looked at what she wrote: “What… have you done?”

The fact that the house was quiet and clean when they walked inside was a problem. Oliver knew his daughter well enough to know that it was a problem. Kit being quiet was almost like her way of giving her parents the biggest red flag in the world. The last time she had been quiet, they’d later discovered a hole the size of Kit behind a cleverly moved piece of furniture. Oliver knew based on the phone call Kit was upset. She had even been crying, and she definitely hadn’t been faking it.

“Sorry our date got cut short… do you want me to go talk to her, or…?” Oliver asked, looking over at Molly before glancing toward the stairs… when he noticed his daughter standing at the top, with an almost wraithlike appearance. Based on his first glance, Oliver thought she might have been crying since he got off the phone with her. Oliver glanced over at his wife, but before he could say anything to Kit, their daughter was hobbling down the stairs, and talking.

“I brought her over and she had cake and we played games and then she broke it and it’s gone and she broke it and I let you DOWN.” Kit said through teary eyes and sniffles as she approached her parents. Oliver hadn’t really been mentally prepared for this kind of thing; he’d thought that he was just going to hang out with Molly and maybe get lucky, but now there was this. “And she took the whole cake! I told her to, but I really want cake now!”

The harsh smell of wine could be smelt off the Professor. There was a slight sway in her legs, as she stood there watching her daughter be mopey and make her way to her and her husband. Listening as carefully as she could to her child’s needs, Molly fumbled in her purse, dropped it, bent over to pick it up, then fumbled in it again, “I’mma give Rem’s a call.” She slurred. “I get you cake to make you better. Mommy loves you sooooooooo much~!” She blinked at her phone, trying to find one of the Wells. It was blurry. She handed her phone to her husband, “You do it!” And proceeded to pull Kit into a motherly hug.

Oh god, the Professor smelled like nasty grapes. Kit gagged, mostly involuntarily. Kit didn’t know what that was, but she definitely knew that she hated it. “Doc, what do you guys do when you’re out? Why does she smell!? Why can’t she hold her phone?” Maybe it was just the stressors of being an adult getting to the Professor… some kind of tragic tale… Kit didn’t have time for that! “I don’t have time for this! You need a bath. Let’s… let’s go.” Kit declared, squirming her way out of Molly’s grip and gesturing for Molly to follow her up the stairs, turning around to tut at the Doc. “Clearly, you let the Professor lose control!”

“Yes. Clearly.” Oliver muttered, following after Molly and his daughter. At least, it seemed that Kit was over whatever she was upset about — or this was just the calm before the storm…

Unable to go up the stairs, leaning over the railing, Molly debated if she should crawl. She had forgotten about the cake request and now was trying her best to make it to the bathroom. Her legs wanted to give out. Maybe she should let her legs give out. She was kind of sleepy. “You bathe with me? We can have bubble bath! And I’ll put one of my lush balls in toooooo.” Molly slowly, slowly let all her weight go to her legs. She started to drop.

Luckily for Molly, she was married to the super dad. Without skipping a beat, Oliver caught Molly and scooped her up into his arms, looking at Kit as he walked past her. “I gotta go put the Professor to bed, KitKat.” He said, looking down at the girl, who stoically nodded. “We’ll talk soon, just me and you. We’ll go get pancakes, and then we can pick True up, alright? Tomorrow morning?” Oliver offered as he headed toward the bedroom. He would have liked to talk to Kit then and there, but the fact was… he couldn’t. The Professor was too fucking trashed, he had to make sure she didn’t choke to death on her own vomit, or like… worse. Cry.

“Uhm… yeah, that sounds good! And I wouldn’t bathe with you, Professor! I’m 15! You don’t bathe with other people when you’re older than like, freakin’ 10!”

“You’re gonna make her bring up college…”

“WHEN I WAS TWENTY…” The Professor spoke nonsense, though to her the story was coherent. The volume of her voice got further and further away until she and her husband were in the master bedroom. The door closed and she yawned, “It’s good story.”

“Hey, are you sure this is a good idea, dude? This doesn’t seem like a good idea, dude.” A Double had some concerns. Logical fallacies, really. These concerns however, were brushed away with a wave of the hand by Mason Aspen, the hero of the day. A Double and Mason were joined by a mutual friend (aka: dude they knew with a camera. always document stuff, CR said) as they trekked up the super ramp, to the top. Between Mason and A Double, was a go-kart, the vehicle of the day.

“Yeah, dude. Totally. This is safe.”

“But, like, you’re taking a flat-track go-kart off of the super ramp, and like… you wanna do a front flip, but like… The go-kart has no shocks…”

“Uh-huh. What’s your point?”

“So it’s gonna bottom out on the other side! You’ll break your tailbone or something.” A Double protested. He was all about doing dumb stuff, but… this seemed a little ridiculous. All that was going to happen was Mason was going to fly down the ramp at high, unsafe speeds, launch into the air, overshoot the landing, and bust his ass. And, granted, it would be on camera. “I just don’t see this going well. Unless you land it perfectly, but the thing’s gonna go too fast! This has a 200cc motor in it, dude. This isn’t the baby baby one.”

“Nah, what you don’t understand, A Dubs, is that I am a mathematician, and I already did the physics, bro. I’m gonna come at this just right and I’m gonna have the smoothest landing ever, you see — A Double.” Mason huffed as they sat the go-kart down on the top of the ramp, letting out a breath from the effort of dragging it all that way. “What you don’t get, my friend, my friends —” Mason made sure to acknowledge Jax, “is that I am the cream of the crop, and the cream… the cream my friends… always rises to the top. Nobody does it better. Nobody ever has, nobody ever will.”

A Double just kind of stared at Mason for a few seconds that hung in the air, blinking. A Double was too high for this. Way too fucking high for this. He was sky high. He was so high that he didn’t even want to talk about this anymore — so he looked at Jax. “So I been wondering…. the lip thing. Do girls like it? ...like, do they really? Because it looks kinda impractical, at best.”

“Of course girls like it. It’s the bad boy look. Plus the, ahem, scent. That MUSK he covers himself in. It’s all to get poon. I respect it, champ.”

“It hasn’t failed me yet. But, I like the lip ring because it’s my aesthetic. When I’m DJing, the girls are all over me. Trust. They’re into it.” Jax Dalton would like to think a pretty little Dancing Queen was into it too, but their meeting was short lived. He’d have to pay her a visit. See if she was down for a little fun. Y’know, without strings attached.

While he finished setting up his Z-Grip rig, having already attached a Go Pro on Mason’s go kart and helmet, he looked over to his two assistants, Rose and Honey. Dude made filmmaking a production. He was all about getting the shot. He let his little sister control the drone for aerial shots, he made sure to train her with that so she could help him whenever, and Rose, who also had a keen eye like him, would take care of capturing the wide shot - in hopes that their boy did this stunt successfully. As for him? He’d be getting the mobile shots that this specific community cared about. Yes, that fucking meant he was skateboarding right behind his dude and potentially getting hurt, but it was a risk he was willing to take. For the GRAM and the YOUTUBE channel. Sick tasty shots didn’t just happen. One had to strive for it and take life threatening risks. It’s the thrill that mattered. He’d holding onto a prayer Rose will get a good ass wide angle when Mason soars. If not, he’d just cut to the Go Pro footage.

“Big brother, May-may, Adubs, Rosie Posie, this doesn’t look safe at all. This looks really scary.” Honey held the controller for the drone from a safe distant, her heart racing. The Dreamland crew always did crazy stuff like this! Especially MASON and what if it hospitalized him?! or worst, killed him?

Ilyana Powers shrugged, completely use to stunts like this because of her father and his crew. Her mind was caught up with the conversation she had with her mother, on Wednesday night, after the parents returned from Japan. She hoped she could rekindle a friendship with Henry, especially after she pushed him aside during his ‘fuck you’ phase. They were close once. She used to know everything about him! Now, that was Min’s place, but she did miss him and her mother made her realize that. She was also starting to realize she might have bisexual tendencies because she liked both guys and girls! She used to be into Henry, she was really into her brother’s girlfriend, Q, and she was starting to admire Shiloh?! Like what even was that kiss she did? CARPE DIEM BECAUSE SHE WAS HIGH AND WANTED TO BE LIKE HENRY?

Okay. Stop panicking. To be honest, she felt like she didn’t know if she was more gay or more hetero because she felt like she was crushing on everyone! Hell, even MASON and JAX were pretty hot. Is this what happens after someone kisses you and you start thinking about things you’ve never thought about before? Like the fact that you’re a girl with romantic and sexual desires? And worst, she was a virgin which probably didn’t help her imagination! She had avoided Shiloh like the plague after she kissed her. Maybe she should get some pointers from Henry. He understood liking people and what to do! Right? She blew a large bubble of her pink bubble gum, letting it explode and then sucking it back in. “You can do it, Mace!” The best thing to do with her thoughts was to push them aside and focus on the moment. “JC, I’m rolling. How ‘bout you Hun’ you good to go?”

With a big pout, Honey nodded. Her little body had so much fear right now. It was almost time!

“Now, Honey Girl. I need you to be ready. You can get some of the best shots, you just gotta flow with Turbo, you got it?”

“Yes, Big Brother…”

A Double wasn’t sure they needed this many people for what they were going to do, but he wasn’t one to question it. He’d just sent a text, and agreed to let Mason use the super ramp. The fact was, A Double didn’t really care that much about this. Looking between everyone, his eyes settled on Mason, and A Double said, matter of factly, “He’s going to die.” He said, nodding to himself. It seemed like a lot of effort for an Instagram post, but then again… everything Mason tended to do seemed like a lot of effort for an Instagram post. “Do you guys wanna get Taco Bell after this?” He asked, looking between the group. Mason was the first to answer, giving a nod.

“Huh? Yeah, sure. If I’m not… you know, missing stuff.” He said, situating the go-kart at the top of the ramp. As he sat down in the driver’s seat, he looked back at the group of people gathered, and said. “Maybe even if I am missing stuff… Those nacho fries are pretty damn good.” He admitted, shaking his head as he pushed the start button on the Go-Kart and fired it up. “Let’s get this over with.”

“He’s gonna die, or break his collarbone, or something. I can feel it.”

“Taco bell sounds dope, honestly. We should hit up the group. Tell them to meet us there. I think Honey could appreciate having more friends. Ain’t that right, Bumblebee?” Rose nudged Honey’s shoulder, who didn’t react because she was super duper focused on Mason and fearing for his life.

“Ah… yeah… sure… can-can we get this over with?” The lovable sunshine whimpered. Jax decided to give his boys a thumbs up to tacos, before stepping on his skateboard, waiting. He was concentrated and READY.

“Yeah, uh, relax dude. We’re almost ready…” Mason said, glancing over at the blonde girl and shaking his head. Did she not understand that these things took time? He revved the engine, and glanced over at A Double, “drop my needle, my guy.” As A Double stared dumbly at Mason, Mason sighed. “Play the music, champ.” A Double shrugged his shoulders, and hit the play button.

Mason nodded and pushed his sunglasses down, before looking over at Honey. “Now, we can get this over with.” He said, before he shifted the kart into gear and went down over the hill. Once the initial drop was done, he punched the throttle down and the go-kart rapidly sped up, before he launched off of the ramp and leaned his body forward, forcing the frame with him…

A Double watched from the top of the ramp, and thought about what they’d have to do if he died. Was there, like, rules? A procedure? Eh, Rose would probably know. He’d leave that one up to her… A Double watched as Mason completed his first rotation, and decided he’d just think about the Taco Bell. On the other side of the ramp, Mason slammed down right side up, and A Double seemed a little surprised… huh, he made it.

Or so A Double thought, anyway. Before Mason could get to the end of the landing zone, he’d spiraled out of control, and gravity tossed him from the kart, sending him sliding up, and the kart going off into the dirt. A Double winced, and watched to see if Mason would move, or do anything. Better to wait and see than crowd him immediately.

“DOES THAT COUNT?”

“...yeah I guess!”

“COOL!”

“OH MY GOD, ARE YOU OK? SHOULD I CALL 911????” Honey ran with the controller, while bringing the drone down. This was no good! He needs to go to the hospital! While Honey was freaking out. Rose strolled behind her, unconcerned. When she approached the daredevil, she examined his body and asked, “Does your head hurt? How many fingers am I holding up?” She put out three. While Rose was checking on Mason’s well being, Jax went to check on the condition of the Kart and his Go Pro.

“I’m fine, dude, don’t crowd me. I’m not gonna die. You got three fingers. I’m good, don’t worry about it. Maybe a few scratches, but I’ll live.” Mason said, though he decided to just lie on the floor for a while longer, looking up at both Honey and Rose. Finally setting his eyes on Honey, Mason grinned. “Hey, how ya doing? You want me to take you next time?”

Naively, Honey blinked at the boy who laid on the floor, “Take me where?” Rose furrowed her eyebrows and even if he was injured, she kicked him. “Stop that.”

Jax was too busy sitting on the ground and looking at his footage. Yeah. This was straight up banger. During a playback, he called out to everyone because he could hear his stomach rumble, “Sooooooooooooo… how about them tacos?”

“Hey! Don’t hit me. I could have internal bleeding,” Mason protested, scrambling up to his feet and shooting Rose a look. “Maybe I need her to give me a more detailed once over!” He huffed, folding his arms over his chest.

“TACOS!!” “TACOS.”

“I don’t know what any of that means, May-May.” Honey only knew musicals and Disney. He was talking fancy for her. Maybe he liked that she helped her brother film! She should do it again. For sure.

“Let’s just go eat.”

“I just might show you.”

“Like, seriously, why can’t we just be a normal fucking family and get pizza? All eat in our separate rooms, like real, old fashioned, red blooded goddamn Americans. But noooo, because Moms was born in Milan and likes to pretend she’s soooo Italian, we gotta eat this shit that me and Pops can’t even pronounce.” As Henry complained, Ty looked like he was going to speak, but before he could get a word in edgewise, Henry was back on the gun. Ty looked at Eve, looked at Julie, and then looked at his lap and sighed — when did his son become so… so infuriating? “And don’t you say you can, you son of a bitch, because I know you’re as dumb as I fuckin’ am. At least it ain’t fuckin’ duck.” Henry paused, finally, and looked between the parents. “Best not be no duck in this fuckin’ dish or I’m gonna go FULL APACHE on you motherfuckers. I will go apeshit on you.”

Again, Ty looked like he was going to speak, but this time he was silenced by a raised hand from Alyssa, and Ty sighed again. Why was he here? He looked at his youngest, sitting next to a BOY, and found himself reminded. He’d have to hang out with Justin privately — together, the Greens and their extended family could be a bit… overwhelming. “Firstly, there is no duck. I assure you, I’m aware of your girlfriend’s… fascination with ducks, and I’m not so cruel as to serve it to her. Now, secondly, if you want a pizza, then I recommend you go to your father’s pizza parlor. Tonight, we are eating as a family so that I, and the rest of your collective parental figures, can meet our children’s significant others.”

“Meet ‘em on your own time, not my time! Besides, I took Min to meet Pops, not my fault neither of your fucking golden children brought theirs to introduce them!” Henry was on the defensive, but when wasn’t he on the defensive when it came to interacting with his parents? He felt like — in some cases, he was — they were always attacking him.

Suddenly, it was Ty’s to shine! Before he had a chance to be silenced, he blurted. “Hailey told me about Hana the day they met, and she introduced her officially at the shop last night.”

Henry had a few things he could have said, but when he took a sidelong glance at an awkward, shy, possibly even mentally cringing Min-seo, Henry decided to make another play. With himself and Hailey accounted for, Henry chose to take the heat off of himself, and... suddenly, all eyes were on Cyndi and Justin.

With her napkin on her lap and her fork turning slowly in her pasta, the baby of the family narrowed her eyes at her brother, before clearing her throat, “I think this is rather forward, since I only got back from Seoul this week and went on one date with Justin.” She lifted her pasta to her lips and then rolled her eyes, “I’m sorry I’m not as ‘efficient’ as you two. I would have rathered introduced Justin when I knew he was a right fit.” She turned her attention to her date and apologetically whispered, “No offense.” There was lingering attitude seeping out of her. She was completely over tonight and she was sure her Football boy was too. She hated being compared to those two. With nothing more to say, she put pasta in her mouth.

Jeez. Cyndi was harsh, but she had a point. This was about one of the worst situations for him to be in, and to be introduced to his girlfriend’s (???) family. It was hard enough meeting the parents, but to bring in the extended family was an entirely different level. He was more than sure there were a couple people googling him as they sat there and spoke.

There wasn’t much for Justin to say after that. After listening to Cyndi quietly apologize, he flashed her a reassuring smile. “No worries. I get it.” Justin understood Cyndi’s annoyance. This was a shitty situation all around, but one that was far from over, unfortunately.

The truth was, Henry didn’t care about Justin and Cyndi’s relationship. He didn’t care about how they felt or anything like that, he cared about getting the despicable three off his fucking back. It would be the ‘despicable four,’ but Justin had done a pretty good job of getting Julie to pout and stare at her food in a silent huff. Henry decided that he’d take the high road, and he made the smart move of shutting up, and shoveling pasta into his mouth.

Hailey on the other hand, was on a warpath. Why wouldn’t she be? She’d argued with her parents — for the first time in her life, her father included — she’d picked a fight with her brother and, if you asked her, won. If her sister wanted to sit there and mock her, then Hailey would pay her back in kind. “I’m sorry, princess, but some of us just… know what we want, and don’t have to play games with ourselves until we feel good about it.” Hailey said, in a void dripping with sarcasm and bitterness. She was over this, but it was what she had requested, after all.

Henry, quietly taking a bite of his food, made a side eyed glance at his father, who just shrugged his shoulders. Henry made some gestures with his hands, not so subtly asking to be excused, but Ty just shook his head and held up three fingers.

Something grew inside of Cyndi that she was never aware that she had. With a plain smile on her face, she placed her fork down, picked up her napkin, and wiped her lips, before folding it and putting it on the table. “Mother, I do apologize for the words I’m about to say. I’m only apologizing to you.” She turned her head to her sister and gave her an equal challenging stare, “You would know about games wouldn’t you? At least I’m a princess, you’re just a goddamn bitch. Have you even fixed your problems at school yet? No. You haven’t. Because you make fires. You don’t put them out. Honestly. I’m over this dinner.” Cyndi stood up, starting to regret even coming back home from South Korea, “Xander. Take Justin home. He doesn’t deserve someone acting like she’s better than him, when really she’s one of the most hated people at our school.” The blonde stormed off to the morning room, where her mother’s piano was.. Her fucking sister was the worst.

Evelyn’s eyebrows furrowed, “Alyssa, Ty. Deal with your daughters.”

“Oh, if I were her, I would have chosen my words much more carefully.” Hailey said, lifting her glass up to her lips as she watched her sister walk away, with a thin smile on her lips. She looked at her mother and raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry?”

Before Evelyn could respond, though, Henry cleared his throat. “Can me and Min bounce out now, though? Goddamn. Knew this shit was gonna turn into a dumpster fire the second I walked into it.”

Justin was caught off guard by Cyndi’s sudden outburst and clapback to Hailey. He blinked twice while holding his fork. He didn’t know Cyndi for long, but he was sure that she didn’t have that inside of her. At least, until now. This had gone south faster than a flock of geese on the cusp of winter. He didn’t know what to do. There was a lot of fire between the both of them. But, it only took Justin a very brief moment for him to figure out what the best course of action was.

Was it the wisest? Not really, considering his standing with the Green family, but he felt that in a situation like this the best thing he could do was check up on his now girlfriend. Not too long after Cyndi stormed off, Justin stood up and followed after her. He didn’t want to call out after her but considering the size of the estate, he wasn’t sure where she stormed off to. “Cyndi?”

As Justin went on a search for the apple of his eye, Evelyn blankly stared at her son, before sighing, “I will allow it, if you promise to spend a day with me.” As her only son, Eve tried whatever she could to understand him, but a lot of times it seemed like he wanted nothing to do with her and that was what broke her heart.

“Oh… well, aight then, I guess we’re in it for the long haul. When Xander bringing the dessert out?”

On the other hand, Hailey stood up from the table, and gestured for Hana to follow her. As the eldest walked away with her girlfriend, Henry looked out around the table, “when were one of you fuckers gonna tell me Mother spoke Korean?”

Meanwhile, Justin heard no response from the sophomore. Instead, there was the sound of piano music, which was her only way to express her emotions and hopefully make herself feel better.

Sitting on the ground within her playroom, on top of a blanket, and boyfriend, a room designed for picnics and tea parties, Mina Bellerose reached for her tea cup that awaited for her on a table designed to look like a tea trunk stomp. She leisurely took a ladylike sip as she scanned her set up. Her favorite part of this room was the swinging bench and the fruit cart which today displayed strawberries. A little symbolism to her dear cousin’s family. Her tea set was beautiful and whimsical with pink floral design. It looked like it was made for a child. It was. And her outfit was a slim short sleeve lace chiffon dress, with a light peach color, shipped from South Korea.

She seemed unbothered as she waited for her guest this lovely Saturday evening. All the other guests had arrived, in the form of her dolls, but not her special guest, who knew well enough she did not tolerate tardiness. There was five minutes to spare. In the corner of the room, she had a live orchestra band, cellist, pianist, violinist and all, because sometimes it was necessary to add to the atmosphere. The Fashion Princess, the only child of Maxwell Bellerose Jr, needed the calming music because honestly? If she acted out what her mind was thinking, that would be far more… metal. She felt good about her decision. She felt good about this new project, deciding to leave a documentary about the school to someone who cares. She felt good. “Christopher, should I give her a call? She’s running awfully late. Very unlike her. Correction. On time was late, early was on time, in the fashion Legacy’s book. Gingerly, with ease and mild irritation, she took another sip while nestling her bottom on her lover’s lap.

Christopher knew how this plan of hers ended. It wasn’t going to be pretty, but Mina had already made up her mind, and considering that they were practically one and the same, it was unwise for him to aggressively disagree with her. Instead, Christopher would just wait for the inevitable. Mina was going to sit down. And cry. And throw a fit. And Christopher would be there to do his job and cheer her up, like any good boyfriend. As she asked about giving her friend a call, Christopher shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s just wait a few more minutes, princess.” He suggested, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Mina would learn patience eventually…

Fixing her hat, Emmy-Lou made her way in just a minute before she would be on time. She knew she should have been there earlier but she had messed up her makeup the first time around and that simply wouldn’t do. So she restarted and of course that caused her to be ‘late’. "Now I’m sure y’all are tarred and feathered that I’m late. Trust me, I’m tore up over it too. It was my mistake truly, so I must tell y’all I am truly sorry for making y’all wait on me. Truly sorry. But may I say, y’all look as dashing as always.” Emmy sat down delicately and smoothed her skirt out, her back straight and chin up. Looking as lady-like and prim and polished as always. She may have been slightly flustered internally but it did not show externally.

With a calculative glint in her dark void eyes, Mina gave her friend a delicate smile, “Only because flattery will get you literally everywhere in life, you are granted one pass with me. Also that dress, absolutely lovely.” If it weren’t for the compliments, the princess would’ve made her friend cry most likely. The attire simply gave her brownie points for looking exactly how Mina preferred, especially in her playroom. “Now please, help yourself with a macaron and some tea. We have important matters to discuss.” Bending over a little bit, the Bellerose heiress placed her drink back on the table, and when she fixed her posture, her arms wrapped around her lover. She leaned her head on his chest and although her face was plastered with a bright smile, her dark gaze was that of a ravening hawk. Patiently, she waited.

Taking a macaron delicately, she used her free hand to catch any crumbs as she bit into it, doing so until she finished the delightful pastry. Emmy-Lou then picked up her cup of tea and with the grace she had hammered into her from a young age, took a sip before bringing it down from her lips and finally looking into her friend’s eyes. ”I reckon I should start by apologizing for not doing my best at keeping y’all up to date on what is happening at the school but since my last update, things went out of kilter lickety split. Everything was just not hunkey dorey! I was doing my best to put everything in order but obviously y’all found out before I could do so. I shoulda done better Mina. I’m sorry.”

“Oh Emmy-Lou, no need to apologize I’m already over it.” She wasn’t. Absentmindedly, she traced her finger in circles on Christopher’s chest before whining, “It just isn’t right!!! Everyone thinks my cousin is this tyrannical beast, thanks to this horrid article with no evidence! What? So she is no longer on friendly terms with Ophelia and Trixie? THAT gives someone who SHOULDN’T be involved PERMISSION to air out her dirty laundry and probably ‘fluff’ the truth to get likes?! What?!” Fuck you, Jamie Callaghan. This was annoying! Stupid! Nonsensical! He was on the top of her shit list. “So the Punisher’s son can’t keep his emotional whirlwind of a girlfriend to trust him WHOLEHEARTEDLY? I would never-ever-ever in a million years think a PICTURE meant my LOVE cheated on me! And. Christopher knows I’ll kill him if he ever does. Isn’t that right, Teddy?” Mina looked up at her beloved giving him the most innocent grin.

If you asked Christopher — no one ever did — this whole thing should have blown over after the New Year’s party. He wasn’t too interested in it, but Mina was, so he was dragged along as a spectator. If she wanted to pick a fight with Hailey and the rest of them, then that was her prerogative. Christopher would be along for the ride, and to catch her when she inevitably hit the ground. When she addressed him directly, Christopher looked at her, and smiled with a nod. “Of course, Princess. Focus on your important meeting.”

That’s right! This meeting was IMPORTANT. “Where was I? Oh, yes. This school will utterly go to the dogs and I can’t allow that. I’m sure there will be an announcement about the student council since I know my cousin can no longer be bothered by UNGRATEFUL, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING SWINES.” She paused to calm herself down, thinking about the school enraged her. Truly, vengeance was her drive. “If you want me to feel better, I’ll need you to run for President. You have the charm, you are an absolute angel, and you aren’t one of the big Five, which our school doesn’t necessarily like. As a Bellerose, closely tied to the Green family, I cannot possibly take the charge, but you can. You can be the shining light this school truly needs. I’ll help you with your campaign, but I won’t be your running mate. It’s best if I stay… in the shadows. And if you win, we can make the school sugary sweet. How does that sound?”

Emmy-Lou listened to Mina intently, nodding every now and then in agreement while occasionally taking sips of her tea. She knew Mina was upset and that if she didn’t want to end up on her bad side she needed to stay quiet and listen. As she was informed of Mina’s plan, a smile spread onto her face. Setting her tea down gently, she folded her hands in her lap. ”As y’all know your druthers is my ruthers, so you’re darn tootin’ I will run for president. I will of course need y’alls help as you do know better than I who I need to get on my side to ensure a victory. You can count on me. I’ll win the school over with my winning personality, looks, charm, and your plan of course.” Emmy smiled widely at the idea of being school president. Ma and Pa would be proud. She’d have more power in the school. Not to mention it would look great on her resume.

“ACTUALLY!” A sudden light bulb went over Mina’s head. “I might know your perfect running mate. She will win you big sympathy points because she’s the cutest little thing and easily… influenced. Her only downside is her social skills. I’m sure I can convince her to try to get out of her comfort zone. She’s Scott Lyon’s little sister and looks like an absolute doll. Just imagine her right beside you? Picture perfect! Also since she is a transgender, you might win points with the LGBTQ community. She actually came back from her vacation today.” Mina was already taking out her phone to find her childhood friend’s number. “I’ll give her a call and get back to you. Sounds good?”

”Ain’t that a swell idea! You really do have a horse sense Mina!” Emmy-Lou clapped her hands together in excitement. Her face then became blank as her mind began to turn with an idea. It then lit back up even brighter than before, ”We should be called the TEA PARTY!!!” She exclaimed excitedly, in one of her blonde moments nonetheless.

“I like it.” It’s true. The Tea Party had a nice ring to it. It would be easily marketable and they could get away with overdressing Anastasia solely because of their name. There were avenues for this. They could take down any competitor using pure cuteness as their weapon. Yes, good thinking, Emmy-Lou. Good thinking, indeed.

With the plan laid out before them, Christopher nodded and looked over at Emmy-Lou, “you can go now. Make a scene and some noise… posters, a slogan, maybe even pamphlets. You’re intelligent, I’m sure you can figure it out. Talk to people, find out what they need or want. Post on Snapchat.” Christopher was once again relegated to the ‘shooing people because Mina was done with them’ role, but he handled this particular role quite well.

”I’ll get to that lickety split! Now you two enjoy your evening while I just skedaddle on out of here.” Emmy-Lou stood up, grabbing a few of the sweets and putting them in her purse. She then wiggled her fingers in a little wave and made her way out, her heels clicking with each step she took, fading as she got further away. She was already planning her first step in her head. She was going to make sure she made them proud.

In arrogant triumph, her faintly glossed lips tugged upwards into a sinister smirk. Tilting her head, with the phone against her left ear, the ringback tone filling the room, as she waited, Mina giggled, “I’m going to have so much fun.”

After a few seconds, a sheepish, quiet voice answered: _{“H-hello. Hi. Mina. Are… are you ok?”}

Scott was locked in his room. If he never spoke to his father again, that would be for the best. He’d dealt with his father, and they’d reached something of an agreement. Scott wouldn’t talk to him, and in return, Gabriel would leave him the fuck alone. It’d helped that Katie had lashed out at Gabriel too, but it wasn’t enough. Dad had crossed the line! Scott was sick of his shit, and he wasn’t gonna put up with it anymore, no matter how much it would upset Grandma Bi at the next family get together.

For now, he was sitting in his room with AJ. They were… just sitting, but they were best friends, so sometimes just sitting was what they needed. It may have been quiet, but it was nonetheless comforting. Scott was in a good mood, anyway! He and Katie were a thing, completely and totally, and the truth was? That was awesome. It was way better than Scott could have ever hoped it would be.

He wanted to climb to the highest point in the tallest tower and shout it at the top of his lungs. That, of course, was not something he could do. He had to settle for the next best thing. At least AJ was here. “Dude. I think I’m in love.”

Sitting, his back leaned against the backboard, holding a bowl of opened starbursts, AJ Tyler, designated ‘asshole ex’ of Jamie Callaghan, threw a red one in his mouth, as he glanced at his best friend. Love, he said? With the feminist bitch? He chewed slowly, his shades hooked onto his shirt, and surveyed Scott’s expression. He was… happy. It wasn’t AJ’s place to ruin Scott’s honeymoon phase with cynicism, “Yeah? How do you know?” It might be best to keep his bitterness locked inside and the fact that he let Cecily convince him to fool Bailee into a relationship with him. Yeah. That was definitely for the best. Lifting the bowl close to his friend, he offered, “Want some?”

Scott looked at the bowl of candy, and thought about it for a second, before taking a handful of them. Popping one into his mouth, he nodded. “Yeah, I think so. I’m not… like, sure, but she’s really awesome.” Scott couldn’t believe what he was saying, but really, he couldn’t believe anything that had happened over the past couple of days. The realization and admittance that he didn’t just like Katie, he liked her. After all, who else knew him best? “She came over and yelled at my dad, and it was frankly the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. After that, we fucked….”

“Right where you’re sitting, actually.”

“Nice. Are you guys as loud in bed as you are in… general?” AJ chuckled, really not caring if he was sitting on a dirty blanket. Katie was hot. He could get behind laying on the sheets she was naked on. Ain’t nothing but a thing.

“Maybe.” Was Scott’s only reply, before he grabbed a basketball off the ground, and tossed it into the hoop, watching it swish through the net. That wasn’t the important stuff right now, AJ! The important stuff was that Scott was now engaged in a serious relationship. “I’ve never had someone stand up for me like that before.” AJ knew better than anyone that Scott’s dad was… beyond ‘douchebag’ levels, especially when his mom and sister were gone, and both of them had been gone for a few weeks now. “It was… cool.”

“Might help that like, she doesn’t know the dude. Because I grew up seeing your father and if it wasn’t for Mama Blair. He’d probably throw me around just like he does to you. Yeah. No.” At least when it came to Gabriel, AJ would admit he was scared of him. He’s SEEN some shit and if he intervened he’d make it ten times worse for Scott. Maybe tits was the solution. Katie had tits. Blair had tits. So did Ana, sorta. They were coming in. “I love you, my guy, but I want to live to see tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I don’t even know what to do.” Scott complained, shaking his head. He didn’t understand why his dad was such a fucking… prick, but he knew one thing: He hated it. And he loved that Katie hated it too! The people that knew didn’t like it, sure, but no one really did anything for him, not even his mom. She stepped in when she had to, but she didn’t exactly try and get Gabriel to never do it again, not like Katie had. Katie had told Gabriel off, and it was awesome. “Like, what do I do next? Do I call her? Do I text her? Do I do nothing?”

Jesus. AJ forgot how inexperienced his friend was. Katie legit was the first. First kiss. First fuck. First to tell his dad to fuck off. The fucking first. AJ was in middle school when these questions were all he could think about, but after Jamie? Fuck that. He wasn’t here for love and sure, he had a potential good girl and was going to be her first in a lot too, but it wasn’t out of love. High school wasn’t meant for love. Sorry, Bailee.

Throwing a yellow one in his mouth, AJ shrugged, “She likes that you annoy her, so yeah sure. See if she wants to do something with you tonight. Maybe do like a double date thing with her best friend and Dames. That could be fun. I don’t really know Katie like you do, so that’s the best you’re getting from me.”

AJ did have a point; Scott definitely knew Katie better than AJ did, and one thing that Scott had a very strong feeling about, was that Katie was a private person. Scott wasn’t even sure there would be any PDAs from Katie in his future, though it wasn’t a bad thing. He didn’t mind not sucking on Katie’s tongue in front of everyone — he was different from AJ. While AJ wanted to show off that he was with someone, Scott felt like it was enough for him and her to know.

A double date though? It was… an idea. Maybe she’d like that, since Joy was her best friend, and as far as Scott knew, they were both in their first relationships… It was worth a shot. “I could ask about a double date, that’s a good idea.” Scott was just… new to relationships, yeah. “I think she’s like… busy, right now, though. Shopping with Joy.”

“That’s okay. Call her around lunch time. Those girls can’t shop forever. Well, they could, but doesn’t Joy… eat a lot? I’m pretty sure she eats like a beast. OH!” AJ snapped his fingers with a sudden thought, the bowl resting on his lap, “Do you need condoms? Lube? Toys? We could totally go get that. Like right now.”

“No! I don’t need none of that stuff, dude!” Scott protested, looking up at AJ and shaking his head. AJ was too much for him sometimes — sure, Scott did a good job of having that ‘cool, chill’ persona, but AJ took it to the next level… sort of. Scott would argue that AJ had actually never been the same since he’d gotten his heart broken (AJ would never admit it) with Jamie. That was why AJ had tried to flex on Jamie in the hall, and Scott knew the truth. AJ was just… jaded. He didn’t say it aloud though, because AJ would have never taken it seriously from him. “Look, man, I got this, I think. I think this could be really good for me.”

“You sure? Like not even condoms? That doesn’t even require us to go out. I got some in my backpack.” Even if he hadn’t had sex since Jamie. But, hey. No one needed to know that. “I don’t want to see a mini Scott or mini Katie anytime soon. God that would be a nightmare.” Those two were so rowdy. If they ever made a love child, that would be them times TEN.

“Yeah right, yours would be too small.” Scott scoffed, rolling his eyes. He had condoms already, anyway. AJ did have a point though, and Scott decided he’d try and broach a dangerous, volatile subject. “Yeah, I get that. I guess that’s why you were fucking Jamie, huh? It’s easy if you just bone other dudes, huh? Then you don’t even have to worry about kids. I guess there’s still like… diseases.” Scott said, looking at his phone, and sitting down in a chair by his desk. “How are you doing, anyway? In the way of getting laid, I mean.”

In defense, AJ grabbed the pillow beside him and flung it at Scotty, “Fuck you, dude.” He didn’t take it personal, but that was a LOW BLOW. Purposely hitting his head on the backboard, AJ grumbled and answered, “I guess sooner or later Bailee will take off that chastity belt for me. BTDubs. Me and Bails are sorta a thing? At least her drunk self was like into it. I might give her a try.” To make Jamie jealous.

“Playing with fire.” Not that Scott was going to judge. AJ, it seemed, liked to light himself on fire. Maybe it was in his blood? Scott wasn’t too sure — he didn’t care to ask, either. AJ was doing his thing, and it was working for him… more or less. “Right, and the goal of the plan is to… what, get Jamie to realize what he’s missing?” Scott was treading lightly, but he was definitely in a minefield.

“Why the fuck would I do that, Scott? Jamie and Marshall can have their fairytale romance. I’m over it. We said our goodbyes, anyways. He’s tired of hurting people, and I’m tired of him running to me for advice.” Half truths. Half lies. “I’m gettin’ back in the game! That’s why I got Bails. She’s the fire that I need. Maybe I need a fiery girl to tell me to shut the fuck up, you know?” Honestly, if he wasn’t still in love with Jamie this plan did make a lot of sense. Bailee was kind of a bitch, but a sad bitch. The only thing that didn’t remind him of his ma was she was also pure. Ew. What was he saying? Why was he comparing Bailee to his MOM?

“Bailee. Is the fire that you need in your life. Uh-huh.” Scott was going to have to let it go, AJ was clearly guarded and jaded. Scott wasn’t the one to break those barriers down, that was up to someone else — maybe even Bailee. Scott couldn’t do everything for him, all he could do was offer support when AJ’s plan ultimately exploded in his face. “What, like your mom?”

“Okay. That’s enough of this pussy bitch talk. Let’s do something. I’m bored. You’re in love. What-the-fuck-ever. We should ride.”

“Yeah, okay let’s go —”

“SCOTT! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!” Scott was cut off by his father, and that caused him to glance over at AJ. If his dad wanted him, then there probably was nothing good that was going to happen...

“What do you want, motherfucker!?” Scott yelled back, frustrated that his dad would even call him down after the way things had gone so far this weekend.

“YOUR MOTHER IS HERE!”

“...oh.”

Truth was? Henry was stressed out.

He’d asked Min-Seo to head back to the room while he took care of business with one of his sisters, but he didn’t even want to handle this right now. He just didn’t think he’d be able to sleep if he let Cyndi go to bed all piss. Henry was too good, that was the reality of the situation. He was too good! Standing in front of Cyndi’s door, with his hands full of two plates — each one holding dessert from the dinner she’d walked out on — Henry knocked on the door.

The knock was quickly followed by the jingling of the door as Henry tried to let himself in. It hadn’t occurred to him to that the door could be locked, but here it was. Locked. Henry never locked his door! Not even when he was balls deep in his girlfriend! Where did his sisters get off thinking they could get away with this kind of crap? UGH.

He knocked again, but there was still no response. Why did he even bother?

To Cyndi, it may have seemed like the incessant knocking and jiggling of the door belonged to one of her parents, perhaps even her mother. After all, who else would be trying to talk to her after that night? Who else would be trying to make her feel good after her siblings had collectively made her feel so… not good? The answer may have very well been a shock, as Henry’s unmistakable voice rang off through the door.

“Cyndi! You best open this door, girl. I’m not playin’ with you.”

The voice she didn’t expect caused Princess Cyndi to jump in her bed, surprised. Shocked. Confused. Slapping her diary closed, she pushed it under her pillows then wiped her eyes. Her face was wet. “Henry, it’s not a good time…” Even with her saying that, she was already tiptoeing to the door. Inches away from it, she whispered, “It’s okay. I know I’m a dead girl. Hailey wants to kill me. I made Justin sad. Mommy, mama, and daddy are disappointed in me. Go to Min! You’d rather do that, right?!”

“You better quit your whining and open this door. Not a good time, she says,” Henry scoffed, as he looked down at the gelato in his hands. Didn’t she understand the severity of the situation? This stupid shit that he brought her was going to MELT and he hadn’t even gotten to do the important part yet. “I brought you your dessert. I know you want this dessert. Hurry up, before I eat it. And yeah, for the record, I would rather go be with Min, but I can’t do that shit because I gotta be the older brother here, and I gotta handle my shit.” Henry said with a huff into the still closed, still locked door.

Denying dessert was against everything she stood for. Cyndi loved dessert. But if she unlocked the door and opened it, Henry would see how ugly she was. She wasn’t pretty when she cried and her eyes were red and puffy. At last, she really wanted dessert. Quietly, she first unlocked the door. Subsequently, she creaked open the door, only a little bit to verify he indeed had dessert.

Henry waved the bowl of gelato and the plate of tiramisu in front of the crack and groaned. “DOOR. Open. Now. You think I ain’t never seen a girl cry? Come on, I’m a womanizing asshole, I’ve seen a girl cry! It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s a big deal to me.” She mumbled, but ultimately, she opened the door wide and stood to the side so he could walk in. “I guess place it on my nightstand.”

“Shaddap, I’m here to cheer your ass up.” Henry said, thrusting the food into her hands as he walked into the room. Looking around, Henry was reminded how girly Cyndi was. Whack. Without waiting though, Henry gestured for Cyndi to sit down. “So, you know what? I’ve come to realize, you’re havin’ a bad day. And that’s fine, that’s cool. But I got a plan to help you out. See, when I got upset last, the Hailstorm herself stepped into my room and offered me some help. Said she got it from pops. It makes sense. I’m boutta make you realize there ain’t nothin’ wrong with your old cheesy cryin’ ass.” Henry reached into his pocket and withdrew two bluetooth earbuds, which he held out to his sister.

“You’re gonna place that plate on your nightstand — speakin’ logically? That’s where I shoulda put it, but I ain’t nobody’s maid. Put your own shit on the nightstand — and then you’re gonna pop these earbuds in, lay down on your bed, close your eyes, and focus on the sound. You ain’t gonna move, talk, or blink for five minutes, you got that?”

“I don’t really think I can decline, can I?” Cyndi heavily sighed, not knowing what her brother was going to show her. With her cute, eeyore night gown on, a different one, she had a lot of them, she shuffled to her nightstand, placed the dessert down, hopped on her bed then hesitantly grabbed the earbuds, “This isn’t sex stuff… right?”

“ABSOLUTE. SILENCE.” Henry barked, pushing Cyndi so she was laying back on the bed. “Eyes closed. Focus on the words. Nothing else.” With that, Henry pressed play.

This was weird, but okay. Whatever. The music started off soft, oddly peaceful for her brother. Reminded her of something you’d hear in a movie’s dream sequence. Not even fifteen seconds in, there was a man’s voice. A sample from somewhere? She couldn’t tell. Now, she felt like she was going into space… this was kind of trippy. Then the voice kind of yelled at her and she was kind of shocked. In a way, she felt like this was her brother’s way of telling her to get outside of her head. Stop attacking yourself. The music shifted to dubstep, not intense or anything, and the motivational samples kept coming.

Trust yourself.

Where were these samples from? This voice kind of sounded familiar. She couldn’t pin the show or movie, though. The voice told her to not hold anything back and realize her strength. Her power. She wanted to open her eyes when the beat started picking up. This was honestly making her heart race. What was going on?

Okay. This was getting kind of cool. Subtly, she started bobbing her head, forgetting why she was even listening to this in the first place but going with the flow. She’d have to ask where this was from because this sounded intense.

The beat dropped and it went back to a calm, like the calm before the storm. She stopped moving, and at this point she was completely immersed in the experience. Repeatedly, she was told that she was strong. So strong. And that was something she… needed to hear because compared to her siblings and every Green family member, she felt like she was the weakest link. She would never compare. This song was telling her to stop thinking that and see the good she had. She was a different strong, but she was still a strong person.

Was Henry telling her to go hard? To stop holding back? The music was shifting back in speed and wubs. Was she even capable of optimizing herself? Not letting anyone or anything hold her back?

You want to see the real power of a super saiyan god.

Oh.

This was Dragonball. She never watched it but she knew where super saiyans came from. This kind of made her want to watch it. It sounded like a journey of a person, or perhaps people, believing in their own strength. She liked the sound of that. She liked how it kind of made you believe you had power to do what you set your mind on.

Sometimes life is too uncertain to have regrets.
The samples ended and then shortly after the music trailed off and came to a stop. It was over? Opening her eyes, she glanced over to her brother but didn’t say a word. She was still mentally stunned at what she just listened to.

Henry nodded as she opened her eyes, holding his hand out for the earbuds, “mhm. That’s the shit, ain’t it? That’s the power of Dragon Ball Z. Shit’s good shit. There’s a reason Hailey and Pops have watched it so much, maybe you should check it out. That can be like, your in. Only thing Hailey loves as much as herself, Hana, or having control, is anime.” Henry shrugged his shoulders, but he wasn’t that concerned about it. The important part was it seemed like it had hit its marks, and that was what mattered. After all, he hadn’t given her the secret video just so she could keep moping.

“I don’t know what to say, Henry.” She lifted her body up and dropped the earbuds in his hand. Swiftly afterwards, she went for the gelato, which was for sure melting. Luckily, her other dessert wouldn’t melt. Before she started shoveling the delicious goodness, she inquired, “So you don’t struggle with anything? Being confident in yourself comes easy to you and sis. I’m really pumped to do my best, but I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Well, there are a lot more videos like that… Could start there. There are some good Vegeta ones, too… Watch Rock Lee vs Gaara, too — just the regular thing. I like the dub, Hailey likes the sub, Dad likes ‘em both. Uhhh, I’d check out Todoroki vs Deku, too, but maybe just watch the whole My Hero Academia, I think you could learn a lot from that… wait, you ain’t talkin’ about anime, huh? Uh… nah, I don’t struggle with nothin’. Ain’t got time for it. Just do your best, and remember if you’re worried about the planet, just… forget about it. Don’t hold anything back. Just like Goku says, right?”

“Forget about it and don’t hold anything back. Yeah, I can do that.” She widely smiled at her brother. Her mood was better and she didn’t think Henry was a complete dick! “Thank you, Henry. This… means a lot to me.” Taking a risk, she put the gelato back down, crawled to her brother, and glomped him so that she could give him a tight embrace.

Whoa, that was weird. Henry didn’t like it, but he wasn’t about to stop it — Cyndi was delicate, and Henry needed to treat her as such. Instead of squirming out of it, he instead just returned the embrace, and nodded. “Yeah, Cyndi. No problem.” After they pulled away, Henry headed out the door, adding, “watch the damn anime. It’s on the wifi, you know how to get it going. Trust me, if you can talk anime with Hailey, maybe she’ll calm down.”

Already with a remote in hand, she agreeably answered while waving him goodbye, “You got it! Hey, Henry. Before you leave…”

“I love you, Big Brother.”

“Man, don’t hit me with that gay shit… I love you too, now quit cryin’.”