(Part 06 / 06)

Fred sat eating brunch with Kate, Lex, Jeff, Matt, Sammie, Anthony, and Chris. Daniel and Anna were the only two still missing. It was twelve-thirty, and they’d be leaving in about an hour. Fred was driving home. They’d had to rent a van plus a trailer to fit them all in, plus the musical instruments, and their things. They’d just barely managed to squeeze everything in.

“It figures the snow would let up the day we left,” Sammie commented between bites of waffle.

“I bet if we hadn’t been stuck inside the whole time none of this would have happened,” Matt agreed.

“None of what?” Anthony asked. “The rest of us managed to have a perfectly good time even though you two fought like animals.”

“We weren’t the only two!” Sammie exclaimed. “Anna and Daniel were much louder than we were!”

“If you’re saying you don’t fight like the two of them, that’s not much to brag about,” Jeff laughed.

“Where are Anna and Daniel anyway?” Lex asked. “We have to get going pretty soon.”

“They’re, uh, making up,” Fred grinned. “I walked in on them last night and again this morning. They better get out of there pretty soon, I need to pack up my stuff.”

“I bet they loved that,” Kate laughed. “Don’t you knock?”

“I didn’t, actually. Really, who has to knock on their own door in the middle of the day?” Fred asked.

“He’s got a point,” Chris grinned. “I doubt I’d knock, especially if the two people in question were screaming at each other just hours earlier.”

“See?” Fred laughed, “I’m not the only one.”

“Well, I’m glad they’re happy again,” Kate giggled. “At least for now.”

“You’re obsessed with everyone’s happiness,” Matt commented. Kate threw a piece of fruit at him. Matt got hit in the face with a piece of pineapple. He grinned.

Anna and Daniel came into the dining room in that moment, hand in hand, laughing at something. The others looked up at them.

“Had a good time last night?” Anthony grinned.

“Why don’t you ask Fred? He walked in on us twice,” Anna said, sitting down happily between Daniel and Jeff.

“Don’t remind me, it was ugly,” Fred chuckled. “Seemed like you were having a good time though.”

“You would know,” Daniel shrugged. “You gotta learn to knock, man. That would at least give us time to get back on the bed and under the covers and back into a more traditional position.”

“Okay, that was way more than I ever wanted to know,” Anthony groaned. “Keep it to yourself. We don’t want to hear about you two trying every Kama Sutra position you’re flexible enough to pull off.”

Anna flushed a little bit and Daniel grinned. “You wish you could do half the things we do,” Daniel said, and Anna poked at his arm, trying to shut him up.

“That doesn’t mean I want to know about you doing them,” Anthony grimaced. “Anna’s like my sister. Her sex life is not on my list of interests.”

“It should be,” Daniel smirked. Anna pinched Daniel’s arm. “Ouch!”

“Would you shut up? They don’t want to know and I don’t want them to know. Stop showing off!”

“Fine, fine. But can I tell them about –”

“No!”

Daniel grinned at Anna but remained silent, and began to eat his pancakes. He had a smirk on his face. Anna busied herself with her cereal.

“What made you stop fighting?” Chris asked, changing the subject.

“Matt’s cousin Steve,” Anna smiled.

“Really?” Matt asked. “What’d he do?”

“He tried to kiss me and then wouldn’t stop when I said no,” Anna said. “Daniel was there to help me.”

“You might want to keep an eye on that guy,” Daniel said to Matt. “Rapist waiting to happen.”

Matt sighed. “He’s a huge jerk, it’s true. He’s not one of my favorite people, that’s for sure.”

Daniel looked surprised. “You agree with me?”

“Well, I’m not sure he’s a rapist, but yeah, I could see him hitting on Anna even if she asked him to stop,” Matt shrugged.

Fred tuned in and out while eating. When he was finished, he excused himself from the table and went to pack his things. Lex followed him. Fred turned into his own room. He sank down on his own bed. Daniel’s was still unmade. Lex almost sat down on it, but Fred grinned at her. “You really want to sit there?”

“Eww, you’re right!” she scrambled over to him and sat on his bed. She put her head on his shoulder. “Gross.”

“What are you doing in here anyway?” Fred smiled. “I just need to pack.”

“I thought I’d help you out,” she smiled, picking up one of his shirts and folding it.

“That’s nice of you,” Fred laughed. “How come when we’re at home you refuse to do my laundry?”

“I’m your girlfriend who loves you, not your mother…or your servant, whoever really rich kids have to do their laundry,” Lex smiled.

“You’re a rich kid, who did your laundry?” Fred asked.

“My older brothers and sister did my laundry until I was old enough to do it myself. Sometimes my mom did it, but usually, she was too busy with work and everything,” Lex shrugged, folding up a pair of his jeans.

“Am I coming back with you to the apartment?” Fred asked.

“Only if you don’t mind Matt and Daniel coming too,” Lex grinned. “While you were shoving pancakes in your mouth, Matt was invited to spend the night and Daniel was allowed by Anna to sleep on the couch for as long as he wanted.”

“He’s going to be there a while, I’d get used to him,” Fred grinned.

“Yeah until his and Anna’s next fight,” Lex laughed. “I don’t mind Daniel so much these days.”

“He’s become mellower in his old age,” Fred laughed. “So what about Kate?”

“She’s going to stay with Jeff for a few days. They were talking about it, or really, Kate was demanding it,” Lex laughed. “Kate was annoyed Jeff left his clothes on the floor, and decided he should learn what it’s like to live with a lady, so that way he’ll be prepared for when he gets married.”

“Did she happen to mention she was going to be his wife?” Fred laughed. “Poor Jeff.”

“Jeff loves it,” Lex smiled. “He pretends he doesn’t, but he does.”

They packed up the rest of Fred’s things and Fred carried his bags into the hallway, putting it with the rest of the stuff that had to be packed away into the trailer.

Fred came back in the room to check that he hadn’t forgotten anything. Lex was still sitting on the bed. After he was convinced he hadn’t left any of his stuff, he sat down next to Lex again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

“I’m so lucky to have you,” she smiled happily. “I love you, Fred.”

“I love you too,” Fred answered.

Lex smiled. “I meant all that stuff I said the other day. You can always stay with me, okay? Anytime.”

Fred nodded and kissed her. He was the lucky one, really.

Everything was packed into the trailer, after Kate had run back to her room for various items. Mr. Gonzo had nearly been left a number of times.

“Shotgun,” Anthony called, jumping into the passenger seat.

“You can sit there, but you have to tell me where to go,” Fred told him. “I can’t read a map and drive at the same time. In fact, I can’t really read a map at all.”

“Deal,” Anthony agreed, “Just don’t go all macho on me and ignore my directions.” Fred laughed.

Kate and Sammie were chattering away, they got in the very last row of benches in the van, followed by Matt, who refused to sit next to Kate the whole ride because he wanted to nap and Kate wanted to talk. Sammie sat in the middle.

Next, Chris climbed in listening to his IPod, followed by Anna, followed by Daniel. Once in the car, Anna fell asleep on Daniel almost immediately. Daniel didn’t seem to mind, and he fell asleep soon too.

Jeff and Lex got into the row closest to the driver’s seat.

“So how’d you enjoy our mini vacation?” Jeff asked.

“I had a great time,” Lex smiled. “It was fun. And we’ve got a sweet check to add to the bank account for all the work we did.”

“That’s true. I’m glad everything worked out and nobody’s angry,” Jeff smiled.

“What’s up with you and Kate?” Lex asked quietly.

“Same thing as ever,” Jeff smiled.

“So you have no idea?” Lex grinned.

“Pretty much.”

Fred climbed into the driver’s seat just then. “Everyone ready to go?”

“Yeah, Fred, everyone’s ready,” Jeff answered. “Let’s go home.”

Fred pulled out onto the road, and Lex watched the evergreen trees in Vermont go by as they headed south. Periodically she rubbed Fred’s head from behind affectionately, just to let him know she was thinking about him. It really had been a nice trip.