Or Something

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*Monroe's POV*

The rest of the week passes by relatively smoothly. The stares and whispers have calmed down significantly which I'm thankful for. Cade and I have finished most of our project but we present on Monday and had no time to run through our presentation during the week so we agree to meet up on Sunday because there is apparently some kind of bonfire party thing at the beach on Saturday and I am apparently hosting the pre-drink for our little group.

Similar to last time, we'll uber to the beach and then everyone will crash at my place after. This concerns me a bit because I still have not figured out how to approach the whole "my parents are dead" thing with Cade. Let's just hope it doesn't come up.

By noon, I have once again finished my workout, cleaned the whole house and played with the dogs. I settle in on the couch and the dogs join me for an episode of Grey's. Around 1pm, I see Maddy's car pull in and I wave at them through the window. They let themselves in this time and Kobe and Bear happily pad over to greet them.

To accommodate the extra bodies, we decide that Maddy and Charlie will share my room with me and the guys will split the other two rooms. They drop off their bags and I mix us all something to drink while we wait for the guys. 15 minutes later, Cade's civic pulls into the driveway and they all hop out and I open the door just as they walk up, Bear and Kobe following closely behind me. "Come on in guys."

Xander walks in first and immediately kneels down and says, "Nobody told me there would be dogs here! Hi guys, what are your names?" He says kneeling down to the floor, scratching behind their ears. "It's cool, I guess I just don't exist. That's Kobe and Bear."

"Oh, you're fine, I see you every day," Xander says, still petting the dogs.

Cade pulls me in for a kiss and says, "Hey baby girl."

"Hi," I say with a smile. Jason and Brett make their way in and Brett says, "Sick place Monroe."

"Thanks," I reply with a smile. By this point Charlie and Maddy have made their way over and everyone does the classic awkward greetings and I say, "Alright, how about I show everyone around and then we can get some drinks instead of standing in the entrance like a bunch of fuckin' weirdos?" I say.

I get a bunch of affirmative nods and mumbles at the same time. I bring the guys to the guest rooms so they can drop their stuff and then we head to the basement and everyone disperses to check everything out. Cade pulls me along as he slowly appraises everything. We get through the entertainment area and finally to the gym and he holds up one of my fighting gloves and asks, "You box?"

"I do now. I did MMA back in New York but that's not really something you can do by yourself so I substituted with kicking boxing against inanimate objects when I moved here."

"I see. The whole Carl thing makes a lot more sense now. How about we get some drinks going?" He suggests.

I make my way over to stand behind the bar and say, "Alright boys, drink time!"

They all gather and I ask, "What'll everyone be having?"

They all look at each other and then Xander says, "Whatever you wanna make us."

"Does everyone like whiskey?" I get nods all around so I make 5 Old Fashioneds; one for each of them and of course one for me. Once everyone has their drinks, I start up the music on the sound system. We start games of pool and darts. Maddy, Brett and Jason play darts and Cade and I play pool against Xander and Charlie.

"Oh, you really don't want me on your team. I'm terrible at pool,"

Charlie protests.

"Nonsense, I'll teach you. It'll be fun," Xander says.

She gives in and we start playing. At one point, as Cade is taking his shot, Jason says, "Thanks for letting us pre-drink and crash here. I guess your parents are out of town or something?"

"Yeah, or something," I say. I get a strange look from Xander and Cade but nobody asks anymore questions.

Several hours, a few drinks and some delivered chinese food later, everyone is feeling good and buzzed and ready to party. Charlie, Maddy and I leave the guys in the basement to go get changed and have some girl time.

"So, you haven't told Cade about your parents yet?" Charlie questions.

"No, I haven't. I came here for a fresh start. I want people to see me for me, without having the influence of my past clouding their perspective."

"Yeah, but your past is part of what makes you you."

"I guess so. I dunno, I just don't want to go back to how it was in New York where people treated me like I was broken because of what happened. I wanna be a normal person for a little while longer."

"I get that, but you also have to trust that us and Cade and the guys are not the people from New York. I mean, we know and we don't treat you any different."

I feel a twinge of guilt at that because they only know the tip of the iceberg. "Yeah, you're right. I mean I'll tell him at some point. Now is just not that point."

"And, if he starts treating you different because of it, he's a dick. But regardless, we're gonna be here for you," Maddy says with a smile

I can feel the sting of tears threatening to escape because for the first time in probably my whole life, I understand what friendship means. I pull them both into a group hug and then say, "Alright, enough with the mushy stuff. We have some work to do if we're going to be the sexiest people at this party."

"I still don't see the point of doing our hair and makeup for a party at the beach. Won't it just get ruined anyway?" Charlie asks.

"No, silly," Maddy explains, "We don't actually go in the water."

"Then why are we wearing bathing suits?" she counters.

"Oh it's just an excuse to wear less clothing," Maddy says.

"Makes total sense to me," I say sarcastically.

"Just trust me," Maddy says with an eye roll.

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