𝐈 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮

Jonesy

I was right to go downstairs. Justice and Lucas had completely rearranged the entire living space. Nothing looked as if it was in its rightful place and in the center of it all was a disheveled looking Sterling. A look of relief washed over her face when she made eye contact with me across the room.
  "Oh my God, Jonesy, you have to tell them they can't do this." She pointed to where Justice had taken all of the sofa cushions off the sofa and placed them on the floor. He had placed a sleeping bag on top, where he was currently sitting cross legged, a sheepish look on his face.
  Lucas on the other hand, stood in front of him, his arms crossed, scowling down at the other boy.
  "Lucas claimed the sofa and I refuse to sleep on this hard floor." Justice said nonchalantly with a slight shrug.
  "Can you tell him that claiming the sofa also means the cushions that come with it?" Lucas mumbled under his breath, his scowl deepening.
  I laughed, peeling myself away from the wall. "Justice, I'm pretty sure Lucas is technically entitled to the sofa cushions, since he did claim the sofa."
  "Ha!" Lucas exclaimed triumphantly.
  "I'll fight you for them."
  A chorus of yells chimed in, quickly agreeing that fighting over sofa cushions was in fact a horrible idea. Sadly, they were milliseconds too late. Justice, swift as a cat, lunged at Lucas, tackling the boy to the floor with a loud crash.
  Lucas' head came in contact with the ground with such a heavy thud, I thought for certain he had cracked his skull open, but that didn't stop him from elbowing Justice's face. Sterling ran a hand over her face and turned to Jensen with a look that said "please stop your brother." Jensen shrugged with a laugh and mouthed back "sorry" which caused Sterling to throw her hands up in defeat.
  At this point, we all gathered that it was best to let nature take its course and let the stronger boy win the fight along with the cushions. The room now reeked of testosterone anyway.
  I shook my head and made my way into the kitchen where Gemma and Daria were huddled by the counter, their noses buried into a map of some sort. Bela and Stella were putting away groceries; well, Stella stood behind Bela and was telling her where to put said groceries.
  The sounds of grunting and pounding fists could still be heard, and yet no one was surprised. It wasn't uncommon for the two to resort to physical fights and they usually worked it out afterwards. I would give them another few minutes before telling them to take it outside.
  "Well, that wasn't very long." Bela snorted, a bag of grapes in her hand. Gemma and Daria looked up from their map and giggled.
  "What is so fucking funny?" I asked as my friends shared looks with each other before bursting into more laughter.
  "They thought you and Althea would be jumping each other's bones right now." Bela explained before turning to Daria. "You owe me twenty bucks." She triumphantly took the bill from Daria's hand. "Little did they know you guys haven't actually done it yet." She wiggled her brows as a collective gasp echoed through the kitchen.
  Gemma set down the map before breaking the silence. "You guys haven't..."
  I gave Bela a pointed look. "No, we have not, and I wasn't aware that this was everyone's business. I also don't appreciate you guys putting bets on me." Bela returned my look with a sheepish shrug before sticking her head back into the fridge.
  "Oh, my God, why are you all still looking at me like that?" There was another moment of silence before Stella finally broke it.
  "We're just surprised, Jones. It's not like you to wait this long."
  "Or at all, really." Daria chimed in. "We all know how you are, or were, with those other girls."
  I was really getting sick of hearing that from everyone. It was like they thought of me as some sort of playboy fuckboy. Which I was not. Okay, I might have been, but it was becoming annoying to hear all the time.
  "Well, Althea isn't like those other girls." I snapped back. "I really don't want to fuck this up with her." I lowered my eyes to my feet and stared at the intricate wood patterns of the floor.
  "And that's a good thing." Gemma walked to my side and gave my arm a light squeeze. "You've found someone who you want to change for and-oh my God." The color drained from her face as her eyes moved towards the living room.
  I turned to see what had abruptly cut off the rest of her sentence and saw Justice had Lucas in a headlock; Lucas' face was turning varying shades of red as he fought weakly against Justice.
  Jesus. I all but ran to the pair, I would've tackled Justice myself if Gemma hadn't already grabbed a fistful of his hair.
  "Justice, hey man, I think it's time to let go; he looks like he's about to pass out."
  Justice shook his head and seemingly tightened his hold on the other boy. "Relinquish your rights to the cushions and I'll let go."
  Lucas let out a strangled "no" and continued pulling on his arm. Gemma let out a little squeal and jumped back as the boys tumbled backwards, just barely taking her down with them.
  "I don't think he's going to be able to answer," Bela called from her place behind the sofa. The rest of the gang minus Althea were now huddled around the boys in a circle, watching to see who would tap out first. "I'm pretty sure you've got his airway blocked."
  "I'm not giving up!" Justice yelled. "Say uncle and I'll let you go. Say it!"
  After several oddly long seconds of holding our breath, Lucas finally began vigorously tapping Justice's arm. His face was almost as red as his hair and his eyes rolled back in his head slightly. Justice quickly released his hold on him and the other boy slumped forward, his body heaving heavily as he filled his lungs with air.
  Jensen knelt beside her twin, murmuring words no one else could quite hear. The rest of us let out a collective sigh of relief and Justice had a victorious smile on his face.
  "Is he okay?" Sterling asked, her brow furrowed. "I have 911 on speed dial in case we need to take him to the-"
  "My brother doesn't need to go to the hospital, he's fine. Just give him a fucking minute." Jensen snapped from her place on the floor. She sent a glare Sterling's way before turning back to her brother.
  "Hey, watch your fucking tone." Bela took a protective step in front of her girlfriend, her dark eyes narrowing. "She just wants to help; do I need to kick the other Booker twin's ass?" If Jensen hadn't already been on the floor, she would've cowered and shrunk under Bela's gaze. Instead she just mumbled something under her breather and went back to attending to her brother.
  Bela might be the most unserious friend of the group but she did not stand for any disrespect when it came to Sterling. Nothing was funny when it came to her, and she was prepared to fight anyone who hurt her feelings.
  Jensen now had Lucas in a proper sitting position and the color in his face was slowly going back to normal as his breathing became steady.
  "Alright, let's refrain from fighting, at least not inside. Anyone who has a problem with someone else needs to take it outside in the snow, or save it for when we get back home." I gave everyone a stern look and they all nodded their heads in agreement.
  "Justice, clean this shit up. Now." I continued, implying to the misplaced pillows and the bookcase that looked as if it was out of place along with several items of trash that definitely did not belong on the floor. "I don't want Althea to come down and see-"
  "Don't want Althea to see what?"
  We all spun around to see my girlfriend-my girlfriend-standing at the foot of the stairs, a towel wrapped around her head. I wiped my hands down the front of my sweatpants, they were suddenly very clammy.
  "The living room," I answered sheepishly. "Justice and Lucas decided to fight over the sofa cushions because Lucas claimed the sofa and Justice didn't think that also meant the cushions, but they're fine now." Jesus, was I rambling? Why was I so nervous?
  Althea gave me an odd look, similar to the one at the airport, before smirking a little. "Okay, you do know there are cots in the garage, right? You don't have to fight over anything." She laughed. I liked that sound. It meant she wasn't upset with me. Why would she be upset?
  "I told you we should've checked down there." Lucas muttered, his voice hoarse while Justice tried his best to pull off a look of innocence.
  "Fighting seemed more fun."
  "Okay, well let's just keep all of the fighting outdoors, I'd really rather not have to tell my parents one of their thousand dollar lamps got knocked over and shattered into a million pieces." Althea said in a tone that held a subtle note of sarcasm, as if her parents didn't really spend thousands of dollars on one singular lamp. Not that I would be completely surprised if they had.

***

  After we cleaned the living room and returned everything to its proper place, Gemma and Althea insisted on making us a late lunch, or was it an early dinner? I had offered to help but was quickly told to make myself scarce; Gemma must've told Althea about my cooking skills, or rather the lack thereof.
  I hadn't realized just how hungry I was until the scent of alfredo sauce filled the entire cabin and I found myself wandering back towards the kitchen, despite Althea being very clear that I wasn't allowed back in.
  She was pulling out a tray of Texas toast out of the oven as I claimed a stool at the counter. My heart fluttered a bit as her face lit up when our eyes met. I would never get over how excited she always looked to see me. No one had looked at me the way she did in a very, very long time.
  "Here, try this and let me know what you think." Althea placed a red solo cup of pasta in front of me and handed me a fork. "It's a new recipe and I need to know the sauce isn't too salty."
  I eagerly accepted the food and all but inhaled it. It was delicious, which only made my stomach want more. "It's amazing, babe. I didn't know you could cook like this, I thought cookies were more your thing."
  She beamed at my approval, a bright smile on her face and she clasped her hands in front of her chest. "I'm so glad you like it! I don't cook a lot, baking really is more of my area of expertise, but I wanted to do something special for us."
  I walked around the counter and Althea immediately found her place in my arms. She had taken the towel off her head and her curls were still a little damp. I could feel the water seeping into my shirt. She smelled like heaven.
  "This whole trip is special."
  She lifted her head to look me in the eye. "So, you're saying you don't want me to cook and we should just assume Bela packed enough peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the entire trip?" Her eyes sparkled as she laughed.
  "Oh, absolutely not." I lowered my head to kiss her bright pink lips. "I'm afraid you're stuck with the cooking part."