About You Now

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"What happened last night?" muttered Roman, rubbing the ball of his hands into his eyes in an attempt to will himself awake and clear his fuzzy vision. The basement of the Black family home was quiet, darkened, and alive with shadows. The blackout curtains over the patio doors did their job of robbing the room of daylight. Slowly, Roman looked around the large room. The clock on the wall said it was 6:30 in the morning; the others in the room were scattered on the floor and sofas, sleeping peacefully. Among them were Hunter and his little group of friends.

"One hella after party," whispered Hunter, his voice almost starting Roman, who'd been convinced the shadows had spoken. Hunter's dark hair was a mess of tangles, fluffy as it was every morning before he had a chance to control and style it. "So much so, I don't think those two realize they're not snuggling their significant other," he added, throwing a limp hand toward the stairs, where Corey and Miz were tightly wrapped in the other's arms. Maryse and Carmella were across the room, snuggled soundly between Damian and JD.

"That explains the blank memory," responded Roman, vaguely recalling the alcohol that had been supplied behind the bar just as he had echoes of terrible singing, acting, and plenty of other embarrassing moments. For a quick moment, he looked around, half expecting to see Serenity there somewhere, perhaps in a corner, throwing another childish tantrum over an offense only she knew of. To his relief, he found no sign of her, no distant screaming and yelling, nothing but the memories he wished to forget and move on from.

"She's not here," confirmed Hunter, recalling his parents' decision to ban Serenity and Aunt Sienna from the family home after several ugly comments and what his parents had proclaimed were unforgivable actions. The demands and tantrums the night before had done little in the way of getting what either of them wanted. Serenity had been denied the chance to take over what others had planned and claim it as her own, as she would have no doubt done, if only to continue her make-believe life she presented to her limited social media followers and friends she'd long forgotten about. Aunt Sienna, on the other hand, had been denied her demand to judge everyone and take what did not belong to her, just because she wanted it. "Congrats on your engagement by the way."

"My what?" asked Roman, his eyes widening as his face paled. A million questions flew through his mind all at once and all demanding to be spoken aloud. For a moment, Roman's voice abandoned him, his thoughts blurred together as he looked around in panic, and he forgot how to speak, outside a few words that seemed to repeat. The Samoan teen soon glanced around the room with hurried stares, the same question repeating now: who had he proposed to? He saw no new rings. Maryse's still glittered in the bit of light that entered the room. Cross's hung around her neck on a chain. AJ was firmly tucked between herself and Punk, whereas Echo's was hidden beneath Seth's hand, which lapped over hers.

"You don't remember, do you?" asked Hunter, a chuckle escaping his lips as he gently pointed over to Galina, soundly asleep at Roman's side, snuggling one of the cushions as if her life depended on it. "To be fair, I don't think Galina will remember it either. You were both pretty drunk last night. You could barely stand, and she was slurring her words to the point of a new language," he added, moving to the curtains, being sure to step over all the sleeping teenagers, at least before he unceremoniously woke them up for the day of fun planned. A smile etched on his lips as the smell of pancakes hit him as he walked past the stairs. "I think one of the Wyatts filmed it, I know Indie had an old video recorder, said she borrowed it from the Poison Pixie."

With that, Hunter pulled open the thick black out curtains, allowing the morning sun to flood the rooms. He chuckled again upon hearing a chorus of moaned sighs. Roman chuckled, relieved he was already awake. He quickly followed Hunter's silent instruction, noticing him motioning to cover his ears. After he complied, Hunter pulled out the air horn hidden near the patio doors. After a short countdown, he let it off, startling all the once sound-asleep teenagers awake.