Tomorrow...

"You're pretty confident, aren't you?" Chance goes for another piece of candy, this time his eyes watering as he puts it in his mouth. He can feel his lips contracting into a pucker even though he fights it, and he cringes. "Your turn, smarty pants."

Going back and forth for a little while, Chance gets slower and slower. Not only was his mouth getting full, but it was starting to hurt and the sour candies were overwhelmingly so. At some point, he stands up and paces, stomping his feet as he desperately tries to keep going. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long after that before half his mouthful is swallowed and the other half winds up in the trash.

Sprawling on the floor, arms and legs spread out, he groans. Raising one hand, he shakes his finger. "I'm warning you... this goes no further than this house." He smacks his lips again and cringes. "Crap those things are sour. You must have a mouth made out of iron." Staring up at the ceiling, he quirks an eyebrow. "And I must be doing the dishes for the next week... I vote for paper plates."


Jason chuckles and gives Katie and extra squeeze before letting her stand on her own again. "Okay, good."

You're one person I will never mind being stuck with... even on the tough days.

Bending to give her a last kiss on the forehead, he pulls her back to their table so he can finish his pizza that was only half-eaten.


Going back over to Jess, Axel slips down next to her again, his arm going back around her chair once more. "Well... that was satisfying." He takes a sip from his glass, and only she might notice that it was mostly to hide his smile.

His arm slides up to rub her shoulders, his fingers finding the chain of the dogtags he'd given her so long ago now it seemed. Knowing they were that close made his insides smile too. He and Jess were still taking things oh so slowly... but they liked it that way, and both were content. Jess was filling a hole in Axel's life and it felt too good to let go.


Eventually, the gang settles down enough to at least eat their fill of pizza, joined up by Carson for a while before the dishes needed to be done. Kyle makes sure that everybody is introduced to his friends, just briefly explaining they were a band but not going into details. The new group is welcomed warmly, if it wasn't obvious already by them having already been pulled into the evening's shenanigans.

Once the hour starts getting late though, people begin filtering out, bidding their farewells for the night. Cryptic's group leaves, along with JetStream, eventually leaving Kyle's band and Carson and Misty. Completely exhausted, they all felt so good but so tired.

Kip crunches on some ice and waves to Carson. "Want help cleaning up?"

"Naw." Carson shakes his head. "I'm closed tomorrow anyway so I'll just take my time with it. Thanks, though."

Kyle gives a deep sigh and looks around the table at the others. "Well..."

"Back to Gram and Gramp's?" Erik asks.

"That's what I'm thinking." They had Alice's stuff together so she could go back to her waiting apartment tonight, and Phil had said that Kyle's room was still empty, though he wouldn't pack and go there until tomorrow. For the others, one or two guys might be able to join Kyle and Phil, but they'd find places for everyone and in the meantime, the grandparents were more than willing to house anybody who needed a bed.

Soon, Mom and Pop's was left in a strange quiet, such a contrast to only an hour before when it was filled with laughter and roughhousing.

Carson glances around from his relaxed seat at the table. "If this place has accomplished one thing... it's providing a place for good clean fun and a time for friendship." He nods and finishes off his glass of pop.

His eyes find Misty, and he grins, patting his leg for her to join him. "Come here... I feel lonely with everybody gone."


Getting back to Gram and Gramp's, the gang heads inside the house, trying hard to be quiet as all the lights were out, signaling the older couple was in bed. Outside in the jeep though, Kyle doesn't go in right away. Instead, he leans back in the dark quiet and takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I feel... dead."

He grins and turns his head to Alice. "I'm gonna sleep like a log. But tomorrow... I was wondering if..." He shrugs. "If you and I could take a little trip and go have a picnic for lunch? Just you and me? The others will be alright for a few hours on their own. There's a little place on the lake I want to take you. If... if you want to."