"We leave in about fifteen hours." the middle triplet stated, crossing his legs at the ankles and propping his head up with his palms threaded behind it.
It finally sunk in. No matter how much the cohort tried to comfort one another, the inevitable truth became clear at that moment: Three months was a hell of a long time.
Silence became a happy medium between hysterical but nervous laughter and tears. Everyone seemed swept up in their own reveries, trying to imagine how life as a group would be when the group was not complete. The eternal savior of the comedic consciousness was first to speak again. But even his voice came soft and unsure, as if he were battling the silence and regretted speaking up at all.
"You know," Bob started to say, absently twirling a piece of his hair with his fingers. "I was thinking..."
"Did it hurt?" Scott quipped, his famous joke.
The mood of the group oscillated to the high side, treading into hysterical laughter over something that clearly wasn't as funny as it was given credit for. They laughed until tears formed in the corners of their eyes, wanting to soak up every breath of laughter they could muster. Times like these would be scarce for the next months.
"No, it did not hurt." Bob said dryly, swiping with a finger at the corners of his eyes.
"Sorry. Go ahead." Scott said quietly.
"Thank you. I was thinking about how we're all such good friends. I mean, we all have this group that's basically inseparable, yet at the same time... it's like, maybe it's just me, but it seems like maybe we don't know each other at all." he intensely explained.
"What do you mean?" Angela asked after a short pause.
Bob fidgetted uncomfortably with his words, removing his hands from behind his head so he could gesticulate and better articulate the phrases that seemed to be a laying straight in his head but jumbled on his tongue.
"I mean... we have good times together. Very good times. Possibly the best times of my life. But at the same time... it's like, where the jokes end, nothing begins. Our basis of friendship is comic relief so we have to deal with our personal battles alone. I mean, it would just be nice if we could all sit together and---"
"Talk about our feelings?" Scott smirked, mocking his younger brother.
"Well it may sound cheesy, but... yeah." Bob heatedly replied. "I mean, I don't know some of you guys at all, not even my own brothers. Maybe that's one of my problems. I keep everything bottled up and sometimes... don't you just want to explode?" he asked.
The meter was set back in the middle on silence while everyone digested what he had just said. The clock read twelve-thirteen. Bob swallowed. Time was passing fast and he felt as if he had to get to know everyone all over again within the time they had.
"Okay, I got one." Angela spoke up. "Something no one knows about me."
She received the attention of the others.
"I used to have the biggest booty." she stated.
The hysteria began again as everyone chuckled, not so much from disbelieve, but just from the new sense of comfort the relationship exposed them to.
"When I was maybe thirteen," Angela continued, running her hands up through her curls. "I was chunky. Very chunky, and my butt was enormous. It was just..."
"Damn?" Clint supplied with a raised eyebrow.
"Basically yes." she smiled.
"Heh heh, that's not so hard to believe." Timber jested.
"Oh shut up!" Angela shot back, tossing a pillow in her friend's direction and laughing.
"Yeah, not all of us can be skeletons from birth." Jeanine pointed out. "I happen to have a big booty too." she stated proudly.
"Okay, okay, someone else go now." Angela got everyone back on track.
The voices immediately dropped form the air as everyone waited for someone else to say something.
"I'm a drug addict." Ben finally stated with a surprisingly solemn tone.
"I coulda told ya that." Scott smirked.
"No, seriously." Ben sighed, suddenly seeming upset. "I mean... I may joke, and that's all good, but I... I really have a problem." he swallowed thickly to better form his words around the quiet that the others had created as an underpinning for him. "I woke up one morning and... damn. I realized that I'm snorting all my allowance up my nose or sucking it from a joint... or worse yet, I'm taking it in hits of ecstasy because I... I can't handle reality well."
Ben swallowed once more, realizing he had just exposed a big part of himself to his best friends. "And I'm tired of it."
"Then quit." Dave suggested plainly. "Just stop doing it."
Ben sighed, wishing he hadn't spoken up at all. "You don't understand." he shook his head. "I can't."
Bob suddenly felt a constriction in his heart. He was starting to see the people he thought he saw everyday and he was starting to realize the depth of problems they had. It was his turn to reach out and be a true friend. "We'll help you."
Ben said nothing at this. He merely stared at the ceiling, his hands clasped on his stomach. It was all for the best.
Kelly decided it was her turn to speak up. "I was raped." she swallowed. Moments passed before she continued. The memories began to flood into her mind, reminding her that she was weak and that she was nothing in the eyes of everyone else. Worse yet, none of them would ever understand truly how she felt. She was so vulnerable that it hurt her sometimes. She was sick and tired of fearing herself because she was weak.
Timber lay her hand down on her friend's, knowing the tears would soon come.
"And--- and I thought I was pregnant for three months." Kelly continued, pausing to clear her throat. She held her hand up in front of her face, seeing the tiny pink scratches, evidence of her victory. "You could never know what that's like." she whispered.
"But you got yours." Clint reminded her gently, his breathing suddenly feeling labored. "You got your victory, even though he's an asshole and he deserves so much more..." he sighed.
"Yeah. I guess." Kelly breathed, trying to smile. "It's kinda faded. I mean, before I couldn't even think about what happened without crying, but now... now I think back and I know that I will never let myself be that weak again. I will never go trusting people so easily because you never know. Slow water runs deep."
Jeanine wished she could reach out to her cousin. "I'm glad you got over that Kelly. I'd hate to loose you to such a... a demon, I suppose you could say. I was really worried."
"We all were." Dave put in.
"Yeah, if I ever see that jackass, I'll beat the shit out of him." Scott accorded.
Kelly smiled despite herself. "Clint already took care of that." she smiled.
Clint blushed deeply, smiling modestly as he examined his knuckles.
"Whaaaaaaat?" Scott asked in disbelief, arching his back to see his younger brother.
"I beat some ass." Clint grinned. "And I think I broke a few bones in my hands---"
"And in his face." Kelly smiled proudly.
"--- but I beat some ass." he completed. "Although you should see his cute little car ‘cause Kelly totaled it... oh man..." he shook his head in pity.
Kelly reached over Ben and put her hand on Clint's shoulder. "But some details are going to be left between us." she grinned.
Clint smiled back, touching her hand lightly before she drew it back. "Someone else go now." he suggested.
A pause.
"Anyone?" Clint asked.
"You go then." Scott suggested.
"Naw, I'll wait till I think of something." Clint suggested.
"Okay, I'll go." Carmen volunteered, her hands rested protectively on her stomach. "So I never told anyone this." she announced, keeping her gaze on the ceiling. "But, well, I used to be bad."
This got Bob's full attention and he was looking at her intently as she spoke.
"I mean, you all know I used to be a pot head. I used to party like crazy and I was only maybe... eleven years old. I drank, I did weed, I did acid..." she laughed wryly, fighting to keep a jocular mood. "I was on top of the world and nothing could bring me down. I was getting drunk both Friday and Saturday night and... I was sleeping around at only twelve." she swallowed, her peripheral vision catching Bob's new expression of blatant surprise. She refused to look at him, knowing that the truth was going to come out eventually, but oddly not ready for it.
"You're not... a virgin?" Timber asked in disbelief.
"Not since I was twelve." Carmen replied dismally, seeing no jocular sugar-coating for the subject at hand. "And... damn. I lost my virginity when I was drunk off my ass to some guy who had to be at least eighteen or something. But it's funny how I never regretted anything." she sighed. "I just kept living for the moment. I kept trying to seize the fucking day because I was under the impression that I had to have tried everything before the sky fell. I wanted to have done everything before I died and at the rate I was heading, that death was coming. If you knew how many times my parents had me in the emergency room pumping my stomach... But that never stopped me. Then we moved here. My parents simply couldn't take it anymore. So we moved. And that's the happy ending." she smiled dryly.
This new information baffled everyone, no one knowing what to say.
"Damn." Scott said, speaking for all of them.
"Whoa... I mean, that's pretty... 'my-secretive-life-ish.'" Jeanine said.
"I know. I know." Carmen admitted.
Bob just stared at the ceiling in a state of shock. She wasn't a virgin. He had always assumed that he would loose his own virginity to a virgin... and it was in a way set in stone that he and Carmen would be together for a long time. He was suddenly confused. Why hadn't she told him all those things? Bob sighed.
"Your turn Bob." Scott announced.
"Hmmm?" Bob asked, looking up. "I, umm... I don't know. Come back to me."
"You go Timber." Kelly said, elbowing her friend beside her.
Timber hesitated. "Well... I... um... I don't really know if there is anything that you guys don't know." She had a whole world of secrets that no one could know.
"Oh come on Timber. Everyone has something." Dave pointed out.
She half-shrugged, not wanting to say anything. "I dunno." she responded blandly, nervously twisting at a wisp of her hair. "I just don't really have anything."
"You can say anything. But I know you have something." Clint said with a grin.
Timber looked up at him with a strange expression on her face.
"Just talk." Clint dismissed, not quite understanding what he had even said.
Timber returned her stare to the ceiling for a moment, trying to think of a less exposing tale she could share. "I suppose..." she continued to think for a second of hesitation. "I've always kind of wished me and my brother had a better relationship."
"Chandler?" Bob asked in surprise.
"Yeah." Tim replied. "I--- we... it's always like I'm not even good enough for him." she paused solemnly, swallowing thickly around the lump in her throat. "He's always got the one up. It's irritating. And I strive so much.... I try SO hard just to be good enough for him, for my parents... for me. I'm always behind though. I compete with Chandler for EVERYTHING and it's so tiring sometimes! I get so sick of having to compete for my parents love when he's three thousand miles away and I'm right under the same roof. But the realization that they will always love him more, they will always work extra hard to make him happy hits me like a ton of bricks each time. And they try to make it up to me in so many ways. They buy me shit, send me shopping every chance they get. I want their love! That's all I ever wanted. I would trade the jewelry that I rarely even wear, the credit cards and all that worthless SHIT, because that's all it is, SHIT, just for them to stay home for one weekend. I want them to come home for me. I want them to stay with me, not just come home because Chandler comes home. I want it to be just me and my parents going to a movie together, or out to dinner together. I would say anything, do anything for them just to stay in the morning. You don't even know. When I see my mom sipping her morning tea, or my Dad making his routine breakfast... I just want to jump up and scream for them not to go because I'm lonely when they're gone. I have nothing when they're gone. And it's sad to know that even if I begged, beseeched, they wouldn't stay. It's like I live alone! But you know, maybe the old adage is right. The bigger the house, the less the love in it." she sneered, not even realizing that she had tears burning in her eyes, she was yanking at her hair, and talking a mile a minute. "Why can't I just have one second of them just loving me for who I am? Why do I have to be perfect to be loved? I'll never be as good as him and I'm sick of their high expectations. See, that why I---" she bit her tongue, breaking off from speaking. "Fuck. Nevermind." she dismissed almost silently, shaking her head slowly.
The silence was threatening, almost nauseating. Timber finally ordered someone to speak.
"I always thought you were so... happy." Scott said quietly.
She shook her head again. "Just forget I said anything okay? OKAY??"
"Alright, alright." Clint quickly accorded, slightly uncomfortable with the fact that he could not do anything to help any of his friends that he was suddenly learning so much about.
More silence. Silence seemed to be the new shibboleth of the crew. But they were all under the unspoken understanding that the silence lead to the growth of their bonds.
"On the family note," Jeanine spoke up, her voice seeming strained as the tears burned in her eyes. She chuckled lightly, trying to feign happiness which was obviously the opposite of what she was feeling. She battled the inevitable sobs, wanting to remain calm and debating whether she should speak at all. But then she knew that it was time to come out with her biggest secret. "I have a fucked up one and I suppose maybe it's time I owned up to that." she whispered, swallowing hard. She traced her trembling fingers up through her hair, ruining her ponytail, but not seeming to care. Her ponytail was the furthest thought from her mind at that moment. All she could think about right then was all the wrongs she had been done in the past. All she could think about was him...
"We'll start from the top." Jeanine breathed. "This year, I met my math teacher. He was... he was so great. I mean, funny, cute, young, he was the nicest guy ever. I instantly felt like... like I needed him. I needed him because maybe my self esteem's fucked up... I bet it is, but hey; I'm dealing. So stupid me, I pursued him. Stupider him, he let me." she laughed again, strained and nervous with her jittery emotions. The others were so patient and silent, all listening carefully to her introduction to the big picture, that she forgot they were with her. She was alone for the time being.
"And so the classic teacher-student relationship began. It's funny I guess, because while I knew what always became of such relationships, I was a kid in a candy store. I was a fucking... a fucking child who had no veritable view of reality; my reality was so warped it's actually humorous looking back. I thought he loved me." she chuckled again, a racking of her body that was so rough, it sent the tears trickling from the corners of her eyes. "I thought he needed me to make him feel good. I though I was the only one who could do that and the power of it all titillated me. I was living a fantasy. A fucking lie. While he was using me, he was also using my supposed good friend Denise. While I was giving him what I thought was all he wanted, she was giving him what I couldn't. What I wouldn't. She was giving him sex. And so my insecurities resurfaced."
Jeanine's golden eyes traced the ceiling absently as she was dumb to her tears.
"And that all ties in to my past. Through this experience, I realize how stupid I get. I'm such a fool because all I do is throw myself at people because I feel like I owe them something. I feel like... like they won't like me if I don't please them unselfishly."
By now she was openly crying, trying to mask it by foolish laughter.
"My parents are divorced." Jen said simply, scrubbing at her eyes and smearing black streaks of mascara down her face.
"What?" Kelly asked in utter disbelief. "They are not Jen... they..." She attempted to justify her disagreement but trailed off, realizing that something big had been kept from her.
"They got divorced about a year ago." Jeanine sighed, worn out. "And then my mom started drinking." she smiled. "Bear with me you guys, this all fits together like a fucking, twisted ass puzzle." she announced with false flamboyance. "So let's delve deeper into the past and see why they got divorced. When I was a bit younger, maybe... ten? Nine-ish? About there, my sister and I were inseparable. We used to share a bedroom in our old house, which we moved out of when the divorce went through last February. The bedroom was joined by a bathroom, so I suppose it wasn't the same room, but we treated it like it was, we were always in and out of one another’s space; we were best friends. Then I found out." her excitement dwindled back down to sadness as she continued. "I woke in the middle of the night one night and her door into the bathroom was closed. It sounds stupid, but this was really odd. I mean, this is the girl who I spent my days with, every waking hour, and I hadn't even remembered that there was a door." Jeanine chuckled through the tears that continued down her face. "So I was curious. I wanted to know what was going on that I couldn't be in on. I wanted to know why I wasn't allowed to be in a certain aspect of her life. So I opened the door. Big mistake." she swallowed again, fighting the sobs back to continue on with a clear voice.
"She was in there sure enough. So was my father."
Kelly audibly gasped, shocked at the implications of her cousin's admission.
"I ran. I ran back to bed and I never questioned it. I... I tried to forget. I tried so hard to forget what I had seen, but no matter how hard I tried, the memory wouldn't go away." the tears were profuse now, but she stared calmly at the ceiling as flashes of her memory caught up with her, racing like a gazelle while she was clearly out of breath. "And I know it sounds stupid, but I guess it's just me. I mean, I wanted to know what was so special about Chris. I wanted to know why I wasn't good enough." she spat scornfully. "I wanted to know why I never seemed to be good enough. And that was just the beginning. This continued for so long... until I finally told my mother a year ago. And she didn't want to believe me... she couldn't believe that something so... so... horrible... could be happening in her house. The funny thing is that I didn't tell my mother because Chris couldn't, or wouldn't... or I don't even know. But in my warped sense of reality, I was so blind to see that Chris wanted out. In those few years that I knew about this, we drifted apart so much, not just because we were growing up and moving on, but because I was building up calluses against her. I actually thought she was mocking me and showing me that she was good enough for our father's love, that she was worthy and I was not. I was so... so... STUPID to understand a situation like this. I told my mother not out of concern, but out of jealousy. I figured that if I couldn't have my father's ultimate affection, then she couldn't either and I knew my mom would stop this..."
Dave gradually wrapped his arms around the unknowingly hysterical girl, trying to calm her trembling body as she sobbed mercilessly while staring at the ceiling.
"And so I keep trying to get everyone to love me and I keep... I keep getting hurt!" she cried out. "My father didn't love me enough, and neither did Mr. Richards. If they loved me enough then---" she cut off, too frantic to continue.
The others just listened in a painful awe. Bob finally realized that maybe it was a mistake to ask his friends to expose themselves and be vulnerable to the world. Everyone had their secrets and by asking them to explain these sordid secrets was maddening. Or perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. Nevertheless, it would not be fair for him not to inflict the same pain upon himself. So he was next to speak.
"You know," he began, not sure if his words would come out in anything but a dyslexic jumble, but trying none the less. "I have this fear..." he continued. "Well my biggest fear used to be for my brothers, especially Clint."
By now, he had everyone's attention, including Jeanine who was wrapped in Dave's strong arms, her tears tapering off.
"I mean, when Clint got sick last summer, not to sound morbid, but it was a miracle that he survived. I was so afraid that I would loose my other half. I was as scared as I'd ever been because I love Clint so much. I love all my brothers, even though we fight constantly. I love all you guys too. And I fear that maybe one day... well I guess this all fits under my ultimate fear of... entropy I think it's called. Is that right?" he arched his neck so he could look up at Timber. "Inclination for entropy, the inclination for disorder?" he asked.
"Yeah." she replied.
"Okay, so I have this fear of entropy." he said. "I mean, things are going so great right now. Everyone's happy, we're all friends... and that stability is priceless. I think that it's moments like these, when we can just reflect on what our life together has been like, that people live for. And that entropy is so inevitable. It's unequivocally going to come and we have nothing to fight it off with. But maybe that's life."
"I don't understand what you mean." Clint admitted gently.
Bob sighed, trying to find a better way to put his mindless tirade, but that was all it was. It was a mindless tirade that perhaps he could only understand.
"I don't even know what I'm talking about. I guess I just mean that a storms ahead, idiomatically of course, or maybe literally, fuck, I'm no weatherman. But anyhow, I know that a good thing can't last forever or else what would we strive for?" he laughed lightly. "And I fear that in this entropy that's coming, we won't be able to bounce back to this. When God washed out the earth, you know in that Bible story about the guy with the boat... I know this... fuck..."
"Noah's ark?" Timber supplied.
"I knew you'd know." Bob grinned. "But yeah. When he washed out the earth, I'm sure that the earth didn't return to what it was before, in fact that's impossible. Once something changes, you can't get it back to how it was. You can only move forward. You can only get better than what it was or worse. My fear is that once that storm hits, we won't get better."
"What makes you think that the entropy, or whatever, will hit us?" Carmen asked, almost optimistically.
"It always does. That's what entropy is."
* * *
Time slipped through their fingertips faster in the predawn hours. The unfortunate thing was that the group, strewn across the Moffatt living room floor, could not catch these grains of sand that represented the seconds and bottle them. An abeyance in conversation and any communication slid past and lasted about an hour and a half.
"Are you guys sleeping?" Clint curiously asked, sitting up partially and stretching. He was surprised to see that everyone was fully awake and staring back at him. "Why are we being so quiet?" he asked, sitting back in his heels. "It's like three in the morning. We leave in twelve hours."
"I'm sleepy." Kelly stated, turning over onto her stomach. "I was almost asleep there, but... well... NOISY ASS CLINT STARTED MAKING NOISE!!!" she exclaimed, smacking his thigh.
Clint giggled.
"Awww, that's so cute." Scott smirked.
"What?" the two asked in unison.
Scott just shook his head, rolling onto his stomach too and trying to stretch out his back. "You guys used to hate each other so much." he snickered.
"Yeah, those were some hellish times." Angela agreed, sitting up.
"But look how far we've come." Ben said brightly.
"I remember when we first met." Bob put in, smiling at Timber who now lay on her stomach with her chin rested on the back of her hands.
"I never heard this story." Angela admitted.
"You haven't?" Bob asked, almost in disbelief. "That's a timeless story."
"Tell us!" Angela exclaimed, scooting over and laying her head in the crook of Scott's back.
Bob shifted around so he was sitting Indian style with a hand on each knee. "Alright." he smiled. "I shall tell you a tale of a thousand... something. Anyhow. So we were driving from the airport and we took a flight at like four in the morning or something like that. So we landed at what? Six? And we're driving and of course Scott's still sleepy so he's all cranky cause he has to sleep sitting up and he doesn't want to lean on Clint because Clint's cranky too and he doesn't want to be touched... it was just a big cloud of bitching and moaning. We're all tired and stuff. Then to top it off we get lost and... just damn. So our dad, having experience with the whole 'riding with little kids' thing pacifies us all by purchasing donuts. Mine was glazed." Bob smiled brightly at the thought.
"Mine had chocolate on it!" Scott put in.
"I had one with sprinkles!" Clint giggled. "Ahhhhhhhh!!!!" he added for unknown emphasis.
"And I had one with the juicy stuff inside. You know? The red stuff. It was good." Dave grinned.
"Yeah, he let me have a bite. It was pretty good." Bob agreed. "What kind of filling was that?" he asked. "Raspberry or strawberry? It tasted really good."
"I think it was raspberry." Dave replied. "Yeah man. it was raspberry."
"Some good shit right here." Bob nodded.
"OKAY!!!" Kelly cut in. "So anyhow..."
"Anyhow? Oh yeah! Okay. So we all have donuts and that silences us all until we get to our new house. Of course Scott did get pissed when we hit a bump in the road and he got chocolate on his nose. Man was he... livid. So Sheila licked a napkin and wiped it off and he was even more mad. I laughed. Clint laughed. Dave laughed. Hell, Dad and Sheila laughed too. So we finally got home, our new home, and everyone was so awake, so we started unpacking and stuff. I was unpacking my room. Then I helped Sheila with the living room while Scott and Dad did the kitchen. See, cause Scott was so cranky that he needed time with my dad. That's what Dad always does when Scott's cranky. It's one of those things from the past. He told us that when Scott was a baby and he got fussy, he would take the little brat and they would go off and just be together and that always made him chill out. Or they would dance." Bob smiled at the familiar remembrance. "To something like Michael Jackson or something. And it would always calm him down. It's funny how stuff works like that. Like, some things never change. Only Dad can make Scott not be cranky. ANYHOW, so Scott finally needed some time with just Scott and I guess he split. And I needed some time too. I mean, you guys all know how it works with Clint and cleaning. Met-tic-u-lous!!!" Bob snickered.
The others nodded in agreement.
"So I had to get out and get on my own for a while. So I went outside to play ball and---"
"Wait!!!" Timber interrupted. "I have to tell my side!!!"
"Yes, yes you do." Bob agreed, motioning for her to take the floor.
Timber simpered at him, sitting up in the same fashion he was. "So I had seen the house had been sold a week before. On that day I was chilling in my room and I saw the SUV parked out front. So then I was like, 'people are here!' Then Ben called to check out video games and stuff. So I'm going to go, I get all ready, then I see Bob in the driveway. Being the cordial being I am, I go and say hey..."
"And we play and stuff!!!" Bob put in. "She really wasn't as bad as she said she was. Then she had to go." he shrugged.
"AWWWWWW!!!" Clint crooned.
"Okay! I got a story!" Scott put in. "I have a tale of fate, a tale of destiny, a tale of unrequited love..." he grinned cheesily. "The story of Scott Moffatt and his woman." he added intensely.
Angela giggled, smacking him upside the head.
Scott smirked brightly. "So yeah. It was the same day and after unpacking dishes and arranging them in size order with Dad, I had had enough. So I take Dad's car and I go to the mall I saw on the way up here. I walk around for a while, contemplate purchasing a pair of sweet-ass Nike's, but change my mind. I see this chick who claims she knew me... she was pissed, but that's besides the point." he smiled at the memory. "So anyhow, I'm on my way to the bathroom, and low and behold, I get socked in the nose by none other than the girl at my side right now. Well by the door to the ladies room at least. But she pushed it."
The room broke into laughter, even Jeanine who had been pretending to be asleep on Dave's chest.
"Well it wasn't my fault!" Angela exclaimed. "I mean, who walks that close to the door?" she asked.
"Don't those doors open in anyway?" Ben asked.
"Scott, you're a retard!" Bob stated.
"It wasn't my fault!" Scott insisted. "She nearly broke my nose too! It was horrible!" he then smiled dazedly, blushing slightly. "But I didn't mind because, at the risk of sounding like one of those old Peter Cetera songs, she was so gorgeous. That's not even why I was drawn to her... it was just... I don't even know. She was so amazing. Then there was the fateful meeting that took place at Timber's later. She hit my in the nose again with the refrigerator I believe it was."
Angela grinned. "That wasn't my fault."
"Then there was of course, the pop can?" he continued.
"That was on purpose." Angela smiled.
He looked back at her with shock.
"How else would I have gotten you back into the kitchen alone?" she asked.
"Okay, this is edging towards the 'how your parents met' realm." Bob put in.
"My thoughts exactly." Carmen agreed.
'What about the time we took a shower together Timber?" Dave asked, chuckling at the thought.
"WHAT?!?!" the other eight cried in unison.
Timber giggled. "It's not what it sounds like."
"You wanna tell it?" Dave asked.
"We both can." Timber compromised. "Now this happened like, a few months ago. I spent the night here and Bob and I had fallen asleep on the couch watching Air Force One. So we woke up... or I woke up then woke him up at like six in the morning because his foot was digging into my ass and that's just not comfortable. So we're watching movies and I decide that I'll go take a shower because Clint walks in and he's all clean and we're all rank and... yeah. So I go upstairs and I turn on the shower, but realize I left spare clothes in Bob's room. I want the water to heat up so I leave it on and go into Bob's room for my clothes." She looked at Dave to continue.
"Yeah, this is where I come in. I guess someone turned off the water because I went in there and it was off. So I go and I get all undressed, but of course I forgot my boxers. Unlike Scott, I do NOT walk down the hall naked after a shower; that's just not me. So I leave the water on and go to get underwear."
"And I came back," Timber continued. "And the shower was still on. I get in, but I get in through the back, so maybe that's where our wires got crossed because we have different shower-entering methods. So I'm in the back and I don't like to get straight under the spray cause it's hot. Well, actually I jump under, then lather. And I'm lathering and I don't know what happened---"
"I had gotten in the shower through the front." Dave interrupted. "All front shower-enterers are awesome." he added under his breath. "And I get wet and put shampoo in my hair---"
"Then he asks me if I can pass the soap!!!" Timber cried, covering her face with her hands to prevent the laughter that rattled her fragile frame. Wisps of her dark hair spilled over her fingers.
"I didn't even make the connection!" Dave insisted. "And she screamed, but there's nothing we can do because we're both covered in soap... oh... it was very interesting."
"Now I lock the door when showering at the Moffatt house." Timber smiled.
By then, the hysteria of the room was at an all-time high for the night as everyone rattled with laughter.
"Oh man... we've had some awesome times together." Scott pointed out, pushing his dark hair away from his face. He rested his cheek on his hands, laying on his stomach.
"Three months and we'll be regaling one another on tales from our journey's apart." Timber sighed.
The others voiced agreement.
"Shit, it's almost four." Jeanine mumbled vacantly. "We should go."
Scott sighed wistfully, realizing that trying to slow time was like trying to catching the tiny dust particles that one could only see dancing in a shaft of light. But he had it now in his grasp and he intended to cling to it with both hands for as long as he could. "Stay a while, don't go." he weakly beseeched, staring off into space.
So they all stayed, savoring the taste of that very second that crept by in an eternity of memories.
* * *