Thomas' POV

Doing a walk through of my room one last time, I quadruple check to make sure I have everything I want packed up and ready to go. Though it's not far, I don't like the idea of having to drive back here because I forget my favorite pair of pants. Once I'm satisfied, I walk out of my room makings sure to close the door and turn off all the lights behind me.

     I stop at Nysa's room and walk in, plopping down on her chair in the corner as she makes her bed to perfection. "You almost ready?" I ask her lazily, watching, impressed with all the sharp corners she's able to make on her bed.

     She turns towards me with a smile and nods her head. "Yes, I just have to double check my closet to make sure I got everything." I nod in understanding and think about how I want to phrase what I want to say before I just give up and let the words come out as they may.

     "Thank you for yesterday." I tell her and she waves her hand over her shoulder dismissively.

"Shut up or get out of my room you're distracting me." She says with a frown but I know shes just uncomfortable with the praise so I chuckle and walk out to the living room where the rest of my friends are lounging and talking.

I walk in on Cherry and Zack having a heated conversation about why a hotdog is a sandwich and I stand there amused as they go back and forth.

"You're going to sit there and look in my face and tell me I'm wrong?!" Cherry exclaims throwing her hands in the air in clear exasperation.

Zack looks at her cooly, leaning against the couch as he answers her. "Of course I am. A hot dog is clearly a sandwich." He tells her and I see Ben curled up on the love seat eating a handful of peanuts his head switching back and forth as he follows the two grown little kids arguing about a hot dog in front of us.

"Do you even know what the definition of a sandwich is?" Cherry says scoffing at my Bond, and though the question has a bit of bite to it Zack seems unphased as he calmly answers her.

"A sandwich a food that has two pieces of bread and a filling of meat, cheese or other substance in between." He recites as if reading from a dictionary and Cherry points at him in triumph as if he just proved her point.

"Exactly! Two slices of bread."

He shakes his head at her. "But the hot dog bun is only connected by a sliver of bread that's easily broken, therefore one can arguably say that it's a sandwich."

"No it's not a sandwich because that small connection makes the it one piece of bread." She says and folds her arms in finality but of course Zack isn't done with her yet.

"Okay then using your logic, a hoagie shouldn't be called a sandwich." He says plainly, taking his phone out of his pocket nonchalantly as if this whole conversation was something that didn't even phase him.

"What?! How is a hoagie not a sandwich?" She asks frowning in disbelief and confusion.

"You said that the little sliver of bread that connects the two pieces makes it one slice of bread. A hoagie bun is shaped the same way a hot dog bun is just thicker and bigger. Therefore if a hoagie is a sandwich a hot dog is too." Silence. There's absolute silence to his statement and when I look over at Cherry she's sitting there with a dumbfounded expression on her face.

Not being able to hold it in any longer, I crack up laughing. Three heads swivel in my direction, and I make my way over to my man, sitting in his lap, surprising us all, and wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I don't even know why you tried, Cherry, this man could convince a fish that water is bad for them." I tell her and she huffs.

"I don't know how you do it, Thomas. If my Lock is right all the time, I'd go crazy." She says and I just laugh and shake my head. Zack wraps his arms around my waist and presses his lips to my shoulder making my stomach erupt in butterflies much too my embarrassment.

To distract everyone from my reddening cheeks, I start another conversation, though this one not nearly as entertaining as the one I walked in on. "What do you want to do next month?" I ask Cherry growing excited to see her reaction at the news I'm about to share.

"You're going to be coming back? I thought Ares was moving in with you." She says with a confused smile on her face.

"In a way. We're going to be moving back and forth between our houses every month. This month we're going to my house but next month I'll be here the whole time." I tell her smiling and she's squeals in delight at the idea.

"Oh I can't wait! I only get to see you for a couple days every month." She says and I smile. We spend the next few minutes all talking and laughing, though Ben doesn't say much just watches us quietly, Zack and I that specifically, but I ignore it chalking it up to wanting his own Bond.

      We finally hear Nysa's door open and close and a few seconds later she's standing there with a smile on her face. "Okay people, I've check all our rooms and bathrooms, and made sure all windows are locked. Let's go head and hit the road." She says clapping her hands in encouragement.

     Cherry and I groan but oblige, getting up reluctantly before we get dragged out of here like last month. Zack follows me up and pulls me by my belt loop back against his body making me sigh in contentment. As much as I usually act like the affection bothers me, I want to show him that I actually do like it when he dots on me this way.

     Once everyone begins to file out, we follow them, taking up the end before we grab our remaining bags by the door and walk out, Nysa locking the door behind us. Our little misfit group heads down the stairs and out into the parking lot towards the three cars that are parked beside each other, though Nysa's is a little crooked of course. For once though, the perfectionist doesn't say anything about it.

     I turn towards Cherry and with pouty lips, we hug each other tightly as we always do. "I'll see you next month, Cherry." I tell her as I squeeze her tightly.

      She hugs me just as hard and leans back to kiss my cheek. "As long as you're here on time." She says grinning sadly at me. As old as we all are, a month can still be a long time to go without your friend. I'll have to find my way back out here to see her before the month is up.

     We finish our good byes and she approaches where Zack and Nysa and leaning against the car watching us all say goodbye. I walk towards a quiet Ben and raise his face with my hands so that he's forced to look at me.

     "Hey, Benny. Everything okay?" I ask him and he tries and fails to give me a reassuring smile.

     "I'm okay." I give him a hard look and he relents aim a sigh but corrects himself. "I'll be okay." He tells me and I crush him into me for a hug, rocking him slightly not liking the haunted look in his eyes.

      "You can always text me, okay?" I ask him and he nods. I feel Zack come up behind me as I pull away, his arm coming around my waist securely. The rest of the fair wells are quick and soon we're all climbing into our cars.

     I chose to climb into the back, laying across the seat as Nysa and my lover get into the front, putting on their seatbelt before she starts the car and we're on our way. Zack reaches his hand back and I grab it with my own, holding it until my eyes turn heavy and I drift off to sleep.

    When I open my eyes, he's turned around in his seat, shaking our hands softly and calling my name to get me up. "Come on kitten, Nysa says we're here." He says and I groggily sit up, letting go of his hand and rubbing my eyes. I look out of our window and sure enough the brothel is outside the car.

     We all open our doors and hop out the car, Zack going to open the trunk as I hug my friend. "We'll be in contact." She says confidently and I nod pulling back to give her a smile.

     "Of course. Thanks for coming with me and making sure I didn't fuck this up." I say giving her a lopsided smile and she laughs.

    "Well you still have plenty of time." I round the car to the trunk grabbing our remaining bags out of the car and closing it. Nysa slides back into the car and honking her goodbye pulls off to go to her own house.

     "Is that where you live?" Zack asks staring suspiciously at the building in front of me and I laugh knowing he must have seen the sign in the door and out two and two together.

     "Yup. I live here." I tell him picking up my bags and heading towards the building confidently.

     "Why?" He asks and I can't tell if he's curious or is that edge in his tone is..... jealously? No it can't be I'm hearing things.

     "Funny story actually. My best friend, Chloe? He's an Incubus."

~~~~~~
What do you think is Ben's problem? Do you think Zack will be jealous of Chloe? How do you think the whole living together thing will go?

Thoughts?

Comments?

QOTD: Is a hotdog really a sandwich?