My eyes flutter open. I'm surprised that Amy is still sitting next to me, stretched out on top of the blankets. Her chin is down against her chest, and she's snoring softly. I slide out of bed, trying to be quiet, but fail. Amy snorts loudly and then opens her eyes. When she tries to move her head, she groans.

"Oh, fuck my life, my neck."

I chuckle. Slowly she looks at me, rubbing the back of her neck. Then she looks embarrassed. "I am so, so sorry I conked out here." She laughs a little, finishing in a sing-song voice. "Awwwwwwkwaaaaard!"

I laugh and grab my pillow, tossing it at her face. "Oh whatever. We're both fully clothed."

Even though she's obviously still in quite a bit of pain from her sleeping position, she laughs.

I look down, rubbing the back of my own neck, but it's out of embarrassment. "T-thanks," I say quietly. "For last night."

Amy slowly lumbers out of bed. She stretches then, arms over her head, and throws me a wicked grin. "I know, I'm awesome. You're lucky to know me. Commence groveling now."

I, thankfully, laugh. Amy comes around the bed, slinging her arm around my shoulders briefly (which is amusing because I'm so much taller than she is). Giving me a kiss on my cheek, she starts walking away. "C'mon, dork, let's see what mom's made for breakfast."

Silently I follow her. It smells good, and my stomach growls loudly. I'm proud of myself; I hadn't had a bulimia relapse the entire time I was inpatient, and I really feel like those days are behind me.

John and my mom are sitting at the table already. As soon as we enter the room, my mom gives us a grin as bright as the sun. As I've grown accustomed to, she holds a mug of tea in her hands. "Morning! How is my favorite daughter and son?"

I crack up immediately.

"I'm sitting right here yaknow, mom," John glowers, shooting her a playful glare.

Mom sits up straighter, looking at Amy and I. "Did you guys hear something? I thought I heard the wind or some noise."

To my surprise, John puts a glob of scrambled eggs on his fork, pulls it back, and launches it at my mom. Everyone cracks up. Every time I'm with my biological family, it reminds me where I got my absolutely insane goofy side from.

Breakfast is eggs, pancakes, and sausage. Amy goes for the pancakes first so I navigate to the sausage, grabbing three. As idle chit-chat breaks out, my pocket starts to vibrate. A few seconds later, my ringtone starts up.

"Shit," I say before I can stop myself, pulling my cell out from my pocket.

"Language," my family all says together.

"S-sorry." I look at the screen--it's Scott. I get to my feet and feel guilty. "S-sorry, I gotta take this."

Not letting anyone reply, I answer the call and put the phone to my ear, grinning. "Hey man, what's up?"

"I think I've done the math correctly," comes Scott's cheerful voice into my ear. "It's not too early over there, is it?"

Moving outside so I can smoke, I speak. "Shit, that's right, you're over in England, aren't you? Nope, you had perfect timing, I was just sitting down to breakfast."

"Ah, bullocks, I'm sorry. I can call you back--"

"No," I tell him as I light up and take a long drag. "You're good, seriously. We can talk. I'm having my morning cigarette, anyway."

"So where are you now?"

I can't help but grin as I reply, staring at the thin lines of trees right off the main road. "Minnesota. With my mom and brother and sister. You?"

"Home," he says. "You should come visit sometime."

I laugh, assuming he's full of shit. "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious!"

"Okay."

"What?" I'm surprised when he sounds a little offended. "You don't want to?"

My heart skips a beat. "You're serious?"

"No, I'm a prick like you and don't mean half the shite that comes barreling out of my mouth."

"Fuck off," I tell Scott with a laugh. "When?"

"Whenever you'd like. Not like I have any work lined up right now or anything."

An idea occurs to me, and I can't help but grin immediately. "Hey Scott."

"Yes?"

"Er, how big is your place?"

A pause followed by a nervous laugh. "It's...sizable. Why?"

I suddenly realized how bold I was being and became anxious. "Look dude, I don't want to impose, and feel free to say no—"

"Out with it," he cuts me off impatiently.

"Really, I was just spitballing out loud—"

"Bauwens."

I take a breath. "Uh,I missed m-my sister's last b-birthday because--because--because uh, I was spiraling out of control. I didn't get her anything, obviously. She'd lose her fucking mind if I brought her with."

Not missing a heartbeat, I can almost hear Scott's smile. "Does she like horses? I have a few. We could go riding in the countryside—do you think she'd fancy that?"

~

I've decided to take Amy out to lunch. We're eating at an outdoor diner. I chose it specifically for the outdoor part. I wasn't in the mood for being mobbed, and I knew from experience that being someplace where there are four walls increases that possibility exponentially.

I had pulled up the menu beforehand, and I was really happy when Amy didn't question me pressing her to select her meal before we even got there. As such, it was a quick matter of ducking in, placing our order, and then sitting at one of the tables as we waited for our food. If the few patrons that were in the small diner knew who I was, they didn't approach me.

I'm really excited. So excited I can barely contain myself. Amy doesn't seem to notice anything different about me, though. So I continue to play it cool.

Amy is showing me pictures from her phone--lots of dorky music memes (which I, of course, die laughing at), lots of pictures of her and her friends. It makes me smile when in every picture she looks genuinely happy. I, unfortunately, can always recognize it in people's eyes when they're lying about their happiness. However, as I'm shown picture after picture, and laugh at her sticking her tongue out, or crossing her eyes, or flipping off the camera, there's nothing but happiness there.

Our food arrives. I ordered a burger while Amy ordered tacos. My burger was huge, much bigger than I expected it to be. They didn't mess around here, the entire thing kept together by a large knife.

Amy smirks at me. "You better eat all that, Ori."

I rub my hands together and grin. "Oh don't worry, I will."

She steals some of my fries as I'm trying to navigate the gargantuan burger. As such, I dip my fingers into my water and then flick her with it. She laughs and I glare playfully.

"You didn't ask, asshat," I tell her.

She flips me off and yet gives me the sweetest smile. "Who said I had to?"

As we dig in, I can't wait any longer. Even through my excitement, I manage to speak nonchalantly. "So. I met this guy in rehab."

"Oh?" she says, and I can tell by her intonation she was hoping for a love interest for me.

"Yeah," I say, and I can't keep a straight face so I cram three fries into my mouth. I look at my plate, dipping more fries in ketchup. "You might've heard of him. Davis--Scott Davis?"

I look up and she's wearing exactly the expression I was hoping she would be. She's frozen, mouth open, taco halfway to her mouth. Her eyes have gone wide, as big as light bulbs. Even though I'm still trying to play it cool, I can't help but grin.

"Oh--so you've heard of him?"

Amy closes her mouth and sets down her food. She leans forward, and her eyes are as serious as storm clouds. Placing her hand on my forearm, she speaks. "Tell. Me. Everything."

I can't help it, I laugh.

"Orion!"

"He's really nice," I droll.

Amy rolls her eyes. "So I've heard. Everyone knows what a charming mess he is. How he's compared to Prince William, but if William never got out of his partying phase." She shakes her hands excitedly. "Is he as hot in person as he is on screen?"

That makes me grin, and I lean in. "Definitely."

"Oh, my God. Is he straight?"

I roll my eyes and answer before taking a bite of my burger. "Unfortunately."

"Orion!"

I nearly choke, and crack up. "What?"

"Are you sure?"

I roll my eyes yet again, this time heavier, making sure she sees the white's of them. "Amy. Don't be that person that assumes just because I'm not straight I 'know' every 'gay person'." I had made air quotes to drive home my point.

"Well did you ask him?" She grabs my wrist this time, harder, and shakes it. "I need facts, Orion, hard facts!"

This is playing right into my lap, and I love it. I laugh. "Oh yeah right, like you have a chance with Scott Davis."

For a moment she glares and squeezes harder. So I (gently!) hit her upside the head, and she releases me. I glare, shaking out my wrist. "Ow..."

"I am going to flip the table right here and now if you don't tell me," Amy says, her voice low, and I actually think she's half-serious.

I laugh again. Now her face crumples, and she goes the whining route.

"Oh come on, Ori! Never in a million years did I ever think I'd meet you! Stranger things have happened!"

I'm full on grinning now. I decide I've tortured her for long enough. "Actually, about that."

Amy goes back to looking like a deer in headlights. So I continue.

"I missed your birthday. I feel really, really bad about that. I wanna make it up to you."

"Orion," she says seriously. "Are you--no no no. I'm not going to jump to conclusions. Where are you going with this? Why are you telling me this?"

"Because Scott invited me to his place, and I put in the good word for you, and he wants to meet Orion Bauwen's favorite sister."

Amy has a reaction I didn't expect. She shrieks. She absolutely shrieks. She then bursts into hysterical laughter, waving her hands in front of face. I can't tell if she's going to faint or burst into tears. I laugh as she bounces up and down in her seat, several people looking at us.

"Are you serious?" she squeals.

I'm absolutely delighted I've made her so happy. "Yes."

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

Amy gets up and hugs me. I laugh, but she's still squealing and shrieking, and she starts jumping up and down. After a moment I pull her off me. "Amy--calm the fuck down, yeah?"

"Sorry." Even so, she turns to everyone and throws her hands into the air. "Everyone! I'm going to meet Scott Davis!"

I sink low into my seat, pulling my hoodie around me tighter. "Amy!"

But I can't be mad. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone so happy in my life, and it's nice. It's also nice to have been the one who made someone that happy.