"(Y/N)! Have you seen my keys?" Riley yelled from downstairs.

"I can't find the socks I was literally wearing a second ago, so no."

"Hey, babes, what'd you do with those extra snacks?" This time it was Betelgeuse.

"They should be on the counter by the cooler with the drinks!" I answered, stuffing some last minute supplies into my duffel bag, which I used as my suitcase.

Darn it. I can't find my phone.

"Hey, Rita!"

"Yeah?"

"Can you call my phone, please? I can't remember where I left it."

"Yeah, one sec!"

I heard it buzzing a moment later in between the couch cushions. Go figure.

"Found it!" I yelled, hitting the "decline" option on my screen.

Riley, Rita, Nerva, Lydia, Betelgeuse, and I had all decided to take a trip out-of-town to go to this really cool-looking laser tag place, since we needed a break from being cooped up due to bad and cold weather. The laser tag place was about two and a half hours away, so we decided to make a weekend out of it and stay for a couple of nights.

We were all really excited about it, but boy were we scrambling. The majority of us were awful procrastinators and equally as bad, if not worse, at packing in a timely fashion. So the Deetz house was pure and utter chaos the morning we were set to leave.

The only ones who were actually packed and ready to go were Minerva and Lydia, who did the best they could to help the rest of our scatter-brained group.

In about two hours, we were finally ready to go.

"Okay," I said once we were all standing in the driveway outside. "So, Lydia and Beej are with me, and then Rita and Nerva are with Riley, correct?"

Everyone nodded in affirmation.

"Alright, let's load up, then!"

I had a lime green Mini Cooper. I had bought it around New Year's, because I was really tired of having to get Riley and Nerva to chauffeur me everywhere. Plus it was cute and got good gas mileage.

Betelgeuse hopped into the passenger seat and Lydia got into the back, spreading out.

I walked over to Riley's Jeep and leaned into the open passenger window, where Rita was sitting.

"You guys got the address, right?" I asked them.

Rita and Riley nodded.

"I'm gonna be his navigator since his sense of direction is close to nonexistent," Rita informed me, pulling up her maps app on her phone.

I laughed while Riley gawked at her.

"Excuse me!" he gasped incredulously. "I happen to have a great sense of direction!"

I rolled my eyes. "Mmmm.... yeah, no. Sorry, Ri, but she's right about this one. I remember that I would have to remind you where places were when we went anywhere." I chuckled, recalling all the times I had to point out we had missed a turn or were going the opposite direction.

"I got it covered, (Y/N). I won't let him get lost," Rita assured me.

I smiled at her. "If worst comes to worst, you guys can just follow me."

"Will-do!" Riley chirped as he gave me a thumbs-up, his happy-go-lucky attitude already firmly back in place.

I nodded and made my way back over to my car, sliding into the driver's side and fastening my seatbelt.

"Alright, you two ready?"

"Um, one sec," came Lydia's reply as she perked up. "I wanna set some ground rules."

Beej and I shared an amused glance. "Ground rules?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"What kinda ground rules, Scarecrow?" Betelgeuse asked, scratching his stubbled chin idly.

"Okay, well, for starters, Beej, don't distract her while she's driving. She may not be able to die, and you may already be dead, but I'm neither of those things. I'm alive. And I'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible."

"Got it, Squirt. No distractions. Anything else?"

"Yeah. No being gross, okay?"

I held up a hand. "Um, excuse me, have you met Betelgeuse, here?"

He nodded seriously. "She has a point."

"No, I mean, like, making out and saying gross things to each other."

I laughed and nodded. "You don't have to worry about me, Kiddo," I assured her.

Beej, on the other hand, just chuckled darkly. "No promises."

I turned on the ignition and pulled out of the Deetz's long, gravel driveway, all while Betelgeuse and Lydia argued in the background.

This was going to be a long, but highly amusing, car ride.

~

We arrived at our condo around 5:30 that night.

I had found a really nice, three-bedroom, three-bathroom condo online, and decided to look into it. It was a little pricey, but hey, when your parents and other relatives are loaded, you can afford to splurge from time to time. It was a decent-sized house, with a two-car garage, a spacious living room, and really clean, pristine bedrooms, all with king-sized beds. But the highlight of the condo was definitely the kitchen. It had all of the latest, cutting-edge appliances, tons of counter space, and the cupboards were even stocked with food and exotic ingredients that I had never even seen before. At least, not outside of the Food Network.

Riley stood staring at the ingredients, hands shoved deep into his pockets.

"All these ingredients, and I still can't cook a fudging decent grilled cheese."

I laughed. It was true. When Riley and I were dating, we almost always went out to eat. When we didn't, I usually ended up popping in a hamburger helper or ordering takeout.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Ah, cheer up. I don't think any of us could make heads or tails of all this stuff, anyway."

Betelgeuse was perusing the herbs and spices shelves to our right. "Holy smokes!" he said abruptly, eyes wide.

My and Riley's heads whipped over to where he stood. "What is it?" I asked, brow furrowing. To be honest, I half expected him to say he'd found a dead body, with the way he was behaving.

Instead, he pulled out a small, glass jar of spices. "They have Sumac! That stuff's nearly impossible to come by! I could whip up a mean Kabbouleh and Fattoush.... if they have any brown rice and pita to go in them..."

With that he began rifling through the kitchen, grabbing things left and right. Riley and I stared at him in awe.

"Woah. Beej can cook?" Lydia said, echoing our thoughts as she appeared suddenly in the doorway behind us. "Either that, or this is gonna be a major fire hazard."

He glared at Lydia, unamused. "Do you wanna eat, or not?"

She held up her hands, surrendering. "Alright, alright! I'll be in the living room with the fire extinguisher, if you need me."

With that she left. Riley followed her, going to check up on Rita.

I leaned on the kitchen island opposite from Betelgeuse, ducking as a floating bowl nearly hit me in the back of the head as it made its way over to him.

"So, when were you gonna tell me you could cook?"

The tips of his hair turned an orangey color and a blush came to his face. "It's not a hobby I normally tell people about..."

And that's when I knew what orange meant.

He's embarrassed.

"Hey," I said, getting him to meet my gaze. "I think it's a really really cool hobby."

He looked back down, fidgeting. "I dunno, (Y/N), I just..." He sighed sadly. "....I guess I'm a little embarrassed about it because my mom always gave me such a hard time over it. Told me it wasn't manly to cook."

I walked around the island to give him a hug. When he wrapped his arms around my waist, I chuckled. "Lawrence, babe, there is nothing wrong with a man that can cook. In the women's almanac, we call call that a win, blessing, and miracle all wrapped up in one."

He laughed a little at that, the low rumbling vibrations tickling me. "If you say so."

I pulled away and smiled at him. He smiled back at me, his hair now back to its normal shade of electric green. I gave him a quick peck on his forehead.

"Alright, well, I'll let you concentrate, but if need any help, I'll be right in the other room, okay?"

He gave me a toothy grin and thumbs-up.

~

About thirty minutes later we were all digging into dinner, and lemme tell you, I don't think I had ever put anything as good in my mouth, before. I think the others thought similarly.

"Beej, why in the world have you been keeping this a secret?" Lydia asked, mouth full of Kabbouleh. "We've had to endure Delia's 'universe friendly' cooking, and I think I'm gonna go crazy if I have to eat one more tofu dish."

I laughed.

"I'll make sure to cook more often, Lyds," he told her, grinning. "Gotta save you from tofu insanity, after all."

She smiled at him.

Once we had all finished eating and the dishes had been cleared, we stood in the living room.

"Okay," I began, my hands on my hips. "The condo's got three bedrooms, which works out great since there's six of us, so that means two to a room."

Beej grinned, wrapped an arm around me, and pulled me close. "I call this one!"

I blushed slightly and rolled my eyes at him, smiling a small smile.

"I wanna room with Minnie!" Lydia said suddenly.

Nerva laughed and ruffled the teen's hair. "Sure thing, Kiddo!"

"So I guess Rita and I are together," Riley said. I nodded.

"Alright, well, Imma hit the hay," Rita yawned, grabbing her bag and retreating into one of the identical bedrooms.

The rest of us followed suit.

"You know," Betelgeuse said as we unloaded our things in the bedroom, "we could have some fun tonight." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at me.

I turned bright red. "Um. NO."

He looked confused, but shrugged. "I was meaning watch Gordon Ramsay scream at people, but okay."

Oh.

I laughed awkwardly. "No, that's fine. I thought you meant something else...."

He gave me a sideways glance as he squirted toothpaste on his toothbrush. "What'd you think I meant?"

".....Don't worry about it."

I think he knew, because he was smirking in the mirror.