I feel better though.
I have a real plan, and the three most important people in the world are in the room with me.
I’ll deal with all the rest later.
34
PANDORA
Pandora
Don’t panic, but I have a surprise for you all when you get home.
But you can’t be late.
You snooze, you lose.
Boyfriend
It’d help if you told us what time to be there, you know.
But we’re 5 min away
Blabe
I’m panicking. And also with Asch and River, so I have no choice.
Boyfriend
River’s driving might mean we take longer though
JFC
Yeah, River does kind of suck at driving. All respecting the speed limits and stopping for ten minutes at everystop sign to make sure every last turtle has crossed. He also doesn’t text while he’s driving, not even when he’s stopped waiting for said turtles to cross the road.
I take one last look at the setup. Mood lighting, check. Food, check. Presents, check.
And me, all dressed up? Also check.
I adjust the strap to my, frankly, extremely uncomfortable dress. I don’t think it was designed to be worn for more than five minutes before being stripped off. The strips of fabric manage to cover the important bits, mostly, if I don’t bend too much, but they’re also so tight that any movement at all counts as bending.
I’m going to be flashing quite a bit of myself.
I hear the car arriving, so I cross my legs and recline into the armchair.
The door opens a minute later, with River at the front and Asch and Blaze on his heels.
“What kind of surprise—” River begins, only to stop dead in his tracks when he gets a look at me. “Holy shit.”
“What?” Asch asks, peering past him. His eyes widen, too, and he licks his lips. “Oh. I like this surprise.”
Blaze’s mouth drops open. “Oh. Hello.”
He’s wearing an eye-patch, and honestly, it makes him look pretty fucking ravaging. He got a whole set of them, all to match his clothes. I haven’t seen him without the eyepatch yet, but we’ll work our way up to that.
“Hi,” I say, smiling. “I cooked for you all.” I motion to the platters of food on the coffee table.
Now they all look suspicious.
