Page 31 of A Little Discovery

Uhhhh….

I hurriedly place the watch next to Lucky’s alarm clock and exit the room. I just found outwaymore than I ever wanted to know about Joseph Grable, my good friend’s father and my hopefully future boy’s grandfather. How in the hell did Lucky’s mother end up with such a stick up her ass if this was what her own mother was like?

My phone dings with a text.

Toby:

Hurry your booty up! We can’t go to La Casita without you! Lucky insists.

I race into my room and change into my pajama pants and school hoodie. Time for some movie cuddles while the boys sing along. This is one of my favorite house traditions, and I’m glad to seewe are reviving it. The last few months before I left for the program, I was too busy working. But that is done for now, and tonight I get to share this time with my boy. After all, he insists.

I race down the stairs, almost colliding with Eli coming in the front with about a dozen large pizzas. Judging by the smell, someone convinced him to grab more than just pepperoni this time. If I’m not around when they order, or Scott isn’t cooking, most of these guys go for the simplest option available. We have an entire deep freezer in the basement full of things like dino nuggets and curly fries.

Grabbing half of the pizza boxes off his stack, I give my friend a look to let him know I want to have a talk later. He just laughs and strolls through the kitchen, heading straight for the basement stairs.

“Plates?” I ask while he balances the boxes to open the door to the basement.

“Already down there,” he grunts after finally getting the door open wide enough for us to get through with the pizzas. “While I was giving Lucky a crash course on Kink Manor and its residents, Shiloh built a verifiable pillow oasis on the floor for tonight. I think he used every single spare pillow and blanket in the house.

“Jace and Toby carried down the food supplies while Scott set up the tables for our pizza party buffet after making his gourmet popcorn flavors…”

As we enter the theater room, I’m shocked at the transformation. Usually, we all pile onto the various pieces of camping furniture that we keep stored down here. If there’s only a few of us, we will squeeze onto the old futon from my room at the Theta house, but it doesn’t look like the same room. Shiloh made a nest of pure softness in the center of the floor. The subsall seem to be comfortable down there, while the singular futon has been dragged behind the nest for those of us not willing to sit on the floor.

Shiloh sees us first, and his look of worry turns into a vibrant smile when he realizes we like what he has done with the place. I hope someday he is able to find a man who will make him smile like that always. Our little kitten deserves it after what he’s been through.

Toby is of course next to notice us, sniffing the air like the pup he is. Of course, the food catches his attention first, but then his gaze tracks to take in the people who brought it.

“Daddy Spencer is in da hiz-ouse! Time to start the movie!” As he starts to do a little dance, Lucky pushes him over into Jace’s lap and scrambles to his feet to run over to me and Eli.

“Forget the movie,” he says, licking his lips. “Pizza is here!”

LUCKY

Everyone got a good laugh over the fact that I managed to scarf down three large pizzas by myself. I want to tell them that three is nothing and that the only thing stopping me from eating more is that Jay hasn’t had any yet. I even hid one of the pizzas just for him, since he was super nice to me at the hospital. So what if he doesn’t eat all of it himself? Pizza willnevergo to waste around me.

When the credits roll after the movie is over, I’m feeling kind of sleepy again. I don’t want to miss out on all of this fun, so I hide my face behind a pillow to let out a big yawn. I have the feeling if they notice I’m feeling tired, they’ll put an end to the movie night, but I don’t want my new friends to miss out.

Toby and Eric start arguing over what movie should be next, but when I look at Shiloh, he seems to be on the same page as me. He’s curled up in a little ball on a pillow, looking ready for a nap. Maybe it’s the kitten thing that means no one seems to care that he’s sleepy…

Speaking of sleepy, Jay walks in with the worst case of bedhead I think I have ever seen occur in nature. He scratches his head and yawns out, “What’s next? And did anyone save me some food?”

At the sight of the empty pizza boxes, he frowns. I can see him mentally counting the boxes when Toby runs over to him to tell him how I demolished three entire pizzas by myself. Everyone chuckles, even Jay, but I feel bad when he says he’s going to go upstairs and make something before the next movie. I pull out the pizza I saved and jump up to stop him, but a pillow has schemed against me, sending me stumbling.

The pizza goes flying out of the box to splat on all of the people on the futon, including Miss Avery who turns out is the nice lady who did the news story to clear my name. She told me she even drove Spencer’s car to the hospital when I was hurt the other night. But now she’s got sauce on her shirt and mushrooms in her hair.

“I’m s-s-sorry,” I whimper before running for the stairs. Jay is somehow quicker than me and gets his arm around my waist to scoop me up before I can even touch the first step. My tears are falling faster now, and I can’t stop apologizing. Thanks to my clumsiness, their clothes are ruined. Jay doesn’t get to eat. I made a mess that will take forever to clean up. Shiloh’s pretty pillow nest is dirty…

I feel Jay push me into someone else’s arms. Of course he’s angry with me. I wasted his food. I try to push away so I can at least clean up the mess I made, but the arms around me don’t let go. Ineed to clean it up. It’s my fault.I need to clean it…

“Shhh, little one,” Spencer mutters, rubbing my back. Oh, I guess that who is holding me now. “You tripped. It was an accident. And a hilarious one at that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Eli eat a green pepper in all the years I’ve known him and you somehow managed to get him to swallow one.”

He pulls me back enough to look me in the face before asking, “Do I need to find a way to get you to eat your vegetables, too? Is it a family trait?”

I shake my head in response. I’ve never had an issue with eating veggies or fruit. Only thing I don’t like is asparagus, but that is because it makes my pee smell funny. That thought makes me giggle-hiccup before it hits me.

I blame it on Mister Ash pulling cheese out of his shirt distracting me when it takes a bit to realize what else Spencer just said. “You knew?”

He shakes his head and answers, “I met your grandfather today while I was working on my case and put it together. I know Eli’s real name.”

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