Chapter 317

The three of you were, somehow, still some of the earliest folks awake in the morning. Victoria was the only other person up and was reading quietly in the living room area as you all came downstairs. Gemma went to sit with her while you and Sabrina hit the kitchen to start whipping up another breakfast for the crew. Everyone else was heading back home that night after dinner, while you, Gemma and Sabrina were using your extra day off of work to stay one more night in the rental.

“Have you mentioned to the boys about living together for the school year?” Sabrina asked you as the two of you worked to whip up a mess of pancakes.

“Shit,” you sighed. “I totally forgot I needed to do that. I’ll take care of it today, baby.”

“Good,” she grinned. “Not that I care if they whine and complain, because you’re mine and Gemma’s, but I’d rather them not be mad at me.”

“They wouldn’t and won’t be,” you assured her. “Corey and Ollie both really like you.”

“Yeah, but Brent and Paul are the ones who you’re going to be leaving to find a new roommate,” Sabrina pointed out.

“They like you too,” you said. “You just happen to be taken, and they are on the hunt for boobs and butts so they aren’t paying as much attention.”

Sabrina grinned and rolled her eyes in a ‘Boys’ sort of expression. Then she softened her look. “Baby, about earlier...”

“Mallory?” you asked.

“No, before that. About us staying together now,” Sabrina said. “I really do want that, but I know it’s not logistically possible.”

“Shhh,” you hushed her, stepping over and wrapping your arms around her. She was wearing one of your hoodies, the only one you’d brought on the trip, and had on workout shorts hidden underneath it. She leaned into you as you wrapped your arms around her. “Maybe not every night,” you said quietly. “But more for sure.”

“Thanks,” she grinned and pursed her lips. You leaned down to kiss her.

The pancakes started to stack up, and you turned the oven on low and started loading them onto a baking tray to keep them warm as you kept flipping and frying. Sabrina took over most of the other work.

“Anything we can do to help?” Victoria asked. You turned and saw that she and Gemma were coming into the kitchen together.

“Pretty simple this morning, Vic,” you said. “Thank you though. How did you sleep?”

“Pretty good,” Victoria said, then blushed for almost no reason. “Thanks for asking. And thanks for hanging out last night, it was fun.”

“Of course,” you said. “Any time.”

“I, for one, am happy that I’ll have you around during the school year,” Sabrina said, stepping around the kitchen island to hug Victoria. “I mean, Ollie is great, but you are simply lovely.”

“Thanks,” Victoria said, hugging her back with the biggest smile you might have ever seen on her, other than when she was looking at Corey. “Don’t you have a group of friends back there, though?”

“I do, but it’s more like...” Sabrina waved her hand back and forth. “We study together, we go to academic talks, we study some more, occasionally we get together and drink at someone’s house and they argue about world issues they only half-understand. I like them, but they’re boring and think they know everything. Having normal, actually interesting friends who like stuff and doing things outside of the internet is important.”