Suzy yawned, stretching her arms over her head as she squinted her eyes at the morning light shinning brightly through the window.
Rolling onto her side, she grinned.
Crystal was using Nickis lap as a pillow, while Nicki tried to sleep with her head on Crystals feet. Nikki and Kayla were sharing a pillow on the couch across from her, as Kate and Mel tried to squeeze under a small blanket across the floor.
Suzy yawned again, before looking over to see Lois sitting out on the fire escape.
Lois loved to sleep in, so this only meant one thing.
She was worried.
Cursing herself for having to be a good friend before ten in the morning, Suzy stood from the couch and approached the window. Sticking her head out, she smiled at Lois.
"Mornin' focker." she greeted as she crawled through the small space.
"Morning focker." Lois replied dully. Her eyes were fixated on the park below, as a young boy played with a little black puppy. The puppy barked at the little boy, before running around the grass at his feet happily.
Taking a seat next to Lois, Suzy grabbed a corner of the blanket Lois had wrapped around herself. "Share."
Lois didn't bother putting up a fight, and let Suzy steal a section of the blanket.
The two women sat in silence as they stared out at the early morning around them.
Things were so peaceful this early. It was barely seven o'clock, and most of the city was still enjoying a peaceful slumber. Only morons were up this early on a Saturday. Morons and Lois.
"Let me guess," Suzy finally said, breaking the peaceful silence. "You're thinking about Joey."
"Lets hear it for Suzy, ladies and gentlemen," Lois said sarcastically. "The winner of this years 'Most obvious thing in the world, yet still said by a focker' award!"
Suzy rolled her eyes at Lois, before pinching her arm. "Don't start. That wasn't even funny."
"Its too early to be witty, smart ass." Lois said, a smile barely touching her lips.
Another silence over took them, but this one was cut short by a loud honk in the apartment.
"Welp, sounds like Mafs awake." Suzy laughed, looking in through the window to see Crystal sitting up, and looking around confused. Noticing the two on the fire escape, she carefully stepped over Kayla and Nikki, coming to the window.
"Morning beotches." she greeted, yawning loudly.
"Morning fart-knocker." Suzy smiled. "Nice one in there."
"Thanks." she smiled. "I'm sure the guys would be proud."
Lois only smiled. She always knew when Crystal was awake. She had the same morning wake up call as Justin.
"What are you fockers doing out here this early?" Maf asked, stretching her arms over her head.
"Lois is worried about Joey." Suzy said, as she cracked her toes.
Crystal directed her eyes to Lois, who was still watching the boy and his dog below.
"I'm sure it will be fine," she assured. "Just let things flow."
Lois only nodded.
Another noise came from inside, and they all turned to see Mel now laying on the floor, looking around confused.
"What the fuck?" she said, looking around. Looking up to the couch where she had been comfortably sleeping, she gave Kate an angry stare. "Bitch, you knocked me off the couch!"
Kate, who was still deep asleep, only snored in response.
Getting to her feet, Mel waved to the girls on the balcony before heading to the bathroom.
Nicki sat up, awoken by Mel stepping over her, and rubbed her tired eyes.
One by one, the girls all woke up, stirring quietly inside the apartment.
They had fallen asleep around four that morning, the chatter getting quieter and quieter as each of them drifted off to sleep.
Lois had stayed up until five, her mind still racing with everything that had happened and the thoughts of what was to come.
Those same thoughts woke her up only a little over an hour later, prompting her to sit on the fire escape so not to wake anyone else.
She still didn't know what to do, and decided to just wait and see what happened.
Surely, she would talk with Joey again soon, and depending on what was said and how things went, would direct how she was going to handle everything.
She just hoped things worked out better than she had a feeling they would.
Hearing an opening door, Lois looked over to see Justin stumble out of Laurens room, his eyes half closed, still wearing Laurens 'I LOVE SOCCER' pajamas.
Unaware that Nicki was still laying on the floor, Justin tripped over her, crashing to the ground.
Kate flew up from the couch, looking around frantically. Mel emerged from the bathroom, her toothbrush hanging from her mouth, while Kayla and Nikki only rolled over and ignored the commotion.
"Justin, you jackass!" Nicki whined as she pushed Justin off her legs. "Watch where your going!"
"How the hell was I supposed to know you were sleeping on the floor." he defended as he pushed himself back to his feet.
Grumbling, he stumbled into the kitchen.
Lauren emerged from her room, looking around the living room.
It looked worse than Justins bunk on tour.
Popcorn, candy and movie cases scattered between the sprawled bodies. She could hear Justin complaining in the kitchen, and by the look on Nickis face she figured they had already had a run in this morning.
Looking over to the window, she noticed Suzy and Lois sitting outside with Crystal at the window.
She didn't even have to think about what Lois was doing up this early. She knew without a doubt that Lois was going to spend a lot of time over the next little while fretting and pondering all the possibilities of what was to come. That was what she always did. Analyze. She would analyze anything and everything to the point of exhaustion. Lauren could only imagine what she was going to think of this time.
"Hey!" Justin's voice could be heard from the kitchen. Seconds later, he emerged, his boxers hanging from his hand. "What the fuck! Why are my underwear in the freezer?"
Lauren smiled. Suzy laughed. And soon, everyone, including Lois was laughing just as hard as they had been last night when Nicki suggested freezing Justin's boxers.
Looking around at the woman around him, Justin frowned.
Turning around, he stomped back into the kitchen, his frozen underwear at his side.
"Fockers!" he yelled. "You are all a bunch of focking fockers!"
Lois smiled,. stretching her legs out on the couch as she adjusted the pillow beneath her head.
Finally, silence. For the first time in the last twenty four hours, she had quiet.
And she was loving it.
The girls had all left around noon, all assuring Lois that they were there for her for anything she needed.
Nicki and Crystal had stayed behind, helping Lois and Lauren clean up while Justin watched TV and complained about his now thawing underpants.
Nicki and Crystal left only ten minutes ago, and finally Lois could relax.
She loved her friends, and appreciated all the words of assurance they provided. But all she wanted right now was quiet. No one making her think about Joey and what was to come. No one reminding her of all the shit that was surely going to hit the preverbal fan. Just quiet.
A loud bang interrupted her short lived peace.
"Damn it!" Justin yelled from the kitchen. "Lois! Where are the long forky things?"
"The tongs?" she asked, correcting Justin's moronic grammar.
"Yeah!" he replied, sticking his head out of the cupboard.
"Second drawer on your left." she replied.
She could hear Justin rummaging through the drawer, and knew that he wouldn't find them. He could never find anything. He was a man, remember.
"I cant find them!" he yelled.
Groaning angrily, Lois pushed herself up from the couch and stomped into the kitchen. Pushing Justin out of the way, she reached in and grabbed the tongs, which were sitting on top of the pile of utensils in plain view.
"Here! You curly haired thorn in my ass!" she grumbled, throwing the tongs at Justin.
Justin frowned at her as she stomped back into the living room, before continuing his attack on the kitchen.
Lauren had gone to the store to pick up more junk food, since their little girls night had cleaned out the junk food cupboard.
Justin had offered to make lunch, which Lois knew was probably a bad idea. But she was too tired to cook, and even more tired than she was willing to fight with him over whether or not he knew how to crack an egg.
Resuming her spot on the couch, Lois stretched out and tired again to find some peace. Justin's banging around in the kitchen made that hard, however.
Suddenly, the phone rang above her head. Moaning unhappily, she reached above her and grabbed the receiver on the third ring.
"Hello?" she called through the line, her groggy voice evident.
"Whoa, long night?" the familiar deep voice greeted.
Lois didn't know whether to smile at the sound, or cry. She opted to stay emotionless.
"Hey Joey."
The sound of that name caused Justin to stop is assault on the kitchen and stick his head out to the living room. Slowly, he made his way over to the couch, leaning across the back to listen in on what was being said between them.
Normally, he wasn't all that nosy. Or at least he didn't think he was. Everyone else told him otherwise, but he just considered it pushy-helpfulness.
"What are you doing tonight?" Joey asked, getting right to the point of his phone call.
"Nothing. Why?" Lois asked. Deep down, she was hoping he would say that they should spend the day together. Since they hadn't had much time around each other lately, just some quality time together was needed. But she knew that wasn't likely.
"I was thinking," he continued. "You haven't really met Rae yet, and I haven't met Brian. I think we should all go out tonight. Like a double date." Lois could almost see Joeys smile through the phone. "I think it would be fun. I think I should get to know the guy my best friend is falling for. Remember, I only played pool with him once."
Lois grinned, even though she didn't know why. She didn't want to go out with Joey and Rae. The last thing in the world she wanted was to have to sit across a table, watching Joey smile and laugh with another girl. She didn't know if she could handle that.
But she knew she didn't have much choice. If she said no, he would get suspicious. And at least this way, it was a good excuse to make Joey actually believe that things were getting serious between her and Brian.
She needed that time to stall him until she could think of what to do.
"Um, sure." she said, her voice showing her uncertainty.
"Great." Joey called back, almost singing. "Hey, see if Justin and Lauren wanna come. Since they were kinda involved in all this too, I thought it would be nice if they could get to know Rae and Brian as well."
Lois felt her heart tug a little, but agreed. "Ill ask them."
"Great. How about we meet you guys at Lorenzos around seven?" Joey suggested.
"Sure. Sounds good." she agreed.
"Awesome!" Joeys replied. "Ill see you then!"
Exchanging their goodbyes, Lois hung up the phone before pulling her knees towards her chest.
"What's going on?" Justin's voice called behind her, causing her to jump.
"Justin, for fuck sake, don't sneak up on me like that!" she scolded.
Circling around the couch to sit beside her, Justin didn't bother to get mad at her. He could tell by the look on her face that this was not a good time to call her a focker.
"What's going on?" he repeated.
"Joey called." she sighed. "He wants me and Brian to go to dinner with him and Rae tonight." Lois rubbed her face as a way to distract from the fact that she wanted to cry. "He wants you and Lauren to come too, since you guys were kinda involved in the bet. He wants you guys to meet Rae and Brian and for all of us to hang out or some Brady Bunch shit like that."
Justin only nodded beside her. "Do you want us to go?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said. "I think I need you there. I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it through this without you."
Justin smiled assuringly. "We're there." he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "And don't worry. We'll work out some kind of plan, and we'll make sure that this night isn't has hard as you think."
Lois only nodded in agreement, as she leaned her head on Justins chest. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, comforting her as she curled up against him.
Lois hated this. She hated it more than she ever thought she could ever hate anything.
She knew things weren't going to just work out, and now she was even more sure. Now she had to go and do one of the hardest things she would ever have to do.
Now she had to go and watch the person she loved, love someone else.
And there was nothing she could do to stop it.
