Joey laughed.
Joey laughed harder.
Joey began to wheeze, clutching his stomach in pain as he coughed at sputtered before laughing again.
Unable to control his balance, he fell off his stool and onto the floor in a giggling heap.
"Shut up, Joey" Lois spat, kicking him while he lay on the floor. Pouting, she scooted down to a farther stool from where she originally sat, beside him.
Joey only laughed harder in response.
"Fuck off!" she yelled, throwing a grape down at him from the fruit bowl on his kitchen counter. The grape bounced off his forehead, but didn't faze his laughter at all. He just continued to wheeze uncontrollably from the floor.
Lois pouted, her hands fumbling with another little grape as she scooted it across the counter between her hands.
She was going to kill Justin.
She hadnt really thought about the fact that although Justin would probably be relaying all her successes to Joey, she didnt think about the fact that he would also be telling him all her failures.
A hand slammed on the counter, followed by a shaking body, as Joey hauled himself from the floor, his lips pressed tightly together to control his laughter. It didn't work too well, as it only resulted in him sputtering and spitting.
"Fuck, Joey, quit spitting on everything!" Lois yelled, smacking him in the head.
"I'm sorry, Lois, but OH MY GOD that is funny!" he said as he tried to sit back on his stool in front of his counter.
"It is pretty funny, Lolo." Justin said as he lifted his head from the fridge to look at them.
"Fuck off Justin." she pouted.
Lauren didn't say a word. She quietly continued to flip through the magazine in front of her, not wanting to get involved in this conversation. She hoped this would teach Lois a lesson, and she would call off the bet.
"I still cant believe you were so wrapped up in fighting with some chick, that the guy just walked out of the room and you didn't even notice!" Joey laughed again, followed by Justin snickering behind the fridge door as he searched for something to eat.
"At least I didn't use some corny gum commercial as my pick up." she replied.
"At least I got her number." Joey teased.
Lois fought with everything inside her not to hit him.
Be good, be good, be good, be good, BE GOOD! she told herself over and over.
A hand smack across the back of Joeys head.
So much for that.
"Ow, Lois!" Joey whined as he rubbed his pounding head. "Dont be bitter because you didn't pick up." he smiled as she got mad, and grabbed her hands before she couldn't hit him again. Carefully, Joey stood from his seat and raced around the counter to stand beside Justin at the fridge. "I would like to say, though, nice choice in girl. She's hot."
Lois mumbled something under her breath.
They were all gathered at Joeys, relaxing on a calm Saturday evening.
The guys didn't have to go in to the studio today, so Justin and Joey had spent the majority of the day being useless and laying around doing nothing.
Lauren had cleaned the apartment, taking much joy in being able to throw out most of her old notes from the semester. She kept a few important ones, and piled them in a box with some old textbooks that were placed in a hall closet.
Lois, however, had to go to work. She had skipped out early on Friday to go to the studio with the guys, and it probably wasn't the best idea. She needed to get a few things sorted out on her current project, which normally wouldn't have taken very long. But she was having a bad day. A very, very bad day.
"How was work?" Lauren asked, finally speaking up. She wanted to change the subject. They had been arguing over this for the last half hour.
"Ugh." Lois whined. "Horrible." she said as she slammed her head on the counter. "Ow." she muttered from her spot.
"Why?" Justin called, his head still stuck in the fridge.
"I got a staple stuck in my butt." Lois answer, lifting her head from the counter to lean it on her arm.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to give her a questioning look.
Rolling her eyes, Lois felt the need to explain.
"And it's so not as pleasant as it sounds. As a matter of fact, I'm going to cry now." she whined, rubbing her hands over her face.
Looking up, she noticed that everyone was still staring at her.
"I had a STAPLE in my BUTT. Do you understand that?!"
Again, no response other than stupid stares and questioning looks.
Finally, Justin said something. "How the hell did you get a staple in your butt?"
"I don't know how it got there, but it did and it hurt and I cried and I'm crying because it still hurts and I have to sit with my left toosh on a padded," she paused to raise a finger in the air "God bless Always", she noted before lowering her hand back down to continue. "Tupper ware bowl because it hurts less and I can't sit on it and I don't have one of those damn hemorrhoid donuts to sit on because I've never had hemorrhoids."
No response again.
"Words of wisdom from me to you: never get a staple in your butt" she stated.
"I dont think we'll have to worry about that, Lolo." Justin laughed. "You're the only person capable of doing that."
"And you're the only person capable of getting your own butt stuck in a sink, Justin." Lois replied, giving him an angry glare.
Justin simply cleared his throat, and resumed his search for something edible. "Hey, Joey! You have Beanie Weenies!" he called out.
"So, what's the guy like?" Lauren asked, closing her magazine to look at her cousin.
Lois sighed. "Seems nice. Pretty cute, too." she couldn't help her smile from coming to her lips. "Actually, really cute. We didn't say anything as we played. I was hoping he would say something during the second game, before that hooch came in."
"What did she look like?" Justin asked as he placed a can of Beanie Weenies on the counter and rummaged through a drawer for the can opener.
"Ugh, like a hooch." Lois spat. "Blonde curly hair, tight white shirt, and skirt."
"Um, Lois?" Justin called, stopping his search through the drawer to look at her.
"What?"
"Didn't you have curly blonde hair last night?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"And a tight white shirt?"
"Ye..." Lois stopped. "Shut up Justin!"
Justin and Joey erupted in laughter before continuing their torture on the can of weenies and beans.
"So, are you going to call off this bet now?" Lauren asked, as the men bickered behind her.
"What?" Lois gawked, her jaw dropping. "No!"
Lauren sighed, but didn't press the subject.
A loud crash behind them cause the girls to jump and turn to look at the two men behind them, who were now covered in Beanie Weenies.
Justin grinned sheepishly at them. "The pot was hot, and I burned myself."
"Because you're an idiot and tried to pick it up with your hands, you jackass!" Joey yelled, as he picked a bean from his shirt.
Shaking her head, Lauren turned back to Lois. "And you're trying to hook up with one of them?"
Glancing at the two again, as they picked beans from their hair, Lois sighed. "I think I'm crazy."
Brian yawned.
God his day had sucked.
Really sucked.
Sucked worse than anything that had every sucked in the history of things that had sucked.
Convinced that he wouldn't have to worry about the company systems again until Monday, he had planned a relaxing weekend of nothingness at home.
Man was he wrong.
The manager had called him early that morning, asking him to come in and teach the new intern how to work the system properly. Never being one to sluff off his work, Brian agreed.
A big mistake on his part.
He had spent the entire day, from ten in the morning until six that night, teaching some computer illiterate, pimple faced, moron kid how to use the computer.
Brian couldn't understand how he had even gotten the job if he didn't know how to use the computer. He found out later that the intern was the son of one of the owners. He had gotten the job in the hopes that he would take some initiative in his life, and get involved in the family business.
Brian rolled his eyes at the thought.
Finally by six that night, the kid seemed to be getting the hang of it, and Brian sent him home.
Stressed after his horrible day, he stopped by the club for a quick game of pool.
It was the only thing that really relaxed him. He kept saying he was going to buy his own billiards table, but hadn't done it yet.
Thankfully, he didn't spot Simone as he had come in earlier. That episode with the blonde the night before was not something he felt like having to deal with or hear about again.
He couldn't get over the attitude between the two woman that night.
At first, he had been impressed with the blonde womans wit. She was polite, but firm. But when the two woman had gotten into a shouting match with each other, he had had enough. He wasn't into all that drama, and really only wanted to peace and quiet. Not two girls fighting over him for nothing.
The thought of the blonde brought a smile to Brians face.
She was very pretty, he thought. She had a certain confident aura about her that he didn't come across very often. Certainly not in this club.
She was comfortable with herself, and didn't seem to be one who was likely to play games. Not that he knew her, but he felt that sense of no-bullshit about her.
He had wished he had said more to her that night, but really didn't know what to say. She seemed to be enjoying the quiet game, and he didn't want to ruin it by saying something stupid.
Reaching over the table to take his final shot, he heard the door open.
It was only seven o'clock, so chances of the clubbers being there already were slim. There would be the few hardcore people, but the majority of the party goers didn't show up until later.
Taking his shot, he smiled when the ball thunked into the desired pocket.
A faint clapping sounded, and Brian looked up surprised.
He was even more surprised to see who was making the clapping sound.
"Hey." the woman said, a sheepish grin on her face.
"Hey" he replied, stepping back from the table and placing the cue on the surface.
An awkward silence arose, before the woman stepped closer and spoke up. "Listen, I just wanted to apologize for last night."
Brian wasn't sure if his face was shocked or not, because he felt like he was. "Its okay." he replied.
"Its just that I don't take shit from people, and certainly wasn't going to take any from her." the woman explained, stepping a little closer to Brian.
He nodded.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable enough to feel that you had to leave. We were having a good time, and I'm actually kind of embarrassed that I came off like a jealous girlfriend or something" she laughed. "So, I'm sorry."
Brian couldn't stop the smile from coming to his face.
This woman didn't really do anything wrong, and yet here she was apologizing for a scene caused by another person.
This was too good to be true.
"No problem." he said, watching her as she stepped up closer to him.
Smiling up at him, the woman sighed. "Start over?"
Brian smiled broader, before reaching his hand out to her. "Brian Wilson."
The woman smiled back, reaching back and taking the hand offered to her. "Nice to meet you, Brian Wilson." she said. "I'm Lois Lawson."
