Later that day, Faye came to Cully's for a movie marathon sleepover. This was something they did every other week. When Michael got home from work, he brought in some pizza he had ordered ahead from Fast Track, Unity's only gas station.

He sat down next to Savana on the couch while they ate. "Hey kiddo, I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry for this morning. I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable."

"Oh no, it's fine! I should have knocked first." Savana shook her head. "I hope you didn't use all of my cherry blossom shampoo." She laughed.

Michael laughed too. "I just wanted to smell pretty for work. I got some compliments today."

Savana smiled and blushed. She wondered if he thought she was pretty. Then she thought about the conversation with Cully earlier. She looked at Cully and mouthed 'I'm sorry' to her.

Cully and Faye ate on the loveseat perpendicular to the couch. Cully nudged Faye and nodded to Savana and her dad.

Faye whispered, "So? They do this all the time. They're joking around." Faye took a big bite of pizza.

"I talked to Savana about it earlier. She said she'd quit doing that. Seeing my dad act like that with her makes me mad." Cully whispered. She watched as Troy carried his plate in one hand and his crutch in the other. He then carefully sat down on the other side of Savana. Cully shook her head. "Even my brother likes her."

After choosing a movie, it eventually got to a scene where a woman was in the shower. Someone was about to stab her through the curtain.

"Look! It's Savana peeking at Michael in the shower!" Faye pointed and laughed. She munched on some sour candies she had brought with her. Faye always got weird and hyper after eating them. It's all sugar.

The rest of them began laughing, except for Troy. He didn't know what was going on. Just then, Maureen walked into the living room. She was late again. Cully could tell she had been at the bar.

Maureen looked up from her phone for a second. "Oh, I see everyone is here. What's so funny?"

Cully couldn't stop the words coming out of her mouth. "Savana saw dad naked in her bathroom."

Silence. Savana couldn't look at Maureen. She felt extremely uncomfortable.

Michael was worried about what his wife would think. He stood up. "Whoa, okay, I took a shower at Gavin's before work. The door wasn't locked and Savana came in. But I had a towel around me and she walked right back out." He explained.

Maureen didn't look away from her phone. "Ah, so you stayed the night there. I hope you girls have a good night."

She walked past them all to go into their bedroom down the hallway. Michael followed her. Cully was worried. She didn't know why she blurted that out. And wouldn't her mom have known her dad was gone all night if she had been home?

The rest of them went back to watching the movie, except for Cully, who walked into the bathroom. The wall between the toilet and her parents' room was paper thin.

"How was work hun?" Michael stood in front of the door and watched Maureen change out of her work clothes.

"Stressful as always." Maureen sighed. She rechecked her phone before sitting on the bed.

"You're not mad about me staying at Gavin's, are you? I told you I was planning to spend the night with Gavin because he wanted to drink. Better than drinking and driving," Michael said.

She glared at him. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

He sat on the bed and put his hand on hers. "Honey, I'm worried about you. I know your job is stressful and you want to relax after work, but I think you should be more careful." He said calmly as he looked into her green eyes. They lost their sparkle.

She looked away. "I didn't even have much to drink. I know how to drive just fine. At least I'm not exposing myself and flirting with young girls." She snapped and shook his hand off hers.

"Hey now! Nothing inappropriate has happened." Michael raised his voice.

"I've seen how you act around Savana. Like some big funny man. Why can't I see that man anymore?" Maureen still wouldn't meet his eyes.

"What are you talking about? I just act like myself around her and everyone else. You could see it too if you weren't drunk or staring at your phone all the time. I've been trying hard for you Maureen! And I get nothing back!" He felt defeated.

She lay on the bed and rolled over, facing the wall. "I'm getting to sleep."

Michael sighed loudly. "Alright, dear. Get some sleep." He was even more worried that she didn't even defend herself. He remembered driving past their house on his way to work that morning, noticing her car wasn't there. She never got to work that early. Was Maureen home last night? Did she really not see him gone the whole night?

Michael left the bedroom and headed back to the living room. Cully stepped out of the bathroom, cutting him off in the hallway. He jumped. "What's up sweetie?"

"I'm sorry for telling mom what happened." Cully frowned.

"It's okay. There wasn't really a reason to keep it from your mom either. Nothing happened," Michael shook his head.

"But Dad, you realize how it sometimes looks, right?" She didn't want to talk to him about it but felt she had no choice now.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

She tried explaining it the best she could. "Everyone at school jokes about my 'hot dad'. I know Savana has a crush on you and sometimes you flirt with her. It weirds me out. You look so happy with her. But you and mom look miserable."

Her dad sighed. "I'm sorry Cully. But trust me when I say that I had no idea that's how it came across. Honestly, I'm not used to being labeled 'hot'. I was a nerd at school. I was shocked when your mom agreed to date me. But now that I know, I'll tone it down, okay?"

She smiled. "Thanks, dad! I'm glad you understand. I want you to get along with my friends. Just don't creep them out." She turned around and headed back to the living room.

Michael decided to try to get some sleep too. "Goodnight kids!" He called out.

"Goodnight!" They all replied.

Cully sat next to Faye on the loveseat. Troy was still sitting next to Savana on the couch. He kept closing his eyes so it didn't look as obvious as covering them with his hands. Scary movies weren't his thing. The last one he watched gave him nightmares about being chased by a clown in a sewer for weeks.

After the next movie started, Troy began to doze off. His head ended up on Savana's shoulder. She slowly scooted over so he could lie down on the couch. But when she moved, it startled him awake. He quickly stood up on his broken leg again. "Ow!" He grabbed his crutch and hobbled into his room without saying anything.

Savana told the girls she sent Ezra a text asking what he was doing that weekend. "He said he has to work on Sunday but otherwise has nothing planned. He also said he's probably going to work a lot this summer because they're short staffed. But he definitely wants us to come to a party with him at the end of August."

"A party? Yes! Who's having it?" Cully asked excitedly.

"He said it's his friend Jasper Jensen." Savana read the text.

"Jensen? Ask him if he has a little brother named Chase." Cully wasn't as excited now.

They waited for Ezra to reply. Savana read his text. "Yes. Do you know him?"

Cully frowned. "When you weren't around last summer, we checked out Oscar's Field race track in Sumner. We met some Sumner students and came back several times. Chase was one of them."

"Oh, cool. What were they like?" Savana was curious. She had never met anyone from Sumner.

"Chase and his friend Reese were nice. The rest of them were real douchebags." Faye explained as she put her hand on Cully's hand. She knew it was difficult to talk about.

Cully sighed. "Apparently, Ivy is friends with some of them and told them all I was a slut who manipulated people. They stopped talking to us."

"Wow." Savana was upset Cully had to deal with Ivy still. "I thought some of the people here could be judgmental assholes. Sumner sounds just as ridiculous."

It wasn't the first time Ivy spread rumors about her. And she used to be Cully's best friend. Savana still couldn't understand how people could believe she was a slut. Cully was a nice, smart girl. She had never had a boyfriend before, let alone sex. None of the girls have. Another reason why they seemed to be outcasts at their school. Savana was upset. She wondered if they should go to that party with Ezra.

She looked at her phone again. "Oh, Ezra said to add you guys to a group chat with him so it's easier to make plans."

Cully and Faye quickly forgot about Ivy and Sumner's douchebags. They all moved to the living room floor with blankets and pillows. The movie was still playing while each looked at their phone.

Savana figured they must have been excited to have Ezra's phone number. She started to doze off when she saw a text from an unknown number. Savana fell asleep before reading who it was from.