Thankfully for everyone in the house, we both did manage to stay quiet until we fell asleep.

Once again there was no morning glory (I was starting to think morning sex just wasn't a thing to Melissa) so I convinced her to get comfortable while we finally watched the movie.

"Ok fine, that wasn't that bad!" Melissa admitted once it was over.

"Is that it?" I asked, hurt.

"It was endearing," She decided, grinning widely. I knew I had her.

"And . . . ?"

"Fine! I loved it ok? It was just ridiculous enough!" She cried.

"I'm just glad to be able to teach you a valuable life lesson," I told her before being smacked in the face by the pillow she was now wielding like a sword.

We finished off our pillow fight (I let her win obviously) and then we had a massive brunch with my parents before driving home. I swear there was never this much food in the house when I lived there.

I promised mom I'd let her know as soon as we were home and we hit the road, stopping for the valuable road trip snacks at a gas station before we got out of town.

Our conversation started out with her telling me that to make it even, we'd soon have to watch one of her childhood movies. Apparently my argument that The Goonies is everyone's childhood movie was invalid. So as a result, I was now praying that Clueless was actually decent. After that, she tried to get me to join in another edition of her car pool karaoke, which may or may not have worked.

She dropped me off and, despite my attempts to get her inside for another go-round; Melissa drove the car back to her moms.

Despite not wanting to go in the first place, I'd actually really enjoyed my weekend and added to the night with Melissa's family, I was starting to see that life didn't always have to be about going out and getting drunk with my friends.

I could have a weekend off and just do low-key-like gatherings and still drink, and still have fun without getting totally hammered. Then of course, there was the added bonus of not being hungover the morning after. It was a win-win situation! And it seemed as though my friends had discovered this too.

Kinda.

Social media told me that Dean had felt inspired that weekend and so stayed in and wrote four whole chapters that weekend! He was on a roll! Meanwhile, Eddie later told me that he'd also stayed in, trying to get Kiwi German Sarah back onside. I literally couldn't imagine anything weirder than the three of them just chilling in the apartment. It was a TV sitcom waiting to happen.

I could only speak for myself, but I wondered if maybe Melissa had had an impact on them, purely by association. She'd certainly changed my outlook on a lot of things and now I was convinced that it was all for the better.

I didn't care what anyone (Eddie) said to me now. I was going to ask Melissa to be my girlfriend and I was certain she'd jump at the chance. But before I did that, I needed to do just one last thing.

"Dude! I need you to do me the biggest favour!" I said, rushing into Dean's room practically as soon as I was home.

"Just a minute," He said in an airy voice as if I had just knocked and was still waiting.

"I'm serious!" I hurried.

"What do you want me to do?" He asked, this time in his normal voice. I hesitated before speaking, knowing that this was a big ask.

"I need you to change your story."

"What?" He gasped.

"I need you to change your story," I said again.

"Why? How? What are you talking about?"

"Nothing major!" I claimed. "I don't know what kinda stuff you have my character doing in the book but I can't have it being anything bad."

"This is my book remember? Not yours. And define bad?"

"I know that," I sighed. "But if I want to give things a real go with Melissa, then she can't find out about any of the stupid shit I've gotten up to lately."

"How is she going to know it's even based on you?" He challenged. "And besides, who said that you're even that big a part of it?"

"Please," I scoffed. Of course I was.

"So let me get this straight?" Dean started. I could tell that he wasn't happy. "You've been convincing me to base my book, my whole career, on you and all the dumb things you've been teaching me. Yet, you expect me to drop it and change the whole thing when it's no longer in your best interest?"

"Exactly!" I smiled, happy that he'd understood.

"I'm not changing anything," He dashed my brief hopes.

"Why not?"

"Because I've actually got something good going for once! I shouldn't have to change that because you're scared that Melissa finds out that you're worse than you think you are."

"What?" I didn't follow.

"You heard!" He said before gathering his keys, wallet and phone and leaving the apartment without another word. I didn't even know where he was going.

If that wasn't strange enough, things with Dean were about to get ten times weirder.

After getting back to work, I'd completed one day and already wanted it to be Friday again. As usual, Eddie was feeling the same and we were discussing that very thing as we climbed the stairs to the apartment before I changed the subject.

"Hey, is it only me that's worried about Dean?" I asked.

"Dude, we've been worried about Dean from day one."

"Yeah I know, but lately . . . I don't know, he just doesn't seem like himself," I thought aloud.

"Or maybe," Eddie countered, "He's actually more like himself for a change. I mean, think about it. He's been stuck under Christy's thumb for ages now. It must be impossible to actually have a personality when your other half rules your life. I mean, you must understand that better than anyone right?"

"Shut up," I smiled.

"Dean's going to be fine. He has the both of us watching his back. What could possibly go wrong?" He asked ominously, as he unlocked the door and let us in to our home. A home which was filled with smoke.

"Holy shit!" I cried, rushing towards the kitchen to see where the probable fire was coming from, but I couldn't find any flames.

"What is that?" Eddie asked. It took me only a second to realise that he was referring to the smell of the place. It smelt like what I imagine Snoop Dogg's laundry basket would.

"Dean?" I asked, spotting a shadowy figure sitting where I think the couch was.

"Sup guys!" He said in a long drawn out voice that reminded me of Joel.

"Are you high?" I asked in utter disbelief.

"It's not that bad!" He laughed back at me.

"Are you sure?" Eddie asked accusingly. "Because from here you look like Coolio in the Gangsta's Paradise video!"

"So retro . . ." Dean sounded as though he was about to fall asleep on us.

"I told you!" I quietly seethed at Eddie before he took over in his dad voice.

"Ok buddy . . . why don't you tell us where you got this from?"

"Some kid from school," He answered.

"God I hope he means college and not high school," I said to myself.

"And why are you smoking weed? You haven't touched this stuff in your life! Why now?" Eddie cried.

"There's a first time for everything right? I mean I hadn't tried doggy-style until you guys started teaching me how to get girls!" Dean sighed.

"Well that's a bit much," I gagged. I obviously don't have a problem with doing it but I don't like thinking about my friends doing it. It was officially now ruined for me.

"I'm actually proud of this one," Eddie shrugged to me before getting back to Dean. "It smells like spring break. Someone open a window."

I happily complied with his request while Dean began to explain his new hobby.

"I just wanted to see if it brought out some more inspiration. I'm a little stuck getting from one scene to another and you know . . . you hear about all these writers from the old days who were basically always on drugs. Why wouldn't I want to be like that?"

"Didn't they all only get famous like a hundred years after they died?" I asked.

"And besides, that was before the days of internet porn and Netflix. I would get high all the time too," Eddie added a more logical point.

"You guys just don't get it," Dean sighed. In reality, I think he was the one that didn't get what we were saying. "I'm just so fucking hungry," He sighed again confirming my thoughts. I shot Eddie a worried look but he didn't seem as concerned as I was.

What else was new?

"Do you guys want pizza?" Dean asked, grinning like a four year old at the toy store.

The answer was obviously yes.

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