The next morning, I was in good shape despite drinking the night before. Or, at least, relatively good shape. I still had a bit of a headache, but other than that, I was pretty okay. Emotionally, however, I wasn't feeling too great. Any poor, unfortunate soul who dared to cross me was gonna end up with a knife in their kidney.

I tried to mitigate my problem by sleeping in until noon, but eventually, I had to get something to eat, even though I was slightly concerned that I'd eventually throw it right back up.

As I walked downstairs, Blaine was asleep on the couch, and Viktor and Caroline were sitting in the kitchen, whispering about something.

That was nice of them. Blaine was probably much more miserable than I was, and he needed to sleep it all off.

I wanted to thank Caroline for not wrecking my car when she took it to the store, but when I got closer, I realized their hushed voices were hissing rather than having a friendly conversation. I retreated to the stairs, not wanting to interrupt this lovely drama, but at the same time, I wanted to know what the deal was.

I couldn't see them, so I couldn't read their facial expressions, but that meant that they couldn't see me, or I hoped.

Viktor and Caroline certainly had a history, and while Viktor typically avoided conflict like the plague, he had proven that I was something worth fighting for when he broke things off with her.

And I hoped to God that wasn't the problem there.

Someone's phone vibrated, and Blaine stirred on the couch. The two of them fell silent until he sat up.

"What day is it?" Blaine asked.

"Monday," Caroline replied.

"What time is it?"

"It's almost one."

"I hate myself so much," Blaine said, then plopped his head back down on the couch. "Fuck, that hurt my brain."

"You need to hydrate. That's why you feel like shit."

"Whatever." Blaine pulled his arms up around his face to shield himself from the light. "I just want to watch Pokemon. Is it on Netflix?"

"Uh," Caroline said.

"I mean, I still use Amanda's Netflix. She never changed the password. Bless her soul."

"Are you the idiot who keeps watching The Magic School Bus?" I asked, then covered my mouth when I remembered I was supposed to be spying.

"Don't yell at me right now. I have a headache," Blaine replied.

I rolled my eyes. "Get your shit together. Hangovers are for the weak."

"Didn't you just wake up?" Caroline asked.

"I mean, sure, but I've had a miraculous recovery. I'm all good now," I said.

The light was only kind of hurting my head. I was in okay shape.

"That's another good show," Blaine said.

"What is?"

"Miraculous. I kinda have a crush on Marinette," Blaine said.

"Stop watching children's programming on my Netflix. You're not five."

"She's kinda cute."

"She's a bunch of pixels."

"But she's a ladybug superhero who—"

"She's not real."

Blaine crossed his arms over his eyes. "Fuck you."

I looked over to Viktor and Caroline, or, at least, where I thought they would have been.

Caroline was still there. Viktor was not.

I didn't even know why I was surprised.

"Where's Arti? She promised she'd braid my hair sometime today," Caroline asked.

I shrugged. "Probably still passed out."

"Or making out with Drew. We'll never know," Blaine said.

"Well, she better not be. Drew's in no condition to be in a relationship at this point," Caroline said.

"What are you, the Drew Police?" I laughed.

Caroline didn't. "In a lot of cases, yes, I am."

As much as I wanted to inform her that was not a good thing, I didn't. Except one tiny little thing squeaked out of my mouth anyway.

"Right, right. I'm sure she just fucking loves that, you know, being told what to do even if it hurts her to do it."

She rose an eyebrow at me. "I would suggest you shut your face, since you certainly don't know anything."

I shut my face.

Except for one more comment.

"She didn't seem too comfortable talking about her history with Dr. Mann, but you made her do it anyway, so I would forgive you or some shit."

"I didn't make her do anything," Caroline replied to me. "She just wanted to help me."

"Yeah, sure, okay."

"I thought you wanted to be friends, Amanda."

"I do, I guess. I just have the tendency to argue with anyone about anything."

As I finished my sentence, Matt walked into the room, his eyes wide.

"Where is Viktor?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not his fucking babysitter."

"Shit, shit, shit," he muttered, then left to go find him.

"Is everything okay?" I called after him.

Matt didn't reply, and a million pounds of uneasiness seeped into my pores.

"Where the fuck is Viktor?" I asked Blaine and Caroline.

"If we didn't know when Matt asked two seconds ago, why would we know now?" Blaine asked.

I bit my cheek and crossed my arms. "Ha, ha. I'm not in the mood for your shit right now."

I looked over to Caroline, and she folded her hands and placed them on the countertop of the island in the kitchen, then unfolded them, then folded them right back.

Fidgeting. A sure sign of discomfort.

"Do you know, Caroline?" I asked.

"I have no idea where he is. He just walked away earlier," she said, feigning indifference, but I knew better.

I began to think out loud. "Then where would he go? He would go upstairs to our room, but I was by the stairs, so that's not possible. Um, shit, maybe he'd go to the basement then, but that's where Matt usually is, and he doesn't know—"

"Back door's right there," Blaine said, interrupting my thoughts by pointing to the door.

"A very logical guess. We're gonna go with that," I said.

Blaine smiled.

He didn't seem the slightest bit nervous about it, so I took a deep breath and tried to copy him.

It didn't work.

I practically ran out the door, and sure enough, there was Viktor talking on his phone, but there was nothing in his tone of voice that indicated anything. It was devoid of emotion, which was unlike him.

He turned to me and smiled.

An emotion. Holy shit.

I had never been so grateful for an expression of feelings in my entire life.

I let out a breath, and my uneasiness went right out with it.

I really needed to stop freaking out for no fucking reason, although that seemed to happen way too naturally.

The sun shone, but there wasn't any warmth in the air, so I headed back inside feeling a little bit better about myself.

"Everything all good?" Blaine asked.

I nodded and shut the door behind me. "I think so. I mean, I didn't actually talk to him, but he seemed okay." I looked over to where Caroline had been standing, but she wasn't there anymore. "Where'd she go?"

"She went to go find Arti, so they could do each other's hair or some shit," he replied.

"Cute." I searched through the cabinets, trying to find something to eat.

"Arti's really getting along with both Caroline and Drew. I'm afraid she's gonna leave us again." He laughed.

"She won't, and even if she did, you have me, the most loyal hoe in the world."

"Can I be honest with you?"

I stopped looking for a snack and turned to him. "Of course."

"I wasn't looking forward to this vacation at all, but you've made it as painless as possible. Thanks."

"What were you expecting? For me to make your life a living hell?"

"Not really, but I thought being with you again was gonna hurt. But for some strange reason, it doesn't."

Although his words stung me a little, I didn't show it. "I'm glad. I didn't want to hurt you, and I knew you were gonna be okay."

"I wasn't okay for a little while, but the more I thought about it, the more it all made sense. You hate change, but you fall in love with progress."

"What do you mean?"

"Me and you, we never changed. Ever. And in all honesty, I don't think we ever should. But you see progress in him."

"Him" was certainly Viktor, and although my heart ached and mourned for what I had with Blaine, it was overjoyed with whatever it felt for Viktor.

Huh.

And just as he arose in our conversation, Viktor opened the door and came back into the house.

"Did you want anything?" he asked me as he shut the door.

"Not really. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Matt was looking for you," I said.

He smiled. "He can keep looking."

"What—shit, dude. What are you doing?" I asked, my legs suddenly up off the ground.

"We're going to talk." He had me in his arms.

"Put me down. You're not supposed to lift anything super heavy," I reminded him.

"You're not super heavy, Candy Cane."

"I'm way heavier than anything you should be carrying right now. What if you aggravate your knee?"

"Doesn't matter."

"It does too matter. I'm two seconds away from punching you in the face."

He laughed, then put me back down on my feet. "Sorry, whiny."

"I'm not whiny."

"You're a little whiny. Come with me, since you're not cooperating with me," he said, then took my hand.

We went up to our room, and I sat down on the bed. "What the fuck do you want?"

"What's your dream?" he asked.

"What?"

"We both know mine, and we should really start thinking about yours. We're a team, and we accomplish our goals together."

"That's sweet, but I don't have a dream just for me."

"You don't?"

I shook my head. "I haven't had time. There are things I'd like to do, but are those really dreams? Probably not."

"What was your dream as a kid?"

"I wanted to be a racecar driver." I laughed. "Ridiculous, right?"

"That's cute," he said, then kissed me on the cheek. "What about later?"

"Then I wanted to open up a cupcake shop. That one was a little more realistic, but I don't think I'd be able to do it. I'd eat all the frosting, get sick from it and of it, then want to quit."

"You have more self-control than that." He laughed.

"And then after that, I wanted to be president of the US, so we're back in the unrealistic zone," I said.

"You'd probably have a hard time getting elected. No offense."

I smiled. "I know. So now, my dream is to see you live yours. And probably graduate from college."

"That's a start. What do you want to do after that?"

"What I really want to do is get a cat, an apartment, and just live for a little while, you know? See some things, do some things—"

"How about Sweden?"

I nodded. "I'd love to go to Sweden with you."

He smiled. "Then consider it done. This summer, we'll—"

"No, no, no. This summer, you're going to be preparing for next hockey season. Coming back from an injury, you're already at a disadvantage, so we need to get you back into shape."

His smile turned into a frown. "You're no fun."

"One of us has to be realistic here, and you've already taken the job of having your head in the storm clouds."

"Even if my dream doesn't work out, you'll still love me, right?"

I rose my eyebrows. "Uh, yeah, probably, unless you do something stupid."

"That wasn't very reassuring."

I shrugged. "Once again, one of us has to be realistic, and it sure as hell isn't going to be you."

"That's true, but—" He trailed off, then began with a different thought. "We'll get started on your dreams. I'm not really sure where to begin, but you'll get there. I'll make it happen."

"That's lovely, but there's no one who can get me through school besides myself."

He didn't respond to me with words, but rather, a bunch of kisses.

That worked too.

***

That evening, Matt and I tried to put together a decent dinner for the seven of us. We didn't have a functioning oven, which limited our options, but God invented Pinterest for a reason.

I scrolled through various dinner ideas as Blaine was loudly watching something on the TV, and from what I put together, Pikachu was trying to win a race of some sort.

"Hey, could you grab the bacon, spaghetti, and cheese?" Matt asked me.

"I haven't even picked a recipe yet. What do you think you're doing?" I asked.

"Freestyling."

"So you're just going to make shit up as you go?"

He nodded. "Precisely."

"Of course. It would just be terrible to have a website try to tell you what to do."

"I've got you to do that for me."

I laughed. "All you guys try to tell me that I'm bossy or something."

"We would never do such a thing. Now get the shit I asked for."

"Why do you want bacon, cheese, and spaghetti? This sounds terrible for you."

"I'm making my dream dinner, and no one's gonna stop me. Not even you, bossy pants."

"Have fun dying of a heart attack."

"I was a hockey player. I'll be fine."

I rolled my eyes. "Make sure you tell that to your rising cholesterol levels. I'm sure they'd love to hear it."

Matt laughed. "Sometimes I really, really hate you."

I smiled. "That brings me great joy. Makes me feel like I'm doing something right for once."

"Pikachu, no! Fuck, fuck, fuck," Blaine shouted at the television. "You can't lose the pancake race."

How fucking tragic.

I had no idea what the pancake race was, nor did I want to know.

I turned back to Matt, who put some water on the stove to boil.

"You know, Viktor really shouldn't eat your dream dinner. It's bad for him, probably," I said.

"Pasta is excellent for hockey players, and I'm just making it significantly better. He should thank me, really," Matt replied.

I let myself laugh. "I'll go find him, and you keep working on this, okay?"

"Sure."

Once again, I tried to figure out where the hell Viktor would be.

It was like an intense game of Where's Waldo.

Naturally, my first thought was our room, and when I approached the door, I heard his voice, along with Caroline's.

Spy Kid mode: activated. Again.

"If you tell her, I'll kill you, and then I'll kill myself. Got that?" Caroline asked.

"I know, I know," Viktor replied. "If Amanda finds out, she'll kill me way before you have the chance."

Alas, the Spy Kid life was not for me.

I opened up the door to see Arti braiding Caroline's hair, and Viktor sitting beside them.

"If Amanda finds out about what?" I asked.

Viktor smiled. "Nothing."

"Don't say it's nothing. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's liars."

"I feel personally attacked right now," Arti said.

"Not you. You're an exception," I said. "So what's going on?"

I couldn't help but notice a small sparkle in Caroline's eyes, and she stood up without making eye contact with me.

"Hey, I'm not done with your hair yet," Arti said, still with a grip on Caroline's locks.

Caroline shoved her hands away. "I'm done, though." She pushed past me as well, then picked her pace up to a run as she bolted out the door.

"Look, dude, I know the whole story. You don't want her to get away," Arti said to me.

I nodded. Caroline couldn't escape from my consequences this time. She had snuck her way through my life, tearing down whatever she wanted for way too long.

And I just took it for the most part.

I was done with that. I grabbed Arti's wrist, and the two of us chased after Caroline, and one way or another, she was going to pay.

I didn't even know what she did, but she would pay. Arti made it fairly clear that it was needed.

Caroline had a bit of a head start on us, and she was much quicker on her feet than I was. But if I could catch up through stubbornness and sheer willpower, I certainly had the upper hand in physical strength.

Our feet thudded down the stairs as obnoxiously as possible, and I caught a glimpse of her with something shiny in her hands as she headed out the front door.

"My keys," I said to myself. I was already a little winded from the running, and speaking was way more difficult than it should have been.

"Hey, you're coming with us, douchebag," Arti said.

"Huh?" Blaine asked.

"Just go with it."

Blaine sighed. "I usually do with you two."

Matt's keys were in one of the kitchen drawers, and I tore through a couple of them before I found the keys.

"Let's move. Go," I said, and the three of us piled into Matt's car without any explanation for anything.

Perfectly chaotic. Just how we liked it.

------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for reading! This was a pretty long chapter, but it seems we're going to have some action now.

What's going on? What's Caroline's deal?