“Like I said, it’s really good. It’s about these two-”
“No spoilers!” Cray yells, slapping his hands over his ears. “No! None! Do not speak a word about this masterpiece you speak so highly of!”
“Oh shush, Cray- what time is it?”
“It’s 5:10, why?”
“I’ll catch up with you guys in a bit.” I walk backwards in the general direction of the kitchen, snapping and shooting finger guns at Xael and Cray. “Gotta go bake the macarons.”
“Already?”
“Well, it’s technically got another twenty minutes before the shell has absolutely formed, but now is the earliest time that the shell would be formed.”
The duo’s face morphs into the real life version of the raised eyebrow emoji.
“Just smile and wave, boys, just smile and wave,” Xael says. Cray looks at her in confusion as I snort-laugh.
“I appreciate the meme.”
“Oh, it’s a Gen Z thing.”
“Of course it is!” Xael and I exclaim.
“Gen Z is the best generation,” I state.
“Okay zoomer,” Cray mumbles. Xael and I exchange a look before bursting out in laughter. Why is zoomer so funny? Because it is.
Our humor is the greatest thing to ever exist.
"Go check on your cookies." Xael makes a shooting motion with a hand, and I turn and walk towards the kitchen.
"Wassup, y'all?" I exclaim, entering the kitchen and immediately heading towards the back. "Don't mind me, just here to check on my macarons."
I tap on the top of a few macarons and determine that the shell has formed enough to put them in the oven.
“You can use that oven,” Daria says, pointing at one just a few feet from her station. “I preheated it a few minutes ago for you.”
“Thanks, Daria!” I open the oven and slide the cookie sheet in, careful not to touch the wire rack.
“You need to mix up the filling now, right?”
“Actually, I think I’ll fill them with ice cream discs.”
“Go!” Daria puts her hands on my shoulders and ushers me out of the kitchen, ignoring my protesting. “They’re done in twelve minutes. I can pull them out for you. Come back closer to supper time, yeah?”
“Fine,” I groan. I stand outside of the kitchen for a moment, listening to the door swing shut before walking off, not whistling because I don’t know how.
“Well that didn’t take long,” Cray remarks. I jump and nearly run away at the sound of his voice.
“Cray!”
Xael appears and smacks Cray’s shoulder.
“That was so mean!” I whine. “Xael, how could you do that to me?”
“Oh my god, you’re both children,” Xael states, throwing her hands up and turning around. Cray and I look at each other before laughing.
“I’m sorry!” Cray shouts. “Wait, no, Xael, come back!”
“Lukas!” Xael calls, continuing to walk away. “Help save my sanity, please.”
Cray jogs quietly up to Xael and wraps his arms around her waist, throws her over his shoulder, then sprints back towards me.
“I hate you,” Xael mutters, looking at me over Cray’s shoulder. “Help.”
“Eh.” I shrug. “What if I don’t feel like it?”
“So, where we goin’?” Cray asks, not bothering to put Xael down. Xael rolls her eyes and pinches the back of Cray’s neck. He yelps and drops her onto the floor, where she grins.
“Don’t touch me without asking.” Xael crosses her arms, then uncrosses them and runs a hand through her hair. “Jason, I heard you guys have a music studio somewhere in this house of yours?”
“Yeah!” I perk up at the thought of the music studio. “It’s been a week or so since I’ve been in it, so it might be a bit dusty, but we can still go if you want?”
Xael and Cray both nod.
“Can you play your cello for us?” Cray ruffles my hair as I lead Xael towards the studio.
“Don’t mess with my hair.” I smack his hand away, only to hear him chuckle and put it right back where it was.
“You play cello?” Xael questions. I nod, grabbing Cray’s wrist and shoving it back towards him.
“Stop touching me,” I demand, pointing at Cray. He raises his hands in surrender, and then a hand is right back on top of my head.
“Cray,” Xael says, her voice turning from friendly to borderline threatening. “Stop touching Jason.”
At that moment, Cray’s phone vibrates.
“Y’ello?”
“It’s definitely Lukas,” I whisper, watching Cray smile lovingly. “No one else can make a smile like that appear on Cray.”
“Sorry guys, I gotta go.” Cray slides his phone back into his pocket. “Lukas needs me for something.”
“Have fun, Cray!” Xael exclaims, waving as Cray jogs the opposite way.
“Wonder what Lukas wants,” I remark, jogging up a set of stairs.
“Cuddles, probably.”
“The music studio is just up ahead.” I point at a black and white door, some music notes painted on in blue.
“Do you hear music?” Xael stops, putting a hand on my shoulder. I listen quietly for a moment before hearing what she did: guitar music, and a voice.”
“No one else uses the studio besides me,” I whisper, quietly stepping closer to the door. “I don’t know if a staff member knows how to play guitar.”
“Daniel does, but he’s not working today.”
Xael and I stand in front of the studio door. I raise a hand to knock when she grabs my arm.
“That’s Conner’s voice, isn’t it?” she murmurs. I listen for another few moments, my eyes widening when I recognize my brother’s voice.
“Yeah, it is.”
“He knows guitar?”
“I guess.”
“And he knows how to sing.”
“Apparently.”
“Wait, I know this song!” Xael closes her eyes and listens for a few moments, humming the melody until her eyes fly open. “The Village, by Wrabel.”
“Wait, but isn’t that-”
“Okay, time to go!” Xael spins on her heel, grabs my hand, and drags me down the hall.
“Where are we going and why?” I ask, being very careful to keep up with Xael and not fall down the stairs.
“Away from there, and because he stopped playing. He definitely heard us.”
“There’s no way he heard us!” I protest.
“He stopped in the middle of a line,” Xael explains. “He absolutely heard us. You guys got a movie theater somewhere in this joint?”
“Yeah, downstairs,” I answer. “I can show you.”
We slow our pace down. It’s only after we go down two more flights of stairs that I realize she's still holding my hand.
I slowly pull my hand from her grasp. She either doesn’t realize or doesn’t pay any attention to it.
“So,” Xael begins as I open the theater door, “do you guys have Netflux?”
“Of course. Let me guess, you want to watch Avatar?”
“And relive my childhood? Absolutely.”
Xael and I settle down right smack dab in the middle of the theater, then drop to the floor when the door slams open.
“You two are in so much trouble!” Conner bellows. Xael and I exchange a look, our hands over our mouths.
Oh, we are so screwed.
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