Note: Akili started doing these beverage challenges - there're six, all told - and I thought it looked like so much fabulous fun that I jumped onboard with her. Of course, the astute reader will notice a pattern to my pairing choices. :)

There is, actually, an order here. Just not numerical.

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4. Fruit Juice

Josh likes being on the road. He likes going to new places, meeting new people, showing off and kicking bad guys around. He likes the command van - when he's in it, he still feels like he's hanging with a rock star - and he likes being with two of his best friends twenty-four-seven.

But he also has a deep affection for coming home. Specifically, he enjoys the morning after they come home, when he can lounge around on the couch, eat cereal, play video games with Berto, and watch Kat do all the laundry they were too lazy to do on the road.

"Don't get bleach on my shirt," he calls as she lugs another armload to the washing machine. He doesn't mean any of the clothes in the laundry basket. He means the borrowed t-shirt she's wearing (all her pink ones are in the rinse cycle), and he says it only because he thinks she might take exception to You look unbelievably sexy in my shirt.

"Maybe you should do it yourself," she calls back, voice sharp and irritated.

Josh grins around a mouthful of Cheerios. "Nah, that's okay."

She comes into the living room again and glares at him. "Anything else? 'Cause I'm not doing another load after this."

Berto shakes his head, eyes glued to the video game on the TV. "Nada. But thanks."

Josh shrugs, says, "Maybe some socks out in the van," but makes no move to go get them.

Kat glares.

"What? Berto's on level nine. He needs me. For moral support."

Berto wisely says nothing.

Kat glares.

Josh heaves an exaggerated sigh and puts the cereal bowl on the coffee table. "Okay, okay. Let's go."

He follows her out to the van and tries not to get caught studying her sweatpants or that borrowed shirt - or, more accurately, everything under the shirt and sweats. He never thought a four-year-old Be A Hero: Donate Blood! shirt could look that good, but it does. He never thought laundry day would be the highlight of a trip, either.

There's a pair of socks wedged in a corner of his bunk. He pulls them out and tosses them to her. She catches them automatically, then makes a face and shakes her head.

"What?"

"Boys," is all she says as they head back inside. She throws the socks into the washer, adds soap, and turns it on. "Okay. Now I want some food."

Josh trails Kat to the kitchen. While she's nuking a breakfast burrito, he gets out the orange juice and a plastic UC Del Oro Scorchers cup from a basketball game he went to, with Pete, about a million years ago. He makes sure that he fills the cup as high as it can reasonably be filled, because he knows she takes her orange juice seriously.

When he hands it to her, she smiles and says, "Thanks. Not for the socks - for the shirt."

"Hey, anytime." And he means it. Yes he does. He clears his throat and adds, "I'll help you with folding."

"Yes you will," she says, eyes full of mischief. She takes a swig of juice, and then somehow beats him back to the couch.