I screamed while my horse slowed down to a stop. Renee kept laughing as she more calmly stopped Sophie. I scrambled off the white horse neighing at me. I panted. "This...horse...is...crazy!"

"I did warn you about choosing the wrong horse."

I pointed a finger at her. "You said nothing!"

She rolled her brown eyes. "Come inside. We can catch our breath there."

I stopped walking when we got to the door. "Wait." She turned around. "Angela is still sick. I can't stay at the house. Do you mind if I...?"

Renee smiled at me. "No problem. We'll have a slumber party."

"Yay!" I skipped ahead of her into the house. Cain and Hanna waved at me before they went to the living room to watch TV. We snuck Renee's room like ninjas and attacked the bed. When it stopped bouncing I picked up my phone and speed dialed Kathy.

"What do you want?"

Selena was on the other end. I mouthed her name to Renee and she rolled her eyes. "Put Kathy on the phone."

"What's the magic word?"

"Bitch."

"Wrong answer." CLICK!

I scoffed loudly as Renee fell on her side laughing at my face. I thumped the back of her head so she would fall off. This time she called me. I picked it up and placed it against my ear. "Kathy?"

I heard her sigh. "Sorry. I saw her put my phone down when I walked in the room. So you called?"

I dodged as a pillow whizzed past my head and threw Renee a smirk. "Me and Renee are having a slumber party at her house. Wanna join?"

"Oh I'd love to! Let me clock out and I'll be there. You don't mind if Maya and Luna come too, right?"

"Yeah that'll be perfect! The more the merrier." I giggled. She hung up and I watched Renee fix her room up. We pushed the bed and a few other things to the side so that we could use the floor. Renee left the room for a sec to warn her parents since their beds were beside ours. I looked out the window at all the stars in the sky. I closed my eyes and bowed my head as I said a small prayer for Angela.

()()()()()

"A sleepover! Are you serious?" Angela gawked at Chase, who was stirring more chicken noodle soup in a pot. He nodded. "Those jerks! I want to go!"

"You're still too sick. You can't even walk without falling."

She crossed her arms. "That's because I haven't walked in forever since SOMEBODY won't let me get out of bed."

"You'll thank me later."

"I'll thank you never!" She yelled, throwing a pillow that didn't come close to hitting Chase. He just smirked and gave her her soup. "Hmph." She declared, crossing her arms and turning away. "I've lost my appetite."

"If you eat, I'll let you walk around."

She looked up at him. With a defeated huff she began to spoon the wonderfully tasting soup in her mouth. Once it was all done she stared up at him. "What?"

"Help me up?"

"You have two legs that aren't broken."

"Yeah well they feel like they are. Now help me to my feet." Angela said. Chase walked over to her and held a hand out. She placed hers in his as he wrapped his fingers on top of her hand. He pulled her up and she smiled. He let go of her hand and she started walking around. Then running. Then skipping. "Yay!" She exclaimed.

Chase laughed to himself watching her prance around.

()()()()()()

"Now this is how men should spend their evenings," Kasey said as he laid a card on the table.

Since the house was being quarantined, Kasey and Ian were spending the night at Luke and Bo's place. When they had gotten there, Luke suggested they play cards. They invited Owen over and Kasey actually Toby and had him come too. So Ian, Kasey, Luke, Bo, Owen, and Toby were sitting around the kitchen table playing cards, eating snacks, drinking soda. You know, man stuff.

"Well, it's more than I usually do. I go straight to sleep most nights," Toby said and crunched on some chips.

Owen drew a card from the center of the table, saying, "You go straight to sleep most DAYS. You're so lazy, doing anything more strenuous than this would probably break your arms." They all laughed at that.

Toby smirked. "At least I have arms, not tree trunks. You try to give someone a hug and you hear them say 'wait don't!' CRACK!" Another round of laughter and Owen raised his glass to Toby.

After they calmed down, Bo turned to Kasey. "Is Angela going to be okay?"

Ian nodded. "Chase was there with her when we left, so I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I don't get why my sister likes him so much," Kasey said as he laid down a card. "Or Gill for that matter. They just seem like such downers."

"Hey, Chase is pretty cool once you get to know him," Ian said in his defense.

"You're just saying that cause he works with your girlfriend. You're probably too busy gaping at Kathy to even talk to him." Kasey ducked an empty can Ian threw at him and turned back to the others at the table. "Speaking of girlfriends, Owen and Toby, being friends with us pretty much means you have to tell us about any girls you may be interested in. The rest of us have done it."

Toby passed one of his cards to Bo while he said, "I kind of like Maya, to be completely honest."

Luke looked at him skeptically. "Maya? But she's so happy and energetic, and you're so...you."

"Opposites attract I guess." Toby sipped his drink. "Plus, if we did get together, I wouldn't mind if she cooked for me more often."

Every man in the room contributed to a simultaneous "What?"

Owen shook his head. "I'm sorry, but there must be something seriously wrong with your sense of taste."

"Yeah, her food almost killed me faster than Ian's demon cocktail." Kasey jerked his thumb towards his friend.

"Hey, it's not my fault you'll drink anything in a stemmed glass. So Owen, any ladies in your life?"

The blacksmith rubbed the back of his head. "I've actually had my eye on Selena." He looked to see how his friends would react. Toby nodded, Luke gave him a thumbs up, Bo just took a drink, and Ian didn't really do anything.

Kasey seemed to be thinking about something. Finally he said, "Well, she's definitely got looks. On the other hand, she's pretty much the only option you have since most of the other girls are getting married or somebody here already has dibs."

"She's not my only option. What if I moved away to another town and found a girl there?"

"The fact that you're considering Selena says that you're not planning on that."

"True." Owen rearranged the cards in his hand. "What about Bo? He hasn't said anything yet."

They all turned to look at Bo. He shrugged. "I'm just trying to get the most I can out of single life before I settle down for a relationship."

Kasey held out a hand to him. "High-five to that." Bo slapped the hand and the men focused on their game.

After a few minutes of silence, Ian finally spoke up. "Does anybody even know what we're playing?"

()()()()()()

Luna and Maya were behind the door when I responded to a knock on the door. The pink haired girl had a bottle and a small bag in her hands and Maya had a stuffed rabbit and a red pillow in hers. I blinked at the annoyed look plastered on the tailors face. "I'm about ready to kill someone." She hissed, shooting blue eyes at the perky girl beside her.

"Hmm?" She questioned, looking around. I guided them both away from each other. (fearing that if they were alone in the room Luna would rip Maya's head off) Renee was dragging more blankets in the room and threw them together with a bunch of pillows. We all collided on the floor and sat in a silence for a little bit. Then after a few moments of eye contact, we busted into laughter for no apparent reason. You know, girl stuff.

"Where is Kathy?" I asked after we settled down. Maya sipped a drink form the mini fridge in Renee's room.

"She had to gather a few things before coming."

As if on cue, the door opened and Kathy rushed in with a big bag of things. She had on a long sleeved gown but it cut off at her knees. She shivered when she sat down and wiggled under the three feet of sheets. Then our discussion turned to...what else do girls talk about at sleepovers?

Boys.

"So yesterday I saw Toby checking Maya out." Kathy dished out. The young girl's eyes bulged out. I snickered with Luna. "It's true."

She blushed. "He is kinda sweet. I offered him some of my cookies the other day and I-"

"YOU WHAT!"

"Yeah well he didn't vomit or scream or anything else people usually do. He liked it."

Renee blinked. "Are you serious! Was he sick?" She covered her mouth real quick. "Oh goddess I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."

Kathy laughed. "You're too humble."

"So what about you Luna? Any luck with Commander Gilligan?" Maya giggled.

She sighed. "Not really. I haven't talked to him in a while. We've just kinda drifted since Mary died." Luna looked away. I tilted my head to the side.

"Well staring at him from the sidelines isn't gonna get him to ask you out. Accidentally 'bump' into him one day and start up a conversation! It's that easy!" I said.

"Okay Miss Hookup, why don't you take your own advice and get yourself with Luke. It's obvious that you two have the hots for each other."

I puffed out my cheeks. "W-well. I'm getting there. I want to learn more about him before we start dating."

All the girls groaned. I looked around at them frantically.

Kathy slung an arm around my shoulder. "Hun, what don't you know about him?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but I had to close it. She was right. I practically knew everything about him. He knew everything about me too. I was just making excuses for myself because...well...I wasn't really sure why. "I...I'll talk to him...when we're ready."

"Moving on." Maya pulled the band form her braid and shook her hair so that it came undone. "How are you and Kasey doing?"

"Good. Things are just perfect between us. We know each other like...and not be cliche...it's like we've know each other all our lifes."

We all aww'd loudly to bug her. Renee's face lit up and she buried herself in a pillow. I giggled and jumped on top of her. "Ah! Lily get off me!"

"~Kasey and Renee, sitting in a tree!" I sang.

"~K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Luna, Maya, and Kathy finished. Kathy piled on top of me. I grunted.

"Good lord Kathy! What have you been eating!"

She squirmed on purpose to make me grunt even more, kicking my feet to get her off. She laughed and rolled to the side. I swacked her with a pillow which caught her off guard. Luna took the chance to take a pillow and hit Maya in the back of the head. She gasped. Then it was on. Pillows were everywhere. At one point we heard a tear and feathers flew all over the room.

It was like a scene from a movie. Too cliche.

We didn't really care though.

()()()()()()()

A few hour's after their game, the boys had all retired for the night. Owen and Toby going to their homes, and Ian and Kasey laying in sleeping bags on the floor of Luke's room.

"So, how are things going with you and Kathy?" Luke asked as they lay in the dark.

"Pretty good. We actually had dinner one night at the bar."

"Cool." Luke got quiet for a minute. "I've been wanting to ask you a few things about Lily."

"Like what?"

"Well...What kind of things does she like?"

"Hmm. She likes accessories like rings, brooches, things like that."

"Alright. I think I can do that. But I'm not much for mining, so..."

"I'll see what I can find."

"Thanks man. I owe you one."

Kasey growled from his place, "Ladies, if you two are done gossiping, I'm trying to sleep."

Ian and Luke could hear him turning over and they decided to call it a night.