Carnival
"This is gonna be so much fun!" Harrison exclaimed, as he tapped his fingertips excitedly on the countertop.
"Calm down drumline." Leo replied mildly. "It's a pop up carnival in the parking lot of the mall, not front row seats to see Eminem.
Fitz laughed and grabbed three beers from the fridge, sliding one to each of his two roommates on the kitchen counter. He twisted off the top of his own beer and took a long pull.
"What do you think, Fitz?"
"I think it's lame as hell, but it's better than being cooped up in this house for the rest of the night listening to Harrison exaggerate about his sex life."
Harrison threw his middle finger in the air at Fitz.
"Or watch you mope around the house wondering what Abby is up to. Sorry guys, but I can't."
"Come on. That's uncalled for." Leo tried. "She's the best thing that ever happened to me."
Harrison cut his eyes to Fitz and tried to hide his humor and keep his voice calm. "Look man, if he says Abby is gonna be his wife..."
"She is gonna be my wife, you unbelieving asshole." Leo shot back in a loud and determined voice.
"Okay, buddy."
"Can you not push his buttons if we're going to the carnival together. "Fitz asked with a mock disappointed look. The flashed grin on his face clearly said he was taking the piss. "You'll scare their unborn children."
Harrison laughed, choking on the beer he had just swallowed. Leo took the opportunity to get even by pounding his friend on the back. He continued to do so even after Harrison was breathing freely once again. "Get off me" Harrison demanded!
"That's not what your mom said last night." Fitz joked.
"I've got to get the hell out of this house." Leo griped.
A knock on the front door, followed by it opening immediately, and a chirpy "hello" echoed through the house.
"We gotta change the locks on the doors." Fitz muttered at the annoying familiar voice.
With a huge grin on his face, Harrison sprinted towards the door. The shorter brown haired woman squealed loudly and launched herself into his arms, giving him a smacking kiss on the cheek. "How's my favorite Grant." Harrison asked.
She gave him a doubt filled look and got to her feet. "Yea right, Harrison. If I were your favorite Grant, you wouldn't be living with my brother."
"Is that an invitation, Quinn?" Harrison fake flirted.
She shoved at his shoulder playfully and replied, "hell no. You're like a brother to me."
Raising her voice to be sure her older brother heard her perfectly, she added, "a much nice brother!"
She gave Harrison a shrug and smile and said, "I can't have my very cool, very handsome brother impeding on my sex life."
"Right back atcha" Harrison said with a grin.
"What the hell brings you by?" Fitz asked in an irritated tone as he watched Quinn get back to her feet.
"I never pass upon an opportunity to come see you three handsome gentlemen."
"Oh shit." Leo said, shaking his head no as he studied her big fake smile.
"No!" Fitz said forcefully. "Whatever it is, the answer is no."
Harrison chuckled. "Whatcha got going on, beautiful?"
"See! This is my you're my favorite." Quinn declared. "Besides, how do you know I was gonna ask you to do something?"
"Because you never come over here and kiss our ass unless you want something."
Quinn rolled her eyes and went further into the living room.
"Your sister is cute, but she's a pain in the ass." Harrison mumbled.
"Tell me about it. She's up to something. I can tell. And I'd bet my right nut it has something to do with Abby."
"That doesn't make any sense. Poor Leo."
"I know. It should be fun." Fitz said grinning.
"Yea. You wanna make a bet on it? Say fifty bucks?"
"No, no. Let's make it interesting and worthwhile. Loser has to wash the dishes for a month."
Harrison paused for a moment, deep in thought. "Does Leo still have that glass of dried milk in his room from two weeks ago?"
"That's so damn nasty!" Fitz nodded, the two of them shook hands, and went to go find out what chatty patty was up to.
Quinn thought her brother's words over for a minute before coming up with a reply. Spinning on her heel, she pointed a finger at him, not quite ready to let go of the conversation and said, "that's not true. I was here three days ago and I didn't want anything."
Fitz laughed at his younger sister and drank some more of his beer. "Lies. People of the court, I ask you, did she or did she not ask Mr. Wright to help her move her desk before she left on that particular visit?"
Harrison gave her a sympathetic look.
Leo nodded, thinking of how to change the topic of conversation back to Abby.
"Fine! I asked for help! So sue me! But this is different. This is about Abby."
That was easy. "Abby?" Leo asked curiously.
Harrison and Fitz high fived.
"Don't get all lawyer-ey and talk about me like I'm one of your clients."
"Told ya!" Fitz told Harrison, ignoring his sister's chastisement and holding out his hand. "Pay up."
"What does this have to do with Abby?" Leo asked.
"We didn't bet money, you asshole. We bet..." Harrison's face crinkled as he recalled with perfect clarity what they had bet.
Fitz laughed loudly at the unpleasant expression on his friend's face.
"You!" Harrison yelled at Leo, who was looking intently at Quinn.
"Leo?!" Harrison tried again, this time even louder.
"What?" Leo spat out impatiently and jerked his head towards him. He wanted to know what Quinn had to say about Abby more than he wanted to take his next breath.
"Get your ass up to your room and..."
"Don't listen to him. We have much more interesting things to do out here." Fitz stated mildly.
Leo shot a questioning look at Harrison and nodded at Fitz. He'd had no intention of going anywhere. "Hello? What about Abby?"
"You guys are so smooth. "Quinn said, rolling her eyes, "I know Leo hasn't been his charming self since Abby dumped him."
Leo cleared his throat.
"Well, she did. Sorry, Leo. She dumped you on your ass for that lame David guy."
"We don't need a history lesson on Leo's love life, Quinn." Fitz stated firmly, trying to spare his friend's feelings.
"Fine! Whatever! I just wanted to tell you guys that a group of us girls are going to the mini fair over at the mall tonight."
"We don't give a shit about your social calendar either." Fitz replied, tipping his bottle back and drinking from it. Now he'd have to avoid his little sister while they were out there. Damn it!
"Hey! Leo demanded loudly. "You mentioned Abby?"
"Right." Quinn replied, shooting Leo a smile. "She's going with us."
"Really? That's interesting, I suppose." The grin on Leo's face couldn't be contained.
"Yea. I came by to let you know so we could accidentally bump into you there." Quinn explained with a wink. "We're heading over there in a few hours. "
"What about her new guy? This...David? Is he gonna be there?"
"Nope." Quinn stated confidently with a smile.
"How can you be so sure? Harrison asked skeptically.
"Because David dumped Abby just this morning."
"That asshole!" Leo said with murder in his voice.
"And Abby, along with one of my other friends, Claire, just got dumped by her boyfriend too. We're going out to have some fun and get their minds off the idiots who ended things."
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Fitz asked with a scowl.
"What does Claire look like?" Harrison asked with a grin. A brokenhearted girl always needs a rebound guy.
"Don't be an asshole, Harrison." Quinn warned.
"I'm gonna see Abby tonight and she's not gonna know what hit her."
Looking at her stupid brother she asked, "are you telling me that you two haven't planned something to take Leo's mind off the Abby situation? You're his friends, right?"
"Do I look like doctor Phil?"
"Kinda." Quinn joked.
"Shut up. We were planning to take him to the carnival, but you just screwed that up by telling us the source of his pain is going to be there."
"It's perfect!" Quinn said nodding.
"It is perfect. Abby is gonna be at the carnival and I'm gonna get her back."
"See! See what you did?" Fitz accused with a scowl.
"What exactly did I do? Make him smile for a change, instead of being a sad sack? Sorry, Leo. No offense."
"None taken. Not today."
"If this doesn't work out, it's your ass!" Fitz threatened.
"Calm down. Maybe you'll meet someone later too so you can stop being an asshole." Quinn suggested.
"Yes!" Harrison cheered. "He hasn't been laid in months."
"Ohh kay! We're done talking about my sex life." Fitz demanded. "Leo? Do you still want to go to the carnival?"
"Yup!" He said with great enthusiasm.
"Okay, but if we're gonna do this, there are gonna be some ground rules." Quinn said, eyeing each man.
The three friends exchanged looks with each other before bursting into laughter. "That's cute, Quinn."
"Yea, dude. We are grown men and we don't need rules passed down from Fitz's little sister." Leo tried.
"Do you want me to arrange for you to bump into Abs at the fair or make sure we avoid you like the plague?"
"Good point." Leo said, quietly. "What are the rules?"
"Other than a chance meeting between Leo and Abby," Quinn said, pointing at Fitz and Harrison, "you two stay far away from the rest of my friends. No flirting, no teasing, nothing. Got it?"
"You're forgetting that I've met all of your friends. Not interested." Fitz joked. "Next rule."
That's what you think, Quinn thought. She stepped up to her brother and patted him on the cheek. "Just the one. I gotta go. The girls and I are pre-gaming at Abby's."
"Out of curiosity," Harrison began, "what happens if we become interested in one of your friends?"
Quinn stepped up to Harrison with a pleasant expression. She cupped his balls firmly and watched his eyes go wide as a look of shock covered his face and he winced. "Are you fond of these?"
Harrison tried to remain cool, but it was difficult with his balls in the tiny demon's hand. A light sheen of sweat covered his upper lip. Swallowing hard and breathing like a woman in labor, he panted out, "I'm...pretty attached to them."
"Stay away from my friends or I'll have these stuffed and mounted." She released her grip and shot him a sweet mega watt smile.
He took a huge step backwards, covered his crotch with his hands, but kept an eye on her. "Got it."
The female Grant happily headed for the door. After opening it, she called out, "bye guys" and then disappeared.
"Dude, your sister is a crazy bitch." Harrison exclaimed as he bent at the waist and tried to breathe normally.
"For putting your nuts in a vice?" Fitz asked laughing.
"Who cares about your balls, I'm gonna see Abby tonight!" Leo said, doing a happy dance.
Harrison ignored Leo's annoyingly happy mood and stared at the closed door. "Is it just me or was Quinn hot for a second?"
Leo stopped doing his happy dance. "Whoa!" His brown eyes flicked between his two friends waiting for this to escalate.
"You must be one of those freaks who's into pain?" Fitz said rolling his eyes.
"Pain? Please! I don't even like getting a hang nail. No, she was just...powerful. A force to be reckoned with. Does that make sense?"
"Not at all, but you should find some other force, I reckon." Fitz warned mildly.
Sighing heavily, Harrison nodded and said, "yea, you're right. Ok, what time are we leaving?"
"I think we should be out there before them. We don't want to show up at the same time as they do. That would look weird." Leo suggested.
"Good idea. Let's plan on leaving here in a half hour. We can park at the mall and walk over to the bar across the street for some pre-gaming of our own."
"This is gonna be great!" Leo sang.
"Dude, before you come downstairs to leave, bring that disgusting glass of dried shit in a cup with you and wash it, or I will kick your sorry ass." Harrison threatened.
"What is your obsession with that glass, man?" Leo demanded.
"Tell you what, Leo. You just bring it downstairs and set it in the sink." Fitz suggested.
"Shut the hell up, Fitz." Harrison warned. He didn't mind washing dishes, but the glass in question was the most gnarly thing he had ever seen. He wanted no part of it.
"Harrison will wash it tomorrow morning." Fitz clapped Leo on the back, wanting to watch Harrison wash the glass the next day. "What's one more day?"
"You're an asshole." Harrison sighed.
A/N - I wanted to write something light & funny, but meaningful. I hope you all like it.
