"How." Phoebe asked not like a question at all, more like she couldn't fathom an answer even existed.
"More?" Danny smiled and held out the pan with the scrambled eggs.
Phoebe nodded enthusiastically, twisting happily from side to side on Danny's barstool.
"Lacey's missing all this good shit, what'd you do with her?"
"Don't worry, she got the good shit too." Danny winked, "We were up late, she's still sleeping."
"Does she know you can cook too?"
"Indeed."
Danny set Phoebe up with bacon, coffee, Tylenol and a liter of water.
"There's gotta be something wrong with you. What's wrong with you?" Phoebe joked as she stuffed her face with something other than plain Cheerios for breakfast for the first time in a while.
"Lots."
"Doubtful."
"How are you feeling?" Danny ignored her prodding.
"Like shit. Thanks for taking care of me last night."
"No issue. I'd like to think you'd do the same for me too. Did you really say yes to Scott last night?" Danny asked, wanting to know how much of a fight he was going to have with his teammates later.
"I did, I remember I did, but I'm glad I didn't." Phoebe nodded.
"What about Tyler?"
Phoebe shrugged and pushed the perfectly crisped fried hash browns around her plate.
"I really wanted to believe that the whole athletic frat boy stereotype was bullshit, but I guess it's not."
"We're not all bad, but those two, they're no friends of mine. What happened with Cole?"
"Jo showed up dressed in a sugar glider onesie. I guess they eat bananas?"
"He hooked up with Jo?" Danny was surprised by that.
Jo was not the type of girl his teammates typically sought out. She was accepted because she was in the sorority and it was known that she was friends with Danny. Accepted or not, she never hung out at the house on her own.
"I don't know, but he was done with me—"
"Hey guys." Lacey greeted, voice low, still dripping with sleep.
"Morning, Lace-face."
Lacey slid onto the barstool next to Phoebe. Danny placed a fully loaded breakfast plate in front of her and kissed the side of her head.
"Morning, you absolute fucking Queen." Danny muttered into her ear like he owed her his life.
Lacey smiled and couldn't help the giggle, "Morning. I had fun too."
Danny shook his head no at her, "The best." He praised.
"You two done? I'm trying to eat." Phoebe smiled at them and refocused on the good eats.
"I have to give credit where credit is due, Phoebs, and credit is fucking due." Danny said, licking his lips without even realizing it.
Lacey rubbed her forehead trying to get her body to wake up more. She closed her eyes briefly and remembered their fantastic night of conversation and reunion sex.
"Well if it were not for you two I might have had gotten laid too, so, thanks for that." She said sarcastically.
"Oh please, just recalling your timeline, you would have thrown up all over the lucky guy. We saved you the embarrassment." Lacey shot back.
"Alright, I have to get to practice. You two enjoy, can I see you later?" Danny asked Lacey hopefully.
"I'm not sure yet—"
"Okay." He was definitely disappointed but tried to stay positive, "Still have the key?"
"Yes, I'll lock up. Thanks for breakfast."
"He gave you a key?" Phoebe noted as they began their walk home.
"It's not like that, it's just for convenience."
"Okay." Phoebe smiled at her roommate who was so obviously in love with Danny and just hadn't admitted it to herself yet.
"You okay?" Lacey worried about Phoebe after her rough night.
"After Cole ran off, I really was in it for Scott. I promise."
"He's an asshole and you don't deserve whatever shit he was offering, like chlamydia probably."
"It doesn't matter, if I want to get laid, I want to get laid." Phoebe shrugged, "Speaking of getting laid, what the hell did you do to Danny last night? He was a changed man this morning."
"We talked." Lacey shrugged, her smile was back and brighter than ever.
Phoebe waited for the rest, it didn't come.
"AND—"
"And—then we decided we're—together."
"You got him to label that shit?!" Phoebe was shocked.
"Oh, he's mine." Lacey smiled with her own cocky certainty.
"Okay, and then what happened? I've never seen him so—I don't even know, carnal."
"We took care of each other."
"Jesus." Phoebe chuckled, "For real, I'm honestly so happy for you."
"Thanks Phoebs."
Lacey was flying. Danny had swelled her confidence so high she swore she would never be happier than this. It was Danny's first relationship ever. Lacey had promised him, both of them promising each other, that they would put each other first no matter what.
Their libidos were wild and last night, they had been in it. Their only pause was whatever time it took Danny to get it back up again. During the down time they laid out their expectations for their relationship and mapped out what they wanted for the short term, their sweet respect for each other fueling their lust-filled night.
Danny would be on the road for a significant portion of their time together. The last away game for Danny tested him. They hadn't been in a relationship at the time, but he made a point to keep to himself. He found the hiatus both attainable and worth every missed opportunity with anyone else who had lined up to satisfy him.
Lacey was the one who did just that. Danny found it curious that whether they had sex every day or once every two weeks, he was satisfied. Lacey was everything, she was enough.
"So am I ever going to see you again?"
"Of course! I have a boyfriend now but I'm here for school and you're a huge part of that." Lacey answered honestly.
"What are we doing tonight then?" Phoebe asked expectantly as their building came into view.
"I have to work on my paintings if I'm going to have a chance of finishing them on time. You and Danny are friends, text him and see if he wants to chill."
"Third-wheeling, my new hobby." Phoebe joked, equal parts happy for her roommate and jealous she hadn't found a connection like that yet.
At practice, Danny ripped into the guys and made them all regret the Halloween party. He updated his relationship status with Archie who did not handle the news well, fumbling through practice and earning a few extra laps from their coach.
After he had the opportunity to set the guys straight, Danny ran over to the spirit squad to help them out and give them all an update on his life.
"You didn't text me back last night." Regina whined.
Danny threw her up above his head and helped her though whatever stunt she was working on. When he slid her back to the ground, Regina held on a little too tight and a little too long.
"We need to talk." Danny said as he pulled her off of him.
Regina already knew what was coming. Her mouth drew into a tight reserved line and she crossed her arms across her chest.
"I have a girlfriend now. You and I need to dial this back to zero."
"Zero. You're serious?"
"Zero."
"Is Archie at zero too?" Regina challenged, knowing it was harder for those two to quit each other.
"Zero."
"Whatever Danny, if you walk away from this, I'm done. Don't come looking, I won't be available."
Danny could almost laugh at Regina's tantrum. Lacey Porter was it and he longed for nothing at this point. The thought of creeping with Regina had not even entered his mind.
"I respect you, Crane. I think our friendship could use some help—"
"Oh, we're not even friends now?"
"You're not kind to her. It's a problem."
"You're right, our friendship could use some help." She wasn't open to faking kindness she didn't feel.
"Promise me that if you can't be nice, you'll leave her alone."
"Don't worry, I'll leave you both alone." She muttered before turning toward her coach, "Coach, I'm sick I need to go—" Regina didn't wait for a response and turned and jogged back toward the gym.
Phoebe and Lacey were met with lingering stares as they approached their door.
"What is wrong with everybody?" Phoebe sneered at them.
"Oh shit—" Lacey's stomach dropped as they approached their obviously compromised door, "No, no, no, no—this isn't happening—"
Lacey pushed their door open and stepped inside, shock overtaking her sense of reality. In the tiny space that was the center of their room sat a pile of rubble that Lacey identified as the second round of paintings she had so desperately been trying to finish.
"I'm calling the police—" Phoebe pulled out her phone.
"I'm done with this. This is ending right now!" Lacey blew out with increasing volume.
"Wait, where are you going?" Phoebe shouted after Lacey as she stormed out of their room.
"I'm going to kill Regina Crane!" Lacey shouted back like it was obvious, giving zero fucks who was listening.
Lacey stalked out of their building and headed back toward the frat house neighborhood she had just returned from. She knew Phoebe would hang back and start a police report while she dealt with this once and for all.
Several police cars whizzed by Lacey, all going in the same direction as her and not toward her dorm. As she neared the sorority house where she knew Regina lived Lacey could see the collection of blue lights flashing with one splotch of red light coming from an ambulance in the center.
As Lacey reached the edge of that block she was met with crime scene tape. A lot of students had gathered to watch the commotion.
"What's going on?" Lacey asked some of the frat guys she recognized.
"I heard someone died."
Lacey watched as an obvious body, wrapped in a black bag and strapped to a gurney just like on TV, was wheeled out of the sorority house and into the ambulance.
A new wave of gossip filtered through the students that had gathered and eventually washed over Lacey too.
"It was Regina Crane!" Someone said, sending a stab of electricity through her.
The members of the sorority house were around the ambulance all crying and supporting each other. Lacey did a quick scan, no Regina. Jo was standing with her girls, not as outwardly emotional, but definitely offering her support too.
The girls were all speaking with the officers on site. As the crowd swelled, the rumors surrounding Regina's death amped up. Jo's eyes landed on Lacey, she pointed in Lacey's direction and two of the detectives began walking her way. Lacey looked behind her and quickly realized that she was their target.
"Lacey Porter?"
"Yes?"
"We need you to come with us."
"Come with you? Why, what's going on?"
"We have some questions we need to ask you."
"You can ask me right here."
"This will take some time, we're asking you to come to the station for this."
Lacey looked around as the crowd stared back at her, she knew she was being incorporated into the rumors now. Maybe it was best to get out of here and away from them.
"Okay." Lacey agreed and followed the detectives for a ride to the police station.
Danny and the team made it to the scene about twenty minutes after Lacey was whisked away. Several police cars remained in front of the sorority and the group that had formed had dwindled, with people constantly coming and going.
"Hey, what's going here?" Danny asked a few people nearby, very worried as he was friends with everyone in that house.
"You didn't hear? That Lacey chick killed Regina."
"What?!" Danny was in full shock.
"Regina's dead, I heard Lacey strangled her with a jump rope."