I hear a female voice in the living room and for a quick second, I wonder if Jeanne's new life plans have already gone south. My stomach clenches at the thought of everything being taken away if she decides living with us is not something she wants, but then I realize the voice I am hearing is a bit higher-pitched than Jeanne's lower register. I peek around the door to see who it is. It's Tori.
She sees me peeking out and waves. Zach turns around and gestures for me to come join them.
"Hey Shaun," she smiles at me cooly. As I am not sure what she knows and what Zach feels comfortable sharing with his ex and close friend, I plop down on the armrest of the couch and don't immediately join in on the conversation.
"I hear you're taking this one," she starts, pointing toward Zach with a grin, "to the city to finally go to CalArts," she enthuses with a genuine smile. "I am so happy about it, truly," she says. "Get him out of here before he's stuck permanently," she says quietly. Her perceptive eyes light up as she continues. "I'm happy he's got you Shaun. You're a good guy. That being said," she continues, pulling out her necklace from within her shirt to play with. It looks like it's a match to a circle on a chain that Zach always wears. "You had better take good care of him, okay?" I swallow and nod. "Good," she smiles, and her eyes become mischievous as she goes in for the kill. "Enjoy my sloppy seconds," she says, with a wicked grin. Zach groans and blushes a bit as I bust out laughing.
"I intend to," I confirm, with a fake sense of solemnity. "We've got good taste in men," I conclude, and now she's the one laughing. Thinking of how much Zach and I don't enjoy Billy, I decide to meddle a bit, since she is clearly pretty cool.
"Hey, are you seeing anyone since passing Zach over?" I quiz her. Zach groans again, but I can see that he is astutely paying attention to what she's saying now.
"Mmm, no one exclusively," she admits, shrugging. "Monkey's a hard act to follow," she concludes with a wink.
"Wise thinking there," I explain. "You wouldn't wanna attach yourself to a loser who expects you to uh, cook the chicken just because you're a woman or anything." Tori picks up on what I am referring to.
"Oh, no, I would never belong to someone like that," she confirms. I see Zach exhale a sigh of relief behind his second-best friend. He mouths 'thanks' to me and I nod. I see him pull out his own circle on a chain from under his shirt and rub it between his fingers, clearly this is a visible representation of their red thread to each other. "So if you fellas are planning to leave soon, I wonder if I can take Cody for a sleepover tonight one last time?" she asks.
"Really?" Zach asks, clearly a bit surprised.
"Yeah of course. I'm gonna miss the Mini-Monkey too, you know." I am glad this beloved child has so many nicknames and I am enjoying learning more about his and Zach's relationship with Tori. "Besides, I imagine you two could use a night to yourselves," she astutely guesses. We both nod vigorously and I chuckle at how quickly we jump at the opportunity to have good babysitter cover for us. "Awesome, I'm gonna go tell him," she confirms, heading toward the bedroom.
"She's great," I share with someone who obviously knows. He nods.
"Is it weird for you?" He asks, and I consider it.
"No, not terribly strange. I mean, it's nice knowing I have someone I can compare your performance with," I joke.
"Shut up!" Zach stammers, fake punching my shoulder. I capture him in my arms in a big hug as I laugh. He wraps his arms around me. Tori returns and he stays in my arms. Tori takes in the scene and smirks.
"I have a shift at the Oceanette till eight and will come get him then," she says. Zach leans into me as she continues. "And I am off tomorrow so just lemme know when you wanna come get him." We both nod vigorously.
"Thanks Monkey," Zach murmurs. She smiles.
"Yeah yeah… just remember to invite me over once in a while so I can get a break from this place too."
"You'll have first dibs on the guestroom, I assure you," I vow. Zach nods, squeezing his necklace again.
"See you in a bit then," she replies. Zach disentangles himself from my arms to go hug her. She gives my shoulder a squeeze before waving goodbye and heading back out.
"Thanks for being so chill all the time," Zach expresses, now wrapping his arms around me. "Some people are like, jerks to their partners' exes, but you're cool as always. I'm glad you get it about Tori," he sighs into my shoulder.
"She's cool and clearly important to you," I begin as he agrees by nodding. "I am still friendly with exes where it ended on a good note. I hope when you meet them you'll be cool too."
"Mmm, I hope to be," he debates, pulling me closer and I smile. A somewhat-jealous Zach might be cute to witness for a bit, but I know him to be generally steady and chill, so I'm not too worried. Zach peers at the clock that's now sitting on the couch. "Looks like I gotta head out to start my shift soon," he says.
"That's cool. Do you want me to continue working on packing up here or what?" I ask, surveying the work we've done over the past couple hours. Zach seems satisfied with our progress.
"I think my room's the last of it, and my art stuff out back" he considers. "If you wouldn't mind packing up the stuff outside, we can finish up my room tonight when I am done, if that sounds good?" I concur, excited to wrap up this part of the move.
"Sure thing," I agree with a smile. "I can also go out with Codes and grab some more stuff to finish thoroughly cleaning," I begin, pointing to an opened closet that only has a suction hose and some old vacuum bags but nothing else. "It looks like Jeanne took the vacuum and whatnot. He rolls his eyes. "Hey, no worries dude," I encourage. "We're gonna need a vacuum for our place too so it's really no big deal. Remember, I am coming into this move with around the same amount of stuff. It'll be a new start for all of us." His disgruntled face melts into a smile.
"I like that," he simply says, squeezing my hip. Sighing, he releases me from his arms. He heads to his bedroom and I follow.
"Codes, I am heading out to the diner now," he lets his nephew know.
"Okay," the young boy acknowledges with a grin. "I'm gonna stay here and finish packing my stuff with Shaun then," he confirms. "And then I'm gonna have a sleepover with Tori because she said she will miss me when we move. I'm gonna give her my caterpillar so she's not sad," he confides, grabbing the stuffed animal to show. Cody has tossed a good amount of his toys and stuff in his box. I see the care he took in folding up the old quilts his grandmother made with such love when he was just a tiny baby and I swallow. "And this is the stuff I don't wanna take," he explains, gesturing to a small pile of things on the floor that didn't make it into the box: a toy dump truck with a missing wheel, his pair of seriously old sneakers that look wrecked, some old plastic toys that look like they came with a kid's meal.
"That's great buddy," his uncle gives him a high-five for his hard work and gathers up his stuff to get rid of. He winces as he grabs the shoes and I remember the first thing on Cody's shopping list: new sneakers. "I'll see you guys later then. Be good for Shaun, okay?" Cody beams at us and I laugh.
"And I'll be good for Cody too," I joke. Zach shakes his head smiling, pats Cody shoulder, then mine, and heads out for his final shift.
