Jane closed her laptop and watched her roommate examine her reflection in the mirror. "Hey, Ash?" she began hesitantly.
"Yeah?" she didn't look from the mirror as she meticulously applied her lip-gloss.
There's a pause where Jane struggles to voice her question correctly. "Do you think Reid and Tyler ever do it?"
Ashley paused and looked at her roommate through the mirror. "Janie, have you seen those two? The chances of them being virgins are so slim."
"You're right." Janie looked away, a blush noticeably crawling across her cheeks.
Ashley's eyes narrowed, offhandedly closing her lip-gloss. "Why do I think that isn't what you were talking about?"
Jane didn't bother to look at her friend, embarrassed beyond reason. "It was… Its just… do you think they've ever done it… with each other?"
Ash dropped her make up and whirled around. "What? NO! Gross."
"Oh, come on!" Jane finally looked at her friend and her enthused countenance was revealed. "They're best friends – they do everything together! You can't tell me you don't want to be part of a Reidashler sandwich!"
Ashley contemplated it for a minute before her sensibilities kicked in. She delicately shuddered. "I would never." She reasoned with Jane. "Think about it – three people in that kind of relationship would never work out. Someone would get jealous and everything would get ruined, you know?"
"Yeah," Jane agreed wistfully, "but still… it would be hot."
Ashley rolled her eyes before turning back to the mirror, plucking her eyeliner out of its case. "Hot and doomed. It would be better if one person bowed out and just left the other two their devices. Otherwise, they're in for a lot of heartbreak."
"Yeah," Jane said in a far-off voice, her mind registering what the pretty Asian girl was saying and filing it away. "You're right. It would never work out."
The two girls remained silent for a few moments before a brisk knock echoed through their door.
"Hey," Kate greeted, pushing her hair behind her ear.
Jane gave her a quizzical look. "Hey," she replied in a confused manner.
"Um, Ashley and I are going shopping," Kate explained. "We both agreed to show each other the shops we go to in town. You want to come?"
"Nah," Jane said after a brief moment of consideration, "Ashley and I don't shop well together. She likes to browse for hours upon end and I just like to get what I need and go." She shrugged.
Kate nodded, understanding. "Oh, by the way, is it cool if we pick Pogue from Caleb's on our way back?" she asked the shorter girl who was picking up her purse and making up to leave.
"Sure," Ashley agreed, sitting down on her bed to slip a pair of boots on.
"Great," Kate smiled, checking her watch. "They'll probably wake up at one, so we can probably have lunch at Caleb's house."
Ashley nodded, okay with the idea. Unlike Tyler, she was perfectly comfortable with the other Sons, each being likeable in their own way. It's only the way Tyler was so uncertain around her that made things awkward.
"See you around," Kate said, giving Jane a slightly hidden look that made the other girl pause in slight trepidation.
"Later," Ashley added, closing the door behind her.
Jane's brow furrowed at the knock at her door, wondering why the two girls had come back so early. Opening it, she was surprised to see both Reid and Tyler.
"Uh, hey," she said after a beat.
Both boys gave her a greeting back.
"What's up?" she asked, leaning against the doorframe. "Surprised you two are awake. Isn't Sunday like the only day there isn't any practices?" She didn't bother pointing out the two should've been plagued with the mother of all hangovers.
Tyler shrugged. "Early risers," he said shortly.
Jane shook her head. "Its like eleven-thirty so not even."
"Surprised you're awake," Reid pointed out.
She smiled. "All that dancing last night (she didn't notice Reid smirk here) leads to endorphins. Makes it easier to get up." She scratched the back of her head. "Why are you two here? Lee didn't say anything about you two working today."
Reid leaned on the doorframe. "Just wanted to see if you two lovely ladies wanted breakfast. Our treat," he said, grin in place.
"Yeah," Tyler said, leaning on the opposite edge. "Thought it would be a good way to thank you for making sure we got home last night."
Jane bit her lip. They were double-teaming her – so unfair! No wonder the youngest Sons were rarely ever wanting of female company. "Lee's not here," she said, once she got over them dazzling her with their boyish charm. "She went shopping with Kate."
"Oh," Tyler's easiness faltered, disappointment sprawled across his face.
At that moment, Jane wished she had a camera so she could disprove all her roommate's doubts of Tyler's affection towards her.
"No problem," Reid stated, pushing his beanie out of his face. "Guess it's just you and us, Janie. You should know you're so lucky."
"Many a Spenser girl would kill to be in your position," Tyler joked eloquently, his displeasure at Ashley's absence fading.
Jane laughed, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, because you two so are my type," she said. She grabbed her phone and keys, sliding them into her pocket before following the two boys out.
"Hey, I am every girl's type," Reid declared
"Every blind and deaf girl," Jane shot back, shoving him playfully.
Tyler laughed.
Jane did, too, at Reid's indignant yell and pout, but somewhere inside her a spark set off at the deep, liquid noise coming out of the dark-haired boy's throat.
She reminded herself that she was just 'infiltrating' and Ashley had called 'dibs' on the good-looking boy. She told herself she wasn't interested.
Convincing herself of these facts was harder than it should've been.
Ashley and Kate happily placed their purchases in the trunk of Ashley's sleek car.
Kate leaned against the back of the car as Ashley closed it. "As the boys would say, 'Man, I'm tanked!'" She said with a smile.
Ashley laughed.
The dark skinned girl chanced a look at her watch and shrugged. "Its about one-thirty; now's a good a time as any to pop over to Caleb's. I'm starved." She slid into the passenger seat.
Ashley started her car before asking the other girl, "Are you sure Caleb is okay with me coming over for lunch?"
"I texted him," Kate replied. "It's totally fine."
"He's awake?" Ashley asked in confusion. "I thought they were waking up late."
Kate nodded. "Caleb wakes up everyday before the sun comes up," she stated while reapplying her lipstick.
Ashley gave her a searching look, wondering how the other girl knew that but didn't question it aloud.
Kate, oblivious to the stare the shorter girl was giving her, continued in a slightly admiring tone, "His cooking is awesome, though. You're in for a treat."
The girls continued in relative contentment, exchanging small talk as Ashley drove to Danvers Manor.
"Wow," Ashley murmured when she pulled up to the gate.
"I know, right?" Kate said. "Stop here – I'll step out and press the entrance code in."
Ashley watched as her companion confidently typed in the five-digit code needed to open the gates. She waited until Kate got back into the car before moving forward.
"Huh," Kate said, "Tyler and Reid are here." She waited until Ashley parked behind the large Hummer before stepping out.
Ashley's heart gave a little flip.
Kate waved the other girl to follow her, pulling out her set of keys to get the copy of Caleb's. She rolled her eyes at Ashley's arched browed. "Pogue loses his keys really easily so I keep copies of all of them just in case," she explained as she put the key into the door. "Hello?" she called.
"Kate," Caleb greeted, coming out a few seconds later from a room booming with raucous laughter. "Ashley," he added with a nod. "Tyler, Reid, and Janie are in the den," he said, pointing behind him with his thumb.
Ashley made a mild noise of surprise. "Jane?" she asked in confusion, following his pointing into the room with loud noise exploding out of it.
Kate and Caleb exchanged knowing looks, both mentally shaking their heads slightly at the jealousy that was bound to happen.
Knowing she didn't want to deal with that, Kate followed Caleb into the kitchen, setting her purse down onto a counter. Wordlessly she came next to Caleb and began helping him cook.
After a few minutes, Caleb spoke up. "So, should I regret having Jane drive you all home last night?"
Kate shook her head as she fried the bacon. "No, she did fine. I mean, considering how drunk they were and how smoothly she had to drive so they wouldn't throw up, she had to have driven really well."
Caleb nodded, lifting the pan up so he could scoop the eggs into a bowl.
"How was Pogue and your night?" Kate asked in turn.
"God damnit," Caleb swore as he accidentally poured the hot eggs onto his hand in surprise at her innocent question.
"Caleb," Kate said in worry, taking the pan and bowls from his hands carefully. After setting both on the countertop, she lifted his hand close to her face and examined it critically. She gave him a look, shaking her head. "You should know better, Mr. Responsible," she teased. "Thank God it's just a minor burn. You should be fine in a few minutes." She smiled reassuringly at him.
Caleb couldn't help but smile back.
"Food ready yet?" Jane asked, stepping into the room. Her eyes took in the large hand still incased in Kate's smaller ones but she didn't remark on it.
Kate stepped away from, what her mind yelled at her quite enthusiastically, her boyfriend's best friend and gave a forced smile to the other girl. "Yeah, almost."
Jane's eyes narrowed slightly and she stepped further into the room. "Why don't you wake your boy up and I'll help Caleb?" she said, more order than suggestion.
Kate nodded. "That's probably a good idea," she murmured, walking away in a slight daze.
Caleb avoided Jane's knowing look and both began the work to finish making the Brunch.
TBC.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Covenant.
A/N: It's been awhile! Sorry! I really was at a lost at to what to write next and just realized I had outlined most of the fic out already so just needed to follow what I already had scripted. About Ashley and Jane's converstion in the beginning: basically it was just a set up for the whole struggle between Reid, Jane, and Tyler in The Chemistry Project, which as you all should know is the fic that comes after this that is already finished. For some reason, I feel like some people don't know that this fic is part of a saga, but it is! Surprise! Speaking of the saga, new information about it is now on my profile – new summaries for the upcoming fics, etc.