[Sunday, 4 December 2039]

"Aph, wake up." A voice commanded me.

"Wake up." It said once more, but I ignored it. 'I don't want to,' I mentally argued back.

"Wake up." It repeated again. 'Go away!'

"YO WAKE UP WOMAN!"

I jolted up, my eyes were wide open, but they closed as quickly as they opened.

"What the hell," I mumbled. I squinted as I tried to take in my surroundings. Everything was so bright. I closed my eyes again, briefly.

"Finally." I was reminded that I wasn't alone. Why did it feel like no one ever wanted me to sleep anymore? If I had a Euro for every time I woke up with someone in my room, I could probably afford a lot of cheesecake. A lot.

"Aph you there?" A hand waved in front of my face.

I looked to my right and saw my best friend standing there. He looked slightly amused as he retracted his hand.

"Hurtle?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I knew Hurtle wanted me to get out of bed, but I didn't want to leave its comfort.

"Yes Aph?" he responded.

"Good night," I said before collapsing on my bed once more. A small grin was planted on my face that I tried really hard to hide. I knew this would only further annoy him.

"Oh no you don't," Hurtle groaned, tugging my arm. I found this situation rather amusing. I didn't expect Hurtle to be awake before me especially since we spent all of yesterday unpacking and getting situated.

"Why can't I sleep?" I complained, letting my body go limp to give him a hard time. If he wanted to disturb my sleep, then I was going to make him work for it.

"Because the others are arriving in half an hour," he informed me.

"Well they can go f— WAIT IN HALF AN HOUR?" I yelled out, sitting up once more. Hurtle rolled his eyes and I smacked him on the arm in response.

"Ow—hey! I just said that Einstein," he murmured, rubbing his arm. I groaned and fell back once more.

"Do they have to?" I whined. Hurtle smirked.

"What? Not ready to see your new roommate?" he teased me. I bit my lip and looked at Hunter. If only he was a real person who was rooming with me. "Plus, my replacement is coming too," Hurtle pouted. I looked at him confused.

"Your replacement?" I questioned. He just nodded. It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about.

"Are you still jealous about us duo queuing?" I giggled.

"Yes," he said bluntly, but I could tell he was joking.

"Aw, you know you're the only partner for me!" I reassured him, "It's not my fault you cheated on me," I whacked his arm playfully.

"I didn't cheat on you!" Hurtle tried to defend himself.

"Who left me all alone to do late night solo queue?" I smirked.

"You were sleeping?"

"That's like telling Doublelift its okay to have late night phone calls with Adept's father because Aphromoo is sleeping," I reminded him of last week's events. "And we all know how well that went."

"Yeah, Lift Lift probably had to sleep on the couch once you moved out," Hurtle laughed and I nodded in agreement. "Now let's go downstairs for breakfast, Dad is almost done cooking."

"Alright, but first—" I removed my covers and slid off my bed. "Out," I pointed at my open door before opening my closet to pull out some clothes.

"Alright, alright," Hurtle held his hands up and walked out. I smirked as he closed the door behind him.

"Five more minutes," I whispered before returning back to the warmth of my bed.

Hurtle and I were busy stuffing ourselves when the doorbell rang. We were both late to breakfast since my five minutes turned into twenty and Hurtle had to come back upstairs to retrieve me. We glanced at each other and swallowed whatever we were chewing.

'You get it.'

'Don't want to,' he replied.

'It's your house!' I pursed my lips. He only glared in return.

"You guys look like you've frozen from terror," Uncle Turtle laughed, breaking our trance. "I'll open the door," he said as if he was reading our minds. We watched him leave the kitchen and waited a few seconds for the door to open.

"Hey Jason," a voice said.

"Hi Hai, long time no see," Uncle Turtle responded.

"Ready to face the music?" Hurtle asked me the question I was dreading. I used my fork to push my scrambled eggs around the plate back and forth before scooping them up.

"Cards in your room?" I suggested before finishing the rest of my food.

"Down," Hurtle agreed with me and we both brought our plates to the sink. We started walking quietly to the stairs.

"Aph! Hurtle! Come say hello!" We heard Uncle Turtle call out by the time we were already halfway up the stairs. My left eye twitched, 'We were so close.'

When we reached the front door only Hades was there. I sighed in relief.

"Hey Hades, where are the others?" Hurtle asked him.

"They're going to be late, Cyan didn't finish packing yesterday," he informed us.

"Go figure," Hurtle rolled his eyes. I stifled a giggle behind my hand.

"C'mon, let's help Hades with his stuff," I told Hurtle and he frowned.

"What happened to cards?" he asked, pouting.

"When the others arrive, we'll go play cards," I grinned. It took Hurtle a moment to realize that the only reason we were going to play cards was to avoid Cyan when she was moved in.

"Right. I'll go grab some boxes. Aph, show him his room," Hurtle smirked, giving me a quick wink behind Hades's back before he walked out the door. I rose an eyebrow, confused. Hurtle and I were pretty good when it came to reading each other, but there were times when I didn't understand him. I decided to shrug it off and walked up the stairs to show Hades his room.

"You'll be sharing this room with Adept," I said as I opened his bedroom door, "And next door is my room, which I'll be sharing with Cyan," I nudged towards the direction of my room before entering his.

"Hurtle isn't staying with us?" Hades asked as he proceeded to choose his side of the room.

"Nope. It's technically his house so he gets his own room," I told him, taking a seat on his bed. Hades only nodded in response as he gazed around the room. After that it became quiet, but it was a comfortable silence. It gave me some time to think about the living situation. I was an only child so I never had to share a room with anyone before, unless you counted Hurtle when he slept over.

"What's wrong?" Hades spoke quietly, I looked up to see him staring at me. I gave him a small smile. He was very observant.

"Just thinking about the house," I answered.

"Worried about rooming with Cyan?" he inquired.

"I don't know why you have to ask if you already know," I laughed. He let out a soft chuckle.

"It'll be fine. She's not that bad of a person once you get to know her," he assured me. I frowned.

"Does she always immediately dislike the people she meets?" I asked. He took a moment to think about his answer.

"Only if she finds them a threat," he answered simply. I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, but we were interrupted.

"You didn't bring much, but man is this heavy," Hurtle complained as he came through the door and handed the box over to Hades.

"I don't need much," Hades shrugged. He opened the box which was filled with books.

"No wonder why it weighed a ton…" Hurtle mumbled as he eyed the books. My eyes lit up as I saw them, but I stayed where I was. My reaction didn't go unnoticed by Hurtle who gave me a smirk.

"Aph likes to read a lot too," he announced. Hades looked at me, but didn't say anything.

"Only a little…" I mumbled, not wanting the attention to shift over to me.

"Tch. She prefers reading over hanging out with me! Her best friend!" Hurtle whined.

"Anyone would prefer reading to hanging out with you," I teased. Hurtle stuck his tongue out at me.

"Hades! She's bullying me," Hurtle whined. "You don't believe that, do you?"

Hades looked slightly uncomfortable and avoided Hurtle's gaze, "Well…"

"Okay. I see how it is, I'm going to bring the rest up," Hurtle cut him off.

"Let me help," Hades offered, moving away from his box of books.

"Nah, its fine."

"I insist," Hades said, stepping out of the room. Hurtle nodded and followed Hades out the door.

"Be back, Aph!" Hurtle called out. I waited a few seconds to make sure that they were gone before I left the bed. I inched over to the box of books and peered in. I scanned the titles until one of them caught my eye and picked up the book. It was titled "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close".

"One look couldn't hurt…" I muttered as I took a seat on the bed closest to me and began to read.

"How long has she been sitting there?"

"Probably a couple of hours."

"Has she been reading the whole time?"

"Yeah. We called her name a few times, but she completely ignored us."

"I've never seen her so focused."

"We should throw something at her."

"Not unless you want that book she's holding to come flying at us."

"…"

"Yeah… I've learned it's better to just let her be."

"But I have to make my bed."

"If she stays like this, you and Aph can switch for the night."

"Sounds like a good idea!"

"Just don't do anything dirty on her bed!"

"S-shut up Hurtle."

"Hey! Her parents trusted me to look after her!"

"Well, there's always Cyan's bed."

"A-Adept!"

"Ew. I don't want to know."

"…"

"I was just kidding Cy."

I felt my eye twitch in annoyance. I don't know what they were talking about, but they were loud.

"Maybe I should poke her."

"It's your finger man."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you'll be point blank for whatever she does."

"Sounds like I should never get Aph mad." The statement was followed by a laugh.

I peered up from my book for the first time since I started reading. I saw the rest of my teammates standing at the foot of the bed, chatting. Cyan had a faint blush on her cheeks. Hurtle and Adept looked like they were bantering and Hades just stood there quietly observing. I sighed, it didn't seem like they were going to leave anytime soon. I scooted off the bed, and walked to the exit. At least I'd be able to continue reading in my room without their loud voices.

"Hey Aph!" I was stopped when my best friend called me. "What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I said sarcastically, "I'm leaving." That immediately told Hurtle that I wasn't in the mood to talk. Unfortunately, the others didn't seem to get the memo.

"But we haven't seen each other in forever!" Adept whined. Cyan rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"I guess you're right…" I sighed, coming back into the room. Adept grinned at Hurtle triumphantly. I rose an eyebrow and Hurtle gave me a quick glance. 'Ah.'

"Hey Adept, Cyan," I greeted. I then turned to Hades. "Sorry for taking your book without asking," I apologized. I almost forgot that it wasn't mine.

"No worries, feel free," Hades told me. I smiled appreciatively.

"Thanks," I said before glancing over at Hurtle who gave me a slight nod. "Alright then… bye!" I quickly left the room.

"Wait what?!" I heard Adept say.

"I told you I'd win the bet," Hurtle responded. I shook my head as I heard that. 'I'll interrogate him later.' I thought as I walked into my bedroom. I looked around and noticed that Cyan already moved all of her things in.

"How long have I been reading?" I muttered to myself.

"About four hours."

I jumped and turned around when I heard the unexpected voice.

"Sorry Aph."

"Hmph. And to think I helped you," I complained, hitting my best friend with my book. It didn't faze him.

"Well thanks to your help, Adept is cooking us dinner tonight," Hurtle smirked.

"He can cook?" I questioned.

"Don't know, but it's probably better than my cooking," Hurtle shrugged. I pursed my lips as I thought about Adept cooking.

"What was the bet anyways?" I asked curiously.

"I told him he wouldn't be able to make you leave the book to come hang out with us," Hurtle shrugged. "He didn't believe me so we made the bet."

"Ah. So he got himself in a lose-lose situation," I giggled.

"Yeah—hey!"

"You know it's true," I teased. Adept either had to cook dinner or try Hurtle's food.

"I know, but it still hurts," Hurtle pouted, placing his hands over where his heart would be.

"Anyways, is everyone moved in?" I asked.

"Almost. Adept couldn't make his bed because you were sitting on it."

I felt my cheeks get a little warm. "Why didn't anyone tell me?!"

"We tried. But, book, remember?" Hurtle pointed to the forgotten item in my hand.

"Right..." I looked down. I had my finger bookmarking the page I left off at. "I guess this means it's time for you to leave."

"What? Why?"

"Book, remember?" I repeated his earlier words and held the book up.

"But cards!" Hurtle complained.

"That was for when they were moving in," I reminded him, "but it looks like Cyan is all moved in."

"Damn. Fine, I'm going to go steal away your duo partner," Hurtle joked.

"So unfaithful," I gasped.

"That book is a home wrecker!" he pointed at the book in my hand. I glanced at it and frowned.

"I have to admit, it was one seductive book," I sighed, giving it a longing look.

"Put it down Aph! While we still have the chance to mend our relationship," Hurtle begged me. I looked at him before looking back at the book.

"But…"

"Don't you see what it's doing to us?!" Hurtle cried out.

"You're right," I grimaced and looked away from the book before dropping it on my bed.

"I knew you'd choose me!" Hurtle grinned, opening his arms wide. I rolled my eyes before accepting his hug.

"Was there even a doubt in your mind?"

"Well…"

"Oh shut it," I poked his stomach and he recoiled from the hug, clutching his stomach. "Let's go downstairs and join the others."

"Race you down!" Hurtle said, quickly leaving my room. I didn't bother chasing after my best friend since I knew there was no way I was going to beat him. I gave the book one more glance before leaving my room.

'I'll finish reading it tonight.'

04/15/2015