Author's Notes: If you're interested, I also added another new Chapter to Coffee with Cream in the middle of it, because I liked the "O Mouth" episode too much not to. It's Chapter 5(B). It's not much, just another layer of misunderstanding and conflict between Paige and Mike, but I think it adds a little something something.

Can be found here: s/9457732/6/Coffee-with-Cream

Let me know what you like and what you don't!

Thanks: Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate them greatly! Sorry I didn't get this one up yesterday as requested, but by the end of the night the words were blurring.

-J

Skinny Double Dirty Chai

Chapter 7

"Yo, thanks for hanging with me today."

Johnny's sounding unusually sincere, and he needs to cut that shit out right this second. Paige expects more from him. Nothing short of light hearted frivolity and sarcasm 24-7. Recently, everyone's been getting so damn emotional, and she will not have it from him.

"Yeah, well Mike had his head doctor, and now you owe me. So..." Paige is keeping this light, dammit.

Just because they live together, doesn't mean everyone had to sync their periods, and share their feelings.

She doesn't know what he's talking about anyway. They hang out all the time. Last night was sauce night and just this morning they had played football with Mike.

Sure, maybe it's been awhile since her and Johnny have hung out one on one. She has been spending most her time with Mike these days, she realizes. She'll have to make it a point to spread her time a little more evenly, and book some more one-on-one with her other roommates.

Not that sitting in a cramped hide-out, in the unlikely event Briggs and Charlie needed backup, counted as hanging out. And was it really one-on-one, when a bunch of grunts are milling about too?

Still, she didn't have anything better to do. Her and Mike had planned to go gorge themselves at the food festival on the docks, but that had fallen through when he had to go see his shrink. Which is good. They don't need to spend every minute together.

"I owe you?" Johnny asks skeptically.

"Yeah."

"For this?"

"This isn't free." Paige states laughing, looking over the file in front of her.

She's not really sure why Johnny asked her in on this case. Did he need her drug expertise or did he really just want to hang out?

"Explain this to me, because Quinn is not a major player. So..."

"No. No, I know but right now he's the only contact we have to Odin Rossy."

It's a stretch, at best. There's really no need for Paige to be here, but something in his voice bugs her. He sounds sad.

Come to think of it, he and Donny had been pretty close. With Donny gone now, Johnny must be feeling lonely.

Paige has been so distracted with her own stuff, she hasn't even asked him how he was doing with it. She feels like a shit friend.

She is going to make it up to him. They are going to hang out more.

"Honestly, who names their kid Odin?" Paige scoffs.

"Badass parents. That's who." Johnny states defiantly, his old pep coming back. "That's dope. Odin!"

"I'm going to let it slide this once. But only because English is not your first language. If it were, you would realize just how stupid the name Odin really is." Paige teases.

"Seriously? Odin's a Norse God. He's the top Norse God. He's like the god of war and wisdom! Nobody would fuck with an Odin!"

Sometimes, Paige forgets how smart Johnny is. Seriously, who knows all the Norse God's?

"Alright, alright. Now, shut up I need to listen." Paige laughs, turning back to the screens.

She's glad that Johnny seems to have gotten over his momentary bout of mushiness.

"Last time I saw the two of you you were all over each other." Comes the voice over the speaker.

Paige's jaw drops.

"Wait. Wait did I miss something?!"

This was HUGE. How could Charlie not have told her about this? She always sensed a sort of vibe between Charlie and Briggs, but she had no idea that they'd ever acted on it.

Johnny grins and nods. Paige is floored. She could maybe understand Charlie keeping this quiet, but Johnny knew and never told her? That boy couldn't keep his mouth shut about anything!

"Charlie and Briggs?" She squeals.

"Mmmmhmmm." Johnny nods.

"Shut up!"

She could not believe it. She felt like she had fallen down a rabbit hole into a completely new world. What did this mean?! How did this happen?

"Woah... woah..."

Johnny spots someone approaching on the screen, and suddenly the room goes into high alert. Even as she focuses on the task at hand, Paige knows this conversation is not over. They will be coming back to this subject later, because Paige wants to know everything.

Back at the house, Paige still can't believe what went down this morning. She had always known about Donny and Lauren, but Charlie and Briggs?! How many people in this house had hooked up exactly? Were Jakes and Johnny holding hands under the table without her knowledge?

She hadn't slept with anyone since she'd been assigned here. Well, not with anyone in the house at least. She thinks the last time she slept with a man who knew her actual job, she'd been working at the Dairy Queen.

Charlie and Briggs have always seemed so professional. Nothing like the Lauren/Donny drama that went down. How did they handle it so well?

She watched the two of them talking in the kitchen. They were being awfully cuddly. Had they been in a secret relationship for years? All those times Briggs snuck off to get his zen on... Was zen a code word for Charlie? Paige has so many questions.

"Briggs and Charlie only hooked up once right?" Paige asks Johnny suspiciously, watching the two of them like a hawk.

"Just once, or so the legend goes anyway." Johnny says, reclined on the couch.

How could he be so calm about this? This is huge! Mike would understand how huge this is. Where the hell is he when she needed him to freak out with her?

"Well it's about to happen again." Paige says confidently looking at the kitchen.

"Ha. Nuh-uh. You know Brigg's mantra. No love in Graceland." Johnny says cooly.

Paige peers intently at the scene in the kitchen. She can practically taste the hormones radiating off them. No one could live in such close proximity, with that much sexual tension, and not act on it at some point.

"Still it's been a while for both of them."

They weren't the only ones. It had been some time for her as well, and she was definitely feeling it. This morning after the football game, on her way out of her shower, she nearly ran into Mike in the hallway on his way into the bathroom. It took all her self control not to drop her towel, and follow him back into the shower.

"They're not going to risk years of friendship for a quick hit." Johnny says confidently.

"We could have a quick hit." Paige keeps as straight a face as she can.

The look of intrigue on his face as he mulls it over is priceless. Paige dials it up a notch, eating her fruit in an overtly sexual manner, giving him her best sultry stare.

"Oh God. You're lucky I value your brains." He groans, when he realizes she's fucking with him.

Paige cackles. She didn't for one second think Johnny would take her up on it, but she loves taunting him. Plus, it's true. Out of all the housemates, Johnny is probably the one who she'd most likely have a one night stand with.

When she had first come to Graceland, Paige had developed a small crush on Briggs, but that had quickly faded once she'd gotten to know Briggs. Not that anyone really knew Briggs. After a while, the initial awe of his talent turned into more of a sibling relationship. Plus, now that she knew that Briggs and Charlie had hooked up, he was 100% off the table. Paige values her friendships, and in her mind, Charlie has dibs on Briggs whether she acted on it or not.

Paige has never considered sleeping with Jakes. Their energy levels are polar opposites of each other resulting in no chance of any sexual tension. Just camaraderie and respect. Plus she has a rule never to sleep with someone whose hair was longer than hers.

Charlie also violated the long hair rule, so she was off the table too. She is higher on the list than Jakes, however, since Charlie and her had kissed once. Paige won't deny it was fun, but it didn't mean anything. They were undercover and it was just for show. She really just isn't into girls.

And then there was Mike. Paige couldn't deny she'd thought about what Mike would be like in bed. She was sure he would be good. He was good at everything. He was intense, focused, and selfless. Physically he was her type as well. Tall and lean. Muscular, yet not too cut. He had great arms and smelled amazing. She didn't know how he managed to smell clean, literally all the time. Sometimes, Paige wanted to lick him, just to see if he was actually made of soap. No, she had no doubt sex with Mike would be great, but she didn't know if one hit would be enough. For either of them.

Nope, Johnny would be the one. They got along great and were very similar to each other. Neither took things too seriously, and they could easily have a quick romp, no strings attached. There would be no risk of anyone falling in love. It would be like scratching an itch.

Plus, if she had a quick one nighter with Johnny, maybe it would put an end to all the recent tension she felt with Mike. Then they could just go back to being friends, without any worry of romance getting in the way and he'd stop giving her that puppy dog look that made her stomach flutter.

"This is gonna happen." Paige says, getting back to the issue at hand, Charlie and Briggs.

"You wanna bet?" Johnny asks.

"Hell yeah!"

Paige is always up for a new game, especially with Johnny. Especially when she's so clearly going to win.

"You wanna?"

"Mmmhmmm."

"Ok let's do this. Seven days." Johnny sets the terms, "Seven days. Sex happens you win. No sex. I win."

"Ok. Loser, pays the winner's bar tab for a week." Paige sets the stakes confidently.

"Thanks for the free drinks homie." Johnny says nearly as cockily.

They shake on it and it's official.

Good. She needs a new game to play.

This is gonna be fun.