Our favorite group of teens were enjoying a peaceful weekend morning in the lounge. A few kids lingered in the room around them, but for the most part, they had the area to themselves. Quinn and Logan were inseparable as per usual, him sitting in one corner of the couch, leaning back against the plush cushion with his arm wrapped securely around his girlfriend's shoulders. While she was lying directly next to him, leaning into his side with her feet curled up on the couch. Lola sat on the opposite side of the sofa, curled up into her corner of the plush furniture, a script book in hand for the next play she planned to star in. Zoey had her sketchbook open in her lap, trying to come up with new designs. She sat in the armchair directly beside the couch. She had been in a rut the last couple of weeks, and she was really hoping some inspiration would come soon.
Quinn and Logan were watching a new cartoon that his father had produced. So far, they were all enjoying it, laughing hysterically at nearly every scene. "Wow, your dad really knows how to pick good stuff," Quinn commented, feeding herself a piece of popcorn and popping a piece in her boyfriend's mouth as well.
"What can I say, us Reese men are known for having good taste." He kissed the tip of her finger as it made contact with his lips. He smirked when she started blushing.
"Do you think they remember we exist?" Lola asked her blonde roommate over the pages of her script.
Zoey shook her head, "Petty sure they forgot they were in public."
Logan scoffed, "Trust me, if we were in private, I'd be doing way more than just kissing her finger." He gave them a smug look, grinning like a cat when he saw their disgusted faces. It was always so much fun to mess with them.
"Baby!" Quinn scolded her boyfriend, looking around to ensure nobody else heard him. She was proud of her relationship with him, but there were some things to keep quiet about.
He gave her an apologetic smile, "Sorry, sweetie." This time he was the one to feed her a piece of popcorn.
Lola frowned, suddenly feeling nauseous. "I don't know what's worse, Logan being all sweet and sincere,"
"Or Logan making his usual nasty comments." Zoey finished what the brunette was thinking. They were happy for their friends; it seemed like they both really loved each other. But they were also really hoping they would get out of the honeymoon phase soon.
"Don't listen to them," Logan sneered at the two girls but put on a sweet face when his favorite girl turned her attention to him. "They're just jealous because our relationship is perfect."
Both girls scoffed.
"As if!" Lola slammed her script onto the table and gave a smug look to the egotistical boy. "Vince and I couldn't be more perfect. I'm beautiful; he's hot and sensitive. I'm going to be a famous actress; he's going to be a famous football player. I couldn't describe a more perfect couple." She gave a triumphant laugh, daring him to try and find fault in her logic.
He snorted at the girl he believed to be delusional. He looked out the window, gesturing for the girls to do the same. "Your mister sensitive is bashing watermelons open with his head." The three girls looked at each other, unsure if what they heard was accurate, but they all stood up and looked out the window. There they saw Vince and his football buddies surrounding a large white cloth with a bunch of smashed watermelon staining the fabric. Vince was in the middle as his teammates cheered him on as he bashed open another watermelon with his head.
Lola could only groan softly as she sat back down. She forgot that for how sensitive and sweet he was, he was still a football jock, and sometimes they were really stupid. "How often do they do this?" She asked, suddenly having a sick feeling in her stomach.
Taking a sip of his blue blix, Logan shrugged his shoulders. "I think every weekend. Why?"
The future actress began to cry out, hands shaking as she stuck her tongue out. "Oh my god, he made me a fruit salad last weekend!" She had been wondering why the fruit he had given her was so misshaped, and now she knows why.
Zoey could only offer an apologetic grimace toward her now gagging friend and roommate. Quinn did the same, "Want some gum?" She asked, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a stick of gum. Lola all but snatched it from her hand, chewing it harshly as she frowned in her seat. Vince was going to get a talking to later.
"See what I tell you. Quinn and mine's relationship is the perfect one." Logan gloated, giving a smug look of his own.
Zoey cleared her throat. "Hello?" She waved her hand in the air, getting their attention on her. "Did you guys forget about me and Chase? He went to England to confess his love to me. He-!"
He and Michael came running into the lounge at their top speed, stopping just before slamming into the small coffee in the room. "Give us our fruit smackers!" The two boys shouted at the top of their lungs.
Logan looked incredulous at his two roommates before turning his gaze onto Zoey, who had a small grimace on her face. "He's a freak." He said, chuckling when he saw her smack her forehead.
"Hey!" Chase smacked Logan's arm, demanding the attention was back on them. "We want our fruit smackers."
Michael nodded, lips pouted out as he rocked back and forth on his feet. "We know you took them, and we want them back."
Logan rolled his eyes at their weird behavior. "I'm not giving them back. Now go away; you guys are blocking my light." He waved him off, annoyed that they were bothering him. He was in the perfect spot on the couch. The light was hitting him just right; it helped him work on his tan while he got to cuddle with Quinn and be comfortable.
"What are fruit smackers?" Lola asked eyebrows arched up as she saw the two boys' unusual, odd behavior. She was used to them acting weird, but this seemed to be on a different level.
Logan sighed exasperatedly, "They're these weird snacks my dad sent me from Norway. They haven't even been released yet in the US." They had come in his latest care package that his father had sent him. He hadn't really been interested in the candy and had given them to his roommates. Something he was now deeply regretting.
Michael all but growled out, "They're not weird, they're the best snacks ever, and we want ours back!"
"Yeah, we do!" Chase pointed an accusing finger at the curly-haired boy lounging on the couch. "Michael and I each had one pack left. We know you took them, so give them back, and nobody gets hurt."
Logan couldn't help but throw his head back and laugh. "As if," there was no way those two could hurt them. Unlike them, he actually worked out. Plus, he's seen them both in a fight. Granted, he wasn't much of a fighter himself, but he knew he could at least take them on. "Besides, I already gave them to Quinn, so they're hers now."
Chase and Michael turned their vicious glares onto the glasses-wearing girl, making her jolt in her seat. Suddenly she didn't feel very safe.
"You…!" They both growled out, inching forward towards her, but she was quicker and got them both with her zap watch. They backed off after each getting hit twice.
"We're calm, we're calm," Chase said, taking in a deep breath through his nose and out his mouth.
Michael nodded, "Yeah, we're calm." He looked at the girl for a brief moment before falling to his knees. "Quinn, please, I'm begging you! Give us back our delicious fruity-smacking snack."
Chase joined him on the grounds, cupping his hands together as he begged. "Please, we need them in our lives!"
Feeling very uncomfortable and disturbed, Quinn aimed her watch at them again. Getting the message, they stood back up and backed away, hands up in the air as they did so. "I don't even have your weird, smacked fruit snacks anymore."
"Fruit smackers!" Michael corrected her, making sure to emphasize the er sound. "Well, where are they?"
Chase balled his two hands into fists, "Just tell us where they are, Quinn, or else I'll be forced to do something that won't be pretty."
She didn't like being threatened. Standing up on the couch, she put her hands on her hips, cocking her head to the side, and gave them a pointed look. "Oh yeah, like what?" She dared them to try and threaten her again.
"Or I'll start crying!" Chase bawled out, stretching his hands, and looked just so sad.
No longer feeling threatened but now just sad for her two friends, she frowned at their behavior and returned to sitting next to her boyfriend. "That was so hot." He loved it when she took charge like that. She blushed, lightly smacking his arm.
Michael felt like he was ready to start crying. "Just tell us where our snacks are, please!" He didn't care if he had to beg; he could throw away his dignity for these delicious snacks.
Biting her lower lip, she almost didn't want to tell them but felt bad not. "They're in the fridge of our dorm room,"
Michael cheered, turning on his heel to run out and head to the girl's dorm. He didn't care if he had to knock down the door to get the snack. He was getting them. Only he was stopped by Chase grabbing his arm, making him turn back around. "I sense a but in that sentence.
"Well…" Quinn fiddled with her fingers, a habit they learned meant she had something to tell them, but it was never good news. "I may have dissected them."
Both boys could only stare in horror at her. Their mouths hanging open, eyes bugged out so wide they looked ready to fall out. In an instant, they fell to their knees once more, all hope and reason to live gone from their eyes. "How do you dissect candy?" Zoey asked, ignoring her boyfriend and their friend's very weird behavior. She was going to have to give him a talk about appropriate behavior and how not to freak out over candy.
"And why?" Lola added on, wondering why someone would even do that.
Quinn shrugged nonchalantly, keeping one hand on her zap watch. "When Logan told me about how the guys seemed totally addicted to the snacks, I expressed interest in studying the components, and he gave me some. I didn't realize they were the last ones." She gave the two boys an apologetic smile.
Michael couldn't help but glare at his grinning roommate. "So what, just because Quinn asked for them, you gave them to her? Just like that!"
"Hey, what Quinn wants, Quinn gets." Logan pointed his accusing finger at his two friends, still kneeling on the ground. "Right, sweetie." Instantly the annoyed look he had given the guys was gone as he put on a sweet and loving expression to his girlfriend.
Rolling her eyes affectionately, she placed a hand on his upper thigh. "I appreciate the thought, but you seriously don't need to get me everything I talk about." Last week she expressed a craving she used to eat as a kid from her town's local candy shop, and a few hours later, a basket full of said candy had arrived at her door.
"Unless it's a new pair of shiny pretty boots that you happen to have seen online." Lola gave a quick wink to her roommate, giving her a hopeful smile.
Zoey joined in, "Or maybe some new art supplies."
"Can we focus here, people?" Michael chastised the group for getting off-topic and ignoring them when they were in the middle of a crisis. "Now Quinn, are you sure you dissected them all?"
She shrugged again, "I'm pretty sure, but there may be more," she placed a hand on her boyfriend to ask him. "Hey what was in that white box you gave me?" She hadn't even looked at what was inside, only focused on the two candy packets that had been resting on top of them.
"Some caviar and these little crackers that go perfectly together." They were part of the care package his father had sent him from Europe.
Lola leaned over the couch to mutter under her breath, "There's caviar in our fridge?" She asked Zoey to confirm what she just heard, and she nodded her head vigorously. They both silently cheered, knowing what they would eat once they returned to their room.
"Hey," James walked into the lounge, a few envelopes in his hand as he headed in. He stopped short when he saw Michael and Chase, seemingly begging on their knees to the others. "Do I want to know?" He asked, gesturing towards the other two guys with the mail in his hands. Seeing how the others shook their heads rapidly, silently saying he did not, helped him make his decision. "Okay, great," ignoring the two on the floor, he handed the curly-haired boy some mail. "The guy in the mail room asked me to give this to you. He said it seemed important."
Logan looked over the white envelope, checking the address and who the sender was. "It's from my dad." He sat up straighter on the couch, feeling a little nervous to be receiving a letter from his father suddenly. Usually, they communicated through emails or phone calls. Carefully ripping open the top of the envelope, he pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"What's it say?" Lola asked, forgetting all about the weirdness of Michael and Chase and now fully focused on the letter in his hands.
Clearing his throat, Logan read aloud the contents. "Dear Logan, you've shown great maturity this past year, and I'm very proud of you," he released a soft gasp, looking at the letter as if it had suddenly turned to gold. Those words were something he desperately craved to hear from his father. It felt like as the years passed, his father didn't say it as much or at all to him as he did when he was little. Seeing them in black and white ink made him feel invincible. Feeling Quinn's hand squeeze his bicep, he bounced a little on the couch, now eager to read the next part. "I think you're finally grown up enough to have one of your own. Love Dad."
"Own what?" Zoey asked, hoping that it wouldn't be another car. The last time he had gotten one, it only led to a colossal mess and headaches for everyone else.
Looking at the back and front of the letter, Logan saw that there was nothing else written. No indication of what his father might have given him. Putting the letter in his lap, he held the envelope again and realized it had some weight to it. "Hey, there's something else inside." Flipping it upside down, he shook it a little to make whatever was inside fall into his palm.
Out fell a sleek and shiny black credit card. "No way…"
"A new credit card?" James seemed a little disappointed at the item. From what was written in the letter, he had been expecting more. "What makes this so special compared to your other one?" He's seen the guy flash the card around campus more than once, bragging about his monthly allowance, which was around half a semester's titration.
Logan stared in wonder at the card, holding the piece of plastic between his two hands with great care. "This isn't just any credit card. This is the credit card!" He held it up to the light. Taking in its beauty and feeling the power he now had in his hands. "This card has no limit. I can buy whatever I want without worrying about maxing it out." He cheered, throwing a fist up in the air. Unbeknownst to him, amongst all his cheering, his friends all looked completely stupefied upon learning he now had a credit card without a limit. Some things in this world just don't ever seem fair or make sense.
"Baby," Quinn patted his side, trying to get him to calm down. He was starting to make a scene. "I'm really happy for you, but maybe you want to relax a bit before you do anything rash." She loved her boyfriend and knew he was an amazing, smart, and sensible guy. Albeit one who gets excited very easily and tends to go off the deep end, but she still loved him all the same.
He grabbed her hand, interlocking their fingers together. "No way, honey! We have to celebrate. Let's fly off to Paris and buy you a new lab!" He was on a high from this new card, the excitement of having it was flowing through him worse than any sugar rush he's ever been on.
Quinn was quick to pull him back down onto the couch before he tried to do anything drastic. "Logan," she put both her hands on his lap, keeping him in place and making sure his focus shifted to her. "I'm happy for you, I really am. And I know how amazing it is to find out that your father trusts you with this card, but…"
The smile finally fell from his face when he heard that word. "But what?"
"I just don't want you doing anything that you could regret," she adjusted herself to sit back, taking her hands off him now that she felt he won't run off and buy airplane tickets. Or worse, buy a whole airline.
He frowned, "But I wanted to make my first big purchase on you." Quinn was the smartest and most amazing girl he knew. She deserved the world, and now that he had this credit card, he could give it to her.
Cooing at his sweet words, she cupped his cheek in her hand. "You're sweet, but the only thing I need in my life is you."
Logan leaned into her touch, beaming brightly as he looked at all their friends. "Isn't she great?" He cocked his head to kiss her soft lips. She did have a point, though. If he did anything too rash or too big, it might make his father rethink his choice, and then he would regret that. For now, he would hold off on doing anything too crazy. Of course, he would talk with his father to ask about what exactly was deemed too much. "Perfect couple, what I tell ya." Zoey and Lola stuck their tongues out at him.
"Hey man," Michael patted Logan on the arm, smiling at his friend. He was happy for him. He knew that hearing your father is proud of you is like winning the grand prize for a son. "I'm really happy for you, and I have a great idea of what you can use for your first purchase."
"I'm not buying you fruit smackers," Logan said without missing a beat as he put his credit card away in his wallet. Looking over the black leather, he frowned when he saw creasing forming on the fabric.
"Come on, man!" Michael cried out, wondering what he would have to do to get those beautifully-tasting snacks back in his mouth.
"Uh…what are fruit smackers, and why do Chase and Michael look like they're about to cry?" James asked, both a little concerned and freaked out at their behavior.
Zoey just shook her head and laughed. "They're these weird Norwegian snacks that they're addicted to."
"But Quinn dissected the last of them, so now they're being babies." Lola finished off the story. There was a bit more going on in the middle, but he got the gist of it.
James wasn't sure what he was more confused about, the part where Norwegian candy was apparently so addicting it could make people cry or the part where Quinn dissected it. "How…?" He wanted to ask but stopped himself, knowing the answer would only lead to a headache.
"Can't you just call your dad and ask him to send you another care package, but this time just full of that candy?" Chase asked, getting a little annoyed that his prospects of getting the candy he desired were none.
Logan scoffed, getting back into a more comfortable position on the couch. "Why would I tell my dad to send me something I don't like?" That'd be like asking Santa for a present you know you would hate as a kid.
"It could act as your contribution to the room." Michael retorted, feeling sassy.
"Hey, I contribute to the room," Logan cried out, turning on the couch to face his roommates directly. "Who do you think is the one who keeps it so clean?"
Zoey couldn't help but snort. "You clean the room?"
He gave her a disgusted look, "Gross no." The thought of cleaning was just nasty. As if he would risk ruining his hand-modeling career by cleaning.
Chase cocked his head to the side to look at his girlfriend. "Rosario does it for him."
"Who's Rosario?" Lola asked, a little confused about why they were naming somebody they never heard of before.
Michael sighed, standing back up on his feet. The floor was starting to hurt his knees. "The cleaning lady that Logan hired to tidy up our room."
"You hired a cleaning lady?" Lola gasped out, annoyed that he would be so lazy that he hired somebody else to clean their room and also because she wanted that same service.
Zoey shook her head, pushing a few pieces of hair out of her eyes and behind her ear. "Why'd you hire a cleaning lady? What are you scared of, dust bunnies or something?" She knew he was pampered and lazy, but she didn't think it was to this extent.
Logan turned around to give her a nasty look, "No, I'm not scared of dusty bunnies," he shook his hands at her, making a mock frightening gesture. "I hired Rosario, so I wouldn't have to subject Quinn to the nasty tidy whities that these two kept leaving on the floor." He pointed behind him at his two roommates, each one pointing at the other to place the blame onto them.
"Aww baby," Quinn cooed once more at his sweet gesture. She had been wondering why it was so clean in their room lately. Now it all made sense. "How about I give you a nice scalp massage, and then we can get some lunch."
He nodded in approval that all sounded good to him. "How about lunch in Italy? My treat." He waggled his eyebrows, trying to get her to agree.
Laughing softly, she grabbed his hand in hers and led him out of the lounge. "How about some sushi and a picnic." The two walked out of the room, discussing where to go for a little lunch date.
Zoey watched them go before giving Lola a knowing look. "You think what I'm thinking?"
"It's caviar time!" Lola exclaimed with glee, all but jumping out of her seat, and she and Zoey walked towards the exit.
James did a double take. "There's caviar?" He followed behind the girls, asking for more details and hopefully to get some.
Chase and Michael watched as all their friends left them in the lounge area. Chase, who at this point had still been on the floor, got up to stand next to his friend and fellow fruit smackers lover. "We are so getting those snacks."
Michael nodded, "Yeah, we are." He rubbed his hands together, shifting back and forth on his feet as they looked at the exit. "How?"
"I have no idea." Chase replied, genuinely unsure of how they could go about getting the snack they so craved.