Trent awoke the next day somewhere past noon and found Bea and Claire sitting together in the hot tub, chatting. He took a leak, brushed his teeth, and then got in with them.

"Where's everyone else?" he murmured.

"Mae and Molly walked somewhere to get lunch," Bea said. "Ann's chilling with Gregg and Angus. I think they're a little antsy to go home."

"Mmm. I gotta say, I kinda like this," he said, looking around the room, then splashing some of the water onto his face and rubbed his eyes. "Being out here is kind of like a vacation. Although I feel sort of bad because it's not like I need a vacation."

"I do," Claire said. "I'm still decompressing from...my life. Also, thank you again for saving it. Because it feels like that's what you did. I mean, all of you, but Trent, you were for real just like, 'I'm going to change your life' and then you did it."

"I wanted you to be happy," he replied. "Also, I didn't do it alone."

"Which I appreciate more than I can say, and you were a huge actor in making it happen."

"Speaking of improving lives, what exactly happened between you and Molly last night?" Bea asked.

Claire's eyes widened a little. "Wait, I thought she a lesbian? What happened?!"

He laughed. "Nothing like that! It was a very platonic...opening up, sort of moment of vulnerability."

"Are you shitting me? She fucks Mae but she opens up to you?" Bea asked.

"To be fair, Mae was asleep. You all were. I happened to wake up."

"What'd she say?" Claire asked.

"Not a lot, admittedly. Mostly that her life isn't as great as it appears, and she's not the best person in the world, without getting into much in the way of details. And what few details there were...are the kind that should come from her mouth or not at all," he replied.

"Man, you won't even tell Bea?" Claire asked.

"She didn't swear me to secrecy, exactly, but it was clear that she wanted it to be a private conversation." He splashed some more water onto his face, then settled in a bit more and rested his head on the padded rim. "Wow, this is fantastic. If I get like actually successful, I'm getting a hot tub."

"Yes please," Bea murmured.

"So what are we doing today? We just gonna go home or…?" Claire asked after a moment.

"What would you prefer?" Trent asked.

"Home," she replied. "This is great and fun, but I'm kinda homesick already. Well, homesick for my new home."

"Fair enough. I guess we'll get a general consensus, but if you're wanting to go home, we'll probably do that."

"I mean, if everyone else wants to hang here for a bit longer, I can do that. I don't want to make everyone leave just because I want to," Claire replied.

"We'll get it figured out," Trent said. "For now, I just wanna relax."

Bea laughed a little.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing, it's just...somehow, Mae still hasn't made the connection, I think. About Molly's name."

"What about Molly's name?" Trent asked.

"It's the same name as her aunt?"

Trent raised his head abruptly. "Holy fuck. How did I miss that? Oh man, don't tell her. Seriously, don't ever tell her. She...has a difficult relationship with her aunt, and I don't know how upset it would make her."

"I mean, it'll come out eventually. It'll have to," Bea said. "But you're right. Let her live in blissful ignorance for as long as she can."

"It is a weird situation. I dated a guy named Chris once. Ugh. Weird," Claire agreed.

"Has he been bothering you at all?" Bea asked.

"No, surprisingly, he's been not an asshole. Mostly he's just left me alone. I told him he isn't allowed to come around Mae's or your guys' house at all, and I warned Mae's parents about him and about my own parents. I have to say, Mae's parents are really, like...on the ball. Like they actually listen to me. I'm used to older people just brushing off what I have to say, or pretending to listen to get me to shut up. It's...weird. In a good way, obviously."

"They're pretty great," Trent said. "It was a little weird at first, and there was definitely some tension with Mae's mom. She was straight up like 'if you ever hurt Mae, I know how and where to hide bodies all over this town'."

Bea laughed loudly. "Wow, dude! That's intense! I believe it, though. Candy is...super weird. Like Mae. Mostly in a good way. Her dad is...you know, I used to wonder about how they got together, because he seems so, like, normal compared to her. But now that I've seen you with Mae...I get it."

"You think I'm normal?" he asked.

"No, but you're a lot closer to normal than she or her mom is. And…" Bea hesitated, then looked guilty, then looked away.

"What?" he asked.

"Yeah, what was that look?" Claire asked.

"It's just...I always used to worry about Mae. That no one would ever get with her, because she was so weird. And then, after we had our split, I got...mean, in my head, about it. Telling myself, good, no one will ever get with her, she fucking betrayed me, she doesn't deserve a boyfriend. And then I was so fucking bitter when she got with Cole," Bea said, not looking at them at all now, staring down into the water.

"Jeez," Trent muttered.

"Yeah, like...how the fuck do you just admit this stuff? Out loud? I don't know how you guys do it. I would fucking die if I had to tell that to you or Trent. I'm really in line with Molly with this one...even though you have pulled a lot of embarrassing or humiliating stuff out of me," Claire murmured. Then she heaved a sigh. "Fuck, sorry, I'm all 'let's fucking make this about me!'."

"It's fine," Bea said. "And I guess...to answer your question, it's because I trust Trent. And you. Not to humiliate me, or tell Mae, or anyone else, or...judge me. Even if maybe you should."

"I'm not going to judge you, Bea. We all thought shitty as fuck things in the past. We will in the future," Trent replied. "Did you ever tell her any of this?"

"Fuck no," Bea replied.

"Then I don't see the problem."

"He's right," Claire said.

Bea sighed softly. "Yeah, just...I guess what I mean is, I'm glad she has you. And, also, I guess I feel like confessing I actually kind of liked Cole."

"Ooh man, that must've stung," Trent said sympathetically. "I...really get that."

"Yeah, it's...whatever, it's in the past. I'm honestly not upset about it anymore. I've buried so much shit with Mae. Shit, speak of the devil," she muttered as they heard the key to the lock. The door opened up and the sounds of Mae and Molly talking came to them.

"Hey, is everyone up?" Mae asked.

"Yeah, and we're all butt naked in here," Bea replied.

Mae giggled as she and Molly walked into their bedroom and looked down at them. "I'm glad we're all cool about that."

"I'm honestly surprised I'm this cool being completely naked in front of someone I just met last night. And masturbating in front of them," Claire replied.

"That was hot," Molly replied, her voice having that very slight seductive lilt to it. Trent wondered if she even realized she was doing it.

She had such a fucking voice, and she knew how to use it.

"You two enjoy your breakfast?" Trent asked.

"We did, and we were wondering if, like, uh...how much of a pain in the ass would it be to stay a little longer? Like, another day?" Mae asked timidly.

"Hmm." Trent considered it for a moment, then got out of the tub and started drying off. "Let's go talk with everyone and get a measure of it. We've got two cars. I'm will to hang around another day if everyone else wants to go home."

"I could hang for another day, I like this," Bea said.

"Sweet!" Mae cried.

"Guess I should get dressed," Bea said as she got up out of the hot tub.

"Yep," Claire agreed.

They joined him in drying and dressing.

In the end, Gregg, Angus, Ann, and Claire went home in Bea's car.

Gregg and Angus both had responsibilities to tend to, and Ann figured she'd use the opportunity to hang out with her mom.

Trent formally checked them out of the other two rooms, and extended his stay in his own room for another night, then the four of them headed out.

"What should we do?" Bea asked.

"Well, whatever we do I'm pretty much cashed out after breakfast…" Molly said.

"Oh, don't worry about that, whatever we do, I'll cover you," Trent said.

"You sure about that?" Molly replied. He noticed she'd been a little awkward any time they directly interacted.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, don't worry! We're basically Trent's trophy wives at this point, and you can be his, like, non-sexual temporary trophy wife," Mae said.

"Wow, Mae," Bea said.

"What?!"

"That was, like, wildly inappropriate."

"I mean I'm mostly joking! You gotta lighten up, Bea," Mae replied.

"I mean...there are worse things to be," Molly said. "And, in that case, uh...I'd really love to go bowling. I miss bowling. There's a place that has, like, the best wings in the universe." She pulled out her phone. "Here, I'll find it on the GPS."

Before long, they were driving along, and Bea groaned.

"What?" Trent asked.

"I basically am a trophy wife. Not even wife, girlfriend...I guess not fiance. Or, I mean, is it fiance if we know we're gonna get married at some point?"

"I have no idea. I thought we'd become fiances after I officially pop the question, and you aren't a trophy girlfriend," Trent replied. "Anymore than I am a fuckboy."

She laughed. "You really think so? I have no income. I have no job, and I'm not intending to get one anytime soon. Eventually, I'm going to go to college and, if at all possible, leach off of you while I get my degree. I look good with you when we go out. I have totally gotten you laid before. How am I not a trophy girlfriend?"

"That's...a good point," he muttered. "I guess, trophy implies I don't actually give a shit about you? Your wants and needs, in this particular dynamic, would mean nothing to me beyond mere annoyances. And that I'm just with you for sex and social affirmation, and you're just with me for money and to not be slut-shamed so obviously by publicly having a man."

"Holy shit," Molly muttered.

"What?" Bea asked.

"That's just...I've never heard it just broken down like that, but a lot of the relationships I know are basically what you just described with varying levels of tolerance. That's really depressing. It's like...I don't know what it's like. Maybe like you've been going to magic shows your whole life and suddenly someone shows you precisely how it's done? Something like that."

"Oh...sorry," Trent said.

"It's fine, it's not your fault, really, just...it's weird. I don't usually talk about stuff like this. Everything I talk about is really...surface level, I guess? At least in person. I hang out in a few forums where I talk about other stuff. Oh, hey, there. Up ahead, that big brown building? That's the bowling alley."

"Got it."

He pulled into the lot and parked. Judging by the amount of cars, they figured the place was probably fairly empty, and as they headed inside, he was glad to see this was the case. They got shoes and a lane, then went and ordered a pair of pizzas, one supreme, one pepperoni, two dozen BBQ wings, a side of fries, and drinks all around, then headed over to their lane.

"Thanks for this again. If you want, I really can pay you back...at some point," Molly said as they sat down and got their shoes switched over.

"Consider it a gift," Trent replied.

"All right. I'm probably going to be a little weird about it, but I accept it," she said.

"I understand," Mae said.

"Same," Bea said. "This one time I had to go back to work after relaxing with them for a bit and he just straight up gave me sixty bucks. 'For whatever, to be happy', he tells me. And that's like, two or three full days of work for me. That he just hands me. To help make my life less miserable, because I had to stop being around him and go put up with my shitty job. And I felt so many conflicting emotions, and it was really difficult."

"Yeah, I've basically just been broke trash ever since we met. Just about everything that's entered my life has been funded by him," Mae said.

Molly was frowning, staring at the three of them. "How do you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?" Mae replied.

"How do you just...be so open? Just admit this stuff? I still don't get it. And I...want to figure out how."

"I think it's one of those things that, like, you just do?" Bea replied. "Trust me, I get where you're coming from. I was so fucking distrustful of Trent when we first met. Like I actively mistrusted him, I thought he was trying to fuck me over somehow." She smirked and looked over at him. "Turns out, he was just trying to fuck me."

"I mean, not just that," he replied.

Bea laughed, then returned her attention to Molly. "It's something I'm not sure you'll ever feel totally ready for. But, like, you shouldn't do it if you don't feel, I dunno...safe? I felt safe, eventually. Well, pretty quickly, honestly. But it's like jumping into the pool. You just gotta jump."

"I guess that makes sense," Molly murmured.

A quiet moment passed.

"You getting ready to just jump with something?" Mae asked.

"Yeah," Molly replied awkwardly.

"Might as well just do it," Mae said.

"If it helps, we're really laid back, and I doubt there's anything you could throw at us that would piss us off. I mean, beyond like really obvious stuff," Trent offered.

"Yeah, you're right...it's a big ask, I realize, but could I, like, come crash at your place for, like, a week?" she asked.

"That is a big ask," Bea murmured. "It'd be an extra six hours of driving. Unless you found a way back on your own."

"Full disclosure: I'd have no way back." She shifted awkwardly. "If the answer is no, that is very reasonable."

"Well, I don't have any reason to say no," Bea said.

"Mae?" Trent asked. He couldn't really see a reason not to. She seemed like she needed a break, and in a way, he thought Claire was right: Molly did resemble her in a few ways. One of them being that she was hiding a lot of misery, and wanted some relief from it, and they could offer that.

"Jeez, it's on me?" she asked.

"Well, if Ann says yes, I don't mind," Trent replied.

"Then I'm gonna say yeah, that'd be awesome."

"Okay then."

"Are you sure?" Molly asked. "That's, like, a lot of gas money, and I'm more or less broke." She shifted around uncomfortably. "Man, I'm so not used to this."

"Asking people for things?" Bea asked.

"No, like, I totally ask for things all the time, just more...you know, sexily? I'm not used to just throwing myself on people's mercy. Man, does that make me a shitty person?" she asked.

"I don't think so," Bea said. "I've certainly manipulated people into doing things for me, though by being intimidating instead of sexy."

"I'm pretty sure I've done it by acting dumb or annoying," Mae said.

"I'm pretty sure most people have. It's not great, but it's also not terrible," Trent said.

"Personally, I think you should work with what you got. And you clearly got looks," Bea said.

"Yeah…" Mae murmured dreamily, leaning forward. "Oh! I have some money now. You can be my, like, uh...what's it called?"

"Trophy girlfriend?" Molly asked with a smirk.

"Like that but there's a name for it...sugar baby!"

"Hmm."

"You know Mae, some people might find that offensive," Bea said.

"Oh. I don't think Molly does," Mae replied.

"From a lot of other people, I might take some issue with it. Certainly I've had enough offers. But...I dunno. I like it. And it's not like you'd not give a shit about me or be using me completely for my body...does it make me a bad person that I'm sorta into that?"

"No," Bea said.

"You were pretty quick with that reply," Trent murmured with a small smile.

"Stop starting shit!" she hissed, hitting his leg.

"No idea what you're talking about."

"It's your turn to bowl!"

"No, it's Mae's turn."

"Come on, this is getting good," Mae complained.

"It's not like you can't hear us from all the way over at the head of the lane," Trent replied. "I'm sure you'll hear Bea's whining loud and clear."

"Oh fuck you," Bea growled.

Mae giggled as she got up and went to get her ball. "Good point."

"You two...have such an interesting relationship," Molly murmured, looking immensely amused.

"I'm a, ugh, a brat. I hate that word. There has to be a better word for it," Bea replied.

"I think bitch is a good word," Trent replied. Bea swiveled in her chair, staring hard at him. "I think it fits really well."

"Oh my God, dude, she is going to fucking stab you," Molly said, laughing.

"You're very lucky," Bea growled.

"I know," he replied.

"It's your turn, Bea!" Mae said as she came back.

Bea sighed and stood up. Trent reached out and slapped her ass. She froze up, going as stiff as a statue for a few seconds, then began walking forward again muttering something.

"What was that, Bea?" he asked.

She raised her middle finger back at him.

All three of them laughed.

"I think what truly gives it that extra spiciness is the pinch of authenticity," Trent said. "On some level, I am actually pissing her off when I say that stuff to her. Even though it's a mutually agreed upon pissing off. It's...a delicate balance. I have to know when it's too much. I mean, obviously I just want to sexually entice her, I don't want to actually make her angry or hurt."

"That makes a lot of sense," Mae said. "I always thought Trent was, like, the fucking Chosen One, because he's the only person I know who can call Bea a bitch and survive, and who can get my mom to back down from stuff. She's ridiculously stubborn."

"Hmm, I wonder if that's genetic," Trent said.

"Shut up!" Mae growled. "I'm not like her."

"Okay," he replied.

She sighed. "I'm not!" she complained petulantly.

"Give it up, Mae, you're so much like your mom," Bea said. "And Trent agrees with me, I'm just saying it because we aren't dating, Mae."

"Is she right!?" Mae asked, glaring at Trent. He shrugged non-noncommittally. "Come on!"

"It's my turn," he replied, getting up.

"You fucker," Mae growled.

Trent laughed and bowled. He guttered the first one, then managed to knock them all down with the second one.

"Wow, that was sweet," Molly said as he sat back down and she got up for her turn.

"I get lucky sometimes," Trent replied, pulling out his phone.

"You get lucky all the time, you handsome fucker," Bea muttered.

"Agreed," he replied. He texted Ann, asking if she'd mind Molly crashing at their place for a week. He was already sure that he'd be willing to drive her back home, and he was sure Mae would want to come with them, although he figured they'd probably want a third person along for the ride. Someone who could drive.

Just in case.

He frowned as he waited for Ann to respond. He had anxiety now. Well, he'd probably always had it, it was just that now it had affected his life in an obvious and huge way. And might again. And he was going to be inconvenienced, or worse, inconvenience another person.

He looked up as the food came. They thanked the person who delivered it, and then he checked his phone as Ann responded.

If everyone else is cool with it I am.

"Looks like we're good to go on you crashing at our place for a week. We've got a foldout couch that's pretty comfy," he said as he grabbed one of the wings.

"Awesome. If you wanna back out, I'd understand," Molly replied.

"Nope, we're totally locked in now!" Mae said as she grabbed a slice of pizza.

"Holy shit," Trent whispered after swallowing his first bite from the wing. "What the fuck? Why is this so good?"

"I know, right?!" Molly said, grabbing one for herself.

"Mystery of the universe," Bea said, also grabbing one.