The morning sunlight streamed through the partially drawn curtains, casting a spotlight over the scene of chaos in Tori's living room. The mattresses scattered across the floor were like islands, draped with mismatched blankets and pillows grabbed in a half-drunken, nostalgic frenzy the night before. It had been decided an impromptu sleepover was needed so the boys took the mattresses off of all the bedrooms and carried- well threw- them down the stairs and into the lounge—just like old times.
Tori stirred awake first, blinking groggily as she realized her head was resting on Andre's chest. His arm was slung loosely around her shoulders, their bodies nestled together on one of the mattresses. At some point in the night, the boundaries of being exes had dissolved into the simple comfort of being friends. But now, in the clarity of morning, there was a strange familiarity to it that neither of them could ignore.
Andre shifted slightly, waking up with a soft groan. He blinked down at Tori, his lips curling into a sleepy smile. "Morning."
"Morning," Tori replied, her voice hushed to avoid waking the others. She stayed where she was, leaning lightly against his chest, the steady rhythm of his breathing grounding her in the surreal comfort of the moment. "This feels... very high school."
Andre chuckled, his voice low and warm. "Right? Except back then, we weren't sleeping on mattresses in the middle of a mansion."
Tori laughed softly, glancing around at the others. Cat and Jade were curled up on another mattress, Cat's back against Jade's front, their legs tangled under a shared blanket. Beck and Robbie were sprawled on their own mattress, Beck lying on his back while Robbie had managed to claim most of the space, leaving Beck with just a corner of the blanket.
Tori tilted her head slightly, watching Cat and Jade for a moment. They looked peaceful, their faces relaxed and unusually serene. "Look at them," she murmured, gesturing toward the two girls. "They're so... close."
Andre followed her gaze, a smirk tugging at his lips. "Maybe they're secretly together. Who knows?" he joked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Tori let out a quiet laugh, covering her mouth to stifle the sound. "Can you imagine? Cat and Jade as a couple? That'd be... wild."
"Not that wild," Andre teased, giving her a knowing look. "I mean, they've always had this weird connection. It's not like Jade's ever let anyone else mess with Cat, even when she was at her scariest."
"True," Tori admitted, thinking back to all the times Jade had jumped to Cat's defense over the years. "But still... it's Cat and Jade. It's hard to picture."
"Eh, maybe," Andre said with a shrug. "But stranger things have happened."
They fell into a comfortable silence, the soft sound of the others' breathing filling the room. Tori let her gaze wander, taking in the scene of her friends, all still passed out in last night's outfits, looking like a snapshot from a different time. The years between them suddenly felt smaller, the distance they'd all traveled to get to this moment fading into the background.
"This is nice," Tori said quietly, her voice tinged with gratitude. "Having everyone here. It feels like... I don't know, like we didn't lose anything, even after all this time."
Andre looked down at her, his expression softening. "Yeah," he said, his voice low and sincere. "It does. And I know we've all got our own lives now, but... it's good to know we can still come back to this. To us."
Tori smiled, resting her head back against his chest. "Yeah. To us."
They sat there in the quiet, watching the sunlight creep further into the room, the weight of time slipping away as they basked in the simplicity of being together again as a group.