Head in the clouds

Waking up to hushed whispers and giggling was never a good sign. It meant something was going on, and you best hope you're not a part of whatever is causing the hushed ruckus and it's some other sleeping soul.

"The fuck is so funny?" I groaned, wondering why it was so bright all of a sudden. My head house had no real windows so I could sleep easier. Then I realized my body felt weighed down heavily in a comfortably cool sort of blanket. I didn't own a weighted blanket, and it took me longer than I'd like to remember that for the first time in a long time I didn't go to sleep alone in my bed. I shifted my body as much as I could in the tight hold, my arm barely reaching for my head and it wasn't where I had set it last night. I panicked even if I didn't feel any pain to indicate I fell, but opening my eyes didn't yield much help. I saw Heather and Topher giggling over pictures through the gaps of what I believed was Rusheen's colorful tail. The early morning sunlight had flooded the room so I could see everything clearly, but wherever Rusheen had stashed my head in his coils I couldn't see my body to get my bearings, all I could see was tail and the upper halves of Topher and Heather who clearly had no intentions of helping me out of this. I took a deep breath and continued trying to unravel my body from Rusheen's constricting coils as Heather and Topher continued to giggle and snort their amusement at the situation. I gave them my best deadpan expression from wherever my head was stuck and huffed loudly.

"Yeah, laugh it up, this is SO fucking funny." I snapped, finally freeing my good arm and slowly heaving the heavy tail off of the rest of me until Rusheen apparently didn't appreciate the loss of his personal heater and his tail shifted around me to quickly trap me once more. At this point Heather was holding onto Topher trying to hold herself up from her barely suppressed laughter as he leaned against the wall not faring much better.

"Rusheen! It would be very nice if you would wake up now!" I huffed impatiently, struggling until his grip became too constrictive, making me wonder if he was in the constrictor family and if this had been a good idea at all. Rusheen still seemed to be dead asleep against my struggling and whining.

"Rusheen! Wake up! You're fucking crushing me!" I yelled, barely freeing my good arm once more to smack his tail harshly and pinch any part of him I could reach to try and wake him up so I could actually move again! When this plan seemed to backfire and he was starting to constrict even tighter I panicked, biting his tail with all my might when his tail moved to almost suffocated my head as well and that finally seemed to do the trick. Rusheen yelped and for half a second his tail constricted painfully tight before he quickly completely let go of my body while his cool hands picked up my head after I let go of his tail.

"Shit, Caellum, ya alright?! Ah am so sorry!!" he panicked, his tail pulling far away from my body as he looked over my head with terrified eyes. I took a few deep breaths now that I wasn't being squeezed within an inch of my life. I breathed deeply, my body slowly sitting upright and recovering, a hand on my chest for a moment before checking over my cast covered broken hand. Once I was sure everything was alright aside from some soreness and probably bruising later, I rested my broken hand on Rusheen's tail and he visibly flinched, tail moving away from me and he clutched my head tighter in his hands for just a second before loosening his grip and looking at me with his yellow eyes full of terror.

"It's okay, accidents happen, you just need to relax." I soothed, still slightly breathless as we sat there. I slowly shifted my body closer to his and put my hand on his tail again. "You didn't mean to do it. Is the house too cold for you? Your body was just trying to preserve heat right? Topher gets strong instinctive reactions too sometimes, the more animalistic parts creep into every part of you and some things are easier to reason with than others. It happens." I continued softly, though his eyes still looked scared as he sat there looking between my head and my body as if an answer would appear. He looked terrified to be near me yet like seeing my head in his hands and seeing at least that the part of me he was truly entrusted with is unharmed is the only thing grounding him. He was just paralyzed in fear. I gave a low whistle to make him just look at my head while my body gave a small wave behind my back for Heather and Topher to stay back for now. Crowding never did Topher or his family any good when dealing with instinct backlash so I doubted it would help Rusheen here either.

"Rusheen look at my face. I'm okay. I don't understand myself, but I've been around the Whorff's long enough to know instincts are hard to fight. Something told you to keep a hold on me while you slept and that's okay. I'm a bit startled, but look at me. I'm okay Rusheen. You told me to trust you, and I did. You kept my head safe, the rest you can work on over time. I should have just tried to wake you up instead of fighting you, and that's my fault. I didn't think how that would affect you or your instincts when you're not even awake to control them." I continued to try and soothe gently. Rusheen slowly seemed to be calming down but still upset.

"Ah could 'ave killed ya dat way. Ya trusted meh, and Ah almost killed ya." Rusheen forlornly replied. I soothed down his tail slowly, wishing I could shake my head at him.

"You didn't. You woke up and everything is fine now. I'm okay, my head never was in harm's way. You kept your word and you kept all of me in bed. It's all good Rusheen. Just calm down okay?" I reasoned carefully, watching his face slowly ease out of the terrified expression. I smiled at him as he calmed down, happy he wasn't seeing himself as a monster for an accident. He was right, it could have ended very badly, but it didn't. So it was no use to remind him of what he already knew. I could freak out about my near death experience later when I was alone. For now I just wanted everyone around me to be calm if not happy. Topher cleared his throat as Rusheen finally finished calming down.

"So, you guys still up for breakfast at Jenny's? Cus we're starving." he asked, earning an elbow in his ribs from Heather for his lack of tact.

"How about you go see if Adrian is awake and ready first before you start hurrying these two along dumbass?" she snipped, eyes rolling. I chuckled as Topher pretended to be hurt by her sharp jab and went to do as she bid him. When Topher was gone, Heather turned back to us.

"Rusheen, Amelia was kind enough to send Hayley over an overnight bag this morning so you can change and go about your morning routine." she told him with a smile, then looked at me. "Caellum, just hurry up and get your fat head out of bed so we can go get food already. If you're going to take forever then you WILL be missing your Bitch Box set." She threatened coldly, making my body leap out of bed even as she threw Rusheen his bag of stuff.

"Oh you will NOT be taking my Bitch box set you shrew!" I snapped back, taking my head form Rusheen to get ready quickly. I set my head back down on a shelf by my closet I had for some pictures and knick-knacks and the top of the shelf I kept a space to put my head as I got dressed. When I remembered to actually use it that is. I quickly rummage through my dresser beside the shelf and find a black and yellow flannel and paired it with a black t-shirt. Then I grabbed some black socks and underwear with some gray skinny jeans. When I looked back to see Heather hadn't left and Rusheen was slowly getting out of bed and trying to hide his laughter, most likely at how quickly Heather got me out of bed, I rolled my eyes.

"Heather you may like the view but seriously?" I asked, changing my shirt first and putting on the t-shirt followed by the flannel. She snorted, moving one arm across her chest to hold the other up as she rested her chin on her wrist.

"I'll enjoy the show all I want today, thank you very much. After cleaning up the trash pile you once pretended was a decent coffee table I put in for a new one from my dad's store. So you know, actually good quality and not plywood on milk crates. You can at least thank me by letting me enjoy the show and stop pretending you care. You know you're fit and we're both single and obviously never going to get together. I'd be more worried to change in front of Topher if I were you." She snidely replied, raising an eyebrow at me as she smirked. I laughed for a moment and looked at Rusheen who seemed to have no problem changing where he was. Granted he really only needed a long shirt change but it definitely looked appetizing as he did so. He wasn't ripped or really even toned but he was still lean and his arms were well defined in a way that spoke how he didn't work out but that he was far from totally lazy either. His milk chocolate skin looked almost molten as the sun peeked in around my curtains and seeing he had no problem I at least half turned from Heather to change my bottoms. Last thing I needed was to flash Heather a semi and her relentlessly taunt me for criticizing her for enjoying the view and then clearly doing so myself with a far more unsuspecting canvas. I did my best to make quick work of the change, buttoning my jeans when I finally turned back to her, giving her a bored but pointed look.

"Happy now watching the gay man change?" I asked petulantly. I didn't actually have a problem changing in front of her these days but it was still fun to tease like we were still bashful high schoolers. It was very awkward at first, but it came in handy for the few events we worked together when she wasn't only the makeup artist. Quick changes were important and it was better to change in a cramped shed with your best friend rather than a group of strangers or taking a chance behind a hay bale. Especially when in high school we were both very self conscious of our bodies. Me because as a Dullahan I have to put my head down and the last thing I needed was some locker room asshole taking my head and playing keep away, and her because of her birthmark. Heather had a large birthmark that made a very pale run around her neck, it didn't completely encircle her neck as it had a few inch gap by her right shoulder but I would often tell her it looked like a fancy choker necklace. She hated it when I first met her and she was more afraid of me making a comment about that than she was the rest of her body. She did her best for as long as I've known her to try and be perfect at all times, she ate healthy, she had a rigorous skincare routine and watched endless tutorials to make sure her hair, nails, and makeup were always perfect too. But her birthmark caused a lot of anxiety because it was so large and went around the back of her neck to the front it would take ages to conceal. She tried once or twice but it took way too long and way too much product to blend. So she was surprised when I told her it was cool. And I was jealous that her neck was so pretty, I'd love for a neck at all sometimes, let alone one that came with a cool mark like hers. At first she figured I was teasing her so she punched me in the gut. Then when she realized I was serious she got a crush on me. When she found out I was gay later that year she thought I was leading her on and endlessly pranked and harassed me till the next year when we were juniors and we stayed friends ever since.

"For now. But I'm warning you, your hideous couch is next." she huffed like the true fashionista she is. I laughed and waved her off, picking up my head once more and turning to Rusheen.

"You ready man?" I asked, fighting off a yawn as I ran a hand through my hair in an attempt to stave off any bed head. Rusheen nodded and smiled, making his way out the door. Good, it was nice to see him smile again after such a rough start. Shrugging back the thought, Heather and I followed behind him to find Topher and a half asleep Adrian already set to leave. Seeing Adrian awake this time I felt a wave of hurt wash over me again from our fight last night. But I bit my tongue and put on a smile like always and pushed on.

"Looks like everyone's ready." I chuckled, going to the hey hook to grab my keys, then shrug on my coat. I checked the pockets and I found my wallet, not my shining moment but at least I kept it in a safer place than lying around somewhere or forgotten at the barn. I opened the door, locked the knob and walked to the van to let whoever was last out shut the door. I rubbed my eyes tiredly and looked between my two neck apparatus. I could now choose which method I want to use and that never occurred to me till now. I could use the tried and true method Adrian designed years ago to help me drive, or try this new contraption and just not have to worry about holding my head. It was a hard decision especially when I'm half asleep and barely escaping a hangover. With those thoughts in mind I figured it better to stick to the headrest mount so old habits of driving with it didn't make me accidentally knock my head off the false neck as if to try and turn the wheel that wasn't there. After fishing the old driving mount from the back seat where Heather left it I set it back on the driver's headrest with a bit of help considering my broken hand, which had everyone debating if I should drive, and made sure it was all calibrated properly. Checked the turning, that I could see all my mirrors and that my body could fit just fine underneath it. By the time I had everything set up again, everyone was seated and buckled for our quest for breakfast.

"Does this really have to be so early?" Adrian whined, still looking half asleep. I wouldn't be surprised if Topher grabbed Adrian's clothes, pelted them at him to wake him up and then proceeded to hustle him through getting dressed for breakfast. I looked at the radio and chuckled.

"Adrian it's almost noon. We all slept in." I laughed, but I was grateful for the few extra hours given that I had fully expected it to be maybe a three hour nap given Heather is always an early bird and Topher was more than eager to shovel as much food as he could down on someone else's dime. Adrian seemed less than pleased with my response as he then turned to look out the window. I sighed and reluctantly just started the car and started clumsily backing out of the driveway while Topher rolled down his window. Thankfully the heat was still maxed out from last night's adventure so after my cursory glance I was glad I didn't need to worry about it and focused on correcting my final turn to surprisingly seamlessly merge onto the road to our local Jenny's breakfast diner.

After a not so seamless drive to Jenny's, Heather banned me from driving us home.

"You fucking almost killed us!" she shrieked, smacking my shoulder as she passed me in a huff storming into the restaurant. My driving may not have been flawless, but I didn't think it had been that bad. I rolled my eyes, waiting for the rest of our group. Adrian and Topher both looking very green around the gills so to speak I start to question if I had actually been more off than I thought.

"Dude, I'm with Heather. I'll drive home. Fuck please don't drive again 'till your hand is better. For the good of the country." Topher pleaded, a hand resting heavily on my shoulder when he caught up to me. I laughed a bit at how seriously he could deliver such dramatic whining. As he and Adrian made their way into the diner, I realized Rusheen hadn't even left the van yet. The door was still wide open and only the tip of his long cross-hatched tail was visible. I wandered back to the van and angled my head inside the van to see what was the hold up and had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Rusheen had flattened himself as much as physically possible against all vents and one arm clung to the bench styled back seat he was in while the other was clutching to his still buckled seat belt for dear life. I felt bad, but the scene was also hilarious seeing a huge Naga trying to flatten himself in terror in the back of an old minivan while still trying to absorb as much heat as he could to stay warm. I bit back my laughter and tried to compose myself as I offered him my unbroken right hand.

"It's safe now Rusheen. Come on, I won't be driving home either so you don't have to worry. Let's just go inside and enjoy breakfast." I offered, barely containing my chuckles as he looked at me with a wary glare.

"Ya drive lakka stakki fassyhole wit dat broken 'and." he growled out, slowly taking my hand to crawl out of the van. It was harder to contain my laughter then as he seemed to be cursing me out in Patwa and as bad as I felt for scaring him that bad it was just as funny seeing him mad now as it was seeing him horrified last night at the barn. I chortled and tried to bite my tongue as he slowly slithered out of the van, but he got me back by tripping me using his tail to pull a leg out from under me so I fell on my ass, cussing and trying to make sure I didn't drop my head. I glared up at Rusheen who just looked very pleased with himself and laughed, outstretching a hand to help me back up.

"Now we even." he stated proudly. I couldn't help but laugh away any anger I had felt and grabbed his offered hand to help me to my feet. Once I was standing again I smiled at him.

"We're even. But that's gonna be the easiest time you'll ever have to get me on my back, pretty boy." I flirted, flashing him a quick wink before sashaying hopefully seductively towards the restaurant and opening the door for him with a coy smirk over his shocked face. After a moment he collected himself and smirked back at me, entered the restaurant and put a hand in my hair briefly and looked me dead in the eye as he passed.

"Might be the easiest way ta get ya on ya back, but dat's not de only position ah know ta get ya screamin' ma name." He purred, letting go of my hair and continuing into the Jenny's as if nothing happened. And to say I was floored would be an understatement. Smooth fucker had a comeback for everything didn't he?! I chuckled quietly to myself before following him inside and joining our friends. They had grabbed a longer table by the window and were already chatting up a surprisingly tall waitress. She had long brown hair tied up in a messy braided bun near the top of her head with her bangs framing her face. Her green eyes looked over the table, eyeing Rusheen and I cautiously as we joined our friends. She gave us a shy and somewhat scared smile as we sat with everyone.

"Hi, welcome to Jenny's! Can I get you some drinks to start out?" she asked, I read her nametag and smiled. I took the offered menus from her and quickly browsed it.

"I think I'd like some coffee with cream and sugar please Tiara." I told her, handing a menu to Rusheen as the others started spouting off their drinks. Topher wanted a hot chocolate coffee, Heather an orange juice, Adrian asked for a smoothie and Rusheen kept looking over the menu curiously before finally deciding on a normal hot chocolate. Tiara nodded and wrote everything down and flashed us all another small smile before walking off to fill our order and give us time to decide on our food. As I looked over the menu I remembered why I seldom come here, I am just not a fan of eggs on pretty much everything, and I don't like pancakes. I groaned as I looked over the menu till Topher reached across the table to put a hand over my menu and wiggle his eyebrows with a lecherous grin.

"Dude, stop whining over the eggs and tell me you saw our waitress! Damn, all legs and a cute ass! If she wasn't so pale I'd wonder if she was an amazonian or something!" Topher happily relayed, giving a quiet wolf whistle as he changed his ears, eyes, and his tongue looking like he came from an old cartoon as he gushed over the apparently cute waitress. I choked on my laughter at his antics, and then even harder when Heather hit him over the head with her menu.

"Have some class you mutt. She's more than long legs and a fat ass for you to ogle. Poor girl's just trying to make a dime at work and go home. So save your breath and my sanity and do NOT try and get another hook up while we eat. It is too early for me to deal with your playboy bullshit." Heather snapped, going back to her menu to decide what she deemed edible enough to order. I laughed and out of the corner of my eye I saw Adrian peeking over his menu at the waitress and trying his hardest to be slick about it as he watched her filling her tray with our drinks. I followed his gaze and looked over the tall woman as if looking at her would give the answers I needed. She was easily at least 6' even in her flat converse and you didn't count the braided bun atop her head. Even as a gay man I could appreciate her simple beauty, almost scarily like what I would imagine a 'girl next door' kind of girl would look like. She wasn't covered in flattering and eye-catching makeup like Heather loved to wear but she wasn't totally plain either. Even in her black and pink Jenny's uniform. I noticed as she turned back to us lifting her tray of drinks that her light green eyes had such a softness around the edges that it almost reminded me of a lost puppy. She definitely looked very different from Adrian's usual type, women very similar to Heather who were very high maintenance in their appearance but end up putting more into how the world sees them that everything else falls horrifically by the wayside. But as much as I try not to judge harshly, most women like Heather were a type and such stereotypes had to come from somewhere. Good and bad apples in every bunch though so I did my best to shake away my hang ups and just focus on breakfast. Finding something I would actually enjoy would be a chore and our waitress was almost back to our table. After a long debate I figured I might as well get the steak and eggs and see if I can replace my eggs with hash browns or something. I sighed as I decided and set down my menu, smiling as Tiara passed everyone their drinks with a napkin under each. I carefully took my coffee from her with the saucer for my creamer and sugar and thanked her before she turned and gave Rusheen his hot chocolate and surprisingly gave Adrian his drink last despite him being closest to her. She handed him his strawberry banana smoothie with a napkin underneath like the rest of us then put her tray under her arm to ready her notepad.

"Everyone all set to order then? Or do you need a few more minutes?" she asked softly but just loud enough for all of us to hear. I held up my good hand, trying to force the habit of keeping my broken hand immobile as much as possible by holding my head as best I could, and opened the menu clumsily again.

"I'm ready, I'll have the steak and eggs please, but can I have hash browns instead of the eggs? And can the steak be rare?" I asked, looking back as she wrote down my order with a nod.

"Yeah, I can do that. And for your second side sir?" she asked, catching me off guard as I hadn't realized there was a second side to it. Seeing me flounder and likely used to such reactions she looked up from her pad, "We have corn, green beans, refried beans, carrots, mashed potato, bacon, sausage and a side salad." Tiara recited clearly, thankfully easing my bumbling decision making.

"I think I'll have the green beans please." I replied, she nodded and wrote it down, then looked at Rusheen who seemed a bit more shell shocked than me and unsure.

"Ah'm sorry, can Ah get da supah sizzlin' skillet?" Rusheen asked, still looking over the menu looking a little helpless. The waitress was unfazed, writing it down and nodding, then turning to Topher who put on a winning smile and his arm over the back of his chair to turn and look at her.

"I think we'll have two nacho tots for an appetizer, and I'll have an All American slammer but instead of toast can I have pancakes and an extra side of bacon?" Topher suavely rattled off, clearly not following Heather's warning. The poor waitress nodded, taking a moment to write all that down before flawlessly trying to move onto Heather to Topher's great dismay. Before Heather could speak though Topher tried to grab her attention back to ask for a refill on his barely touched chocolate coffee but Heather seemed to anticipate his antics and put an end to it. She deftly stomped on his foot under the table and with surprisingly perfect timing casually smacking his pained face with her menu and gracefully disguising the whole ordeal as reaching to collect mine and Rusheen's menu then placing Topher's menu under the stack.

"I'd like a fit slammer platter please with multigrain muffins if you have them and whole wheat if you don't and peanut butter on them instead of butter. And if at all possible I'd like my bacon a bit more on the well side please." Heather elegantly asked, placing the menus between herself and Adrian for the waitress to easily grab when she was done taking our orders. Somehow it seemed the waitress didn't notice a thing, focused solely on making sure she got Heather's order right. Likely afraid someone like her would give her hell if she didn't and she wasn't completely wrong but Heather wasn't completely a Karen type and would actually tip double usually if it turned out it was on herself that the order had been wrong.

"Alright, I think I got that…" she replied, eyes still on her notepad as she turned to Adrian, "And for you sir?" she continued, finally looking up from writing down our order.

"Could I um, have the Hammy Moons with home fries please?" Adrian muttered, eyes flicking nervously between his menu and the waitress who just nodded and added it to everything on her notepad.

"I can do that. Now will this all be on one check?" She asked, looking over the table before I waved for her attention.

"Yes please, all one." I told her, glaring at Topher who was still discreetly playing footsies and likely having a pinching war with Heather over his flirtatious antics with our unsuspecting waitress. Thankfully she ignored the scene and nodded to me, gathering the menus and letting us know she'd get everything in for us. When she was gone I rolled my eyes at Heather and Topher as they squabbled.

"Is dis normal?" Rusheen asked, pointing to Heather and Topher as they pinched one another and stepped on one another's toes. I laughed and turned my head to him with a careful nod.

"Very. Topher loves getting on Heather's nerves and Heather loves when she can show Topher up or foil his plans to flirt with every pretty girl he sees. So they end up like that-" I pointed to them with another laugh, "More often than not." I explained, turning to Adrian with a smile, "Right Adrian?" I asked, giving Adrian a bit of a start from whatever he had been thinking about looking at his napkin.

"What?" Adrian asked, looking at me in confusion. Clearly he hadn't been listening so I raised an eyebrow at him in question.

"You okay bro? You looked pretty deep in thought over your napkin there." I teased carefully, shifting my hold on my head so I could add creamer and sugar to my coffee and stir it all together. Adrian looked away once more and shrugged.

"It's nothing." he sighed, looking at Topher and Heather still making a scene then back to me. "Why are they fighting this time?" he asked, making me chuckle but Rusheen answered before I could.

"They're fighting because Topher flirted wit da cute waitress an not her." he replied teasingly, catching the whole table off guard and even got Heather and Topher to stop fighting and look at one another in disgust.

"Hell no! Why would I want the overgrown mutt to flirt with me?! Sorry but not my type and I seriously wouldn't want to deal with his mother lording over me the rest of my life thank you. I get enough of that from my own parents." She denied, gagging and looking away from Topher, holding up her hand as if to provide more space between her and Topher who looked equally displeased at the very notion.

"Sorry princess you're not my type either, I like a lot less makeup on a woman and definitely some more meat on their bones for me to grab ahold of." Topher jeered back, making Heather gasp and glare in pure fury. She may be comfortable with her tiny frame and lack thereof major physical bust or buns, but that didn't mean she would let anyone get away with commenting on it the way Topher did. Last guy to call her a carpenter's dream woman she put in the hospital and got off on all charges because she watched too many crime shows and she was able to make everything look completely in self defense.

"You want to go THERE Christopher Dakota Whorff? Alright let's go there you playboy wannabe because I am so sick of your shit. You flirt with every pretty girl you see as if you're some misogynistic chauvinist like every other Chad type out there but you're not. You have so many sisters that you actually care but you're so fucking scared of commitment that you would rather pretend you don't! So when someone genuinely cares about you and wants to get to know you, you run from them and tell everyone that it just wouldn't work. You play the lone wolf card but you're such a momma's boy at heart you could never actually cope with that. Your roots are fused in so many cultures your family can barely detangle what decent you all even are! And you're so obsessed trying to 'live your best life' just because you watch your parents throw everything into family and pack, and Amelia throw everything into her career that it fuels your fear of commitment and makes you just want to run from everything because they almost never do anything for themselves and you don't want to end up like them so you don this carefree playboy act for everyone and pretend you're fine and not living your life in fucking fear. Say what you want, deny it until you're blue in the face but we both know it's true and I can at least say with confidence that your whole charade is definitely not my type either." she snapped ruthlessly, leaving the whole table in shock. Topher's face kept shifting between completely enraged and utterly mortified. Heather was known to be harsh and ruthless but calling him out that hard I think may be a bit much, and even she knew it. But Heather was too prideful to back down, she said it and now she'd own it. Topher still just looked at a loss for words, quietly looking down at the table, his usually bright and energetic face now full of despair and anger.

"You seriously want to call me out like that Heather? I get it was a bad call to make fun of your flat figure but that's cold. You're no better with your name brand everything and parents giving you whatever you want as long as you live the life they want for you. So you do, You study business alongside your makeup and you tell your parents it's so you can take over their company but you plan on using it to get further in the movie industry and maybe have your own lines for your makeup and hand your family business off. You may do so to a future husband or a close friend, but you're still lying to your family about what you want to do so you can continue to do whatever you want to do in the meantime. I looked between them and Heather's lips were pressed in a thin, aggravated line and her brows deeply furrowed. She looked pointedly down at her orange juice before taking a deep breath, and as she exhaled all her anger seemed to just vanish.

"You're right. Fine, you got me. Truce for the moment?" she asked, offering a hand to Topher who eyed her a moment, still seething before he took her hand and nodded.

"Same rules as always?" he asked as they shook hands. Heather nodded and the deal was made. When they made a truce, they gave one another twenty four hours of peace before beginning a prank war to get back at one another for the following week or until one of them surrendered. Thankfully they kept things peaceful and we could continue with breakfast like nothing happened when Tiara came over with our appetizers. I wasn't the biggest fan of the tater tot nachos but it seemed like everyone else liked them well enough so that's what mattered at the moment. Rusheen reached into the basket and grabbed some of the cheesy tater tots and the jalapenos on top and took a bite, his face lighting up with joy at the taste. Heather and Adrian both picked at the basket closer to their end, Adrian stealing as many of the jalapenos as he could as he loved the extra spice to his food. Heather occasionally had to smack his hand away so she could still get some, or just grab some from our basket as I avoided them and Topher didn't care much either way. It all worked out mostly and kept us busy until our food finally came over. Tiara and another waitress started handing everyone their food, Adrian was once again given his last with some extra napkins underneath. She handed everyone more napkins and made sure we had everything we needed before leaving to tend to the other tables once more.

"So who is ready for tonight's run at the farm?" Topher asked around a mouthful of tatertot, then proceeded to add a forkful of eggs once he finished speaking. I groaned petulantly, cutting up my steak.

"So not ready dude, like the next few runs this week are going to be hell because I have to go to work and then go right to the barn to be there in time to get ready before opening." I whined, taking a bite of my steak after putting some of the shredded hash brown on top. Heather nodded sagely in agreement, taking the last tater nacho from under Adrian's nose and popping it delicately in her mouth.

"Same though, but my classes are killing me this term. I swear like half my professors are lazier than the students because it's just been virtual assignments and canceling so many actual classes yet refusing to give extensions on anything because we should already know everything because we have a syllabus. Like that's so not how education works but here we are. I was barely able to clear my schedule enough for the haunted hayride this year." she groaned, rolling her eyes angrily. I chuckled, eating some of my green beans and trying to make sure I didn't drop any food on my cast. Adrian ate his sandwich quietly beside me and I was at least happy he seemed to be doing better and not upset over being dragged into the public eye once more.

"Your classes are hell? Fuck, you should try mine! The way the professor drones on and on, so monotone as he tries to explain how the Christian faith ties into biochemistry!" Topher whined, spearing a large amount of eggs and sausage on his fork before shoving the whole thing in his mouth. Trying to ignore Topher's shoveling his mouth full of food, I looked to Rusheen.

"What courses are you signed up for Rusheen?" I asked, cutting more of my steak as he seemed to be almost trying to dissect his hot skillet overflowing with food.

"Biology, Organic Chemistry, Physics, and Biochemistry. Hopefully it all goes well." Rusheen replied, finally spearing a mouthful of food onto his fork and trying a bite. He hummed happily and no longer seemed to need to be cautious of the huge portion of food and ate rather normally after that. "Ah am a little worried about how the labs will work, but Ah am confidant Ah will be able to pass everything." he continued, making up another bite of his skillet meal. I hummed in thought, it was a tall order of classes so I heard but Rusheen seemed clever if nothing else and so I had faith he'd be just fine. Conversation went on about jobs and the hayride and back and forth until we all finished our meals and the bill finally came. I paid and left a decent tip which confused Rusheen till we explained but he only seemed more confused after that as to why we needed to tip in the first place. Which is just a conversation I don't know how to get into so I explained it was a long and weird conversation for later. We packed up what little leftovers we had and filed out the door. Topher got in the driver's seat this time and put my headrest apparatus in the trunk so we could all settle in. Adrian sat in the front with Topher and Heather sat in the middle while Rusheen and I were in the back once more. We dropped Heather off at her apartment and headed back to my house to further food coma and unwind until we had to head back to the haunted hayride once more. I was sad my weekend was over after tonight but it felt good to have the company to unwind with before another chaotic night on the farm.