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It was so late I doubted anyone would be in the kitchen. This wasn’t exactly ‘walking around with other people, especially men’ attire, but I took my chances.

I tip toed along down the hallway and through the commons room and into the dark kitchen. I wouldn’t want to turn the light on to alert anyone so I just opened the fridge and used the light from that to make a quick sandwich and glass of sweet tea. Milk would be nice but it doesn’t last long around here.

The sandwich hit the spot, famished as I was when we got home, I was more hungry for Merrick. It took me by surprise how much I ached for him when we were apart. I never thought I’d be one of those girls. All my stereotypes and assumptions of others I’d passed judgment on over the years was beginning to melt away. Crumble. I was beginning to understand them, feel for them. You really can not know a situation until you yourself have been placed in it. And then I realized something that I’d known but just now could see clearly and put it in words.

I was hopelessly in love with him.

I laughed to myself and goose bumps raced on my arms and legs. It rocked me to my core. I was in love with him. Desperately and epically in love with him.

I leaned against the counter in my trance as I took small slow bites, eyes gazing into nowhere so I didn’t see that I had company until I heard someone clearing their throat.

Phillip. Crap.

I immediately tugged at my shorts to lengthen then, though the whole idea was skimpiness and comfort.

I tried in vain. He eyed me. I could tell he knew what I was doing but I tried anyway. It felt so uncomfortable to be ogled by someone and you watch them doing it. And they see you see them doing it, and they still do it.

“Phillip,” I said his name and took my index and middle finger, pointed them to my eyes. “Eyes up top, please. You promised to behave, remember?”

“Sorry, sugar, but when you got it, you got it, right?”

Did he really just say that? I was gonna pretend he didn’t and change the subject.

“So, interesting night.”

“Yes, it was. I thought Marissa was gonna blow my head off.”

“I thought she was gonna blow my head off and then blow your head off. Thank God she was out there or who knows what we would have done. I’m glad she came with us too.”

“Yeah, me too, I guess. She’s not really my type but we gotta get some new bodies in here. Fresh meat.”

“Is everything about that with you? Have you ever even dated before?” I said but winced at the harshness of it.

I wasn’t trying to insult him but he was pretty clueless and arrogant.

“Course,” he said indignantly and snorted. “Why?”

“You just don’t seem to... Look, I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, I wanna help. Ok? You just don’t seem to know what a woman would want to hear. We don’t wanna be called sugar all the time, we don’t want you shamelessly eyeballing us, and we don’t like a constant spew of sexual innuendos.”

“Really? Never had any problems before. Maybe you’re conditioned to something other than a real man now?” He clucked his tongue. “Ever think of that?”

“No. I haven’t.” I clenched my teeth. “When I start dating someone who’s not a real man, I’ll let you know what I find out.”

“Sure, sweetness. Sure thing.”

He was smiling, laughing at me, amused by my protest. This was going nowhere.

“Ugh. Be nice to Marissa, ok. I’m going to bed. Night. Oh and uh...” I tried for civility. “Thanks for today. You handled everything really good.”

“You too, peaches. Night,” he said so slow and dramatic, cocking his head to the side.

I know he was looking at my backside as I turned to go. I knew it, so I walked quickly refusing to glance back, giving him the satisfaction.

In my plight, I bumped into the couch in the dark commons room. So much for a graceful exit.

Morning. I woke up content and surprisingly rested. I didn’t shut the door all the way after my snack last night so there was a little stream of light laying right over Merrick. I rolled over to look at him, still asleep. I watched him. His unconscious mannerisms were hilariously adorable. All Merrick, nothing of Matt.

His eyebrows lifted like he was talking or thinking, but he never spoke. He smiled, he turned his head to the side. I wondered if I did these kind of things when I slept.

I wondered if Merrick had ever watched me do them. Then I remembered and I was certain he had.

I traced the muscles on his chest with my finger, his stomach, watching the goose bumps rise. I heard him making appreciative noises and he started to shift but doesn’t wake. When I moved to his belly button he groaned- almost a growl- shocking me at how much I liked it. Then he reached for me in his sleep, trying to pull me to him.

Out of nowhere, Phillip bursts through the door, without knocking and flips on the light quickly making me jump thinking something was wrong, not thinking to cover my self. Again in my skimpy sleep clothes, though he saw them last night, this time I sprawled out on Merrick’s bare chest.

He looked me up and down, then Merrick and looked frustrated, like he was expecting something else.

“Jeff wants to speak to us about the store trip,” he said flatly.

“Shh! Ok. I’ll be out in a minute,” I whispered, but Merrick had already begun to stir and I rolled my eyes.

“Sorry,” Phillip muttered as he closed the door, which I’ll remember to lock next time.

Merrick was awake and I tell him of the meeting I was being summoned to.

“I’ll come too... Did you sleep good enough last night? Honey?” He smiled, seeing if I’ll remember our conversation from earlier.

“I slept ok, had to get up a few times. And I want you to come with me to the meeting, I really missed you...babe.”

“Mmmm. Sounds good. Honey.”

“Yes, it does sound good. Babe.”

“Great, honey,” he growled playfully and braced himself over me on his hands.

“Fabulous, babe!”

The tickling and giggling and wrestling began, and I was thinking it was going to be near impossible to pry myself from this man again.

I grabbed a clean pair of jeans and a green tank from the pile in the corner. He pulled on some jeans and a black pocket t-shirt that made me want to stay in this room much, much longer. I pulled him to me for one more kiss and he chuckled happily, before engulfing me in his arms.

We finally made out way to the commons room and no one seemed to be upset by our taking too long.

“Jeff? Done already?” I asked with humor.

“Done with what?” he asked, barely looking up from his book.

The cover read ‘Master And Man.’ Hhmm. Jeff was reading Tolstoy? I wondered if it was from Trudy’s or her husband’s collection.

“The meeting? You wanted to talk to us about the store trip?”

“Uh. Yeah I do. Whenever you get ready.”

“You didn’t send someone to fetch us?” I said tight lipped as I looked at Phillip, who was sitting, leaning on a box of records.

“No. I figured you guys were beat. Plus I thought after yesterday you and Merrick might be a little...preoccupied. Didn’t want to bother you.”

He couldn’t contain his crooked smile and neither could the others. I heard their chuckles as they tried not to look at us. Normally I would have laughed or blushed maybe except for the fact that Phillip had barged in, without knocking and semi-lied just to get us out of our room. And he finagled it in such a way so I couldn’t tell he was lying.

Scum.

It wasn’t really a lie, I didn’t detect one, Jeff did want to talk to me, just not right that second.

That whole act yesterday was just that. An act. I glared at him angrily and he looked so smug and unrepentant. I saw him mouth ‘oops’, then winked and smiled. Furious I grabbed Merrick’s hand and took him to the kitchen for some breakfast.

Trudy is already cooking up a storm of pancakes. Merrick was still too dazed and groggy to notice what had happened with Phillip, or just hadn’t put it together yet because he didn’t say anything. In a way, I was glad. Though I’m tired of Phillip’s crap, I don’t want Merrick to fight. And I’m not sure how Merrick would handle Phillip, if he knew all the crap he was trying to pull at this point.

The pancakes were divine. Even Merrick seemed to enjoy them more than he had any other food we’d eaten.

“So. You enjoy our human food then?” I asked playfully.

“Yeah. There are definitely some perks to earth,” he said leaning over to kiss me over the corner of the table and our empty plates.

I could taste the sweetness from the syrup on his lips still.

“What’s your favorite food so far?” I asked, leaning my chin on my fist.

“Hmmm. I’d have to say these pancakes. Mrs. Trudy, those were the best things I’ve ever had.”

I hadn’t realized she was still in here with us.

“Why thank ya, darling. My mama’s recipe,” she answered and you could tell in the tone of her voice she appreciated getting compliments on her mama’s food.

“I’d ask what your favorite food is, but I already know. Lasagna, scrambled eggs and cheesecake, in that order,” he said, smiling widely, that smile that made it hard to breathe.

That was the first time I saw how truly happy he was to know absolutely everything about me. It wasn’t just a useful tool anymore, he just loved knowing things about me.

“Do you like any music?” I asked.

“Fly Me To The Moon?” He smiled again.

“Ha ha. You really haven’t heard any music other than me singing kiddies to bed?”

“No, not really. I wasn’t paying attention to anything else but you.”

I blushed at his sweet words and glanced at Mrs. Trudy. She was smiling at me over her shoulder.

“Mrs. Trudy. Does that record player out there still work?” I asked, getting an idea.

“You bet your knickers it does. There’s a whole mess of records in there, if you want to go dig through it, be my guest,” she answered, her back to us as she poured more batter in the skillet.

“Leave the dishes, Mrs. Trudy. I’ll get them in a minute, ok? Come on, Merrick. You haven’t lived until you’ve listened to
real
music.”

I dug through and found some pretty good stuff. No Frank Sinatra, which was disappointing, but there was some Chicago - with and without Peter Cetera, Guns N Roses and James Taylor mixed in there. That should be a plethora of options for him to get a feel of some musical history. Nothing recent of course, but I wasn’t surprised being that it was Trudy’s collection.

I did miss my music and I’d probably never hear their music again. They could be under the Lighter speak for all I knew but good thing I’m not that picky.

My MP3 player was very eclectic. If you read the artist list you’d see Mutemath, The Killers then next would be Kenny Rogers then Journey, then Phoenix then Rachal Yamagato. I just loved music, all kinds, since I didn’t like the quiet, I played music everywhere I went.

Phillip eyed me quizzically as I plugged in the huge console record player and put on James Taylor. I figured we needed to ease Merrick into the Guns N Roses.

As ‘You Can Close Your Eyes’ blared from the old crackly speakers, the commons room was suddenly very full. Everyone piled in to listen. I hadn’t thought about how long it’d been since anyone had had some entertainment.

Mrs. Trudy came out of the kitchen area and grabbed Danny from the wall. She showed him where to place his hands to dance and they started sliding back and forth.

People smiled as Danny looked like he was having fun, albeit embarrassed. Celeste looked at him with that look I knew all too well. Huge smile that reached her eyes that were wide with wonder.

Dang it, they
were
in love, a freight train that could no longer be stopped. I realized the huge smile on
my
face and that this was good news! I was happy for him, for real. These weren’t just words to reassure myself anymore.

I am happy for him. Celeste is great. Genuine and sweet and she couldn’t ask for a better guy, past job situation excluded, in my brother. He had grown up a lot since we’d been on the run. I wished mom and dad could see this, their son twirling an old sweet lady around the makeshift concrete dance floor. I sighed out loud at the wistful thought.

“You ok?” Merrick whispered in my ear as we sat in our usual spot on the floor.

“Yeah. It’s just sweet, that’s all.” The song changed to ‘How Sweet It Is’. “You like the music?”

“Yeah, I do actually. It’s catchy. You don’t want to dance do you?” he asked with a furrowed brow.

“No!” I said a little too loud. Taking it down a notch I trying to recover. “Uh, no. I promise. I’m not exactly light on my feet.”

“Hhmm...I beg to differ,” he said, smiling deviously.

“Don’t you dare,” I spouted, again way to high an octave and he laughed.

“I would if I knew how, honey, but you’re safe for now.”

He laughed again pulling his arm around my shoulder and kissing my temple.

We listened and sat and swayed and laughed at some of the oldies that Danny kept popping in. The Temptations, Elton John, Kiss, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles. Jeff looked more intrigued than anyone. I wondered why that was? He never seemed interested in our worldly things before. In fact, he thought Merrick was crazy for wanting anything to do with it. I smiled as I watched him on the couch, head bouncing absentmindedly to the music. First I caught him reading then dancing?

The new Special, Marissa, was on the couch near Jeff. She’d been there the whole time, I realized I hadn’t even spoken to her today. She looked tired, but seemed to be enjoying the music, but not the crowd.

Every time someone bounced too close to her or wiggled the couch she flinched back and recoiled, her knees pulled up to her chest. Like she didn’t want to be touched. I again wondered what this girl had been through.

I decided maybe we should start the meeting before lunch and get everything out in the open.

“Jeff. I’m ready whenever you are,” I said smiling.

“Ok. Great. Danny, you turn that down a notch please. Thanks. Ok. Now we know we have a new addition, if she so chooses. Everyone, this is Marissa, for those of you who haven’t met her. She helped Sherry and Phillip yesterday.” She awkwardly waved and smiled and pulled her knees up tighter. He must’ve been able to tell her shyness because he moved on quickly. “But, we also want to know what else happened on your trip yesterday. Sherry?”