The Ringing (Very Slow Updates!)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Seven - Fight Fair, Play Dirty

Shay's POV

Monday morning after breakfast we all headed into the living room and read the postcard describing how our week would play out; I was disappointed once again to find that I wouldn't have a one-on-one date with Cale, this week it would be Paige and Kassi, but I would have two group dates with him Tuesday and Friday. Tuesday we were all six going to the Celestial Festival, a music festival held every year on the Royal Grounds; I've never been, but I've heard that the music, food and drinks are all amazing, and I was excited about the trip - minus the fact that Sam would be there. Friday was a combat training course, I was super stocked about that as well, and even better it would be me, Liz and Kassi, so I wouldn't have to worry about accidently killing Sam, getting disqualified from The Ringing and spending an eternity in prison, so that's a plus.

Liz and I decided to go shopping after lunch and spent well into the evening hours going into every shop we could find in search of the perfect outfits for tomorrow night's festival; we wanted to look hot but it was starting to cool off at night, so we also wanted to make sure we were warm too, that's a hard combo, especially since the racks were well picked through by everyone else in town who would be attending the festival too.

We struck gold at the last shop on the strip when we stumbled upon some pants jumpers with low cut halter tops; pairing them with some light quilted jackets we found earlier it would be a perfect combo for the weather switch in the evening. We also scored some super cute nude colored, lace-up ankle boots with brown and tan fur lining the top edge, that would pair perfectly with our twinning outfits. By the time we headed back to the house that night we each had an additional four bags of clothes, shoes and accessories to put in our closets and our parents bank accounts would be feeling the pain of the outing in the morning when the charges processed.

#

I could smell the biscuits and gravy the second that I woke up Tuesday morning, in all honesty, it was probably the smell that pulled me out of my slumber to begin with; that's the kind of breakfast that was worthy of immediate consumption, no shower, no changing, no brushing my teeth, just straight from the bed to the table. Seriously, my obsession with the food was borderline psychotic, right up there with cheesecake; if you try to take either one of those away from me, you're playing with the idea of signing your own death certificate, Shay don't play with food. Slipping on a pair of shorts - because I'm sure showing up for breakfast in my oversized T-shirt and panties wouldn't be acceptable - I took the stairs two at a time, skidding to a halt in front of the island lined with deliciousness.

"I figured it wouldn't take long for you to get down here," Annie said, shooting me a smirk over her shoulder as she stirred whatever mouthwatering concoction she was cooking up.

"I swear I heard her stirring up there the moment the biscuits hit the oven." Kurt added with a chuckle before I even had a chance to defend myself against Annie; not that I had much of a defense, biscuits and gravy are my weakness.

"Since when did breakfast start coming with a side of sarcasm?" I shot back, earning me a round of laughter from both of them in return.

I filled my plate with everything I could fit on it, tossing more bacon and sausage on top of the heap just for good measure and headed for a seat at the table. The sound of soft footsteps let me know that Liz was on her way down the stairs; I managed to knock a water bottle and my phone of the nightstand in my haste to get shorts on this morning and accidently woke her up before I left the room, so I knew she wouldn't be far behind me. Liz made up her own plate - not nearly as overfilled as my own - then came to join me at the table as we both dug into our food in complete silence, apart from the occasional moan of delight. I don't know why they say that food is the way to a man's heart, clearly, it's the way to everyone's heart; its soothing, wholesome, warming, food is basically family in a consumable form - okay, now it just sounds weird - it's the best thing ever, that's all there is to it.