Our Eternal Ruin (Auslly)

29.Grateful

"Weird." Cassidy scratched her head. "I didn't see anyone, then again—"

"—then again," Dez interrupted. "You slept through Avengers twice. We can't really trust your judgment on being perceptive or knowing when things are exploding in front of your face."

"Thanks, cousin." Cassidy threw her jacket at his face. "So..." She turned to me and Ally. "What are we going to do today?"

"I don't know, Brain, what do you want to do?"

"Pinky! Today, we're going to take over the world!" Ally shouted from my arms.

Dez started laughing so hard I thought he was going to fall out of his chair.

I choked on my own laughter while Cassidy just stared at all of us like we'd completely lost it.

"You know, from Pinky and The Brain?" Dez swatted her. "Seriously what type of childhood did you have?"

"One without cartoons." Cassidy shrugged.

"Well, that settles it then." I rubbed my hands together. "Pinky and The Brain Marathon!"

"How do we even get our hands on those episodes?" Ally pushed to a sitting position.

"YouTube." I shrugged. "And just in case you forgot, my dad is Mike Moon. Nothing a few phone calls can't take care of."

Ally rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I'm going to go shower before we take over the world."

"Me too." Cassidy jumped up.

"Me too?" I asked.

Ally swatted me. "No nakedness until after your surgery."

"Ah, and here I thought you wanted to make me happy." I pretended to be sad while Dez gave me the thumbs up.

"Once a player..." Cassidy said hopelessly into the air.

"See you in a bit, boys." Ally grabbed Cassidy's hand as they walked out of the room, leaving me and Dez alone.

"Why were we never friends?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.

Dez laughed. "Well, for starters. I don't do sports, and you always had an entourage of people following you, which I'm guessing now had more to do with the cancer than anything else."

"Yup." I crossed my arms. "One was my shrink, the other was a bodyguard from when I was a kid — both were concerned that if I was left to my own devices I'd forget to take meds or off myself like my brother did."

"Why an RA?" Dez asked.

"He died." I licked my lips. "His damn RA said he'd been suspicious of Anthony for a while. He said Anthony never participated in any activities and was often locked up in his room. But he didn't tell anyone — didn't think it was any of his business. I kept thinking that if maybe I was an RA I could help save some freshman." I laughed. "Didn't expect to fall in love with one."

Dez joined in the laughter. "Love is never expected."

"What about you?"