Sugarcane Chronicles Volume I: One and Lonely (ryden)

Nature's Juice Box

"No, she won't," I said, picking the scissors back up. "Because I will fix this."

He turned around and looked at me. "Thanks."

"No problem." I smiled at him before turning to Partrick. "Get me a spray bottle filled with water."

Patrick nodded and ran off to get what I told him.

"Spencer. Apologize to Brendon again."

"Sorry, man," Spencer said. "I really didn't mean to do that."

"It's ok," Brendon said. "Just gain better control over your gum when you blow out candles."

Spencer nodded as Patrick came running back to the kitchen.

"Got it." He handed me the bottle.

I took it from him and got to work. I cut and trimmed and then cut some more. It felt kind of weird holding scissors in my hands because they hadn't really let me be around them, but it was nice in a way. I got to touch Brendon's hair without it being weird, so that was a plus.

When I finished, I whipped the towel off him and brushed the hair off his neck. I had ended up giving him a haircut that was longer at the top because I didn't want him to lose the fringe and shorter on the sides and back, about the length of my fingers against his head because I didn't have a choice by Pete's butchering of it.

"There's a mirror by the front door if you want to look at it," I said.

Brendon pulled out his phone and looked at himself through the camera.

"Or you can do that." I sat down at the table and sighed. I suddenly felt very tired.

"This looks so good!" Brendon exclaimed. "Thank you, thank you, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" He got up and hugged me. "You're the best."

"You are, too." He kissed me and I kissed back.

"Get a room," Spencer groaned.

"Get a life," Brendon retorted.

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I ended up taking another nap on the couch. When I woke up, Bronx was laying in my arms again. I was very cold then, so I figured Bronx must've been even colder.

I sat up and looked around. Everyone was getting ready for bed. Getting blankets, pulling out couches. I got up the best I could without waking up Bronx and walked up behind Brendon. I tickled his sides and he giggled and turned around.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hi," I whispered back. "What's the plan for sleeping arrangement?"

"Well, we were going to take all the couch cushions," Andy whispered, "and put them on the floor and all sleep there to conserve body heat, especially for the smaller animals. You know, Patrick, Tyler, Spencer. You. And Bronx and Joe and I would go around next and then the larger animals such as Pete, Jon, Brendon because he's a human. We're just setting it up now."

I nodded before turning to Brendon. "You'll keep me warm, right?"

"Always," he whispered.

Pretty much everyone was there, so everyone helped. We scooted the coffee table to the side and laid out the cushions strategically. Pete came in just as we were finishing.

"Warm me, my friends," he said as he walked over to us. We had him in the middle of a group hug until he said he was warm enough.

I fell asleep under a blanket that covered just me and Brendon originally but Bronx, as he always did, snuck over to be in my arms. When I woke up, Bronx was still there, but Brendon wasn't.