"Fran, Fran wake up."
I open my eyes to Luna poking my cheek. I peek at the clock on our shared bookshelf and groan. "I can't believe you're sacrificing your sleep for this Lu."
"Getting up at 3:30am doesn't seem so bad for something like this. Revenge is a dish best served cold my sweet, naive bestie."
"Sicko," I mumble while flinging myself out of bed and blindly finding my way to my dresser to get dressed in the dark. Luna slips out of our room as I finish getting ready and I hear Maya cursing at her in the bathroom.
"Sh," I hiss as I walk into the bathroom too. Luna is hopping around in excitement while Maya is slumped against the wall brushing her teeth with her eyes closed.
Parker comes in and pushes Luna out of the way so he can also get ready. Luna is the only one semi human right now as the rest of us go through the motions. Luna, in her excitement, packs us all little to-go breakfasts before basically dragging us to Tristian's car.
"Morning team," he yawns. The clock on his car reads 3:45 as we pile in. After three years of morning practices I would say I am decent with mornings but this is just ungodly. If it wasn't for the aforementioned revenge that we've all desperately wanted for months I would still be tucked away in my warm bed or even better in my boyfriend's bed.
The drive isn't long, only about 30 minutes since not a single other car is on the road except our convoy of cars. We are working on a strict time schedule so as soon as we arrive at the farm Lena runs to the chicken coop and starts boxing up chickens. Literally boxing them up like in those boxes you get build-a-bears in.
"Where is the rooster?" Luna asks with an evil glint in her eye.
Lena's dad hands her a box carefully. When we called him the other night and told him our plan he was more than happy to loan us some of their farms chickens to finally get revenge. So now here we are at 4:20 in the morning loading up our 5 cars with 15 chickens and a big nasty rooster.
The ride back to school is much more animated than the one to Lena's family farm. We do our normal group call and everyone is yelling over each other and laughing like it isn't still hellishly early. "Everyone knows the plan," Luna asks when we are within blocks of hockey house.
Everyone replies yes and the lines cut off as if us all being on the phone will wake the boys inside the house. Only 14 of the guys on the team actually live in the house but on any given night a handful more can be found sleeping over, even more so after last night's thirsty Thursday party. We will likely not get all of them but probably around 25 of them which is perfectly fine with all of us.
Sneaking into the house is easy since the brilliant brain trust that makes up Umichigan hockey never locks the doors. We all scatter between the three floors and release the chickens who are now extremely worked up from being confined in the box. Once the chickens are free and we've all made it back to the kitchen Luna opens the box for the rooster, who looks very angry. He flies out of the box making triple the noise of the other chickens and almost instantly the entire house comes alive.
"What the fuck!" someone on one of the above floors screams.
"I stepped in shit," someone else yells as more guys wake up and emerge from their bedrooms. Luna the wack job she is is sneaking around recording all their reactions while trying to hold back a laugh. Everyone else begins making breakfast for themselves and getting comfortable in the kitchen while the commotion upstairs escalates by the minute.
"Bray!" Ryder yells, his voice booming through the entire house. I cover my mouth as I try to choke back a laugh. Tears literally spring to my eyes as Ryder continues to yell. "You just had to insult Parker didn't you! This is your fault you asshole!"
The entire house begins turning on poor Bray, who yes did start this, but he was not the sole mastermind behind the chicken feather attack. Whoever came up with that is the one who truly deserves the abuse now.
"It peed on me," Dunk whines coming into the kitchen in just a pair of shorts and a chicken in his hand. Poor dude, he loves sleeping here instead of his dorm but that really backfired on him today.
"Come here," I sigh, grabbing paper towels and cleaning him up a little and taking the chicken back.
"Lulu, I fucking see you!" Ryder yells and within seconds I hear both of them sprinting through the house. Luna appears first, running straight out the backdoor cackling like a mad woman. She truly is in all her glory right now. A moment after Luna disappears into the yard Ryder appears looking like a bat out of hell. He is still in just his boxers with hair sticking up in every direction. A few of the girls on my team try to check him out secretly but I don't get offended. A body like that you can't help but stare.
"Where did you get the fucking rooster?" he curses rubbing his tired eyes. It isn't even 5am yet and Ryder, well he is about as far from a morning person as you can get. Lena raises her hand shyly as the chicken she is holding breaks free and jumps straight at Ryder. He jumps back, swatting at the bird and cursing.
"Where is your girlfriend?" Alex demands, looking directly at Tristian as he comes into the kitchen in plaid pajama pants, looking every bit corporate CEO as he normally does.
"Ass fucker," Bray grumbles as he rounds off the trio.
"Yeah, your ass," Parker smiles and throws him a wink.
"Do you two ever stop?" Maya asks genuinely. Ryder may have a dirty mouth in private but Parker and Bray seem to know no bounds. They will talk about sex anytime, any day, anywhere. Truthfully I think I would find it less annoying if not for the fact Ryder still is not cleared for any sort of physical activity so we are stuck with boring make outs and the occasional groping.
"I am going back to bed," Ryder announces as more people arrive with chickens in hand. "Unless I am currently dating you do not bother me."
Ryder trudges back up the stairs and I happily follow like a duckling following its mom. Ryder doesn't say a word as he climbs back into bed and I curl up next to him, in what has become my usual spot. I barely get a soft kiss on the top of my head before he is out cold again.
When I wake up again it is 8:30 and for a second I panic until I remember that my only Friday class was canceled today. "Morning," I yawn, kissing Ryder's chest.
"I had the wildest dream," he mumbles, still partly asleep.
"About?" I untangle myself and wiggle from his tight grip so I can pull his head to my chest and play with his hair before he puts on a hat.
"Chickens? They were running around the house."
My poor cute boy, he sounds so cute, all sleepy and confused. "That was real babe, we finally got our revenge."
"So I didn't dream Luna's manic laughter?"
"No," I giggle. "That was real too."
Ryder looks up at me and I lean down to kiss me. It is just a slow deep kiss, nothing more but when I pull away my head feels fuzzy from the lack of oxygen. Who would have thought one day I would be saying the captain of the hockey team would literally be taking my breath away.
"I am going to go to the library to study for a bit, want to come?"
"Yeah, I will meet you there babe I want to shower first."
"Ok," I smile before kissing him one last time and climbing out of bed. I slip my shoes and pants back on since I kicked both of them off to sleep and wander back downstairs. Most of my team is still hanging around except for Lena whose dad came a little bit ago to pick up the chickens.
"I am gonna go," I announce.
"Same," a few others agree and our group begins walking out the back door. I guess a lot of the hockey guys went back to bed too because the house is surprisingly empty.
As we all make our way down the back steps, freezing cold water hits me directly in the face. I let out a scream that will likely wake everyone in Michigan as it continues to pour down on me and my teammates from all sides.
"Checkmate," Bray grins.
I don't have time to laugh with everyone else as I rush to grab my phone from my soaking wet pocket since I was in front and took the brunt of the spray. Most people have newer phones that are water resistant but I have a much older phone not made for this. I start flinging it dry as tears spring to my eyes. Please work, please fucking work.
I don't know what to do as my wet phone glitches out in my hand so I run inside and barge into Ryder's bathroom in full hysterics. "Ry, it's broke, it's broken," I sob, flinging my phone around attempting to dislodge the water.
Without a single hesitation he jumps out of the shower, wraps a towel around himself and grabs me. "You're soaked Beck, what the fuck happened?"
"My phone," I cry, still shaking it as hard as I can.
"Sh, it will be ok," Ryder soothes, grabbing the phone from me and leaving me crying in the bathroom. When he returns a few minutes later he has a bowl of rice that I assume my phone is buried in.
Seeing the rice bowl I start crying all over again. "I can't afford a new one," I gasp between sobs.
"I will buy you a new one babe don't cry, please don't cry," Ryder pleads. He scoops me up into his arms and holds me tightly. "It will be ok babe, I promise."
When I finally calm down I look up at Ryder who looks like someone just kicked his puppy. "Fucking hell Beck, I hate when you cry, what can I do to put that pretty smile back on your face?"
I shrug, still kind of upset and a little embarrassed. I can hear everyone else laughing outside and here I am crying over a phone. It really isn't the total end of the world. I could have worked extra this summer and cut back on private ice time to spare some money to buy a new one. In worse case I could have pushed back getting new skates but I would only do that if beyond absolutely necessary. My current ones are in horrible shape so not much is a priority over that. Besides I didn't get my first phone until I was 16 so going without for a little bit would suck but I'd manage.
"I love you," I mumble as I lean against Ryder's wet chest. There is still a little shampoo in his hair and I giggle as I poke the spot.
Ryder leans down and kisses me softly. "I love you, Beck."
When I am more pulled together Ryder grabs me a shirt and some sweatpants to wear before tucking me into his bed with the TV on and the ladies on my lap so he can finally finish his shower.
"I can't believe I raised an Ipad kid," he teases when he returns. I don't even respond to his remark because I am too busy watching the droplets of water streak down his chest. The deep bruise on his ribs is still there but it is very faint. The last reminders of that day are slowly fading and hopefully in a few more weeks it will be a distant memory and nothing more.
"You're hot," I tell him as I shamelessly zero in on the towel wrapped low around his hips.
"Right back at ya," he winks before stepping into the closet to get dressed.
I sit on the bed happily with the ladies watching Scooby Doo with no intention of leaving bed all day. Fuck studying, I am taking a mental health day. I am just about to tell Ryder my brilliant plan when he turns off the TV. "Hey," I scold, pointing at the now dark screen.
"The parenting books said I need to limit your screen time or it will rot your brain."
"Really daddy?" I ask while lightly biting my lower lip.
Ryder groans loudly. "And now my dicks hard, dammit Francesca."
"Sorry," I grin, feeling not an ounce of remorse. Being able to turn him on so easily especially when usually everyone is fawning over him is a power trip going straight to my head.
"Now we have to go have a meeting and I have to pretend this isn't happening." He gestures to his sweatpants which are tenting slightly at the crotch.
"Meeting?"
"I am done with prank wars we are calling a ceasefire."
When we get downstairs the living room is packed with both our teams intermingled together. It is a sight I will never grow tired of. 4 months ago we were all strangers to each other. Our mutual distaste for one another kept us from interacting. Now our teams spend more time together than with anyone else.
"Beck, I am so sorry," Bray rushes when he sees me. "It was supposed to be funny but we took it too far."
"Yeah you did," Ryder says but I shake my head.
"Bray it is ok I am not upset with you."
"Well if your phone is broken the hockey team will personally buy you a new one. We can skip one booze night and buy you whatever phone you want."
I hug Bray tightly. "Thank you."
Ryder motions for him to sit and then we both stand at the front of the room. "Eyes on the frys," someone yells out, getting the room silent and all attention on us.
"The world leaders have had a meeting and agreed on a ceasefire," Ryder announces. I guess we are the world leaders? Even though I didn't agree on anything, I will happily go along with this ceasefire.
Spits raises his hand and Ryder rolls his eyes and then points at him to speak. "Who won?"
"It's a ceasefire, no one wins you moron," Ryder exhales rubbing his face.
"Oh," Spits replies, sinking back into his seat.
"We should throw an end of war party," Heather suggests, causing the room to perk up.
"Do whatever you guys want, but no more pranks please," I tell the room before turning around and leaving.
"Whatcha doing butt?" Ryder asks as he follows me to the kitchen where I am collecting snacks.
"I am having a mental health day with the ladies, what are you doing Ry?"
"Apparently having a mental health day with my favorite girls," he grins, slapping my ass as he follows me up the stairs back into his bedroom where I plan to lock us all away for the day.