"Woah, what's going on?" She asked surprised.
"Well, we figured you've had a hard day, so we thought we would throw you a surprise party to cheer you up!" Fanboy said sweetly.
"Thanks guys, I really appreciate it!" She replied smiling.
She politely excused herself to go shower and change her clothes as she was still in the clothes from the night before.
Once she had showered she got ready in her room into some tight black leather trousers and a black lacy bralette. She did a smoky eyeshadow look and was about to go down when she just froze.
She was scared, the last time she was dressed up all nice and went drinking, someone tried to kill her. She couldn't move.
A knock on the door took her out of her trance when she shouted for them to come in.
"Hey, you okay?" Hangman asked.
"Yeah, yeah, fine!" She replied unconvincingly.
"Why don't you try again but be honest this time," he chuckled and sat beside her on her bed.
"Last time I was drinking, someone tried to kill me," she said nervously.
"I understand, it must be really scary for you," he smiled. "But you are Louise 'Rex' Jones, you are as cold as ice, as brave as a lion, as strong as could possibly be. I know it is difficult, but you can get through this."
"It only happened a few hours ago, don't people usually get months to get through things like this?" She chuckled.
"As I said, you're Louise Jones, you don't need months. If you want to wait up here for the rest of the night, I'll be right by your side. If you want to go downstairs and drink until you drop, surrounded by all your friends, I'll be the one pouring your shots!" He replied.
"You are an amazing friend, you know that?" She said.
"Of course I do, so what's the verdict?" He asked.
"Let's go drink!" She said smiling. She knew she was nervous, but she was in a house surrounded by everyone she loved, her attempted killers were in jail, she was safe.
"Oh Louise! Are you okay? Bradley told me everything!" Carole said pulling her into a hug.
"Hey Aunty Carole, I'm okay!" Louise smiled back.
"I never liked that bitch!" Carole added.
"Mom!" Rooster said scolding her.
"What? She tried to kill your best friend and I can't call her a bitch?" She asked.
"Not the point mom!" Rooster said.
"Don't worry Aunty Carole, she is a bitch!" Louise chuckled.
"See!" Carole said to her son.
She smiled and then walked over to the kitchen to meet Hangman. "You ready?" he asked.
He poured her her favourite drink, held her hand and watched get drink it all in one. "How was that?" He asked.
"Good! I may just wait a little longer before I have another one though," she replied.
"That's okay! Tonight is about showing you how many people in your life love you!" He smiled.
"Speaking of, can I just have a word with you?" Her Aunty Sarah asked.
Louise nodded and walked over to a corridor away from everyone. "Is everything okay?" Louise asked.
"I Just wanted to let you know that although Tom isn't here, he is 100% by your side. I know you loved him and it was hard losing him, especially not having him in a moment like this. But he is with us and he is giving us his support!" Sarah said shedding a tear.
"Oh Aunty Sarah, I'm sorry this must be so hard for you, he died 2 days ago and you're here at a party! You should be with family," Louise said.
"I am with family sweetheart, my kids are upstairs in Fanboy's room, I go in to check on them every half hour," she replied. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be than surrounded by you guys."
"I wish we could bring him back," Louise said sadly.
"I know hunny, but we can't. He wouldn't want us to be sad, he would want us to be celebrating his life!" Sarah replied.
"And that we will! Cheers to Uncle Tommy!" Louise said.
"You're only calling him that because he can't defend himself," Sarah chuckled.
"Oh, 100%!" Louise laughed.
They sat there for a while and talked about the late Tom "Iceman" Kazansky. They laughed and laughed, he would be happy that they weren't sitting there crying.
After a fun night, everyone began to head home. Louise hugged everyone before she left and then collapsed on the sofa with Hangman.
"So," Hangman began, "did you enjoy your night?"
"Yeah, I did actually!" She replied smiling.
"Good, how're you feeling about everything?" He asked.
"I'm okay, it was a nice idea to get this over and out of the way! I think you were right though, the longer I worried about it, the worse it would be. I'm Louise Jones and I don't need months to help get over this!" She smiled.
"You are exactly right! You are so strong Lou," he said smiling at her.
"Well, I guess we should head to bed!" She said getting up from the sofa.
"Yeah me too, bonding day for everyone tomorrow!" He replied.
"Is it? When did we decide that?" She asked confused.
"Urm, when the accident happened," he said awkwardly.
"You can talk about it Jake," she chuckled, "the more I make it common, the easier it is to come to terms with it!"
"You're amazing, you know that?" He smiled at her.
"I think people may have mentioned that once or twice!" She laughed.
"Shut up you," he chuckled, "so bed?
"Yeah, night Jake!" She said smiling up at him.
"Night Lou," he replied.
They disappeared into their separate bedrooms and slipped into bed, resting for the following day about to come.
When morning finally came, Louise was woken up by her very hungover housemates. Fanboy and Coyote were feeling the effects of what they drank last night.
For the first time in a while, Louise was the one without the hangover and she knew it was the perfect time to get her revenge.
They were getting ready to pile into cars and drive over to universal studios theme park to bond again. Louise and Hangman hopped into the front of his car, Fanboy and Coyote slowly followed and got in the back.
"Hey Jake?" Louise said grabbing his attention.
"Yes?" He replied.
"Do you think we should play some music?" She asked mischievously.
"I think that would be a great idea, Louise!" He smirked.
Hangman put the music on and blasted it through the car, Fanboy and Coyote shrunk in their seats, cringing at the noise.
"I hope you know that when you are next hungover, and we all know it will happen again, I will be the loudest person on this planet!" Coyote said with venom in his voice.
"Oh, you love me!" She joked.
"Ask again tomorrow because right now you won't like my answer!" He bluntly said.
Louise rolled her eyes and carried on singing to the music. Hangman chuckled at the beautiful blonde next to him and joined in with singing.
"Fanboy, you're awfully quiet?" Louise said turning to look in the back.
He groaned in response, Louise laughed even more.
"Oh hun, this is karma for trying to go drink for drink with me!" Louise laughed.
"You're a machine, how can you drink that much and be fine?" He asked.
"7 years of drinking my friend!" She replied.
"7 years?!" They all responded surprised.
"But you're only 21?" Hangman asked.
"Yeah in England most people start drinking at 14 in a random field," she replied.
"Isn't that illegal?" Coyote asked.
"And?" She replied.
"Why in a field?" Fanboy asked.
"I dunno to be honest, I guess to hide the fact we were drinking from our parents? Maybe because we thought we were cool? Not sure but we all did it!" She replied.
"You brits are crazy," Hangman said.
"Ew that sentence made me feel sick, who the fuck says brits?" She said fake gagging.
"It is not just British but shortened?" Hangman asked.
"Well yeah but ew! That's foul, I'm either British or English! A Brit is just foul," she explained.
"Yes ma'am!" He replied.
After a while they had finally arrived at the theme park and met up with the rest of the pilots.
As they were heading to the entrance Louise was crushed into a strong body with a large arm draping across her shoulder.
"How's my Loulou today?" Rooster asked.
"I was okay until this smelly git tried to hug me!" She sarcastically replied.
"Ouch you wound me!" He replied.
"Awww poor baby," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "But for the record, I'm fine! And thank you for organising last night!"
"What do you mean?" He asked unconvincingly, "it was a group effort."
"Oh come on, you're my best friend of 21 years. No one knows me better than you! You knew that I'd need something like that and you organised it. I really appreciate it Brad."
"It was no problem! Besides Hangman spent most the night with you, he was a better friend than I was!" Rooster replied.
"He was great! But I still appreciate you, you are and always will be my best friend!" She smiled.
"Do you remember when we were 14?" Rooster asked.
"Hmmm I'm not sure I did that year? I think I went 13 to 15!" She said sarcastically.
"Funny. But back then I had the biggest crush on you!" He revealed.
"Really? That's weird because when we were 15 I had the biggest crush on you!" She replied.
"No way! 1 year apart! Star crossed lovers," he chuckled.
"Ha ha Bradley! I still can't believe we never dated," she thought out loud.
"Is that a proposal?" He said smirking.
"Fuck off Bradley, I wouldn't go near you with a ten foot pole," she replied chuckling.
"So you'd date every man on the planet but not me?" He joked.
"Yeah pretty much!" She joked back.
After catching up with Rooster, they were well into the park. The decided that they would make their way around the rides to try and get everything in.
Once in the queue for their first ride Louise caught up to Jake.
"Hey Jakey!" She smiled.
"Oh, hey."
"Everything okay?" She asked.
"Yeah," he replied bluntly.
"What's up?" She asked.
"Nothing," he said.
"Oh yeah and pigs fly! Now what's wrong?" She asked.
"No it's nothing," he said. "You and Rooster seemed pretty flirty then, something going on?"
"With me and Bradley?" She laughed. "Oh absolutely not! I love him but as a friend!"
"Oh okay, you just seemed pretty friendly?" He said.
"Well we have been friends for 21 years?" She replied.
"No you're right," he said.
"I hate to break it to you, but I usually am!" She chuckled.
"Ha ha you're so funny!" He said dryly.
"Oh I know," she smiled.
They laughed together for the rest of the queue and spent the whole day sitting next to each other on rides, standing in the queue together and talking all day.
Once they had gone around everywhere they made one last stop at the basketball game to see if they could win one of the prizes.
"I bet you can't get it in!" Hangman said.
"Oh please," she replied confidently.
She walked up to the man running the game, paid for one shot, looked back at Hangman and then back at the hoop. She lifted the ball over her head, bent her arms and then popped the ball right in the hoop.
Once she heard the swish, she did a little cheer and then pointed to the big stuffed dog for her prize. She walked back to Hangman and gave a cocky smile.
"How did you do that?" He asked in genuine disbelief.
"I played netball in England for years, netball shots are so much more accurate!" She explained.
"What's netball?" Hangman asked confused.
"It's a sport in England, most of Europe play it! It's a game similar ish to basketball. I can't be bothered to explain it, just Google it!" She said.
On the way out once again Louise was dragged by someone who wanted her attention. But what she didn't expect was Phoenix interrogating her on her time spent with Hangman.