Sunny finally ran out of oxygen and had to come up for air. "Wow, that was over 3 minutes... how did you do that?" Basil said with awe. Aubrey and Kim looked shocked, too.
"I can usually go longer without moving my head all the time." Sunny smiled smugly.
"Hey, I just wanted to make sure my boyfriend wasn't gonna drown!" Basil pouted.
"It's okay, Basil, I know." Sunny smiled patiently.
"See, Angel, train like The Daybreak, here, and you can do that too." The Maverick said with a grin.
"The what-now?" Kim stifled a laugh. The smile faded quickly as she noticed Angel eying her more than Sunny. "Hey, listen to your master, fuckface."
Aubrey seemed to suddenly notice something after Angel's scolding for his perverted eye. "Where's Zhang gone?" She said with a distracted look.
Kim stopped focusing on crossing her arms over her cleavage to ponder the same thing.
"Kel's been gone in the bathroom a while too..." The Maverick said obliviously.
Kim made a disgusted face at the reminder. Everyone else but Angel also averted their eyes, knowing what was most likely happening.
"Kel may be my rival... but do you think he'd stoop so low as to make his friend sabotage my abode?" The Maverick wondered.
"Somehow, I doubt it." Aubrey said with an eye roll, "I don't think those two have much on their mind besides food and Kim's tits."
"Don't sell yourself short, Aubrey. They were ogling you too." Kim said with a teasing push.
"Jeez, they're such creeps." Aubrey said with an eye roll, "Should we even bother looking for Zhang?"
"Of course! Everyone must be here outside for when the cake comes out! It is birthday tradition!" The Maverick proclaimed.
"Fiiine, but can we do it later?" Kim complained.
"The pizza will be here in minutes! We have not the time for later! Cake time could be in less than an hour!!" The Maverick proclaimed even more loudly.
Right on cue, Daphne and Bowen came outside. Bowen carrying a stack of pizza boxes. "Pizza's here!" Daphne announced.
Everyone rushed to the pizza. "Don't worry, I got the good kind." The box opened to plain pepperoni.
Sunny was a bit surprised at plain pepperoni being referred to as the good kind. He may enjoy it best, but the relief everyone else seemed to feel was lost on him.
"Thank fuck it isn't anchovies." Aubrey said, before grabbing a slice and eating it without even grabbing one of the supplied paper plates.
"I dunno why you guys hate anchovies so much. They taste awesome. More for me tomorrow, I guess." The Maverick shrugged before putting a slice of pizza onto his paper plate.
Ah. That's why.
In spite of his appearance that would make people think he's a vegan, Basil is an avid meat eater. "They never put enough pepperoni on at Gino's..." Basil said with a small pout. Sunny loved his adorable boyfriend.
"Alright, done with my pizza! Time to go get Kel!" The Maverick announced with an exaggerated grin. He rushed inside before anyone could say a word.
Kim looked at The Maverick leave. "It's been at least an hour. He couldn't still be jerking it, right?"
"Jerking what?" Angel asked innocently.
"Shush, Angel, the adults are talking. I thought like, max average was 30 minutes. He must have had one hell of a clean up, or maybe hit his head on the sink and died." Aubrey giggled.
"30 minutes for what?" Angel inquired.
"What? I thought average was an hour." Sunny said with confusion.
"Average for what?" Angel asked.
The Maverick came back down the deck stairs with a solemn expression.
"What happened?" Aubrey giggled.
"You guys have to go home now..." The Maverick said sadly as he looked at his feet.
"What? Why?" Kim said with shock.
"Kel disembowelled himself in the bathroom." He said in a voice that just sounded disappointed rather than horrified as the rest of the group now was.
"Did the Shadow Cabal hypnotize him?" Angel said in a conspiratorial tone.
"I dunno, Angel. His intestines are on the floor. We called an ambulance or whatever..." The Maverick continued with a single tear falling from his eye. "It appears I will never be able to best my rival on an even playing field."
"A-Are you joking, dude?" Kim asked with a still shocked expression.
"No, it's true. My rival seems to be near death. Also, Daphne said I have to send you guys home now, so... yeah." The Maverick opened the gate that led to the front yard.
"I left my phone and wallet inside. Can you get those for me?" Basil asked.
"I left my emergency phone in there too." Sunny added.
"Oh, sure, sorry." The Maverick turned to go back inside.
"Can you bring out my clothes too?" Kim asked, now a bit cold from the wind combined with her wetness. Not that kind of wetness, you freaks.
"You live, like, a block away, Kim. You can come get them tomorrow. They can't." The Maverick said as he went back inside.
"Gee, thanks." Kim muttered as she hugged herself for warmth, too cold to notice Angel's unsubtle staring. Aubrey didn't notice either, staring off in the distance at something. Sunny looked to Basil, who was staring straight ahead, still in shock. Everyone seemed to be staring at something, and Sunny didn't want to feel left out, so he stared at Basil's face.
Ambulance sirens approached, snapping Basil out of his trance. "S-Sorry, I better call Marc."
The Maverick came down the stairs of the deck again. "Here you go, you two. Sorry about the party getting kinda crashed the Shadow Cabal. I thought I did well enough hiding that it was mine... I guess not..."
Sunny made an acknowledgmental nod, and Basil made a small "mhm" sound before immediately calling Marc.
"Alright, see ya, everyone!" The Maverick opened the gate, and everyone filed out. Aubrey seemed to snap out of her spell but also acted uncharacteristically normal for someone who just heard someone ripped out their own organs inside of the house they were in the backyard of.
"Alright, Kim, let's go home!" She said, flinging her arm over Kim's shoulder.
"Ow, Aubrey! You slapped my boob!" Kim said as she walked with Aubrey.
"And I'd do it again! I'm the Boob-Slapping Bandito! You'll never take me alive!" Aubrey joked as the two left earshot.
"Big butt..." Angel muttered while staring at the two leaving.
Basil and Sunny stepped away from the little perv as he began to walk home, practically boring holes through the girls' swimsuits with his staring.
"How soon til he's banned from public pools?" Basil laughed awkwardly.
"Trick question, he already is." Sunny answered. Basil looked like he was about to laugh genuinely before the once distant ambulance sirens came around a corner and stopped in front of Mikhael's home.
"Is this 406 East Street?" The man driving asked.
"Uh, yeah, I think. Kel's inside." Sunny replied.
The ambulance driver obviously had no idea who Kel was, but him and two men from the back of the ambulance proceeded inside.
"Hey Marc? It's Basil, we need to come home early..." Basil said into his phone.
I miss having normal days...