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“Right, why don’t you change and I’ll, um, stop being weird.” I laughed a little and went into the studio, making sure the door was shut. Not that I thought Lacey would want to see me naked, but I didn’t want to take any chances. As quick as I could, I slipped on a pair of jean shorts, a tank, and put my hair up in a messy bun that dripped down the back of my neck. I didn’t mind, since it was a hot day.

“Hi,” I said, poking my head out and finding Lacey still sitting at the table, but this time she had a glass of iced tea in front of her.

“Want one?” she asked, holding up the pitcher. There was another glass.

“Yeah, sure,” I said. Why the hell not.

“Thank you so much for letting me stay here. I’ll never be able to tell you how much it means to me,” I said, but she waved that off after pouring me a glass of iced tea. A few lemon slices landed in my glass, but I didn’t care.

“Don’t even worry about it. Anna adores you and you’re part of her family so that makes you part of my family by extension.” I hoped she didn’t see my face getting red, because it definitely was. I didn’t really like the fact that someone I’d just met had agreed to let me live with her when my own parents couldn’t respect my queerness. It was fucked up and Lacey being so nice to me reminded me how fucked up it was.

“Still. Thanks,” I said, sipping my iced tea, not even flinching about how cold the ice was against my teeth.

“Don’t even worry about it. I’m sure once Anna and I get an actual house, it will become some sort of queer inn.” I laughed a little at that.

“That would be awesome.”

Lacey grinned. “I know, right?” Murder slinked out of the studio and gave Lacey a glare.

“Oh, I see how it is. You’re mad that I left you.” I swore he nodded and then came over to jump on her lap. “You little bastard,” she said fondly, giving him a kiss on the top of his head.

“So, what do you have planned today?” I asked her.

“Basically, I’m going to unpack some of my shit and crash, if that’s okay with you. I might wake up around dinnertime, though.” She yawned and shook her head. “Fuck, all this traveling is getting old.” I knew Anna didn’t like it, but I understood why she had to do it for work.

“Do you enjoy it?”

She yawned again and I realized I should probably let her get some sleep.

“Yeah, I really do. But it’s so nice now to have a home base. And a beautiful girl to come home to.” Murder looked up at her and rubbed his head against her chin.

“Yes, and you too,” she said. I put the iced tea back in the fridge and she shuffled off to the bedroom.

Huh. A whole day to myself. I hadn’t had one of those in a long time. What ever was I going to do with all this time?

*^*^*

I was bad at having free time. I’d scanned through Anna’s bookshelves and started and discarded about ten books that hadn’t been able to capture my interest. To be fair to the books, my mind wouldn’t stop wandering to a certain girl named Fiona. What was she doing today?

After running through a dozen TV shows and movies, I finally grabbed my phone and sent a text as Murder nuzzled at my feet on the couch.

What’s up?

It was innocuous enough. I could get away with saying that, couldn’t I?

She answered only two minutes later.

Not a whole lot. Stuck at the house. You?

Sounded like she didn’t have anything going on. Could I hang out with her again? Could I handle that?

Day off. Bored. Want to hang out?

I also wanted to give Lacey some space to decompress and have her home back since she’d been away. It felt like the right thing to do.

Yeah! I can pick you up in 10?

Sounded good to me. I sent back that I’d be ready and then dashed around to make myself more presentable. I even looked in the mirror to see if I wanted to put on mascara, but decided against it.