"What did you just ask me to do?" Minerva looked at her boyfriend as if another head had suddenly sprouted from his neck.

He did not just ask her to do that. She must've heard wrong.

"Come on Minerva, it'll just be for a couple of hours," Blake pleaded with his hands together, "and it'll only seem like a couple of minutes."

"Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes at him. "Sorry Blake; I'm not a kids type of person. I couldn't even stand myself as a child."

Blake Stone and Minerva Washington were having a conversation as they strolled through Riverside Park. Walking throughout the park wasn't an activity that they usually did, so Minerva found it suspicious when Blake asked her to in the first place. She presumed it was because he was going to ask her for a favor—whenever he had a request that had a high potential of being declined, he typically did out of the ordinary things in attempts to butter her up.

However this time, he didn't say or ask anything along the lines of a favor for a while; he acted as though he genuinely wanted to walk through the park with her. It put her in a good mood…but just when Minerva was about to feel guilty for suspecting his intentions, he proved her right.

"And what happens when we have our kids?" Blake's usual goofy smile appeared on his face. "All seven of them."

"I'm not having seven kids."

"Oh, yes you are."

Minerva ignored him and shook her head, continuing to walk down the path alongside of the pond. She was only able to make it a few feet before Blake darted in front in of her without warning. "Please, please, please? Help me out here."

"Blake, I'm not watching your little nephews.”

"What about all those favors I did for you?"

"What favors? Name one."

Blake thought about it for a moment and then snapped his fingers. "I dated you."

Minerva put her hands on her hips and frowned. "So you're saying that you're doing me a favor by dating me?"

"No and yes." When he saw Minerva's frown deepen, he tried to change his words. "What I meant was that I'm a fine specimen of man and that many ladies would love me...so technically, I'm doing you a favor by being with you...not that I would choose anyone else, because I actually like you..."

Minerva glared at him for a few seconds more before pushing him aside and walking past him. As she walked, she mumbled something under her breath about not understanding why she was with him. Of all the men on the planet, she had to choose him—the white goofball with a handsome face and sexy voice. Why, oh why, did she have to dance with him at that party? If only she’d danced with her friend instead, she would’ve never met him. She would’ve never given him her number and they wouldn’t never dated for four months. She would’ve had less stress in her life and she certainly wouldn’t be in this situation now.

But no…she just couldn’t resist that smile and those hunter green eyes. Even now, although the majority of her wanted to punch him in the throat, she felt the desire to give in to him too. If only to hear his rugged voice thank her and his strong arms wrap around her once more…

Damn! She could never let him know how much power he had over her.

Blake hit himself on the head and exhaled in frustration once he realized that his words weren't helping his plight, but rather making things worse. He was running out of time; he needed someone to watch his nephews for him. His sister was leaving town soon and he agreed to watch them for a few days until she came back. Recently, however, the band he played in was offered a gig at a party and he didn’t want to turn it down. It was only for one evening so he was sure that he could find someone to watch three kids for a couple of hours. However, when he’d asked everyone that he possibly could’ve, he found that they were all busy. Minerva was the only one free tomorrow evening.

"Minnie, please..." he started as he caught up with her, but was immediately shut down.

"You're wasting your breath, Blake; I'm not going to do it." She shook her head. "Besides, I already have one kid I’m dealing with, I don’t need another."

“What kid?”

“He looks and acts just like you. Take a wild guess.”

He gasped. “You’re pregnant?”

“…Jesus, give me the strength…”

"Come on, why won’t you do it? I never ask you for anything."

Minerva shot him a look. "That's a lie. You just asked me to cook for you two days ago."

"That's because I was hungry and you’re a great cook.” He paused in thought for a moment. “And you're a woman, so technically it's your job."

"Just when I think you can't dig a hole deeper than the one you're in, you manage to prove me wrong."

Blake let out another frustrated sigh and decided to try a different route. If begging and reasoning wouldn't work, maybe if he laid it on thick...

With his eyes toward the ground guiltily and a desperate look on his face, Blake stopped and took her hands in his. "Okay, I do ask you for a lot things…like help with my essays, to cook for me, to walk me to class, to support my band, to drive me to places when I’m too lazy to get behind the wheel myself, to sleep with me five times a week—by the way, I still wish you’d take that into consideration…”

“Your point?” Minerva rolled her eyes.

“My point? Oh, right! My point is that I ask for all that stuff because I’m basically nothing without you.”

“Really? I thought it was because you were lazy and horny.”

“That too.” He gave her a crooked smile. “But mostly because I need you. I can’t do too much of anything right without you near. You're my right hand, my better half; if I didn't have you I'd be a lonely, dysfunctional sociopath."

Minerva pretended to be touched. "Really?"

"Yes…so will you please watch my nephews for me?"

"Absolutely…not." Minerva snatched her hands out of his and shook her head again. "What part of no don't you understand? My mind is made up and not begging or lying to appeal to my emotions is going to change that."

“You saw right through that, huh?

“Let’s just say if you wanted to take up acting, I’d advise you not to quit your day job.”

Minerva started walking again, and with slumped shoulders, her boyfriend grudgingly followed. It looked like he’d have to turn down the gig after all…

Just when it seemed like he was going to be stuck watching his relatives, an idea popped into his head. His frown changed into a grin in a matter of seconds and he picked up his pace.

"What if I paid you?"

Minerva started to ask if he was hard of hearing, but she stopped herself at the sound of the word 'paid'. Money? That was a different story. Ever since she quit her last job, she hadn't been able to find another. Well, she actually had been able to find others, but she didn’t want to work in food service anymore—especially not in the campus cafeteria with all the greedy freshman.

As a consequence, money's been a little tight…and there was this new outfit in the mall that she just had to have...

"How much are we talking about?"

He grinned, knowing he'd got her attention. "It'll be worth your while."

Minerva nodded at that thought and let it marinate for another moment of so. It wouldn't be that bad. She didn’t really have any plans, so they wouldn’t be interrupting anything. And her roommate would be gone for the evening, partying until the break of dawn like she did every weekend. The kids would sleep or read while she watched a movie or caught up on some homework. She wouldn't really have to deal with them. It would only be a few hours and then Blake would return and pay her. That wouldn't be so bad.

"Are they good kids?"

"Of course; they're related to me."

Minerva sucked her teeth. "Then why can't you watch them?"

"That's just it. I would, but I’ve got a gig scheduled for tomorrow night and I don’t want to let the gang down. You know they sound like dying whales without their drummer," he explained briefly.

"Where are you guys playing?"

"Nowhere in particular.”

“You don’t know where you’re playing?”

“No, I know. It’s just some random party…” His voice trailed off as he tried to stay as vague as possible.

"What party?" she pressed, getting more suspicious by the second.

"Just a random party on campus, nothing special.”

“Who’s hosting it?”

Finding it impossible to avoid answering the question, he sighed and mentally prepared himself for the worst. “It’s Renee’s party.”

Minerva frowned once more and crossed her arms. "Renee? As in your ex-girlfriend Renee? The same one that told you she still had feelings for you? Blake, why in God’s name are you playing for her?"

“You just asked me four questions and I’m not sure which one you want answered.” When he saw the serious look in her eyes, he managed to suppress every part of his mind telling him to give a silly response. “Look, I’m just going to play for her party. She asked for me and the gang and I’d like to think it was because she actually likes the music our band makes. There’s no need to be suspicious; this is just a gig to me, nothing more.”

Minerva didn’t like the idea of her boyfriend playing for his ex; it bothered her more than she cared to admit. It was one of her weaknesses when it came to relationships; she was always the jealous one. She was also the one with the overactive imagination, so it wouldn’t be surprising if she imagined her boyfriend succumbing to his primitive desires whenever he was with someone else.

However, she’d witnessed Blake turn down females before, so he never did anything to encourage those feelings and thoughts. She still couldn’t help but to be jealous at times, but she did trust him.

She looked away. "So I'm supposed to watch your nephews, so that you could go to a wild party?"

"It's not going to be that wild."

"Come on now, I've been to one of Renee's parties before. They're borderline ridiculous and they get out of hand way too easily. It's going to start off nice and calm, everybody’s dancing and what not. The next thing you know you're going to be drunk off God knows what, in the middle of a food fight while several chicks try to dance all over you. And knowing you, you'll gladly let them while you try to throw food too."

"Is that what you're worried about?" Blake put his arm around her lovingly. "It’s cute that you're jealous…but seriously babe, you know I only have eyes for you."

She removed his arm. "Tell that to all those ladies that, apparently, would love you since you're such a fine specimen of man."

Blake chuckled for a moment, then cupped her face with his hands and kissed her on the forehead. "I don't have to, they already know."

Minerva rolled her eyes, but didn't push him away. It was times like this when she really hated how much she loved him; no matter what he did, she could never stay mad at him for long. Often times she acted the dominant one in the relationship, but it was mostly an act, easily influenced by Blake’s easy going nature. In actuality though, Blake was the one with all of the power. She’d do almost anything for him. She just didn’t want him to know it and take advantage of her.

The funny thing about it though, was that it seemed like Blake knew he was the one with the power at times, but he didn’t use it. Not outside of the bedroom anyway. It was as if he respected her enough to let her be in control the majority of the time. And that just made her love him all the more.

"You’re too corny for your own good."

"Look, there's no reason to worry. Chase will be with me the whole time and he’s the responsible one."

Minerva sucked her teeth once more. "If by responsible you mean forgetting to feed your pet fish and not even realizing they’re dead until the end of the school year then yeah, Chase is very responsible.”

"We're not even going to be there the whole time. One hour tops after we get through playing,” he said airily, not wanting to be nagged or to stay in a serious mood any longer. "I promise you, nothing is going to happen. So do we have a deal?"

Minerva looked reluctant, but in the end, shrugged. If anything went wrong at the party, she'd be scolding Blake, but in a new outfit.

"Fine."

"Thank you!" he said, a relieved expression on his face. “Now was that so hard?”

“Quite painful, actually.”

Blake grinned as he ran a hand through his hair and looked around, trying to locate where they’d parked. Now that his business was done, they could leave the park and do something more productive…like eat. His stomach growled at the thought of the burger, taco or slice of pizza that would soon be in his mouth.

Minerva glanced at his stomach. “I take it you’re ready to leave.”

“You know me so well.”

She took a look around and pointed in the general direction of where they parked. “The car is over there.”

Blake opened his mouth to say something, but Minerva didn’t wait around to hear it. She started walking away, leaving a slightly baffled Blake to wonder what state his girlfriend’s attitude was in. He thought she was in a good mood, but the fact that her pace was on the quicker side made him reconsider. It was definitely different from when they were first walking through the park; she seemed like she was enjoying herself when he hadn’t brought up the babysitting thing. He’d rather have a meal with that Minerva than the obviously troubled one now.

He thought to himself for a moment while watching her walk before deciding not to leave just yet. He caught up with her once more and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop.

“Hey, wait up."

“What is it?”

"I just remembered, I have something else to talk to you about." When she opened her mouth to ask what again, he offered her a smile and turned her back in the opposite direction. "Let's walk and talk like before."

They started walking slowly, and after giving him several suspicious looks, Minerva questioned his motives. “What’s this about? It better not be another favor.”

“It’s not,” he assured her and put his arm around her again. “I just had a question about something you said earlier.”

“About the party?”

“No, about not having seven kids—we’re you serious? I know you say you’re not a kids type of person, but I want a big family. Can’t you take maternal instinct classes or something? Do those exist?”

Why, oh why, did she have to dance with him at that party?!

“And you’re sure you don’t want to go out with me tonight, Minnie?” Allison called out from her bedroom.

Minerva, who was flipping through the channels in search of something good to watch, stopped briefly to answer her roommate. “I told you earlier that I’m babysitting.”

“Oh right,” Allison said after a minute, “I guess I didn’t think you were serious. Last time I checked, you hated kids.”

“I don’t hate them; I just don’t like them that much. They’re like little, whiny, animals that need constant supervision and not to mention, they’re annoying.”
“With a description like that I’m not sure who would want to leave their kids with you in the first place.”

“My scholarly boyfriend, of course.”

“Blake has kids?” Allison stepped into the doorway then, a surprised look on her half completed face of makeup. She’d been in her room, making sure her makeup was on point for the past fifteen minutes. She was going to Renee’s party, so even if Minerva wasn’t babysitting, the answer still would’ve been no.

“God no, it’s his nephews.” Minerva couldn’t help but to chuckle at the thought of Blake with kids. True, he would probably be a good father, but that would mostly be because he acted like a child himself. Her laughter quickly died out when she thought about his request for seven kids. “He’s supposed to be watching them for his sister, but he’s playing at Renee’s party tonight.”

“Oh, and he asked you to watch them.” When Minerva nodded, Allison went back into her room, out of sight. “We’ll you’re a good girlfriend, Minnie. If I had a boyfriend, he’d have to pay me to watch his kin…and I like kids.”

“You think I’m doing this for free?”

She laughed. “I should’ve known.”

Minerva continued to flip through the channels, only stopping again when Allison stepped back in the doorway to ask which top she should wear. Thankful for the distraction, Minerva got up to help her friend pick out the appropriate attire. The two girls spent a good fifteen minutes in the room, chatting and sorting through clothes. After a while, Allison left and Minerva returned to her spot on the couch. She remained there, watching a game show until there was a knock on the door. Already knowing who it was, the college girl let out a sigh and walked over to the door.

Minerva expected to see Blake with three little kids behind him when she opened the door, but she didn’t. Instead, she was in for a surprise when she saw a shirtless guy with a pair of slim black jeans and vans on. There were shades covering his eyes, a backpack on his back and a black snapback with Bugs Bunny on his head. It looked like Blake…but that couldn’t have been him. Why in God’s name would he be shirtless at little after nine pm?

And that couldn’t have been his nephews standing behind him—not the three boys with facial hair and mischievous looks on their faces. They were practically the same height as the shirtless man and a several inches taller than Minerva.

"Hey Minnie, thanks again." The shirtless man leaned forward and gave her a peck on the cheek.

He then moved aside and gave his nephews a little shove, encouraging them to introduce themselves or at least say hi. However, the three boys just shook Minerva's hand carelessly and headed past her into the apartment. The confused girl just stared at her boyfriend, not knowing whether to address his appearance or his ‘little’ nephews first. Blake spoke before she had the chance to though, deciding for her.

“My eyes are up here Minnie—gosh, sometimes I think you only want me for my body,” he said playfully after he realized she was staring at his body.

“Blake, why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”

“Well Chase suggested that the band play shirtless tonight. He said some people from other campuses will be there and we’d stick out to them if we had less clothes on.” He paused, still grinning. “Also, I have the body of a demi-god and I felt like it shouldn’t be hidden from the eyes of the not-so-lucky.”

Sometimes Minerva was at an honest loss of words for her boyfriend. It was times like these when she not only wondered what she had seen in him, but how he was able to succeed in the real world. It was like he didn’t use his brain at all! If she hadn’t seen him do the work himself, she wouldn’t have believed he was an architect major.

When Blake noticed her silence and confused look, he figured she didn’t approve. He proceeded to reach into his backpack and pull out a hoodie. “It’s probably going to be hot, but I have a jacket just in case.”

As he showed her the hoodie, Minerva noticed the words, 'Single for the Night' across the back of it. She crossed her arms. "Single for the night, huh?"

"What? Oh, I must’ve grabbed Chase’s hoodie by accident. You see, I was in a rush to get the triplets and I just grabbed one of the jackets off the floor. This isn’t mine—I’m not single. Not even for one night…not unless we were on a break. Technically I would be single then, right? Or are you one of those people that think we’re still together while on a break?” When Blake saw that he wasn’t doing a very good job at explaining and going off of a tangent, he just handed her the jacket instead. “You know what? Keep it. Like I said, it’s going to be hot so I'm probably not even going to use it."

She took the hoodie and looked away. "You’re a piece of work, Blake.”

"Don’t be like that, Minnie. This is just for a few hours, remember? I’ll be back before you know it.”

"Yeah, I remember. I was supposed to spend a few hours watching your 'little' nephews. These boys have facial hair."

"That's because they're fourteen."

"Fourteen?” She repeated, aghast. “They can take care of themselves."

"You'd think that, wouldn't you? I did too until they tried to burn my sister’s house down a month ago."

She rubbed her temples. "Blake, you said little."

"Yeah, well I meant littler than me."

Minerva clenched her teeth and breathed deeply through her nose. She should've known better than to think this would be a stroll through the park. Nothing with Blake was ever just a stroll through the park. Literally. She didn't have to hear anymore to know this was going to be a long day. Just before she could speak again, a red Jeep pulled up in front of her apartment. Music was blasting and there were four guys inside, three of which were in the band—evident by the fact that they were also shirtless. Chase sat in the driver’s seat while Damien, Ricardo and Louis sat in the back.

Blake jutted his thumb toward the car. “I told them to pick me up here.”

Chase turned down the music and leaned out of his window, revealing part of his shirtless body. “Hey Minnie Mouse! When are you going to dump Blake and come to me?”

“Real soon on that first part, Chase. Real soon,” she said, cutting her eyes at her boyfriend.

Blake gave her a somewhat concerned look. “Don’t kid like that, Minerva…”

Chase just laughed. “And what about the last part?”

“We discussed this already.”

“When Hell freezes over?”

“Your memory is improving. Maybe next time you won’t forget to feed your fish.”

“Now that’s where you’re wrong Skinny Minnie; my memory wasn’t the problem. I only forgot to feed one of them—the other three died of natural causes.”

“What natural causes?”

“Well, I naturally tried to put them in a glass of alcohol and that caused them to die.”

Minerva held her hand up for him to stop. “Don’t tell me anymore. Please, just take my idiotic boyfriend and go.”

He laughed once more and then turned his attention to his friend. "Blake, what are you doing just standing there? You heard the Minnie the Pooh. Come on, get in the car. They'll be plenty of time for flirting with girls when we get there."

Blake turned his body around completely and gave Chase a sick look. Behind him, Minerva glared daggers into her boyfriend’s back. If looks could kill.

Chase noticed immediately and tried to backtrack. "Did I say girls? I meant they'll be plenty of time for flirting with…guys when we get there."

This time Blake, Minerva, and everyone in the car for that matter, turned to Chase and gave him a weird look.

"I meant…flirting with—"

"Not helping, Chase," Ricardo whispered, trying to stop his friend from further embarrassment.

"Alright, I messed up. Can we just go?" The blonde haired best friend of Blake said as he leaned back in the car.

“Chase was just kidding,” Blake said as he turned back around. He opened his arms to give Minerva a goodbye hug and/or kiss, but he was greeted with a slammed door. "Minerva?"

"Bye. Flirt with a bunch of girls for me."

Seeing no point in trying to explain himself, Blake just mumbled something under his breath and went to get in the car. As he sat down on the passenger side, he proceeded to give Chase an earful. Minerva stood sourly by the front door until she heard the music resume and the car pull off. It was then that she realized the boys she was supposed to be babysitting were out of sight.

"Hello? Blake's nephews?"

In a matter of seconds, the three boys appeared in front of her. One had a short faux hawk and dark eyes, the other had light brown eyes and a crew cut, and the last had long shaggy hair that covered his eyes. They all had dirty blonde hair, dimples and a slender build, but aside from that, it was obvious they were fraternal. They were cute much like their Uncle, to say the least...but like their Uncle, looks deceive.

"Alright, I don’t know what all your Uncle told you, so I’m going to start from the beginning," she started, "My name is Minerva Washington and I’m Blake’s girlfriend. You can call me Minerva or Minnie, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to be honest here and say that I don’t babysit too often, so you might have to cut me a little slack if I forget something."

"How old are you?” One of them asked.

“Twenty-one.”

“I didn’t know Uncle Blake was dating an older woman.”

“…your Uncle is twenty; I’m hardly older than him.”

A different boy waved her words off as unimportant. “You’re twenty-one and you’ve never babysat before?”

She gave him a look. “I’m an only child, so I wasn’t ‘blessed’ with the opportunity.”

The last boy crossed his arms. “For the record, we’re fourteen years old—you’re not babysitting us. You’re just supervising us.”

“Whatever you want to call it, I’m doing it. So how about we move on to you three’s introduction. You wouldn’t want me calling you Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing 3, would you?”

The boy with the short faux hawk went first. "I'm Mason, try not to forget."

"I'll try my best.” Minerva gave him a look and then turned to the shaggy haired boy. “And you?"

"I'm Twitch."

"What?"

"Twitch.”

“Twitch? Your mother named you Twitch?”

He laughed. “No, but I wish she did. My mother named me Killian; Twitch is the name I go by though.”

She stared at him a little longer, but nodded. "Okay, so we have Mason, Twitch, and…"

The last one did not speak, but instead just stared, mouth agape, at her breasts. Minerva caught on quickly, and then turned around as she put on the hoodie Blake gave her.

“Single for the night? Is that appropriate? I mean were still minors.” Mason smirked as he read the jacket.

“This is your Uncle's.” She turned back around, shooting him yet another look.

"No need to lie; as long as you're not hitting on me, I'm fine. Don't get me wrong, you're cute and all, but I already have a woman. Her name's Brittany Spears, you may have heard a song by her once or twice."

"Or saw her in your nearby loony-bin," Twitch mumbled under his breath.

Minerva looked between both boys for a few seconds before slowly turning her attention back to the last boy with the crew cut and light eyes. “Alright, now your name, Mr. Gawk?”

"Um, I'm Tobias."

"Yeah, but everyone just calls him Big Toe with an ‘e’," Mason said with a devilish grin.

"No they don't! Don't call me that."

"Big Toe! Big Toe! Big Toe!” Twitch started chanting.

It only took seconds for Tobias to get angry and he pushed Mason hard enough to make him fall to the ground. "Loser! I told you not to call me that."

“Hey, don’t do that—” Minerva started, but was cut off.

"Don't get mad at me, meathead!" Mason said as he jumped up and pushed his brother back.

"Slime ball!"

"Dirt bag!"

"Trailer trash!"

"Big lummox!"

“What the hell? Cut it out!” Minerva yelled.

Neither boy seemed to hear or care about her words though. They remained in each other’s faces, barking out names and pushing one another. Minerva, getting irritated by the random yelling match, started to grab one of their arms to force them to stop. However, before she got the chance, Twitch stepped in front of her.

“Let them fight, it’s not like any real damage will be done; these two are mostly bark, no bite.”

“I’m not going to stand here and watch these two fight—I said, cut it out!”

“They’re not going to listen to you anyway. Listen, I’ll stop them for you, but in the meantime, just hear me out. This is the perfect chance for me to give you a better introduction about us.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We don’t need to be babysat at fourteen for no reason.” The boy offered her a smile and rested his arm on her on her shoulder. “I’ll start with Mason since he’s probably the worst of us all. Not only is he extremely violent and has a bad attitude, but he likes to insult people. When he insults you—note I said ‘when’, not ‘if’—try not to hurt him. I would encourage you to, but Mason is sneaky, so he’s liable to claim you assaulted him or something along those lines. Your buttons will be pushed when you interact with him. Anyway, it might help for you to keep Mason entertained, because if you don’t, he will entertain himself. Got it?”

Minerva narrowed her eyes at his words. “No, I don’t got it. I don’t know what happened during the last time you three were babysat, but I can assure you that I’m not going to be insulted. I’m not here to entertain you all either; like you said before, I’m here to supervise.”

As if her words went through one ear and out the other, Twitch scratched his chin and continued.

“Tobias is next, and while he’s not a problem like Mason, he is in a difference sense. Tobias is the type of boy that is girl crazy. And since you’re chesty, I’m going to bet he falls for you pretty quick.” He paused and gave her a quick once over. “Yeah, nice figure, little attitude and cute face; the perfect recipe for a love sick Tobias. Listen, he’s on the sneaky side too, probably the sneakiest of us all. He will try to kiss you and, no doubt, get close to you. You may feel uncomfortable and/or violated…and there’s nothing I can do for you. Just try your best not to be stuck in the same room with him alone. Got it?”

“Twitch…I’m ten seconds away from calling Blake.”

“I’m almost done.” He cleared his throat and took his arm off her shoulder to face her completely. “Last, but certainly not least, me, Twitch. I’m not bad like the other two, but I can be a handful at times. I suspect that this will be one of those times, because I didn’t take my ADHD medicine. I also just finished off a truck load of junk food before coming here. That last time I did that was before I went to school one day; the same day my science teacher quit. Her last words were, ‘Killian, you belong in an asylum’. Now that I think about it, I’ll probably do something crazy while I’m here—for instance, sell or destroy one of your appliances. I apologize in advance. Despite everything I just said though, I’m the most obedient of the three of us. That’s about it. Got it?”

Minerva couldn’t say all the things she wanted to, partly because they would be considered profane and partly because Twitch put his hand over her mouth.

"Remember what I told you, because this conversation never happened."

He removed his hand before Minerva had a chance to, and then went over to break up his still arguing brothers. Minerva had to look around to see if a camera man was hiding somewhere. She must’ve been getting punked or pranked. This couldn’t be real. Blake couldn’t have left her in this situation. She took her phone out to call him—to confirm this sick joke—but when he didn’t pick up, she realized that this was real. Blake left her in this situation.

Closing her eyes and letting out a deep sigh, Minerva came to the conclusion of starting over and pretending all the previous events never happened. Tobias never stared at her chest. Mason and Tobias never fought. Twitch never told her all those things and he certainly never put his hand over her mouth.

A fresh beginning would make things better…right?

She turned back around to the three boys that were now talking to each other about some random event that happened at their school. They’d moved on too. Great.

"Mason, Tobias, and Twitch…let's just move on. We’ve got a few hours together, so what would you like to do first?"

"Wrestle," Mason said flexing.

"Take off our jackets." Tobias winked at her.

Twitch did a handstand. "Drink some red bulls and see if they give us wings.”

"Break each other's ribs."

"Hug each other."

"Arson."

"Yeah, arson."

"Kiss each other…and then arson."

Minerva frowned. "Can we do something…I don’t know, not physical…or dealing with burning my apartment down for money you won't even get?"

"Like?" Mason raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"I don't know…sleep? You guys seem like you could use a nap after all that yelling.”

Twitch immediately got back on his feet and shook his head like a madman. "No, no, no, no, no! No sleeping—I'm way to hyper to sleep!"

"It depends," Tobias said, looking deep in thought. "Are we sleeping…together?"

"Okay…that was super inappropriate, but I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

"Okay, so sleeping's out," Mason said with a wave of his hand. "Next option?"

Minerva rolled her eyes and shrugged. “Watch TV, I guess. I can’t imagine you three wanting to do anything else.”

Mason threw his hands up in sudden frustration. "Why am I not surprised?"

Minerva, startled by his sudden shout, made a face as she went over to sit on the couch. His attitude was starting to work her nerves, but she held her tongue. She grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels. The three boys proceeded to sit on the couch next to her.

"What shall we watch?"

"Something violent," Mason said while punching his hand.

"Something with love." Tobias made his eyebrows go up and down.

"Something short." Twitch squirmed around a bit.

"How about something G-rated?" She suggested, figuring it was the best thing for them. She started flipping to one of the kid stations.

"G-rated?" Mason repeated as though it was a foreign term to him.

“Oh look, it’s Nemo.”

Mason looked appalled at the sight of the movie Nemo on the screen. He shook his head in disgust and rubbed his temples. He sighed heavily as he looked at her again. "Look old lady, this won't do. We’re fourteen not six, you have to do better. We don't want to watch a movie about some stupid fish getting lost. We want to watch movies with guns and fighting and blood."

"...and love," Tobias added.

"...and arson," Twitch added.

Minerva ignored the other two boys and frowned at Mason, deciding not to hold her tongue any longer. "Look little boy, your attitude won't do. Now I’m trying to be nice and not call you out on these snide remarks you’ve been making. I think you need to remember that I'm in charge and you're not; I give the commands and you obey them. If you just keep your smart mouth closed then we won't have any problems…and I'm not old."

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes.

A few seconds of silence between them passed before Twitch was able to sense something bad coming. The shaggy haired boy stood up suddenly and walked past Minerva into the kitchen area. As he walked past her, he whispered, "Here it comes."

Minerva looked at him like he was crazy, but before she could question what he said or where he was going, his prediction came true.

"Where did Uncle Blake find you?" Mason asked suddenly. "On the corner?"

It took a few seconds to process what he’d said, but when she did, Minerva narrowed her eyes. She must’ve heard wrong. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Leave it to Uncle Blake to pick up some old hooker that doesn’t know the first thing about teenagers.”

The college girl jumped up with speed that could rival the Flash’s. In less than a few seconds, she grabbed Mason by his shirt and pulled him close, his surprised face now inches away from her angry one. She proceeded to yank him roughly into her bedroom and only let him go after she closed the door.

"You're pretty strong for an old lady," Mason said while backing up and smoothing out his shirt. "Let me remind you that I am a minor."

"You may be a minor, but you’re becoming a major pain in my side,” she barked out. “I don’t know who or what you think you are, but I can tell you what you aren’t—you aren’t going to have your teeth much longer if you insult me like that again. You better straighten up your act or else."

"Or else what, old lady? You can't touch me." He challenged. "I got the law on my side."

"What's the law going to do for you when they can’t find you?" She growled and then stopped herself and started taking deep breaths. "Calm down Minerva, calm down…”

Mason, finding her reactions to be amusing, just stared at her with a smirk on his face. It took a good sixty seconds and a lot of motivational words, but eventually, Minerva did calm herself down.

"Listen to me and listen well. I’m not one of your teachers at school, not your therapist—if you don’t have one, you need one—not your Uncle, your mom or anybody else you think you can get over on. I’m Minerva and you will give me respect, one way or another. You're lucky I maintained enough self-control to not knock out your teeth this time.”

“I’ll tell Uncle Blake.”

"Please do! His teeth are going to be right on the ground next to yours.”

Mason mumbled something under his breath, then crossed his arms and turned his back to her in a defiant manner. Minerva stared at him a few seconds longer, waiting to see if he’d challenge her again. When it appeared that he wouldn’t, she started toward the door.

"Come back out when you change your attitude."

"I guess I'm never leaving." He spat.

It took all of whatever will power she had left, but Minerva forced herself not to respond and to exit the room. After she shut the door, she went back to the couch and sat down in her original spot. Still a little heated, she’d forgotten all about Twitch and that he was no longer in the room. She didn’t even realize Tobias was scooting closer and closer to her at first. It finally clicked to her when she noticed him yawning and putting his arm around her. She held her peace at first, trying to ignore it, but she couldn't any longer after he rested his head on her shoulder.

She pushed him away. "Alright, that's enough Tobias. No more touching, no more gawking, no more anything—I'm done."

Tobias looked hurt and he spoke softly after a moment, "So that's it? It's over for us?"

Minerva gave him a strange look. "What us? I just met you."

"I can't believe you! After all we've been through—the storm and the rain!"

She spoke through clenched teeth, "Little boy…”

He shushed her as he put his hand over her mouth. "You may not want this anymore, but I’m going to fight for us. I won't let you go that easily."

He then got up and escorted himself to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Minerva felt her temper rising again and started to follow him, but she stopped when she heard what sounded like a dish breaking. Distracted, she darted into the kitchen area where it came from.

Minerva didn’t know what she expected, but she certainly didn’t expect to see half of Twitch’s body sticking out of the cabinet next to the stove. A shattered plate, which appeared to have fallen from the counter, lied near his feet.

"Umm," she looked at the lower half of his body in confusion. “Twitch?”

Upon hearing his name, the shaggy haired boy raised his head, hitting it in the confined cabinet space. He quickly started to back out of the cabinet until he was out of it completely. His hair was messed up, allowing his eyes to finally be visible. They were light like Tobias’s, but an unstable look lied within them.

“Oh, hey Minnie. You scared me; I thought you were someone else…” He rubbed his head and looked around suspiciously.

“Twitch…” she started, but couldn’t find the right words to say. However, when she noticed that there was chocolate on his face and five empty Hershey wrappers in his hands, she found them. “Where did you get those chocolate bars? Please tell me you didn’t eat Allison’s emergency chocolate.”

“I don’t know if it was Allison’s or who Allison even is, but I ate someone’s chocolate.” He stood to his feet. “But it was for a good reason.”

Minerva scrunched up her face as she thought about the last time Allison was without chocolate when she needed it. She’d definitely have to replace it before her friend returned. “What reason could you possibly have? Are you out of your mind?”

Twitch looked around suspiciously again and then invaded Minerva’s personal space. When she tried to back up, he put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look him square in the eye. “…the aliens.”

“The what?”

She tried to back up again, but this time, he leaned so close that their heads were touching. “The aliens.”

She pushed him away to get some distance in between them and gave him a look. “Stay right there and tell me what you’re talking about.”

"You wouldn't understand, so I'll make it short for you." He paused. "When I was five, I was abducted by aliens and I borrowed a dollar from them. I never paid them back and now they've come back to collect. I need more sugar to stay alert and move quicker. I have to pay them back before I leave here or else."

"Or else what?”

"I'm not trying to find out." He eyes fluttered rapidly.

Minerva stared at him, much like she stared at her boyfriend earlier. "…Twitch, I think your teacher might have been on to something…”

“Do you have a dollar?"

“I don’t, but even if I did, I wouldn’t give it to you.”

The boy looked hurt at her words, but after a moment, a newfound resolution appeared in his eyes. “That’s okay, I'll just make a dollar some other way.”

Without a warning or a goodbye, Twitch dashed out of the kitchen and into another part of the apartment. Minerva stood there, staring at the broken plate, unsure whether to be mad, confused or laugh at the stupidity of it all.

What had she gotten herself into?

“Oh Blake, I don’t ever want to hear you ask me for another favor…” Minerva mumbled under her breath as she finished sweeping up the broken plate. “Cook for you? You can bet that if I do, there’ll be poison in your food.”

She thought of all the things she wanted to do and say to her boyfriend as she emptied the dustpan into the nearby wastebasket. Choking him and saying ‘Get out of my life’ were at the top the list at the moment. However, it changed to punching him in the throat and yelling ‘Why did I dance with you at that party?’ the longer she thought about it.

Eventually she let out a long exhale as she put her thoughts to rest, returned the broom to its spot and left out of the kitchen. Upon entering the living area, she realized that all three of the boys were out of sight. The bathroom door was still closed, so Tobias was still in there doing God knows what. Her bedroom door was still closed so Mason was still in her room, probably brooding. Twitch was nowhere to be seen though, so she’d have to find him. Where could he have gone? Maybe he went—

Wait…Mason was in her room? She left that little spawn of Satan in her bedroom alone!

Without a second thought, Minerva darted to her room and flung open her door. She felt a sense of relief when she saw everything in its place and nothing broken or damaged. However, the relief was short lived when she realized her window was open and Mason was gone. She walked in and began to look under her bed and in the closet to see if he was hiding. When it appeared that he wasn’t playing a trick on her, but rather truly gone, she felt a mixture of irritation and anxiousness.

She looked out the window, but didn’t catch any sight of him. Knowing she had to find the unruly boy, she ran to the front door. She stopped dead in her tracks when she opened the door and saw a mocha colored guy with a large frame standing there, a serious look on his face. His left hand was raised as though he were about to knock and the collar of a nervous looking Mason in his other hand.

“Samson?” Minerva said, shocked to see her neighbor and to see him looking angry at that.

In the past year she’d known Samson, there were only a select few times she’d seen him angry and all of them had to deal with football. When he wasn’t playing, he was generally a laid back guy. And when he wasn’t quiet, he was laughing. She’d made friends with him through Allison, who dated him briefly.

“Minerva!” Mason said with pleading eyes and arms outstretched toward her. “Tell him I’m with you—tell him!”

“Hey Minnie,” Samson said and then gestured at Mason with his free hand. “Would this hobgoblin happen to be yours? You don’t have to lie for him.”

She closed her eyes and put her hand on her head in shame. “While I would love to say I’ve never met this boy before, I can’t. What did he do?”

“I found him under my bed, hiding and taking pictures of my room. He snuck into my apartment through the window.”

She looked appalled and then glared daggers at Mason, tempted to say she didn’t know him after all. “I’m really sorry about that, Samson. I’m babysitting him and his two brothers. He must’ve snuck out when I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Maybe you should invest in a cage,” he said, releasing Mason and shoving him forward. He watched as the boy quickly made his way in the house, and stood behind Minerva. When the football player turned back to her and saw her embarrassment, his face softened a bit. “Don’t worry too much about it though. I only grabbed him; luckily, he said he was with you before I had the chance to hit him.”

“I wouldn’t have minded if you did hit him; it’s not like he doesn’t deserve it.” She huffed and then offered a sheepish smile. “Sorry again, Samson. Thanks for bringing him back.”

“No problem. Is Allison in there by chance?”

“No, she went to Renee’s party.”

“That’s right.” He nodded and then let out a sigh. “Okay, I’ll see you around…make sure to get that cage. I don’t want to have to call animal control.”

Minerva let out a chuckle and gave Samson a wave as he walked away. As soon as she closed the door, she turned around to Mason with fire in her eyes. The unruly boy, who appeared to be shaken up before, was now back in his regular attitude. There was an indifferent look on his face as he stared at her highly upset one.

"Spare me the lecture."

"You should be asking me to spare your face!” She yelled angrily. “What were you thinking? Were you even thinking? I mean, of all the people you could’ve upset—Samson? He’s a football player! And you snuck into his house? What is wrong with you?”

“He’s a football player? Dang, I should’ve taken a picture of the football in his room.” He snapped his fingers.

“Did you have an extra bowl of stupid this morning?’

“Look, I was playing a game of Truth or Dare with my friend, Eli. He dared me to sneak into someone’s apartment and I did. Since we played over the phone, I had to take pictures to prove that I did it. That’s it. So you can calm down before you bust an artery and have a stroke. I’m back now, aren’t I?”

With those departing words, he started to walk back toward her bedroom. Minerva grabbed his arm before he could get too far, forcing him to stop. “One, you’re not going back in my room, so you can change your course of direction. And two, you seemed to be the one about to have a stroke when Samson had you in his grip.”

He cut his eyes at her and snatched his arm away. “Uncle Blake could do so much better. Where’s that other girl he used to date?”

He started to walk away again, but this time when Minerva went to stop him, there was a sudden knock on the door. She shook her fist threateningly at Mason, but let him go as she answered the door.

It almost felt like a déjà vu moment for her, because there stood Samson again with a serious look on his face. This time, however, a distressed looking Twitch was in his grip rather than his brother.

“What the—” Minerva started, at a loss for any other words.

“I don’t suppose this is one of the other boys you were babysitting.” Samson raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t even know he left.” She turned to the panicking boy in shock. “Twitch…”

“Minnie! Tell him about the aliens! Tell him to let me go! Tell him I could be probed!”

“He tried to pickpocket me just now.”

The college girl stared at Twitch in confusion for a long moment before shaking her head, still not sure what to say. She ended up just apologizing again as her neighbor shoved the boy inside her house.

“I hope after all of this is done, we could be friends,” Twitch said, calming down enough to hold his hand out to him. “You seem like a cool guy. I’m sorry about the pickpocketing thing; I’m just in a desperate situation right now.”

Samson looked at the boy’s hand as if he were crazy and then gave Minerva a look before starting away.

“Sorry Samson,” she called after him once more, sticking her head out the door.
When Minerva turned around to Twitch, prepared to yell about his mental state, she stopped in her tracks when she saw a black wallet in his hands. He was walking around, going through it and picking out the random cards he deemed useless.

“Samson Davis. Twenty-one years old. From New Jersey. A subway fan. Blue Cross. Business cards. I see he likes to use credit cards,” he said aloud while tossing cards behind him. “Where is the money?”

“What the—” Minerva forced herself out of whatever trance she suddenly found herself in and walked over to Twitch. She snatched the wallet out of his hands and pointed to floor covered in cards. “Are you mad? Pick those up right now!”

He tried unsuccessfully to grab the wallet back. “Hey, I’m not done with it yet! Come on Minnie!”

“Twitch, I don’t know how you managed to get his wallet, but do you realize what will happen if he finds out you’ve got it?”

“He won’t know; not if you give it back so I can finish.”

When he reached for it again, she slapped his hands away. “Pick his cards up!”

The fourteen year old boy let out a huff of exasperation, but obeyed her and started to pick up the cards. When he collected them all, he handed them to Minerva, who proceeded to put them back in the wallet the best way she could’ve. After, she glared at Mason and tapped her foot in irritation.

“What now?”

“Now you’re going to return it Samson.”

He frowned. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not? You could take it off his person without a problem.”

“But this is different,” he started to explain, “I just offered my hand as a peace treaty with this guy. I asked to be friends; I can’t show him that I took his wallet anyway. It rejects the peace treaty and he won’t forgive me.”

“I guess you should’ve thought about that before.” She walked over to the door and opened it. “Let’s go.”

He let out a heavy sigh and started out the door, only stopping when he noticed she wasn’t following. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Oh no; you stole it, you return it.” She held out the wallet. “I’m going to watch from here.”

“If something happens to me, you’re the one that’s going to owe the aliens.”

He took the wallet from her reluctantly and started over to the neighbor’s door. After he knocked, he waited nervously for Samson to come to the door. When the door opened, Minerva watched Twitch give a nervous greeting and hold up the wallet. Samson looked confused at first, but after checking his back pocket to confirm that it wasn’t there, his eyebrows narrowed.

“Uhhh, Minnie…” Twitch called to her in a loud voice, sensing danger approach.

Samson turned to see Minerva standing there. “Minnie, I’m going to have a talk with him, if you don’t mind. I’ll return him to you in five minutes.”

Minerva just smiled and waved for him to proceed. That’ll keep Twitch out of her hair for just a moment while she handled the other two.

“Minnie, no! Don’t let him take me! Please!” the boy cried out as Samson put his hand on his back and forced him in the apartment.

Minerva ignored his pleas and went back in the house, closing the door behind her. She ran a hand through her hair as she looked around for Mason and Tobias. Neither of them were in the living area, yet both her bedroom door and the bathroom door were now open. Puzzled, she decided to investigate the bathroom first; she hadn’t seen Tobias in a good minute.

Walking to the bathroom, she looked around hesitantly before going in. The lights were on and the water was running but nobody seemed to be in there. After shutting the water off, she put her hands on her hips. Where could he have gone? Why couldn’t any of them stay in one place?

“White people…” she mumbled under her breath.

Figuring he was in the same place as wherever Mason was, she started to leave the bathroom. However, before she made it out, the door suddenly closed. Startled by the fact that Tobias was hiding behind the door, Minerva jumped back.

“You know, I always did have a thing for older women. More mature…more developed…”

It took her a few seconds to catch her breath. “Tobias…what the hell is wrong with you?”

The boy with the light eyes grinned at her before leaning against the door and locking it.

“Tobias, listen to me,” she said with narrowed eyebrows. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you need to open that door.”

“I’m working on our relationship, darling.”

“What relationship? We are strangers to each other—soon to be enemies, if you don’t open that door.”

He chuckled lightly. "I told you I wasn't going to let you go that easily, did I not?"

“Little boy, you’ve got five seconds to stand aside and let me out this bathroom.”

“Now, according to Doctor Phil there are a lot of different things that go into a relationship. If one of those things is lacking, such as communication, then trouble could arise.” He paused briefly to give her a devilish grin. “I think we’re lacking in the physical department.”

Minerva frowned and took a step away from the boy. “Tobias, don’t make me call Blake.”

“Another party also plays into the decline of a relationship. I know you don’t really care for Uncle Blake, so I forgive you for cheating on me…now it’s time to make up…”

Minerva opened her mouth to tell him to stop again, but realized he wasn’t going to comply when he started toward her. She quickly looked around for something to threaten him with and ended up grabbing a bar of soap.

“This is your last chance,” she warned, holding the dove bar up.

“Soap? What are you going do? Wash me?” He chuckled again. “Save that for later.”

Minerva frowned and, not pleased by the innuendo at all, threw the soap at him. It hit him on his head which caused him to stop for a brief moment and rub the spot where it hit him.

“Ouch.” He frowned, but then the smile returned seconds later. “That's okay…I like 'em feisty.”

Minerva rolled her eyes; he was almost as bad as his uncle. It wasn’t hard to see where he got it from. Without warning, Tobias closed the distance in between them and pinned her against the wall. Now inches away from her face, he grinned and held her there as she began to struggle.

“Tobias!”

“Just one kiss; it’s all a part of repairing the relationship, sweetheart. You’ll thank me afterwards.”

He made his goal clear when he tried to plant a kiss on her lips. Minerva struggled to avoid his lips, but due to the surprising amount of strength in his body, it wasn’t an easy feat. It was only after a good minute when she was able to kick him in between the legs that he stopped. Immediately hunching over and grabbing his crotch, the boy bit his lip and fell to the floor. Tears welled up in his eyes as he rolled back and forth.

"My spaghetti and meatballs!"

Highly upset, Minerva let out several profanities at the boy. Not only did he try to forcefully kiss her, but he made her have to really hurt him too. She watched as Tobias unsuccessfully tried to suppress the urge to cry. She couldn’t help but to feel a tinge of guilt as she saw his tears…and that only served to make her more upset, because he deserved it!

No, that wasn’t right. He didn’t deserve it…Blake did! How dare he set her up with three lunatics?! Letting out a growl at the thought of her soon to be ex-boyfriend, Minerva pulled out her phone. She called his number three times, but he didn’t answer either of them which only served to irritate her more. Oh, he was so gonna get it.

The party seemed to be getting more and more out of hand with each song the DJ played. The crowd of people that filled the apartment were jumping and dancing harder as the strobe lights flashed. Not one piece of food was thrown nor was any of the furniture damaged, but by the way it looked, it wouldn’t be long before it happened.

Blake, Chase, Damien and Louis were in the backyard of the apartment, setting up their instruments. They’d have to play on the lawn because there wasn’t nearly enough room to play inside with all those people. As the four boys traveled back and forth from Chase’s car, they laughed and spoke about whatever came to mind.

“I can’t wait to get in that party,” Damien said as he carried his bass guitar toward the lawn. He proceeded to let out a howling noise, which earned a laugh from the other guys.

“So that you can turn into a werewolf?” Louis raised an eyebrow.

“No, so I can dance with all those fine women.” He howled again. “Just thinking about it makes me want to unleash my inner animal.”

“Well you can tie that little puppy up because unfortunately for you, all those fine ladies will be dancing with me,” Chase said with a smirk.

Damien rolled his eyes and set the instrument on its stand on the grass. “Yeah, right. Unless all those ladies are blind, deaf and stupid, you don’t stand a chance against me.”

“You must’ve forgot about this face.”

“Chase, those girls may be attracted to that blonde hair and those blue eyes of yours, but they’ll leave once they get a whiff of your breath.”

“And run into your flabby arms?” Chase raised an eyebrow. “They sooner go to Louis, and you know he’s the ugliest of us all.”

Louis, who was setting up the mic, stopped to flip his friend off. “Both of you would be throwing in the towel if pit against me.”

“Care to put money on that?” Damien grinned devilishly.

“Ten.”

“Twenty.”

“Fifty,” Chase interjected as he continued to tune his guitar. “You scrubs are going down.”

“Done.”

“Done.”

“Hey Blake, you want to get in on this?” he asked his best friend, who was setting up the drums and cymbals by himself. “You probably stand the best chance against me.”

Blake was so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t hear his friend address him, nor did he even hear their conversation. He was too busy thinking about his girlfriend and how she was faring with his nephews so far. By the fact that she already called once, he suspected not well.

He knew they could be a handful at times…okay, he knew they could be more than a handful. His sister had a hard time taking control of them herself, especially since their father wasn’t in the picture to put them in their place. Often times, she tried to make Blake the enforcer and male figure they should follow, but it didn’t work out as planned. Blake couldn’t control them—well, it’s not so much that he couldn’t; the amount of energy and seriousness required to put them in their place was too much to exert on Blake’s part. After the time the triplets tried to set the house on fire, he gave up on them.

And he knew all of that as he was leaving them in the hands of his girlfriend. He couldn’t help but to feel a bit guilty. He had been hoping she wouldn’t have any problems; after all, it was Minerva. She could and would put anyone in their place. Three boys wouldn’t be a problem…right? If wrong, then he’d pay dearly. Was this worth breaking up over?

No.

No?

Unsure about how angry Minerva would be by the end of everything, Blake began to get a little anxious. He had to make it up to her—do something special for her. But what?

“Blake!”

The sudden shout of his name snapped Blake out of his thoughts. “Huh?”

“I said do you want to get in on this?”

“What?”

“Whoever dances with the most girls wins fifty bucks a piece,” he explained, rising to his feet. “Bonus points if you get their number and ugly chicks don’t count.”

Blake grinned at the sound of easy money. “Definitely.”

“Are you sure you can participate, Blake? We wouldn’t want you to be in the dog house with Minerva.” Damien snickered.

“Too late,” Louis added and snickered as well. “By the looks of that slammed door, he won’t be getting any for a long time.”

Blake grimaced as his friends laughed at his expense. “You laugh now, but you’ll be crying when I’m collecting your money.”

“You hear that, Dame? He thinks he’s going to win.”

“I’m still trying to figure out how he’s going along with this. I don’t recall Minerva giving him permission.”

“She might have to break out that whip; Blake’s getting a little ballsy, trying to make decisions by himself and whatnot.”

Damien laughed and slapped hands with Louis, earning a glare from their friend. Blake hated when they started down that road, but this time he didn’t give them the satisfaction of a response. He just shook his head and continued to set up his drum set. Eventually the two guys finished with their instruments and wandered toward the apartment. Noticing that they had a head start on the bet, Chase quickly finished with his guitar.

“Don’t worry about it, Blake. Minnie Golf will understand you just dancing until were on.”

“Yeah, I guess…and with the money I win from you three, I’ll pay her.”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself. I said you stood a good chance against me…not that you’d win.” The boy laughed. “Need any help?”

“No, I’m almost done.”

“See you inside then.”

Blake nodded and started putting the last of his drum set together quickly, wanting to get in the party as well. Just as he finished, he was tapped on the shoulder from behind. Turning around, he was surprised to see Renee there with a drink in her hand. The golden brown colored female looked especially good that evening; she was dressed to the nines in her red dress and heels. Her hair was also on point, the radiant brown ringlets resting gracefully on her shoulders. Her wide set eyes rested seductively on Blake. At first they rested specifically on Blake’s exposed chest, but then they rose to his eyes. She watched his eyes take in every curve the tight dress revealed. When his gaze finally met hers, he looked away quickly.

“Renee…I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“You didn’t expect to see me at my own party?”

“Oh, right. This is your party, isn’t it? And it’s your apartment too…I guess I forgot…even though your name is on the door…”

She chuckled as he stumbled over his words which made Blake’s heart beat a little faster. She always did have a pretty laugh to him; like wind chimes or ringing bells. He used to love making her laugh; it was one of his favorite things about her. After the year they’d been apart, he thought he’d been over it by now, but apparently not so. Feeling a bit awkward, he rubbed the back of his head and kept his eyes on his drum set.

Renee stared at him with a kind smile and handed him the drink. “I thought you might be thirsty after all that heavy lifting, so I brought you something to drink.”

Blake nodded at her. “I kind of was. Thanks.”

She watched him take a sip. “So…”

“So…thanks for asking us to play.”

“Of course. Anything to support you.”

“Right.” Blake paused and rubbed the back of his head again. “So…it’s just the two of us out here…alone…by ourselves…no one’s around…which could give off the wrong impression…we should probably head into the party…”

“Blake, you’re too cute.” She chuckled again. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to avoid me.”

“I’m not avoiding you…I’m just trying to keep away from you for the duration of this party.”

“And why, pray tell, would that be? Don’t want to upset your little friend—what’s her face? Minotaur?”

“Minerva. And yeah, she’d be upset if she saw us here…alone…by ourselves…with no one else around…”

Renee gave her ex a pitiful look. “What is she, your warden? I never said you could only talk to certain people when we were together.”

Not wanting to talk anything about their relationship, Blake quickly downed all of the drink in his glass. “Look at that, I’m out of something to drink. I should go get some more…”

Sensing that he was about to walk away, Renee put her hand on his chest to stop him. “Wait.”

Blake wouldn’t have waited had she not touched him, but since she did, he stopped. He looked from her doe eyed expression to her hand, uncomfortable. When she saw his uncomfort, she took her hand back and offered another smile. “One dance.”

“I don’t think so.”

“One dance, Blake. That’s all I’m asking; it’s just three minutes. You can spare three minutes for the host, can’t you?”

“…three minutes?”

“Three minutes.”

He looked reluctant, but agreed; at least he’d have one dance for the bet already. “Fine.”

“Great.”

She was leading him to the apartment when his phone began to ring. Suspecting that it was Minerva, he dug in his pocket and pulled it out, but didn’t get the chance to confirm it before he was stopped again by Renee. She grabbed his hand and put on a pouty face. “Three minutes doesn’t include texting or calling.”

“It’ll only take a second.”

“I only get one hundred and eighty of them; you’ll have to forgive me for being stingy with the time I’ve got. You gave me three minutes and I want every last second of them.”

He sighed and mumbled another ‘fine’. He ignored the buzzing and started to put the smartphone back in his pocket, but Renee swiped it from him quickly.

“Hey—”

“And just to make sure you’re not tempted…” She put his phone in her bra causing Blake’s eyes to widen. When she saw his expression and speechlessness she just laughed and continued pulling him inside the apartment.

When Minerva originally turned Allison’s door handle, it was to make sure it was locked like she thought. Her first surprise came when she found out it was open. Her second came from when she saw Mason in the room. But it was the third and final surprise that was the biggest—one that left Minerva’s jaw on the ground.
There was Mason, standing on her roommates bed, dressed in her clothes and posing with his phone in his hand as if he was about to take a picture. The clothes were so tight on him that they were bursting at the seams. When the boy saw her enter, he immediately jumped off the bed.

"I can explain.”

"Cross dressing?!" she yelled when she was able to regain the ability to speak.

“No.” He shook his head. “Well, actually, a little…but not because I wanted to. I told you before, I’m playing Truth or Dare. I never choose truth.

"Get out of her clothes!"

"Can you wait a second? I have to take the picture to prove I did it."

“Now!”

"Alright, fine. Geez, I can’t do anything." He agreed reluctantly. “The clothes are coming off, so you can lower your blood pressure already.”

He began to take the blue blouse off extremely slow in attempts not to ruin it any further. Getting angrier with each second he took, Minerva closed the door and charged at him. Upon further inspection, she realized that the clothes he wore actually belonged to her; they were random articles of clothes Allison borrowed but had yet to return. That only seemed to increase her rage.

"Can you move faster than the pace of molasses?"

"Hey, I was trying to be nice and not damage it anymore. If I go faster it might rip. Is that what you want?"

"No, I want you to finish taking off my clothes! Now!"

“Wait, these are your clothes? You’re dressing a bit young for you age, don’t you think?”

He smirked at her, which he soon discovered was the wrong thing to do. Minerva grabbed the shirt by the sleeves and started pulling it off of him.

"Ouch! Wait a minute! Hey, you're being too rough!" Mason yelled as he was tugged around by the stubborn shirt that refused to be pulled over his head. "Are you trying to kill me?"

As she continued to struggle pulling the shirt off of him, the door suddenly opened and Twitch popped his head in. There was a confused, yet amused look on his face as he stared at the two.

"What do you want?" Minerva growled once she noticed him.

"I wanted to tell you to keep it down, because you’re interrupting my show," he said and then flashed her a grin. "Also, it doesn't sound too G-rated from out there."

“We’ll be out in a minute.”

He looked at her curiously. “If you need help stripping, I’m sure Tobias will be more than happy to assist you.”

Minerva glared daggers at the boy and he quickly closed the door. She then turned back to Mason and hissed. “I have to go, but I want you out of my clothes. When you get them off, wash them, dry them, iron them, fold them neatly…and then set them on fire!"

"Yay, arson."

Minerva shot Mason another glare so strong that even he used a bit of wisdom and closed his mouth. When she exited the room, she expected to see Twitch sitting on the couch, watching something on television. She did not expect to see, however, four random college students sitting on the floor in front of a grinning Twitch.

“Um, excuse me? Who are you people?” she spoke immediately. “Twitch, what’s going on?”

“Ah, Minerva, you’re just in time. The Great Twitchini is about to start his magic show! Only one quarter admission, but I won’t charge you since I’m using your apartment. By the way, thanks for being a good sport.”

How many years in prison would she get for the murder of three boys?