I was still trying to catch up with what had just happened. I mean, I had just been kissed by Chester, who was two steps away from being a stranger, and it felt weird. Like your first kiss was supposed to have good feelings and sparks and butterflies and unicorns right?

This one felt like.. well I mean his lips were soft and he held me warmly but it felt .. bland. Like I was kissing a wall.

“Ah,” Sam coughed and glanced at the boys, “Excuse us we have some things to settle,” he nodded and turned to Mabel, “Can you run inside with your sister to the living room? Beck will show you the way while Chester and I grab some of the bags.”

Sam turned and grabbed Chester’s arm, pulling him to the back of the truck, while Beck left no room for argument as he marched up the steps, his hands on both of our backs, gently guiding Mabel and I into the house. Mabel sped up so that Beck wasn’t touching her, and I did as well. I wasn’t exactly used to people touching me, unless it was my mother striking me down. Which was why I had been so surprised when I hugged Beck back in the car.

Inside the house was beautiful the front door opened up to a mud room of sorts where shoes would normally be kept, there were a few pairs of shoes and a few coats on the hook, I looked at Beck wondering if I should be taking my shoes off but he walked past me into the house further. Through the door there was the living room, which had a homey feel to it. It was dark hardwood floors with a white shag area rug under the green half u shaped rug. Where the rest of the u would be there were two white sitting chairs and in the center was a glass coffee table, and a few video game controllers sat on that.

There was a tv across from the couches and a little stand that held a bunch of movies and on the entire top two shelves there were video games for the Xbox360 that was next to the dvd player on the tv stand. On the couch there were a few throw pillows and I couldn’t help but compare it to my house. This was like the jackpot.

Of course, only I would go into the end of the world and end up staying in a house way nicer than my own. It amazed me that this little community was up and running. They must have started it as soon as things got bad, to still have everything nice looking. I knew from the drive in that there was a stream somewhere, that led into a little lake of sorts.

I ran my fingers over the back of the couch and watched Mabel flop down into one of the white chairs and cross her arms in anger, she glared at me and I awkwardly sat on the corner of the green couch, surprised when it tried to suck me into its cushions, in a good way.

Beck walked back from I assumed the kitchen, because he offered me and Mabel a water bottle. We both accepted and he sat down to my right and yawned.

Sam and Chester walked in and put my bag next to the stairs along with the second weighed down bag, and a bag I recognized as Mabel’s. They both walked over and Chester sat next to Beck while Sam stayed standing, “Okay, well we’ll get rooms swapped around in a minute, Mabel, you’ll be sharing with your sister, in Cody’s room until we can get you both situated in one of the other houses,” Sam said, his warm eyes sparking with light.

Mabel looked over at me and frowned.

I sighed and pulled my uninjured leg to my chest.

Chester looked at me, “look, I’m sorry about what happened outside, it was very rude of me and I shouldn’t have just kissed you like that.”

I blinked and was unsure as to how to respond, how do you respond to that?

“Well,” I swallowed and sat forward a bit to look at him, “I mean it’s alright.. It wasn’t an awesome first kiss but you know it could have been worse, and-”

Chester cut me off, “Wait! That was your first kiss?!”

Mabel snorted and the boys were just staring at me, “Well, uhm, yeah I guess I’ve never kissed anyone so, yeah I guess.”

I was nervous and it was obvious with the way I was stumbling over my words. Chester swore and rubbed his face with his palm, “Damnit, cupcake I’m so sorry I took that from you. I figured .. well it doesn’t matter anyways because I won’t kiss you again,” he looked at me and nodded firmly.

Okay, so maybe I didn’t enjoy the kiss but that kind of stung, did he have to be so blunt about it. I might not be super attractive, but he didn’t have to kiss me and I didn’t know why he did in the first place. I frowned and tried to figure out what he meant, what this all meant.

Ugh, boys are complicated.

Chester’s eyes widened when he realized what he said, he put his hands up in surrender, “No not that you’re.. I mean you’re pretty,” Mabel glared at me, “but like, you’re not my type.”

Mabel perked up and looked at Chester happily, I frowned. Okay, that hurt.

“No,” he looked frustrated and I glanced at Beck, who just looked amused.

“What I mean,” Chester breathed out, “is I’m gay.”

Mabel shot to her feet looking furious, she shot a death glare my way, “Look what you did!!” she stomped upstairs and out of sight.

I was left staring after her and processing Chester’s words.

“Look I wasn’t going to tell you until later, but those guys like to pick on me and not everyone is as accepting to gay people as these knuckleheads that I live with. I thought if I kissed you that they would back off, and that was completely unfair to you,” he said, “Please, please please with a cherry on top, forgive me?”

I swallowed and nodded, “Yeah sure, no problem.”

He grinned and launched across Beck to tackle me in a hug, “Awh, thanks cupcake,” he practically sung.

“ughghfhg get off me you moron,” Beck grunted, pushing Chester off of the couch.

This set me and Sam both off into laughter, and then Chester jumped up and glared at Beck which set him off, soon, we were all laughing and could barely catch our breath. When the laughter died down everyone was in a much better mood, I wanted to ask more about the guys from the street but decided it would be best to ask Chester when I got him alone.

Sam stood and stretched before looking at me, “Come on, I’ll show you to your room and you can check on your sister,” he looked worried, “We’ll carry stuff in.”

I frowned a little bit, “You don’t need help?”

Beck stood up and offered me a hand, I stared at it a moment before placing mine in his and letting him haul me to my feet, “Debby,” I flinched a little at the name and readjusted my shorts, pulling them up a little, “You’ve got a bad knee and a bump on your head, which means you’re not allowed to pick anything but your bag up,” he looked thoughtful, “in fact, I’ll carry them for you instead.”

I wanted to argue but he lifted his chin in a stubborn manner and walked ahead of me, I sighed and waved to the others before trailing after Beck. Chester whined playfully about having to carry everything while Beck got off easy and I heard something like a smack to the back of the head, Sam said something and Chester grunted a reply, but I couldn’t hear them as I was walking up the stairs.

Beck walked onto the landing at the top of the stairs and I followed, the landing was an open room that could have been used as a sitting room or playroom, the carpet was a light creamy off white color, and I again wondered how a home full of boys managed to keep the place so clean.

Beck showed me where the bathroom was, which was placed between Chester’s room and Sam’s room. On the opposite wall was another bedroom, and a bathroom which was attached to it, he said it was mine and Mabel’s, while the wall directly across from the stairs and which was on the back half of the house, was where him and the mysterious Cody would be staying.

I tried to knock on the bathroom door and heard Mabel mutter for me to just go away, I frowned and looked up at Beck.

“She’ll come out when she’s ready, I don’t think she liked Chester a whole lot, but it must have hurt a little…”

I nodded softly and pressed my hands flat on my thighs, wiping them against the fabric.

“Here,” he said, nudging me to my new room, “Why don’t you explore it a little bit and I get some of Cody’s things out and into my room, then you can hang some of your clothes up.”

I nodded and opened the door. There was a queen sized bed that took up most of the space, but under the window was a wooden desk and on the same wall as the door, across from the bed, was a tv stand and a bookshelf with a few odds and end books. I walked over to the bed and sat on the edge while Beck put down both my bag and the heavy looking one.

He started pulling clothes out of the closet and hanging them on his arm so that he could move more of them this way.

I pointed to the heavy looking bag, knowing Mabel already had her bag, “Uh, is this yours or someone’s?” I asked softly, not wanting to offend him or anything silly like that.

He turned, his eyebrows scrunched up as he looked at what I was talking about, “Ah, no it’s yours.”

I shook my head, “No, I only packed one,” I said.

He nodded slowly, “Yeah, but I asked Chester to pack up your books so you weren’t leaving them behind. They took the text books down to the church, which is where they teach lessons to the younger kids, about math and reading and stuff,” he turned back to the closet, “I mean, well Sam sometimes helps out but we don’t teach the classes, some of the adults volunteered to do it.”

He turned back to me, his arm full of all of Cody’s clothes, “Why? Were they not yours? Did you not want them?”

I shook my head trying to figure out how to explain it to him. No one in my own family had really understood my love for books. No one in my family would have thought enough of me to even grab one of them. And here these boys, who I just met a few days ago are, and they’re grabbing the things that I hold most precious to me without even realizing it.

I think Beck must have seen the words my mouth was refusing to express in my eyes, because his blue eyes softened and he gave me a soft smile, “Look Debby, I know you don’t fully trust us, and I know you have your reasons. But we sure will do everything in our power to earn your trust. Like it or not Chester already thinks your his best friend, Sam thinks of you as his friend too, as do I,” he said, his eyes pouring with sincerity, “We look after our friends, always. Even before this world went to crap. I’m not saying that there’s anything expected of you, I’m just hoping you’ll start to consider us as friends as well,” he walked towards the door, and grinned at me.

He left before I could reply, and I guess that was a good thing. He knew I didn’t exactly trust him, it made me wonder if he knew I was lying to him as well.

I gave out a big sigh and pushed it all to the side as I stood from my new, borrowed, shared bed and walked towards the bathroom. Inside I saw a nice looking tub and a working shower head. I didn’t have to think much about it, I just stripped down and hopped into the shower to scrub away the sweat and dirt and whatever else had managed to cling to my skin.

Afterwards I decided to lay in a bath and let myself revel in the feel of actual warm water, and actual soap, and an actual bath. The water stung my knee a little bit so I hooked my leg over the side of the tub and let it hang out. There were enough bubbles in the bath that I wasn’t worried about flashing anyone should they accidentally walk in on me.

I had only planned to close my eyes for a second, but as soon as I did, sleep claimed me.