Never Just One

I woke up slowly in the morning, when the first rays of intruding sunlight hit my face. I was so comfortable and so happy to be sleeping in a bed again. I let a smile cross my lips, closed my eyes, and I cuddled deeper underneath the blanket. I wasn’t cold, but it was such a cozy feeling. I rolled over to my side and reluctantly opened my eyes.

Party Poison lay next to me, one arm slung over me protectively. His red hair was in his face and his mouth was open slightly, and he snored quietly with every breath.

“Poison, wake up. We’re burnin’ daylight.”

He groaned his reply and rolled over, and I got up to start my day. Living in the desert, running from a corporation that’s trying to kill you, you learn how precious the daylight hours are.

Walking out of the office-turned-bedroom, I was greeted by a silent flurry of activity. Kobra Kid was making a pot of coffee, wearing a white shirt with a dinosaur on it. Jet Star was rooting through the fridge, looking for breakfast foods. Fun Ghoul wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Boo!”

I screamed and jumped about a foot away from Ghoul as he cracked up, sneaking up from behind me to scare me.

“What the fuck, Ghoul? Really?”

And oh, God, he was shirtless. Awkward.

“Yeah, really. Good morning.” He snickered as he made his way over to the other side of the main room, rooting through a cabinet on the far wall.

“Hey, Ghoul, toss me two pairs of jeans – one for Diamond and one for me.”

“You got it.”

“And throw on a record or somethin’. I want to get that goddamn BL/ind jingle outta my head.” Jet Star sighed and closed the fridge, a loaf of bread in his hands. “We gotta hit up a store today, we’re nearly out of food.” Placing the bread on the counter, he got a jar of jelly out of the cabinet and placed it next to it. “Breakfast is served.”

The Beatles’ “I’m Only Sleeping” came on, and Ghoul smiled as he carried two pairs of light jeans over to Kobra, slipping on a blue shirt.

Kobra threw a pair of his jeans at me, and I caught them. When I looked up to tell him thanks, he was already taking off his pants.

“Jesus Christ!” I held up my hand and shielded my eyes. “Put some pants on!”

“That’s what I’m doing,” came Kobra’s sarcastic reply.

“I warned you,” Poison said from behind me. “I told you that you were gonna see most of us half-naked at some point today.” I slowly turned to face him, and he was pantless, too.

“You guys are as white as vampires. I need sunglasses just to look in your general direction,” I joked, folding Kobra’s jeans neatly over my arm and looking away. “Um, where can I change?”

“Bathroom’s down the hall, on your right,” Poison said, grabbing himself a piece of bread and putting a glob of jam on it. “Here, take this and eat while you change. We gotta get movin’ if we’re goin’ to your camp today.”

“Oh, right!” I scurried off down the hall and slipped into the grimy bathroom, actually smiling at the sight of the dusty toilet and gross sink. It was the first bathroom I’d seen in ages.

As I rushed to put on the too-long pants, I couldn’t help but think of the camp I was abandoning, and how I was majorly trading up for this.

Plus, I had four more people to help me out in fights.

Score, Cell.