Odd.

2.9 Sunshine

"Dude! What the hell was that?"

Copeland resisted the urge to laugh as Dax threw down his controller in outrage. Dax had always had poor sportsmanship and was convinced the only reason he ever lost was because Copeland or Pete cheated.

"What was what?" Copeland asked innocently as a smile played at the corners of his lips.

"You fuckin' cheated, man. You can't just sneak up behind me and slit my throat." He pointed an accusatory finger at Copeland. "There are boundaries man that you just don't cross, and what did you do? You motherfucking crossed it."

Pete rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at Dax. "Calm down, killer. It's just a game."

Dax threw the pillow back at Pete, with more force than was necessary, and then pointed at him. "Fuck off, Evans. This is my house and I can yell at whoever the fuck I want to."

Copeland reached up onto the couch for his phone, not wanting to listen to the bicker-session that was about to start. Dax could argue with anyone about anything, and often carried it out till the other person just got tired or bored and gave up. Basically, he only won by default.

There was a text from Minx, which surprised him. When they exchanged numbers the other day he didn't actually think she'd try to talk to him. He thought he'd have to work up the courage to do so first.

How's your mom doing?

He tapped his fingers along the side of his phone. It'd been a few days since the afternoon with Minx. The Slurpees, the pizzas and the confessions . . . for some reason it still felt like a dream, like it hadn't actually happened.

Okay. She goes into surgery next week to remove the tumor.

Pete had finally given up on his argument with Dax and decided to go upstairs for another Pepsi.

"You want something?" he asked Copeland who shook his head.

"Nah, I'm still working on my Root Beer float," he held up his cup for emphasis. "Thanks though."

Pete didn't bother asking Dax if he wanted anything and quickly jogged up the stairs before Dax could say something. Dax didn't seem bothered; he was in the middle of another round of Mortal Combat. Copeland's phone vibrated.

I hope all goes well, then. What are you doing now?

Playing Mortal Combat with Dax and Pete. There's already been one argument, and I'm sure there'll be more.

There was a pause, and then:

Lol. Well good luck with that. Theo's making me go see some violent action movie with a horrible plot line, wish me luck.

He smiled and then typed back:

I'm sure it won't be that bad, but good luck anyway sunshine.

Sunshine?

A nickname. That's all I think of whenever I look at you.

He often thought of that and how soft her lips looked and how much he loved the little crease that appeared on her forehead when she was deep in thought . . . but he wasn't going to admit any of that in a text.

"Cj let's get back to the game," Dax said and tossed a controller at him. "I'm so gonna kick your ass this time."

Copeland rolled his eyes and glanced at Minx's new text before setting it down beside him.

I like it.