Jennifer Green knew she would hate Anthony "Fridge" Johnson until the end of time. But, being sucked into a video game can change everything you knew. (This story has both Welcome to The Jungle and The Next Level in it.)
I ran my hands along my body. "I'm going to treat you to a long soak," I promise.
"Is everyone okay?" Spencer looks us over. We gave him a nod. "Grandpa, you okay?" He looks over at the only person that didn't answer.
"Yeah, I'm good." The old man stares at the wall in front of him. "Holy shit," He looks around the place. He couldn't believe that all of that was real. Martha ran over to hug Spencer.
I grab Anthony by his shirt collar to pull him down into a kiss. I grab the back of his head as I slip my tongue into his mouth. "Alright, this isn't an orgy. Break it up!" Eddie yells at the two couples.
"Sorry, I had to get the taste of Jurgen out of my mouth." I pull away from him and gag at the thought of that guy.
"What?" Everyone screamed.
"He kissed you?" Anthony throws his hands in the air. "I hope you killed him good." He points at Spencer.
"I poisoned him with the berry and he fell to his death, so I say it was pretty... well for lack of a better word, brutal." Spencer shrugs.
"Was it only a kiss?" Martha asks.
Everyone held their breath as they stared at me. "Yeah, the brothers showed up in time before he could do anything else." I smile at Anthony and Beth.
"Oh, thank god." Beth pulls me into a tight hug. Everyone joined us, so we had a big group hug.
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Martha, Anthony, Beth, and I were back at Nora's to redo the meetup. We were waiting on Spencer and Eddie. Anthony was staring at the chocolate cake in front of him. He put a fork full up to his mouth before putting it back down. "Oh, hell no," He pushes the plate away.
"More for me," I grab it and put it in front of me. He watches me like I was eating roaches. The bell above the door rang. Eddie and Spencer walk in. "Look," I pointed. We watch with our fingers crossed that Eddie would not have a meltdown.
Eddie stopped to look around the place that was once his. It was different, but very much similar at the same time. "You okay, grandpa?" Spencer asked.
"Yeah, a lot of good memories here," He smiled when he saw a framed picture of him and Milo holding up their menus on the wall.
Nora walked out and got the shock of her life when she saw Eddie standing there. "Eddie? Eddie, is that you?" She walks over to him.
"Nora. Hey." He met her halfway. They sat down at a table together.
"Hey, guys." Spencer kissed Martha before sitting down.
"Hi." Beth and I waved.
"What's up, bro?" He fist-bumped with Anthony.
"How's he been doing?" I nod to Eddie.
"Good, great actually, my mom said he's back to being his old self, which is still grumpy but more upbeat." He smiles.
"That's good." Anthony nods.
"So, how is the old married couple in the group?" Spencer playfully punches Anthony's shoulder.
"We're good. We're good, right?" He looks at me for clarification.
"You don't know?" Martha laughs.
"I can never be too sure with this one." He points his thumb in my direction.
"We're good. We have an apartment by his college, so any time you guys want to visit you can. Just don't make too much noise when a game is on." I nudge Anthony.
"Yeah and don't go in the kitchen when she's baking, you might lose a finger." He nudges me back.
"Only if you stick your finger into the batter," I wink at them.
"I don't know, it sounds dangerous." Martha laughs.
"No really, you guys should come. Fridge is a local celebrity there. He can get us into the best places." I pat him on the back.
"I wouldn't say celebrity." He shrugs humbly.
"Well, now we have to go," Beth smiles.
"Yeah, we should schedule it around one of your games," Spencer suggests.
"Oh yeah, I don't think I ever have seen the Fridge in action." Martha nods eagerly.
"I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait to visit all of you guys too." Anthony gave Spencer a pointed look.
"You guys got to come to New York too." Spencer agrees.
"Yeah, I can't wait." Martha grabs his hand.
"This team, forever," Spencer points down at the table.
"Forever," Anthony nods.
"For eternity," I sip my coffee.
"Always," Beth smiles.
"Always, for eternity, and forever..." Martha said, not knowing what else she could add.
We laugh at her cute awkwardness. "Yeah, let's keep close though," Anthony said through his laughter.
"Of course," Beth nods.
"One thing, can we all agree, let's never go back there." Spencer put his hands down on the table.
"I thought we already agreed on that." Anthony laughed.
"Yeah, you jerk." I put a piece of cake on my fork to fling it at him.
"Alright, alright," Spencer uses a napkin to wipe his face.
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I'll stop it right here because if they do make a third one, I figure they would pick it up at the ostrich stampede. And, honestly, I like giving stories a tidy ending.
