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You Can't Be Missed If You Never Go Away

When they arrived at the girls’ apartment building they had to go all the way to the top floor. The elevator doors opened not to a hall like the boys expected, but to a penthouse.

“Whoa,” Joe breathed, “Where’d you get this?”

Chris elbowed him. Sara and Becca didn’t hear his question and they kept walking to the kitchen with the pizza. Chris whispered, “Becca’s dad is an real estate king in North Texas. He pays most of our rent. But it’s kind of an unspoken rule not to talk about it.”

“Ohhhh,” Joe said. “Pizza now?”

Chris laughed, “Yes, Joe, pizza.”

They all followed Becca and Sara who had found paper plates and a bottle of wine. Chris took a sip from a cup Becca handed her. A bottle of good wine. “Where did we get this?”

“Daddy sent it over yesterday. The note said ‘Happy last day of being undregrads girls!’ He’s so sweet.” Becca told them.

“I love your dad,” Sara said. Chris nodded her agreement. They all feasted on pizza and wine. By the time they were finished and cleaned up it was two in the morning.

“As much as I love you boys and as much as I missed you,” Chris started, “I have to go to bed. So let’s figure out where everyone’s sleeping.”

Everyone got a bed. Due to the giant apartment, there was a whole extra room with a bed and a pullout. There was a wonderfully comfortable couch in the living room and Chris had a futon in her room.

Chris left the boys to fight over who would sleep where. She went and changed for bed and
made up the futon so someone could sleep there.

“I win.” Pete declared as he walked into her room.

“I’m so lucky,” Chris drawled sarcastically.

“Don’t hate.”

She laughed and pulled back her sheets. “So bathroom’s right there. The tv remote’s on the
futon. You can turn it on, it won’t bother me. I’m gonna be asleep when I hit the pillow.”

“Ok Chris,” Pete said, digging through his bag. “See you in the morning.”

“Night, Pete.” Chris lay down and pulled her covers over her. She closed her eyes, expecting to be asleep in seconds. But she wasn’t. Her mind was racing. Pete had returned and turned on the television, she could hear him get into bed.

“Hey Peter?” She sat up in bed.

“Ya, Christina?”

“I’m sorry.” Again she started to cry. She seemed to cry a lot today.

Pete was sitting by her in a second. He lifted her chin and said, “I’m sorry too.”

“I shouldn’t have left. I shouldn’t have cut you out of my life.”

“It’s ok, you did what you had to do. I was really upset at first, but now I understand. We all grew out of the experience,” Pete told her. “What’s important now is that we’re all back together. We shouldn’t have ignored you that last day. We should’ve have told you that we loved you. Maybe this wouldn’t have gone on so long.”

“I love you, Peter.” She hugged him.

“I love you, too, Christina.” He hugged her back. “Now go to sleep, you’re exhausted.”

He went back to the futon and she lay back down. She was asleep before the next commercial came on the television. She slept better than she had in a long time. The next morning she woke up around eleven. Pete was still asleep so she woke him up and told him to take her bed which is much more comfortable than the futon. By the time she got back from taking a shower Pete was sprawled out and tangled in her sheets. She laughed at him. Out in the kitchen she found Patrick awake sitting at the table.

“Morning, coffee?” Chris asked.

“Please.”

“Should I make breakfast or lunch?”

“Breakfastttttt,” moaned Becca as she walked into the kitchen.

“Someone’s a hot mess.” Chris joked.

“Sara, Joe and I finished the wine and two more bottles, I think.”

“Winners.”

“Make me blueberry pancakes, pleaseeeeee?” she whined.

“You got it babe.”

Chris began cooking. Becca collapsed at the table. Chris got her a glass of water and two
aspirin.

“Where’s Pete?” asked Patrick from the table.

“Still sleeping,” Chris replied mixing up a batter.

“Pete doesn’t sleep,” Patrick said with a little disbelief in his voice. “He hasn’t since-“

Patrick stopped in the middle of his sentence. He glanced at Chris guiltily and then back down at his cup of coffee. Chris knew what he meant to say. Pete hadn’t slept well since Matt died, since she left. She knew, because until last night, sleep had eluded her too.

“Three years is a long time to not sleep,” Chris said. “I know.”

Patrick nodded. Chris began to ladle out the pancakes onto the griddle. Sara wandered into the kitchen looking similar to Becca. While the second batch of pancakes was cooking, Chris got her a glass of water and some aspirin too.

“When does Stacy get here?” Chris asked Patrick. “We need to go get her from the airport, right?”

“Ya,” he replied. “Her flight gets in at three twenty.”

“Ok.” Chris beckoned Becca. “I made pancakes for you, now you make bacon for me,” she smiled. “I’ll go wake the rest of the boys.”

Andy and Joe were in the guest room. I jumped on Andy’s bed to wake him up and all I had to do was say the word bacon and Joe was out of bed. She walked into her room to wake Pete up. He was still sprawled out on her bed. She smiled and sat down on the bed.

Bouncing up and down she exclaimed “Wake up, Peter!!! It’s time for breakfast!!!”

He groaned, rolled over and opened one eye. “ No.”

“But I made blueberry pancakes!” His other eye opened. “Just like 24-hour. Bunny sent me the
recipe.”

All of a sudden, she was being grabbed around the waist and being tossed onto the bed. Pete was dashing out of the room. She got up laughing and followed him out. When Chris stepped into the kitchen, Pete was sitting at the table with the rest of the boys leading them in a chant of “Pan. Cakes. Pan! Cakes! PAN! CAKES!”

“Selfish,” Chris said to them, smacking one of them on the back of the head. Walking to
Becca who was finishing the bacon and said, “This is my life.”