Oh no, that's not how this works.

Victor smirked. ”Precisely,” he said, getting up off of the couch. ”Wait there, Greg, I’ll be back.”

He headed into the kitchen, Stefan long gone now. Victor opened the fridge and grabbed a bottled water, and then turned back to the living room. He spotted Greg, still bent over, and snorted. He threw the bottle at his friend. ”We need to train you on how to drink proper without getting completely smashed.”

–

Shyanne tightened her fists when Sean’s broken voice spoke up. She felt his weak grip on her arm. God, he was so weak! Sean wasn’t normally that weak and it pissed her off! She almost threw her hand out of his grasp, but for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to. She gently removed her hand and stared at the lump of a man on the bed.

”...Sean...” she said, her scowl deepening. ”Who told you to go punch that guy, huh?! I told you to go get help, not get yourself in the hospital! You almost died,” she was so, so tempted to kill him as her anger flared, her concern blanketed by rage, ”You could have died and if you died, I would have brought you back to life and then killed you myself!”

Victor laughed at Greg, somewhat cruelly, but the yelp had amused him.

”Well yeah, dude. We gotta train you for vacation. There’s gonna be plenty of alcohol involved, and you want to remember your time there, don’t you?” Victor said, taking a long gulp of his water. Tasted good. He sighed contently. ”Besides, I’m gonna need you to help me man the barbeque, and I can’t have you shitfaced around fire.”

–

Shyanne hated seeing him like this, it made her so angry! ”Oh my God, you could have screamed! Yelled or called 9-1-1! Those guys weren’t going to do this if the police were coming, they were scared of the cops, that’s what made them go away!” She said.

The firmness with which Sean spoke made her heart race and her cheeks flush in a mix of anger and something she couldn’t quite place. No one had taken such a stand for her – no ex-boyfriend, no friend, no one had gotten beaten to a bloody pulp and nearly died because she asked them for help. She narrowed her eyes at Sean. ”Well now look at you! Look at you! How could you let this happen to yourself,” she choked on a hiccup, forgetting Donovan was in the room completely. She even forgot who that was in the moment. ”I didn’t want to see you like that, Sean!”

”Exactly. So just listen to teacher,” Victor teased, though when Greg said he couldn’t cook and cited the last incident he snorted and threw a throw-pillow at his friend. ”You think anyone can forget that? Dad was so pissed he had to buy a new grill for me! I’m not letting you anywhere near fire, or my food,” He pointed at Greg as though proving a point, ”I was going to have you do preparation work. Help me salt the food, cut the fish, shit like that.”

He shrugged his shoulders. ”Besides, even if you don’t do any actual cooking it’ll look cool if you pretend to help. And you can’t do that wasted.”

–

Shyanne whipped her head around to glare daggers at Donovan – who she had just now remembered was in the room. This guy! Ugh! She hated him more and more! Shyanne got up from the chair and marched towards Donovan. ”Seriously?! Your brother almost dies and all you care about is the Mercedes paintjob?! I’ll give it a new paintjob with your blood!” She shrieked, jamming her finger violently into Donovan. ”For your information my car is the one that got blood on it, my car which is still at the parking lot your brother nearly got beaten to death in! You have a lot of fucking nerve, I have half a mind to beat you senseless after that!”

She rolled her eyes. ”Oh my God. Even I’m not heartless enough to, like, ask my family if the car is OK before asking if they’re OK.” She shook her head again. ”Sean! Why is your brother such a scumbag!”

When Greg ducked and tossed a pillow back Victor snorted, catching the pillow with his hands and ducking backwards into the couch’s cushion. He rose his eyebrows at Greg mischievously. It was weird to think his friend might think of him in a different way than as friends.

When Greg said he was going to pound the meat into shape, at first Victor wanted to comment than you didn’t have to pound the fish, but then he realized the illicit meaning behind it. Victor smirked as realization dawned on Greg. ”No meat needs to be pounded, just salted, Greg,” he said. ”Though if you want to go pound your meat while you’re there feel free, just make sure you don’t scare the girls, yeah?”

He couldn’t take it. He doubled back in laughter. ”First you deny you’re gay, then you say that shit, Jesus Christ Greg,” He wiped his eyes. ”You’re a riot. I love it.”

–

Shyanne was about to flip out at Donovan for daring to imply she needed to be controlled (or that she was Sean’s, as if), but to her shock Sean spoke up first. She turned towards him and blinked, her fists clenching. When he referred to her as a Queen she held her head a little higher – it was nice to be acknowledged as what she was, obviously – and then looked back at Donovan, who was rendered speechless. She put a hand on her hip.

”Yeah. So I suggest you shut your trap and let someone who actually cares about your brother stay here, now shoo, you freak.” She said. ”Ugh! I can’t believe this guy. You’ll actually get the respect you deserve when my dad comes up this weekend to see how I am! Oh, and you too, though he doesn’t really know you,” Shyanne brushed her hand and took her seat again. ”I told him what happened, and he’s driving up from Oklahoma to check on me.”

Victor rose his eyebrows when Greg made a huge claim – that he’d screw Ashley to prove his heterosexuality. ”Well damn, man. I was wondering when you two were going to take the next step,” he said. He hummed and leaned forward. ”though if you only screw her for my sake, that’s hardly straight, am I right? I mean, you’d screw her for the sake of screwing her if you were.”

But he saw the desperation in his friend’s eyes. ”Though, even so, If you two had sex it would definitely help your case, sure.” He said.

–

Shyanne watched as Donovan left, shaking her head. ”Oh my Gosh, your brother is more annoying than mine is.” She said. At Sean’s question she nodded. ”Yup! I called daddy when I was in the waiting room. I had to tell him obviously! And he said he wanted to come up and check on me. And see you. I mean you, like, saved me from that douche.” She said.

When Sean said he would replace her clothes she frowned at him. ”Don’t bother. This outfit is pretty lame, anyway. Besides, when daddy’s up he promised to take me shopping as a, like, recovery present.”

Victor rose his eyebrows at Greg’s stuttered defense. It was so lame. Greg was definitely gay, or bi or something. Victor frowned. Was it really that hard to come out to him, when he clearly already knew?

He let the thought pass and snorted at Greg’s comment. ”Shit man. That’s what you’re worried about, experience?” That was right, Greg was a cute little virgin. He almost forgot! Victor ran a hand over his own jaw in thought. ”Want some pointers from me? I can help you out – I’m your best wingman, after all.”

–

Shyanne looked at Sean with her hands on her hips. ”Well he sucks, and next time I see him I’m telling him that. Again.” She said. She blinked at Sean when he complimented her. Of course she knew that! And she expected Sean to compliment her but for some odd reason he never did. Sure he agreed with her when she said this or that but he had never, to her face, given a compliment of his own volition. It made her heart falter for a second, it reminded her of the feeling she used to get when Brad complimented her.

That feeling scared her. She huffed and flipped her hair. ”Well, well duh!” She said, putting on her confidence again. As if she was seriously flattered by something Sean said. ”But I need the clothes to, like, agree with me, not contrast with me. They have to look... worthy of me!”