Dirty Laundry
“He did what to your hat?”
“He... oh damn't Dawn, it was all over my hair, and my gel wasn't even dry yet... it was gross...”
Lucas was putting up quite the valiant effort not to cry as he sat next to Dawn at the kitchen table, the dryer rumbling behind them. His hat, favorite of all his possessions, had been violated by his roommate just hours before, and had been through the wash twice since.
“I just don't get why he'd even do that to begin with,” Dawn sighed, stroking her boyfriend's newly cut hair. He'd decided that washing wasn't enough and had made her cut about half the length out after he'd scrubbed it, meaning his hair was shorter at the moment than she'd ever seen before.
Lucas froze momentarily; he was pretty sure why Brendan had done such a thing, and it wasn't exactly something he could tell Dawn. “I don't know,” he said after a moment. “Maybe just just... doesn't want me as his roommate anymore.”
Dawn crossed her arms, frowning sympathetically. “Well if he has a problem with you, he should be mature enough to talk to you about it, instead of just...” she waved her arms exaggeratively, “all over your stuff.”
“All over my hat.”
She stroked his hair and then kissed him on the cheek. “You know what? I think I'm gonna go talk to him.”
“Yeah, maybe you- wait, what?” Lucas seemed to snap out of his daze for a moment, the water shocked out of his eyes.
“Yeah. I'm gonna go talk to him. You're in no shape to, and no offense sweetie but you're kind of a pushover anyway.” She kissed him on the forehead as she stood up. “I'll get this sorted out, and see if we can come to some kind of an agreement, and if not, we'll talk to Blake and Ethan and see which one of them wants to switch with you.”
Lucas wanted to protest, but her intentions were too sweet, and it'd be hard to protest without her suspecting he knew the reason. The best thing he could do was follow her and hope for the best.
They trotted up the stairs and arrived at the boys' shared room, where Dawn dutifully knocked on the door. There was a loud groan from inside the room, followed by “What?!”, and so she pushed the door open.
Brendan was sitting on his bed shirtless, next to May who was frantically trying to straighten out her own shirt. Dawn blushed at the sight, then steeled herself, even as Brendan drawled, “Make it fast Lucas, I'm kind of busy.”
He looked up when he noticed a flash of pink, and saw Dawn waiting at the door, tapping her foot and staring at him. “Your busy can wait until after we sort things out. I highly doubt you're that needy right now anyway, all things considered.”
Everyone gasped at what she'd said, but each for their own reason. Lucas and Brendan were both surprised she'd insinuate the morning's incident so directly, or make the sexual connection so loudly; May was just shocked anything was going on that Dawn would be bold enough to interrupt the obvious for.
The meaning of the words hit her a second later, and she grabbed his shoulder. “What the hell's she talking about?”
“I, uh...” Brendan blinked, glancing first at his girlfriend, then the girl staring him down, then his roommate and his new horrible crew cut. “He started it!” he shouted, pointing straight at Lucas.
“Started what?” May demanded, rolling her eyes. Now was the perfect time to assume that whatever this was, it was dumb.
“How could he of?!” Dawn said at the same time, dumbfounded that Brendan would stoop to such a childish retort.
Lucas stepped up to defend himself too. “As if I'd ever be awful enough to do that to someone's hat.”
Brendan laughed so hard May thought he was going to fall off the bed. “Hat, no, but close enough. You have no shame, do you? Coming after me when I was only getting revenge?”
By now May had gotten “did something awful to a hat” out of the conversation, and her image was worse than the reality. “Ewwww! Brendan how could you?!” she demanded, pushing him away with her foot and covering her nose.
He stared at her expression, then held his hands up in his defense. “No, no, not that. I only came in his hat.”
“Like that's better?!” Lucas demanded, quickly stepping behind the door so he wouldn't have to see Dawn's face about all of this, and to make his exit quicker. A peek down the hall revealed that everyone else on the floor was now standing in their doorways, wondering what was going on, and he cursed under his breath.
“Kind of? Hell if I know, it was just an eye for an eye.” He was busy being kicked further away by May, who was disgusted but also now trying very hard not to laugh as the reason behind Lucas's haircut and hour of crying in the bathroom became clear.
Dawn spun around and grabbed her boyfriend's wrist, not willing to let him escape. Blake was now between him and the stairs though, so escape was unlikely anyway. “You...” she shook her head suggestively, still unable to actually say the word, “in his hat?” she demanded, not sure if she should be confused or offended.
“No!” he panicked, glancing between her and the others, where now Brendan was starting to laugh too. “Not his!”
“Whose?”
“You've got a hat fetish now?” Blake joked, making sure everyone in the room could hear him.
“No! I...” he looked at Dawn, then closed his eyes, unable to actually say the truth.
“It was hers,” Brendan said, motioning at May. Sure, he'd have hell to pay later for having stolen her bandanna to begin with, but at the moment, it was worth the thrashing Lucas was about to get.
“Mine?!”
“Hers?!”
The girls shrieked at exactly the same time, and then something unexpected happened. Yes, Dawn still shoved Lucas and glared at him in that way only she could, the one that made everyone feel like they'd just killed her Prinplup, but then she and May suddenly lunged for one another.
“You tramp!” Dawn shouted, storming toward the bed. “You stay away from my boyfriend!”
“I didn't go near him,” May snapped back, jumping up from beneath the covers and pushing Dawn back before she got any closer to the bed. Lucas blushed and tried to look away when he realized the other girl was already pantsless, wearing a thong instead.
“Then what was he doing with your bandanna?!” She tried to grab at one of the wrists as she was pushed back and missed.
May chuckled, holding up one fist. “I don't know, but maybe if you weren't such a prude he wouldn't be thinking about other girls!” She swung, Dawn barely managing to avoid getting decked and swinging back, though her style was all nails.
“I thought we had that fight already, or are you such a slut you'd forget so quickly?!” Her nails landed across the older girl's forearm, causing her to hiss in pain.
“Well sorry for thinking you learned something!”
“What are they talking about?” Lucas questioned the hallway, growing increasingly confused and distressed by the fight even as he rubbed his bruised chest. Ethan and Blake both shrugged, the latter of which while making popcorn eating motions and craning his neck for a better look into the room – two girls fighting, one of them half-naked, was a show he wasn't going to miss. Winnie gave a chuckle and reached over to “steal” some of the “popcorn”, blatantly ignoring the question.
The fight had backed Dawn up to the wall, where she was baring her teeth, hands still held in a claw shape as May held her by the wrists and continued to bitch her out. “Grow up already, Dawn! Learn to think things through and maybe you wouldn't get yourself into these situations!”
“You know allll about situations, don't you?” she spat back, growling.
“Meow! Cat fight!” Blake cheered from the hall, pushing his imaginary popcorn into Winnie's arms so he could clap. Ethan laughed at the jeering, adding his own hoot:
“Kill her! Wait, no, kiss her!”
May was about to start in on another tongue lashing when the holler reached her, and in that one instant, the color drained from her face, only to be replaced a few seconds of holding Dawn later by a steep blush.
In one motion she let go of the younger girl and made it out the door, slugging Ethan in the chest before vanishing down the stairs in a gallop.
“What the hell just happened?” Ethan demanded, holding his hand to the now sore spot. “Did I just get decked by a girl?”
“'Decking' is only in the face,” Blake corrected him, looking down the stairs then wincing as the back door slammed. “I think what you just got is 'told'.”
Lucas looked up to Brendan and tried to open his mouth to ask if he knew what had happened, but before he could, Dawn had shown back up in his face and was sobbing her eyes out. He sighed, knowing he'd fucked up big time, and wrapped his arms around the crying girl, making a time out sign at his roommate behind her back.
“Truce?” he mouthed, then kissed her temple.
Brendan nodded, flopping back over on his bed and pulling his discarded shirt over his face. This was not the evening he'd expected at all.