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Fourteen
DELILAH
I walked in well after midnight, passing through the empty foyer and ducking past the plastic construction curtains. I expected to encounter an empty living room, but it was still lit by the flickering light of the television.
“Welcome home,” smiled Liam.
He was still there, and so was Julius. A few takeout containers from a local Chinese restaurant lay scattered across the coffee table, alongside a bunch of empty beer bottles.
“How was your date?”
I couldn’t believe they were still up! All three of the guys were early risers, choosing to work out — or do “PT” as they called it — between four and five in the morning. In the two weeks we’d lived together, I’d never seen them up this late before.
“It was… good,” I said, dropping my pocketbook to one of the side tables. “An even better question: what are you guys still doing awake?”
It was everything I could do not to chuckle. The two of them had waited up for me, like a couple of overprotective brothers. All things considered, the gesture was sweet. A little overbearing and maybe a tiny bit of an invasion of privacy… but sweet, nonetheless.
“I’m thinking you waited up for me,” I said. “Even when I told you not to.”
“Or,” Liam countered, “we’re just enjoying an 80’s action movie marathon.”
I turned to look at the screen. Arnold Schwarzenegger was blowing up sixteen people at once. That didn’t narrow things down much, until I saw a teenage Alyssa Milano.
“Commando,” I nodded approvingly. “The poor man’s Rambo.”
“Are you kidding?” Julius instantly sat up straight. “Schwarzenegger blows Stallone away. Always has.”
“Uh…Rocky?” I quipped, and left it at that.
“Total Recall?” Julius shot back. “Conan the Barbarian?Terminator?”
I laughed loudly. “He didn’t even act in that movie! He was literally a robot.”
I sank to the couch, letting out a grateful sigh as my legs thanked me.
“Predator then,” Liam snapped his fingers. “Better than all those others.”
“Hmm. I haven’t seen that one,” I admitted. “Still…”
My sentence trailed off into the midnight silence. I couldn’t tell if their looks were utter disbelief or genuine disgust.
“What?”
“You’ve never seenPredator?” Julius breathed.
“No. But I’ve seen clips, and—” I stopped. “Seriously though, what are you guys doing up?”
Liam stared back at me for a long moment. Eventually, he let out a sigh of resignation.
“Fine, I guess wewerea little worried about you.”
I felt an odd warmth of flattery. “Why?”
“Well we figured the date took place where you used to live, so you had pretty far to drive,” said Liam. “And the roads are still wet, so…”
“That’s it?” I smiled. “Wet roads?”
“Plus you’ve never met this guy before,” Liam continued. “He’s a total stranger, Delilah. You don’t know—”
