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“A while.” She hopped off the counter, skirted Asa, and jogged back to the basement. She flipped the breaker and ran back upstairs. When she flipped the switch and the light not only turned on but did not flicker and in fact made the entire sink area look brand new, she hummed, satisfied.
Being able to fix something had the settling effect she’d been looking for.
Maybe it was just a light fixture, but it felt like stability in her otherwise topsy-turvy week.
She planted her hands on her hips and admired her work. Asa helped himself to a cup of coffee.
“I also changed the furnace filter and cleaned up the front rooms. Des is going to have to take her shit. It can’t live here anymore.”
Asa nodded. “I’ll let her know.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Should we go wake up Al?”
Nikki glanced at the clock above the stove. It was just after ten. Not exactly early. “Is she still claiming jet lag?”
Asa nodded, hiding his smile behind his cup.
“I guess it’s time.” Nikki sighed like it was a hardship when it totally wasn’t. “She brings this upon herself.”
Asa followed her out of the kitchen and down the short hall, up the stairs to Al’s room.
Allison “Al” King, rock star in training and general badass, did not like to keep normal hours. Probably one of the reasons she gravitated to the rock star life in the first place. She liked to stay up all night and sleep all day.
Which wasn’t a problem except that they missed her.
And the only way to spend time with Al was to either adopt her hours or annoy her into waking up to hang out with them.
At Al’s door, Nikki pulled out her phone and cued up the song so she could have it ready.
She gripped the doorknob and turned it slowly. The old wooden door popped as it cleared the frame and Nikki made a face and waited.
Asa just grinned. He took too much delight in this particular torture method even though Nikki was the one who had come up with it.
The blackout curtains created a cozy cave devoid of light. Nikki closed her eyes because it was easier to remember where to go when she wasn’t also trying to see when that was impossible. She crept along the edges of the room until she reached the huge speakers on Al’s bookshelf.
Feeling carefully around the top of the shelf, she found the audio cable and plugged it into her phone.
What kind of music would be annoying enough to get a punk rocker out of bed without also making them violent?
There’s literally only one answer.
Weird Al Yankovic.
She hit play on her phone and Asa, who had crept in silently behind her on the opposite side of the room, yanked open the curtains.
As Weird Al sang out “Waffle King,” Nikki toed off her shoes and jumped onto the bed.
A mournful wail came from the pile of blankets beneath her.
Asa stomped one foot on the floor to the beat of the music and Nikki bounced as they both sang along at the top of their lungs.
Al flung the blankets off herself, and Nikki tackled her.
The long-limbed, dark-skinned beauty wrapped her arms around Nikki’s tiny frame and hugged her tight.
“I missed you, goof.”
“I missed you, goof.” Al kissed the top of her head and then pushed her away.
Asa and Nikki had been besties since childhood, but Al fit with them in a way that felt like she’d always been there. Even though they hadn’t met her until high school. It had been automatic and simple. Her easy laugh and strong personality had been exactly what Asa and Nikki’s duo needed to become a trio.
