He had to do his rounds first so he only made it to the Menagerie apartment by the evening. But he made sure he bought Thai food on the way. No one wanted to cook on their first night back.

So he unlocked the door, swinging it wide in his enthusiasm. And the universe was on his side, because Christian was there, sitting on one side of the couch with a book balanced on his knees while Brendan sat on the other side, facing his boyfriend but watching something on his laptop. They looked up and grinned in tandem.

“Good lord, are you two already back into your old habits? The semester has only just begun!” Eddie cried, staring at their current occupations. Christian shook his head fondly.

“So? It’s good to be back. We were just relaxing.” He said, in the soft, hushed way of his. He always sounded like he had just woken up.

“Hello? Beginning of semester. I couldn’t swing a cat tonight without hitting a kegster or a new comer’s party. You cannot be planning to spend your first night in here, watching YouTube and reading.” Eddie said with obvious disgust. He walked around the couch and towards the little round kitchen table, setting down the food. “I have stomach lining here. And then, we are going out.”

“Oh good. Eddie’s back.” he heard Laurel say behind him as she trudged out of her room, rubbing her face like she had been sleeping.

“Oh my God, you are already in your sweats.” Eddie exclaimed, staring at her vest and ratty old track pants. She looked down at them, hands splayed.

“So? I arrived in these.”

Eddie almost shook his fist at the heavens. “No. No no no no. It’s the first week back. We are going out and being young.”

“Can’t we stay here and be young?” Christian said, but he wasn’t saying no. And Brendan had that look in his eye that said ‘Thank god Eddie is saving me from this monotony’.

“Eat. All of you. Laurel, where’s Jordy?” Eddie asked her.

She shrugged. “He said he had to go set up his dorm.”

Eddie gave her a pitying look. “Honey, if he isn’t going to set up a kegster then I’m the queen’s pet hamster.”

Laurel looked annoyed. “He didn’t say that. He would have told me that.”

Eddie shook his head at her ignorance. “Honey, Jordy doesn’t know how to deceive. But he does know you wouldn’t have cared if he was planning a party. Go on, text your beau, and when he replies, ask him where the party is.” He turned to Bren and Christian. “Eat. If you must change, then do so, but that couch is not seeing your butts again until tomorrow.”

Brendan had already snapped shut the laptop and was padding over to the table, looked eagerly at the food.

“Eddie, you rock.” He said, sotto voice.

“Indeed.” Eddie replied. He watched Christian get up and go to his room to change. Bren was already taking out Styrofoam containers and looking curiously at the contents. “I would have expected better of you Bren-bear. Why on earth did you let them settle into this ?! Class hasn’t even begun.”

Brendan gave him a look which made Eddie lean closer. “It was a bit of a rough summer.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. My mother uh…she was a bit weird about us. Chris and me.” Bren said, looking upset.

“Weird like, ‘pray the gay away’?”

Bren snorted. “No, more like offering to make everyone lemonade about fifty times in one afternoon.”

Eddie frowned. “Why didn’t you say something?” he and Brendan had texted some over the summer. Bren shrugged.

“Who wants to talk about the shit stuff? It was ok, we survived. Christian stayed by his aunt, I stayed home with Laurel. At least for a while…”

“And then their dad showed up, and that put a damper on things.” Christian said, coming up behind them, taking the container Brendan offered him.

Eddie leaned back and folded his arms. “I shall assume from the gaps in that little story that it was a shit-storm of note.”

Both Christian and Brendan nodded, mouths full but sharing a brief look. Eddie looked around to see Laurel’s closed door and hoped she was getting changed into something that didn’t make her look like a hobo.

“And I’m guessing Laurel was a very active part of that storm…” again; silent, vehement nodding.

“She spent the last three weeks of summer with Jordan in Montana.” Brendan added.

“Glory be.” Eddie commented.

“Yeah.” Christian said, with a resigned look.

Eddie stared at their tense faces. Well, it looked like his summer hadn’t been the only one to push the limits of sanity. He clapped his hands together, making Christian jump a little.

“Well then, seems to me like what we all really need is a way to let loose and relax, hmm? Eat up darlings. We’re off to chase a unicorn!”

-8-

Chasing a unicorn meant party hopping. He knew he had a limited time frame in which to get as much out of his little group as possible. Honestly, sometime he found his addiction their company inexplicable. He had never wanted to spend time with people as home-bound as this bunch. Brendan was a minor exception. So after finding Jordy at his kegster, which wasn’t fully underway and thus too boring, Eddie texted his friend from the science faculty. Something about people who spent a lot of time looking at things under microscopes made them go a bit weird when it came to parties. So they went over to the mini-planetarium to enjoy some free cheap booze and look at the starry sky on display inside the dome. It was a clever trick, one he knew the little science geeks used to score on a regular basis. Also, it was apparently fun to get high and just stare at the ceiling for hours.

Then Eddie felt the need to be somewhere a little noisier, but he knew they would shed Christian and thus Brendan from the group if he did, so he turned to Bren.

“Don’t your soccer chums have some sort of hazing happening tonight?”

Predictably, they did. They went over to the stadium where new recruits were running across the grass with their hands tied behind their backs and wearing nothing but underwear.

“Did you have to do this?” Christian asked Bren.

Bren looked slightly embarrassed. “Um, yeah.”

“Wish I’d been there.” Laurel said. “With a camera.”

Apart from the entertainment, there were chips and several large barrels of beer. Eddie casually went to fill cups for all of them. Then he stared at their faces, seeing the shadow of their holidays still lingering and decided something more drastic was needed. So he stripped off his shirt and joined the group on the field, playing the wild card. There was some objection from the players, but Eddie was entertaining enough for them to shut up about it. He didn’t tie his hands behind his back, but he somersaulted and did walking handstands in front of the newer recruits to throw them off, tapping them playfully on the head when they fell over. He managed to dissipate some energy by actually playing with the ball too, enjoying the concentration and coordination it took, not only to play, but to play better than everyone else, and make snarky comments while he did. He saw Christian laughing at his performance and it was enough.

After about twenty minutes of this he came back and threw back his entire cup of beer. It was sour stuff, and he gave a visible shudder.

“That was horrible. We need to go somewhere with better tasting stuff than this.”

“That would be our place.” Laurel piped up, tossing her empty cup in the trash. “I bought a selection back with me this time.”

Eddie looked at her approvingly. “Then lead on, Madam. I need to wash the taste of insole out of my mouth.”

So they went back to the flat. It was midnight already, but they set themselves up around the coffee table. Christian sat on the couch and Bren claimed the floor between his legs. Laurel took the other end of the couch, Jordy sat with his long legs under the coffee table and Eddie got the sagging bean bag.

“Can we please get more furniture?” Eddie moaned.

“Eddie you don’t even live-“ Laurel started but stopped herself, looking tired. “Fine. Get an armchair or something. Whatever. Just stop bitching about it.”

“I only bitch because nothing in this place fits me. It’s like a doll house.”

“That’s because you, and Bren, are built like trees.” She pointed out.

“Very well. I will do just that. Now, pass the…what is that?”

Laurel held up a box with a screw on top. “It’s box margarita.”

Eddie dropped his hand. “That’s a travesty. A margarita in a box? What madness is this?”

Laurel rolled her eyes. “Well, Mr ‘Oh lordy me I can’t stand beer’ you don’t have to drink it.”

Eddie agreed he was too desperate to be choosy. “I shall curb my enthusiasm.” But he poured himself some and was surprised. “It’s not horrible.”

“So glad it meets with your approval.” Laurel said flatly.

They all had a drink in hand, although Brendan and Jordy had stuck to beer. Christian was drinking something pale, foggy green. “What’s that?” Eddie asked

Christian looked at it, trying to remember. “I think it’s a mimosa?”

Eddie couldn’t believe it. “Exactly how many delicious drinks have been turned into box juices?”

Laurel took the rest of the boxes out of the bag for him to see. “Three; margarita, mimosa and rum and coke.”

“Lord help us.” He mumbled but drank some more anyway. He looked around, realisation dawning. “Time for another round of ‘Perspective’!”

Laurel groaned. “No.”

“Spoilsport.”

“Eddie, we have class tomorrow.”

“The first week of classes are barely usable. We all know this.” Eddie said dismissively.

“We totally should. I tried to teach it to my buddies in the dorm but I think I got it wrong cos they did not get it at all.” Jordan said.

“Maybe you didn’t have enough alcohol.” Eddie told him.

“Or maybe too much.”

“I think it just works best with friends.” Christian added.

Brendan nodded at that. “It’s true. It wouldn’t work with people you didn’t care about. Or didn’t want to get to know better.”

“Guess your dorm buddies don’t like you Jordy.” Eddie teased.

“Or they’re just dumb.” Laurel added.

Eddie looked at them all, eyes settling on Christian for the deciding vote. Christian teetered, academic that he was, but eventually caved.

“One drink. Then the rounds over.” He said. Eddie crowed in delight.

“Excellent!”