Jessica Canton's Story

Jess sat at the kitchen table with a pen in hand, staring down at a blank white sheet of paper.
"It's a sad day when theres nothing to do on my To Do list..." She mumbled quietly, speaking half to herself and half to the rather ugly looking reptile in front of her.
"I guess you wouldn't know, Indigo. You eat bugs all day to keep you busy." She continued, glancing at the lizard. He seemed to be focused on a fruit fly.
Jess raised an eyebrow, "Back in the tank for you..." She said, picking up her pet and walking over to the living room area, putting him in his rightful spot in the old fish tank.

Jessica then moved back over to the kitchen and continued to stare at her To Do list that had absolutely nothing on it.
There had to be something, anything.
Maybe she was just forgetting...
Jess paused, then scowled to herself. A wonderful friend she was for not remembering that Quin was moving into the apartment building today. How could she?
At least he didn't know that she had forgotten...

In attempt to be the first one to welcome her friend to his new home, Jessica quickly took Indigo back out of his tank and then rushed out into the hallway without even putting on her shoes.
"Quin's here!" She nearly screamed as she rushed through the building, holding Indigo close to her so she wouldn't drop him.

"I'm here! I'm here!" Jess called as she saw the familiar group of friends standing a bit further down the hall. She was a bit disappointed that she was the last one to arrive, but thats her own fault, since she had forgotten the apartment number.
Jess ran right passed someone who gave her a weird-yet not too surprised- look, and automatically she explained that a friend of hers had moved in today, and she was excited to see him.
She spoke so fast that the words were jumbled and hard to understand.
"Nevermind." Jess said, flashing a smile

When she finally reached the group, she basically tackled everyone to give them hugs, stopped to give Chris a quick kiss, then burst into the apartment.
"I'm here!" She repeated, looking around. At that moment, Jess remembered that Indigo was in her hands, and she paused to make sure he was okay.

"You're going to love it here, Quin!" Jessica said, turning towards her friend once she was certain she hadn't scared her pet to death.

Art smiled graciously to Effy after she directed the attention away from him. "Cake sounds like a great idea!" Art exclaimed, smiling brightly. He blushed as he noticed a stranger giving them an odd look, tempted to shove his boyfriend into the apartment and lecture him on the reasons why people wore shirts. But Quin beat him too it, turning to go back into the bedroom to get a shirt, "Well, as wonderful as it must be in the hallway, why don't you all come on inside?" Art smiled, adjusting his glasses and motioning his friends inside. He walked further into the apartment, crossing the bedroom and practically having another panic attack as he saw Quin trip again. He'll admit that he had been used to Quin's clumsiness at one point, but ever since his accident, Art had been much more concerned about the boy's health, constantly worrying and not wanting him to feel pain of any kind. He knew he was being unreasonable, knew that this friends could probably see how increasingly worried he'd gotten, but he couldn't help it, he just wanted Quin to be safe. So naturally Art came to Quin's side again, trying his best to put on a smile, "You really need to watch you're step, Quin." he said, extending a hand towards him to help him up. He could hear the little comment Mara made, making him smiling a bit more genuinely, "You better help Effy, I want Cake!" Art took a second to think his statement over, "Well, help, but don't help, as long as I get cake." Art took a second to think about Amara's question, "I would ask Quin." He said, looking to his boyfriend with a smile.

---

Stephanie couldn't help but laugh a little at her clumsy friend, sticking right by Mara's side. She shook her head at Amara's little request, then smiling at Art's comment. "I'm not sure I want to, when you want me to help it normally means that you don't want to make a cake." Effy muttered, shaking her head. "Why can't you just make a cake yourself?" She questioned, frowning slightly. She looked to Jessica smiling brightly, latching herself onto her friend, "And besides, I wanted to talk with Jessica about girl stuff!" She argued, a small smile on her face, "We're gonna talk about you and Chris, right Jess?" She questioned, clearly just trying to get out of 'baking' with Amara. The last time they were all over at one friend's apartment and Effy and Amara were making a cake, their friends had walked in on a heavy makeout session. Steph got a little red just thinking about it.

Chris stepped into the apartment after Art invited them all in. Quin fell on his face and Chris and Art shared the same worried look. Chris' worried look faded when Art went to help Quin up. The group started talking about having cake, Chris nodded when Art said that cake sounded like a great idea. Though Stephanie didn't seem to want to help Amara make it.

"Why can't you just make a cake yourself?" She questioned, frowning slightly. She looked to Jessica smiling brightly, latching herself onto her friend, "And besides, I wanted to talk with Jessica about girl stuff!" She argued, a small smile on her face, "We're gonna talk about you and Chris, right Jess?"

"I'd help but we all know i can't bake to save my life..." Chris added. Chris was not good at baking...At all. He burned or undercooked everything he tried to bake.
Chris glanced at Stephanie when she said that she and jess were going to discuss Jess and himself. " whats there to talk about?...Other than that we have the best relationship ever!" he said Nudging Jess with his elbow and smiling widely at her.
" But seriously, someone needs to get to baking that cake." He said, his stomach grumbling in agreement.

"Nah I think we can handle it." If all six of them tried to unpack, it would never get done. Ever. The last time they tried it ended with all of them laughing so hard they couldn't breath. There was a lot of talk about cake, not making a cake, making a cake. Quincey loved anything to do with sugar, so all the talk about cake was making him hungry. "You know what we should do tonight? Get a bunch of beer and have a crappy movie marathon. I have my crappy movie collection." He nudged the box containing the movies with his foot. "The best part about the beer is that the more drunk we get the funnier the movies will be." Then Quincey remembered something, he had to work tomorrow. Oh well, he hoped his friends had forgotten.

---

Mara raised her arms in defeat. "Fine fine, if you all want a cake so bad I'll go get started... Feel free to visit since I'll be all alone over there." She gave a little smirk as she pushed off from the wall she was leaning on. She looked over at Quin and tapped her chin in thought, "Hm... That actually sounds pretty fun. But don't you work tomorrow? Guess that means no beer for you! Hehe." Mara spun on her heel to turn towards Effy, leaning down to plant a little kiss on her lips before heading towards the door. "Well, off I go! Try not to hurt yourself too badly Quin, okay?" Though she was teasing him about his clumsiness, she was also legitimately concerned about his well-being.

She hummed quietly to herself as she made her way back to her apartment and began preparations for the cake. "Spoiled brats! Sending me off to make them cake all by lonesome." She smirked a bit to herself, she wasn't really upset or anything. She rather liked baking, especially when it was for her friends.

Art smiled over to Quin, "That's a great idea! I love our movie nights! You have the best collection of bad movies, the horror might be my favorite though." he grinned, already getting to talking with his friends likely to not be quiet any time soon. When Amara brought up the fact that Quin had work tomorrow, Art smirked a little, having forgotten, "Oh that's right! Don't worry though we'll still have fun without the beer, ahh wait, correction, you'll still have fun, I got off work tomorrow so I suppose I can drink for the two of us." He laughed, turning to Chris. "And excuse you, but second best, we all know who's number one with there relationship." Art joked, winking to his friends as he sat on the arm of a recliner. He looked to Mara as she left, unable to help but gush slightly at the soft peck she gave Effy, leaving the girl blushing. He always thought the two couples his friends had made were so adorable, and of course he was always meddling in their relationships. So naturally when he saw that Effy simply stood there, not going after Amara to keep her company and be adorable together (which was really just what he wanted, not what he expected), he frowned slightly, standing from his seat to pull at Effy slightly, "Oh no, no, no, no, what kind of girlfriend is that, you've probably hurt Mara's feelings not going with her, now go after her and keep her company Effy." As he spoke he was pushing the girl towards the door, eventually leading her outside the apartment smiling brightly as he closed the door. He turned back to his friends, sitting back down in his seat, "Now one of two things is going to happen, they get all cuddly and adorable and come back thanking me and saying something along the lines of how amazing I am, or Mara's gonna come back and be mad at me for kicking her girlfriend out of the apartment." He smiled, for some reason just noticing the animals his two friends had brought along with them, "Oh, who are these two cuties?" He asked, looking to the animals, despite already knowing of Indigo.

---

Effy just rolled her eyes at Chris's comment, smiling slightly. Her smiled widened at Quincey's suggestion of a bad-movie marathon, nodding her approval. Normally she didn't like drinking, seeing as it made her more prone to be more suggestive and do things she would regret later, but she really needed some unwinding time and a fun night with her friends seemed like a great idea. As Mara was about to leave, she took Effy by surprise, kissing her lightly before leaving, making the girl blush. Before she could even bring herself to more embarrassing thoughts of other times Amara had surprised her with a kiss, Art was pulling her away from Jessica and towards the door, going off about Steph needing to keep Mara company. By the time she was out of the apartment, Stephanie was blushing a deep red, feeling as though the universe might be plotting against her. She was tempted to pound on the door until someone let her in, but there was already people watching, looking to the girl that had just been shoved out of an apartment. Stephanie quickly walked back to her's and Amara's apartment, quickly closing the door behind her before sighing in relief. She slowly made her way into the kitchen, smiling slightly as she saw Amara there. Effy silently walked further into the kitchen, lifting herself up to sit on one of the bare counter tops, swinging her feet slightly. "Arthur thought you might want company." She spoke quietly, smiling slightly. "So he made me come over here."

Chris rolled his eyes at Arts comment about having the best relationship.
"Movies sound fun enough, i get to work from home for a few days, and i don't drink so i'll be fine" he said with a grin. Chris hated the way alcohol tasted. He liked certain drinks though, mostly the ones that masked the taste of the alcohol that was in them.
Chris laughed as Art kicked Stephanie out of the apartment.


"Now one of two things is going to happen, they get all cuddly and adorable and come back thanking me and saying something along the lines of how amazing I am, or Mara's gonna come back and be mad at me for kicking her girlfriend out of the apartment." He smiled, for some reason just noticing the animals his two friends had brought along with them, "Oh, who are these two cuties?" He asked, looking to the animals, despite already knowing of Indigo.


Well this is Kundi and Zuma" He said taking two very tiny 3 day old white tiger cubs out of his critter pouch. "They're very, very tiny for their age so they have to be constantly monitored by a human surrogate, to survive. " he said pulling out a pre made bottle of formula and began feeding the female cub.

"Aww, they're so adorable! No offence Indigo." Art smiled, petting the bearded dragon before turning back to the little tigers, "You know, I would totally love to have you're job... but then again I'm sure it requires a hell of a lot of patience, right? But I mean getting to see adorable little animals like this all day must be great!" Art smiled, already cooing at the little animals.

Chris laughed at Art's reaction to the tiger cubs." you can hold one if you want to, kundi, the male, need to be fed too. You could feed him if you want to." He said with a smile. " My job does intact require a lot of patience, luckily i have the patience to be able to care for beautiful babies like these." He fed the little female named Zuma and waited for his reply to the question he had asked earlier. Chris loved his job more than almost anything. Jess, of course, was the person he loved even more than his job. Caring for defenseless animals always put a smile on Chris' face. He always loved rescuing animals. He had once found a robin with a broken wing once when he was little, he nurtured it back to health, the day he set it free and watching it fly off into the distance made him realize that helping animals was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

Art looked to the little cub, practically jumping in excitement as Chris said that Art could feed one of the baby tigers if he wanted to. "Of course I'd want to! Do you even have to ask?" He practically squealed as he held the cub, watching in awe as he fed Kundi. "He is literally the cutest little thing! Not including you Quin." He smiled up at Quin, winking before turning back to the cub. Art couldn't help smirk, nudging Jessica slightly, "Well aren't you lucky, such a sweet heart you have." Art teased, laughing lightly. He cooed at the small cub, "Yes you're so cute, so lucky, but mainly so cute!" He cuddled the cub, practically in pure bliss from all the cuteness.

---

Stephanie smiled widely at the fact Mara was making red velvet cake, now much more excited for the cake. She blushed as Mara turned to face her, biting down on her lip and blushing at what she said, "You're so sweet I can hardly take it." Effy looked to Amara, leaning up to kiss her quickly. She blushed darkly, pulling away quickly, giving a nervous laugh, "So after you put the things in the oven then we'll get going right?" she questioned, playing with her hair as she walked over to the fridge. She found the frosting left over from Mara's last cake, instantly smiling as she pulled the lid off the container. Steph smiled sampling some of the frosting off her finger. It took Effy a moment to remember that she wasn't alone, her finger still in her mouth as she looked innocently to Amara. "Did I ever tell you how much I love your frosting?" she asked, smiling slightly.

OOC: Sorry guys, I was asleep when you did all that posting.

"What, no beer? Maybe just one?" But it was too late everyone had already moved on to other things. Mara went to make the cake, Effy was shoved out of the apartment, Chris was feeding two cute tiger cubs, and Art was fussing over how adorable they were. Quincey moved over to them just in time to hear Art say that the cubs were the cutest thing ever, except for him. He was behind Art so he put his head on Art's shoulder. He wanted to get a closer look at the cubs too, but it was mostly that he wanted to cuddle with his boyfriend. "I dunno, I think these little guys out cute even me." He reached around Art and gently scratched one of the cubs ears. Quincey wasn't much of an animal person, but he did love cats.

Jess, too, was a bit disappointed that there'd be no beer.
She used to worry that she'd become a bit of an alcoholic, until she realized that there was no way that would happen. Chris wouldn't let her... neither would Quin.
When Art mentioned him wanting a pet, Jess voluntarily held up Indigo, "You can borrow this guy!" She said, wondering if they'd really be up to it.
Probably not. Jessica wasn't, either.
"Just joking." Jess added, there was no way she'd let anyone have her ugly-even for a lizard- little Indigo. "But really, I vote on that idea! C'mon Quin, you'd love to have a pet around, right?" She asked, truly excited for her two friends.
"Chris, tell them how much fun animals are!"

Quincey didn't want a pet, animals weren't his thing, but Art seemed to really want one. Besides, he couldn't resist Art's puppy dog eyes. "Sure, let's get a pet. Just not a dog. Anything else is fine with me. I'm gonna move the boxes into the bedroom for now. So they aren't in our way for the movies." Quincey picked up the nearest box and took it to the bedroom. He set it down, the realized that it was the bad movies box. "Whoops." he said to himself. He picked up the box again and put it by the tv. "We kind of need the bad movies for the bad movie marathon." He started moving the other boxes into the bedroom. He thought about asking one of the others for help, but they seemed to occupied by the cute animals, so he didn't. He didn't really need the help anyway, he was strong enough to lift them without tiring himself out.

Chris laughed when Art almost literally jumped from excitement as he took the cub and fed him.
"Well, now that i've gotten that promotion I've been working on, i'll bring more babies home for you to coo at." He said with a chuckle and a smile. Chris had moved to a higher position at his job and had more responsibilities. Which meant more baby animals to care for. But it also meant he got paid more, which meant he could spoil Jess as much as he wanted.

Quin put his head on Arts shoulder and arts face turned red, Chris couldn't help but chuckle slightly. Art then started talking about getting a pet.

"Chris, tell them how much fun animals are!" Jess said, seeming very excited about Quin and Art getting a pet.

"Animals are very fun, but they are a big responsibility. You two should figure out what kind of pet fits your lifestyle best. Cats are pretty independent, yet affectionate, maybe you should consider getting a kitten." He said, sounding like a professional, even though he wasn't meaning to. Chris smiled, though Quin didn't look like he wanted a pet, but he knew that Quin would probably give into Art and get one anyways.

"And, well, you guys could always get a simpler pet...like a gold fish." He said with a chuckle.

Art only had time to slightly open his mouth to gladly accept Indigo until Jess cut him off, adding in that she was just joking, Art just pouted before smiling again. He looked to Chris eagerly, "Yeah Chris! Tell us how much fun animals are!" Art gently put the little tiger cub back into the pouch where Chris had taken it from, not quite wanting to stop playing with the adorable little animals but feeling he should give his friends his full attention. Art practically jumped through the roof as Quin willingly agreed to getting a pet, so long it wasn't a dog. "Aww, but how cute would a little puppy be!" Art gushed but didn't push the topic though, already knowing of Quin's dislike for dogs. He frowned slightly as said boyfriend moved away from him to start moving boxes, soon laughing lightly at Quin's mistake, turning back to Chris before he could get a quip in towards Quincey. Art nodded, trying to put on a serious face to go along with Chris's professional sounding voice but unable to wipe the grin off of his face at the very prospect of having a cuddly animal of his very own. "Right, all that responsibility stuff, I got that down, sure. But wouldn't a little kitten be so cute!" He smiled, laughing a little at Chris's joke, "Well last time I checked, the only fish you could cuddle is a dolphin.... We should get a dolphin!" Art paused for a second, seeing the flaw in his logic, "Oh wait, I'm not a great swimmer so maybe that'd be a bad idea..." he laughed a little, turning and practically running towards Quin, pulling him into a hug, "Oh, a kitten would be so cute! Thank you thank you thank you!" He grinned, reaching up and kissing him regardless of the fact that his friends there there.

---

Effy laughed softly at Mara's suggestion to fire one of them, "No I don't think I'd be able to do that." she smiled softly, shaking her head shortly, blushing as Amara pointed out that Effy was a horrible liar. Steph already knew that she was a bad liar but it was a bit embarrassing when it was pointed out to her. Maybe she would work on her poker face when she had the time... No, she really did hate to lie to anyone, she didn't feel the need to learn how to. Mara quickly pulled Effy out of her thoughts at the compliment, her blush darkening as she squished her face. Of course she was speechless when ever Mara complimented her, or at most very awkward. "Um, thank you?" she muttered, "Well, I wouldn't say you're the only lucky one." Effy tried to compliment her as well, but just ended up embarrassing herself even more, looking away from Mara to unsuccessfully hide her blush. She turned back to her as she mentioned going back to their friends. Stephanie didn't quite want to go back to her friends just yet, it wasn't that she didn't enjoy their company, she just enjoyed the times that she and Amara were alone a bit more. "No!" Effy cursed herself as she reacted too quickly, pausing for a moment, "I mean, we don't have to go back just yet, and of course the other's might be a little disappointed if we don't show up with a cake." Steph reached up to wrap her arms around Mara's neck, hesitating for a moment before kissing her cheek lightly, a small smile on her face, "What do you want to talk about until the cake is done. Besides my eyes." She added the last part with a blush, though still content in the slight hug she had Amara in.

Chris laughed at Arts response. And safely tucked the other tiger cub into his critter pack.
"So, movies and...drinking.. right?" He said, a bit confused about what was going on. He was excited about the movies, but not so much about the drinking. Chris hated the way alcohol tasted, so he didn't drink hardly at all. He really liked margaritas and bloody mary's though. But he drank them very, very rarely. He couldn't drink tonight even if he wanted to anyways, he had tiger he had to take care of. He'd get fired if he drank while they were with him.

Art kissed Quin, even though Chris and Jess were still there. Chris had only seen the two kiss on maybe one or two occasions. He made kiss faces at art, joking around about him kissing Quin. Chris put his arm around Jess and pulled her closer. She was standing too far away and he needed some sort of physical contact with her since he hadn't seen her all day.

Quincey was surprised when Art kissed him with their friends around. He never did that, he must have been happy. Quincey just went with it. He kissed him back and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, pulling him as close as he could. Quincey was an affectionate person who didn't mind showing his relationship with Art in public, even if they were shunned by a lot of people. But he knew Art wasn't the same so he didn't want to take it too far. He dug his fingers into Art's back, to stop his hands from going up Art's shirt. The realizing he was hurting his lover he stopped. He didn't want to pull away, so he waited for Art to first.

Art had to hide a cringe as Quincey dug his nails into his back, knowing his boyfriend was probably just trying to restrain himself. Art smiled up to Quin devilishly, his own hand trailing up Quin's shirt and tracing the light outline on his abs. He as about to reach up for another kiss but soon froze as he recalled that they were not alone in the room. He turned, blushing at the kissy faces Chris directed at him, sticking his tongue out and crossing his arms over his chest, mentally cursing himself and forgetting that his friends were still in the room, mentally cursing as he turned back to Chris, his face practically matching the red hair that fell into his eyes. With a small smile and a laugh, he pushed his hair back, "I guess yes to the movies, and to the drinking, it's just Quin that can't have any." He smiled a bit, turning back to raise an eyebrow at Quin, "Isn't that right babe?" He questioned.

Art dropped to the floor, kneeling before the box labeled bad movies, "We might only have time to actually watch a few movies, and since it's partially my apartment, and my boyfriend's movie's I get the first pick!" He exclaimed with a smile as he opened the box, "But, since I'm nice I'll let you guys help me pick." I smiled as he pulled out the movie on top, a cheesy romance that Quin and Art actually kissed for the first time in front of their friends. He blushed slightly, putting it aside and pulling out a few more movies excitedly.

---

Effy looked up to Mara, her face slightly burning with a blush at their position, "A fruity drink sounds good. Something really sweet." Steph smiled a little, wondering slightly how she would behave when drunk. Maybe a little more affectionate? Who knows, hopefully she wouldn't be so drunk as not to remember the next day. She could only imagine how embarrassing it would be to hear stories about what she had done the night before. "No... No, I'm not sleepy." she lied, not wanting to fall asleep if only so she could cherish the moment she had alone with her. She blinked, resisting sleep as she was cuddled into the warmth of her girlfriend, "I heard that." she murmured, "It's not my fault, the books I read are too good." Effy smiled a little, lifting herself up slightly, propping herself on her elbow so she could look at Amara, "I don't want to go to sleep, talk to me, please?"

Chris had to restrain himself from bursting out with laughter when Art's face turned as red as his hair.
" Well, at least i have a sober buddy for tonight." he said looking toward Quin. He turned to the box of terrible movies and looked through them, picking out a few that he, personally, would like to watch more than the other horrible movies. One was action, one was a failure of a horror story and the other was the cheesy romance one that art had looked at earlier. Chris liked to laugh at the romance movie because he felt the overly dramatic lovey dovey scened were kind of funny.
" when you two decide to get a pet can i go with you when you go to get it? I'm thinking about getting one so I'm not completely alone in my apartment at night. And it would be nice to have a pet of my own anyways." Chris had never actually had his own pet before, he only took fostered them. He planned on getting one he could call his own, one he didn't have to turn over to the zoo after a few weeks.

"When you two decide to get a pet can I go with you when you go to get it?" Chris asked, and Jess listened in on the rest of what he had to say. She was particularly interested in the part about him wanting a pet of his own...
"You're not always alone at night," Jessica reminded her boyfriend, a sly grin on her face. "But, if you're so lonely when I'm not there, I'd like to help you pick one out, too! Or you can just borrow Indigo..."
The last part was a lie, there was no possible way Jess would give up the lizard for someone-even Chris- to borrow.

As she spoke she was looking through the box of Quins impressive collection of unpopular, barely known, terrible movies that for some reason the six friends loved.
Jess then looked at the three that Chris picked out, "This one!" She exclaimed, snatching the cheesy romance movie from his hands, "I haven't seen this in ages. Can we watch it?"