"SO WHAT'D I MISS?" Ahhh, I just love musical references!

Rich folds his arms, " will the (he meant to say she) EVER thcop?" (Stop)

Jenna and Jeremy both tell him, " Nope,"

Well,I thought it was a good reference!

Michael flung his hands up, "All in favor of going back to the pancakes? Say Aye,"

Jenna, Rich, And Jake said aye, just before two girls came through the door behind me.

"Aye," they said. The two girls were Brooke and Chlo holding shopping bags.

"Well, there's almost nobody at the mall, it's every man for themself," Chloe sighed.

FINALLY! I WAS RIGHT! "HA told you! BOW DOWN TO MY POWER, MORTAL, FOR I AM SUPERIOR!!!" I screamed towards Michael.

But then I realized, everyone went back to the dining room. So, I walk back inside, and Jenna of all people, decides it's a good time for gossip.

" So, Rich, according to local rumor-" She points her fork at him. "you've got an army of Rabbits?"

Rich's eyes light up with some sort of, hope, or excitement, or something, and he RUNS up the stairs as if his life was being threatened! Well, technically, his life is being threatened with all that's going on, but that's NOT THE POINT!

He leads us,the only people that care,(Brooke, Jeremy, Jenna and I) to a large closet room with one of those gates people use to prevent babies from falling down stairs, where a bunch of Bunnies await our arrival.

Rich posed while proudly showing his fluffy babies,"TA DA! Thith ith Alexth, Laffy, Mulligan, Thoe,(Zoe)  Angie, Litha,(Eliza) the little one ith Peggy, And then, thereth Cotton Murphy ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"

Jeremy raised his hand is if we were in school, the dumb dumb.

"Rich, if you have an Alex, shouldn't there be a Laurens?"

" Jake's turtle'th called Laurenth,"

I start to tear up a bit.

Brooke placed her hand on my shoulder and asked, "You okay?" 

I put my hand on top of hers and say, "Yeah, I've just, never been so proud!" Then everyone starts laughing. Yay! I'm funny!

Brooke rubs the back of her neck with her hand, "So umm how many are there?"

"Count 'em! Thereth eight."

Everyone seems surprised! But, it's Rich. What else would you expect?

Rich and I stay behind to take care of the bunnies while everyone else finishes breakfast.

(And maybe to get out of chores!)

Which one to pet first? Ooh! Peggy! She needs more appreciation anyway. I put my hand on the bunny's back and- HOLY SLUSHIE SHE'S SO SOFT! I pick her up and put her on my lap and brush through her fur with my hands.

I look over to Rich,who has three bunnies on his lap, "Fluffy right?"
"So, flipping soft! Like, it's unbelievable,"

"Hey, can I athk you thomething?"

I glance over at him. "Yeah, of course! What's up?"
Not that many people ask me ask me to help them, so I NEED to take advantage of the situation.

"I know ipth been a while thinthe the whole thQUIP thituation, but, um, I keep getting thethe, ugh, I dunno, ipth weird..."

"No, Rich, I'll believe you,"

"Nah," He shrugs.

"We live in a world where SQUIPs exist, AND there's a zombie apocalypse! I believe anything now."

"I've been getting flathbackth, From anything thQUIP related. Pillth, oventh, fireworkth, and, other thuff."

Well, I can't say I'm surprised, the fire, and  the SQUIP must have been terrifying for him. Not to mention what his father did to him.
" How long have you had those flashbacks?"

"Um-" He counts on his fingers. " - thinthe  Dethember,"

I feel so... bad for him, what do I do?
I begin, "I'll tell you what-" and put my hand on his back "- tonight, we can have a sleepover, in my room, and talk about whatever we want, ok?"

He smiles, "okay." He grabs a bunny holds the fluffy baby high, and starts singing, "Dear COTTON Murphy, yeth I altho mith our talkth," knowing how this ends, I say,

"CoUgH cOuGh, LiEs!" We spend the rest of the morning caring for the bunnies, singing musicals, and um, cleaning their "trash".

So at about nine, I change into my PJ's and clean my room a bit, and welcome Rich inside.

(Chloe and Brooke got everyone a new change of clothes and PJs from their mall heist.)

I put on a Heathers bootleg on the TV, and we discuss why JD did what he did, and why Chandler is so mean.

" I think she just never had a real family before, so she's lonely," I theorized.

Rich agreed.

We cried over the happy ending and talked.
" I absolutely love how you're not afraid about your lisp!"

"Whadya mean?"

"Like, you talk with your lisp a lot, but you don't try to avoid the words with s's!"

" I thought that like, Im never going to get over my lithp unleth I power through it!"

I told him, "Oooh, well that makes sense!" 'Cuz that was inspirational coming from him!

" Ok, my turn, why'd you break up with Jeremy? You were like, the perfect dorky duo!"

"Say that again," I tell him.

"You were the perfect dorky duo?"

"We were nothing more than a duo, we seemed to be better friends than partners." It's the truth! I mean, the only things we had in common were traumatic experiences and theatre.

"Oh."

After a while, we sneak downstairs to snag some ice cream, and head back upstairs to watch a Dear Evan Hansen bootleg. but a bit later, we get tired and head to sleep. It's a full size bed, so we both distance each other, and try to sleep despite the excitement of watching illegal footage.

As I drift off to sleep, I wonder why Connor Murphy folded up Evan's letter instead of just crumbling it up and throwing it away. Maybe he wanted it to be found? And what about how "Words Fail" reads like a suicide note, or how it sounds like "When Words Fail" from Shrek? What if?-

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"HOLY S&/-!!!"

There's huffing, and then sobs.

Who's crying?

                                  ...

It's Rich.