“Dude, he wasn’t even a luck dragon, it was the cricket that was lucky,” Dez said.
“What cricket?”
“This cricket,” Damien remarked, turning the tablet so they could all see the cricket in the cage.
“Notice you could find a lucky cricket but not a single picture of Stimpy with a tail.”
“I concede that there does not seem to be one.”
“Thank you!”
“Now that’s settled,” Riley muttered, shaking his head and flipping through the animated movies the streaming service had to offer. “What should we watch next?”
“Shrek the musical,” Damien suggested.
“NO!” came the thunderous response from both Dez and Tripp. Zakk wondered if they even realized how similarly their tastes ran. Perhaps, with time and proximity, a real friendship could actually develop there now that the issues with Saint’s Seduction had been laid to rest.
“Okay, moving along then,” Riley said as he maneuvered through a slide show of movie covers.
“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2,” Zakk suggested.
“Oh hell no!” Tripp remarked. “That will only end in all of us raiding the kitchen like when we watched the first movie.”
“He makes a compelling argument,” Damien said. “We did hit the kitchen pretty hard and none of us have exactly been working out since we got here.”
“Speak for yourself,” Dez replied. “Between climbing walls, yoga, night swimming and the occasional jog, I’ve lost three pounds since we arrived.”
“Some of us appreciate sleep.”
“I appreciate it, I just don’t require a great deal of it,” Dez reminded him.
“We know. The rest of us on the other hand…”
“Oh no, don’t lump us in with you,” Zakk interrupted. “Not with all the walking, climbing and swimming I’ve done. I look good.”
“You can say that again,” Tripp muttered beneath his breath, nudging Zakk’s shoulder with his own.
The moment Zakk turned to give him a wink, Tripp’s mouth descended on his, tongue sliding past his lips as he twined his fingers in Zakk’s hair to the sophomoric hoots of everyone else in the room.
“Hey, you two can take any X-rated activities to one of your rooms, please and thank you,” James declared.
Even Luna Lily got her two cents in with a meow that certainly sounded like she was agreeing with every word James said.
“Keep it up and no kitty treats for you,” Zakk teased, and sure as shit, she narrowed her eyes at him, flicked her tail in his direction, and turned her back to him, rearranging herself on James’s shoulder to do so.
Of course, Dez and Riley started snickering at the antics of the cat, while Damien reached for another handful of caramel corn and popped a piece in his mouth.
“Weren’t you the guy who was just worried about us raiding the kitchen.”
“This is popcorn.”
“With tons of melted sugar all over it.”
In response, Damien popped another piece in his mouth and flipped them off.
“In that case, ‘Cloudy 2’ it is.”
That earned them a double bird from a grinning Damien who snagged the bag and cuddled it the same way Dez was holding Riley.