"Huh?" I said, surprised he was asking me.
"I mean, I know you wanted to do something here, but ..."
"Oh, we can go out," I said quickly. I walked over and gave him a quick hug. His body felt warm and hard next to mine. I pulled back quickly so that I didn't do anything I shouldn't, like run my hands up and down his back, or squeeze his shoulders, or grab his head and kiss him hard. I wasn't sure who would be more shocked if I did that: Foster, Rosalie, Oliver, or myself.
"Okay," he said, "Well, let me go wash my face and maybe change clothes so I feel a little bit cleaner. And then we can grab something?"
"Sounds good." I nodded.
"Cool." He looked around the apartment. "Wow, it's so neat." He looked back at me. "Thanks for keeping it so tidy."
"You're welcome. I didn't want you to come back to a pigsty." I laughed. I knew Foster was a little bit of a clean freak, and I didn't want him to regret letting me stay with him for free. I mean, the fact of the matter was, I was a little bit messy. But I was trying to keep on top of it so it didn't get on his nerves. For some reason, I wanted him to think I was the ideal roommate.
"So I got you guys some presents," Foster said, pulling out two tissue-wrapped gifts. Here you go."
"Thank you," I said, taking mine eagerly. I watched as Rosalie practically grabbed her bag from his hands. She squealed as she unwrapped her package. "Oh my gosh! This is so cute!" she said excitedly. "Look, Oliver, it's a leather-bound journal, with ... What's this? A crown. Oh, Great Britannia! Oh, I'd love to go to England." She paused for a second. "Maybe this is a sign. Maybe we should get married in England. Maybe we could get married at St. Paul's Cathedral."
Oliver looked nervous. "Um, I don't know if ..."
"Oh my gosh! Maybe we could get married at Buckingham Palace," she said excitedly. "I wonder if the royals let that happen. I mean, if they did, I wonder how much they charge."
"I don't think they're going to let you get married at Buckingham Palace." Foster started laughing. "And if they did, it would be far more money than our parents are willing to spend on this wedding."
"Well, maybe Mom and Dad can decide that. You know Mom loves all things royal," Rosalie said, laughing. “They can take it out of your half of the inheritance."
Foster rolled his eyes and then turned to me. "Hey, Alice, I wanted to let you know that..." he said under his breath.
"Yeah?"
"I just wanted to tell you one thing," he said. "Can I show you something in the living room?"
"Okay, sure. What is it?" I followed him into the living room, curious as to what he wanted to show me. Was there a rat trap there or something I didn't know about?
"I have another present for you," he said, his eyes looking devilish.
"Oh? Cool. What is it?" I asked in surprise and looked around as if it were going to fall from the sky.
"I'm going to wait to give it to you." He grinned as if he had a secret he was dying to tell me.
"Oh? Why?" I hated waiting on surprises. I wanted to see what it was right now.
"Um ..." He looked over to Rosalie and Oliver. "I don't want my sister to be jealous that I got you two presents and her only one."
"Oh, okay. Sure. That was really nice of you. I wasn't expecting anything. So it means a lot."
"I really hope you feel that way when you get it."
"What is it?" I said, curious.
"You'll see soon enough." He smiled. "So how have you been?"
"Good," I said, "really good."
"I'm glad."
"It was nice emailing back and forth with you."
"Same. I mean, it was nice emailing back and forth with you as well. It kind of reminded me of when we were younger," he said softly, "when we used to talk all the time."