Saturday morning all the guys living at The Ark rewarded their cleaning efforts by playing video games together.
"It's been so long since we did this, what happened?" John asked. When they first moved in to The Ark, Noah has set aside a room in the basement as the game room and it had an amazing set up. He'd also set aside another for the gym. The rest of the basement was storage and laundry. They had spent every Saturday playing video games for a couple of hours in the first year. As classes became more hectic one or two would miss and eventually they stopped playing games all together.
"School. It was definitely easier when we were Sophomores, now there's so much going on." Oliver complained.
"We should get back into the habit." Noah said. "After all we all need some stress relief."
"Especially since none of the rest of you are dating right now." Elijah agreed. "Love is the best destresser."
"That may change for Noah tonight." Graham smiled. "After all Emma is coming and there was definitely some romantic tension in the air on Tuesday."
"Romantic tension? What are you reading romance novels now Graham?" Noah grumbled.
"Not so subtle topic change Noah." John laughed. "Come on man, you can trust us."
"About as far as I can throw this house." Noah responded. "Nothing has happened yet other than the lunch on Tuesday so Graham could figure out how he knew Gina."
"But you're interested right?"
"Yes." Noah admitted. "But you'll all be there tonight to see how things work out. And if it doesn't I can pull out all the alcohol we aren't drinking at dinner after they leave and drown my sorrows."
"We should have a throw blanket on the couch and the fireplace on low so they can sit there together after dinner." Lucas said excitedly, ignoring Noah's insecurity, "It will be so romantic and cozy."
"Love it!" Elijah agreed. "I was going to suggest wine but then remembered no alcohol tonight. And hopefully you won't need to drown your sorrows tonight Noah."
"Why do I feel this cozy setup is from experience?" Graham asked.
Lucas and Elijah just looked at each other and shrugged while smiling.
"I'm so glad this is out in the open now." John said. "I'm surprised none of you caught on before."
"I thought we'd done pretty good at acting normal around everyone." Lucas said and Elijah nodded.
"Pretty good, but I did notice that you did slip sometimes." John responded.
"People see what they look for," Noah said. "We weren't looking for it so we didn't see it. You knew so you knew to watch for it. Although Graham and I had suspicions so maybe we picked up on it subconsciously. I think we would have started noticing after we voiced our suspicions on Tuesday."
"We'll all be watching you and Emma tonight so hopefully we'll see things tonight." Elijah interjected bringing the topic back to them and raised his eyebrows.
"Speaking of which, we need to go shopping for some food." Lucas said looking at Elijah.
"So what are you making?" Oliver asked.
"Its a surprise." They said together and laughed. Then Elijah said, "This is so much better now it's not a secret!"
"I'm all for love but keep the mushy stuff for when you're alone." Oliver said.
"You wouldn't mind the mushiness if you were getting any." Lucas teased.
"Ouch." Oliver answered, then added, "I get some."
"Not counting your hand in the shower."
"Neither was I." Oliver said. And when everyone looked at him he shrugged, "friends with benefits." He refused to elaborate when they looked expecting.
After a few minutes Lucas and Elijah excused themselves to go get the grocery items they needed for that evening. The rest of them started another game.
That afternoon Graham made sure to get in a run on the treadmill since he hadn't earlier that morning. Afterward he showered and spent a bit longer than usual choosing what to wear. He typically wore business clothes to school but didn't want to be too dressed up, so he chose a navy polo shirt with khaki pants. He was a bit more reserved when compared to his housemates. He had only ever had one girlfriend, and they'd dated for a few months before either was willing to take it to the next level. Then a few months later broke it off amicably. He knew he could never be like Oliver and have casual sex. He just wanted it to be in a more committed relationship, and that's what felt right to him. He was okay with others doing what was right for them as long as it was consensual.
Graham headed to the kitchen, and the aromas met him halfway. His stomach rumbled and mouth watered as the delicious scents hit him. Maybe he could get a taste before dinner.
"You guys need help with anything, that doesn't involve cooking?" Graham asked as he walked into the kitchen.
"We could always use help getting the dishes on the table." Elijah answered. Lucas had just been kicking his finger off. Graham decided against his idea of asking for a taste before dinner.
"Do we need anything besides plates, silverware, and cups?" Graham asked.
"If you could put bowls on top of the plates that would be perfect." Lucas responded.
Graham nodded and left to the dining room to set places. Luckily they had a table large enough to sit 12, although only chairs for 10. Luckily there were only going to be 10 tonight. The table was already cleaned off, they'd made sure to do that earlier, some of them used the table as a homework spot and so half of it was usually covered in schoolwork. Graham did notice that since earlier a vase of flowers had been added to the table. He chuckled, those two thought of everything.
Graham got the place settings out, mismatched as they were. They had plates for 12 people, but they didn't match. They didn't really care, especially since they usually didn't use them all and it was nice to have extra plates for when life got busy and dishes got behind.
"Anything else?" Graham called to the kitchen.
"No, we'll wait to bring the food out when they get here."
Graham checked his phone, it was just a few minutes to 7. He headed to the front room, his housemates all made their way there in the next few minutes. Just after 7 the doorbell rang.