Team Fruit Punch
Gut Punch
In the time that Melody had spent on her impromptu walk, the rest of Team Fruit Punch had spent the evening racking their brains in searching for an appropriate 'get to know you' game. Logan had suggested 'Blood ink', an initiation game where the person on the spot would tell a story about themself and the others would guess whether it was true or false. Unfortunately his suggestion was shot down on account of Maria freaking out about the stipulation that each incorrect guess was punished by a slash of the hand. The next suggestion was Maria's, but a wholesome game of charades was dismissed by both Logan and Erin; Neither teammate was all that keen on 'performing'. Finally, they found themselves wanting when they turned to Erin for a suggestion. Team Fruit Punch's oldest and newest member opted to entertain herself by crashing the couch for an evening of prime time TV.
With their exhausting search for an icebreaker behind them, the teens seemed to find one thing they could all agree on.
"I know! We could order a pizza! If there's one way you get to know a person, it's through the pizza toppings they order." Logan suggested, responding to no one but his stomach on it's third time of calling in just as many minutes.
"Pizza toppings…? Is this kid for real…?" Erin thought, shooting a lazy, sideways glance towards Logan. It was the kind of suggestion that she would expect from someone who had been known to be as… frankly childish as the boy was rumored to be, and part of her wanted to dismiss the idea entirely. On the other hand, the girl had yet to eat dinner that night, something that was made noticeable by the faint rumbling in her own stomach. "...I'm game, I guess."
Maria, though very timidly, nodded in response. "I… I'm p-pretty h-hungry too…" She paused however, as thoughts of Melody pushed into her mind. What if the brunette didn't like pizza? Would that cause a fuss already? Would that make the new girl get into a fight with her…? "M-Maybe we s-should wait for R-... Melody first, though?"
"Aww...come on Maria, you really wanna keep us waiting?" Logan stared at the girl with pleading eyes. "If we order it now, we can lose the pizza guy and have it back up here before she even gets back." He smiled, holding the phone up to his ear.
"...You're kind of a dick, aren't you?" Erin bluntly added, sending a glare in the direction of the blue-haired boy.
At that exact moment in time, Melody stumbled down through the door although looking a bit out of it. The brunette paused only for a moment to glance at each of her teammates before she sat down next to Maria with her arms folded, seemingly deep in thought as she was in hearing distance of Logan's douchebaggery but didn't react on it like she usually did.
"Oh, M-Melody… I… W-We…" the blonde began to stammer, her eyes darting between Logan and Erin in the process. "We were thinking of g-getting a p-pizza… D-Do you h-have anything you want on it...?"
"What?" the brunette looked up a bit confused and annoyed. "Uhm, no, I don't eat calories remem-" she suddenly stopped talking, remembering what Zachery had told her.
"Hell no. I like girls with more meat on their bones."
Melody glanced down at her stomach, then glanced down at Erin's and Maria's. There was definitely a difference. "Actually, order me one. I'd like one with pepperoni." the brunette declared boldly.
Melody's arrival and subsequent declaration injected a jolt of excitement into Logan that may have zapped any lingering resentment the boy had towards Erin's insult. He flicked the phone into the air and began dialing the number from a leftover leaflet in the hotel room.
"Guess that means me and Mel are sharing. What about you guys?" He asked, pointing the phone at the duo of Maria and Erin.
"Pineapples," Erin responded curtly. "Pineapples and ham."
Maria clenched up. "P-Pineapples? I don't…"
Her words trailed off. Erin's eyes narrowed, the glasses-wearing girl looking in the direction of the blonde as she spoke. Maria slowly glanced down, somehow managing to force a smile on her lips.
"I d-don't mind pineapples… S-Sounds good to me…" she affirmed, looking back towards Logan as she did so.
Logan too managed to smile at that. Unlike Maria though, Logan's smile grew into a burst of laughter. Once he managed to calm himself, he smiled at Erin.
"No, seriously whaddaya want?" He asked again, still only talking through breaths of unfinished laughter.
The brunette beside Maria looked up as her attention was drawn to the blue haired dolt. Was he ridiculing her pizza choices?
"Pineapple. Pineapple and ham," Erin repeated. She clearly wasn't that impressed with the boy's decision to laugh at her choices. "Is that a problem?"
"Oh…" Logan recoiled, only now realising that no one laughed with him. "Ummm...right." He began to dial, but the tension in the room just didn't sit right with him. His mind cycled through just about every joke he could think of in the moment. "One pepperoni, one Ham and Pineapple. Heck, if we're getting fruits on pizza, maybe I could get some grapes or something." The boy forced a chuckle, hoping at least one of his team would find the joke funny. With the silence still lingering, the boy took the phone as he escaped and stepped into the en-suite toilet.
Erin leaned back against the window seal she had still made her seat and glared out the window. "How in the world did this team even manage to function? Thoughts of the blue-haired idiot aside, anyways…" She paused her thoughts, glancing towards the other two females of the room. Erin really couldn't get a read on Melody. She had heard rumors that she was a tad of a control freak, but… something about her seemed off from that description. As for the blonde…
Erin glanced back over at Maria. The taller girl in question had been looking at her during the awkward silence, something that the newcomer to Team Fruit Punch was very aware of. As soon as the two locked eyes however, Maria would quickly flinch with her eyes quickly meeting the floor or even trying to shrink away behind one of the other two members of the group. The girl looked like she was about to have a heart attack at any moment.
"...You know, I'm not gonna bite right?" Erin finally questioned. She was quickly growing a bit annoyed with the blonde's antics, possibly even more so than she was with Logan's. "I know I'm not… whoever it was that was on the team last, but I have to say you're all not exactly the most friendly group. I've had a warmer welcome from a brick wall."
"Well, you're not very friendly yourself so I'm sure you'll fit right in." Melody, who was so distracted only moments ago, said a bit annoyed. It wasn't entirely directed at Erin though. "We have our shortcomings. I think we can all agree on that one." Melody's gaze shifted from Maria to Logan but she quickly opened her mouth again before anyone could interrupt it. "We had things finally figured out! And just when we did, our team composition was suddenly changed." The shortest girl of the bunch stood up and made her way towards the window. "John was taken away without giving the three of us the chance to say goodbye." As those words escaped her lips, she thought back about how Raeliana's little brother was suddenly taken away as well. Without giving his sister the chance to say goodbye to him, he was offered a spot in a foster family… with new sisters. Dr. Hickory always said it was for the best but Melody just couldn't forgive her for that.
"Yeah, well… Tough ****. Things change and people get left behind. It's not like I exactly asked to take his place," Erin thought as she looked away from Melody. "...Whatever. Just order the damn pizza so we can get this night over with, alright?"
"So, I made the orders and they do sell pineap-" Proceeded by the terrible joke he was about to mark his entrance with, Logan found himself losing his words as he trudged through the mud of what was now to be the regular atmosphere of the new fruit punch. He didn't like it.
