"Rude," Nicky said, sitting up and looking between them. "What did you just say? I can't understand you. That's not fair."

"Think about that the next time you use German at my practices," Wymack said.

"That's different," Nicky complained. "I only see that look on Neil's face when someone tries to do something nice for him, but we all know Kevin's as bratty as they come. What did you say, Kevin, and do I need to defend Neil's honor or what?"

Kevin didn't waste his breath responding. Neil answered, but he meant the words more for Kevin than he did Nicky: "I'm fine. Thank you, though."

Kevin accepted that with a shrug and went back to drinking. Nicky looked between them again, realized he wasn't going to get an explanation, and subsided with a put-upon sigh. The room sank into comfortable silence. When they left Neil was almost too sleepy to drive, but he got them back to the dorm in one piece. Nicky tried to get Neil to stay with them, since they had an open bunk in their room and he didn't want Neil alone on a holiday, but Neil went back to his room alone.

The suite felt too big with only him in it. He figured his perspective was skewed after spending all day with so many people. Luckily he was too tired to dwell on it. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

-

Monday heralded the last week of their Exy season. The Foxes returned from their holiday break refreshed and ready to end the year on a triumphant note. They brought an almost savage energy to practices and burned themselves out against each other. Neil expected them to split up afterward and spend the evenings in their separate groups. Somehow they all ended up at the dining hall at the same time. Neil didn't know who orchestrated it. He didn't really care, because even though Aaron balked at the sight of the upperclassmen he didn't argue.

On Tuesday Katelyn tagged along, and on Wednesday they went downtown together as a large group: all eight remaining Foxes and four of the Vixens. There weren't a lot of places in the area that could accommodate a group that size, but their favorite local restaurant offered six-person booths across the aisle from each other. The cheerleaders were willing to split up two and two, but the Foxes' own seating arrangement was harder to figure out. The obvious solution was to follow the usual divide: upperclassmen in one booth and the cousins' lot in another.