Welcome to Gaia! ::

*Chuck repeats for Max's benefit.* "A scholar and a LITERARY genius."

*Luke has his arm around Chuck.* "This is a riot. This is a ********' riot!"

*Max shouts from behind the door.* "Shut the ******** up, Blaize!"

*Luke jumps a little.* "Whoo-oo-oo!"

*Chuck addresses Max.* "C'mon, man. You're just making this harder on yourself."

*Max's voice lets Chuck know that his young life will soon be ending.* "A scholar and a LITERARY genius."

*Chuck continues, using his school teacher voice.* "And I count myself lucky..."

"And I count myself lucky."

"Just to know the man."

*obediently* "Just to know the man."

*Chuck nods, satisfied. He raises his voice once more.* "Now repeat after me. I don't want anybody else. When I think about you, I touch mys---"

*The door rattles as Max pounds his fist into it.* "YOU ARE DEAD, BURMER! WHEN I GET OUT FROM BEHIND THIS ********' DOOR, YOU BETTER PRAY TO GOD."

*Through all this, Luke runs and grabs a towel. He says to Chuck overtop of Max's threats.* "I'm letting him out."

*Chuck's face falls. It goes white.* "You aren't."

*Luke throws his hand.* "START RUNNING, BURMER!"

*Max can still be heard behind the door.* "GET ME A ******** TOWEL, BLAIZE."

*Chuck darts off in a run.* "Oh, s**t." *shouts as he runs* "Oh s**t! At least give me a head start!"

*Luke's got his hand on the bathroom door.* "I don't see you out of the apartment, Burmer! There's an angry man behind this door! One... two... THREE." *He opens the door, throws in a towel, and shuts it again.*

*Luke quickly ushers Aimee and Cora out of the range of fire.* "Get out, get out, get out."

*The door BURSTS open, and Max darts out, a light pink towel wrapped around his torso.* "YOU SON OF A b***h! I'M GONNA ******** KILL YOU!"

*Luke's stomach hurts from laughing. He's grabbing his abs and shouting.* "RUN! RUN LIKE THE WIND, YOU SON OF A b***h!" *He does not say which roommate he's rooting for.*

*Max goes into a dead run out of the apartment and into the hallway after Chuck, wearing only a towel.*

Oh my God. Oh my God... *Luke can hear Max and Chuck's feet pounding down the hallway and down the stairs.* Oh s**t...

*He collects himself enough to ask.* Are we taping? Are we still taping?

Oh, bullshit! *Luke swipes the camera from Aimee, so that now he's on film.* Don't buy it, man. It was Aimee. It was all her idea.

We couldn't stop her. *Aimee starts to wrestle him for the camera.* She said, "Take the towels! Then Max'll be naked, and Chuck can be an a*****e."

*Aimee's face falls in shock. She hits Luke in the arm.* "I said no such thing!" *Aimee manages to get her face on the film, though Luke's moving it away from her. She jumps for it, but .... Luke is easily half a foot taller.*

"This is a tissue of lies! I was FRAMED!"

:::Cora runs to another window near by to watch the magic:::

Hahahaha... why is he... hahaha you can see everything...haha aaah-haha...

:::She finds it absolutely hilarious that Max spent all that time worrying about them seeing his naked only to run out in the towel, like that..:::

*Outside, Max reaches out to grab Chuck by the back of the shirt, but he misses. He grabs only air and falls FLAT on his face.*

*Luke lets out a cry.* "Oo-oo-ooh s**t!"

*Chuck has disappeared around the corner. Max struggles to get up from off the ground to run after him.*

*Luke leans further out the window and yells at the top of his lungs.* "MAX! MAX! BUDDY ARE YOU ALRI--?"

*Luke is cut off, when the towel Max was wearing drops unceremoniously to the ground. All that can be seen from their vantage point is Max's white a**.*

*Luke is laughing in a high-pitched voice that Cora hasn't yet heard. With one hand holding the camera, Luke uses the other hand to whistle VERY LOUDLY.*

Whooo! AND IT'S A FULL MOON TONIGHT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

*Max hurriedly pulls the towel back around himself. From the window, Luke's still got the camera trained on Max.* "Hey, MAX! SAY SOMETHING FOR OUR VIEWERS AT HOME!"

*Max shouts up to him.* "WHICH WAY DID HE GO?!"

*Luke shrugs wide.* "WHO? WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"YOU SON OF A b***h!"

"WHAT DID HE LOOK LIKE?"

*Max points up at Luke.* "GO ******** YOURSELF, BLAIZE!" *Max takes off, thankfully, in the right direction where Chuck took off.*

*Luke is laughing so hard that he can't see straight, let alone yell to Max, but he tries anyway. He barely gets the words out.* You better hurry up! He runs fast for an English major!

*Luke fell down beside Aimee and Cora, who were still beside themselves with laughter. As he catches his breath, he turns off the video camera and says.* "Oh... Oh, s**t."

********

*Chuck finally came back upstairs and a few minutes later he was followed by Max. Chuck took the beating like a man, despite all the distraction provided by Luke, Aimee, and Cora -- One where Luke took a flash picture right as Max was about to punch Chuck in the face.*

*A half hour later, they hear the shower running again, as Max needed to get clean after his dirt nap and then his peep show. Chuck sneaks up to the bathroom door, when he hears the shower running. But the door 'clicks' as he tries to turn the handle, locked.*

*Max says.* "Back the ******** away, you son of a b***h. I don't ******** thing so."

*Chuck walks back over to Luke, Cora, and Aimee* "See? There's a lesson here."

*All is quiet for a brief moment, and a thought comes across Chuck's face.* "Hey, is Nora around this weekend?"

*Luke's eyebrows go up. It takes him a second longer than it should have to answer.* "Yeah. Yeah, she's around."

"Does she know Cora's in town? You should tell her to come over."

*Luke opens his mouth, thinking of how to handle this situation. He has to talk before Cora does.* "You know, I told her to come over, but my sister's really been swamped with work and stuff this weekend."

*Chuck gives Luke a weird glance.* "Oh, okay."

*Luke looks to Cora. Don't say anything. Please have caught that if you're my cousin, you can't not know who Nora is..* "We already saw Nora," Luke says to Cora. "When we went over to go see Aimee, we were able to drop by."

*Luke has to stop himself not to jolt in shock. Holy s**t. Cora sounded... She sounded just like she should. -Exactly- as a 25-year-old from 2003 should.*

*He keeps the shock out of the expression, when he turns to Chuck and shrugs.* "Yeah. I invited her out tonight, but she said she wasn't looking to party, when she's got so much work to do. We said we'd probably get a chance to hang out tomorrow, before her flight goes out."

*Chuck nodded.* "That's cool. Too bad she couldn't come out with us."

"Yeah, well. That's what happens when you have a lame boyfriend, who spends all day hugging ******** trees. Cuz he's toasted off his last J."

*Chuck smirks.* "Trevor's a good guy."

"Oh yeah? Is that what all the English majors say?" *Luke cuffed him lightly atop his head as he passed by.* "Good thing he doesn't come in this place. What with all the asskickings and constant nudity."

*Chuck adds.* "That and the orgies that happen in my room. Without me there."

*In the midst of their continued conversation, Luke sent Cora a quick smile and a wink when no one was looking, quite clearly to show his pride in her.*