Chapter 290: Triple Lunch Date

Flabbergasted, Cassidy whipped her head in Adrian's direction, ignoring the pillow that hit the side of her face. 

"Are you alright, Adrian?" she asked as she sat up straight and scooted closer to him, concerned. 

"I'm fine, Cassidy. All good," he reassured her with a smile. 

"I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"I know. It's okay. Just stop throwing pillows. You're not kids."

Asher only shrugs. He then points at Cassidy and says, "She started it."

"I did not!"

"You threw the first pillow!"

"Well, you deserved it! Why are you in our bedroom, anyway?!"

"I've got a spare key, remember?"

"We never agreed to this! You visited too early in the morning! While we're still literally in bed at that!"

"For your information, it's almost noon. We're supposed to have lunch in about an hour."

Adrian let out a sigh, feeling already tired even though he just woke up. He scooped up a pillow from the side of the bed and dumped it on the blanket in front of him. As he prepared to get up, Olivia finally decided to talk. She walked over to the other side of the room, looking around. 

"I see that you're all lookin' sprightly..." she started, grinning.

"How are both of you, Adrian? Is living on your own fun so far?"

"We're doing more than okay..." he replied.

"Thanks for checking on us. You could've informed us beforehand, though."

"We did try to call and text you."

"Days prior, I mean."

"Well, we've all been quite busy lately. Even if we decide on a date, we can't make sure that our schedule will be completely free. So, we just chose to visit anytime we felt like it."

"Downside is that we don't have anything prepared to serve you."

"No problem. We're the ones crashing unannounced, anyway. If it's alright with you two, can we all have lunch together here?"

As she brought this up, she gave Cassidy a brief glance from where she was. She still seemed to be in a glaring competition with Asher, so she thought that she didn't hear it. But when Olivia noticed her perk up at her request, she couldn't help but brighten up for a little bit. Even Irish appears to be anticipating her reply.

"Sure. You can join us for lunch," she told them, and the twins could not help but smile to themselves then. 

---

"Poop..." Asher said. 

"Is a universal phenomenon that occurs to all humans on this planet. It may be gross, and it may be smelly. But it is a natural part of life that needs to be respected."

Irish facepalms and sighs loudly. Everyone else either gives an incredulous expression or looks weirded out. Only Cassidy finds the whole thing somewhat amusing. 

"Will you stop trying to defend farts...?" Irish groaned.

"Poop smell is probably nothing compared to how your fart will smell, moron."

"Poop has nothing to do with farts in the first place..." Adrian pointed out, thoroughly annoyed.

"And will you please? We're eating here."

"Yes, it does...!" Asher cut in.

"Farts are technically poop but gas, right?"

"Oh, dear. Just why am I surrounded by idiots?"

"Then, explain it to us, smartass."

"I just said we're eating, dumbass. Is this really a good time?"

The six of them are having lunch together at the moment.

They have all gathered around a picnic table at the backyard. Their meals this time are a little less extravagant than usual since they are in a hurry to set things up. To their delight, the weather is beautiful that day - with the sun hiding behind the clouds, and the breeze cool and calming.

As for why exactly they suddenly began talking about poop and farts, it was all thanks to a certain someone who just happened to take interest in that particular subject for no good reason. That aside, though, it was just really because the conversation had been quite awkward so far and there needed to be some sort of topic.

The three men had noted the invisible line that seemed to be keeping the three women apart - an understandable distance considering their history together. 

"By the way, everyone, the kids have told me something the other day," Olivia suddenly brought up, stealing their attention.

"Oh? The boys?" Cassidy chimed in, beaming. 

"Yeah. You see, I've been looking after them ever since Edward got busier at work, and they told me the other night that they wanted to go on an outing with you and Adrian before you two leave." 

"Ohhh, that's so sweet of them."

"So, ummm... Do you have a place in mind? I tried to ask Edward, but he told me that he doubted he could come with us. The kids were quite disappointed."

"I can drag him there if they want! Maybe I can finally assert my dominance over the eldest Millicent, too!" Asher declared with a smirk. 

"Must you always remind us that you're stronger?" Irish deadpanned.

"It's a guy thing. You girls wouldn't understand."

"I will drag you to the mall tomorrow if you say another word."

"The mall? Shopping? No way. Spare me."

She shakes her head disapprovingly. Keeping an unamused look, she then goes on to comment, "You don't see Adrian nor Charles acting like that, Asher."

"Because those two are not guys! Charlie, for one, has long bangs! That's not a guy thing!"

"What? My bangs are cool," Charles said coolly, combing his bangs backward with his fingers.

"For a girl, maybe-"

"Are you questioning my gender, Asher?"

"Well, if you continue to dance around Lady Olivia like a wounded puppy, then yeah. I'll question your gender. Kiss her like a man!"

Irish facepalms yet again while Cassidy and Adrian try to keep a straight expression. Olivia, on the other hand, turns a brilliant hue of red while Charles burns up. 

"That's it. You've got no choice. I'm taking you shopping!" Irish scolded and pinched Asher's arm, making him yelp out in pain.

"Ughhh! Fine, fine! Just let go! That hurts, woman!"

She eventually does just that. He pouts and huffs, caressing his arm. 

"You don't wear the wounded look well. Wipe that off of your face," Irish said in annoyance yet soon started rubbing the pain away from Asher's arm nonetheless. 

"A-Anyway, back to our subject...!" Olivia chimed in again, trying to veer them back on topic.

"So, what do you say? Are you up for an outing?"