Chapter Twenty Five: Long Day
Buffy woke up to Dawn’s cold feet poking into her.
“Grand.” she sighed. She tried to roll over but pain shot through her shoulder. “SHIT!”
Willow sat straight up in bed and looked over at Buffy, eyes wide with fright. “What happened?”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just my shoulder.” Buffy explain as she pushed herself into a sitting position. Willow nodded sympathetically then looked over at the clock.
“Past ten. Do you think the boys are up yet?” Willow asked. Buffy shrugged as she got out of bed and rummaged around her still unpacked suitcase for something to wear.
“Ugghh, why do you guys hafta get up so early?” Dawn groaned as she pulled her pillow over her head.
“Dawnie, honey, its like eleven.” Buffy laughed as she pulled a pair of denim shorts out of her bag. They had a red sequined heart on the back pocket.
“Noo, its like three.” Dawn argued, her voice muffled under the pillow.
“If you insist.” Buffy sighed and pulled out a red cami to match her shorts. Willow was leaning halfway in the closet, trying to reach the shirt she wanted.
“I’m gonna change first!” Buffy joked.
“Not if I beat you to the bathroom!” Willow challenged as she pulled out the teal halter top she was looking for.
“Crap!” Buffy exclaimed as she jumped up and made a break for the bathroom. Willow got there just as she did and they squished in the doorway.
“Okay, you win, but only because you’re handicapped!” Willow gave in, backing up so Buffy could get in.
“No, you just didn’t wanna face losing!” Buffy joked and stuck her tongue out.
“I wouldn’t keep that ugly thing in my mouth if I were you, either!” Dawn exclaimed, joining in the fight.
“Oh no you didn’t.” Buffy raised an eyebrow.
“I think she did.” Willow smiled.
“I’m gonna get you!!” Buffy yelled and ran towards the bed where her sister was sitting. As soon as she left the bathroom, Willow darted in and shut the door. Buffy raised an eyebrow at Dawn.
“Oh…It’s on.” she threatened as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Dawn laughed. A knock came at the door and Buffy walked over and opened it. The guys were standing outside, waiting. Buffy opened the door a little more.
“How’d you know we were up?” she asked.
“Well there was a fair amount of screaming.” Xander pointed out with a half smile.
“Oh. Yeah. Come on in, me and Dawn are just waiting for the bathroom.” Buffy stepped aside to let them in. Connor flopped down on the bed next to Dawn, Angel sat across the room on a chair, Xander sat on the floor and switched on the TV, and Oz sat down on the edge of the other bed. Willow came out of the bathroom and smiled when she saw Oz.
“My turn!” Dawn yelped as she leapt from the bed.
“I don’t think so!” Buffy argued playfully, rushing into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her just as Dawn reached it.
“Darn.” she returned to the bed and let Connor put his arm around her. Angel smiled a little before turning back to the window. Willow sat down next to Oz and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.
“So what’s today’s game plan?” Xander asked, looking away from the TV screen.
“Well, breakfast…slash lunch…at the diner down the street, visiting Cordy, getting Cordy’s stuff from the house, assuming she’s let out, swimming in the awesome indoor pool, then back here, then out to eat at some fancy place with Giles and Jenny, and then probably hanging for the rest of the night.” Dawn explained, finishing just as Buffy emerged from the bathroom. She picked up a mini-skirt and white top and went into the bathroom.
“I heard what’s going on, we don’t need to repeat.” Buffy told them as she walked over to Angel. And conversations pretty much went their own ways after that. Buffy took a seat across from Angel and watched him for a minute.
“Hey..” she said cheerfully.
“Hi.” he said, not bothering to look at her.
“Is, uh, is there something bothering you?” she asked.
“No. Why do you ask?” he said coldly.
“I don’t know, you’re just kind of acting weird.” Buffy tried.
“Maybe it’s the fact that we could have gotten killed.” Angel replied with a hint of sarcasm.
“Oh..” Buffy said, feeling a little hurt.
“So how are things with you and Spike?” he asked, now looking at Buffy.
“Uh good I guess.” she muttered, looking away.
“Well that’s good to hear.” he said, his voice now dripping with sarcasm. She could practically feel his eyes boring into her.
“Okay, who’s ready to go?” Dawn asked as she emerged from the bathroom. Buffy quickly stood up, thankful to get out of that conversation.
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The group had separated into two tables, the girls and the boys, and they were on opposite sides of the restaurant.
“Who woulda thought it would be so crowded?” Willow said as she slid into the booth.
“It’s better this way. I hafta tell you guys something anyway.” Buffy said softly.
“What’s wrong?” Dawn asked as she slid in next to Willow. Buffy took the opposite side.
“Well…two things actually.” Buffy sighed. Her friends watched her expectantly. “Okay, first off, Spike and I broke up. Which was my choice. And I didn’t really want to say anything right away, in case I decided it was a bad decision or something. I don’t know. I was going to tell you all, but there was the whole…yeah…”
“Okay, what was the other thing?” Dawn asked.
“Well, I think that somehow Angel found out that Spike and I broke up and he’s mad that I didn’t tell him. I know he’s mad about *something* although that might not be it.” Buffy explained.
“That is really not good.” Willow said as she remembered observing Buffy and Angel earlier in the hotel room.
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“Cordelia!” everyone exclaimed as they piled into Cordy’s room. She looked up from her magazine.
“Well, its about time you people got your asses in here to visit me.” she scolded as she set the magazine on her bedstand.
“Did they tell you when you’re getting out?” Xander asked as he took the chair next to her bed.
“Two days.” Cordelia sighed in annoyance. “I’m gonna be stuck in this place forever!”
“It’s only two days.” Connor pointed out.
“Yeah but it is so boring here. And it smells funny!” she whined.
“Well, here’s some good news. Camping trip.” Oz said.
“Like out in the wilderness?” Cordelia’s nose scrunched up.
“Nope, on one of my dads big boats. It’s gonna be rad.” Xander explained.
“Okay, good. As long as there’s no like making fires and sleeping on the ground, I’m good.” Cordelia said.
“Yeah. Man it’s really boring around our world without you hanging with us. There’s like a hole of boringness.” Dawn said as she looked out the window.
“I can only imagine how you guys must be dying of boredom. You know you all have each other and your allowed to leave your bed. It must be devastating.” Cordelia said sarcastically. Dawn laughed and stuck her tongue out at Cordy.
“We really hafta get some things done before dinner, so do you care if we come back later?” Willow said.
“No, go ahead. You guys hafta like clean and stuff right?” Cordelia laughed.
“Yeah pretty much. Also, we’re gonna get your clothes and bring them to the hotel. That’s basically it. So we will be back.” Willow assured her.
“Okay, well I have a lifetime supply of magazines to keep me occupied until you come back. Oh! When you do, can you please, please, please bring mcdonalds? Cause I am sooo sick of hospital food.” Cordelia sighed.
“Yeah, we’ll do our best.” Buffy laughed. Everyone said goodbye, giving Cordelia a hug-or kiss in Xander’s case-and promise to bring good food before they left.
“So now we’re going to go get Cordy’s stuff, go swimming, buy some stuff so Cordelia doesn’t die of boredom, get dressed for the fancy restaurant place, and then just hang?” Connor asked.
“Yep, sounds like today’s plan.” Xander agreed as they left the hospital. Everyone piled into Oz’s van and they drove down to the house. When they got inside Jenny and Giles were bustling around.
“What’s up?” Xander asked as he sat down at the kitchen table.
“The doors.” Jenny answered before picking up the phone.
“What about them?” Xander prodded. He was the only one left in the kitchen, the guys were in the living room playing video games and the girls were getting Cordelia’s stuff.
“Well, the measurements were off and we can’t get ahold of the door company. So chances are we’re going to have to wait two days until they come and have them see that the doors don’t fit. Then we have to reschedule an appointment for them to take measurements. And then they have to get us new doors. Which means we’re going to be out of the house for another week. Maybe longer.” Jenny sighed as she dialed a number and held the phone up to her ear. Xander shrugged and patted his mom’s hand before walking into the living room with the other guys.
“We should definitely take this back to the hotel with us.” Connor said as he raced down the track with his monkey.
“Yeah. Free entertainment. Oh! You know what we need? Soul Caliber. One, two, and three.” Xander agreed.
“I vote we start with one and work our way up.” Oz said as he maneuvered around a hole on the track.
“Yeah. I call first game.” Connor laughed.
“Oh right, two player game. Duh.” Xander slapped his forehead.
“Okay, Angel, you haven’t talked at all today. What’s up?” Oz said suddenly.
“It’s nothing.” Angel murmured.
“Come on, man, you can tell us.” Xander said. By now everyone was focused on Angel and the video game was on pause.
“It’s Buffy.” he said finally.
“What happened?” Connor asked.
“She…I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. I’ll work it out.” Angel shook his head.
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Xander asked.
“Guys, can we drop it?” Angel asked, beginning to get agitated.
“Yeah. That’s cool.” Connor said, siding with his brother. He started the game back up and they went back to racing.
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The girls had Cordelia’s suitcase open on the bed and were throwing clothes, jewelry, and perfume into the bag and taking their time doing so.
“Wow it seems like its been a really long day.” Buffy said rubbing at her eyes. For some reason she was really tired.
“Yeah I get what you mean. It’s like all the sleep that we lost over the whole rapist thing is finally catching up to us.” Dawn agreed.
“I feel like I could sleep for like a year.” Willow threw in.
“I think we all do.” Buffy said as she folded a shirt and threw it into the bag. “Especially Cordelia.” They finished packing in silence and brought the bag downstairs.
“Back to the hotel?” Oz asked as he and the guys gathered up their video games.
“Back to the hotel.” Willow confirmed.
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The girls and guys went into their own rooms and started getting changed.
“I think I’m gonna stay here a while, take a nap.” Buffy said as she stretched out on the bed. “I just want some time alone. I’ll be up soon.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.” Willow bit her lip, concerned.
“I’m okay. Don’t worry about me. My shoulder just hurts a little.” Buffy said, picking up on the worry.
Willow nodded and grabbed a towel before following Dawn out of the room. Buffy let out a deep breath and closed her eyes.
“I just hafta focus on something to get my mind off issues.” she said out loud. “Maybe I can work this out.”
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“Where’s Buffy?” Connor asked as the guys met up with the girls. He saw Angel’s face tense at her name. Something must’ve happened.
“She isn’t feeling well. She said she was going to be up in a little while, maybe half an hour?” Willow explained.
“How long are we planning on swimming?” Xander asked.
“Well its only one, so I think maybe an hour and a half, maybe longer. We won’t spend all the time actually swimming. But either way, Giles wants us back at the hotel by five and ready to leave by six. So we have four hours to waste.” Willow said.
“Four hours minus the time it takes to buy a bunch of stuff for Cordy, take it to her, visit with her, and come home.” Dawn pointed out.
“So we have like three hours. So I say we spend two up at the pool, spend an hour getting showered and such, and watch TV or something and then we use the last hour to hang with Cordy.” Connor concluded.
“Sounds good to me.” Xander agreed. He noticed Angel looking at the door to the girls hotel room but didn’t think much of it.
“Well, let’s get going.” Oz smiled and the group headed towards the pool.
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Buffy rubbed her eyes as she finally woke up. She looked over at the digital clock on the bedside. 2:10. It had been about an hour since she fell asleep. She stood up and stretched and put her bathing suit on.
She pulled her hair up into a high pony-tail and grabbed a towel before leaving to go down to the pool. She walked with her head down, avoiding the eyes of elderly and middle aged people who watched her walk by.
Then she slammed into someone with her bad shoulder.
“God dammit!” she exclaimed as a dull pain shot through her shoulder.
“My god, I’m so sorry!” the guy exclaimed.
“Riley.” she said and felt a smile cross her face.
“Buffy. I’m really sorry.” he said, but he smiled as well.
“It’s all good. Where’s the rest of your crew?” she asked, noticing he was alone.
“They’re in the room. I could ask you the same.”
“Up at the pool. Which is where I’m headed.” Buffy answered.
“How about we meet you up there in ten minutes?” he smiled.
“That’d be awesome.”
“So I’ll see you in ten.”
“Yep.” she gave him a flirty half smile as he walked away. As soon as he was out of sight, she hurried to the elevator.
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She entered the pool room and immediately spotted her friends. There actually weren’t many other people so they were hard to miss.
“Hey Buffy.” Dawn greeted from the chair she was sitting on.
“Guess what.” Buffy smiled.
“What?” Willow asked.
“I saw Riley in the hall.” she glanced at Angel to see his reaction, but he had none.
“Well that’s good.” Willow said raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah he’s going to come hang out with us in like five minutes.” she finished.
“We’re only going to be here another half hour.” Angel pointed out.
“Yeah well that’s okay, we can still hang out with them. I mean seriously, we could use some people out of our little circle.” Dawn said as she read her magazine.
A few minutes later Riley arrived with two other boys following. One was tall, was well built, had light brown hair and hazel eyes. The other was black, also had some muscles, and had chocolate brown eyes.
“Hey Buffy.” Riley said smiling at her.
“Hi Riley. Shall we re-introduce everyone?” she asked.
“Sure. I’m Riley and these are my friends Forrest and Graham.”
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Half an hour passed and the group got ready to leave.
“What are you guys doing tonight?” Forrest asked as everyone dried off.
“We’re busy. Sorry.” Angel said before walking out of the room.
“He’s been a bit testy lately. Just ignore him.” Buffy said.
“So are you guys busy or not?” Graham asked.
“Yeah, we are. Our friend is in the hospital and—“
“She’s the one that lived?” Riley asked.
“Uhh, what do you mean?” Willow cut in.
“Well she’s all over the news. The one that lived. The one that got away.” Riley explained.
“We all lived. We were in that house.” Connor said, remembering what he saw on the news.
“Wow.” was all Riley could say.
“We’ll see you around.” Dawn assured as they turned down the hall.
“Wait, Buffy, can I at least have your number or something?” Riley blurted.
Buffy grabbed a hotel card and scribbled down her cell number and hotel room on the back and handed it to him. “You call me.”
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After everyone was dressed they went over to raid Sheets and get as much stuff as they could for Cordelia.
“Don’t forget, we hafta bring her McDonalds.” Dawn piped up.
“Do you think Sheets food will do?” Connor asked.
“Come on, we’re not gonna be cheap! We’ll get the girl what she wants.” Xander objected jokingly.
The went up to the cash register and piled up a stack of magazines, a pile of chips and other junk food, and a case of bottled water. Needless to say the employee gave them a few weird looks.
“Having a party?” he asked as he rung up the fifth bag of potato chips.
“Not this weekend.” Xander said. The man glanced at him and went back to ringing up the items.
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The teens burst into Cordelia’s room, each holding a bag of something, and Xander came in carrying ‘get well’ balloons and flowers.
“Here ya go. Stuff to keep you busy.” Xander said as he set the flowers down on her nightstand and kissed her forehead gently.
“I even have something extra special for you.” Connor said suddenly. He walked over to her bedside and pulled his ‘oldschool’ nintendo out and handed it to her. “It doesn’t have much on it, but it’ll keep you amused.”
“Thanks.” she smiled. “What are you guys doing after this?”
“We have to get all prettied up and go to some fancy restaurant with Jenny and Giles.” Buffy explained.
“How fun.” Cordelia said sarcastically. Buffy nodded before pulling a notebook out of one of the bags and a pen. She sat down on a seat near the window and began scribbling something down.
The group talked and laughed for about half an hour before someone actually realized what time it was.
“Oh jeez. We hafta go. There’s no way we’re going to be ready in time!” Willow said in a panicked tone.
“Its okay, we still have almost an hour.” Xander said, not really wanting to leave Cordelia.
“No, you don’t understand. Girls take FOREVER to get ready. We gotta go. Sorry Cordy, we’ll drop by tomorrow.” Willow apologized as she gave her friend a hug and walked out of the room. Buffy slipped Cordelia the note she had been writing before she left and everyone else hugged her and rushed out to Oz’s van behind Willow.
On the ride home Dawn whispered to Buffy, “What did you give Cordelia?”
“A note about everything with Angel and stuff. I didn’t want her to be out of the loop when she came home.” Buffy answered and then shot Dawn a look that clearly said ‘drop it’.
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At the hotel everyone was looking through all their clothes.
“We don’t want to be too fancy, just fancy enough.” Willow said as she tapped her lip.
“I already know what I’m wearing.” Buffy said as she pulled some clothing out of her bag.
“What?” Dawn asked.
“I’m not telling, you’ll just hafta see.” Buffy laughed and ran into the bathroom with her clothes under a towel.
“Be careful, we don’t wanna hafta witness a disaster!” Dawn called after her. “Hmm..I have no idea what I’m gonna wear.”
She stood in front of her bed which had a black skirt, a jeans mini-skirt, a long jeans skirt, and a tiny black dress.
“I think you should wear the dress. Just add some jewelry and it’d be hot.” Willow said as she inspected the pile of clothes.
“Okay, that works. Now for my shoes.” Dawn said as she turned to the closet. Willow laughed as she pulled out the outfit that she knew she wanted to wear.
A knee-length white skirt and a blue (with white Hawaiian flowers) halter top and blue flip flops.
“Ohh! That’s so pretty! No one’s gonna compare to you!” Dawn exclaimed when Willow held the outfit against her body. Then the bathroom door opened. Buffy came out wearing a knee-length jeans skirt and a pink halter top with her hair in a clip.
“Oh my gosh! You guys are so pretty! Why can’t I look like that?” Dawn whined.
“You will if you get dressed.” Willow offered.
“Hey, I’ll go wait out in the hall and one of you can change in here and the other in the bathroom.” Buffy said suddenly and she went out into the hotel hallway.
“Wonder what that’s about.” Dawn said then shrugged and took over the bathroom.
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The guys walked into the room to see the three girls lying on the floor watching some chick flick.
“Hey, are we just gonna sit here and watch some mushy movie or are we gonna actually do something for the next half hour?” Xander asked.
“I vote mushy movie.” Buffy said from her place on the floor.
“Come on, you guys are no fun!” Connor whined.
“Well it’s only half an hour. And plus, what are we going to do other then watch a mushy movie?” Willow said.
“Well, uh, there’s cartoons.” Xander tried.
“No thanks.” Willow laughed.
“Why is Dawn’s skirt so much shorter then everyone else’s?” Connor asked suddenly. Dawn’s eyes widened and she pulled her dress a little lower so that it almost reached her knees.
“Stop harassing my sister you little perv.” Buffy joked. Connor pulled a pillow off the bed and threw it at her head. Luckily, he didn’t have the best aim when it came to throwing pillows, so it hit her in the chest. (meaning it didn’t mess up her hair)
“Pillow fight?” Oz asked. The next thing he knew, a pillow was flying at his head. He ducked his head down and the pillow went straight over it.
“Looks like.” Xander agreed before picking up a pillow.
“If anyone messes up my hair, its death.” Dawn warned as she shielded her face from an oncoming pillow.
“Boys versus girls!” Connor exclaimed and immediately attacked Dawn. And so the war began.
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“Crap, guys, look what time it is! We really hafta go!” Willow said as she glanced at the clock. It was a fifteen minute drive over there and they only had ten minutes to get there.
“This is so not good.” Buffy agreed as she fixed her hair.
“Well, I say we should leave. Like now.” Xander said, not exactly looking forward to getting yelled at.
The group immediately grabbed anything they needed and rushed out of the room.
“I definitely cannot run in high heels!” Dawn said as they started racing down the halls to the elevator.
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Amazingly, they got to the restaurant on time, well maybe two minutes late. But no one got yelled at.
Now this place was so huge and expensive looking, the whole group felt rather out of place. It was filled with elegantly dressed old people drinking wine and laughing softly.
“Whoa. Maybe this should’ve been a dinner for just mom and dad.” Xander joked to Willow.
“I feel really weird. And did you notice the looks those old people keep giving us? We’re not hoodlums!” Willow complained as the group was taken to their table.
“Whoa!” Connor exclaimed a little too loudly as they passed a huge aquarium. A few elderly women shot him withering looks and he shut up.
“Man I hate it here.” Xander complained. They finally got to their table and the group started looking through the menu.
“They even have weird food. I’m not even going to *try* to pronounce this name.” Dawn said.
“Now, I know this restaurant isn’t the most appealing to you children, but let’s try to make the best of it.” Giles said, sounding rather irritated.
“Come on kids, here try this menu.” Jenny said handing them a menu devoted to appetizers.
“Well, buffalo wings sound pretty good.” Dawn said as she inspected the menu over Buffy’s shoulder.
“Yeah, lets just get a ton of those.” Xander said.
“Okay, we know what we’re getting.” Willow informed her aunt.
“Good. Now let’s begin discussing this camping trip.” Giles said.
“We saw you with a few other kids the other day at the hotel and I just wanted to let you know, you should invite them too, the more the merrier.” Jenny winked at Buffy.
“That’s a great idea!” Buffy exclaimed.
“The thing is, Jenny and I are going to have to come along to drive the boat because none of you children have a license for it, but we’ll keep to our room of the boat.” Giles said.
“What do you mean…room?” Connor asked.
“Man, wait till you see our boat. It’s freaking huge!” Xander exclaimed. A few old people looked over at the table and Xander ducked his head down. “Sorry.”
“We should go look at it tomorrow…it would give us something to do.” Willow suggested.
“Well, Willow, honey, you’ll have to find a way to keep yourself busy until around four. Giles and I are going to be at the house working out all the door nonsense.” Jenny explained.
“Well, we’ll have to go visit Cordy. And we normally sleep in anyway, so it should work out.” Buffy put in.
“Well that sounds good. So we’ll all meet in the front of the hotel at five tomorrow. Oz, could you bring your van? It’s a little bit of a drive and we don’t want people all crammed together.” Jenny explained.
“Sure thing.” Oz agreed. Then a waitress walked up.
“Hi, I’m Melanie, I’ll be your waitress tonight.” she said sounding tired. She was about their age, had brown hair that was tied up in a messy bun, and green-brown eyes. “What can I get you?”
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“Thank god we’re finally home. This has to have been the longest day ever.” Buffy complained as she took off her makeup.
“Agreed. It feels like it should be like three am instead of only ten.” Dawn said as she collapsed onto her bed.
“Night guys.” Willow said as she emerged from the bathroom and went straight to her bed.
“Are we going to the party tomorrow?” Buffy asked suddenly.
“What party?” Willow asked as she slipped under the covers.
“Well, you know the weekly one. There’s one every Thursday, but we haven’t really gone lately.” Buffy said before she got into bed next to Dawn.
“Oh yeah, that one.” Dawn said, remembering.
“We can go, I guess.” Willow said.
“It’d keep us entertained for a while. Like we could go right after we check out the boat.” Buffy insisted.
“Hey, speaking of…are you gonna invite Riley to come with?” Willow asked.
“I dunno, I’m still thinking about it. If we do, he has quite a few friends. There’s Gunn, Graham, Shane, and Jared.” Buffy said, counting off the boys names on her fingers.
“Well there was that Melanie girl tonight, and she said she’s staying at this hotel too.” Dawn said.
“How do you know?” Buffy asked.
“Well we were just kinda talking. So I guess we’re friends now. She said she’d give me a call.” Dawn explained.
“Okay, that’s cool. Can we sleep now?” Willow asked.
“Alright. Goodnight guys.”
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