Don't leave me tongue tied

 Talk about rolling with the dice, Tristan wasn't sure anything would ever settle down. One minute they were racing to get to the courthouse to witness Dora and Holden's wedding just to be getting ready for somebody else's wedding. Tristan felt all he could think about was the Holden hold-up and everything that went with it. They decided on a destination wedding when they got their marriage license. And of course, Dora would be moving into Holden's house.

Dale didn't have a place to live. She was an emotional wreck, even though he knew she was trying to keep it together. Most of her stuff was stored in his room at his parents.

And now there was Mona and Nic. Did he even know it was June? He didn't even have time to think about what it was going to be like living with Mona. 

"Well, you have to be with me when they are around," he announced to Dale.

"Huh?"  She was doing her best to keep to her side of the room where she kept her laptop and makeup on a pink side table along with her favorite swivel chair which was also pink.

"You know, I can't stand her," Tristan shot Dale a look as if she would have to keep the peace.

"She's just your ex." Dale looked at him as if it wasn't that big of a deal.

"But..but you've never lived with her," he pointed out. "She takes up space and expects more than anyone would ever want to give." It felt like grief just mentioning it, but of course, there was Dale who always had a way of making everything better. And he was glad she was here.

Dale did mention she was worried about the bathroom situation.

"Well, Nic has the master bedroom and they have a bathroom and shower." He shrugged as if it wasn't going to be impossible to share the bathroom with Nonnie and Weezer.

She nodded. And he gave her a hug before she went to pieces thinking about home, the apartment she used to share with Dora.

"I was there for four years," her voice cracked. She missed it. "If..if I had only known."

"We seldom know these things," Tristan winced back. He wanted to say something like, "We'll get out of here before August." But he couldn't. It was settled. He was working overtime at the zoo already. If it wasn't studying the birth of a new hippo it was helping out with tours of the new Safari Adventure. Usually, he was out of here before anyone woke up in the morning. One more thing to be thankful for. He would be away from Mona's reign.

Yes, he knew he should be happy for Nic and Mona. At last, they were together. All was well in the world. No more turmoil. But in the next breath, he could hear someone's phone ring. He thought he heard Nic's voice say, "NO WAY!" He couldn't imagine what that would be about.