Harmless pipe bombs? Rae's eyes widened for a moment at that thought, and she looked at him somewhat incredulously. "Harmless pipe bombs, huh?" she asked him with an arched eyebrow. "I guess it's a good thing that I trust you to help him make those harmless pipe bombs, isn't it?" she asked, her grin turning a little playful as she crossed her arms at her chest. "And to defer to my judgment as to how old 'old enough' is." She shrugged some hair over her shoulder and watched with a smile as EJ grabbed hold of Topher's nose with his little hands. That was his new game. Nose-grabbing and expecting people to make a 'beep' sound.
"Good," she mused. "I don't want to be exempt, as long as it's not a painful prank," she added as an afterthought. "Of course I'm willing to give them trouble!" she nodded vehemently. Though, maybe she should be easier on Regan, she theorized, given that he held one of her secrets right now. "You and I should put our heads together for a prank war sometime. It could be fun, don't you think?"
It was amusing, exactly how much his telling her that she was ridiculous made her smile. "Hey. You're the one who chose me, I'd like to point out. There are other, less ridiculous women in the compound that you could have chosen, but you went and chose me. So... what does that say, hm?" she asked him, then let her grin go playful when he mentioned a great view. "You're not the only one who gets a great view," she pointed out, poking him lightly in one of his ticklish spot. "That's the kind of view that people buy houses for," she spoke in playful seductiveness.
She nodded. "Kind of like how I'm always a little less forgiving about my nagginess." She was always afraid that people would get tired of it and she'd end up alone. "Or my irrational paranoia of losing people." She paused for a moment, watching his expression as he watched her. It wasn't like she wasn't used to being watched, but the way he looked at her made her cheeks turn a little red. "What's that look for?" she asked, her tone more or less telling him that she didn't care why he was looking, that the expression was sweet. It was different from flirty, sexy expressions. It was affectionate; loving. And she appreciated it. "You only have to share me with him, April and Lucas, I promise. Well, and Kori. But I'm definitely okay with you monopolizing most of my time. Being with you is all I want." Especially after spending so much time without him these past couple of weeks. "All I ever really want." She laughed again. "Now that you mention it, so do I," she smirked.
"Cruel, huh?" she asked, looking up at him with a loving expression. "I'm glad you think so. I had Brandon and Regan paint it for you. Had them ask your favorite color, so I was sure it was the right one. Keeping it a secret was hard, though. I can't count the times I wanted to tell you." She paused completely when he explained how much he liked the bike. She laughed and wet her lips. "So, you'd cheat on me with a theroetical bike-woman?" she asked him, turning to look away and closing her eyes hard to push back some exhaustion. Why was it catching up to her now, of all times? Just wait a little bit longer, and then you can sleep... she told herself.
Rae looked up at him with blatant affection on her face when he told her he'd take her for a ride. "I was hoping you would," she told him, watching the expression on his face and feeling completely satisfied with herself. "Your expression should always be this happy," she told him quietly. "You've earned this. This happiness. The way you're feeling right now."
He'd earned it, and then some.
Which was why she was bound and determined not to let her body win right now. Bound and determined to keep herself on her feet...