Bail | LRH

Chapter 5: Dinner

"Hi Cal" I said, giving him a wave and taking in his appearance. He was wearing black dress pants with a tucked in forest green button up shirt, and of course black vans.

"Hey Adrian! Dude, your house is so nice, and you look really good too!" he said complimenting me while still taking in everything that was my house.

"Thank you, and you don't look so bad yourself mister Hood" I said returning the compliment. I liked Calum, he was easy to talk to, but I didn't like him in that way. I didn't have many friends growing up because of my limited experience in school, and after always competing with the boys, most of them wanted nothing to do with me when we were younger.

One fateful night I was trying to get one last run in before the lift shut down for the night, and the only way that I could get that run in is if I hurried and got on the first available seat, which happened to be on the same chair Calum had just gotten on. I didn't mind sitting with someone I didn't know as riding up with strangers wasn't foreign to me. With our luck, the lift got stuck and we found ourselves sitting up there for two hours before getting up to the top. If that lift hadn't broken down, I don't think Calum and I would really be friends because we got to talk and get to know each other up there. I mean, what else are you supposed to do when you're stuck on a chair lift with someone for two hours?

Michael and Ashton arrived shortly after and the four of us were able to make conversation in the living room while all of our parents talked in the kitchen, already cracking open a bottle of wine.

About ten minutes later the doorbell rang for the final time tonight and I excused myself from the other boys to go open the door for our last guests. I took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly before I opened the door to reveal Luke and his family.

"Hi! Please come in, come in" I said moving to the side and ushering them in. I closed the door and led his parents to the kitchen to meet up with the rest of the parents and turned to Luke to tell him that the other boys were in the living room.

"So you could just, uh- follow me this way" I said awkwardly, motioning for him to follow me.

"So this is the famous Casey house, huh?" he said as he stopped walking to look over the picture frames hanging up in the hallway.

"Yeah" I said, dragging it out, not really sure what he was getting at. "So are you gonna come with me or are you just gonna snoop around my house dude?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean if that's a greenlight to snoop then sure" he said turning back to the picture frames.

"Oh just come with me already" I huffed while grabbing his arm and leading him to the living room.

When he met up with the other boys they all greeted him, and he instantly made his way over to the mantle of the fireplace where trophies and awards were on display. He was slowly walking past them, taking in what each award was, who won it, when they received it, and what it was for. I was in the middle of a conversation with Calum, Ashton, and Michael and I couldn't help but glance back at Luke every now and then wondering why he was so intrigued about everything on the mantle.

My mother, being the saving grace she was, called us all to the dinning room for dinner where we had brought in a second table to make room for everyone's family members. My mom and dad sat at both heads of the table, and everyone else's family filled in the gaps. I happened to be the last one to pick my seat so I found myself sitting in between Michael and Calum's mom, and directly across from Luke.

"Oh boy," I whispered as I set my plate down on the table and pulled my chair out for me to sit. I locked eyes with Luke, "this should be fun" I said, my words dripping with sarcasm.