LANCASTER AND MAXWELL ( ✔ )

chapter eight.

A woman approaches them with undulating grace and undeniable self-assurance, a thousand-watt smile placed on her plump, red lips. Her brown skin glints underneath the soft lights of the foyer, and Sullivan feels as if he's come face to face with Aphrodite. However, her name isn't that of the Greek goddess; instead it's— 

"I'm Jayla, Arthur's step-mother; it's a pleasure to meet you, SJ. I've heard plenty about you since you moved to town." 

"Jayla!" Arthur whines, rolling his eyes at the confession. 

"What? I have!" 

"Just because you hear something doesn't mean you say it aloud," he grumbles, but it makes Sullivan laugh. He likes Jayla already.

Sully says, "I'm glad that I could meet your acquaintance, Jayla. This is a lovely home that you have here."

"Thank you! Ugh, I like him already, Arthur. How come you haven't dropped him by sooner?" Before the blonde boy even has a chance to feel embarrassed, there's a dinner bell rang not too far from where they were standing, signaling that dinner was ready to be served. The twins grab a hold of both of their new friend's hands and practically drag him into the dining room to sit next to them. 

"Where's Dre?" Arthur asks as he slides into his seat across from Sullivan. 

"I let him go to his friend's house for dinner instead. He's been in a sort of sour mood lately, and that's saying something. He's a bit of an awkward boy, SJ." 

"Why, I think I know someone who's a little like that." His playful banter directed to his friend is followed by a little kick under the table. Sullivan can't help but to return the favor, and it feels as if they're ten years old again, playing soccer with their ankles underneath the dinner table. Except, it's not the same. They're now older, with feelings left unsaid and a change in the air that hasn't quite been examined yet, either. He can feel it, and he knows that Arthur can feel it too; the only thing left is to just sit and wait for it to come up. 

A while after dinner is served, everyone's bustling and waiting for dessert to be passed out, Sullivan listening to the kids yapping away in his ear with a jovial expression lighting up the shadows of his face. They're in the middle of a very fulfilling conversation about ducks when they hear the boom of a voice behind them, entering the dining room. Turning around, he becomes face to face with the man himself: Arthur Brooks Lancaster the Second. 

If anyone ever needed a superhero to look up to, then he was the guy. Growing up, everyone had always looked up to the man that was his best friend's father. Imagine that someone put DNA strands of Bruce Wayne, King Midas, and Leonardo DiCaprio together, and you'd have Father Arthur wrapped up in a suede suit that fit him like a second skin. He had everything every boy wanted to have when they grew up: a hot wife, beautiful and talented son, living in a big house with a golden retriever and a fountain in the yard. Because of him, everyone thought with uncertainty that they wanted to grow up and be a Lancaster— Artie just made up their minds. 

The man captures all the attention in the room effortlessly and gives the sort of smile that could elect someone president, glancing around the room before his eyes land on Sullivan. "My my, is that who I think it is?" His voice is something of a boom, and he'd be an idiot not to listen to Arthur the Second speak. "Sullivan-Jaymes, in the flesh. My god, you've grown up. Don't just stand there, come up and hug your old man!" 

Chuckling, the boy stands up and hugs the man who had always been a father figure to him. "Yep, it's me sir, I'm surprised you ain't forgot about me."

"How could I ever forget the smartest boy I've ever met? Are you still giving these people a piece of your mind?"

"I'm trying," Sully says.

Arthur gives  a brilliant smile and winks at him. "That's my boy." He then turns to his wife and kisses her forehead and greets his twins in the way that family men on sitcoms do: both disgustingly and adoringly. Sullivan wants to throw up and smile at the same time.

After playing with their dad for a few moments, they go back to Sullivan and he tears his eyes away from Arthur Sr. to go back to their duck conversation that was "interrupted oh so rudely." 

Though, if he had still been watching, he would've seen the way Artie flinched in the slightest of ways when his father rested a hand on his shoulder. 

"Hey, Sully," Artie says abruptly, and the brunette's ears perk up (he'll always listen to Artie) when he hears his nickname. "Wanna see the view from my balcony upstairs?"

With a shrug and a simple nod, the boys excuse themselves away from the others and head off around two corners and up two flights of stairs to Arthur's room. Sullivan observes the room as they enter, his eyes bouncing from first place trophies and college posters and banners all around the room. 

"You have such a typical guy room; it's like the set to a Lifetime movie  in here." 

Arthur says, "At least I don't have posters of constellations hanging from my ceiling." 

Touche.

"Whatever, Artie," he responds dismissively with the wave of his hand, gesturing to the double doors in front of him. "I'm just ready to see this view that you were tellin' me about. It better be the eight wonder of the world, or I'm gonna want my money back." 

The slightly taller boy just smiles at him knowingly before swinging the doors open, revealing the star-stricken night in front of them. It's almost as if something has hit Sully in the gut and knocked all the breath out of him because that's exactly what this sight is: breath-taking. One can see the whole country-side of Richmond from this point of view. Arthur lives about ten or fifteen minutes out and away from the city, so the ambient horns of cars blowing at each other and footsteps conquering concrete is replaced with the gentle sway of the trees and the faint helicopter every so often flying overheard, only recognizable by the gleam of their lights. The pace has slowed down, everything is at a lull, and one can do nothing but to look out for miles at the city as if it were a different continent, a whole new world. 

Green eyes are filled with adoration, the same look someone has when they're looking at something that they love. Little did he know, Arthur is looking at something else the same exact way.

All the boy is really left to say is, "Wow." 

"I know, right? It's like God built the view just for this spot. It doesn't matter what kind of day you're having; one look at this, and it's an out of body experience." Arthur leans against the marble railings, twirling his thumbs in his hands as he keeps his eyes on his awestruck best friend. "What do you think of it?"

"My God." His voice is softer and lacks the same blase that it usually holds, the tone that makes him sound so sure of himself and indifferent to the world. This is the Sullivan that Arthur knows; this is the one that he loves. "Have you ever seen a sight as beautiful as this one?" 

"Yeah," Arthur speaks, his gaze fixated on the boy standing no more than three feet away from him. So close, yet so far away. "I have."