Harley hadn't put much thought into this plan of sneaking out. Sneaking out- he couldn't believe he was actually saying it. He sounded like a thirteen year old.
He peeked over the staircase railing to catch a glimpse of the situation downstairs, attempting to gauge how easily just walking out the front door would be.
Not easy at all, was the verdict.
Axel was stretched on the couch, the flickering glare of the light from the TV dancing across his face, as a tall woman lay on top of him. She had long brown hair, a bit frizzy with untamed beach waves, and a nose that curved down slightly. No doubt Axel's girlfriend, Harley had to admit she was beautiful with her bold features, giving her long eyelashes and thick eyebrows.
His brother was skimming his fingers lightly over her exposed shoulder, as she was adjourned in a red tube top and ripped shorts, both of their gazes trained onto the TV as some wet stabbing noises filled the room.
If Harley really wanted to push his cover, he could lean over the banister even more to see Lucas, who was laid back in the beige recliner. To Harley's surprise, Lucas didn't have his eyes trained on the screen as the couple did, but had his eyes trained on them, a strange emotion plastered on his face. Lucas remained relatively stoic, aside from the slow biting of his inner cheek, before he produced that flask again from the breast pocket of his flannel, taking a subtle swig. Axel's observant eyes immediately darted towards him, a subtle shake of his head.
"Lucas. Are you serious?" He asked pointedly. Harley blinked quickly, taken aback by Axel's sharp tone.
Fully expecting Lucas to bite back, as Harley knew damn well he was fully capable of from this morning, he simply. . . didn't. Lucas was completely silent, his vision now set on the TV, the corners of his mouth turned down slightly.
Not being able to look anymore, Harley backed away from the railing, taking a moment to process what he had just seen. No, he didn't have nearly enough time to unpack all that shit.
Turning on his heel, he strode back upstairs and to his room, where he hiked up the window as far as it would go to examine what he had to work with. There was a small piece of roof he could perch on, and it wasn't too high off the ground- it was a tiny house fit for an older woman, after all.
There wouldn't be much room to move once he got out on the roof, but Harley figured it was just enough to hang off of and jump down from a less painful height.
He paced anxiously in his room as he waited for his friend, always wracked with nerves before parties. It was less about fear, and more about do I really have to do this?
Having to jump from the roof of a house didn't exactly help that looming dread.
Just slightly after ten, Jonas rolled up to the house, headlights off as Harley had requested. He thought not only would the headlights prevent Axel from seeing him, but also prevent others from seeing the expensive ass car Jonas was driving.
He wasn't all that familiar with the neighborhood yet, so might as well play it safe.
With a deep breath, Harley swung a leg out of the window, his friend ducking down in the drivers seat to look up at him in horror. Harley put a pointed finger to his mouth, before redirecting his concentration on not slipping off as he crawled onto the roof and shut the window.
Situating himself to hang off of the gutter was the most terrifying part, as that was basically Harley letting himself drop off the side as he prayed his grip strength was enough to hold his weight.
From there he simply jumped down, a slight jolt of pain going through his ankles, which quickly subsided after a few seconds. Still crouched in the yard, Harley met Jonas' gaze in surprise at what he had just done, his friend giving a thumbs up with a maniacal grin. Rushing over, Harley hopped into the passenger seat, the two driving off quickly as Jonas flicked the headlights back on further down the street.
"I can't believe you had to sneak out for like, the first time in your life," Jonas laughed, adjusting the radio to the most ear splitting metal music.
"I know. Missy didn't give a shit where I was, I could just walk out the front door. Didn't know I had to turn into James Bond just to go to a party," Harley yelled over the music, rolling his eyes. He leaned against the car door and watched the scenery shift as the socioeconomic status of the neighborhood shifted towards upper class.
"Who's party is this anyway?" He eventually asked Jonas, as some multi million dollar homes began to crop up.
"Brett's. Football training for next season is starting, so I guess they're all celebrating the reunion."
Harley raised an eyebrow. "We're not on the football team. We're not even in school anymore."
"Yeah, and ninety percent of the people coming aren't on the team. Besides, they love graduated seniors, and Michelle is a senior next year. It's an excuse to party in an expensive house, come on, Harley. Keep up," Jonas punched his arm playfully.
Harley had been to only one of Brett's parties before, when they were juniors. He got drunk and made out with a girl in the bathroom, before then receiving an incredibly awkward and uncomfortable blowjob. At no fault to the girl, really, she was great. Wasn't her problem some closeted gay guy got hammered and didn't realize forcing himself to enjoy sexual interactions with a gender he wasn't attracted to wouldn't work out. That, and Harley also knew to prepare himself for the only alcohol there being cheap vodka.
As the number of cars parked on the curb began to steadily increase, Harley felt himself let out a breath. Why did there have to be so many people?
"Joe!" A voice shrieked into the night as they parked, and Harley startled, not even realizing Jonas already had the door wide open and was rushing over to Michelle, who threw her arms around him.
Stepping out of the car, Harley rounded the front, hands tucked sheepishly in his pockets. "Hey Michelle, how are you?"
"Harley! Oh my God, it's so good to see you!" She abandoned her boyfriend to run over and hug him, who gave her a friendly pat on the back as Jonas smiled at them. "I hear you moved! What's up with that?" She held him out at arms length, her winged eyeliner accentuating her dark eyes.
"Yeah, I live with my brother now in Southside," he nodded, and Michelle's dark red lips turned up.
"Well I'm glad you don't have to live with your aunt anymore. She's. . . kind've a bitch," she giggled at her language, bringing her hand up to her mouth as Jonas came up behind to wrap his arms around her.
"Trust me, I know," Harley snickered, glancing over his shoulder at the house. Every window was lit up, a strobing light in the lowest level, and heavy bass thrumming throughout the structure that could easily be heard from across the street.
"We should go, I think my friends already went inside," Michelle turned to face Jonas, tugging playfully on his hand as the two ran across the street, Michelle's heels clacking loudly against the concrete. Watching from the sidewalk, the air was filled with a sudden silence, despite the pounding bass. Harley had been surrounded by people constantly for so long, standing outside on the sidewalk of this affluent neighborhood was the quietest it had been in a long time. A space without people, where Harley could just. . . be.
Fishing his phone out from his pocket, a slightly older, used iPhone his brother had given him, he flicked the screen on and stared at the time displayed. He never had a smartphone before, and just turning the screen on and off mesmerized him. He was deeply grateful for the gift, but his excitement soured slightly when he thought about the fit Lucas likely had thrown when Axel used some of their money to get him the phone. It probably still cost hundreds of dollars, never mind the phone plan.
He shoved the device back into his pocket quickly, no longer being able to look at it as a bitter taste filled his mouth. It hadn't even reached ten thirty yet, so Harley knew he was in for a long night. Might as well get in there, find a drink, and a good place to settle down for the night as Jonas was to off God knows where.
Harley shuffled through the front door, shouldering past a group of people who decided to congregate around the entrance, and made a beeline for the kitchen, not exactly wanting to get drunk, but just achieving a slight buzz to take the edge off.
There were a few people making drinks in the kitchen, two girls were doing shots on the kitchen island, but Harley didn't even spare them a glance as he took in the liquor line up scattered across the counter. Holy mother of cheap liquors, he thought. Brett had a million and one of different flavored vodkas, and that simply wouldn't do for someone actually wanting to enjoy themselves, whose end goal wasn't to get absolutely sloshed.
He began to raid the kitchen cabinets, the ideal situation would be coming across some more expensive bottles that teenagers wouldn't enjoy taking shots of as much. There was some Crown hidden in a Tupperware cabinet, which Harley turned his nose up at, preferring the pink lemonade vodka over whiskey, before finding a half empty bottle of Bacardi.
"Thank God," he muttered, pouring some in a red solo cup and filling the rest up with Coke. Pretty good drink for a high school party- he wasn't sure it could get much better than a rum and Coke.
Harley slipped through the sliding glass door to the porch, settling down on the wooden step as he took a long sip of his drink. A bunch of guys were hanging out in a group just behind him, their intermittent guffaws and bursts of laughter making him slightly uncomfortable and on edge, but there wouldn't be a problem for as long as they minded their own business.
"Me llamo, uh," some dude suddenly snickered in broken Spanish with a horrendously thick American accent. "Kyle. Qué es your name?"
"Watch a little more Dora, Chad. You'll get it eventually," another frighteningly familiar voice snapped back, making Harley's blood run cold. He twisted around quickly to confirm his suspicions, taking in the irritated face of Daniel, who was now making his way down the house steps onto the back deck. The group of guys were taunting a quiet Kyle, pushing him for a comeback, but they had already lost Daniel's interest, as his face lit up upon spotting Harley. Harley wished he could return the same charismatic gesture, as he genuinely liked Daniel, but his presence at the party was not a good omen.
"Harley! There you are, I walked in on way too many people having sex before finding you," he grinned, his naturally straight teeth on full display.
"And an asshole," Harley mumbled apologetically, Daniel throwing himself down on the wooden step next to him. "What are you doing here? How- how the hell did you find me?"
"Find my iPhone," he shrugged nonchalantly, leaning back on his hands as he stretched his legs out in front of him.
"Find my- what?" Harley turned towards the other man, who was surveying the people mingling outside in the backyard.
"Oh yeah, Axel's got that shit tracking you. Might want to turn it off," he grinned, nodding subtly to the Kendrick Lamar song playing in the background.
"He's tracking me?" Harley exclaimed, straightening up as his blood boiled in unbridled rage. "Are you shitting me right now?"
"I am not, my friend. He doesn't know where you are yet, give me your phone before he does," Daniel reached out his hand, wiggling his fingers playfully as Harley dumped the iPhone in his palm as though it was on fire. "Big brother is Big Brother, huh?" he snorted, whilst tapping at the screen.
"Thanks," Harley rolled his eyes after Daniel handed him back the phone, throwing it down next to him in distaste. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with him."
"You're his little bro," Daniel shrugged. "You're not used to the Southside, and he's just worried."
"He used to be like that when I was younger, so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, but it's been years. I'm not fifteen anymore. I just thought he would change now that I'm an adult. Suppose that was rather naïve of me," Harley sighed, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand, taking another sip of his drink.
"Axel likes to maintain control over everything and everyone. I'm sure you know it only means he cares deeply for you, regardless of how irritating it is, and how much he can be an ass while doing it. You're family though, we've got your back," Daniel smacked Harley's back harshly, causing him to choke slightly.
"Yeah, well, I don't think Lucas has my back," he spat bitterly, spinning the plastic cup between his fingers in thought. Harley really didn't want to sound like a brat for bringing up that drama again, but he was genuinely intrigued over Daniel's perspective regarding the situation. He seemed to be the social butterfly that was the glue holding a lot of them together, and appeared to have a hand in many of the relationship dynamics within the house.
"I think Lucas has your back more than you realize," Daniel smirked, winking at Harley before looking away in a gaudy theatrical way.
"Well, do tell."
"Think of it this way, Axel may be the leader, the face of our little operation, but Lucas is in charge of the system. He's the one that keeps us afloat, the only reason we have enough money to provide for everyone, and no one plays rich people gambling better than him," Daniel paused with his hands in mid air after his wild explanation, taking in Harley's glazed over expression. "Stocks. Lucas is in charge of our stocks."
"Wait- you guys have stock? Aren't you like- don't you sell weed?" Harley's jaw was practically on the floor.
"Well, yeah, but some of us have jobs. I, for one, have a job, but we make even more money with the stocks. Lucas has it all down, we have liquid stocks to use for expenses, and some inaccessible stocks that are more aggressive."
Lucas was. . .
Harley's eyes widened as his breath stuck in his throat,
Lucas was a fucking mastermind.
"Anyways, that's besides the point. The point is, Lucas has a finely tuned system, and you are a blip, an error, a nuisance-"
"Okay! Got it!" Harley interrupted Daniel, who had a sly grin on his face.
"You have caused some stress on Lucas' perfect system, and that annoys him. Simple as that. He doesn't hate you, just hates what your existence means for the house."
"Wow, yeah, alright. I feel a lot better now," Harley huffed sarcastically.
"Glad I could help!" Daniel nodded with a big grin, completely oblivious to Harley's tone.
"So, how does that relate to Lucas having my back? You just. . . explained why he hates me."
"Oh! Right. Well, he was the one who told me you were here. He said to make sure you got home."
Harley's eyebrows furrowed, and he shook his head in confusion. "He did? That doesn't make much sense either though, no one saw me leave. . . I think?"
"I don't know what you did, but he just said he had a feeling you were going to be sneaking out, and Axel had shared your location with him when he got the phone. I'm guessing in case you were in trouble and Axel couldn't get to you, he does trust Lucas more than anyone else, after all. He told me before he left for the Farafelli deal, and I came right here."
Harley was staring at his converse planted in the grass, wracking his brain for any interaction with Lucas that could have led him to believe he would sneak out. That's when it dawned on him, and he snapped his head up, staring at Daniel with wide eyes.
"Earlier that evening, I got into a fight with Axel. He told me I couldn't go to the party, and I said I wouldn't, but I already decided I was going whether he wanted me to or not. Lucas was right next to him."
"Yeah, he saw right through that. He didn't seem to have any doubt that's what you would do. Maybe he saw a little of himself in you, and knew that's what he would do. You all are very stubborn, it gets in the way of valuable communication far too often. It's quite annoying," Daniel mumbled, tapping his fingers against the wooden deck.
"One more question," Harley breathed, lowering his voice as his nerves started to get the better of him. He wasn't sure if this question was crossing some kind of boundary he wasn't aware of, but not knowing was killing him. Daniel simply nodded for him to continue, his full attention on Harley.
"What's going on between my brother and Lucas? Are they friends? They seem close, but also like they hate each other?"
Daniel threw his head back, letting out a hearty laugh. "Ah, yeah, that. It's quite sad really, I shouldn't laugh. Lucas is in love with your brother."
~
So that happened, and now we have a little more insight. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out. See you in the next chapter!