"What if Destiny was wrong? What if the invitation was in Willoughby's car? Or her purse?"
Eden squinted slightly in the sunlight, her body squished in the middle of both Roman and Peter as they sat in Roman's cherry red car. They were outside of the Willoughby's house, waiting for the rest of the family to leave.
While the two boys took the front seats, Eden was leaning forwards enough to be in between them. Not like they minded. Both of them enjoyed the soft scent that the O'Malley female gave off.
"What if the moon hits her eye?" Peter replied calmly, lifting a hand in a slightly dismissive manner.
At this, Roman sighs, before looking back at Peter. "What if it was an E-Vite?"
Peter snorted a soft laugh, "Then the Order of the Dragon will have to find a new adventure."
"Suck a bag of dicks," Roman snapped, temper flaring. "I never called us the Order of the Dragon."
Eden stifled a laugh in the backseat, getting a fond glance from Peter as they both shook their heads at the faint blush that was forming onto Roman's cheeks. Even though his voice was hard, they both could tell that Roman wasn't actually upset.
They could never stay upset at one another for very long.
It was silent in the car for a few moments, Peter popping his gum loudly to be intentionally annoying as they all tried to find something else to comment on. Eden was braiding her hair in the back, multicolored fingers twisting at the sunburnt strands.
"What's up with this guy?" Roman asked, lifting his hand to motion towards an old man who was using his walking stick to get down the sidewalk.
"I don't know. He's just old," Eden hummed, shrugging her shoulders.
"Gross." Roman said simply, biting the inside of his cheek.
"How old's your mom anyway?" This was Peter, who had no respect for society's rules for questions not to ask someone.
"Why don't you ask her that?" Roman questioned, a small upturn in his lips.
Peter didn't say anything, and Eden couldn't blame him. Olivia Godfrey was a menace of a woman. A hail storm if Eden had to compare her to something. Every interaction with Olivia left you with bruises and head trauma with all the shots she took at you from close range.
Roman fidgeted roughly, hands slapping against the dash of his car. "What if they don't leave?"
"What if we stop beginning sentences using those words? Hmm?" Peter replied, giving Roman a patronizing look.
Peter's ring glinted in the sunlight as he lifted his hand, making Eden turn her gaze away from the golden jewelry on his pinky.
Leaning forwards, Roman snapped open his car door. "Fuck Penrose."
Eden gasped slightly when Roman stepped out of the car, moving across the street in front of the Willoughby's house. Peter was in a similar state, both of them watching as one member of their threesome walked away without them.
"My mama didn't raise no bitch." Eden stated in the air, lifting herself upwards from the back seat and sliding over the back door.
Her skirt flew upwards in the process of jumping down onto the blacktop. Not that she cared much. She and Peter were far too close to be scared off by any form of nudity. She had, after all, seen Peter's penis before.
"Eden!" Peter snapped, watching as she moved to follow Roman, before he was removing himself from the car in an attempt to follow after his two best friends. Who were both too impulsive for their own goods.
With her heeled booties clacking against the ground, Eden caught up with Roman. She linked her arm with his, a familiar gesture that he didn't even bat an eye at.
Even if Roman was still slightly cross with her after she had neglected to meet him after the gala. A feat Eden didn't really understand but wasn't curious enough to investigate further.
"Hey," Eden hissed, whispering slightly as she tried to work her legs faster to keep up with Roman's longer strides. "I thought we were going to wait until they left?"
"Sometimes we have to live life a little bit on the wild side," Roman replied, jerking his head to the side slightly to give her one of his famous smirks.
Rolling her eyes, Eden watched as Peter finally caught up with them on the side of Lisa Willoughby's house. A side-door greeted them, and Roman didn't waste a moment before knocking loudly.
"You assholes. What the fuck?" Peter snapped, advancing on both of them.
An older man answered the door. His glasses were clean-cut, giving his face a more angular appearance. His grey sweater-vest looked like it was a pure-blend, and matched his leather shoes. Eden rolled her eyes at the outfit, disgusted by the lack of patterns and color.
"Can I help you?" He asked, voice reminding Eden of a smoker.
"Mr. Willoughby, we're here about Lisa." Roman greeted bluntly.
Shaking his head, Mr. Willoughby sighed. "This isn't a good time."
With his voice insisting, Roman stated. "Mr. Willoughby, you're exhausted."
Eden watched as the man held Roman's gaze, eyelids twitching ever so slightly as they remained in eye-contact with one another.
"You should really take a nap." Roman suggested, voice alluring and gentle.
At once, Mr. Willoughby moved back into his house, curling down onto the tiny platform of stairs that were beside his side door. His eyelids slipped shut and Eden stared in disbelief at the older man. No matter how many times she saw Roman do that, she never truly could get used to it.
"In case you were wondering, cops call this shit breaking and entering." Peter snarked, both him and Eden stepping into the Willoughby home after Roman. Who was bending down, waving a hand in front of Mr. Willoughby's unconscious face to test his work.
"Was it ever going to be anything else?" Roman replied, turning towards their gypsy friend.
"I'm just saying that there's the right way and there's the fucked way. Don't ever do it that way again." Was Peter's proper reply, his hand closing the door behind himself.
"You're a fucked way," Roman replied petulantly, long legs leading him up the stairs.
Snorting, Peter replied back, "Yeah, whatever."
"You both are three year olds." Eden inputted fondly, climbing the stairs herself.
The three of them stepped into the white cabinet clad kitchen. Eden gasped softly, her heels clicking faintly as she studied the vintage design.
It was a simple kitchen, however, it must've cost more than Eden's entire home. She hadn't ever seen such a clean kitchen before.
Roman and Peter were watching their friend with small smiles on their faces. While Peter wasn't any better than Eden when it came to foo-foo rich people homes, he was better at disguising his awe than she was.
Eden simply didn't care. If she was awed by something, she didn't try to hide it.
Amongst her awe, Roman was wiping his nose with a napkin. Blood stained the white cloth, and Peter beat Eden to the question that was on the tip of her tongue. "Does that hurt?"
Changing his voice to an octave lower, to imitate Peter, Roman replied, "You wouldn't notice if a bus hit you."
This inspired a laugh from Peter, who was beginning to relax in the new home. "Alright, let's just do this and get out of here."
A grand staircase that wound upwards towards the second floor was Eden favorite part of the house. It was simple without being too flashy. She also liked the way her shoes sounded against the wooden steps alongside Roman's shiny dress shoes and Peter's dusty combat boots.
Despite the three different shoes, they created a common melody that was just distinctly Eden, Roman, and Peter. Eden wished that she could capture the sound and listen to it forever.
Once they finished with the staircase, Peter moved towards a white room while Roman went to look around the corner.
Eden moved forwards, walking into a purple room that reeked of preppy female. Well, preppy deceased female.
"In here." She called, hearing the two boys walk into the room behind her.
Eden pulled open a desk drawer, spotting familiar stationary things. Peter was by Lisa's bed, blue eyes ghosting over the pillows. Roman was staring at the photographs tacked to a nearby corkboard, seeming to be deep in thought.
"Find anything?" Eden asked, not directing the question to anyone in particular.
"Not yet," Peter replied back, "You?"
"Ooh," This was Roman, who had migrated towards the dresser drawers of Lisa's room. He was holding a pair of bright pink underwear, which had a cotton ball hanging on the back of them. Roman was grinning, teeth flashing. "Hippity-hop."
"Nice," Peter grinned, fingers still moving through Lisa's bedside drawer.
"You should wear these Ed's," Roman said, moving the underwear on a finger towards Eden. He was wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Giving a fake smile, Eden replied, "You first."
Roman only snorted, opening his mouth to say something when someone else was speaking for him. Someone who didn't have the voice of any of the three teenagers in the bedroom.
"Cool! Roman Godfrey in my house."
Jumping, Eden spilled some gel pens onto Lisa's desk. Peter flailed as well, the beside drawer rattling as he quickly slammed it shut. Roman, however, just continued to smell the perfumes that were by Lisa's mirror, unashamed.
Eden wanted to slap him.
The girl in the doorway was wearing a soft robin egg colored sweater and blue jeans. Her hair was dark brown, with choppy bangs hanging against her forehead. Her arms were also crossed against her chest as she took in all three of them.
"Um..." This was Peter, who was fidgeting awkwardly.
"We're looking for some mail that might have come for Lisa," Eden finished, stepping forwards slightly. She tried to place a friendly look on her face, dimples cresting into her cheeks sweetly.
The girl rose an eyebrow, "Why?"
"We think someone might have killed her," Eden replied bluntly, ignoring the way that Peter hissed her name underneath his breath in astonishment.
However, the girl only stepped forwards, looking directly at Eden. "Oh. Someone like you?"
"Touché," This was Roman, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"Shut the fuck up," Peter snapped, giving both Eden and Roman a brief side-glare.
"Are you the ones who dug up my sister?" This girl was strange, and she seemed to only get stranger as she entered more into the room. "I don't care. Like that's so much worse than what already happens to you when you die?"
Eden, Peter, and Roman shared a glance. In fact, Eden even stuck her hand outwards in Peter's direction, who snatched it and moved Eden closer to himself. Roman took the hint, moving himself towards the two of them in case the female tried something.
Like calling the cops or like revealing she was the one who had actually killed her sister; because by the un-phased look in her eye whenever she spoke about her mauled to death sister, Eden wouldn't put it past her.
The nameless girl moved towards the dresser drawer that Roman had been snooping in earlier, closing it tightly. "Mom's taking Gary to be put down."
"What?" Eden snapped, eyebrows creasing together.
"Gary," The girl said, pointing towards a black and white dog that was alongside Lisa in a picture. It was a cute dog. Eden had never had an animal to call her own before. "Mom can't handle having a dog around. And dad, he can't handle the thought of having the dog Lisa loved so much being with new owners. Seems like a bit much for a Boston Terrier, don't you think?"
"It does." This was Roman, who was seeming to get more uncomfortable by the second.
"You guys didn't look over here," The female moved across the room, slipping her hand into a side file-holder and showing it to them to reveal a black envelope in her hand. "Is this what you're looking for? I found it in Lisa's sock drawer when I was looking for leggings. I thought it was in invitation to a rave, so I begged her to take me, but she wouldn't."
When no one made to interrupt her, the girl continued. "So when I looked at her, so fucking pretty, I said I hope she ends up in a dumpster."
Roman was the first to recover, grabbing the invite. "Ok."
"I already showed it to my parents," The girl spoke, shrugging her shoulders. "They just got pissed. They'd rather believe she was killed by an animal. It's easier, I guess."
As Roman opened the invite, the words 'PARTY OF MYTHIC PROPORTIONS' was sprawled in glossy silver marker on the top. Followed by that, was the address of the party, which was titled Castle Godrey alongside the time, which was during the full moon. At the bottom were the words, 'FUN, FUN, FUN,' written in the same silver script from the front.
"Fun, fun, fun." Roman echoed underneath his breath.
"What the hell is Castle Godfrey?" Peter asked, lifting his head upwards to look at Roman.
"The mill. That's what people call the old steel mill." Roman replied, closing the invite with long fingers.
"All right, thanks. This is...this is very helpful. We should go." Peter said, tugging on Eden's hand, which caused the red-head to shove lightly at Roman, trying to get them away from the girl in the room with them as soon as possible.
"Why do you care who did this? Why are you looking for him?" The girl questioned, watching them all with inquisitive green eyes.
"Cause' when we find him, he's going to be joining Gary." Roman replied, then he winked flirtatiously. The girl flushed softly, the corners of her mouth turning upwards.
Eden shoved Roman's back once more, forcing him to walk as something hot sparked in her chest. Peter stood stunned for a few moments, but Eden tugged on his hand, spurring him back into action.
The three of them left through the side door, tip-toeing over a still unconscious Mr. Willoughby on the stairs. Eden pushed the door open, sucking in the cold air as she marched towards the cherry convertible waiting for them.
Once Roman and Peter got into the car, Peter spoke up. "I need to know that the both of you are taking this as seriously as I am."
"My name is on this," Roman hissed, flipping the invite in his hands. "This thing put my name on this."
"Your family's name," Eden clarified, trying to lesson the burden on Roman.
"This matters to me just as much as it matters to you," Roman snapped, glaring at the side of Peter's face. "But if you end up in jail, you better reconsider that hair. I'm just saying."
After Peter laughed softly, he turned towards Eden. "And you?"
Eden glanced at both Roman and Peter. "I'm the daughter of a kook. I live for these kinds of things."
Both boys snorted softly, and Eden spoke once more, leaning forwards in between them. "Let's go figure this shit out."
Roman's engine started before Eden finished speaking, and Peter's voice held a grin. "To the Godfrey Castle."