I'll hate you better Chapter 2
Not long after settling to the house, Arthur had fallen asleep on the bed with his clothes on. When the morning came, he woke up and sat on his bed, thinking about what to do.
First, I could change my clothes. He turned to look out of the window. The weather's quite nice. I could go outside exploring. Maybe I'll meet someone of my age.
He decided to wear light shorts and a t-shirt. Parents were somewhere, Alistair was still sleeping. Arthur thought of eating breakfast, but the shelves were empty and Arthur concluded that his parents were out buying food. When he stepped outside with his worn out sandals, he took a breath and started walking towards the beach.
The sky was clear and just a few clouds hovered there with birds flying somewhere far away. As Arthur stepped on the warm sand, there were just a few people enjoying the sun. He sat somewhere in the middle and listened as the waves calmly swept the shore, swept the shore, swept the shore…
And then he saw something. Or more like someone, who was looking at him, as horrified as he was. They stared at each other in shock.
"Alfred? How come you're here too?" he wavered. Silently his shock turned to resentment. Why was he here, just when Arthur thought that this vacation wouldn't be all that bad? He was wrong. The vacation would be the worst, because if this was the place Alfred bragged about, he would be stuck with Alfred the whole summer. Also Alfred's expression had gone sour. He was probably thinking the same.
"You can't be serious", he huffed. "I've already checked the whole area, and you're the only one who's the same age…"
"Oh no. Please be kidding", Arthur pleaded, but it was no use.
"I'm so not going to hang out with you, even if this place was a deserted island. You suck ass", Alfred kindly informed.
"Well, all I can say is that the feeling is mutual. I hope you have a shitty summer, prick", Arthur said as gentlemanly as he could and then turned his back at Alfred and walked back to his house.
His parents had already come back and they smiled gently at Arthur, who surly slammed the poor front door as he came in.
"What happened, dear? You look tense", his mother noted.
"Just guess. Alfred fucking Jones is going to spend his vacation here, and there are no other teens around. This summer's going to be a big bummer", Arthur responded, trying to behave in front of his parents and not kick that chair down.
"Don't use such crude language, Artie-boy. I know that you and Alfred dislike each other, but try to get along, all right? Maybe the thing that started your fighting was some misunderstanding between you two. I think that you could become good friends if you didn't have the need to rip each other's hair off", she commented calmly.
"I wouldn't be friendly to him, not even for thousand golden coins. Okay, maybe if I could mix morphine into his coffee in the meantime", he laughed to himself.
"Arthur!" she snapped. Alistair came down the stairs.
"Are you planning to murder someone with Agatha Christie style? You read too much books. You should party more", the red-head smirked.
"Really? Well, I've got nothing else to do…" there was hopefulness in Arthur's voice. He could brag about it to Alfred, show how much cooler he was.
"No, of course", glared their mother.
"I wouldn't take you. You're still and forever a brat", Alistair replied.
"This will be the worst vacation ever…" muttered Arthur as he retreated to his room.
.
As Alfred watched Arthur leave, he felt his annoyance growl inside him. But when the other boy was gone from his sight, he wondered what to do next.
And Alfred had absolutely nothing to do.
Sure, he could go swimming, but it was boring alone. Nothing else he could think of at the moment. Then he thought of Arthur…
It would do. He grinned to himself, oh yes. He could annoy him, it would be fun, and Alfred doubted that the other had anything to do. But how could I reach him?
And so he started wandering in the neighbourhood in hopes of finding where Arthur and his family lived. He checked every hut nearby, and when he reached the house next to his, he looked inside from the window as he did with the previous ones and he saw Arthur's red-haired brother there, Alistair.
This must be the right one! he thought as he went to the door and knocked. It was Alistair who opened the door, asking: "Hello- Wait, aren't you Arthur's playmate? Fred, was it?" Alfred nodded eagerly.
"Alfred, but it's not that strict. He isn't busy, is he?" he had to be polite because even if they were aware about their quarrels, Arthur's family was not part of it.
"That lazy squirt's never busy. If you want to play with him, I'll call him here", Alistair was turning to shout for his brother, but before he could, Alfred said: "No, I want to surprise him, if that's all right."
"Go for it, Freddy. That boy needs to be separated from his books for once", he laughed and tapped Alfred on his back and let him in.
Alfred walked inside the house, but stopped in his tracks when he noticed that he had no idea where Arthur's room was. Again, he turned to Alistair, who then said: "Ah, yes, it's the first room on the upper floor when you turn left from the stairs." Alfred nodded and went up the stairs and stopped right in front of Arthur's room door. Apparently he was listening to music, but not very loud.
He had to think of what to say. He couldn't just go in and say something lame. Or maybe he could. He had to be creative.
"Hey Arty-Party, wouldn't you listen for real music for once?" Alfred teased as he stepped in the room.
"What the hell Alfred, what are you doing here? Get out!" the other shouted, surprised of Alfred invading his home. "How did you even get here?"
"Your brother let me in. So, are we going to listen to good music or not?" he walked to Arthur's computer and took a look at the screen. The Cure, huh. Never heard of it.
"Wait, what are you doing with my computer? Don't touch it!" But it was too late. Alfred already changed the music to his tastes, it being the top hit list of the year.
"Why did you come here? To annoy me even more? Go away!" Arthur ranted as he put his book safely on the nightstand.
"Don't be such a shrew. Have a little pity for the bored", Alfred smiled.
"Don't you have anything else to do? What about that fancy cabriolet, where is it?"
"Uh…" he really didn't have a car, he had just wanted to show off. It wasn't wrong, because Alfred believed 100% that Arthur did not own a motor boat.
"I should've known. Shouldn't you be getting that girl you talked of?" Arthur rolled his eyes. Why was teasing the Brit the only action Alfred could think of?
"You must be getting dementia at young age, dear sir. I said that nobody here is our age. It wouldn't be cool to have a 20-year-old girlfriend, you know", Alfred explained.
"I guess I have no choice then, I'm also quite bored so I'll humour you. What do you want to do?" Arthur exhaled in surrender.
"You misunderstood me. There's no way I'd want to hang out with you, I just want to annoy", the other declared as he sat on the bed next to the Brit.
"Then why are you still here? Didn't you already get what you wanted?" oddly enough, Arthur didn't want for Alfred to leave yet. He didn't want to read all day.
"Well…" he couldn't think of a good response, since he did want to stay.
"Whatever. I want to go watching the lake. If you are so bored, you can come with me."
"Do you mean swimming?" Alfred beamed.
"If you absolutely want to…"
"Then, you wait me in front of your house, I'll go get my swimming trunks, okay?" But it wasn't a question; soon they both were walking towards the beach, maybe bickering a little along the way, but at least having someone to go with. Arthur had taken some food with him, sandwiches and water, as his mother wouldn't let the boys get hungry.
As they arrived to the dock, Alfred quickly looked at Arthur and said: "Aren't you going to swim?"
"I'm not. I'll just listen to the waves and maybe wet my feet."
"That's boring. You're boring."
"I don't care", Arthur said with a truly uncaring expression on his face as he sat down on the wooden planks and took out a book that he had put in the bag with the food. Alfred answered by a simple humph and started taking his clothes off.
Not too long after that came a big splash that told Arthur that the American had gone swimming.
When Arthur grew tired of reading, he put the book back in the bag and took his shoes off and tried the water with his feet. It was refreshing, not exactly warm, but the water felt good. He would have gone with Alfred, if he knew how to swim.
Splashing his feet in the water, he summoned Alfred back to the dock.
"That was fun. Really, why don't you go, Arthurina?" Alfred breathed as he climbed on the dock.
Arthur ignored the question and splashed water on Alfred.
"It's your loss, then", he muttered as he sat next to the boy. Knowing that Arthur's mother had prepared them sandwiches, he took one of them and unwrapped the soft paper protecting it from going bad and started eating. They sat in silence and were surprisingly comfortable, since they didn't bother being polite.
Arthur lay down and closed his eyes, enjoying the sunlight. He heard as Alfred cleared his throat as he had just eaten the sandwich and drunk some of the water. "I'm going swimming again", he announced.
"Off you go then. I'll be here", Arthur said and changed his side as Alfred jumped back to the water.
He didn't notice when he drifted asleep. But he was awakened when strong hands took a hold of him and he was mid-air when he managed to open his eyes.
"Alfred! You fuckface!" Arthur shouted as he floundered in the lake splashing the water haplessly and heard as the American laughed in the background. He would insult the bastard even if they were to be his last words.
It was hard, but somehow he succeeded to get back on the deck, wet and angry.
"You should've seen your face! Oh my God, I can't take it anymore!" Alfred laughed so much that he had tears in his eyes.
"I almost drowned! If I had, whose fault would it have been? Huh?" Arthur threatened with a murderous expression on his face.
"But you got back to the dock, didn't you? Don't be so serious!" the boy next to him smiled as he rubbed the tears of amusement from his eyes. But that didn't lessen the anger of the Brit.
"I'd say it's quite serious because I could've died. Not everyone can swim", he fumed. Alfred stopped smiling.
"You can't swim?" he stared at Arthur who had to turn his gaze elsewhere for his cheeks were turning red because of the shame.
"Didn't I say it already?" Arthur said quietly, as in submission.
"That's so lame! The great and powerful Arthurette can't swim!" Alfred started laughing loudly again and Arthur whacked him with his book. When the other couldn't stop laughing, Arthur had had enough and started walking fast back to his house, leaving his neighbour on the dock.
Alfred instead, didn't quite understand why the other boy was so in rage. When he was done sniggering, he noticed that Arthur had forgotten to take his bag. It still had Arthur's sandwich in it, which he hadn't touched. Deciding that it shouldn't be left like that, Alfred ate it.
Since the bag was Arthur's, it was his own responsibility to fetch it from the dock, and therefore Alfred didn't bother taking it with him and bringing it back to its owner no matter how close he lived.
Author: Thank you for reading!
They are very mean to each other. It hurts my heart but at the same time I love it.