AN: I have updated the final three chapters of the story, and as of now, Infamous is finished. These three chapters have been updated together because they only work when you read them together. That being said, please enjoy. And also, there's a long author's note at the end, so please read because it's really important. Thanks!
Can I Get A Moment of Silence, Please?
If any of the residents had looked out their bedroom window, they would've been met with a strange sight. Teenagers traveling by fours and fives per car, streaking past the houses one by one in this suburban neighborhood.
As it was, everybody who was anybody was getting high at the time, and those who weren't knew better than to say anything about it.
Even when the music from the Lewallen Estate became almost unbearably loud, no neighbors came knocking on the door, complaining that it was midnight and that the rest of the general public would like to get some sleep. Whether this was because nobody heard them on the acres of Lewallen land or because nobody wanted to infuriate any member of the family remained a mystery.
All Ryder knew as he sat down in his little corner in the foyer was that he had messed up everything. Again.
He didn't mean to kiss her, but all he could think about at that moment was how Chase van Buren had shown him more support in two days than his other friends in Jade's circle. And it had been a long time since somebody had cared. Duke and West were his buddies, but he couldn't bloody well cry on their shoulders and expect them to understand. They would've asked him if he was okay, and based on his answer, his problems would either be forgotten or he would have been deemed a sissy.
But now, it seemed like he had ruined it all. Her disgust with him had been obvious when she'd refused his offer to wait for her. Maybe he should've pressed his offer, but at that time, all he'd wanted to do was get away from having to look at those accusing eyes.
He should count himself lucky if she'd even want to be friends after this. After all, hadn't she already made it painfully clear that she didn't like him that way? And now, she must think that he was pretending to be friends in order to reap the benefits, or something.
Well, when she came back, he would make sure to make it clear that he was willing to just be friends too. Then, hopefully, they could forget all about this and continue on the road; this tiny bump would never have be spoken of again until years later, when they would be able to laugh about it again.
"Hey, Ryder," a girl purred, slithering over to his tiny corner, beer in hand. She had already rid herself of her cardigan and dress, thanks to the game of strip poker happening over in the living room.
"Hey," he replied, because it would be rude to ask her to please leave him alone. "Do I know you?"
The girl frowned at his question and looked like Ryder had just served her a personal offense. "Don't you remember? We hooked up in the coat closet at Christian Marino's house, like, three months ago," she huffed angrily.
Ryder tilted his head to look at her from a different angle. "Isabel, is that you?" he asked, taking a wild shot. He'd remembered making out with someone named Isabel before in Christian Marino's closet. He also remembered that he'd hooked up with three others, so he figured it was a twenty-five percent chance kind of thing.
To his embarrassment, the girl's face colored with hurt at his words. "I'm not Isabel. I'm Lauren. You really don't remember."
"Of course I do. It's the beer talking," He assured her. "Now, did you need something?"
"Sure I do. You want to go find someplace private?" She raised her eyebrows suggestively, something that only made her eyebrows look comical on her thin face.
"No, I don't," Ryder said with disgust and pushed her away to stand up, leaving her in his little corner. How he had ever managed to get past looking at her face for five minutes straight was a mystery to him.
He really had to stop these escapades.
Knowing that he probably wouldn't find peace anywhere to think, he made his way up the stairs, to the only place where he knew he'd find privacy: Jade's room. She wouldn't be happy with him, but he was tired of always asking for her approval on things. Besides, her room was immaculately clean, which meant he could stop around without fear of slipping in vomit.
When he got there, the door was locked, of course, but he'd expected that. After all, Jade's room was her sanctuary, the place where she developed all her evil ideas. Plus, he doubted that someone like Jade would just leave her doors open for anyone.
Luckily for him, that day that he and Arielle had been snooping around, he'd seen Arielle open the door with a key that was hidden on top of the door frame.
Reaching up for the golden thing, he inserted it in, jiggled the lock until it hit the right spot, and twisted the knob. And just like that, he was in.
Ryder carefully tread into the room, just in case Jade was in her room. He didn't want to end up with his head chewed off in case she found him. Then, locking the door again, he let out a sigh of relief when he realized just how peaceful it was in here, compared to downstairs.
He walked around, peering in the closet, the bathroom, and the balcony, just to make sure that he was truly alone. When he was sure, he settled down comfortably in the middle of the room.
Peace at last.
Then, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Jade's computer was moving. Or rather, something on it was moving.
He quickly rounded on Jade's PC, and stared stupidly at the screen for a minute before realizing just exactly what he was seeing.
It was a video recorder. Or actually, it was a bunch of video recorders, with options at the side to pick from a certain room.
Jade must've been able to keep track of everything this whole time. With this thing on her desk, he was privy to Arielle's bedroom, the front lawn, the pool room, and home exercise gym, the built-in movie theatre, and every other place in the house he could think of, with the exception of the bathrooms.
It was all here.
Fascination peaked, Ryder slowly lowered himself down onto the seat and began watching.