Author's Note: To Cheyenne, my first review of this story! Yay! I'm sending you good vibes! And I'm sending them to you, Mrs Bass-Malfoy and Jessica and JoyMichelle, yes, I will be doing more nasty stuff to Aaron and Kira (Insert evil Chortle here ;)
The party got rowdier and rowdier until Caleb took the initiative to leave, just as news of the cops got to them, and the boys followed suit. They'd jumped off the cliff to get down here, but Tyler had helped set up so his car was parked nearby. Pogue wasn't up to riding his bike, and Tyler was totally hammered. Sarah had gone with Caleb back to his place, and Lilah had no ride. Reid still couldn't believe a girl like her could drink so much and not show it—except for getting a bit giggly and relaxing more. She'd out-drunk Pogue, which in itself was amazing, and once she'd started dancing, that was it, they couldn't get her to stop. Not that Reid had wanted her to stop dancing—because she liked dancing with him the most. At least, that's what it felt like when she grinned over her shoulder and grinded her hips harder against him.
The sirens echoed in the dells and the party broke up. Everyone else was slower than last year, because last year they hadn't been given the opportunity to drink anything. He grabbed Lilah's hand and they stumbled up the sandbank, Pogue supporting Tyler as they ran behind. He focused, his eyes flashed, and the doors of Tyler's black Hummer unlocked.
"Get in," he grinned breathlessly, and Lilah jumped into the car and scooted over, while the guys took the back seat. He could still walk straight, 'cause he hadn't been drinking much because he was so ensconced in dancing with Lilah, so he was driving. Tyler managed to get his keys out and Reid tore out of the glade quicker than anything. Lilah cranked the stereo up; the music covered the ringing in his ears left from the party. He glanced at Lilah, who sat beside him in the passenger seat; she shot him a smile and nodded her head to the music, rolling her window down.
"Do you do this every Saturday night?" she asked, laughing, as Reid made the Hummer careen dangerously on the right-hand wheels around several trees, carving his own path through the underbrush. It was their first weekend back at Spenser; they'd moved all their stuff into the dorms and were 'getting to know the school'. Their fourth year, all they knew now was how to get away from the beach quicker than the cops.
"Reid! Reid, stop the car!" Pogue shouted, and glancing in his rear-view mirror he saw why he was yelling over the music. Tyler was green. Before he'd even pulled over and stopped, Tyler had unbuckled his seatbelt and was stumbling to the cover of the trees. They all heard him retching.
"Man, he does this every time," Pogue shook his head, frowning out of the tinted window. It was always Tyler; he was the lightweight, their 'baby boy'.
"Poor baby," Reid laughed deeply, his eyes sliding closed as he rested against the head-restraint. They waited for a few minutes for Tyler to come back. Frowning, Reid wondered what was taking him so long. Reid was of the type who could drink whatever he wanted, pass out on his bed and wake up without hint of a hangover, usually with a girl (or two) beside him with no memory as to how they got there. He'd never had a hangover in his life, though he pretended just so he didn't rub it in the boys' faces when they felt like shit. Well, most of the time. They all watched the shadows, Reid getting more nervous.
"I'll go and see if he's okay," Lilah said softly, unbuckling her belt and slipping down to the mossy floor, following Pogue's path through the ferns. If she hadn't been there, he and Pogue would have just sat and waited for Tyler to come back. She's got the maternal instinct…She's got the equipment for it. Go with her, his little Jiminy encouraged, but Reid sat rooted to the seat as he watched the hips swinging tantalisingly.
"Black, g-string," Reid guessed with determination, holding up a twenty, staring after her. Pogue smirked. He shook his head, focusing on Lilah's ass. If nothing else could, betting on a girl's underwear and somehow manipulating their Power to see the truthful answer could pick Pogue out of his rut. Something like jealousy sparked in Reid's stomach. Reid knew well what jealous was. Caleb had his thoughtfulness, Pogue had his good-looks, Tyler had his bashfulness, and he had his jealousy.
"Pink cotton," Pogue said decisively, showing a twenty-dollar bill. Several minutes passed, and Reid was getting agitated, when Lilah's call echoed in the still woods.
"He's passed out." She came out of the woods with one of Tyler's arms draped over her shoulders, struggling to almost carry him back to the car. Grinning with triumph, Reid was first out of the car to chivalrously help Lilah—and Tyler, of course, and together they lifted Tyler into the Hummer. As she bent over, to buckle him in, her shirt rode up and her jeans were falling down one hip, revealing a tiny black string and a small diamond embellishment. Pogue saw it too and bit his lip, closing his eyes, relishing the sight.
Reid had never won that game before.
"Man, he's out of it," Pogue said softly, laughing abruptly as Tyler's head lolled. He slapped the twenty-dollar bill into Reid's palm as he shut the door, and Lilah turned the music down. They'd been sitting in silence too long now to appreciate the thrum against their tenderised eardrums.
Somehow, they managed to get Tyler back to campus without him puking again in the car, and Lilah offered to help Tyler up to their room.
"Does he have a roommate? He shouldn't be on his own if he's like this," Lilah said sensibly. Yeah, Reid didn't want the guy choking on his own puke, but he didn't exactly want to clean it up himself either. He'd done that enough for Tyler.
"He shares with me," Reid said quietly, as they crept down the dark, silent hallways, trying not to make too much noise as they stumbled and giggled, trying to carry Tyler. It was always good to avoid the house-parents who lived on the first floor. They tended to make a bit of a scene if one of the kids turned up plastered. So they never knew the exact number of students who were drinking and doing drugs. Reid didn't do drugs, and he appeared to be drunk even when he wasn't; he got high on life, even though the guys sometimes thought he was surly and a pain in the ass.
"He's going to regret this in the morning," Lilah sighed, as she took Reid's door-key and unlocked their dorm.
"I think he was tryin' to keep up with you," Reid smirked, as Lilah felt around the wall inside and flicked the lights on. "Where'd you learn to hold your drink like that?"
"Well, that stuff at the party was ninety-percent water and ten-percent beer," Lilah smiled softly. "I'm used to drinking stronger stuff. Oh, this is more like it," Lilah sighed, her brilliant eyes roving over their room. They'd been moved in one day and already the room had been overturned into their usual organised chaos. "Sarah's really neat. It's almost obsessive-compulsive…Um…so where does he sleep?" They carried him to the bed Tyler had slept in since they were fourteen, freshmen at Spenser.
Lilah whispered in Tyler's ear, stripping his sweatshirt and t-shirts off with only a few grumbles of annoyance from almost-unconscious Tyler. Bastard, Reid thought, shooting unconscious Tyler a glower as jealousy flared in his stomach, watching her take care of him. He watched her tug his boots and socks off and gently tuck the quilt over him, smoothing the light brunette hair away from his forehead and gently kissing it. Reid retrieved a bucket from under Tyler's bed and set it beside his bedside-cabinet, ready.
"Er…Reid, could you walk me to my room?" Lilah asked quietly. Reid raised his eyebrows and smirked gently. Well, if that ain't an open invitation, he thought. But he noticed she was playing with the ring above her knuckle on her middle finger nervously.
"Not scared of the dark, are you?" he asked teasingly, but he gestured her grandly out of the dorm.
"Not the dark, so much as the feeling of being watched and fearing hands will grab through the banister of the stairs and grab my leg and pull me down to a gory end," Lilah said, and her eyes were so wide and earnest he couldn't suppress a tiny laugh.
"Come on, I'll walk you," he smiled. He grinned, slipped and arm around her shoulders protectively and they walked down the corridor, up the stairs, and went a quarter of the way down the hallway before Lilah stopped.
"This is my room," she smiled. Sarah still had the same dorm. They all did. "I suppose Sarah isn't back yet." The frosted windows above the panelling were dark.
"I doubt she'll be back tonight," Reid said, glancing at Lilah to see if she picked up. She rolled her eyes amusedly.
"Ah."
"You want me to check under your bed for monsters?" Reid asked teasingly, smirking, and giggling when she swiped at him playfully. God, I just giggled, Reid thought, with an internal sigh.
"Goodnight, Reid," she smiled, cocking her head to one side so her thick black waves fell across her cheek. He reached over and gently brushed her hair behind her ear, feeling the chill metal of her piercings against his skin. She hitched one corner of her mouth in a sweet smile and a dimple winked in the corner, like a kiss. He smiled and walked off backwards, checking her out as she cocked her head again, watching him with that all-too-knowing smirk.
The girl was hot.
He strutted back to his room, grinning, but he quietened as he neared his dorm, afraid he'd wake Tyler. But Tyler's snores already filled the room; he was out-cold.
"Fucking lightweight," he sighed heavily, laughing softly as he undressed and pulled on plaid pyjama bottoms, making sure his alarm wouldn't accidentally go off at five a.m. Not that he'd actually turned the alarm-function of his cellphone on since he'd got the phone! He tossed it back onto his bedside cabinet and grabbed a pillow, glancing over at Tyler. That boy totally slept like a dead person.
"What do you want? Eggs, bacon, waffles?" Reid smirked. Tyler shuddered visibly, keeping his mouth clamped shut.
"Don't even mention food," he murmured darkly. "If I even look at food, I'm going to puke."
"So," Reid said lightly. "Were you trying to impress her by puking? I don't think it worked." Reid was in one of his gloating moods, and was milking his lack of hangover for all it was worth, especially where Lilah was concerned.
"Reid, go eat your breakfast," Tyler mumbled, resting his head tenderly against his hands.
"You mean my buttery buckwheat pancakes and bacon?" Reid smirked, waving his plate under Tyler's nose. He loved taunting Tyler when he was hung-over, because he always puked.
"I'm serious—when I can, I will grind you to a pulp," Tyler managed to pull of a semi-threatening growl as he pawed at his face with his sweatshirt sleeves like a sleepy little kitten. "Fuck off."
"Okay, okay," Reid sighed, raising his palms defensively. "Maybe when I come back up I'll bring you something to eat. Maybe a sausage or two so you can bite down on one of those little hard chunks. And…maybe a poached egg slightly undercooked, with that white runny stuff that you can never quite keep on the spoon." Tyler went white and bolted to their little bathroom area. Reid laughed loudly and went to the kitchen, pulling out a frying pan and scrambling himself some eggs and frying some bacon. The cool thing about being in the upper-classmen dorms was they got their own kitchen, and didn't have to rely on the dining-hall staff to feed them at ungodly hours at the weekend: unfortunately, dorm-assignments being what they were, he and Tyler were forced to share with Aaron and a bunch of other guys. He finished his plate, washed his dishes went back to his room upstairs, finding his friend freshly-showered and getting dressed for the day.
"What're we doin' today?" he asked.
"I dunno. Wanna go ask Sarah what Caleb and Pogue are up to?" he asked nonchalantly. Tyler smirked as he tugged his khaki jacket on over a sweatshirt. Reid grabbed his keys and wallet and shoved it in his pocket, tugging on his black zipper hoodie. Grey storm clouds were rolling in from the beach. Reid strode off down the hall, trailed by Tyler, up to Lilah's dorm. He knocked on the door and opened it, stopping still and staring.
Lilah stood with her back to them, stark-naked, her wet black hair twisted over her right shoulder, her clothes spread out on a chocolate-brown duvet. There was a tattoo scrolling over the nape of her neck—Peace, written in beautiful, looping cursive. She glanced over her left shoulder, and the twist of her torso showed Reid a flash of her breast, but that, coupled with the view of her very fine ass—which Pogue would greatly appreciate—was more than enough to make him react.
"Oh my god," Reid moaned softly. Sarah yelled at them loudly from somewhere for them to get out.
"SORRY!" Tyler yelped, snatching at the door, and promptly snapping it shut on Reid's nose.
"Ow!" He stumbled backwards and clutched his nose. He wouldn't be able to get that image out of his head for days now. He and Tyler exchanged a look; he bit his knuckles, and Tyler smacked him round the back of the head. "OW! What the hell, man!"
"Don't be such a pig!" Tyler scolded, but Reid could hear laughter from inside the room.
"You can come in," Lilah called, laughingly, and Tyler had to hold Reid back from flying into the room.
"I just want to see her tattoo again," Reid pouted softly, but Tyler gave him a look and they waited a few seconds before entering the bedroom. There must be something in the water in this room, Reid thought wistfully. Each girl who had lived in room 245 was hot, and the pattern so far had been that they dated a Son of Ipswich.
"Hey, Sarah. Sorry Lilah," Tyler apologised, over the whir of the hair-dryer as Lilah blow-dried her hair in front of the mirror in their little bathroom area. He perched on the edge of Sarah's desk, but Reid went and jumped on Lilah's vacated bed.
"That's alright," Lilah laughed softly, waving an airy hand.
"We were gonna head over to the mall to pick up some things for our room; wanna come?" Sarah asked. "I know your TV is broken." She gave Reid a significant look; he folded his arms defensively over his chest and looked away, at Lilah.
"Sure," he agreed, and Tyler nodded mutely.
"Pogue phoned me a while ago. He and Caleb want to meet up at TGI Friday's at around seven," Sarah said. "Are you both coming?" Pogue had called Reid several times before he'd been conscious enough to pick up.
"Yeah, I'll give you a ride back later if you want," Reid offered. He could watch Lilah from here as she flicked a brush through her hair, wrinkled her nose and tied it up into a lazy bun high on her head, tendrils escaping and framing her lovely oval face, creating wispy curls at the nape of her neck.
"How are you feeling, Tyler?" she asked, glancing at him in the mirror, and laughed softly. "You look like you've been reincarnated as a rag." Reid and Sarah both laughed as Tyler blushed.
Reid examined the things on Lilah's bedside cabinet and the chair on the other side of her bed. A huge black DVD case on the chair with her silver Apple laptop, a little silver LG enV that looked brand-new, a burgundy passport, a leopard-print coin-purse, and on her bedside cabinet, a thin book—The Outsiders—and a black and white photograph of a stunning woman with long black curling hair, dressed in a beautiful white dress, her head thrown back, Lilah's smile lighting up her face, as she swung on a tree-swing.
"Who's this?" Reid asked interestedly, staring at the picture. She looked so like Lilah it was incredible.
"Hm? Oh, that, that is my mother," Lilah said softly, going through a suitcase.
"She's beautiful," Reid breathed, setting the picture back on the cabinet where he'd found it. "She looks a lot like you." Tyler pretended to retch and smirked; Sarah smiled knowingly in the mirror. Lilah gave him the most beautiful smile. She'd thrown on a short, dark denim mini-skirt that clung to her hips and ass and a soft teal flannel short-sleeved shirt, a few buttons undone to show a bit of cleavage.
"What was her name?" Reid asked. Lilah had mentioned last night that her father had sent her to Spenser, and her mother had gone to school there too.
"Pearl Parry," Lilah said tenderly. She glanced at Reid again, as Reid's eyebrows shot up. She was related to Pogue! "My grandfather was the younger brother of Pogue's. He married an English Lady, and they had my mother. My father's really ill, and he wanted to know someone would look after me when…if he dies soon." Tyler caught Reid's eye: So she was descendent of an Ipswich family, if only a little bit. Power was only given to the eldest male, but it could be passed on through genetics. Caleb was a direct descendent; every male in his direct lineage had the Power: Reid's power was weaker because he was a son of a son of a second-son, who got the power when his elder brother died early. Sarah arched an eyebrow at him, inquisitive, no doubt thinking along the same lines as her. Lilah was technically a Daughter of Ipswich.
"What about your mom?" Tyler asked, glancing at the photograph.
"She died here in Ipswich when I was a baby," Lilah said softly, glancing at the photograph as well.
"I'm sorry," Reid said softly, and he meant it.
"You don't have to be," Lilah said quickly, glancing right into his eyes.
"Hey, The Outsiders," Tyler smiled as he picked up the book. "This is my favourite book."
"Mine too," Lilah smiled warily. "I like the movie, too."
"I didn't know you could read, Tyler," Reid said thoughtfully, glancing at Lilah's reaction. She smirked as she stuffed a thick wad of cash into her bra. She unlocked the dorm behind her, leaving a note to Sarah tucked between the door and frame, and they squealed out of the student parking-lot in Tyler's Hummer. White Zombie issued from the monster speaker-system. Like last night, she nodded her head to the music, though he hated how Tyler was driving and she was sitting up front with him while Sarah sat in the back with him.
A.N.: In an effort to make this novelesque in length, I'm trying to write this fic as real-to-life as it can get, so real conversations and stuff, so it might unfold slowly. Anyway, thank you for reviewing, and please tell me what you think of this chap.