Exception

By: Aviantei

74. How to Get Revenge: Partying Hard

The first impression that Lenalee got of the party was that it was loud.

In the back of her mind, the fact that this was a Noah-centric party had made her think it might be a higher-class affair, everyone acting with a practiced manners and grace that she couldn't match up to, though Road had mentioned it wouldn't be that way. No, instead of elegant classical music, there was a dance anthem blasting through the house-wide speakers, and several dozen people were enjoying dancing to it, with more propped up against the walls in the certified cool kid lean, chatting with each other. The rooms were dim, but someone had set up long strings of fairy lights that glittered like rainbow stars, adding to the overall mystical effect.

And that was just the first room. After all, from the outside of the (frankly massive; who even needed this much space, hello?) house, it had been clear all three floors were involved in the event. There were snack and drink areas, as well as places to lounge, and there was the occasional whiff of a scent that Lenalee was pretty sure Komui would be mortified to know that she recognized as weed. It even seemed that some people had brought their own alcohol along, but there wasn't enough in circulation to make a massive disaster.

Yet, maybe? Lenalee wasn't all the way sure, but she didn't have any intention of going that far, so it was a moot point.

Now, Lenalee was a healthy young woman with access to Netflix. She knew parties could get a lot wilder than this. But it still felt good, being in a place she knew Komui would never let her go to whatsoever. As far as he was concerned, places like this were where all the bad things in the world happened, and there was no way his precious Lenalee should ever step foot in such a place, never ever! Besides, he'd never gone to such places, not even in college since he was focusing on his research the whole time, and look at him, he'd turned out great!

It occurred to Lenalee, for a moment, that since she'd been gone for a week, Komui must've been worried out of his mind.

And then Road nudged her in the side with an elbow, and Lenalee tossed that thought away. Tonight was going to be her night, and Komui could worry all he wanted! If he hadn't been so ridiculous all these years, she wouldn't be acting out, now would she? So this is just all this fault in the end!

Ah, teenage logic, you mysterious beast, you.

"Come on, let's get a move on; we're blocking the door," Road said, and Lenalee followed. As much as she wanted to feel all cool and party savvy, she didn't quite have the knowledge to pull that off, so she was kinda at Road's mercy. "I assume you don't wanna deal with it when someone inevitably spikes the punch, so I'd recommend getting some food and drink now."

"That kinda thing happens in real life, huh?" Lenalee sounded a bit mystified by it all, and Road couldn't help but be amused. Road herself had always been someone who got what she wanted, even if it involved sneaking out with Tyki while she was still in middle school and he was just a freshman. Some could even say such incidents were part of why Sheril was so…Sheril, but Road would neither confirm nor deny her involvement in such a thing. "But you're right, I don't wanna get in the way. Where to?"

"I mean, wherever you want. It's not like there are rules." Even so, Road waved for Lenalee to follow, showing her about the house and the various rooms. There was hardly any place where there wasn't a trace of the party, though Road didn't open any shut doors and Lenalee didn't ask her to. Lenalee was mostly trying to get her bearings, considering she was in very, very, very unfamiliar territory, and getting lost seemed like the stupid thing to do.

And boy was there plenty of space to get lost in. Between several rooms with refreshment tables (Lenalee swiped up some pizza and a can of Sprite, both of them seeming safe choices, while Road snatched up a couple cups of pudding to indulge herself in), some sitting rooms, a room with an intense game of pool going on, a literal pool out back (that it was probs still too cold to swim in, but they were sure doing it anyways), a couple different games of cards, and even a whole movie room that seemed to be running some foreign film without any subtitles to speak of, the evening was almost overwhelming with potential, and Lenalee was on the verge of choice paralysis.

"Um, Road, what do you normally do at parties?"

"Hm, me?" Road folded her arms behind her head, leaning against the wall of the hallway and watching the people pass by in mild interest. "It depends on the mood. If there's good desserts, I'll eat it. I like to dance, too. And if there's someone I know out and about, I'll pester them and see what they're up to." Lenalee let out a chuckle at that, and Road shrugged as best she could. "It's about doing whatever you want. If I were you, I'd give everything a little try. Get some good life experience in you." Lenalee looked thoughtful, but it wasn't the resounding approval that Road had been aiming for. "Besides, I was planning on hanging around you the entire time, anyway. Watching a little goody-two-shoes like you flounder about is gonna be amusing enough to enjoy myself with after all."

And also it meant that Lenalee wouldn't have to navigate the place alone, but like hell Road was saying that out loud.

Damn, being a good person feels gross. Remind me to never do that again.

But regardless of Road's inner griping, Lenalee was smiling, starting to look a little relaxed, so she'd take it. Things were still going to end in disaster, no doubt about that, but it would be a fun disaster, and that was about all she needed then and there.

"Hey, what do you think the chances are that that pool is heated?"

"Now you're talking. Let's go and find out."

Ivy was pretty sure she was supposed to be feeling like she didn't belong there, which was sort of true, but also sort of not. The fact that this place screamed the wealth and indulgence of a family that could afford to send their kid to MPHS sure did set her off a bit, made her aware of all the things she didn't have—after all this time, she couldn't think of places like this as a power play, though she had a lot more than she used to—and that was enough to almost make her feel out of place.

It wasn't the party, though.

No, that wasn't ever going to get to her anymore, now was it?

(When Ari had invited Ivy to go along, she'd assumed the younger girl had had a very different reason for doing so. Because, all things considered among their group, Ivy would've picked herself, too.)

"Stop gawking," Ivy hissed to Ari beside her, elbowing Ari in the side. "If you look like that, people are gonna tell we weren't invited."

"I think if they cared about stuff like that, they'd actually have someone checking invites at the door." Though her retort had come with rapid-fire precision, Ari's face did shift into something more appropriate for the situation, that being her usual giddy excitement. Sure, with her smaller stature, Ari almost looked too young to be there, but considering Road was presumably out and about, that shouldn't have been too much of an issue, so long as they didn't do anything to draw attention to themselves.

Which, again, given the level of party going on, standing out would also be a bit difficult, so that problem solved itself.

Even so, Ivy didn't want to be there very long at all, while Ari held the exact opposite opinion. "You do have a point, though," Ari continued, scanning over the room to see if there was anyone familiar in the dancing bodies. "We should get ourselves moving. Blending in will make it easier to check on Lenalee without her noticing."

"Don't tell me you were planning on spying on her the whole night." Ari had already started exploring, so Ivy had no choice but to follow her, lest they get split up, and that was just asking for even more of a disaster than usual. "I super don't mind being here just in case, but stalking a friend just seems like the complete opposite of that whole trust thing we were talking about."

"Well how do you expect to help her if something happens, then?"

Ivy scowled at the retort. "You're the one that seemed convinced she'd call us if she needed it." Ivy was pretty sure even Lenalee wouldn't be stubborn enough to maintain no contact if something went wrong—though she could admit that the whole past few weeks had been filled with Lenalee doing things no one would ever expect from her, so who knew how much that assessment was worth. Someone toting a few plates full of pizza almost ran into her, and Ivy dodged out of the way while still keeping pace with Lenalee in the hall. "Ugh, whatever, you're the one with the assumed game plan, Ari-san, so I'll just follow your lead." That couldn't end well, but at least it wouldn't end well where Ivy could see it and be likely to help.

Assuming that a Bookman had a plan in any capacity tended to be a bad idea, but Ari did have a rough general strategy in mind, that being blend in and linger in the background—or at least that would've been her plan were she a rational being of any sort. In short, she had no plan, other than finding out how Lenalee was doing and going from there, but saying anything of the sort to Ivy was just asking for a lecture, so Ari just smiled and forged forward.

Things were much more exciting this way after all!

Despite using her sharp observation skills, Ari had yet to notice any signs of Lenalee in the house, and Ivy had come up empty from Ivy's perspective, too. Of course, with a location so big, there was every chance they'd just happened to miss her. Splitting up would be much more efficient, but Ivy had made it very cool on the bus ride over that one of her conditions was staying together at all times, so that strategy was out. Having reached the top floor of the house, the only option was to work their way back down and check out the backyard pool area while they were at it, but things were already shaping up to looking like a long, long night.

"Ne, Ivy-san, I think we should—"

"Well, well, well, someone's pretty far from home."

Ari and Ivy whirled towards the in-unison voices, the latter reaching into her jacket for her screwdriver. Jasdevi, two of the few Noah adjacent people who could recognize the Black Order girls, of course had managed to notice them.

"I wasn't sure from a distance, but it sure was you little Bookman."

"Hee, Jasdero told you so, Devitt! That red hair is recognizable anywhere."

Though Ari could've felt intimidated, she'd lost any semblance of fear a long time ago (Lavi would even argue thar she'd never had any in the first place), so she just propped her hands on her hips and stared the twins down. "Congrats, you won Where's Ari? Too bad there isn't a prize for it." Ivy was still leveling a steady glare at Jasdevi, and Ari tapped Ivy's free hand to let her know things were gonna be okay. "I'm pretty sure this place is here for people that wanna enjoy themselves, and that's what we're here to do. Got a problem with it? Or are you just harassing us because you're still salty that we beat you at the Valentine's dance competition?"

"You didn't beat us at all, hee!"

Now it was Devitt trying to hold his brother back, though he was just as incensed. Throw in a few more good taunts, and it wouldn't be long before he was losing his temper, too, but his boiling point still had a bit of leeway. "Hm, you seem pretty confident in that result there, girlie."

Ari's smile just grew wider. "Of course. Not to mention the way that we trounced you at the Robot Fight Club, both in the competition and in sales."

Jasdero shook his fist in the air. "That was sabotage, hee!"

"Hm, what's that? You were unprepared for any eventuality and so you lost? It's such a tragic tale, but it's okay! Everyone's more than capable of learning from their mistakes and moving on, you know."

"Listen here you little—"

Despite an angry Jasdevi getting up in her face, Ari's shit eating grin didn't falter in the slightest. It was Ivy that stepped in, dragging Ari a few paces back and out of the immediate line of fire. It wouldn't stop the twins from lunging at her or anything, but it would at least give Ivy more time to react. "I was pretty sure that we came here to prevent trouble, not cause it," Ivy said, cursing herself for not bringing any painkillers along.

Ari put on a mock pout, but the fact that she didn't struggle in Ivy's grip was proof enough that she saw the logic and was (insert gasps of shock and awe) willing to accept it. "Sorry, Ivy-san. It's just so easy whenever they just up and take the bait! They must be super insecure if they're arguing at the slightest th—" Ivy jerked on the back of Ari's top, choking her on her collar for just a moment. "Ah, I promise I'm sorry, I mean it, I'll be quiet now!"

"You think that measly little apology is gonna make us feel better, hee?" With Ivy's grip still able to choke her at any time, Ari wisely kept her mouth shut and did not correct Jasdero's misunderstanding that she'd been attempting to apologize to them instead of Ivy. "You've insulted our honor, so that means we gotta get payback!"

I hate it here, Ivy thought. Well, at least it was better than Ari going around and picking fights on her own. Then she'd have to spend the evening worrying about the safety of two of her friends. "Look, I get it, you're mad, but is this the best place to handle this?" Ivy asked, praying that she could diffuse the situation. It sure would be the peak of irony if they'd come to keep Lenalee safe and ended up being the ones needing rescue instead. "If you wanna show us up, I'm sure it'd have a lot more meaning to do it in a way that lets everyone know your school is better than ours or whatever, not just stroking your ego in front of all your people who already think you're great."

Ari couldn't help but think that Ivy was antagonizing Jasdevi just as much with that statement, but she was pretty sure pointing that out would lead to an even more precarious situation than before for herself, so she resolved to just observe and let Ivy handle it. As such, she was able to see the exact moment that Jasdevi lost their collective temper, twin scowls slipping over their faces in perfect unison.

"Now listen here, you little—"

"Ho? Now you two wouldn't be thinking of having fun without me over there, now would you?"

In the years since he'd come under the care of Cross Marian, Allen had become rather adept at producing enough copium for himself to get through anything. It had been essential when he was younger, and it had become essential in the present day, wherein which the key example of said skill was convincing himself that weekends weren't all that bad because at least on Fridays and Saturdays, Cross went out at night to drink, so he wasn't home to harass Allen.

Never mind that that meant dealing with a hungover Cross the next day! It was fine! Totally all fine!

That said, since Elizabeth's return, things had gotten a bit more complicated than that. After all, Cross may have been out of the house on a good majority of weekends, but Elizabeth had no such predictable schedule. He presumably did some kind of work, considering that he'd given Allen a little stack of cash as some spending money—lord knew that Cross wasn't about to do so—but other than that, it was a complete mystery.

Allen wasn't sure that he wanted to know.

If he didn't know, then he wasn't going to be liable should Elizabeth get himself in trouble! Right? Right!

"And with Lenalee gone, everything else has been exhausting, you know," Allen said to Timcanpy, who was resting on the boy's stomach and gnawing on a bird toy shaped like some food or another. It was kind of hard to tell after such heavy use. "With one of them here, it's sort of manageable, but when they're both here, I can't prepare at all…" Tim gave a sympathetic chirp, but in the end couldn't do much to change the situation. "Yeah, you're right, Tim, sitting around feeling sorry for myself won't change anything! Why don't we go make some dinner to enjoy ourselves with!"

Timcanpy looked elated at the prospect of food, and thus didn't complain as Allen stood up. Allen had already stocked up on groceries that morning (Cross wasn't his problem so long as he wasn't in the house!), so it was just a matter of deciding what to make. Though I guess I should go ahead and make Elizabeth something while I'm at it…

Stopping at Elizabeth's door, Allen knocked. "Oi, Eli, I'm making food! Got any requests?" There was no response, which was unusual. Even if he was passed out, Elizabeth usually woke up right away at the mention of a meal. Allen knocked again. "Elizabeth, you alright in there?"

Still no response. Allen peeked inside the door—which had somehow become a warzone of a mess in the short time since its owner had returned—but there was no sign of Elizabeth at all. Nor was he in the shower or anywhere else in the house. His car was gone, though, which meant one thing:

Elizabeth wasn't home tonight, either.

This news would be good for some, and a little less enjoyable for others.

[Author's Notes]

Hey, look, it's more vacation energy from me, so no super detailed note for y'all. I hope you're doing well. Go check out the [Twelve Shots of Summer] forum/tag to read some cool one shots.

Next Time: "75. Song of the Night." Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[6 July 2024]