"Okay. We're here." Lloyd said exhaustedly as he stopped his bicycle at the front yard of the house where he lives.
"Nice place. Don't think I've been here before." Ian commented and hopped off the back of the bike.
"You haven't." Lloyd simply said back and also dismounted.
"I guess you'd remember."
"I would." Lloyd said and unlocked the front door.
"So you keep your doors locked even in an area like this. I see." Ian commented.
"We didn't always." Lloyd commented and stepped in through the front door.
"Lloyd! What the hell is this?" Came a screech from upstairs.
"Oh fucking shit!" Lloyd whispered to himself and rushed upstairs.
Arguing and explaining came from upstairs in three voices. One masculine, one feminine and the third was Lloyd's voice. Ian understood better than to follow Lloyd and now he had a problem.
"Now what? Do I just stand here and wait for him to come back. I should probably take my shoes off. Don't want to get their rugs dirty. Actually. I'll just go outside." Ian thought to himself alone by the front door.
He closed the front door and sat outside on the Welcome mat. It was somewhat chilly outside but he didn't let that bother him. He just started looking at his messages and decided to finally give Cindy something.
"I'm staying at my friend for tonight." Was all he typed.
He sent the message and shivered in the chilly weather.
"Maybe I should just return home anyway. Cindy's probably asleep on the sofa anyway and won't bother me." He said alone.
His phone buzzed and he checked it and saw a message from the devil that was just spoken of.
"Never mind." He said and shivered again.
He spent some fifteen minutes outside watching pointless videos and hopping in place to stay warm, but once his nose got runny and he had nowhere to wipe it, he gave in. He pulled the door open but it was locked.
"Ugh, of course. Do I just knock now or are they still busy arguing? What if they are? That'd be awkward. But I really don't want to jog home having to sniff every few seconds. Fuck it." He thought and knocked on the door.
After one minute the door was opened. Once the door was wide open, Ian was met by a girl with dyed red hair that covered the upper half of her eyes, wearing a big baggy t-shirt and black Adidas bottoms. Her forehead was at the same height as Ian's nose.
"Who are you?" The girl asked.
"Lloyd's friend." Ian answered.
"He doesn't have any friends. Who are you really?"
"Okay, I'm not sure if we're friends but he knows me and he welcomed me here. Just ask him."
"He's a little busy explaining to mum and dad what they found in his room. But I can try." The girl said and stepped on the first step of the staircase that leads up.
The house had a similar layout to Ian's house with a staircase straight ahead when you step in, and a living room and a kitchen on the left and the right respectively.
"Lloyd! Your friend wants to come in!" The girl shouted upstairs.
"Let him in!" Lloyd's voice shouted back.
"Okay, come in." The girl said to Ian who came in, closed the front door and headed to the nearest bathroom.
"Who gave you permission to use our loo?" The girl asked cheekily.
"I just need some paper to blow my nose into, fuck's sake." Ian said back.
"Fine then." The girl said and chuckled.
Ian did as he intended to do and returned from the bathroom to see that the girl was still in the lobby.
"What are you still there for?" He asked.
"I dunno. Being hospitable."
"You don't need to do that." Ian said and leaned on a wall to look at his phone and wait.
"You can use the sofa if you want." The girl said while walking upstairs.
"Guess that's nicer than this." Ian thought and went into the living room.
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The living room was nothing to write about. There was a sofa, an armchair, framed pictures on the walls, a television and cat's climbing tree.
"Guess I'm on a tour of resting on other people's sofas now. But this one seems to already be occupied." Ian thought when he saw a cat sleeping on the end of the sofa.
He sat on the armrest of the sofa and started looking at the framed pictures.
"If someone asks who I am, I'll just say that Lloyd invited me and the redhead gave me permission." He thought to himself.
"Who the fuck are you?" A voice asked from behind.
Ian turned around and saw another girl about the same height as the redhead except with long hanging black hair and black jeans and a black hoodie.
"I came here to shag ya mum and now just waiting for my turn." Ian answered despite what he said in his mind earlier.
"You fucking what?" The girl said and pulled out a butterfly knife.
"Hey hey hey hey! Jesus! Calm down. I'm Lloyd's friend and he let me in."
"He doesn't have friends."
"Well, he does now."
"Who gave you permission to sit on the sofa?"
"The redhead cunt or whatever."
"What did you call her?" The girl asked angrily and raised her knife.
"I don't know her bloody name. But you can ask her." Ian pleaded.
"And why did Lloyd let you in?"
"Because my bike's fucked so he's now taking me to school on mornings and we were both out and decided that if I sleep here we could both save time."
"You're gonna sleep here? Where did you think you would do that?"
"I don't know. Maybe here." Ian said and tapped the sofa.
"I don't trust you." The girl said.
"And you think I trust you?"
"And I don't care what you think. You stay far away from anyone's room. And if anything is missing from this house tomorrow I'll come to your school and shank you."
"Sounds like you have some baggage." Ian said, chuckled and looked at his phone, dismissing the tough-acting girl.
"Understood?" The girl shouted.
"Calm down, Nikki. Ian, just come to my room. She doesn't like new people." Lloyd's voice called.
Ian looked up again. Lloyd playfully ruffled the girl's hair, which she didn't seem to like.
"But she told me to stay away from anyone's room." Ian reminded.
"I formally invite you to join me then." Lloyd joked.
"Well, if you say so." Ian said and got up.
As he walked to Lloyd, Nikki gave him one last menacing glare.
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"Nice room, mate." Ian commented in the dim room that was only lit by a monitor and light blue LED-lights on the edges of the ceiling.
"Thank fuck it's a bit more dim here. Their hallway lamps are bright as a motherfucker and hurt my eye." Ian thought inside the room.
On the walls were flyers of music concerts and the furniture of the room was a computer desk, a bed, a wardrobe and a work desk. All on opposite walls from each other. On one corner was an electric guitar.
"I guess." Lloyd said back and sat on his expensive gaming chair.
"What did your parents start nagging to you about?" Ian asked without wasting time.
"They found what was under my bed." Lloyd answered honestly.
"Oh, here?" Ian asked and was about to look under the bed.
"No!" Lloyd shouted and reached out to stop Ian who stopped himself anyway.
"Ha. You got scared mate." Ian said and chuckled.
Lloyd looked relieved and nervous.
"What's the deal with Nikki? She doesn't like new people, you said." Ian asked.
"Never really did. Especially not after our house was broken into and she woke up when the intruder was in her room."
"Jesus, mate. I can understand that. Was the fucker ever caught?"
"No. But I don't think they'll hit the same house twice, so I'm not paranoid."
"Maybe you should tell Nikki that too."
"You think I haven't?"
"And the other girl. The redhead. She doesn't seem nearly as paranoid as Nikki. Why's that?"
"Yeah, her name is Evelyn, by the way. She doesn't seem to fear anything really. I mean, she worries a lot about life stuff but I've never seen her frightened by anything. And I've tried, haha." Lloyd explained.
"Your sisters are weird. I assume they're your sisters." Ian commented.
"They are. I wouldn't call them weird. Nikki is still a bit traumatised and Evelyn is on the spectrum so she's a little... atypical. So don't be rude to her if you find her odd. And plus they're both just immature secondary school teens too so there's that."
"Right. I get you. Also what do you use your computer for? You like, play video games and shit?" Ian asked.
"I used to, but not anymore really. Evelyn actually uses my computer for that purpose all the time. I actually edit music with this. At least when it's not occupied." Lloyd answered.
"Hey, that's really awesome! You make it yourself or what?"
"Me and my band make it. I play the guitar and practise when nobody is trying to sleep or when nobody is in my room, which is rare. I'm also responsible for uploading our tracks to the web and all that. We get a few thousand plays a month and we've gotten a few gigs at a club somewhat close to here." Lloyd answered with a tiny bit of pride in his voice.
"And you never told me about this?"
"We never talk about anything but school stuff. I didn't know that you fight either."
"Fair. So is making music like your dream or something?"
"Yeah."
"If it's your dream, then why do you let your little sister steal your work station all the time? Focus on that grind, mate."
"She umm... sort of... blackmails me into letting her use it."
"What? Blackmails you? How does she do that?"
"She... sort of... knows a secret of mine. And if I don't buy her a video game and a manga book every month and let her use my computer, she'll tell my secret to mum and dad." Lloyd admitted.
"What a bitch."
"Please don't call her that." Lloyd politely requested.
"How do you pay for all the shit you buy her?"
"With the money I make from music."
"Huh. Interesting economy you two got going there." Ian commented.
Just then a knock was heard on the door of the room.
"Lloyd, are you on the computer?" Evelyn's voice asked from behind the door.
"Not right now." Lloyd answered from his seat.
"Good." Evelyn said and entered the room
Lloyd already knew what he had to do, so he stood up from his seat and sat down on the bed.
"You going to continue with the... what was it called?" Lloyd asked Evelyn.
Evelyn sat down on the seat and opened a game on the computer.
"Yeah." She answered.
"Should we go somewhere else when she's here?" Ian asked Lloyd.
"No, I actually sort of enjoy watching this game." Lloyd answered and paid attention to the game that Evelyn was playing.
"Why? Aren't you too old for this shi... can I cuss when she's here?"
"Too old, pfft." Evelyn commented from her seat mockingly, almost like she was tired of hearing those words.
"Maybe I am. Or maybe you're just becoming an old fart." Lloyd jokingly said to Ian.
"Old fart?" Ian said and felt insulted.
"Hey, Evie. Can you tell us the recap of the series?" Lloyd asked his sister.
"Okay, so this is the seventh game but chronologically the sixth game in the Angels of Melodia series..." Evelyn started explaining.
"Oh boy, this will take a while." Ian commented.
"So the first game begins in the Kingdom of Melodia where like everything works perfectly and everything is in harmony and the life force of everything was this stuff called Mana, but then things started going wrong and the main crew of heroes who are called the Angels had to go on a quest to learn why, but then..." Evelyn explained further and sounded like she was genuinely eager to explain.
An hour passed
"...and so now we're halfway in the seventh game, well technically the sixth because the third game was a prequel, and now we're going to the place that the Cloud Queen mentioned in her final words to retrieve the super weapon that's going to turn the war around." Evelyn explained.
"But hold on. The Cloud Queen couldn't have died. I mean only a castle collapsed on her but you said that people of her race can only be killed by a divine blow." Ian pointed out, having listened to every word that Evelyn explained in the past hour as she played the game on the hardest difficulty.
"I thought that too, and I think it's going to be confirmed later that she survived. If not, then that'd be stupid." Evelyn said back.
A knock was heard on the door again.
"It's midnight. Everybody get to bed now or I'll come in there and horrible things will happen." A male voice said from the other side of the door.
"Okay, dad." Evelyn said in her seat, closed the game and got up.
The siblings wished each other good night and Evelyn left the room, leaving Loyd and Ian alone in there.
"Does your dad even know I'm here?" Ian asked.
"I told him and mum that a friend is staying over."
"Alright, good. So I won't have to explain myself for a third time if somebody finds me sleeping on the sofa."
"Nah."
"Alright. Good night." Ian said and got up from the bed and left the room.
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In the morning Ian's alarm rang at the usual time and he instinctively reached out to where he usually keeps his phone at night. It wasn't there. It was in his pocket. He reached out to his pocket, having slept fully clothed and without a blanket on the living room sofa. He found his phone in the pocket and turned off the alarm, laying on his stomach the whole time.
"It's all quiet here. Is nobody else really awake? Don't they have to get up for work and school too? I don't want to walk around their house as the only one awake. Oh but hey, this place is closer to the school than my place. I ain't got any hurry to get up." He thought while laying there.
Now that he was awake, he decided to switch positions and rolled on his back.
"JESUS FUCKING..." Ian shouted when he raised his head a little bit and saw a part of the room that he didn't see while laying on his back.
"Quiet, idiot." Nikki said while sitting on a stool and holding a switchblade and looking judgmental.
"Are you... Are you supervising me or something?" Ian asked freaked out.
"I don't trust you, and I woke up early." Nikki said bitterly.
"You got any bloody idea how creepy you are?" Ian asked.
"I could ask the same of you."
"All I've done is chill!"
"Who are you to Lloyd really?"
"I told you I'm just a classmate. We'll even start working on a project together soon. Ask him to show it if you don't believe me. Bloody maniac." Ian said and rested his head down.
"Nikki, put that knife away." A tired feminine voice said gently from the direction of the stairs.
"Fine." Nikki said and her steps could be heard going away from the living room.
"You had breakfast yet, sweetie?" The female voice asked and that's when Ian stopped paying attention.
"I need to get out of here and never come back. Lloyd needs to wake the hell up so we can get going." Ian said to himself and ringed Lloyd's number.
Lloyd answered the phone.
"Ugh, you couldn't come just talk to me?" Lloyd said with a tired voice.
"Wake the fuck up, samurai. Let's get going to school." Ian said with determination.
"We're in no hurry. It doesn't take long to ride to school from here. Have some breakfast. Tell them that you have my permission." Lloyd said and hung up.
"Damn. Can I even take a shower?" Ian asked himself on the sofa where he was now sitting.
"You can." Evelyn's cheery voice said from the direction of the stairs as the sound of her steps went towards the kitchen.
"Well there's that."
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"This was a mistake." Ian thought while sitting outside and being wet inside his clothes, not daring to use the towels that were there.
"Why are you just sitting here?" Lloyd asked Ian as he came outside.
"I don't want to take up space in your house."
"Fine. Have a banana, since you didn't have any breakfast." Lloyd said and handed a banana to Ian.
"Sweet." Ian said and took it.
The banana disappeared in his mouth in three bites.
"You ready to go?" Lloyd asked.
"Been ready for a while now. Bloody freezing." Ian answered.
"I wonder why." Lloyd said and put his helmet on.
"Oh, and another thing." Ian said.
"What is it?"
"I just remembered something."
"What?"
"My uniform is still at home." Ian said and scratched the back of his neck.
Lloyd looked at his own well ironed and cleaned uniform and then looked at what Ian was wearing.
"I scheduled our departure so that we'd be at school just in time for classes to begin. I can't take you home now. We didn't end up saving any time by having you sleep here. Ugh. this was pointless." Lloyd stated in slight frustration.
"Yeah. Sort of."
"Unlike you, I actually care about doing well in school. You'll go get your own uniform and I'll get to school in time." Lloyd said and mounted his bicycle.
"Fine by me. Enjoy the first two hours of the day." Ian wished and started walking to the direction where he assumed his home to be.
He arrived home an hour later. He stepped inside the house was initially met with silence.
"Guess mum is in her office already. At this hour she should be. All right. Just put on the uniform and walk back to school. If they're fine with me fighting, they'll be fine with me being late." Ian thought to himself.
"Hi, baby." Cindy said from right next to Ian's ear.
"BLOODY HE..." Ian exclaimed in fright.
"Oh, did I scare you? Ha. Did you have a nice night with your friend?" Cindy asked.
"Yeah. I guess it was alright." Ian answered.
"Totally just a friend, right?" Cindy asked and gave a judging look.
"What? It was just a friend. And even if if it was a girlfriend, so what? None of your business." Ian said and walked past Cindy.
"So you admit it was a girlfriend?" Cindy asked from behind.
"It wasn't a bloody girlfriend. I was with a guy from my class! There! Happy?"
"So your boyfriend then?"
"Ugh. Be like that then." Ian said and walked all the way to his room.
He slammed the door shut and noticed that somebody had been in his room. The pillow on his bed had been squeezed. He could tell. It never looked like the way it looked now. It looked like somebody had cuddled with it. Ian didn't want to think too deep into that. He picked up the pieces of his uniform from where he left them. He changed into them and came out of his room.
"One more thing, baby." Cindy said, having quietly waited outside the door.
"You're attempting to kill me, aren't you?" Ian asked after being slightly frightened again.
"Just wanted to give you this." Cindy said and smacked a paper bag against Ian's chest.
"What's this?" Ian asked.
"Your lunch." Cindy replied with a warm smile.
"Thanks but I'll be fine without. I never eat at school."
"Well, today you can."
"You're not my mother, you know?"
"No, but the fact that you still live here tells me that you're a bit of a mama's boy." Cindy said and smirked like he had just gotten Ian.
Ian looked at her like he had no more time for her, but nothing to say back to her either.
"Thanks for the lunch." He said and shoved the paper bag in his rucksack.
"Any time, baby."
"Don't you have anywhere to be today?" Ian asked.
"Not quite yet. I do have a remote meeting in the afternoon but... I still don't feel secure enough to go back home..." Cindy explained and lost her cheer.
"If you're never there, it'll be an even easier target for unwelcome guests." Ian pointed out.
"I know but... I don't want to be there when it happens."
"You can't skip meeting forever or you won't have any of them in the future."
"I know I know. Can I bring my computer here?" Cindy asked.
"We don't really have room for that anymore."
"Fine, I can just have the meetings with my laptop then. Sound good?"
"I don't run the house. Ask the lady of the house." Ian said, wanting to get out of the situation.
"I'll ask her. Can you accompany me to retrieve my laptop from home?"
"When?"
"I know you'll be at the university when my meeting takes place so I'll have to skip it. But maybe tonight?"
"You really can't go alone?" Ian asked, starting to suspect that Cindy had ulterior motives for wanting to take him with him.
"I'd rather not."
"Maybe if you go alone today, you won't be so scared to go back home permanently later."
"I suppose. But if you accompany me tonight, that'd be a good start and I can do it alone tomorrow."
"Ugh. Deal. But I've got to go now. I guess you'll be here when I come home. Bye." Ian wished.
"See you tonight, baby." Cindy wished as Ian left through the front door.
As soon as Ian was out of the house he noticed something off. Something that he didn't notice when he came in.
"Why the fuck's my bike not there anymore?" He said out loud when he looked at the spot where he last left his dirt bike.
He rushed back inside and slammed his fist on the door of Emma's office.
"Mum! Where the fuck's my bike!" He shouted at the door of the office.
"Just a moment, sir." Emma said into her headset and muted it and then turned to the direction of Ian's voice.
"I don't know. Where did you leave it?" She asked.
"I left it on the front yard like always."
"Then ask Cindy. Maybe she moved it somewhere." Emma finished with and then started talking to her headset again.
"Cindy!" Ian shouted into the upstairs where he heard the tap of the bathroom running.
"What?" Came a reply from inside the bathroom.
"Did you move my bike somewhere?"
"You still have that thing?"
"Well, I bloody should!"
"It wasn't there when I came here yesterday!"
"Fuck. Fucking God damn this. FUCK!" Ian started exclaiming where he stood.
"Quiet down, honey." Emma said from her office.
"It was fucking Ronnie. I fucking know it." Ian said and charged out of the front door.
He took his phone out of his pocket picked Ronnie's contact from his list. He typed a message.
"You fucking cunt!" Was his well thought out message.
He kept walking forward on the street while waiting for a reply.
"Bit rude." Was Ronnie's reply.
"When was the last time you went stealing?" Ian asked.
"Haven't been at it since that time we met inside the posh house. Can't do it too often, see."
"Have you ever been stealing where I live?"
"Nah. I live too close by. Can't be doing that so close to home."
"Fucking liar."
"What? You don't believe me? Did somebody hit your house?"
"Bike's been jacked and you're my only suspect."
"Why would I be your only suspect?"
"Because you have a history of being a thieving cunt."
"I told ya. I don't do that so close to home. That'd be insane."
"Well it was a piece of shit bike anyway. Have fun fixing it, cunt."
"I don't have your piece of shit bike. You think I'm the only thieving cunt in the county? Find out who took it yourself." Ronnie's message said and then it appeared that he went offline.
"Suppose he wouldn't steal anything this close to his own home. I know he hit Cindy's house which is somewhat far away. Can I really believe in the word of a thief though? I'm not losing that bike now. Not after all this. Too bad I have no idea where Ronnie exactly lives. Don't even know what street his on. God fucking damn this."
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