“I wish you had just stayed with us.” The voice of a young man came from the other side of the bedroom door, when Elise had first heard it, she thought perhaps Lucky had someone over. It was early in the morning though, so that seemed awfully strange. It wasn’t until she got closer that she finally noticed the tinny affect of someone on speakerphone.
There was a lot of shuffling coming from the room, as the boy was getting ready for school. “I know you do, but I already told you, I have family in Grand Valley, and I wanted to come stay with them, try to find out about my birth mom.” She didn’t know much about the boy, however, the line about having family sounded like a lie to her ears, but she wasn’t about to call him out.
She gently knocked on the door, a small smile on her face, she was all ready to go and she was supposed to take Lucky with her for the first day of school. As lame as she was sure he felt that would be. “Is that the sound of the end of our call?” The young man sounded so defeated and she was happy to know that Lucky had at least one friend somewhere.
“Yeah, that’s Elise, I gotta go, babe, I’ll call you tonight, okay?” She was startled by that, she somehow hadn’t expected Lucky to be in a relationship with anyone, let alone some guy. The lie, the boy’s desire for him to go stay with his family, it struck a chord with her, not wanting a handout, or for someone to pity you, or get wrapped up in your shit. It had taken her long enough to open up about that shit, that was for sure, and that had been with a parental figure, she couldn’t imagine trying to deal with that with a partner, it would make a relationship feel so… unequal in her mind.
The boy on the other end of the phone sounded remorse to let Lucky go. “Yeah Lucky, of course, I love you baby.”
She was pretty sure she heard him whisper back that he loved the other boy too, but it was too quiet for her to make out. She strained trying to hear it, so she was caught off guard when the boy threw the door open. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt anything, we just have to head to school if we want to pick up breakfast, and Des just texted me that they’ll be outside in like five.”
Lucky seemed like he was bristling, though it was unclear if it was about the call or her interrupting it. “Yeah of course, sorry that was uh…. Well, I guess there’s no point in lying, that was my boyfriend.” He said it so point-blank, matter of fact, which she hadn’t been expecting. “We met at my last school, it’s no big deal, I’m not sure how well it’s going to work out anyway.”
“Is there a reason… or…? Just like, you know, teenage relationships not lasting?” she raised an eyebrow at him, her arms crossed over her chest as he gathered his bag, shoving his new laptop, and headphones in with a couple books.
He considered the question as he slung the strap over one shoulder, scrunching up the large sweater that hung far too loosely on his scrawny frame. The bright purple fabric that read ‘Trash’ was stark against the mint green of the bag. “I guess it’s just that he’s not like us… you know?” He pulled a belt off the back of his door, for some reason all the belt’s he’d gotten shopping could practically go around him twice. “His family is perfect, they’re rich and when they do stupid shit, they just have to write an essay about how their actions affect other people. It’s hard to relate you know? And it’s like… if I wanted, I could just go live there? What kind of parents do that? They don’t want to see my bullshit mess. I don’t know, it’s hard to articulate, that sounds stupid because Heather would be that kind of person, right?”
“My best friend Destiny practically lived here all last summer.” She admitted with a little awkward laugh, giving a small shake to her head. “I get it though, if Des didn’t have the life she does, I don’t know that I would be able to relate to her at all.” It was a joke, it wasn’t that Destiny’s family wasn’t good, they were just rather chaotic, her mother was constantly away for work and so she spent a lot of time growing up at her aunts.
He forced a small smile, pulling a little awkwardly at the edges, as he followed her down the stairs, he easily took them two at a time with his long legs. “Are you sure you want to introduce me to your friends? I really don’t mind finding some on my own, I mean, won't it be weird sharing friends with your foster brother?”
She couldn’t hold the laugh back from her lips, pausing to lean against the wall by the entrance, pulling on her hi-tops as Lucky used the bench to put his feet up. “It really doesn’t bother me, it’s a pretty big friend group and honestly, I’m sure they will love to have you.”
She was checking herself in the mirror, making sure the retro striped men’s top she’d upcycled into a crop top from the thrift store, sat in a half appropriate manner over her midriff when she caught his expression in the reflection. “Are you sure that this is okay at your school?” he answered her questioning expression when she placed her hands threateningly on her hips, gesturing vaguely at his hair.
“Yeah, if this is fine,” She paused speaking to motion to her exposed stomach before continuing. “I’m sure that your cotton candy hair is going to be just fine. They’re kind of oddly lax at our school for any semblance dress code or modesty rules, but if anyone mentions the janitor's closet don’t ask, you don’t want to know, trust me.” She added the last part rather quickly as an afterthought, not wanting to scare him off of her friend group just yet. “Plus, it’s not like you could do anything about it right now even if it were a problem, just own it, it’s really cool.”
She was practically herding him out the door, she knew his anxiety was making him drag his heels, but she needed her breakfast coffee before she bit his head off. They had made it halfway out the door before he stopped moving again. “You’re friends with Lexi Wolfe?” The words fell from his jaw as it hit the floor, she had seen a few people recognize Lexi over the years, but never quite like this before. “Does that mean… your best friend? Destiny? Is Destiny Wolfe?” he asked, shocked, and then breathed “Holy shit…”
Elise stepped around him, moving towards the car. “It’s not a big deal, just hurry up, I don’t have the patience for this till after coffee.” Her sharp words seemed to snap him out of whatever social media influencer haze he’d gotten wrapped up in when he’d seen the girl driving.
“Holy shit… Lexi Wolfe… And that’s Ali Bithell.” He was clearly trying not to embarrass himself, rethinking his sweater choice as he hesitantly followed her, but she wasn’t going to let him get away and she’d more than made that clear.
She slid into the back seat first, settling in the middle seat beside Destiny as Lucky finally followed her in. “Heads up, the love birds are being more insufferable than usual.” Destiny whispered to her as she eyed up the cotton candy boy who looked as awkward as ever. “Who peed in his coffee?”
Elise always found the idioms that her best friend used so odd and quirky, and couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess he’s a big fan of Lexi or something.” She said, shrugging “Destiny, this is my foster brother Lucky, Lucky, this is my best friend Destiny.” She introduced them, and Lucky managed an awkward wave at Destiny. “So, what are they being mushy about today?”
“Lexi took Ali out for dinner last night and I think, I haven’t been able to get the full story out of them yet, but I think they got engaged.” The two had been together for three and a half years now, they’d gotten together when Ali had crashed Lexi’s fifteenth birthday party, which in Lexi’s family fashion had been a door crasher.
A lot of their friend group had spent the last year taking bets when they would be engaged, Lexi was graduating this year and they were the gross kind of high school sweethearts that every other word out of Lexi’s mouth was about Ali. “Damnit, I had bets on prom.”
Destiny pouted at her as if it were her fault that it had taken this long. “You’re telling me? My bet was Christmas!”
“Ali posted it on Instagram last night, they got engaged.” Lucky quietly commented, flashing a post on his phone that Elise found strange, she followed them both on Instagram, but she hadn’t seen the post anywhere.
Destiny practically lunged across Elise to seize the phone, her body pressed in close, forcing her own heart rate to leap, it was suddenly a little harder to breathe in the back seat. “Couldn’t you have asked Des? I could have just passed you his phone. Can we open a window, you two are too warm for me?” she hoped they would write off the flush on her cheeks as being overheated and nothing to do with her best friend’s chest pressed to her leg.
“So, what’s our next bet? When they get married?” Destiny asked with a little laugh, obviously either oblivious or sparing her feelings, though Elise was a little afraid of the latter.
Lucky took his phone back after a moment, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips, trying to distract himself for a moment with the window. It was obvious he was a little overwhelmed with just how easily she let him into the friend group. “I guess you’ll have to ask the others.”
They were pulling into a drive-through for breakfast when Lexi finally remembered there were other people in the car than just her fiancé. “What does everyone want?”
As they went around the car, voicing their orders, Ali made some cheesy joke about wanting her fiancé for breakfast that made even Lexi gag a little, and it took more than a few minutes of coaxing to get Lucky to allow Lexi to buy him food. Once everyone was caffeinated for the day, they were almost at school, an easy conversation of small talk settled amongst them as Lucky seemed to settle into the group just a little.
While Lexi was probably the most intimidating person in their friend group, the more they talked the more Lucky was starting to realize just how large their friend group was. His growing anxiety had forced him to take hold of the edge of her skirt, which she’d made from a thrifted pair of jeans. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay, they’ll love you I promise.” She reassured him, placing a hand over her brother’s, doing the best she could to silently comfort him as they pulled up to the school.
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