by JIrwin
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The colossal candy apple red F450 making its appearance and who it could possibly belong to was all that anyone at the tailgater's pre-game party could talk about. Who was driving it? Why did they leave so quickly? Did it belong to a rival school member? Was it someone on the other football team trying to intimidate Edensville's team or perhaps it belonged to a gang from another county? David heard it all as he walked around the football field alone. Going to his and Adam’s spot up on the bleachers seemed kind of wrong without him there. He felt bad for how he acted, but the guy had to understand just how important this night could have been for the both of them. Adam might have been trying to get Eve's attention, but David wanted in on the Popular's network. It could have worked out for both of them had he not panicked!
David could hear the speculations as they swirled, each one greater than the last. They could’ve been the talk of junior year had they just stayed and played it out just a little longer then made a grand debut right before kickoff. He had to laugh though as he delighted in the fact that out of everyone in attendance at the game, he was the only one that knew the answer to their uncertainty. He pulled his phone out to text Adam to let him know that he was the talk of the pre-game when an unfamiliar voice called out to him.
“Hey…..” The voice was low, but commanding at the same time. David didn’t turn around at first. He wasn't sure if they were talking to him or not, but again the voice called. “Hey….” David held onto his cell acting like he was busy with it as he cut his eyes slightly to his left to see who was talking and if they were indeed talking to him. “Dude.” He turned his head this time. “Hey….yeah, you.” The voice spoke directly this time. David had to turn a little more to his left to see who it was that was talking and up the hill just a little ways he got the shock of his life. It was none other than Lucian Black, the Lucian Black, looking in his direction. David pointed at his chest as if in question.
“Yeah man, you…..come here a minute.” Lucian made a movement with his head for David to come up to where he was leaning casually against the back fence of the stadium, motionless, with one foot propped up casually like he could stand in that position for hours. David, too in shock to move, was frozen. His eyes were wide, like a deer caught in the lights of a moving car. He just stood there in silent question wondering if he were truly the one that Lucian was referring to. It wasn’t until Lucian used his hand to motion for David to come closer that he slipped his phone back into his pocket and slowly headed up to where the guy with the worst reputation in Edensville and Palestine combined was standing. Still a little unsure, he measured his steps as he made his way up the incline keeping a check over his shoulder casually to see if Lucian was talking to him instead of someone that might have been standing behind him that he hadn't seen.
“Hey man what's up?” Lucian greeted him once David was within a few feet of him.
“Hey.....” David returned the greeting more under his breath than out loud. He really didn’t make direct eye contact, but rather busied himself with pulling out his cell phone as he neared the fence where Lucian was leaning. He still wasn’t sure why Lucian Black would even be looking in direction let alone talking to him. He hoped it was him that he called out to, otherwise he would feel like a complete tool if it weren’t.
“You’re David King right?” Lucian stated rather than asking in a deep smooth voice.
“Uh….yeah, I’m David….David King.” Relief washed over him until he realized he had just repeated what he had just said. Duh! Could he have sound more like Forrest Gump at that moment? Why did he have to be so lame when he got nervous? Why had he not just answered with an aloof yeah?
Lucian held out his fist toward David to greet him. “Cool…. I’m Lucian.” Did he really think he had to introduce himself?! David was more than well aware of who he was. Heck the entire school knew who he was! He was Lucian Black, he needed no introductions!
He made an attempt to meet the guy's fist with his own and nearly missed. “Oomph.....y...ye...yeah. I mean, yeah I know who you are.” The lower half of Lucian's face broke out into a big grin, complimented with deep set dimples on both sides of his mouth and a perfectly cleft chin below it. Lucian’s phone vibrated, he reached into his pocket and pulled it out swiping his finger across the button to answer it.
“Yeah?” Was that all he had to say? David thought. Of course, he was Lucian Black, a guy who was definitely in control. David could hear a voice on the other end, but couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. He tried to act uninterested and kicked around a rock with his Chucks before reaching for his phone pulling up Instagram and clicking a pic of the scoreboard and posting it. “Yeah…I'm on it.” Lucian hung up the phone and immediately began texting.
Wow, standing this close to the guy, David got his first up-close and personal dealings with the infamous black eyes and tattoos of Lucian Black. He had heard girls in class talk about how deep and black his eyes were and standing here now having looked into them himself he could see what they were talking about. Wow, yeah they were mystical alright……in that Charles Manson meets Jack the Ripper kind of way. Good grief dude, was that even natural that someone’s eyes had no color? I mean…Wow! Not even his pupils differentiated from the depth of black, it just blended into an abyss of darkness. David was astonished. But hey, with looks like his and that cool swag David could see why girls were dying to get his attention. His phone was probably never silent. Just as that thought ran through his head, Lucian’s phone vibrated again. Out of the corner of his eye, David silently watched as Lucian’s thumbs deftly stroked the keypad on his iPhone. Black lines of a tattoo began at his wrist and ran up his forearm to disappear beneath his rolled sleeve. David really didn’t know anyone his own age that had tattoos. They had all kind of talked about getting them when they were old enough, but none had reached the age yet when they could legally. He had heard that Lucian was already 18, however, something in him said that this guy had these tattoos long before he had turned 18.
Lucian put his phone back into his pocket and shrugged before giving a response to David. “Yeah, I guess everyone does.” Was that arrogance? David questioned, but it didn't matter. This guy did pretty much whatever he wanted to. Rumor had it that no one had ever been stupid enough to even think about crossing him back at Palestine High. So fear, coupled with charisma and a swag so powerful and intense that its only hindrance was sex appeal, made it a definite win/win situation in the Lucian Black game. He definitely knew how to get whatever it was that he wanted and at this moment he wanted to talk to David King. Lucian reached into his back pocket and pulled out a cigarette pack and offered one to David. David's eyes went wide as he scrambled for an excuse as to why he wouldn’t take it.
“No...uh...no thanks. I'm trying to cut back.” He tried to laugh it off.
Lucian had tucked a cigarette behind his ear from earlier. “Hey, no worries, it’s all good.” He took the tucked cigarette and stuck the butt into his mouth and put away the pack. “So..uh… where’s your friend Adam tonight? I thought you guys were like inseparable at these things.” He gestured absently around the stadium, but didn't take his eyes off of David.
David hesitated. Lucian Black knew who they were? Holy crap! David tried to casually take a step toward the fence and lean against it like Lucian was, but tripped over his own feet and wound up nearly doing a face plant into the chain links. He caught himself clumsily and played it off by looking back around at the ground for the thing that had tripped him before adding his weight to the aluminum enclosure.
“Uh, well….we usually do…” David stammered. “I mean the guy doesn’t have a lot of friends. So I try to hang out with him so he's got somebody to…” He shrugged. “Like, ya’ know, show him around and stuff.”
Lucian’s eyes held no reflective light. Was that normal? “Oh yeah? He's new then?”
Uh oh, busted! Anyone that had lived here for any length of time would know
that Adam and David had been born in Edensville! David had to come clean and drop the facade.
“Oh uh........no...uh we've actually known each other all of our lives, even before kindergarten. Our parents use to say that we were womb-mates because our mom's were pregnant at the same time and were best friends.” He mentally kicked himself again! Man, how could he be such a dork and still breathe on his own without someone telling him to? Telling a guy like Lucian about your mommy's best friend was not cool guy thing to do. Why must you be such an epic loser? Face plant your palm right now! He chastised himself harshly then tried to sound a little cooler, hopefully.
“I mean….the guy just likes to study a lot and if I didn’t get him out and about once and a while his eyes would have gone crossed by now. Besides that, his dad keeps him pretty busy with working after school at their hardware store, so he just doesn’t get out much. Not to mention his parents are kind of strict.”
Lucian nodded his head in acknowledgment. “I see....he’s Joshua Grace’s kid brother, yeah?”
Everyone knew Joshua Grace. He had been Edensville's star quarterback for the last four years. His full ride scholarship to West Point was big news in a small town like Edensville. “Yeah the one and the same, as a matter of fact, his parents are gone this weekend to bring Joshua home for fall break, something being wrong with his truck and all.” He looked back toward the game with mock interest and shrugged then looked back down at his shoe and kicked a rock. “Whatever the deal, Adam’s home alone for the weekend.” David offered the conversation without Lucian even asking.
“Oh yeah? So Adam's just playing the bachelor this weekend huh?” Lucian added testing the waters.
“Yeah, I guess.” David agreed.
“Nice. So where is he tonight? I mean he’s got to be stoked about being home alone, but surely he wouldn’t actually want to be home alone when he could be staying out as late as he wanted to?” Lucian grinned.
“True, but he still had to be home by 10:30. I told ya’ his parents are pretty strict. They’ll call just to make sure.” David explained.
“Yeah, but he could answer his cell anywhere and be out having fun.” Lucian countered.
“Yeah, but the Graces still have a home phone so if they don’t get him on his cell for whatever reason they will call the house phone.”
“Oh, I see. So he really is a good kid and listens to his mommy and daddy then?” Lucian questioned.
David gave a pshhh noise as if the thought of being afraid of your parents was absurd. "Yeah, it’s like he is scared of them or something.”
“Do they still live in that huge house over on Gopher Wood?” Lucian asked.
David shook his head in agreement. “Yeah, it’s huge I guess compared to some around town. I mean if you have a smaller house and all it’d be huge. Joshua and Adam grew up there so that's all they have ever known.” He shrugged. “It’s all I’ve ever known for them. They don't make anything over it though, it's just a house.” Lucian nodded his head in understanding.
David shrugged again, for some reason he really felt awkward and nervous in the silent lull that dropped between them and felt it was up to him to fill it, “....his mom loves plants inside and out so the house is full of them. He got to stay home and take care of the house jungle as he calls it. His parents flew up there this afternoon to rent a car and follow Joshua back to make sure his truck doesn’t breakdown again. They're supposed to be back late Sunday afternoon sometime.” David didn’t know why he was spilling his guts to this guy, but he knew that he had never felt as cool as he did right now standing next to him talking and having people walk by and see them together. It just felt right.....like he was one of them. A Popular.
The fourth quarter buzzer sounded and the crowd went wild. “We win?” Lucian absentmindedly asked as he looked yet again at his cell and texts.
“Um.....that would be a huge no, not against the Giants. They beat us at anything and everything…… all the time!” David gushed.
“Yeah… seems like I remember that when I went there.” Lucian gave a soft chuckle as he pushed off the gate and flicked the unlit cigarette that he had been toying with to the ground. David followed suit by pushing off of the gate in the same manner. He felt like he belonged here in this scene. He was catching on to this Popular thing rather quickly. Yeah, he was totally meant to be in the Popular circle. David stretched and yawned casually, like the whole scene was boring him, but that was short lived when Lucian threw out his next question.
“Hey man, who do you think was in that jacked up F450 earlier?” All the air that David had sucked in when he yawned dislodged at once and got caught in his throat choking him. Instinctively his body lunged forward bending at the waist as he went into a coughing fit trying to dislodge the thing that was choking him. Lucian gave him several pats on the back. “You alright, man?”
David tried laughing nonchalantly to pass it off as he fought to regain his breath giving a little cough again before answering. “Eh..eh…yeah…uh, must have swallowed a gnat or something.......”
“Gross.” Lucian stated.
“Yeah, gross.” David echoed placing one hand on his hip and the other as a balled up fist to his lips, as if that helped to clear his throat one last time.
Lucian waited for David to regain control of his breathing and stop coughing before he asked again. “Well…..do you?” Seems he was determined to know and wasn't gonna give up.
David paused, trying to buy time he repeated the question. “Do I what?” He looked at Lucian innocently, but the dark eyes of Lucian Black told David he wasn’t going to repeat himself. “Oh…” David began. “Oh…..uh….you mean that big red truck before the game?” He moved his hand like he was choosing the F450 over another big red truck. “Yeah I saw that….pretty sweet ride…..”
Lucian’s gaze was relentless, probing and yet flat with no emotion. “Well, I uh….I don’t know.” David shrugged and shook his head.
Lucian cracked a grin. “Yeah? Really? Come on dude, you have to have a theory.” Again David shrugged. “Awe, don't give me that. Everybody here tonight has given their opinion……come on who do you think it was?” Lucian pressed.
David held Lucian’s gaze as long as he could before he caved. “Okay…..” He looked around to see if anyone else was close enough to overhear him. Satisfied they weren’t he asked. “Can you keep a secret?”
Lucian scoffed and held his hands out as if making it clear that no one was even standing near them. “Man, who am I gonna tell?”
Satisfied, David told Lucian the one thing that he was dying to tell someone tonight. “That was Mr. Grace's truck.” He paused and waited for Lucian’s reaction. He didn’t get one, so he continued. “He’s only had it like a few weeks and hates to even take it out of the garage because he is afraid that something will happen to it. The guy is totally paranoid. I mean he acts like if anyone looks at it they’ll gain great wisdom and knowledge or something…….” He shook his head negatively, “….so he keeps it locked up.” He looked down at the dirt again as if in disbelief before looking back up at Lucian.
Suddenly the lower half of Lucian’s face broke out into that great smile again and he asked. “Seriously? Mr. Grace? As in Adam Grace's dad?” Lucian seemed shocked.
David shook his head in agreement and laughed. “Yeah….I mean seriously dude, the old man is so paranoid that he won't even drive it to work because he doesn’t want it parked outside the hardware store in case someone were to hit it or ding it with their door or something….like that could happen as tall as it is.”
Lucian narrowed his eyes. “Really? I mean, if he is so afraid of driving it to work then why would he bring it to the tailgate party tonight?” Lucian paused for dramatic effect, which fell short on his present company. He then covered his mouth with the back of his hand like he had a secret he couldn't believe. The air he sucked in sounded more like the hiss of a snake than a man breathing. Then he stated slowly, as if he were putti
ng two and two together. “Don’t…..No…Really?…It couldn’t be.” He seemed to be in genuine shock. “You’re telling me…. it wasn’t Mr. Grace driving, was it? It was Adam.” The two locked eyes, but David didn’t have a chance to answer as Eve came bouncing up the hill with pompons in hand.
“Hey!” She was greeting Lucian, but hey came the natural reply back from both guys. Eve gave David a strange look as in why are you talking to me? Then quickly forgot him.
“They lost.” She stated flatly.
“Don’t you mean we?” David queried.
Eve shot him a look straight out of the halls of Hades. “I didn’t play. I did my part and cheered. Hello?” David shook his head slightly. He knew there was no we in her vocabulary. There was only I which was typical for Eve St. Clair.
“So did you find out who was in that delicious red truck before the game?” David’s head jerked up, but she didn’t seem to notice she had glanced back over her shoulder toward Miriam then back at Lucian. “The other girls think that it might belong to one of the guys on Palestine’s team because they’re so huge!” David’s gaze traveled from Eve to Lucian silently pleading with him not to say anything to her about what he had just disclosed. Oh God why did he disclose anything? Who was he to tell Lucian Black it was Adam in the truck? Why? He kicked himself mentally and gave himself several imaginary face palms as he watched Eve laugh off the absurdity of something so delectable belonging to one of the Palestine goons. David fought the urge to pull a Pretty Little Liars moment and place his finger to his lips doing the whole shhhhh thing as Aria does when the song says two can keep a secret if one of them is dead. David knew all too well that if anyone ever found out that it was Adam driving his dad’s truck he would be 187’d. That was the code used by law enforcement for murder, and Adam would make sure that came to pass with his name attached!
Lucian didn’t look at David. He wrapped his arm around the cheerleader's shoulders and hooked her head into the crook of his elbow pulling her to him so that he could place his lips to the side of her head. “Ah babe just forget about it, doesn’t matter anyway, we probably won’t ever see it out again.” He started walking with her down the small slope and toward the parking lot. “Shekinah’s?” He tossed out rather flippantly to anyone in the general vicinity.
It was Eve that answered him. “Well yeah! Where else?”
He turned slightly catching David's eye and winked. “You wanna catch a ride with us and leave your scooter here?” He didn’t wait for David's obvious response, but kept walking down the hill toward the parking lot with Eve still in the crook of his arm.
David was beside himself! Did he just get invited to Shekinah’s by Lucian Black?!OMG! “Yeah, uh....just let me park it somewhere so it doesn’t get stolen!” He called out once he found the words that didn’t make him sound brainless.
Lucian tossed up his hand. “Alright man, we leave in ten. We'll be at the Camaro.”
David was overwhelmed to say the least, but was trying to play it cool. He didn’t want to appear to be some kind of Walk-on getting invited out to pizza with the Populars of Edensville High.
“Sure.…yeah, I’ll be right there.” He sort of waved and called out to Lucian’s back. Lucian just moved his hand in response as he kept on walking with Eve and now Miriam in tow. As quickly as he possibly could David got to his scooter and took it to the outer door leading to Mr. Dabar’s classroom where he pulled out the key the French teacher had given him in confidence. He’d just leave it in there while he went with Lucian and the gang. The French teacher wouldn’t care. Mr. Dabar was the kind of guy that understood about having to keep your ride safe being that he was a fellow Highwayman himself. Once he relocked the door, David took off in a run toward the tailgate parking lot. Hopefully Lucian and the girls were still waiting. This night was going to be one he would remember forever!
The engine of the Camaro growled to life as Lucian turned the key and revved up the horsepower under the hood. David paused believing he had just missed his opportunity.
Suddenly the passenger side door opened and half of Eve’s body emerged and called out to him. “Hey, are you coming or not?” David’s heart skipped a beat. They had waited! He took off running and jumped in the backseat with Miriam just in time for Lucian to hit the accelerator and head for the exit gates cutting off another vehicle leaving. The JROTC student directing traffic yelled after the car. “You can’t do that Lucian!” He just stuck his hand out the driver’s side window and made a gesture.
“ Ooooh….I really don’t like that guy.” The other parking lot attendant called over from her position.
“Yeah, me either, especially after he dated and dumped my cousin Tamar their freshman year over at Palestine. What a jerk.”