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----- A Drink with a Stranger By: Sean Roberts -----
-- Chapter 17 --
They were stopped at a red light. Finn took out his phone and sent a text message, reading `get a room' to Lane. Lane and Ellis were in the back seat, Ellis having fallen asleep on Lane's shoulder almost as soon as they left. They had decided to drive back in the morning, while Taylor, Jessica and Lane's parents were staying until the evening.
It was like a dream, having Ellis laying against him like that. Lane could feel his breathing; could smell his clean skin. He closed his own eyes and fell asleep, feeling safe, feeling happy. Maybe this would last past the weekend. Neither of them wanted to return to hating each other. Ellis woke up as they approached Lane's street. He put his lips against the skin of Lane's neck and gave a small kiss.
"Let's spend the rest of the day ..." he whispered into Lane's ear. He kissed Lane's neck again.
"I'll drive Ellis home later," Lane said. "So you can drop both of us."
"Why?" Finn said. "I'm already out, and he's practically on my way back."
"You are an idiot," Victoria said to Finn.
"Oh," Finn said. "What the fuck is that?" There was an old Honda Civic parked in Lane's driveway. Keith was sitting on the front porch, his head in his hands. He stood up as he heard the car approaching.
"On second thought," Lane said quickly. "You'd better just take Ellis home. Ellis, I have to—"
"Son of a bitch," Ellis said. "What the fuck is he doing here?" Ellis jumped out of the car before Finn had come to a complete stop, and ran up to the house. Keith stood up quickly, surprised to see Ellis. Ellis ran up to Keith and pushed him, hard, against Lane's front door. Lane and Finn were right behind him, and it took both of them to pull Ellis off of Keith.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Ellis growled, as he was being held back.
"I-I'm here to..."
"Ellis, I invited him," Lane said. "Now will you please calm down?" Ellis stopped struggling. He let his shoulders drop, and Lane and Finn let him go.
"You know each other?" Ellis said.
"Yes," Lane said. "Although he wasn't supposed to come here until I called him ... later," Lane said, directing that last word directly at Keith. "And I know that Keith is the one who got you kicked out of St. Thomas'."
"Excellent," Ellis said. "So now you understand why I want to kill him?"
"Yes. But he's my friend, and I'm not going to let you. Keith, by the way, this is Finn McLain and his girlfriend, Victoria Hamilton." Keith looked at Finn and his eyes widened. "Listen, we need to talk. Let's go inside."
They went inside the house and sat in the living room, everyone choosing a different couch, except for Victoria who sat next to Finn. Lane looked at them and wanted Ellis to be sitting next to him, not that he necessarily deserved it at the moment.
"Ellis," Lane said. "I didn't know what I was going to do about this, but I asked Keith to come over to help me figure out how to not have him lose all his money with this bet thingy you guys have going on."
"I see," Ellis said. "And how do you know about that?"
"That isn't important right now," Lane said.
"Alright," Ellis said. He took a deep breath. "Leaving aside how you know all this, he got me kicked out of school!"
"Yes, I suppose he did," Lane said. "But—"
"But I'm pretty much the only one taking care of my mom and my brother. And if I lose that money, we're fucked," Keith said. "That's why I did, umm, what I did to you before. Someone paid me. It wasn't my proudest moment, but I needed the cash. And whoever paid me told me that you'd end up at Deer Creek. I figured what difference does it make?"
"What difference does it make?" Ellis said. "This is my fucking life we're talking about."
"I know," Keith said. "I never should have done what I did. I'm so sorry Ellis."
"Keith didn't get you kicked out," Finn said. Everyone turned to him.
"Excuse me?" Ellis said.
"It was me. I paid him to do it."
"Marvellous," Ellis said. "Any particular reason?"
"Yes, actually," Finn said. "I did it for the school, so we would win the matches. I knew you'd transfer to Deer Creek if you left St. Thomas. Ellis, I always thought of you as a rival. Now that we're friends, I—I don't know, I never would have done this. I'm really sorry."
"And Lane, you knew all this?"
"I only found out very recently," Lane said. "And the only reason I didn't say anything is because this has put Keith in a shitty situation, and I didn't want to do anything before I talked to him. Listen, I completely understand why you put him in it—"
"Because he's a lying, cheating mother-fucking asshole," Ellis said.
"Yes, umm, that," Lane said. "But I still don't think he deserves this."
"I see," Ellis said. He looked at each one of them in turn, then sat back down on the couch. He looked up at the ceiling for a few moments, then took a deep breath. "But you think that I deserve all this?"
"No, that isn't what ..." Ellis took another deep breath. And then another. Lane watched him, not sure what to do.
"You guys are supposed to be my friends," Ellis said. He sat down and looked up at the ceiling for a few moments, seemingly gathering his thoughts. "Well, I guess I know where I stand." Ellis stood up. "Keith, I won't be at the match on Friday. But Deer Creek has a pretty good team, so that still doesn't mean you won't lose your money. Anyway, I'm going home."
"Wait," Victoria said. Everyone looked at her, with the false hope that she would make everything better. "How are you getting home? We drove you here." She hit Finn in the arm. "Give me your keys," she said. Finn fumbled in his pockets and produced his keys. "I'll take you."
"Thanks," Ellis said. "That's very nice of you." He and Victoria walked out of the room.
"So," Keith said after they had left, looking at Finn. "We're supposed to hate each other too I guess?" Finn let out a very non jovial laugh.
"I think there's enough of that going around," Finn said. "It's nice to meet you Keith." They shook hands. Lane smiled, and filled Keith in on everything that had happened that semester. Lane jumped out of his seat when the doorbell rang.
"How is he?" he said to Victoria. He stepped back to let her inside.
"How do you think?"
"Right. Well, thanks for getting him home anyway."
"He'll be fine," Finn said. "He takes himself too seriously you know." Lane looked at Finn, shell shocked after hearing those words. It was this, exactly. Ellis did take himself too seriously, but it was that seriousness that gave him passion and focus; it was that seriousness that made him dress impeccably and that allowed him to stare directly into Lane's soul without flinching. It was that seriousness and that sense of purpose with which Lane had fallen in love.
Everyone left, and he still had a few hours before Taylor and his parents would be home. He picked up an old habit; he went into his bedroom, turned on some loud music and poured himself a scotch.
--
Ellis was not at school on Monday. Lane was not surprised, and he was also almost too hung over to notice. He drank a large coffee in the morning, and then a second one while he worked frantically to get through his work for the paper and his classes, so he could start drinking again. Figuring out what exactly it was that he loved about Ellis assured Lane that he should absolutely be with Ellis. Given what happened, that ship had sailed. It was he who had fucked everything up. It was Lane who—aside from his own betrayals—had taken Keith's side over his boyfriend's and not said anything until he was confronted. How must Ellis have felt?
The smooth shot of scotch after a hard morning's work helped Lane to not think about it. He was drunk again during Friday's game. Taylor had tried to get in touch with Ellis; tried to ask Lane what was going on; but he got a very non- specific answer in a tone that made him realize he should stop asking. Taylor's questions about Ellis made Lane worry though. Ellis was clearly not in a good place, but missing an entire week of school was not at all like him.
Ellis was not there the following Monday either. Lane was worried, and he was sober. He had English with Mrs. Jackson last period. She asked for volunteers to help re-organize some books in the library after class. Lane and Victoria were the only ones. She told them what to do and left them alone for a while to go collect some more books from her office.
"So, how's loverboy?" Victoria said. "I notice he hasn't been coming to school."
"Yeah, so how should I know how he is?"
"Haven't you talked to him?"
"I texted him a couple of times, but I figured I should give him his space." She rolled her eyes.
"Wow, boys really are idiots," she said.
"Great," Lane said. "I'm really not in the mood to argue with that, so let's just get this done." She shrugged, and they continued to work.
"Do you know what we talked about when I drove him home?"
"Nope," Lane said. "But let me guess, you're going to tell me?"
"You don't have to get snippy."
"You're right, I'm sorry. What did you talk about?"
"You, mostly. We talked about the situation with all three of you idiots. But mainly you. Despite everything, he really cares about you. He doesn't want to fight with you; he doesn't want to be angry with you. Any of you. I think he just doesn't feel like he has a choice."
"Well sure he does. Like I said, I tried to text him, and—"
"And it's been over a week, and he hasn't been coming to school. If he were just ignoring you that's one thing. But whatever he's doing not in school is obviously some sort of self destructive bullshit. He needs you Lane. He needs you to go over and talk to him and assure him that you love him. Or like him, or whatever it is you two have going on. And then he needs Finn to do the same. And maybe Keith, though I don't know how forgivable that one is."
"Thanks for that Victoria, now I'm even more worried about him."
"So why don't you go over there and see him?"
"Because genius, what makes you think he'll let me into his house?" She shrugged again. But then she stopped what she was doing, looked at Lane and smiled.
"Just make sure he sees you." Lane glanced at his watch. Ellis' parents likely would not be home for a while, so if Ellis got upset, it would at least not be in front of them.
"Okay, I'll try. Listen, will you—"
"Yes, go." Lane put down the books he had in his hand and rushed towards the door. "Wait," he said. He ran back to her and took her into his arms. "Thanks Victoria. Really, thank you." He let her go. "I'm glad Finn has you." She blushed, then hurried him along.
--
Lane rushed to the Hunter's office and drank a very small shot of scotch, to steady himself before driving to Ellis'. The butterflies in his stomach flapped their wings more heavily as he got closer, but he was alright as long as driving was giving him something to do. Once he parked, he knew he would lose his nerve. As much as he wanted to see Ellis, he was scared about Ellis' reaction; he was scared that Ellis would refuse to talk to him.
Lane did not allow himself to dawdle in his car. He was glad to see only Ellis' car in the driveway. He got out immediately after he turned off the engine, walked deliberately up to the front door and rang the doorbell. He took a deep breath and waited. He rang the bell again and waited. He was up to five rings. Lane jumped, startled, when he heard a voice behind him say "what the fuck are you doing here."
Lane turned around. Ellis was standing behind him, covered in sweat. He was wearing a pair of blue shorts, and had a grey t-shirt slung over his shoulder. He looked incredible, especially after a week of not seeing him. His body was glistening; his muscles were irresistible. Lane felt like he could not stand anymore. He swallowed and pulled himself together.
"Were, umm, were you running?" Lane said.
"Great job Sherlock. Now, what the fuck are you doing here."
"I came to see you." Ellis rolled his eyes.
"I'm not interested. Now, if you'll please just fuck off, I really need a shower. I just ran six miles."
"Oh, wow, that's ... umm ... a lot. Hey, I can help you?" Lane said. This time the smile on his face was more genuine, and he felt himself relaxing.
"Fucking pervert," Ellis said. The smile immediately disappeared from Lane's face, and he took a step backwards.
"I-umm—I was just kidding," Lane said, looking at the ground. "I was trying to lighten the mood. Okay, fine, I'll go. Sorry, I just—" He felt Ellis' hand briefly touch his shoulder.
"Just come inside," Ellis said. Lane looked at him and nodded his head.