Decadent
Authors: Elaine White
This Book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
©Text Copyright 2014 Elaine White
Cover by Rue Volley
Edited by Elizabeth A. Lance for Hot Ink Press
All rights reserved
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.
Contents
Today was the day.
Today, Lachlan was going to tell her that he loved her. He and Orion had been dating for nearly six months and he had finally come to the realisation that he was falling in love with her. It was time to say that out loud and see if she felt the same.
He didn't want to do it at school, but she worked so much lately that they barely ever got time alone outside of school to be together. Orion worked at a local newsagents before and after school and at a dance studio answering phones on the weekend. It was Thursday already and he only had forty-eight hours before her entire weekend was filled with people other than him.
Lachlan had always appreciated that she was a hard worker, in both school and work, but now he was beginning to see the downside. He worked at a bar on weekends and any night of the week when he wasn't busy with school work so he could grab a few extra hours and some extra cash. He always thought that it was a great thing that they both worked. The loss of time spent together was nothing considering that they had seven days a week at school to spend together. But now that he had something so important to say
, he realised there were downfalls to every well thought conceived plan.
“Well, did you decide yet?”
Lachlan turned from staring into the dark abyss of his locker to find his best friend Konnor waiting for an answer. He was his usual laid back self, leaning on the locker next to his, hands in his pockets. He'd called him last night to tell him it was time to say those three fated words to Orion. Although he had his support, he was nervous. “What if she doesn't feel the same? Maybe I should wait,” he wondered, chewing his lower lip.
“Lachlan, mate, you are the most popular guy in school. Loved by everyone. Girls think you're hot. You were voted most likely to succeed and most likely to earn millions as the next big thing in writing. What girl doesn't want to be in love with you?” Konnor asked, with that same look in his eyes as always. Whenever he tried to convince his best bud of something he got that mischievous 'don't trust me' look that told Lachlan he was wading deep into trouble.
“So, I ask again, because I'm that generous…did you decide yet? Or are you going to be a punk-ass and chicken out?” he asked teasingly, trying to provoke Lachlan into making a decision. It was lunch time already, half the day had gone by and he still hadn't made his mind up.
“I'm not a punk-ass. I'm going to say it, but
I don't want to do it at school,” He explained and watched Konnor raise a suspicious eyebrow at him. He thought he was chickening out, so Lachlan gave him the answer he was looking for: when, where, how and what time. “I'm going to head over to her work after school and ask to speak to her on her break,” he continued with a sigh. He was going to do it. He was. Eventually.
“So she's all inked up from newspaper print, looking like shit and feeling groggy, bored out of her mind until you come along like Prince Charming, saying the L word? I'm not sure sh
e'll thank you for that Lachlan,” Konnor complained.
“When the hell else am I supposed to do it?”
“I don't know. At her house. In the park. Take her on a date.” Konnor rolled his eyes and scuffed his shoe across the floor.
It was all fine and well for him to complain about his plan, but he didn't have a girlfriend. He kept saying he was bored with high school girls, that he was waiting for the last six weeks of school to pass, the summer holidays to fade and then he was getting stuck into the college girls on campus.
“Look, we don't have time for that. Orion works all the hours she's not at school, leaving me with no alternative. I've barely seen her in the last two weeks, so when am I supposed to get her alone to tell her? And I can't complain about how much she works because she's trying to get enough money so she can travel over summer.” Lachlan saw what Konnor was saying, but wanted him to know that he didn't have much choice.
Orion was smart, cute as a button and sensible. She wanted to work and earn her own money. All so her folks weren't paying out money they couldn't afford to lose just to cater to her wish to see a little of the world before she went to college. Being so responsible and thoughtful was one of the things he most loved about her. It was something they had in common.
“You know, I don't get you two. You're popular, smart and everyone loves you…but the pair of you are boring,” Konnor objected. “Once, I want to see you do something dangerous. I want you to take a risk and live your life properly instead of trying to conform to so called 'civilisation',” he grumbled.
Lachlan knew Konnor had a point. He had been working his whole life to be the same clean living, respectable g
uy that his father was. “Bud,” he closed his locker and wrapped his arm around his neck, “I promise that this summer, while Orion is away, we will get down and dirty and you can get me into a heap load of trouble. Hell, I'd even let you get me arrested if you'd come out of this funk you're in,” he promised, laughing at the way Konnor instantly brightened.
“Arrested?” he asked, as if that was something he dearly wanted to see happen.
So Lachlan nodded; what was a little arrest for joyriding or being drunk and disorderly amongst friends?
“I swear.” He crossed his heart, cheekily, as if to cement his promise.
“And a strip club? And maybe a joint or two?” Konnor requested, clearly intending to take full advantage of the offer while it was on the table.
“No drugs. You're crazy enough without them. But I might resort to the strip club if you can be persuasive enough.” He laughed with him as they made a move towards their first class after the lunch break. Konnor was grinning ear to ear, babbling about possible plans for the summer. Lachlan knew he'd probably regret it, but he didn't care. They had made the decision to go to the same college and take the same classes so they could stay best friends.
This summer was theirs. To do what they wanted, act crazy, be stupid. Before Orion got back and he made the decision to take his confession of love one step further.
***
Lachlan practically raced out of his last class of the day and out the front door of the building to the parking lot. He caught Orion, ducking into her car and ran over at full speed.
“Orion!” he called, as he neared her car. He wanted a second or two to ask if he could see her during her break at work and to find out what time that might be. But a few steps from her car she drove off and he could only let out a sigh of frustration.
“Hey bud, did you catch her?” Konnor shouted.
Lachlan turned to see him standing by his own car, a Jeep with the top down to take advantage of the sun. He was three cars away so instead of shouting he walked over, deflated.
“I missed her.” He sighed and glanced back at the gates of the school entrance. Konnor's hand appeared on his arm and he shook his head to clear it of his disheartening thoughts. He was convinced Orion had heard him. He saw a moment of recognition, where she almost turned to face him, when her shoulders tensed up. He couldn't understand why she would ignore him like that.
“You hungry? My folks are working late, so we could go back to mine, put some burgers on the grill and have ourselves some chill out time?” Konnor suggested hopefully.
Lachlan considered it. Heck, he was considering abandoning the idea of his confession of love altogether after that strange display by Orion. He hadn't had a chance to speak to her properly all day. When he caught her in class, either she or the teacher shushed him whenever he tried to talk to her. When he saw her in the corridors she always seemed to be ducking around the corner heading away from him. Something wasn't right.
“Sounds good. But we have homework, so no chilling out until it's done.” Lachlan made a compromise, unsurprised that Konnor rolled his eyes and groaned.
“Man, you have to stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Homework!” Konnor laughed as he unlocked his car door and signalled for him to climb in. He walked round the car and took the passenger seat, waiting until Konnor was in the driver’s side before talking.
“Homework is important. It's all the stuff
you need to know for the exams,” he argued lightly as he automatically reached out and turned down the radio volume, at the same time as Konnor turned the ignition key. The music blasted at an ear-splitting intensity for barely a moment before it lowered to something Lachlan could stomach.
“No, Lachlan. Homework is a pile of shit the teachers give you to keep you from having a life outside of school. It's a bunch of worthless crap that is designed to keep you up at night. When the hell are we ever going to need to know at what time two trains travelling at the same speed on different tracks are going to intersect?” Konnor counteracted his argument with one of his own.
“You might if you become a train driver,” Lachlan reasoned. He was hit on the arm, harder than normal. They both laughed at the same time. “I'm so glad we're both going to Briarwood. I couldn't stand to lose you as a friend.” He sighed as he made the admission, leaning his head back on the headrest. He thanked their lucky stars that they'd both been accepted to the local college.
“Hey, who said you'd lose me if I went elsewhere?” Konnor asked with a frown. “Kid, we could be at the opposite ends of the world and we'd still b
e the best of friends,” he reassured him.
Lachlan smiled at that promise and watched the road as his thoughts swirled restlessly. At least if this strange attitude adjustment took Orion from him, he still had his best friend.
***
Konnor sat and watched L
achlan doing his homework. Basketball was on the TV, with the sound off. He was watching the game rather than doing his essay, which was supposed to be finished for class on Monday. He would probably leave it for last thing on Sunday night or hand it over to Lachlan to finish on Monday morning. Until then he occupied his mind with other things. Like Lachlan's strange behaviour.
If he wasn't mistaken, he saw the signs in his friend that he was going to do something stupid. He wasn't just going to tell Orion he loved her tonight. No, his plans were bigger than that.
They'd talked about college non-stop for the last year and he knew that Orion was going to the same place as them, purely by coincidence. The art program she wanted to do was exclusive to Briarwood and the English Literature course Lachlan wanted to take was there too. Konnor refused to live without him so he signed up there too, choosing all the same classes.
He thought he'd done all the mental preparation for college that he could. He wasn't certain where Lachlan's head was at. He had a nasty suspicion that after his preparation he hadn't anticipated the worst possible scenario. He had considered everything, from college making Lachlan even more boring and more of a geek than before
, to having the effect it had on most ordinary teenage boys. Namely, turning him into a sex mad, party goer who never studied. Konnor had prepared himself for either eventuality.
What he hadn't counted on was Orion getting in the way. Which she would. Because he now knew Lachlan's big secret. It had taken him a while, but he had worked his way through the linguistic hoops he'd been spinning in the last few weeks to come to a conclusion.
Lachlan was going to propose to Orion once they were in college. It was unacceptable.
“Hey bud, do you mind grabbing me a drink from the fridge? I'm gettin
g into the swing of things here,” he lied, as he looked up to find Lachlan engrossed in his math equations. He looked surprised to hear his excuse, but nodded and quickly left the room.
Konnor knew he couldn't pass up an opportunity to help out if he thought he was doing his homework. So he stared after Lachlan until he was out of the room and grabbed his mobile off the coffee table. He muttered to himself as he pulled up the messages page and sent a new message to Orion.
“We need to talk. Meet me outside school, early tomorrow morning. Love, Lachlan,” he whispered to himself, before pressing send. It was hard to remember to be a good boy and spell every word and not use his usual text talk. That would be a dead giveaway that it wasn't Lachlan texting if he acted like a normal teenager.
Konnor waited until the text had sent and deleted the evidence. There was no answer from Orion, so he only hoped that she didn't think it needed a reply. She would either show up or she wouldn't bother. But if she did, he was going to have a word with her about what she was doing to Lachlan.
He had a sneaky suspicion that Orion wasn't the marrying kind, but even if she was he was going to talk her out of it. Lachlan did not need to get married. Ever. Certainly not at eighteen. Konnor was only trying to protect him and if Orion said no or asked him to wait that would give him time to come up with a more permanent plan. Lachlan was too nice to get screwed over or to throw himself into a marriage so early on.
If Lachlan and Orion got married at any point before their twentieth birthdays he would be condemning himself to a boring, constricted life. Worse still - a boring, constricted life with a prissy little wife, perfect kids and a house in the suburbs with a damned white picket fence. He couldn't allow it. Lachlan needed to live his life before destroying it.
