Trevor spent the remainder of his afternoon feeling guilty. He had never been in a fight before. That’s what happened out there on the football field between him and Jacob, that was a fight, he was pretty sure of it. Fights generally had winners, but Trev couldn’t tell who that was in this case. He had a busted lip, and he felt incredibly ashamed, so maybe that made him the loser? Crap… he was going to have to explain this lip to his fathers.
Staring in the visor mirror of his army green Jeep Wrangler, Trevor pondered what he would say. He couldn’t really lie to them, he loved his dads too much to lie about it. There was that, and the fact that Trevor wasn’t really capable of telling lies, unless they were the little white variety, intended to make someone else feel better. Trev sighed deeply and rubbed his hands over his face. The back of his head throbbed dully as constant reminder of the altercation that he would rather just forget about. This sucked.
He would find Riley first, Rye would know what to do. Hopefully. There was that, and he had been meaning to find Riley all day, after witnessing the crapstorm that was the Morning Show. Something was up with his little brother, and he wasn’t about to let that go undiscussed. Kicking off the engine, Trev grabbed his backpack and tossed his keys in his jeans pocket. He hoped his dads, specifically Remy, weren’t immediately at the door awaiting his arrival, so that he could find Rye.
The Wells household usually smelled delicious. Rem was always cooking or baking something fantastic, and today seemed to be no exception. Trev inhaled the pleasant aroma of something sweet and fragrant with herbs. The sounds of pots and pans could be heard from the kitchen, along with the murmur of a conversation. Good — dads were busy. Trevor headed upstairs to his brother’s room... and found it empty. Darn. He should be home by now, he hadn’t texted Trev saying that he needed a ride or anything.
There was one other place that Rye would likely be, especially if he was having as bad of a day as Trev thought he might be. The treehouse. Trevor quietly made his way to the backdoor, managing to successfully avoid the attention of his fathers again. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and Trevor retrieved it to read a message from Brian Helmsley in their group chat.
From: The Dream Team
I heard about Damian getting kicked off. I already texted the coach; but I'll be taking my leave from the team, too.
Trevor stared down at the phone, deeply disturbed by the words he was reading. So much so, that he stopped walking in the middle of the backyard, and read them over three times, hoping that they would change. They didn’t. The team was losing both Damian, and Brian,
and Jacob was suddenly on a rampage. Great… the BHHS football team was likely doomed.
The redhead’s first thought was to try to call Damian, to see what he knew about this. Maybe the ex-captain could convince Bri to stay on the team. No such luck, though, because Trevor’s call went straight to voicemail. Whatever, he’d deal with that later too, he guessed. Back to the task at hand. Trev approached the treehouse that had grown with the Wells boys throughout their childhood, and climbed up the ladder.
Riley was indeed in the treehouse, lying on the ground, staring at the small, hanging light bulb pendant that his dad installed three years ago. Jareth, not Remy. Remy was far too clumsy to handle something like that, but he’d at least whine to dad until he and his brother got what they wanted. Every year, their treehouse would upgrade a little. It was starting to be more like a guest house on top of a tree than a playhouse for children. The dark haired boy was having a pretty shitty day and now he was staring at a text from someone with the first initial ‘B’ saying he was joining as a co-host. How odd. How omnious. How annoying. The anonymous person even told him to call by 10:30 tonight. Why did he only put B instead of his name? There were a lot of kids with B names at their school.
Pocketing his phone, Riley wondered how his brother would feel about him almost making Savannah cry. She may have kept her composure, but Rye knew his words were harsh and ruthless. He basically called her story dumb and pointless without meaning to. There were better ways to give constructive criticism. Who’s he kidding? He didn’t really care about that.
What the boy cared about was losing his brother to someone else. To a girl, who could and would do things that Rye would never do, which ultimately would make Trevor extremely caught up and enthralled with her. Riley had no doubt Jamie had a thing for Marshall, because his expression after they came out the closet wouldn’t be engraved in his damn mind if he didn’t. And somehow, Riley took part in ruining whatever chance those two could’ve had together. At least that’s how it felt like. And now he can’t just be happy for his brother, because he knows things won’t be the same once he and Savannah announce they’re boyfriend and girlfriend.
Shit was stupid.
The trap door-like patch of floorboards at the entrance of the treehouse flipped over, and up popped a tuft of red hair. They had to widen the entranceway two years ago, so Trev could actually fit though it. He was a wide dude these days, thanks to his friendly competition with Damian. Trevor looked around the treehouse and saw Riley… laying on the floor.
“Oh, good. You’re here.” Trev said quietly and pulled himself all the way up, closing the door behind him. The eldest Wells brother sat down cross-legged next to Riley.
“I wanted to talk to you about… stuff.”“Stuff?” Rye looked up at his brother’s face, noticing his lip, before bringing his attention back to the ceiling,
“Like you and Jacob duking it out on the field? You know when dad sees your face he’s going to flip.” Straight to business. Never one to dance around subjects, unless they dealt with him. They’re here to talk, so they’re going to talk. Riley wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t waiting for Trevor to seek him out.
“Err—” Trevor looked both uncomfortable, and incredibly guilty.
“So… you heard about that… does, like, everyone know? And, I know he is, that’s why I came to you first.”Sitting up, Riley shook his head,
“Nope. Not yet. But I’m sure that’ll be one of the many things talked about tomorrow.” Taking out his phone once more he opened the Weekend Warrior, scanning Sunday’s post, before saying,
“Savannah told me.” “Oh.” Yeah, there was that. Surprisingly enough, Trev had yet to reflect on the fact that Savannah saw the fight. Of course she had, she was right there in the bleachers, and whether or not she knew it, her presence was partially the cause of the scuffle. Trev went to chew on his lip anxiously, and then winced. That stung.
“Jacob said some really out of line stuff. That’s not the reason it happened, you know me, I can handle smack talk, but like… he was out of his mind. He tackled me, and threatened to hurt her too. It was… wild. I think the team is pretty doomed.”Trevor sighed, letting the anxieties and frustrations out in that breath. At least, he tried too. This isn’t all that he had come up here to talk about, though. Something was wrong in Ryeland, so this conversation should go both ways.
“And you? What was this morning about? …that wasn’t really like you, either.”No, it wasn’t. He was right. Briefly dodging the question, Riley looked at his brother’s lip again,
“Did you clean your lip and apply antiseptic lotion?” Not waiting for his brother’s reply, Riley picked himself up and went to the bathroom, yes bathroom, in their treehouse, and got the first aid kit. His dad was super paranoid sometimes.
“What? And face dad like this? …no way.” Trevor responded to his brother, who was already up and walking away. That quick shift in subject wasn’t a good sign. Something must really be bothering him. At the sound of Trev’s slightly louder speaking volume, there was a rustling sound in the room to the left. Probably a spooked squirrel or something.
When he returned, only then did he respond, while cleaning his brother’s face to lessen their father’s reaction,
“Trixie is doing this new thing, which is why Brynn is a co-host now. I have a feeling the newspaper club isn’t doing so hot. I don’t know how I feel about her, she’s kind of a bitch, but then again, the majority of the girls at our school are kind of bitches.” Dancing around the actual issue.
“Doesn’t help that A Double bailed. Though, I gotta give Owen credit. That stuff was hilarious.” Riley
really didn’t want to mention Jamie or Marshall, maybe his brother wouldn’t notice him avoiding his eyes…
“Yeah, Owen’s camera skills were pretty laughable.” Trev joked, glad that Riley wasn’t super upset about that side of the wayward show. His face grew more serious, though, because all of that still didn’t explain his behavior. That, and Riley was looking anywhere
but at Trevor… despite the fact that he was actively trying to fix his face.
“You sure that’s it? You don’t seem okay.”Riley kind of sucked at hiding his feelings from Trevor. Granted, if he really was trying. he wouldn’t be in the treehouse.
“I think I fucked something good up.” Going to this school ‘fucking good things up’ seemed like a common trend. Not once did anyone suspect Owen and Trixie were having issues until the scandal broke out.
“...but that doesn’t matter! How does it feel liking someone? You know, Damian being at dinner will totally make dad keep all his emotions on the inside, and worst case, you can totally tell him you have a thing for Savannah.” His brother’s happiness did matter to him, even if that meant they wouldn’t be close anymore. He wasn’t going to fuck his brother’s life up like he did to Jamie and Marshall. Even if it made him grit his teeth a little.
Trevor was gonna ask about Damian coming over, which he wasn’t aware of, but was never unlikely, when Riley quickly switched the subject again.
“Savan—” Trev’s surprised response was cut off by the sound of more rustling. This sounded bigger than a squirrel, maybe a raccoon? Both of the Wells boys were looking cautiously in the direction of the sound — Trevor being ready to potentially fight off any rabid beast that might jump out at them.
A rabid beast appeared in the form of a short emo boy. JD stepped out of the nap room, his hair sticking up in all different directions, and there were red imprints along his cheeks in the from of crinkled sleeping bag material. He looked sleepy, and yawned as he stretched in the doorway.
“Dixon — what are you doing here?” Trev asked in surprise. At least he didn’t have to fight off a wild critter. Although, that description could be used to accurately describe the honorary youngest Wells sibling just as much as it could a rabid raccoon. There were certainly some similarities.
“Huh?” JD rubbed his eyes and then blinked a few times at the older redhead.
“Whaddyu mean? I was waiting for you guys… but, I guess I fell asleep. It’s the first day back at school, so we have family dinner. ‘Member? It’s like… tradition. Even if my parents are home.”“Have you…” Been here this entire time? Riley’s cheeks may have turned a little pink.
“You were asleep, right? You didn’t hear anything?” He cleared his throat. The last thing Riley needed was JD hearing him talk to himself about his issues regarding two boys. He loved JD, don’t get him wrong, but JD wasn’t Trevor, and Riley was having a hard enough time telling his actual brother.
“What? Yeah… I was asleep. Why, were you guys talking about something good? C’mon, spill, I’m old enough!” The young teen grinned expectantly. What could the older boys be talking about that they would be scared of him overhearing besides something
racy? Maybe one of them had a girlfriend… or… a boyfriend?
Waving his hands, Riley tried to change the subject yet again,
“It’s nothing, nothing! We were just talking about Trevor and his girl.” Yes, use your brother as a distraction. Throw Trevor to the JD.
“Oh, well, uhh. Yeah, I mean, I hope she could be. I kinda did ask her to the movie this weekend.” Trevor admitted sheepishly, but a wide, proud smile crept across his face. He didn’t care if it hurt his split lip, Savannah was worth smiling through the pain.
“WHAT?”
The two boys exclaimed in near perfect unison. Dixon then followed it up with an additional question.
“Who?!”“Why so soon?!” Unfortunately, their queries were not answered, as the trap door burst open again, and Damian’s head popped up,
“What’s up, boyos?” Damian asked as he pulled himself up into the treehouse. He looked around at the crew that had assembled, and grinned. The gang was mostly all here!
“I dunno if Trevor told you guys, but I’m gonna be stayin’ here for like, a couple of weeks probably. Until my mom calms down.” Damian explained, something that he had not yet even told Trevor. He’d even barely mentioned it to Remy in passing while slipping inside the Wells residence.
Suddenly, the treehouse had four grown teens in close proximity to each other. Cracking his knuckles, slightly uneasy, because he was slowly getting the courage to tell Trevor about the closet incident, Riley nodded his head, acknowledging Damian’s troubles,
“Yeah… she was intense.” This boy right here got front rows seats to the ex-jock’s mom and her fury.
“Dude, I think she’s lost her whole mind. I dunno what got into her, but I’m screwed at home, until I have something… better to distract her with? I dunno. Anyway, what’s going on here? Anything cool happening in my absence?” Damian asked, digging into his pocket and pulling out two protein bars, one peanut butter fudge flavored, and one cinnamon roll flavored, and then he offered the cinnamon roll one to Trevor.
“Here, dude. I always bring two for you, so… here.” Damian explained, shrugging his shoulders as he smiled at his best friend.
“Fantastic.” Trevor responded, happily accepting the protein bar. Dinner was probably soon, but he had football practice today, and that always left him hungry enough to eat at least two full dinners. Let alone having practice
and a fist fight.
“You know what’s not fantastic, though? Brian’s message. Did you get that? — also, your phone was off earlier.”“Dude, believe me, I know it’s off. I shut it off because I knew mom would be blowing it up, and I was trying to get it in.” Damian explained, to which JD raised his eyebrows. Damian pulled his phone out and stared at it. He wasn’t exactly sure if he should boot it up quite yet… He sat it down on the floor between them,
“I don’t exactly want to turn it on now? Uh, I was talking to Brian though. I think he found out about the Weekend Warrior and the way it framed You Know Who, and got pretty upset. From what I gather, he’s on his way home to ‘make them pay for it,’ but I don’t know what that means, really.” Damian explained, rolling his eyes.
“Why? Did he put something in the group chat?”“Yeah… he quit the team, dude. Apparently already told Coach, too. So, basically… we’re toast this season.” Trevor sounded utterly defeated, and deflated. Damian probably didn’t want to hear about the football team, but Trev was nothing if not a completely honest person. Football was a big part of both of their lives, so he couldn’t really delete it out of their conversations entirely.
“Also, Jacob pretty much attacked me today. He wants captain like, really bad or something. The team’s a mess, bro.”“That reminds me…” Riley rubbed his head and gave his brother a sheepish smile,
“I might have critiqued Savannah’s article about you—err, the team pretty harshly.” “Is that the who? Savannah?” Dixon chimed in inquisitively. If the boys weren’t going to explain, he’d have to sleuth it out. Savannah was a unique name… he didn’t really know a lot of upperclassmen, or upperclasswomen, but he could probably figure out who she was with a name like that.
Damian had to think about things, and process the information that had been presented to him. Jacob had attacked him? Brian quit the team? What was going on in this school? Shit was out of whack…
“He quit the team, really? That’s crazy. That like, really sucks. He’s pretty key in the whole… winning thing we have going on, y’know? So I don’t know what we’re gonna do about that. And Jacob attacked you? … let’s jump his ass.” Damian wasn’t a big fan of Jacob, anyway.
“Damian, you really don’t need another article about you.” The last thing Trevor’s best friend needed was more dirt for the Weekend Warrior. Riley knew if Damian wanted things to calm down about him, he’d have to stay lowkey. Plus, Riley really didn’t want his brother to make it to a headliner post of that blog.
“That, and I already have to try to explain this away.” Trevor pointed to his lip.
“Dad’s gonna freak, and I need y’all to back me up. You and me gotta have a set of parents to stay with for the next few weeks, Dames. We can’t jump anyone until your mom’s feeling less crazy.” Rye gave his brother a quick dirty look. What the hell, Trevor?
“Kidding.” Trev said in response to Rye’s glare. Jeez, he was high strung these days.
“Guess you got a point. Could crash at the Helmsley’s, though. I bet Brian would be okay with it… Geez, he busted you, huh? I hope you beat his fucking ass bad, dude. If you didn’t, I just might.” Damian said, frowning.
“Hey, are we gonna ask about my night, or what?”Trevor shrugged in response to Damian saying that he hoped Trev beat Jake’s ass. Did he? He certainly wasn’t the only one who took hits… he just didn’t stick around long enough to know what Jacob looked like after the fact. Instead of Trevor, Dixon responded.
“Who was the lucky lady this time?”Damian grinned. It was time to talk about his night! He liked doing this; call it a bragging thing, but he loved it. Damian clapped his hands together, and began to talk about his night.
“It was Joy Darling. I didn’t get it in yet, but I almost did, so that’s good enough for me. She was in, like, short shorts… really, really short shorts, and one of those shirts that girls wear when they go to sleep that are like super hot. I don’t know what they’re called, but I know she wore it and it was hot and I want her to wear it again. But, like, I got distracted? Because she put on AWE, and I… I really like AWE, okay? I can’t help it. So I stopped sucking on her tongue to watch part of it and she got pretty upset, then I did the whole thing where I take off my shirt and she was super duper into it, then I went to take her shirt off and like the kid she was babysitting showed up, and he hit me in the face… not as hard as Trevor got bopped, but anyway. He wanted to wrestle. So I wrestled him! And I fucked him up, cuz he’s a kid. Then we played Mario Kart and then I left and now I’m here. Anyway, that’s my night. Now I can look Ender in the eyes and say ‘I’ve slapped your daughter’s ass and groped her boobs.’ Not that I would, because he’d probably… kill me. Like, with a gun?” Damian said, absently fiddling with the ring on his necklace.
“Wait. Joy? Most likely to be valedictorian Joy? The girl who could do a rubix cube really fucking fast… Joy? The one who probably should be a mathlete but avoids all school clubs Joy?” Riley could go on and on and on about Joy and her quirks… but Damian most definitely got the point. This didn’t sound like her at all, but what did Riley know! His brother seemed like he would fight Jacob again once things calmed down. That didn’t sound like Trevor either.
“Yep! One and the same. We’re totally a thing now, I’ve resolved to make her mine and this was just me sealing the deal.” Damian explained, grinning widely.
“That’s why I’m in such a good mood even though I didn’t technically get laid. I have a girlfriend now. So that’s new! It’s the first time, I think… But I really dig her, so it’s all good. I mean, she puked on me. So she has to want to date me, right?”What the hell was Riley’s life? Everyone was getting
girlfriends. First Trevor, now Damian. Riley snapped his head to JD and barked,
“Do you have someone I don’t know about?” “W-what?” Dixon’s cheeks flushed red hot at that. His mind immediately wandered to someone, but that… that just pissed him
right the fuck off. Crinkling his eyebrows together, he practically grimaced at Riley and snapped:
“No! Of course not!” JD crossed his arms in a thoroughly grumpy gesture.
“HEY!” A familiar voice called up the ladder of the treehouse.
“Sup, Pops?” Trevor called back down to his father — the one that would be slightly less likely to freak about his afterschool activities.
“Dinner’s ready. Get your asses at the table, all four of ‘em. I know you’re all here, and Rem cooked enough for a damn army.”
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