The Rhodes Method

twenty-seven

It's your teeth in my neck
Your teeth in my neck
Don't you wanna get to know you?
Baby, take it slower, slower
Wow, baby, take it slow
--- Your Teeth In My Neck, Kali Uchis

OCTAVIA RHODES

As I cannot fall asleep, Reid and I sit on the back porch stairs and watch the empty midnight sky.

Cole fell asleep in one of the guest rooms a while ago and Damien is somewhere in this huge house. According to Reid, he's probably drinking, but for my own peace of mind, Reid corrected himself and suggested that he might be asleep instead. 

The rooms are pretty spaced apart, as the guest rooms sit on the third floor, whilst the larger two master bedrooms are located on the second floor. Reid has informed me that Damien chose to sleep in one of the guest rooms so that they could each have a room to themselves, but it seems that now Cole and I have interrupted their plans. So Cole sleeps in a room away from Damien and I sleep one door down from Reid.

"It's a very nice house," I comment absentmindedly, but my head isn't in the conversation.

Reid chuckles but doesn't respond. We've been bouncing around between meaningless conversations but neither of us has made a motion to head to bed yet.

"How do you know Cole?"

My eyes do not stray away from the lonely moon. "A school friend, like he said."

"But how well do you know him?"

I finally rip my eyes away and study his expression. Reid could not be more different from Cole personality-wise, but their appearances are pretty different too. Reid's skin is darker and his eyes are softer. Under the shadows of the night, his brown eyes have a dark tint to them, almost making him appear a little older than he is. His hair is a little shorter than Cole's, a little more cropped and tame.

"Not that well. He's Myles' friend, so my brother is pretty much all we discuss." 

I know that's kind of a lie. But I don't know what the truth is — because Cole and I aren't good friends and we still know nothing about each other. I could probably count the number of conversations we'd had with my fingers, so I realise how stupid it was to bring him along with me. I could have caught a bus like my original plan.

"Okay then," Reid responds a little unsurely. Questions burn at the tip of his tongue, but instead of asking them, he remains silent.

So, I ask instead, "Why weren't you on my side before?" At my words, Reid falters. He swallows uneasily and won't meet my eye. "I told Damien to come home and you didn't say anything. Are you really okay with him staying here? You'll have to go back eventually."

"It's summer break," Reid informs me as if I don't know. "We have time."

"After summer break then?" I sit forward, leaning into him. "What then? You'll go back and he'll stay here?"

Reid gives me a miserable smile. "I can't force him, Tavia," is what he tells me.

I shake my head. "You can. You're his best friend; he'll listen to you before he listens to me."

Reid scoffs and doesn't respond to that comment. He reasons, "If I kick him out, if I tell him to go home, then Damien will leave. He'll find somewhere else to stay but he certainly isn't going home. At least here, I can make sure he doesn't drink himself to death." The word 'death' almost makes me flinch. Reid immediately changes his tone of voice, from what was a little stern, to something kinder, warm. "You know he can't go home, Tav. You know."