Call it Fate, Call it Karma

Delinquents

We rushed up the stairs and down the hallway until we made it to Albert and I's apartment door. I started knocking frantically. We got back 2 minutes later than we should have, so we were all praying Albert hadn't gone to bed.

"Albert, please!" I whined, pressing my face up against the door to listen for any sound of life. "We're sorry."

Fab pushed me aside and knocked louder. "C'mon, dude. Open up!"

As Fab pleaded over and over again, I slid down the wall with a yawn. Julian joined me on the floor crosslegged and I slouched against him. "It's no use." I said to Fab as I lazily lay my head on Julian's lap. As much as I didn't want to sleep in the hallway, I just couldn't stay awake any longer. I let out a soft groan as Julian gently ran his fingers through my hair.

It wasn't long before Fabrizio gave up knocking. He lifted my legs up so he could sit down and then he placed them atop of his.

"Albert sucks." I said through a yawn, looking up to see that Julian was fast asleep. I giggled to myself as I reached my arm up and poked his cheek.

Fab nudged me. "You suck for not bringing your key."

"Goodnight." I sighed, closing my eyes. Fab huffed and leant his head back against the wall.

We drifted off to sleep quite quickly, despite our uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, and before we knew it, we were woken up quite rudely.

The creak of a door and some footsteps caused me open my eyes a little.

"There's my little delinquents." Albert's voice made me curl up in Julian's lap as some sort of sad defence mechanism.

"Please don't kill me!" I yelped, waking up the other two.

Albert pushed open the door wider and stepped aside. "Get inside right now."

I slowly climbed off Julian and stood up, then avoiding all eye contact with Albert by staring at the floor as I slowly walked inside followed by Fab and Jules. We all slumped onto the couch and awaited our death sentence.

Albert sat himself on the edge of the coffee table across from us with a sigh. "Where did you guys go?"

"We went to get food." I said weakly.

"I don't believe you." he shook his head. "You were out feeding bad habits again, weren't you?"

I gasped at his assumption. "No! I swear!"

"We just went to a diner." said Julian. "Chill out, man!"

We all turned to Fab to see if he would interject too, but he was fast asleep with his head in an awkward position on the armrest. I giggled for a bit, which resulted in a chain reaction. Julian started to laugh and it took Albert a few seconds to break from his stern demeanour and start to chuckle.

"Poor Fabbie." I pouted, patting his shoulder.

"Please let us off this time, dad!" Julian whined with his hands clasped together as if he were praying. "I swear we won't do it again!"

Albert furrowed his brow and just grunted, then walking into the kitchen.

"And fuck you for making us sleep out there!" Julian continued.

"I was teaching you a lesson!" Albert yelled back.

"Who are you to teach people lessons!" Julian pointed a finger at him.

Albert shrugged. "I've taken on the role of the groups mother I guess."

"Jade's been stripped of her signature role?!" Julian gasped. "I feel like I'm in a parallel universe!"

"Shut up, Jules." I sighed, throwing my head back.

"To sum this shit up," Albert started as he walked back over to us holding a glass of juice. "...don't ever do something like that again until I've gained back my trust in you, okay?"

I rolled my eyes in response, choosing to ignore the fact that he openly admitted he barely trusted me. I really did appreciate Albert going out of his way to care and worry about me and such, but it did get quite annoying at times. That time being one of them.

"She's an adult, Albert. You can't run her life." said Julian nonchalantly. 

Albert chugged down half his juice with a look of displeasure. "Well she doesn't act like one, and nor do you!"

"Hey...we all have our moments," I said, raising an eyebrow. "You're being a little hypocritical right now, dude."

"When was the last time I got fucked up and did crazy shit?" he frowned, obviously not expecting an answer.

"The night of my party." I said smugly.

Albert bit down on his bottom lip out of frustration. "Okay, besides that."

"No, no! You're not as perfect as you think, wise guy!" I teased, laughing to myself a little.

Albert slammed his empty glass down with pursed lips and left the room. Julian and I looked at each other with wide eyes. What the hell just happened? We soon heard the front door slam, signalling that he had left the apartment.

"Looks like you hit a nerve." said Julian.

"Why is he so fucking angry?" I gawked in disbelief. "I thought we were joking!"

Julian nodded. "I did too!"

"I'll deal with him later." I sighed, burying my face in my hands. Why was Albert so sensitive all of a sudden? We always joked around with each other like that.

I stood up and took a deep breath, then reaching over to Julian. He looked quite confused as I shoved my hand into one of the pockets of the jacket he was wearing. I pulled out the pack of cigarettes I knew he had in there and hastily took one out, then holding my hand out for a lighter. He laughed to himself as he fished one out from his jean pockets and placed it in my palm. I nodded in his direction as I placed a cigarette between my lips and lit it, deeply inhaling.

I looked down at Fab, who let out a soft snore and I smiled, turning to Julian. "Should we invite the other two over?"

Julian nodded after lighting a cigarette of his own. "I don't see why not? Other than Albert's little mood swing that is..."

I gave a quick nod, ignoring his snide comment about Albert and walked over to the phone to dial up Nick's number. He picked up after four rings. "Yo?"

"It's Jade." I took a long drag of my cigarette. "Come over?"