Guns And Roses

Chapter 14

Their butler rapped solidly on the wooden door, as soon as the grandfather clock struck nine. Walker was pretty sure that all three men present in the room had heard it, yet clearly chose not to acknowledge it; they were exhausted.

Mr. Vaughn, however, was persistent. He kept knocking loudly, until Walker just had to get up and get the door. “Dinner is served,” he said cheerily to a very sleepy Walker. Walker nodded his head absently, but got his bearings soon enough.

 He proceeded in trying to wake up Gregory, in vain; he was face- down on the bed snoring loudly, the voice muffled by the pillow on which his drool was clearly visible. Add to that the fact that he had consumed a great deal of liquor on an empty stomach, and the obvious result was Gregory Rivera at 9 in the night.     

Layne wasn’t easy either, and Walker wasn’t trying anymore. Walker, starving and sleepy, discontinued his futile attempts to wake his roommates up. He used the next best idea that came to mind.

He turned off the heaters, and opened the window, to let the cold air in. Though it was cruel in its rawest form, it proved to be rather effective. By the time Walker had finished brushing his teeth, both his roommates were up, rather reluctantly of course. The grumpy looks on their faces were obviously supposed to convey annoyance if not anger, but Walker found it rather comical. He kept that thought to himself, though.  

“Dinner’s on the table,” Walker said, as he wiped his face with a towel. He left the room after putting on his knee-length blue shorts and black V-necked T-shirt. He’d experienced the warmth of the living room to be more than enough to keep him comfortable, and he’d dressed accordingly. Despite that, black retained heat so he wouldn’t be discomforted by the little cold that remained. His mind, even at such a tender age, was logical in every aspect.

Everyone else was already awake, if not widely so. It soon transpired that Aaron, Vihan and Craig were sharing one room, while Kenneth, Eric and Kyle stayed in the other.

Kyle was moving to and fro ever so slightly on the rocking chair. He looked like he hadn’t had much sleep, and wasn’t too afraid of showing it with his colossal yawn.

 He’d been out for a while; sitting on the edge of the cliff, just watching River Klamath and enjoying the view. He urged all of them to go out as soon as dinner was over, to which everyone unanimously agreed.

Though famished, all of them silently awaited their friends’ arrival.

 Yeah right, as if they were silent. Or not eating. Dinner was served, so dinner was served.  

Walker and Kenneth were onto the beef before one could say Jack Robinson. Despite being a corpulent man, Vihan had no difficulty whatsoever in navigating himself around the table. He ran here, there and everywhere. Chicken wings, beef or pasta- you name it, Vihan had it on his plate in huge portions.

However, the stars of the show- for that was what it was looking like- were Kyle and Eric. The absolutely gorged themselves on the turkey, as if they hadn’t had anything to eat in days. Aaron was focussing all his attention upon a deconstructed chocolate cake, from which Craig had already consumed some. Being the kind-hearted person that he was, Craig left the cake, and let Aaron have what he wanted from it. Of course, though, he immediately jumped onto the beef, struggling against Kenneth and Walker for any piece.

Soon enough, when more than half the table had been stolen of its riches, Layne and Gregory entered into the mix. The absolute pandemonium which had been ensuing, suddenly stopped.

Kyle was over Eric; Craig was quite literally on top of Walker and Kenneth; Aaron’s chocolate-covered spoon was held in mid-air, his mouth still open. Vihan was the only one who hadn’t stopped yet, but in a moment or two, when he finally picked his head up, he saw the two grim faces of Layne and Gregory staring down upon him.

Layne and Gregory had been completely forgotten in the uproar. Bros before hoes, but bread before bros. Apparently, Layne and Gregory didn’t like that too much. Their fair share of food had been snatched from their rightful hands.

Just when the guys were about to apologize to Gregory and Layne, they threw themselves onto the remaining food, and were roaring with laughter. Scared though they still were, the guys relaxed a bit and let the two help themselves to whatever remained. They silently slid out of the picture, leaving behind them Vihan, of course, who still hadn’t had enough. 

The table was in utter shambles. Bits and pieces of food were thrown across everywhere, a couple of beers had been popped open; more had been poured across the surface of the floor, than had been taken in by the noisy guests.

Mr. Vaughn sighed, looking at this entire scene from the corner of the kitchen door. He had to solely undertake the mammoth task of cleaning this up, unfortunately. But under his mournful sigh, he smiled.

Youth and friendship were indeed, beautiful things.