Mischief

eleven

Having the Blackwoods as guests wasn't entirely the worst thing in the world. My parents and the rest of the adults in the home were out of the house most of the time. So this left me with three other teenagers.

Alexander, well Alex, is a nice guest to have. Sarcastic but not annoying, he tends to not be very loud and overall, him and my brother are always out of the house doing god knows what.

This leaves Felix and I. I try my best to avoid him but it's starting to get harder. So whenever I overthink everything, I spend my days visiting Elliott but other than that, there's nothing to do whatsoever.

—

Walking up to the front door, I fumble around the inside of my bag, trying to find the house keys. I open the door to see that it was already open. "Strange." I say to myself. The house is quiet, but no one must be home.

Hanging my puffer jacket on the coat rack and taking off my shoes, I head to the kitchen. The fridge is actually quite empty sadly, so I decide to eat an apple, hoping it will keep me full for a bit.

Just then, I here a noise coming from upstairs. I make my way up the stairs slowly, not wanting to make much noise. Tho this doesn't seem to help, as the floorboards squeak, indicating the fact that the house itself is at least two hundred years old.

I hear noise coming from the second guest bedroom. Muffled music and a thumping noise. Opening the door quietly, I look to see what's going on. I then sigh a breath of relief as it was only Felix. Laying on the bed, he's throwing a ball back and forth against the wall.

"Holy shit." I breathe, holding onto the door. "What?" He looks up. "I thought you were some kind of intruder." I laugh. He rolls his eyes but goes back to throwing the tennis ball.

There's an awkward silence that fills the room. The thumping on the wall continues and it starts to annoy me slightly but I try and ignore it. Silence can be so loud at times.

I stare at him for a bit. His dark locks are messy but perfect all at once. His eyes are focused on the ball while his jaw is slightly clenched. His back is slumped against the pillow and his eyes are a bit drooped but still sharp.

"Well?" He says, catching my long gaze. "Oh um.." I stammer for a bit, not really sure what to say. "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to head to the park?" I come up with some random excuse.

"Weren't you just out?" He points out. "Well yes but I thought you would want to get out of the house." "Oh come on. We could walk? Or take the bus. It's up to you."

There's a short silence. He stops throwing the ball and looks up at me. "Fine." He says. A wide smile spreads across my face as he gets up from the bed.

—

Our feet scrape against the damp gravel. I then clear my throat to fill the stillness. Why is the city so quiet today ugh. "Um, we're almost here. Only a few more blocks."

"Right." He replies. "Great." I whisper. We make our way across the street, turning a few corners.

I want to disappear right this second. This entire time has been so awkward and I can't seem to bare it much longer. "Are you okay?" He snaps me out of my rapid thoughts.

"Oh I'm fine, thanks." Another long pause. Lovely. "So." He starts off. "London seems cool." "Yeah." I chuckle. "It's fine really. I mean, everyone here says that but it's kinda true. Things are only really ever fun when you're stopping by. But then again, it's beautiful and I wouldn't change anything about it."

"But do you like it here?" I ask, looking up at him. "I do." He smiles. "I'll tell you, it sure is a lot more exciting than where I live." "But hopefully my parents get the job here. I want what's best for them really."

"That's sweet." I smile. We cross another street and reach our destination. "We're here." I say finally.

—

"Where are we?" He asks, looking up at the trees and onto the grass. "Well Regent's Park of course." I smile.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" I say. He hums while nodding. "My dad and I used to go here all the time when I was younger." "He would pack a small lunch and he would let me ride my bike here too." I smile at the memories.

"It was almost every weekend. We still do it at times but it just doesn't feel completely the same you know?" "Yeah." He nods. "I think about that too. How we're getting older everyday and we'll never get to go back to old times."

"But we can always make new ones." He says finally as we both smile. Another long silence is hushed over the both of us. The nearby birds chirp and distance chatter surrounds the area.

As if on cue, we both make our way over to the grass. "Um, sorry I didn't bring a blanket of some sort. I didn't really think this through." I explain.

"Oh no, it's fine." He reassures. Surprisingly, the grass is dry so I take my chance to sit down. We sit in our ever going silence for a bit as I look upon the lake.

"So." I clear my throat. "How have you been?" "Fine." He replies bluntly. "Right well, how's everything at home?" I ask again. "It's fine really, just the same. As I said before, my parents want a new job so I'm trying to be patient when it comes to moving around."

"You move around a lot I'm guessing." I observe. "Well yeah.. we're living in the countryside at the moment but we've been moving for about two years now." "My parents just want to settle down now. So that's why I'm here. London." He explains, sighing a bit at the end.

I nod while humming. "Is that why you're at Domesdale?" I ease more questions on him, feeling a bit guilty seeing as he seemed a bit tense. "Yeah, well my dad went there but yeah, that's mostly the main reason." He explains.

"Well I really do hope your parents get the job." I say softly. "Me too." He says, smiling a bit.

We both look out onto the lake. A duck flaps it wings, causing the lake's water to splash everywhere and sparkle in the faded sunlight. A faint chuckle comes from my lips. Then his hand starts to move upward, his palm gripping my knee cap.

I ignore it, seeing as it wasn't such a big deal. His hand rests there. We rest there. It's just us. Looking out onto nature's beauty and the other lives of strangers. It's so nostalgic in many ways. I can't explain it, but I know, that I'm feeling what I used to feel everyday. Pure bliss. All because of Felix.