iv. | lucas.

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iv. | lucas.

THIS IS
HOW I
LEFT YOU.

LUCAS STEFFEK — the gentle


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    "HOW ABOUT NO?"

    Lucas Steffek was not in the mood to get arrested. But, apparently Alexander Collins was.

    "C'mon," Alexander then tried to begin reasoning with him. Lucas knew the reply was going to be shit.

    "No!" Lucas exclaimed. "Just because it's Foster's birthday, doesn't mean I'm about to get arrested."

    Since Foster's sixteenth birthday was coming up the next week, Alexander wanted to do something big for him. On the agenda was Las Vegas. And, if anyone knows anything about Las Vegas, then they know that it's drug, stripper, "holy-fuck-what-the-hell-just-happened" headquarters.

    "Well, you kinda have no choice since I already made the hotel reservations," Alexander said, leaning back onto the red cushion that covered the booth the five boys were sitting in.

    The rest of the fast food restaurant the boys sat in matched the booth. A retro-themed place with pale blue, red, and pink adorning the walls. The waitresses wore roller skates and looked like actual pin-ups. Lucas thought it was a bit disturbing.

    The bell attached to the door rung. Lucas turned around and looked at who came in.

    It was Foster. Except, he looked more disheveled from when Lucas last saw him. His light brown hair was disheveled and his white button-down was untucked. One of his Comme des Garçons Converse was untied. In addition to all of that, his breathing was labored, so it looked like he just ran three miles.

    Foster lightly tapped his hand on the bar counter at the front of the restaurant.

    "Can I get a water, please?" he asked breathlessly. The waitress nodded and filled a glass up with ice and water. She handed it to Foster.

    "Wam bam, thank you ma'am," Foster said, bringing the glass to his lips.

    Lucas looked back at the table, his eyes wide, shocked. The other four boys looked exactly the same way.

    "We need to take him to, like, a class where he can learn to talk to girls," Matison said. The boys laughed. "Any of you got sisters?"

    Lucas's smile faltered. He did have a sister, three years ago. Lucas looked down at his hands in his lap. Shiny tears brimmed his baby blue eyes.

    "You got a sister?" Chandler asked.

    Lucas looked up and blinked away the tears. Foster was now standing at the boy's table, tapping his fingers against his glass, which was now half full.

    "If you're trying to hook up with her, I'm sure she'll say no, just like last time," Foster told him.

    "Well, at least she said no to you too," Chandler shot back.

    "Sweet home, Alabama," Lucas started singing.

    The boys laughed awkwardly as Foster sat down next to Charles in the circular booth.

    "We have a proposition," Alexander said suddenly.

    Lucas muttered a quiet "Jesus fucking Christ", but, let Alexander continue with his "proposition".

    "So, you know how it's your birthday next week?" Alexander asked Foster, who now had a look of both displeasure, disgust, and confusion plastered on his face.

    "Wha —"

    "We were planning on going to Las —"

    "Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah." Foster held out his index finger, indicating for Alexander to stop. "Hold the fuck up. I am the Fuck Up. Please hold me."

    Alexander shot out a short laugh before Foster interrupted him.

    "How the fuck do you know that it's my birthday next week?" he asked, his pale hand gripping his glass of water so hard that Lucas thought it might break.

    Alexander looked at Foster. His blue eyes were wide in shock. "Really?" he asked. "Well, if you really don't know, a simple stalking of your Instagram should do the trick."

    Foster opened his mouth, but, before any sound could come out, Alexander started talking.

    "Anyways, we're going to Las Vegas," he said happily, the corners of his pink lips curving upwards.

    Foster looked at him in disbelief. He began shaking his head slightly, his mouth agape. It seemed as if Foster had never heard of anything so ludicrous.

    Then, he pulled his lips into a thin, straight line and sighed. He began chewing on his lower lip, his green eyes snaking between the rest of the boys.

"Fine," he finally said a bit too loudly, causing a few people to look over to the group. "On one condition..."

Lucas heard Alexander's sigh of relief being cut short.

Foster held up his index finger and pointed at Alexander. "We're not going on my birthday," he said.

Lucas looked over to Alexander. He furrowed his blond eyebrows in confusion.

"What's the fun in that?" he asked, laughing slightly. "The entire point of this is so it's for your birthday. Don't you want your sixteenth birthday unforgettable?"

Foster opened and closed his mouth a few times, making him look like a fish. Lucas had never seen anyone so flabbergasted.

"No," Foster said, placing his right hand palm-down on the table in front of Alexander. "That's not it. I just don't want my birthday ruined because of something we do in Vegas." He picked up his water glass (which was now almost empty) with his left hand and took a sip from it, waiting for Alexander's reply. When none finally came, Foster began drawing shapes into the precipitation on the outside of the glass.

"We're not going to ruin your birthday," Alexander finally said.

Foster pulled his lips into a straight line and cocked his head to the right, as if to say "Really? You think I'm about to believe that?".

Alexander then sighed loudly and slid down the back of the booth so only half of his body was visible. "Fine, Ashford, you win," he said, which made Foster smile proudly. "We will go the week after your birthday."

Everyone stayed silent for a few seconds after that, contemplating whether or not to actually agree with Alexander's proposition. But, Matison was the first to speak up with something else.

"But that's the week of Christmas," he said, brushing his hand through his dark hair.

Lucas's breath hitched in his throat at the mention of Christmas. The incident from three years ago flashed before his eyes. The remembrance of the wretched screams, the knife, the body, and the beautiful rose bush that laid around her haunted him everyday.

Ellie was his best friend.

Lucas was snapped out of his trance by Charles's hand being waved in front of his face.

"You okay?" he whispered.

Lucas took a deep breath and nodded.

This is how I left you.

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