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xiii. | lucas.

BOTTOM RETAINERS...
DEATHS TO TONGUES

LUCAS STEFFEK — the gentle

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    "I HAVE A duck," Foster said as he walked into Lucas's mansion. His arms were filled with 7-Eleven snacks and a duck was following behind him on his heels. Alexander was behind him too, making sure the duck stayed in toe with Foster.

    Lucas's blue eyes widened. "Okay," he said, lifting his back off of his black leather couch in the foyer. "Just make sure it doesn't shit anywhere."

    "Roger that," Foster said, sitting down on a white chair across from the couch. He laid his snacks down on the glass coffee table.

    "Get out," Lucas said, laughing. "You are never allowed to say 'roger that' again."

    Foster laughed and took a sip of his Slurpee, inviting his pet duck onto the chair with him.

    "What's its name?" Matison asked, motioning to the duck.

    Foster looked at his duck. It had nestled itself in Foster's lap.

    "Duck," he said. "His name's Duck."

    "I'm gone for three minutes and when I come back, one of you has a duck?" Charles asked loudly as he walked back from the bathroom. He rubbed his hands on his pants, drying them off.

    "Shh," Foster said as Duck cowered himself further into Foster's lap. "You're scaring him."

    "What's the 'family meeting' about?" Alexander asked, taking a Cheeto from his bag and eating it. He took a sip of his Arnold Palmer and Lucas cringed. Arnold Palmers were not good.

    Instead of answering, Lucas turned to Chandler.

    "My family is having a party tonight," he said, sitting on the arm of a chair. Lucas swatted his arm, telling him to not do that. Chandler stood back up and continued. "And my parents expect all of you to be there. It'll be big; filled with the richest people in the area. Make a good first impression, since you only get one."

    Lucas rolled his eyes at the formal tone Chandler was using.

    All the boys stayed silent for a few seconds.

    "And you interrupted my Food Network binge just for this?" Charles asked in disbelief. "You literally could've just texted us."

    "I know," Chandler said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "But, I knew if I did that, you would've disregarded the text, since you ignore everything else that comes out of my mouth."

    "And that's why you had Lucas text it," Charles said quietly.

    That was true. Chandler came to Lucas's house, unannounced, and had him text their group chat, since he knew Charles would listen to Lucas, and not Chandler.

    Without another word, Chandler walked away from the couch in the direction of the kitchen, his arms swaying by his sides. This was the first time Lucas noticed how much Chandler moved his body when he walked. That was the way he got people to notice him without being noticed.

    "He's gonna break something," Matison said.

    "Yeah," Lucas said quietly. He stood up from his couch and followed Chandler.

    He, in fact, was going to Lucas's kitchen. Lucas leaned against his island as Chandler began digging in his refrigerator.

    "Whatcha doin' there?" Lucas asked.

    "Looking for alcohol or something," Chandler said, his voice muffled by the refrigerator. He pulled out a bottle of champagne, labeled with a piece of paper saying "Apple Cider Vinegar". "Something like this."

    "That isn't alcohol," Lucas said, snatching it from Chandler's hands. "It's apple cider vinegar."

    "No," Chandler said, snatching it back. "Your dumb ass just taped a piece of paper to the label."

    Lucas snatched it back again. He walked backward until his head hit a cabinet. He cringed and pulled a glass out, still making eye contact with Chandler. He walked back and poured the champagne into the glass.

"It is apple cider vinegar," Lucas said, taking a sip. "It's great for your digestive system." Lucas had no idea if that was true or not. "And it's a great way to stay skinny when you put it in tea." Lucas definitely knew that was true.

Chandler's dark blue eyes then raked every inch of Lucas's body. Lucas then knew that he had said the wrong thing. He ran his tongue across the metal bar on his four bottom front teeth he got after he got his braces off when he was thirteen. He had cut his tongue on it too many times to count.

"Okay," he said quietly. Chandler left the kitchen without another word.

    Lucas swallowed hard and ran a hand through his dirty blond hair.

    What had he just done?

    Lucas looked at himself in the reflection of the microwave. He ran his long and slim fingers over his hollow cheeks and the dark circles under his ocean blue eyes. His nose and prominent collarbone was traced by faint freckles which came out in the winter instead of summer.

    God, he was so ugly.

    "You're okay," Charles said in Lucas's head. "You're perfect."

    Lucas didn't believe him.

    He didn't believe him one bit.

    Lucas rolled his eyes and put the champagne back into the fridge, pouring out what was in his glass into the sink except for one sip.

    He drank that sip and some blood flooded back into the glass.

    Not only did bottom retainers cut your tongue, it also just made it harder to throw your food up when you felt disgusting. Lucas just hated bottom retainers in general.

    And too bad his bulimia was going to ruin his teeth so badly that it couldn't be repaired with braces.