TRIGGER WARNING
Use of Homophobic Slur
References to Alcohol Consumption
03 | HOPE'S HOUSE
Hopes room smells of Lavender (the person not the flower)
Ivan's POV
Alexander Hope lives on the roof.
I don't know how he got the arrangement done, but his room is built on the terrace. This means that he has to climb two flights of stairs to get to his room, unlike the rest of the Hopes who have their rooms on the first floor.
I ended up sleeping on an air mattress in Alexander Hope's room. He had to clear the floor up because it was filled with shoes and sweaty t-shirts and jerseys.
It was three in the morning when we reached his house. He offered to sleep on the air mattress instead but I refused. "Your bed smells like lady's perfume," I explained, and even in the darkness I could see his face turn pink.
I think I slept for five minutes. The whole night, I was crossing between staring at the roof and staring at Hope. He sleeps like a log.
The Hopes have a pretty house. It's a classic, almost-Victorian duplex that faces the east. So at six or so in the morning, when the sun has barely risen, the house just glows. It's filled with light - there are so many windows and so few curtains. Hope's room has a golden hue to it, and so does Hope's hair.
God, I wish I'd stop staring at it so much.
It's noon and Hope is still asleep. The entire house is, actually. It's a lazy Saturday and they all had a long night. I decide to get up and go to his brother's room, hoping he's awake. There's a small poster on the door that says 'Sebastian's Lair'. I knock and enter when I hear a feeble 'Come in'.
"Sebastian Hope?" I say carefully, walking inside. A skinny boy is sitting on the bed with his back against the headboard. He's reading a comic book.
His room is bright, the walls painted a calm blue and Indie band posters covering them. His bed is smack in the center of the room, with a dark carpet around it. There's a keyboard on one end of the room and a tiny bookshelf on another. His room, unlike his brother's, is clean. His desk has a single notebook on it and a planner is stuck on the wall beside it. I can't believe he's a teenager.
He looks at me and keeps the comic aside. His hand clenches the front of his raven hair as he removes his glasses and keeps them on the bedside table. When I look at him again, I can't stop looking at his eyes. They're brighter and greener than his brother's. I look away.
There's an ice-pack at the side of his back. And his hand is fractured. Hope was right; I really need to observe the people around me.
"I'm sorry," I say, giving a pointed look at the plaster around his hand.
He shakes his head. "You weren't there."
"But my team was. And you deserve an apology. They won't do it again." I make a mental note to talk to my entire team about this. "Do you remember who did this to you? I know they were Wildcats, but can you tell me some names?"
He shakes his head. "I'm not ratting anyone out."
"They just beat you up, Sebastian! You don't owe them anything." Sebastian's too kind for his own good. The entire Hope family is, actually. I'm their son's biggest rival and my team just beat their other son up black and blue. And I'm living with them!
He shrugs and then asks me how I got here. Before I can answer, a cat jumps over me. Its forepaws are on my collarbone and its hind ones are trying to get a good grip on my shirt. I hold it on the waist so that it doesn't fall.
"Oh, Darling," Sebastian says, looking at the cat like it's the cutest thing in the world. The cat places its head on my shoulder. I gingerly stroke it on the head.
Sebastian tries to get up and winces in pain. Holding the cat with one hand, I extend the other to him. "Are you okay?" If he can hear the guilt in my voice, he doesn't show it.
"I can stand," he says, like people have offered him help for such trivial things before. I really shouldn't underestimate him. He stands up and walks to me and runs his fingers through the cat's fur. "This one isn't very good with visitors," he says. "He's been with us for only a couple of weeks but he still hides from us."
I smile. "What's his name?"
"Prince," he mutters. "We have a habit of naming all our pets after characters in the Harry Potter series."
He must have noticed the look of confusion on my face. "Prince was Snape's middle name," he explains.
"Oh," I say. "Right, I forgot."
"You're hardly the first person." He then asks me if he could hold the cat. I nod even though I like the feeling of the cat in my hands. Sebastian brings the cat to his shoulders. He takes a step sideways and the cat starts yapping.
"Careful," I say when Prince kicks him in the stomach. I steady Hope by holding him on the shoulder.
"You should probably hold him." Sebastian hands the Prince over to me and the yapping stops immediately. Sebastian's an inch shorter than me. I'm a good 5'10". Despite playing basketball, I haven't really gotten very tall. Coach thinks I'll have another growth spurt in the coming months. I think I got my mom's genes. She's 5'2" and was the shortest amongst her siblings.
"He likes you," He observes. I nod. I don't know how to respond to that. Sebastian looks like he's going to say something but the door bangs open and Hope - the older, more idiotic one - enters the room.
"Have you seen-" Asshole Hope begins but then he sees me.
"You should knock," Smart Hope says bitterly. "I don't have an open-door policy like you."
Asshole Hope ignores his younger brother and walks inside. "Ivan."
I realize my hand is still on Sebastian's shoulder. I retract it immediately.
"I see you've already met my brother. Since the guest bedroom is terribly dusty, Ivan's going to stay in my room for a while."
"A while?" I look at Asshole Hope. The deal said I had to stay here for only one night. Hope is grinning. He'd be cackling had his brother not been here. This asshole has my biggest secret, and he's using it against me. "Right," I concede, swallowing my urge to punch him in the gut.
"Good luck living with Lex," Sebastian mutters. "He's not very easy to tolerate."
I think I know that better than anyone else.
"Come along," he tells me. "I have to let Mom and Dad know about the new arrangement."
Prince must've sensed my uneasiness because he starts yapping once again. I try to calm my composure, but he doesn't stop. I put Prince on the floor and follow Asshole Hope out the door, aware that both Sebastian's gaze and his cat are following me.
Once we're out of 'Sebastian's Lair', Asshole Hope slows down so that I can catch up to him. I still maintain a distance of one foot from him.
"Sebastian's straight," he informs me. I glare at him. If I felt like punching him a couple of minutes ago, that's nothing compared to how badly I want to right now.
"At least I think he is," he says after giving his brother's room another look. They are brothers, but they're not very close. Or alike. "But he has a girlfriend."
"I'm not like you," I spit. "I don't hit on every person I see."
"She's pan," he continues. "His girlfriend."
I soften. Tell me about someone queer and I'm already in a better mood. He nods. "You should probably meet her."
"No," I say. "My... sexuality stays between us." My voice is low.
"I'm not- I'm not going to tell Jess that you're..."
"A fag?"
"Gay," he corrects me. "See, this is why you should talk to her. She's out and proud. There's nothing wrong with being gay."
"Shh."
He lowers his voice. "If someone needs that reminder, it's you." Sighing, he walks down the stairs. I follow him, keeping a two steps gap between us.
On my way downstairs, I spot two more dogs. And there are a couple beneath the coffee table and sofa as well. The living room is brighter than Hope's room - the white walls reflect all the sunlight that falls on it.
Dr and Mrs Hope are sitting on the couch. Dr Hope catches my eye and gives me a smile. He is by far the warmest person I've met.
"Mom, Dad," Alexander Hope says. "Ivan's sleeping with me."
Dr Richard Hope's eyes widen. His wife looks at us as if we're specimens in a museum. "Are you saying what I think you're saying? Because if that's the caseâ"
"Woah! No, Mom, not like that!" Hope interrupts her. I resist a laugh. "We're not- Atleast I'm not- Mom, if I was gay, you'd be the first to know. The bed in the guest house is falling apart. We used to use it as storage, remember? So he's sleeping in an airbed in my room."
His mother chuckles. "Well, that's fine with us. We'll check on the bed."
"Also, Ivan's going to stay with us for another week, at least."
Before I can protest, Dr Richard beams and walks up to hug me. "I knew you'd change your mind. You're always welcome here, Ivan."
I awkwardly pat Dr Richard on his back and pull away. Dr Richard has the widest grin on his face. "But I'm not okay with you sleeping on an air mattress. You should be sleeping on the bed and Lex should be on the floor."
"Dad-" Hope starts.
"He offered, sir. But I'm better off sleeping on the airbed."
Dr Richard laughs. "Wise choice."
Just then, my phone starts ringing. My ringtone, which is the beginning of My Chemical Romance's "Welcome to the Black Parade" starts playing. Tyler Ziegler is calling me. I didn't come for today morning's session, and even though it's a Saturday, I usually don't skip unless I have a very important reason.
I mute the call and mutter an apology to them.
"You should probably speak to them," Mrs Hope suggests. "Must be something important."
"Oh no," I speak politely. "It's probably nothing."
My phone starts ringing again. I stare at the call, letting the music flow into the lyrics. Ziegler really must be worried. I'll call you back, I text him and end the call.
I turn my attention to the Hopes. Dr Hope, in particular, is staring at me, but this time he has an almost-amused expression on his face.
"Your ringtone," Dr Hope says, there's a grin on his face. "That was Welcome To The Black Parade, wasn't it?"
I nod, wondering what that has to do with me staying here.
"You'll be staying in Lex's room, won't you? You'll be a good influence," he says.
I have no idea what that means. I look at my rival, he's frowning. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"You know what it means, Lex," his dad says, looking at his son. "Your taste in music is worse than Bas's shaving habits, and that's saying something." He then turns to me. "Everything rock is emo for my son. And everything emo is 'girly'." He dramatically shakes his head as though his son is hopeless.
I laugh. Asshole Hope mutters something about individuality and having no personal opinion about universal subjects.
"His room's a mess, isn't it?" Mrs Hope asks me.
I sigh dramatically. "Where do I start? The clothes are everywhere. Shorts, dirty socks, sweaty jerseys... I think I saw a bra in the pile too. I didn't know you wore bras, Hope. There's nothing to be ashamed oâ"
Before I can finish, Hope places his hand on my mouth to stop me from speaking. "Mom, no!" He whines. "Don't listen to him, he's lying!"
He sounds just like a baby. I relax and enjoy the show.
Dr Richard turns serious. "Lex, I think we really need to talk about this." He looks at me, his eyes are grave. I shake my head slightly, my movements restricted by Hope's hand that's still covering half my face. I wink, I hope he understands I'm only joking.
Dr Richard laughs but it sounds more like a sigh of relief. "Well, I suppose you have a lot of cleaning to do. The vacuum cleaner is behind the kitchen, in case you ever need it."
Mrs Hope nods. "I think you should go clean your room, Lex. I don't want our guest to think we're animals."
Grumbling, Hope ascends the stairs. I follow him and immediately hear the Hopes get into a full-blown conversation. It seems to be a happy one because it's soon followed by giggles and laughter.
"You didn't have to say that," he mutters. "They already think I'm sleeping around with too many people."
"Well, they're not completely wrong, are they?" Although Alexander Hope is known for his basketball skills, he's also known for his commitment issues. I suppose you can't have commitment issues if you don't commit in the first place. I'm not surprised his parents are suspicious.
After climbing two flights of stairs, I reach Hope's - and now my - room. He shoves all the soiled clothes into the laundry basket and rehangs all the clean ones. I decide to help him by wiping the window pane and the shelves.
We do our work in silence. Even while making the bed, we barely utter a word. Hope clears up a portion of his closet and asks me to put my belongings there. I take my backpack and dump it there.
"I thought you brought your clothes along with you," Asshole Hope blurts.
I look at my bag and then at him. "I did."
"But-"
"My jerseys are back in school."
"That's still really less."
I'm about to respond when someone bangs the door from outside. "Open the fucking door, Lex," a genuinely angry voice calls from behind the door.
"I know that voice." Hope looks at me with an alarmed expression. "That's Jamie. He can't see you here."
If anyone knows I'm living in Hope's place, I'm as good as dead. Jamie Smith is Hope's best friend and the Falcons' vice-captain. They're thick as thieves - the exact opposite of me and my vice captain, Vinny Donovan.
I slide open the closet door and slip into it, pressing my backpack close to my chest. Hope closes the closet and leaves a slight gap in the end so that I don't suffocate. At least he has some value for life.
I hear the door click open. "Jamie," Hope says. He's as confused as I am about Jamie's presence. "You could have called, you know."
"I can't believe you'd do this to me," Jamie seethes. He sounds breathless, like he ran upstairs. Whatever Hope did, Jamie isn't taking it lightly.
"What did I do?" Hope sounds like he has no idea what happened. He's ultra-confident, as usual. And I'm stuck in the closet, as usual.
"Oh quit pretending, Lex. You've never been good at hiding your emotions anyway."
I get a feeling of déjà vu. Yesterday, Hope was in Jamie's place, interrogating me about what happened with Sebastian. Now Hope has to answer his best friend's questions.
"Calm down, Jamie. I don't know what happened and I doubt I did anything wrong-"
"Wrong?" Jamie screams. If we were in an apartment, we'd be getting calls from our neighbors. "You sleep with my girlfriend and you say you didn't do anything wrong!"
There's a whole minute of silence. I hold my breath, I'm too scared to even breathe.
"Your girlfriend?" Hope's stunned. I'm surprised he's even talking. "I didn't sleep with Violet. I would never. Jamie, believe me-"
"Lavender." Jamie's voice is cold.
"What?"
"Her name's Lavender, Hope. Not Violet."
There's another long moment of silence. The tension is palpable. "Shit," Hope mutters. It's so quiet, I can hear him whispering.
"You remember now, don't you?" Jamie thunders. "This is a whole new level of pathetic, Lex. Even for you."
"Jamie, I'm sorry. I was drunk, okay? I don't remember anything except..." His voice trails off.
"Except?"
Hope exhales. "Except calling her Violet again and again. She kept correcting me: It's Lavender, not Violet. And I always assumed your girl was the other shade of purple..."
I hear Jamie's furious footsteps walking towards the door.
"Jamie, wait! Listen to me. I'm sorry!" He sounds desperate. Hope tries stopping his friend but it doesn't work. He then cusses and slams his bedroom door shut.
After Jamie storms off, Hope slides the closet door open at the opposite end of where I'm sitting. Prince slips into the wide gap and jumps over me, his paws on my bag. I straighten my back and brush my fingers against his back.
I don't expect what's coming next. Hope ducks into the closet and sits opposite me. His closet isn't wide enough for both our legs so I bring my knees to my chest. He does the same but ends up consuming more space than me. He's also a few inches taller than me, so it's understandable.
"What are you doing here?" I ask. Light is falling on the side of his face. One half of his face is dark and the other half is golden.
Hope shrugs. "You heard everything, didn't you?"
"Hard not to." Prince purrs and climbs over my face. For a while, the closet is in complete silence. Prince is the only one moving, and he does that soundlessly.
My phone starts ringing, MCR's music filling the void of our silence. It's Tyler Ziegler again. I let my music flow, the G note resonating with my emotions.
I accept the call and bring my phone to my ears. I hear a sigh of relief on the other end of the call.
"Is everything okay?" Tyler asks.
I take my time to answer. "Yeah."
"Why didn't you come for practice today? Were you seeing your mother?" Ziegler is the only person who knows the real condition of my mom. She's been in the hospital for weeks.
"Yeah." A pang of guilt stabs me in the stomach for using my mom's condition to lie to my closest friend. But I can't tell him that I'm living with Hope, that would make everything worse.
"How is she?" he asks with genuine concern. The Zieglers and my mother have been close friends ever since I was a child. Before we came to this town, Tyler and I were neighbors. As we grew closer, so did our mothers. Then we had to shift here due to financial constraints. I had a sports scholarship that made it easier for my parents to pay for school. My sister got into college and two other jobs. A few months later, the Zieglers shifted to this town because the rent was cheaper and we've been friends ever since.
"Nothing yet. The doctor told me to check back after a week." I attempt to change the topic. "How's your mom doing?"
"Same old," he responds. "We might have to shift houses once again."
The Zieglers have lived in three houses already since they left their old town, the number of rooms decreasing with every house.
"And I might have to get another job," he says. "And share a room with both my siblings." He sighs.
If I tell Tyler about my father kicking me out of the house, he'll ask me to stay in his place. They're already struggling - he has a single mom - and I'd only be another mouth to feed.
I hear someone say "Waiter, can you get us more of the salad, please'' from the other end of the call. "I'll call you back, okay?" Tyler says hurriedly. "Duty calls."
When he hangs up, I slip my phone into my pocket and realize Hope's staring at me.
"How bad is your mom's condition?" he asks.
I press my back against the closet. I don't want to talk about her, not now. "You heard everything, didn't you?"
He shrugs. "Hard not to."
xxx
A/N
You just read 3000+ words without a scene break, congratulations!
Also, I realized I suck at keeping promises. With my track record being so terrible, I think I'll be a very good politician LOL
Also, yes my MC's favorite band happens to be my favorite band. Like I'm the first writer to do that...
Sleep tight, fellas!