You Got Your Peace Now, But What About Me? (p)

Lachlan wasn't going to pretend that he wanted to be here. He'd been in the Maddox house countless times, and plenty of times lately, but it might as well be its own universe. Lachlan was standing in the living room with Augustine. They were both in the perfectly tailored suits their dad made them get every year. He'd lost the tie after the actual funeral. Could he even call that a funeral? A bunch of sad people and the largest elephant in the center of the room: an empty casket. What was even the point of burying an empty casket? Was it so there was something for people to go and look at and feel sad around? There could just be a tombstone. Instead, people were paying money to a businessman who thrived on sadness. What a waste.

Lachlan was holding a cup of that red punch and his jaw was locked shut. He couldn't handle all this emotion. He tapped Augustine's side and he understood him in that way that brothers just did. He pulled a flask outside of the inside of his coat and passed it to him. Thank gods for Augustine and for booze. Lachlan peaked around the room to make sure no one was watching. He didn't know why he was looking. His dad didn't care. If he was even here anymore, that was. It wouldn't be long till he pulled the business card and hurried out. It wasn't like it was the first time he had anything to drink in this living room. Ever since Skye left, Lachlan had been coming over to watch sports with Mr. Maddox and occasionally he'd be allowed one Bud Heavy but only for the big games. Lachlan tipped the flask back.

Lachlan looked around the room as he passed the flask back. People would occasionally smile but Skye was always in the front of their mind. Let's be honest, Skye wasn't at the front of Lachlan's mind. All of this just reminded him that they hadn't done it for Caroline. Of course though, it was about Skye. Just how it had been all those years ago in his clubhouse.

Kirsten didn't really want to be here. Like, sure, she knew she needed to be here. It was only the polite thing to do. Her sister didn't waste time going to find Jules, and her mother had already wandered off to speak with the other parents. At least the three of them were all there together. She thought her mom might make some lame excuse about work or something. None of the Tanaka girls were good with death. When Kirsten was six, and Alivia was nine, their pet goldfish had died. It was inevitable, they rarely remembered to feed it, and it only lived in a tiny fishbowl because their mother didn't want a tank taking up valuable counter space. Still, the house was chaos for a week. Alivia cried her eyes out to the point where she skipped a day of school, and her mother only chided her for it. Kirsten just kind of felt indifferent. It was a fish after all. She didn't even feel an ounce of sympathy. Alivia went on a whole rant about why she should feel bad, but, it didn't change anything.

This is how she felt now. Numb, uncaring. She wanted to feel something, but how could you, really? They weren't really friends anymore. Sure, she saw Skye at parties occasionally, but she saw a lot of people. It was an empty casket. There was no body to even mourn. It just felt like Skye had gone on a very long trip, and she would never see her again, but she was okay with that. She wasn't about to go crying her eyes out. When they pronounced her dead, Alivia cried for like an hour. She didn't understand that.

Out of the corner of her eye she can see the door to the sun room opening, and Tieghler walking in wearing one of those tshirts with the fake tuxedo printed on them and jeans. At least she had bothered to wear a black dress. She rolled her eyes and walked far away from the pot smell.

___

So, Theylur had missed the funeral. He felt kinda bad about it, like, he thought it was gonna be tomorrow. He had a suit and everything, but then he heard people talking over at the maddoxes house, looked over the fence, and realized that shit was supposed to be today. He didn't want to be any later than he already was, so he threw down his joint and went to find an acceptable tshirt. Its all good though, he gave his joint as an offering to Skye in a way. She'd probably think that was cool of him.

He ended up going through the door to the porch room thing. Mainly because that was the only way he was allowed in the house, so it felt right. He's pretty sure the funeral is over, and he's kinda glad for it. What even goes on at funerals? Like, does everyone say a speech? He wouldn't know what to say. He could talk about the time Skye once like, invited him to a party and then bailed on him once it started. That was kinda cool of her, well the cool part was her inviting him. He didn't enjoy being dumped. She was a nice piece of ass too, and he thought she was gonna let him hit it at the end of the night. Damn they would've been good together. She was great arm candy. She could've like, helped him secure clients by flirting with him, then they'd make out in his room. It would've been awesome. Sucks that she's dead now. Though, he'd probably still get with her ghost. I mean she'd be eternally young right? That'd be sweet.

Across the room he can see Delilah. Talk about another piece of ass. Like, she was hot in a different way than Skye though y'know? Skye was wild and like, hot. Delilah was nice and like, hot. Two separate kinds of hotness, man. Still, he could still get with Delilah, since she's not like, dead. Plus she's probably all emotional, and like, ready to be comforted. He was just the dude to do that.

Tyelar tries to walk up to Delilah as casually as possible. "Hey, Delilah," he says, and he flashes her his winning smolder. She'd be all over him in no time.

Lachlan watched as Augustine took a swig from the flask and passed it back. At this point, it wasn't about to last very long, and it was his father's good stuff. Lachlan took his turn when suddenly he heard his dad's voice.

"If I have to listen to Karen Nolastname talk about one more 'amazing business idea' pyramid scheme she has gotten herself into there will be a body in that casket." Sam grabbed the flask out of Lachlan's hand and took his turn with the flask before setting it back in Lachlan's hand. "We won't talk about this if you don't tell anyone I left to attend a brand party." There it was. Lachlan sighed and slipped the flask into his pocket.

"We'll tell everyone you had some super important business meeting to discover the next big teen thing. You should say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Maddox, at least. Skye's gone. It's the least you could do." Augustine replied disappointingly. That made Lachlan think. No one was calling Skye dead today. She was 'gone' or 'lost from this world' or 'departed'. They were like the most pathetic search party in the world that had just completely given up. That's all they'd ever accept: lost.

Sam excused himself to say goodbye to Nancy and Charles, leaving the Reid boys alone again. "I can get more. I think Dad was expecting this." Lachlan looked down at the dark blue punch cup in his hand. He downed the remaining punch and poured the flask directly into it. He handed it to Augustine who said he'd be right back before slipping out the back door. Lachlan was alone now which left him to survey the room. There were a lot of people he knew, but he was looking for the big names: Delilah, Kirsten, Monroe, Tieghlur, and Skye. Wait, not Skye. Damn, that was going to be hard to erase for his mental attendance, wasn't it? If this had been one of their old neighborhood parties, maybe a solstice party, this was about the time they'd be sneaking away, just a little after their older siblings had.

Lachlan clocked Kirsten towards the side of the room, looking too cool for this. She'd mastered that look along time ago. Monroe was near his mother, but not actually in her adult conversation. He spotted Delilah before he realized that she was with Thylir. How had he not thought about how this would all be for Delilah?

Lachlan sipped from his cup as he walked to Delilah. What the hell was Tiilur wearing? He so badly wanted to deck him across the face, but, y'know, gotta preserve the relationship.

"Hey dude." Lachlan shared one of those handshakes that only junkies seemed to know with Teighler before turning his attention to Delilah. "Hey Liles. Party of the decade, huh?" He scoffed, giving her one of those awkward Catholic side hugs. He couldn't help but remember her when he was young, the same height as him. He could remember all of them at that age. Delilah was good, Skye was bossy, Kirsten was pretentious, Thyler was weird, Monroe was tough, and he was distant. Who would have thought they'd all take up his role one day.

Kirsten noticed the group of her old friends hanging out in the corner by the door. It wasn't a surprise that they were there, after all, the cul de sac was still pretty close after all these years. Still, she wasn't sure who invited Taeiouyler. In fact, maybe he was gate crashing. It seemed like the kind of thing for him to do. For a minute, she had to wonder if they were still friends. If maybe they had rekindled their friendship without her. Sometimes she would see the light on in Lachlan's guest house, and wonder who was in there with him. Most of the time she just assumed it was a girl or Thighhighleur. Yet, sometimes she would wonder if it was them. She didn't really care though.

Still, here she was, standing by herself. So, she casually walked over to the dining table and threw a piece of cubed fruit and one of those gross crackers you eat with cheese and wine on a paper plate. Then, she walked past them, suddenly stopping as if she's just noticed them. "Hey guys."

Its not like there were any better options. Skye's friends were kind of annoying and only wanted to talk about getting drunk or doing molly or something. She saw Carter walking around in a $600 suit and ridiculously strong cologne. Talking to the praetors would be social suicide. So she'd have to settle for the dude bro, the other dude bro, the stoner, and the goody two shoes. And the Bitch made five. It was a shame they'd never get the bossy bitch to join them.

___

"Yeah," Theighlar says in response to Delilah's question, "I like to be fashionably late, y'know?" It worked out for him too, because now Delilah was looking right at him. Then his moment had to be ruined by stupid Lachlan. C'mon, couldn't Lachlan realize he was trying to score right now? After everything Theaylr had done for him. He just wanted to ride the sympathy wave and spend the night comforting some hotties. Then Lachlan had to show up with his stupid cheekbones and shit. He saw the girls Lachlan brought to his guest house. They were hot. Occasionally he'd try to like, go over and hang, but then Lachlan would like, subtly throw him out. Theilur wasn't dumb, he knew when he wasn't wanted. He got a vibe. Delilah wasn't giving him that vibe, so he knew he could've actually gotten somewhere if stupid Lachlan hadn't come over.

He still did their handshake though. Bros before hoes, y'know?

Then Monroe had to come over too. Like, can't these dudes just give Theighler a break? Like, Monroe had washboard abs. He could get any girl at this party. Except here he was, stepping up on Thaylars game. It was downright disrespectful, bro.

At least Kirsten came over to join them. She wouldn't give Thoyler the time of day, but she could probably distract the other dudes long enough for Thiylr to make some headway with Delilah.

"What's good, Kirsten?"

"Get fucked, Thylour."

Didn't she see he was trying?

In truth, Delilah didn't even know how to begin to have a conversation with Tieghlur and she could feel part of her wanting to retract more and more. Where was Monroe? Or where was Lachlan? Really anyone would be better to have around in this moment, just to make it less awkward. She wasn't even entirely too sure what Tylr was trying to get at but her best guess was he was trying to hit on her, it wouldn't be the first time it happened and lets be real, he wasn't the most direct guy there was out there. "I'm not sure that tuxedo printed shirt is quite the fashion you want to wear when you're fashionably late." The girl commented and thankfully before the conversation got anywhere else, Lachlan had come up to her.

"Lanny!" She said as she returned the side hug he had given her, she would be lying if she said she weren't excited to see Lachlan. "I mean, I think she would have wanted a different kind of party in her honor, but it's been quite a ride." Lilah commented and tried to keep a bit of humour going, she didn't want to get sucked into emotions and crying, she hated to cry. It happened more than she'd like to admit, but the last place she wanted to cry was Skye's celebration of life.

It wasn't much time until Monroe showed up and she gave him a small wave and a smile. But before she could really even say much more Kirsten had decided to actually associate with them, there probably wasn't any better for her. It was difficult with Kirsten's sister being close to Jules, if she were being honest Alivia was ten times more bearable at this point.

"Hey Kirsten." She got in just in time for Tieghlur and Kirsten to go at it. There were a few remarks that Delilah could make to Kirsten, but she just didn't have the heart to say them. It was a weird feeling seeing the other four of them and knowing a piece of the puzzle was missing, but not really being able to place why until you realized that it was Skye and you were at her grandparents house for a reason pertaining to Skye's disappearance.

"I'm just gonna..." She started and then proceeded to reach over to Lachlan's hand that contained the cup of what she presumed to be alcohol and she grabbed the rim of the cup and pulled it gently towards herself before bringing the rim of the cup to her lips and tilted it back to have the expensive liquor pour into her mouth before returning it to Lachlan as she winced as the alcoholic sting. "Thanks."

Lachlan eyed Tieghlur and left his arm with the cup in his hand around Delilah's shoulders protectively. Even though they didn't see each other all that much anymore, Lachlan would always protect Delilah like a sister. That was what made it so weird when Mr. Lockwood and his dad tried to push them together. Thank gods for Juliana and Augustine. Lachlan had a quick thought of him and Liles drinking on a party bus as the best man and maid of honor at their wedding. He smiled and looked down at Delilah. Maybe they'd actually become friends again.

Lachlan clapped hands with Monroe when he came up. Him and Lachlan had always been pretty similar and there had never been any bad blood there. Lachlan could complain about almost any other member of the cul de six but Monroe. For example, Kirsten was a stone cold bi*** and might genuinely be sent from hell to kill them, but like they all still liked her enough, so.

Of course, Kirsten had to walk up just then. It was almost like he had called the devil's direct hotline. Unfortunately for her, she had ended up next to Thighler which put right in his line of fire. Fortunately for the rest of them, it tee-ed Lachlan right up to go in on them.

"Oh come on, Kirsten. That's not how you two were acting a couple years ago when we played Seven Minutes in Heaven at that huge party at my place." Lachlan's eyebrows flickered up and back down and there was a super smug smile on his face. He never really did figure out what happened that night, but it didn't matter. Teylor would latch on to it and it would drive Kirsten completely insane. Maybe he was a tad tipsy, because this was hilarious to him.

He didn't break the eye contact that he had made with Kirsten until he felt the cup slipping out of his hand. He thought to warn Delilah what was in there, but she seemed to know what she was getting herself into. He smiled and laughed, taking a sip from the cup after her.

"I wouldn't believe that Miss. Delilah Lockwood had a taste for the better things in life if Oliver hadn't told me all about his drunken jam session with you." He teased.

Kirsten gave Lachlan her best angry stare. Thankfully it had been honed and perfected after years of intimidating people, so she knew it was very effective at telling people not to mess with her. "I don't know what you're talking about." She said coolly. She did not need people bringing that up. In reality she sat in the corner of the closet and kicked Theighlur every time he tried to come near her. After all, he wasn't her type, in any way. She came out of the closet shortly after that. Both literally and figuratively.

Suddenly Kirsten started to realize why she had left this group in the first place. She would always be an outsider. Sure, she was spirited and she liked winning. Maybe sometimes she would take it too far. Except that was when they were kids. Little did they know, just as they had changed, so had she. She was done trying to just make them like her. The only reason she was still standing with them is because she knew her mother would not let her leave. So she swallowed any further comments, and tried to put on a pleasant smile.

------

Tylr wasn't really sure what was going on. Like, sure, he knew they liked to talk all fancy like and leave him in the dust. But usually he found that like, everything would be chill if he just acted like it was. He knew how to get the others to be cool with him. Like he knew that Delilah liked his smile, and that Lachlan just liked him in general. He knew Monroe wasn't totally down with him, but y'know what, Monroe needed to just like, chill out y'know?

"Yeah.... that was a good night, right Kirsten?" Okay so like, nothing actually happened between them, cause she was like, a lesbian and all. He doesn't f*ck with lesbians they can't fall for his charm. Still, he had to let the others think he did. Cause like, he had an image to uphold.

If the brunette had been drinking at the time that Lachlan mentioned the jam session that happened about a year ago she would have choked on her drink It wasn't that it was a secret by any means and it wasn't that she didn't want people to know, but the fact that Oliver and Lachlan talked about it? That was a little news to her, not unexpected since they were friends and all, but it was news to her. Then on cue Monroe would jump on the band wagon to mention something about it and she shook her head and didn't say anything about it yet as she looked around the group.

She remembered that her and Skye talked in this very house about whether the group would get back together or not. It was a quiet evening when that happened and Delilah hated that it was such a 'we turned out better people' but did they all really? What did branching out do for any of them? For gods sake Skye wasn't even around anymore, the night they even had that sleepover was only days away from Skye would leave and not come back.

"Look we all have our moments of drinking, and say what you will that was a fun jam session. Shame you all missed it." Delilah said.

Lachlan sighed and took a large sip from his cup as Augustine returned, passing him a flask, telling him he was going to find Juliana. Lachlan slipped the flask in to his pocket, suddenly feeling very subconscious. These were the people he wasn't supposed to feel subconscious around. They had seen every bad phase that he had gone through, and he had seen there's. He looked down at Delilah, his eyebrows turned in.

"I wasn't trying to act like that was a bad night. Oliver spoke really really highly of it, actually. He asks how you are doing every once and a while, y'know?" He put his arm a little bit tighter around her. He didn't know why. She wasn't the kid he knew, She could protect herself and didn't need protection. Maybe he just wanted to know she was there. Lachlan looked around the circle. There were 5 people in it. There should be six, but there were 5. Even Kirsten and Tieghlur belonged here. So many years had made it so that they all belonged. That was a badge of honor that they could never lose.

Lachlan took a deep breath and looked around the circle. "What are you guys doing after all this? My dad suggested getting some pizzas and just like having people over like we used to." He drank quickly from the cup. That was a lie. He knew his dad wouldn't be there, let alone in New Rome, but he could charge the pizzas to his dad card and put them under his name. They wouldn't need to know that Lachlan just wanted to know if the magic was really gone.

Kirsten wanted to say no. She wanted to laugh in their faces and walk away. Except, she had nowhere to walk to. She also didn't have plans for the night. So, she sighed, and said, "Yeah, sure, why not." Cause she couldn't just let them think she had nothing to do. She had to maintain a level of superiority here. After all, she had ditched them, not the other way around.

----

Theylur was stoked. Usually it was just him and Lachlan and occasionally Oliver hanging at Lachlan's place. Like, that was fun and all, but it was kinda sad, y'know? Thaylar was a people person, and the thought of having the old crew at the old bachelor pad seemed tight as hell. Well, everyone but Skye. Pour one out, y'know? Lmao anyways.

"You know you can always count on me to be there bro, no matter what, cause you're my bro." Plus there was free pizza involved. Theiylur couldn't turn down free pizza.

It took her a few moments to realize what was going on with everyone saying they didn't get that she had been joking. Delilah felt as if maybe she could have said what she meant to say a little differently, she could have put more of a joking tone in, but it was so hard to joke on a day like today. Skye was gone, well they declared her dead, but she wanted to believe that she was somewhere out there and she just didn't know where. It was a sorrowful feeling residing in her chest as she realized that some of the moments she shared with Skye could never happen again. Skye never mentioned anything about the kiss they shared so she just assumed Skye didn't want to remember. That led to Delilah never mentioning anything about it herself, and now all she could do was stand there and regret it never saying anything.

"Oh, sorry guys, that was a joke. " She started saying and then took a few moments before speaking again. "It was a really good night though, I enjoyed it oddly enough. The next morning I didn't really like." Delilah said shaking her head, remembering the sick spinning feeling she had felt as she had to run to the bathroom and sit on the floor and hug the toilet for a good portion of the morning, it was a place Delilah didn't want to be in again.

There was a mention of pizza and hanging out and Delilah's face lit up. She wanted to hang out with the whole group again and wanted to see if there was that same spark that was there before, it was kind of scary to do it, but she really didn't want to go back to her empty house alone after this. "I'd love to come over."

Lachlan felt a bit bad when Delilah had to defend herself regarding her joke. He just hadn't really expected a joke to come out of today like that. Lachlan had only been to one funeral in his life and there hadn't really been joking at all. It didn't help either that that funeral was mostly just Scottish old ladies who had played bingo with his grandmother.

Anyway, this was supposed to be a celebration of life or something. That idea was ridiculous to Lachlan. How were they supposed to celebrate someone "dying" at the age of 17? It was tragic as fuck.

"What's supposed to happen here anyway?" He was terrified that he would have to say something about Skye. He'd been thinking about it for days, but all that kept peaking into the front of his mind was the last time that he saw Skye before their quest was announced in late May. Of course Lachlan's history would be overshadowed by the fact that he was deep down a desolate fuckboy. If Mr. and Mrs. Maddox asked him to participate, though, there was no way that he could say no.

Lachlan wasn't as dense as he came across. He knew that at least some of these people didn't actually want to be at his place that night, but felt some obligation to say yes. Kirsten hadn't even tried to cover up that. Liles voice confirming that she wanted to be there was enough to set him at ease again. He was so lucky to have her. He sipped from his cup and offered the end to Delilah.

So, as time does, it passes.

The reception ends, a couple adults stick around to help clean up, packing all the food into neat Tupperware and trying to fit them in the fridge among the almost endless amount of casseroles. Most people just walk back to their own homes, holding their loved ones just a bit closer.

The Cul de Six, despite being one short, file out the back door and cross the green space to Lachlan's guest house. They take the same path that Skye used to take so many times, passing the lilies and the hydrangeas, the new koi pond. Pizzas are ordered and consumed, they chat about things that are easy, and when Skye comes up, they accept that things are going to be like this now. There's a jewish saying, zikhronah livrakha. May her memory be a blessing. So, maybe, they could look back upon the many memories they have of her. Never perfect but still, they were good memories.

So, as time does, it passes. The pizza party ends, the cul de six, no five, goes their separate ways. Then, despite all their promises to do it again, they don't. Sometimes its hard to go back to the way things used to be. Sometimes its hard to admit that they were always better as six.