lemon to a knife fight

August 9th, 2019

There's a motorcycle in Skye's driveway. That's what starts this all. Its not really the bike itself, Skye has no problems with it, its just what it brought with it. She does this sometimes, shows up without warning. Most of the time she won't even answer the phone when they call, but then she gets it into her head that she needs to see her family, so she's suddenly in New Rome. Most of the time Skye can get through this. She's been dealing with her mom since she was little. Its weird, because usually kids don't have to "deal" with their parents, but Irene was special. This time though. This time she shows up six days after Skye's birthday, without any sort of recognition that it had passed. Eighteen years, and Skye is done dealing with her mother.

So, she crosses the green space. She remembers the last time she did this, she remembers saying "this is the last time", but she was always lying. She always knew this was going to happen. They could lie and delude themselves, but it wouldn't keep it from happening again and again. Maybe its because she wants to feel free from the guilt. Though, she's not sure its working.

She sees the light on in his guest house. She's not surprised, the sun is only starting to set, bathing the sky in pink and orange. The august heat is still sticking around, and she's thankful she wore a tank top. When she reaches the door, she hesitates for a moment. She doesn't have to do this. She could just go home and try to tune out her mother's apologies or lack of them. Except then she looks back and she sees the motorcycle in the driveway. So she knocks.

Lachlan was a bit embarrassed to admit how much time he had spent sitting in this oatmeal colored La-Z-Boy. With his birthday fast approaching (and on a Wednesday, of course) Oliver was already planning out two consecutive weekends of going hard to celebrate. "You only turn 18 once, dude. We're gonna rage. I'm talking parties and stupid bullshit and finally getting you some action besides... y'know." Oliver had said, excitedly jumping up and down and bouncing around the clubhouse when he was hear earlier that day. He'd left, though, because Jasmine was in town to get an update on all of Oliver's stuff. It'd been nice to meet Oliver's mom in person,  but it was much nicer to just sit here doing nothing when he knew he had a hectic couple weeks ahead of him.

Lachlan heard a knock on the glass door of the clubhouse. He knew that Oliver said he might come back over if his mom had plans in town tonight, but he had really doubted it. Jasmine didn't seem like the kind of person to drive 27 hours to see her son and then go and do something else. She was a really good mom, after all.

Lachlan pushed the recliner ottoman down and got up from his chair. He chuckled a little bit when he caught sight of red tinted hair. He opened the door and feigned looking at a watch. "Skye Maddox. Is it Friday already?" He stepped back, holding the door open for Skye.

Skye rolls her eyes at his comment, but walks in anyways when Lachlan holds the door open for her. She can feel the anger and frustration bubbling up inside of her, drowning out the numbness that she has started to get used to. They've been doing this for almost three weeks now, and to Skye it almost feels like its been longer than that. There's been so much going on in her world. With going back to duty, to her birthday, to her mom showing up unannounced.

"My mom's here I need a distraction," Skye says as she crosses the empty beer cans and general mess to sit down on the love seat. To them, sitting on the love seat meant an open invitation. It was just up to the other one to reciprocate. Just like she did six days ago, when she showed up at his door, right before her birthday ended, because her mother had not called. She used to always call. As far away as Irene liked to place herself from Skye's life, she had always called on her birthday. This was Skye's first birthday in two years, and Irene had not called. Instead, she shows up today without so much as a Happy Belated Birthday, Skye, I drove the thirty minutes it takes for me to get here so we can celebrate because I feel bad. It was just Hi, I figured its been a while since we had dinner so here I am. Did she even remember?

Lachlan locked the door behind him, for a split second considering taking the key out of the little ceramic frog outside the door in case Oliver decided that he should come back tonight at some point. Instead, he decided to just shoot him a message and tell him not to come back. Oliver was an idiot, but he'd understand this.

Lachlan opened the fridge and grabbed 2 cans of Cherry Coke. He popped it open as he shut the fridge with his foot. He had to play his part in this dance. He could see the invitation in front of him, a Lachlan sized spot on the love seat. Lachlan knew though that if he made his way there too quickly, it wouldn't fit their rhythm. It had to be casual and something that just kind of casually happens. Lachlan leaned against the island of the kitchen.

"Irene is in town? What am I doing here with you then?" Lachlan joked. He drank from the pop can as he walked to the love seat and passed the can of pop to Skye. He took a little bet in his head that that can of pop would never get opened. He took one last sip of his before setting it down on the end table. He put his arm around Skye's shoulder and shook it, razzing her a bit. "I'm just joking. I'm happy to be a distraction." And there it was, a Skye sized opening and the ball was in her court.

Skye looks over at Lachlan. Sometimes she wishes she could make jokes like him, or be as easy going as he is. Except she knows that would mean also being emotionally stunted, but lets be real, she already is. Her mom just has a way of getting under her skin in a way that was almost akin to Caroline. She's honestly happier when she stays away, but it still kind of stings when she does. It's kind of hypocritical and paradoxical, but Skye doesn't care.

"I'm serious, Lachlan," Skye starts, taking the can of soda and immediately putting it down on the coffee table unopened, "She doesn't remember my birthday, she doesn't go to my funeral, she barely speaks to me the last time she was here, and then suddenly she just shows up without warning? It's like I'm only her daughter when its convenient." She sighs for a moment, before leaning into him. She knows she said she's here for a distraction, but she had to say it to someone. Now, she could begin the distraction.

"I'm not staying the night though." She tells him, before pulling her shirt up and off. Might as well just get to the point.

Lachlan always felt a little bit bad when Skye talked about her mom. He had only met Irene once when he was younger, but he always knew what that bike in the driveway meant. Sam might kind of suck just categorically, but at least he was there every once and a while. Lachlan knew deep in his heart that if he needed his dad and he called him, Sam would be their faster than even possible.

Lachlan watched the can of soda go to the end table, the final sign that he needed to know that this wasn't Skye actually wanted to come over and talk. The last couple weeks he had been just a little on edge about this after that week that she actually stayed a bit in the morning. As soon as she said that she wasn't staying the night, though, he knew he was in the clear.

"You want to go home to your mother and talk to her after this?" Lachlan was laughing but then he was kissing Skye. He pulled his shirt off over his head and threw it across the room before placing his hand on the side of Skye's neck and the other on her waist and kissed her.

It had been an exhausting several weeks for the daughter of Epione. The most deep seeded flash back that kept coming into her mind was seeing the flow of red and blue lights reflecting on the walls of their house, hearing the few footsteps that would come up the walkway, but before they could dome up to the door and knock, her father left the vicinity. Delilah remembers rushing out the door trying to pull on their arms as they pull her father away and bound him in handcuffs. They tell her father that he is being arrested for the murder of Father Frederick and that anything he says can and will be used against him before they lastly tell him he has a right to get a lawyer before speaking about the crime.

As much as Delilah loved justice and people getting what they deserved, she had on the biggest pair of rose coloured glasses, even though her father killed a man, he did it for her. It all happened because of her, she had been hurt and he was only doing what any caring father would have done, but the fact that this was the only ounce of care that she had seen from her father in about a decade it was hard to let go. She remembers screaming for the police officers to let go of her father, she's outside of the fence trying to pull her father back to her, but before she knew it she was being grabbed and held back by Sam Reid, a man who Delilah grew up knowing, but despised in that moment.

It was just about sun down now, watching the walls turn red from the sunset on this August evening had reminded her of it and it really made the place feel lonely, it only opened the can of worms that she didn't want to open about the demons that had lurked in the now burned down church. Delilah decided that she'd go over to Lachlan's instead. He was a safe person to go to, he was good at making things light, but he was also good at being comforting, or even just taking her mind somewhere other than her troubles. That or at least she'd find her favourite snack there if he still had them. She either preferred chocolate pudding cups or those little pizza snack bite things.

Delilah got up and began to grab her keys that she'd need to get back into her house later when she exited, shut and locked the door behind her. The daughter of Epione began making her walk across the little lawn that'd eventually get her to be placed in front of the guest house. It's only be seconds until she would be walking into the place and probably just finding Lachlan in a La-Z-Boy reclined playing some sort of video game that Delilah always seemed to be horribly bad at.

"Oh, shut up," She says, before meeting him halfway. She has to admit, she already feels way better. It's easy with Lachlan, at least when they're not screaming at each other. She hopes for a minute the can just keep doing what they're doing. No thinking, just kissing. Who cares that her mom is home? Well, she does, but she's not going to think about that right now. She just has to focus on Lachlan and his lips on hers. Easy and simple.

"You're not the boss of me, Skye Maddox." Lachlan smiled against Skye's mouth as she kissed him after teasing him back. It was so easy to just live in this world with Skye. The little jabs in the side, the laughter, and the sun. He could feel his brain focusing in and leaving everything else he could be thinking about in the dark for a while. He felt as his senses focused in on feeling: the feeling of Skye's lips on his or the feeling of touching her warm skin. She was always so warm.

Lachlan pulled Skye so that she was over his lap as they kissed. One hand was pressed tight against her lower back and the other was tangling into the back of her hair. For a second, Lachlan thought he heard something, probably just the creek of the old love seat underneath them. Sounds were a distant sense right now anyway. Lachlan leaned in to the kiss, the passion building quickly.

Then, what feels like miles away to him, a key turns in a glass door and it swings open.

When she had walked over to the guesthouse, she was so used to seeing it around as most of her memories had been the group of them hanging out in the guest house, it was just away from all of the others and they didn't have to worry about adults walking in that often. When she got there she had went to turn the door knob gently, but it was locked, it wasn't typical for it to be locked, but it also wasn't uncommon for it to be unlocked either, if that even made sense. Delilah didn't even give a second thought as to what could be happening inside of the guest house, she just grabbed the copy of the key she had for the lock and she began to unlock the door.

Naturally as the door unlocked the door knob turned and opened the glass door, and at first she didn't see anyone in the La-z-boys, but as she took a couple more steps in she seen them. In that moment she felt time slow down to seconds dragging out to being minutes and so forth. She stood there not saying anything while looking at the air on the loveseat as they were clearly about to get involved in something. Delilah could feel her stomach twist and turn into knots, she could feel her heart beating faster than it ever had before. Was this what it felt to be Julius Caesar? She thought to herself as she could feel the pressure build up on her tear ducts, but she ignored the feeling to cry, she wasn't going to cry in front of them anymore.

"What the actual fuck?" Delilah said with a slight hostility to her voice. There were too many emotions to shift through, there was too much to even try and sort out. "I can't believe this." The words were slowly coming to her mind to say, but for the moment she was still a little stunned.

There's a moment where Skye is having deja vu. Her shirt is off, there's the click of a door opening, and the voice of a girl. Except this girl is not Caroline. Caroline she could handle. She was used to Caroline looking at her like that. Except when she turns her head, it isn't Caroline. In that moment, there is a whole list of people that Skye would rather have walked in on them. Oliver, her Mom, Sam, Augustus, The praetors, even the president were above Delilah on that list. In fact, the only person that Delilah was above was Finn Reddy. Wait, no. Finn was still above her.

She could see the exact moment she saw Delilah's heart break in two. But there wasn't any time to think about that, because she was still sitting there in just her bra. She's glad that she had left it on the love seat, and she's glad that nothing else was off. She pulls the shirt over her head quickly, meanwhile trying to get as far away from Lachlan as possible, as if she could act like nothing had even happened. The damage has already been done.

"Lilah, I'm so sorry." What is she even sorry for? Being caught? Betraying someone she wasn't even romantically involved with? They had kissed over a year ago, nothing had come of it. Sure, Skye still felt things for her, but she wasn't even sure if Delilah did. Yet here she is. Staring at Skye like she had just been cheated on. So, maybe there was something there. This was possibly the worst way to find out about it.

Lachlan felt like all of the air had been pulled out of the room as the door opened. The myth of Lachlan and Skye, this tragic story that got told week after week was getting pulled out the door as the wind blew in. Lachlan searched the room for his shirt but decided that when he'd have to walk almost to Delilah to get it, it just wasn't worth it. The damage had been done anyway. The speed at which Lachlan and Skye separated was impressive. As fast as they could be together, they could be a part faster. Lachlan took a sip from his cherry coke and sighed. This was going to be a long night.

Lachlan followed the way that Delilah and Skye were looking at each other. That was the moment when he realized that Skye was the criminal here, he was just the accessory. He sensed that there was something that he knew nothing about going on, and that he was never meant to even catch whiff of it. Whatever that was though, was he in any different a place as Delilah was right now? He knew that he didn't have any right to be mad. Did Delilah? Lachlan heard Skye start apologizing. He looked at her, quizzically.

"For why?" Lachlan looked back and forth between the two girls. "We weren't doing anything wrong." He looked at Skye. "Right?" That was the moment that Lachlan remembered was nothing more than corkscrew to help Skye relieve some pressure. That was what he wanted to be, obviously, but what did that mean here?

There was just a huge sense of confusion going on in Delilah's brain and she could feel the pounding of her head returning and all the thoughts circling around like vultures. She was already feeling in a vulnerable state from everything else that had been going on, but catching the two of them had only opened up the deepest and darkest of wounds that Delilah didn't even want to look at. She had to face mistakes and an abundance of regret, but how could she? Now she had to face Skye and Lachlan. Lachlan was usually the person she ran to in times like these, and Skye was the person she'd actually talk to about things, but they hadn't done as much talking as they should have, had they?

She could remember the morning after the night of that Field of Mars party, where her and Skye had been talking. At the time Delilah didn't remember the kisses that the pair of them had share and how they fell asleep so peacefully in each others arms. Skye never offered those details to her in the morning and so when they finally came back to her she didn't think the night they shared was important enough to Skye to mention.

"Gods just shut up." Delilah said to the both of them but partially to herself as she held her head a little bit before she walked into the space just a little bit more. "Of course you did nothing wrong." She mumbled very quietly under her breath. She was just trying to think, but she couldn't all the emotions she had were just overtaking her. "Are you even sorry, Skye?" She asked her turning her glance back over to her. "Are you sorry or just sorry you got caught? Did that night really not mean that much to you at all?"

Skye feels like she has whiplash. Seeing her mother's motorcycle in the driveway is just a distant memory now. She watches Delilah for a second while the information goes through her head. So she knows. She knew this entire time. After that night, Skye thought she would never remember, and in a way that was safer. Safer than putting her feelings on the line. She had so many excuses back then. She was going to leave in a few days. She wasn't sure if Delilah actually felt anything besides just lust. She wasn't even sure if Delilah would've done it if she hadn't been drinking. So she bottled it up and put it down further.

Yet, here she is now. Skye stands up from the love seat and starts to approach Delilah, but she leaves a good distance between them. "I am sorry." Skye says, and she knows what she has to do, "I'm sorry for not telling you, and yeah, I'm sorry for getting caught. That night meant everything to me, so much that I was afraid that the next morning you'd say-" Skye trails off, trying to fight off tears. She isn't good at this, bearing her feelings. She just wants to climb back into the four walls that she had built herself so long ago. She wants to lie, and say that that night meant nothing to her, because it's easier when people are mad at you. It's easier if she doesn't have to open herself up to someone. Except she knows right now is not the time for easy, not when Delilah is standing in front of her. So Skye just shakes her head and half shrugs, "I was afraid you'd say it was a mistake."

There was a certain rage that Lachlan felt towards Skye, but mostly he was just mad at the situation in general. He had just wanted a fun chill night with a hot not-so-chill girl. Instead he was sitting here being apologized about as just "being caught" with.

Lachlan watched Skye get up and walk towards Delilah. He could feel the anger building up inside of him remembering that day with Skye and Caroline. Somehow him and Skye were always hurting people who didn't even have a right to be involved in their business. Lachlan picked up the cherry coke can and stood the pop tab up on the top and started to flick it back and forth. Every time, it bent the metal a little bit thinner until it broke. It felt like that was where this conversation was going. A war back and forth between these two girls he cared deeply about that he just had to sit their privy to. He had to act like he was just a piece of set dressing who wasn't capable of putting the pieces together about Skye and Delilah. He was piecing it together, though.

Watching the mixture of emotion go across Skye's face touched the softest part of her and she wanted to break down and start crying by seeing the hurt on Skye's face. In a way it almost felt as if she were looking in a mirror. Seeing the red tinted hair girl in front of her with the same hurt expression on her face and the same conflicting emotions, it felt as if it were some sort of improv game. Delilah listened to the words, but she was just trying to get her thoughts in order.

It was a sense of heart breaking seeping in, but also anger at the fact Lachlan had been with so many people, but yet he had to be with Skye? How was that fair? The one time she wanted something and wanted to be with someone it was Lachlan that would take her away from her. It was easier by far for Lachlan to have people at his doorstep wanting to be with him. All these girls would just pull to him like magnets, but Delilah? Girls hardly looked her way and boys hardly looked her way. She was just the girl who had a weird belief in Christianity despite the fact the Roman gods existed. Not like she was tied to that faith much anymore anyways.

It was Delilah's turn to hold back tears yet again, Skye made it impossible to be mad at her, but in some sense that almost drove Delilah crazy. She wanted to be mad,but yet all she wanted to do was to move closer to Skye. The legacy of Cupid stopped herself from moving any closer to Skye. "Skye, that night would never be a mistake to me." She softly to the girl before her eyes shifted over to look at Lachlan, "You had to take this one too? Wasn't Caroline enough? Weren't all those other girls enough for you?" At this point despite wanting to speak with hostility she just spoke with a slight sadness and soft edge to her voice.

That night would never be a mistake to me. Those words echo in Skye's head. After wondering for so long, she finally has her answer. Now she regrets not saying anything. She wants to go back and shake herself, telling her not to waste time, because before she knew it, a year would have gone by and she'd be feeling so alone. At the same time though, maybe it was for the best it didn't happen back then. She couldn't imagine Delilah attending her funeral if they had admitted they had feelings for each other. In a way, that seems even more cruel. To give her something and then take it away like that.

Yet then Delilah is going after Lachlan, and Skye can't let it happen. "No, stop." She says, "Its not his fault. It was both of our decisions."

Lachlan felt himself get pulled into the conversation by his heart. Before Lachlan had been feeling red hot anger but something about what Delilah said turned the fire bright white. It was bullshit, honestly. She was placing an anger on him that wasn't actually about him. Lachlan finished the can of Cherry Coke and threw it on the ground. He pushed himself off of the love seat. He placed a hand on Skye's shoulder.

"It's not my fault, you're right. It's also not yours." Lachlan walked a little bit past her and looked at Delilah.

"I am not going to sit here and let you chew me out because you can't stand up for what you want Delilah. You're mad at Skye for not telling you whatever the hell happened between you two, but you didn't talk to her about it either. You can't just take action ever. You're a second class character in your own book, for gods sake." Lachlan looked back at Skye and for a second knew what he was doing was wrong, but he couldn't stop himself. Just like he knew he had to tell Skye the truth, Delilah deserved the same treatment so he looked back at her. His anger exploded out of him.

"You're mad that we actually did something. We made an active decision to actually do something. That's something that you wouldn't do and I am not going to let you make me feel bad for it just because it hurts like hell to see those big brown eyes sad. I didn't take anything from you, because it was never yours. You would have had to take it, but instead you said nothing like the polite little girl you are. I don't have this Catholic guilt that you do. I'm not going to feel guilty." Lachlan turned and pointed at Skye. "And neither should you."

The moment those words had left her lips there was regret, it wasn't even the fact that immediately after Skye had asked her not to say anything about it. It wasn't even the fact that Lachlan had started going off on her for the words that had fallen out of her lips. This all flashed her back to the moment she had the tarot card reading. its just the marking of sudden changes as quick as snapping your fingers, it means disasters are headed your way, more heartaches and hurt to go through things that your current situation may not be able to save you from as it also means broken pride. There was something in her reading about how she needed to change the way she was approaching things and she'd avoid the hurt, but it seemed like it was too late at this point.

Delilah stayed silent the whole time while Lachlan yelled. Part of her wanted to yell back, but that wasn't who she was. She wanted to yell back so bad, but part of her knew deep down she had been in the wrong, so what was she supposed to do? She could feel the tears begging to come out at this point and Delilah didn't want to be the girl who always cried in these situations, she didn't want to be the person who ran away because she had to cry either. She clenched her jaw so hard to keep the tears away.

"Okay." She said trying to take long breaths in subtly to keep her emotions at bay. "I understand. I'm sorry." Delilah said as her eyes hadn't left Lachlan's, she genuinely meant the apology, she didn't know why she casted herself to be a victim when she didn't need to be, she didn't know what she had to point fingers, she just felt broken. It felt like every pillar she had in her life was self destructing, which really just meant Delilah was self destructing. "I think I'll just go." The daughter of Epione said calmly as she broke a gaze from Lachlan and took a few steps back heading for the door.

Lachlan's eyes were locked with Delilah's as he watched her give up right in front of him. As she turned away, Lachlan pushed both hands back through the hair that Skye had messed up. He was so over all of his stupid childhood friends right now. They just needed to learn how to actually be people.

"What is up with both you girls? I call you out for not standing up for yourself and then you instantly back down? Don't you get that I want you to defend yourself? For gods sake Delilah, fight for SOMETHING." Lachlan was up in Delilah's face now. Well, her face was more like in his chest but that wasn't the point. Lachlan turned around and looked at Skye. Skye Maddox was the pin in the grenade of all of their lives: Lachlan, Delilah, Caroline. He even felt like Oliver was caught in the blast radius. A hand was on the pin right now, and if she decided to pull it they were all dead.

Lachlan looked back at Delilah stormed past her to the kitchen. He slammed a glass on the counter and filled it with water. After chugging it down he said, "If you wanna leave, fine. Keep on letting yourself be small."

She wasn't expecting it. She wasn't expecting him to just continue to blow up in her face. That was the thing with Lachlan, once he was set off there was no returning it was 100 or 0 with him and she knew that from day one, but yet she still pulled the trigger. Delilah knew she was going to have to take it all and just absorb it like the little spineless sponge she was so used to being. Its what her role was, she was supposed to soak everything up and just remain there and not fight back, but maybe that was causing more destruction than ever before.

"Why?" She asked plainly as the hurt started to pour out into her veins and pump that instead of blood. She didn't want to go down this road, she didn't want it to boil over this way. "The last time I fought for something I was powerless, it doesn't change anything." Delilah said started to get angry, she hated the fact he was right up near her, she craned her neck she so could look directly at him. "They took him away! I got him back and what was that all for? A small glimpse of the good life again? Just to have it instantly ripped away from me? I had to walk the path of almost literal hell to get him to even see me Lachlan!" She wanted to ask him if he even knew what that was like, but of course he knew, if anyone understood what it was like to have an absent father, it was Lachlan, it was probably part of why they grew a bond int he first place.

"If I fight for things they'll never be mine anyways. It almost feels that way with myself, if I fight for myself, will I ever even be mine? or will I continue to just be a product of everyone else? The same backless sponge. I don't want to be that anymore, do you know how exhausting that is? I just can't stop being that." She said shaking her head before her finger pointed in his face.

"If we're going to talk about these things, then how about you then, hmm? How come you don't fight for more? You don't fight entirely for yourself either, not like you'd have people believe. You have all these cheap nights with girls, the only time you get real and vulnerable is under the sheets with a girl, but you want more than that and I know you do. You wanted more with Caroline, but you never really got her because you wouldn't even fight for it, we aren't so different from you Lachlan, and you know it!"

Lachlan almost laughed out loud when Delilah called him on having cheap dates over. It was easy to forget that the group of them weren't even friends anymore. They didn't know anything about who each other were and honestly probably didn't care to learn.

"That's real cute, Delilah. Why don't you name all of the cheap dates I've had over in the past year, huh? Oh right, you can't. Because they didn't happen!" Lachlan was screaming now, the Reid anger that he shared with Sam and Augustine showing through. He punched a hand down onto the black countertop and took a deep breath.

He looks up between the girls. "You just want me to be like you, but I'm not. I am happy. I fight for what I want and what I believe in. I'm not afraid to make mistakes or to fall in love." Lachlan said through gritted teeth, trying to keep his voice under control. "You say that you fought but you fought in a battle that was impossible to win, Delilah. That's when you fight, when you know you're going to lose. When something that could actually have is in front of you, you can't even lift your hand to take it."

Hearing all the words just made Delilah's head want to explode. He was just so angry and she hated it. She hated when he yelled at other people but she especially hated when he yelled at her. Delilah didn't want to argue anymore it burned her lungs to do it and it just felt wrong, but he wanted her to fight for what she wanted, but what did she even want at this point? The legacy was getting frustrated at this point, it wasn't even like he listened at this point and she was just so sick of it.

Delilah just couldn't handle it though, "Just because they didn't come over in the last year doesn't mean they don't exist, just because its been a year doesn't excuse you from it. You're looking at me from all my years past but you're only counting one year of your life, at least be fair and not a jerk!" She said almost screaming at this point.

"You're wrong!" Delilah actually screamed this time her fists balled up into a fist as she swung her arm in front of her knocking the glass off of the island and now she was in front of the island. Her short height didn't help in the fact that she wanted to lean over more, but she had to take what she could get. "I don't want you to be like me, I don't even want to be like me!" How could he be this stupid? Delilah wouldn't wish people to live like she did, she knew she was just a sucky not go getter, or whatever you'd call it. "You're afraid like the rest of us and I know you are Lachlan. Why else would you not make the leap at having love? Its because every time you get love it gets ripped away from your glance! Your father's love was there briefly and ripped away, you had your brother as your best friend and he was taken away because he has other focuses on life. Fuck that'd make anyone afraid to fall in love again. Even our little group in the cul de sac stopped hanging out. How could you want to trust after that? Love after that? You know it and I know it." Delilah said as her pace slowed eventually and her words grew softer as the rage left her body.

The legacy just realized now that she had broken a glass and the pieces were shattered on the floor. She would clean it up. "We all have our messed up fucking role to play. They're sucky roles. It's not just me and Skye, it's not just you, it's all six of us. I mean look at our parents for gods sake."

Skye stands there for a minute, listening to them scream so loud that the windows rattle. It's almost like watching a child holding a priceless vase, watching it slip through their fingers, watching the cracks travel up the sides until there's hundreds of shards on the ground. Every second you know how its going to end, but you can't force yourself to look away. Suddenly Skye is forgotten. She desperately hopes that Sam hears them screaming, and comes down to check in. She knows it won't happen though. This will always be their mess to clean up. Except right now, they're only destroying.

The second that the glass hits the floor, shattering against the hardwood floors, Skye knows that it will only get worse. "Okay, that's enough," She moves to put herself between them, trying not to step on the glass. She knows they probably won't hurt each other, but standing between them is probably the only way they'll actually pay attention to what she's saying. Its strange to feel like the adult in the room, to look at her friends like they're just rowdy campers. Except she knows it's what has to happen.

"Just breathe, both of you, for five seconds," Before turning to Lachlan and saying, "and I'm being serious, I swear to the gods, Lachlan." She isn't in the mood for him to turn back onto her. They already had this fight.

"Yeah, we're all fucked up beyond recognition. Our parents suck. That does not mean we can throw glasses like animals." Dr. Burke eat your heart out.

Lachlan had plenty more to say to Delilah when Skye got between them, avoiding literal and emotional glass to do so. He had a lot to say to her, too, but something about her expression meant Lachlan knew not to mess with her. He didn't want to admit it, but he could really be afraid of all 5'3'' of her sometimes. Lachlan stared Skye down for a minute before turning around quickly and pacing away for a second, pushing his hands back through his hair. How had he ended up in such a mess? Then, he heard the familiar sound of the door opening. He expected to turn and see one of the girls leaving, but instead what he saw was a tall, lanky boy with a huge smile on his face.

"Oh hey, I'm glad you're all here. My mom wants to take my friends out to brunch tomorrow before she leaves and it turns out that as much as I talk to people that's basically only you--" Oliver was talking a mile a minute but was stopped cold in his tracks as he took the following clues in. 1- glass on the floor. 2- shirtless Lachlan. 3- red faced Lachlan. 4- tears in Delilah's eyes. 5- utter core shaking silence. Something was definitely very wrong here and Oliver was not meant to be a part of it. Then it clicked. Maybe Delilah wasn't supposed to be a part of it either. Oliver stood up straight as he slowly shut the door.

"What's going on here?" He asked, despite having a pretty wholesome grasp on the situation. For a second, Oliver was pretty certain that Lachlan was about to rip his  throat out and throw it in the pool.

"Ever heard of, I don't know, reading a text message. For gods sakes, Oliver." Lachlan muttered. Oliver's phone suddenly felt like a brick in his pocket, the missing link in this whole thing.

"It died when I was out with my mom. I was going to ask to borrow your charger." Oliver's eyes were shifting rapidly from Lachlan to Skye to Delilah, trying to figure out what role he had just thrust himself into. What on Earth was he supposed to do? So the tall boy stood there, frozen, his eyes moving as he braced for someone to make a move.