Stress Relief

8: Sunshine and Rainbows

WARNING
This chapter contains themes of:
- self-harm
- blood
- toxic partner behavior
• • •

After finding where the sodas were thanks to Jase's help, Elijah busied himself with the interior of Diego's house. It wasn't like the luxurious mansions all around it. The decor and arrangement of everything felt homey and like people lived there and did things there, rather than looking like some polished dollhouse.

Sipping his bottle of Coke, Elijah took a gander at the photos hanging up on the wall adjacent to the fridge. There were some from birthdays, one or two with a few people, and the rest with a ton. He took his time looking at the people in each one and noticed how Diego was in most of them, but not all. Some had pictures of other people, kids with parents, but not Diego's mom or him.

"D has a huge family." Elijah turned and looked at Jase curiously over his shoulder. Rather than being dressed in swim trunks and a throw-away shirt like Chase and some of the others had likely been, Jase wore a some button up and jeans. Not only that, but to his surprise he had a baseball cap on. Backwards. It kind of made him look like a Chad.

"Never noticed you wore a hat." He pointed out.

Jase raised a brow for a second before briefly touching his cap. "Oh, yeah. School doesn't allow hats but I like 'em."

"Huh." He nodded. Taking a look back at the photos, Elijah smiled at the happy faces. "Who are they?"

"Most of 'em are his cousins." His voice rang against the metal of his Redbull for a moment before he took a sip. "That big one in the middle is on his sixteenth birthday." Finding the picture he was referring to was easy. Not only because it had a slightly more elaborate frame than the rest, but because it had the most people. The picture depicted pure chaos in the funniest way imaginable. The people around him were on each other's shoulders, put in headlocks, doubled over with laughter, and a few older women looked as if they were about to have a heart attack.

Now that he looked closer, he could see some of the guys in the picture too. Alex was next to Jase fluffing his hair, Anthony had one of those party tubes that made a funny noise, Matt looked onward in a way that could only be described as impending doom as in the middle sat Diego's horrified face only a foot away from an incoming cake. Carson stood just behind the attacker cheering with excitement. It was a little tricky to pick out their face, but soon his jaw dropped.

"No way, is that Chase?" the unmistakable curly blonde hair and dashing smile stood out proudly amongst the crowd. "I would've thought that Carson would pull something like that." speaking of, a splash caused a cacophony of girlish screaming to erupt behind them that made him turn away from the photo.

"Carson!" the soaked girl scolded, harsh enough to likely have evaporated the water she was now covered in. The boys in the pool all collectively laughed and backed away as Sam grinned wildly. "Oh, so you think that's funny huh? I'll show you what's funny!" He pleaded for mercy as she dove in straight on top of him and proceeded to have an underwater wrestling match.

"Yeah you would think, right?" Jase's voice got a little more serious then. "Don't mistake his charm for being a goodie-two-shoes. He's pulled his fair share of pranks." Elijah looked back at him smiling. Taking a glance outside he saw the boy in question cheering on the two of them with the rest of the group.

"I'll take your word for it." Downing the last of his soda he looked around the lower cabinets in search for the trashcan once more.

"Over here." He looked over, watching Jase pull out a tall drawer near him with an amused smile.

"Oh, thanks." Throwing it away he looked outside as the cheers got louder. Apparently Sam had won. The lot of them picking her up with pumped fists and excited chants.