LANCASTER AND MAXWELL ( ✔ )

part two, chapter twenty-one.

Chapter Twenty-One.

AS a best friend, Sullivan knows that it isn't appropriate of him to allow Artie to cheat on Zara.

But as a lover, his lover, he also knows that he doesn't give a shit. So for the next few weeks, as the last days of spring ebb away and are replaced with the sticky days of summer, they sneak around like guilty thieves in blissful ignorance to the main problem. Whenever they hang out with the whole group, there are touches underneath tables that aren't too innocent and gazes that last too long, and everybody just assumes it's because they can speak to each other without words but they couldn't be anymore clueless. 

Sometimes, they can't even wait until they get to Sullivan's house to put their hands on each other. When the others aren't looking, they share knowing glances and make some sorry excuse that they have somewhere to be when in reality, it's been too long (it's been three days) since they last had sex. The inside of dressing rooms and empty CVS parking lots know their sins. He acknowledges it's almost pathetic how short of a time he can last without having his mouth on Arthur's, but he's been this long without him, and you'd have to kill him in order for him to stop. Mountains can't keep him away from the other half of his soul.

Sully knows how this looks to anybody who knows his dilemma. It's a hot June afternoon, the kind that allows the humid air to get caught in your throat, regardless of the sun going down when Sadie rolls her eyes as she watches her brother attempt to zip up his fly inconspicuously while he walks into the house. Eventually she returns to rolling her blunt, her chipped fingernails working at tucking and rolling. "Welcome back to the land of the living." 

He casts a sparing glance at her before assuming, "Ma and Jude ain't here, are they?" 

The blonde shakes her head twice and realizes his answer gives him relief before adding, "They went to go to see Mr. El Sayed about your court hearing in October." 

 He tucks a stray curl behind his ear before nodding slowly, moving his mouth from side to side and rocking on the heels of his boots. "Did they say how long they'd be out ...?" His question has an unspoken portion to it — Did they say how long they'd be out so he can get Arthur up to his room? 

"Nah, but not anytime soon, I'm guessin'. They're trying not to let you end up like Gran." She looks up from dark lashes and says, "It'll give you enough time to channel your inner Monica Lewinsky for round two before they come back. Remember to clean the dress so a scandal ain't published in the tabloids." 

He protests, "I was at Walmart."

"I don't doubt that you were in the vicinity of Walmart, but that water-color painting on your neck tells me that you didn't purchase anything. Would Arthur prefer to be called Dyson or Bissell, because that boy has got the mouth of a fucking vacuum cleaner."  

"Oh fuck off, Sadie." 

She takes a pause to light her blunt, take a hit, and proceeds to ask, "Tell me, how does it feel to be Becky with the good hair?" 

Sully exhales an exasperated breath and pinches the small space between his brows, a telltale sign that his tolerance for his sister's bitchy antics tonight are already diminishing by the minute. Trying to banter back and forth with the youngest Maxwell is a losing battle, so he can only rebut with, "You don't know what you're talkin' about. You just ... don't understand." 

Cocking an amused eyebrow, she leans back in her seat and throws her hands towards him, giving him the floor. "Fine then. What exactly do I not understand?" She challenges and waits for an answer, and this is one of the reasons why he hates for his little sister to find out about the things he's done. Because she has the logic of a seventy year-old, her wisdom isn't what he wants to hear all. His sister might be manipulative, impish, and downright evil (aren't all fourteen year old girls), but she's also observant and has inherited two Maxwell traits that has seemingly skipped a generation — common sense and rationality.