Quicksand

The remainder of my week crawled by with annoying slowness; I was anticipating my best friend’s arrival to the point of watching the clock slowly tick by, as if taunting me. After proposing their idea to Nicholas, he readily agreed on the condition that Parker must abide by the rules of the house, of which I had heard very few.
I knew Theo and I had a curfew to abide by, however it was something ridiculous like two am. It seemed that Theo wasn’t allowed girls to stay the night unless first run by Nicholas, however in such a vast house it wouldn’t be difficult to sneak one past him, or so Demitri had explained to me.
When Friday afternoon rolled around, I was practically vibrating with anxiousness. Having been steadily communicating with Parker prior, I had informed him a car would be picking him up and delivering him to our estate, however due to the time frame, he would arrive at the estate before we had finished school.
“Demitri,” I whined.
“Yes, darling?” Demitri mumbled, hunched over a piece of paper, scribbling furiously.
“Can we skip fifth period?” I asked sweetly.
Demitri glanced up from where we were sitting in the library, sharing a study period together and electing to spend our time studying, or in my case, idly doodling and bothering Demitri.
“Why are you trying to get me in trouble, Bethy-boo?” Demitri said with a smirk.
“Like you’ve never gotten in trouble before,” I scoffed. “If you and Theo stopped treating me with kid-gloves, we could have a lot more fun,”
That seemed to spark Demitri’s attention. “What kind of fun?” he asked.
“The kind of fun that you need to risk getting in trouble for,” I whispered with a smirk.
Demitri leant forward before his expression changed drastically. “No,” he said bluntly and I sighed.
“Why not?” I whined.
“Nicholas would have Theo and my head,” he muttered. “We’re bad influences,”
“So influence me,” I demanded.
Demitri smirked. “You’ll have to try harder than that, sweetness. And I know you’re excited to see Parker, but you’ll have to be patient,”
I blew my fringe off my face and sighed. “Is there any way I can convince you?”
Demitri shook his head with a grin. “Sorry Beth, you’ll just have to wait, it will all be worth it,”
I pouted and turned back to my aimless drawings, Demitri smirked and nudged his foot with mine.
“Talk to me later about that ‘anything you can do to convince me’,” he said with a wink and I stuck my tongue out at him.
Theo came bustling into the vast library moments later, looking flustered and out of sorts. He dumped his bag, which was spewing random leaves of paper, onto the table in front of us while Demitri and I glanced at him.
“I’m here,” he panted.
“What took you so long?” Demitri questioned. “We’ve been here for twenty minutes,”
“I was previously occupied,” Theo said, sitting down.
“You were banging Kathryn?” Demitri asked in a dead tone.
“Not quite,” Theo said as my eyes bulged.
“In the school?” I gasped.
Theo, who seemed to only just notice my presence, flushed a deep scarlet.
“Wow, this is inappropriate,” he mumbled.
“No, go on, I love hearing about my brother getting some,” I muttered sarcastically.
“That’s the thing, though,” Demitri smirked. “He’s not getting any,”
Theo sighed and clenched his fists irritably. “It’s been so long,” he whined pathetically.
“Do you guys want me to leave or something?” I asked dully, twirling my pen in my hands.
“No, this is too funny,” Demitri chuckled.
“I’m so uncomfortable,” I whined, putting my head in my hands.
“Come off it, Beth,” Demitri said with a smirk. “Like you’re a total saint,”
At that, an uncomfortable silence radiated around the three of us during which Theo and Demitri awaited a response, however I was remaining silent until the conversation was over. Thankfully, at that moment a series of chimes sounded overhead, I packed up my things at warp speed and all but ran out of the library to avoid the awkward situation of informing my brother of my sexual experience.

“Theo, hurry up!” I squealed to my brother who was taking his sweet-ass time saying goodbye to Kathryn for the weekend, even though she would probably come around both days.
“Now, now Beth. Why are you in such a rush?” Theo called sarcastically and I flipped him off.
“Can we just leave him?” I mumbled to Demitri who slung an arm around my shoulder and laughed. “I’ll steal the car,”
“You wouldn’t steal the car,” Demitri scoffed.
“Watch me,” I snapped, breaking into a run suddenly.
However, I hadn’t gotten far when Demitri and his freaky soccer running skills caught up to me and had thrown me over his shoulder, despite the fact that I was wearing a skirt.
“DEMITRI!” I screamed.
“Yes darling?” he asked casually, attracting attention with his abrupt method of stopping me.
“Put me down,” I demanded.
“What’s the magic word?” he sang.
“I-will-kick-you-in-the-balls?” I questioned to which Demitri stiffened and put me down promptly. “Thank you,”
Theo sauntered up to us with his hands in his pockets. “Good Lord, you guys should probably do that in the privacy of a bedroom,”
I smacked Theo’s shoulder as the three of us strolled across the courtyard to the car that was waiting for us with our driver Frank sitting idly. I all but ran to the sleek, black car while Demitri and Theo seemed to be walking at the speed of the elderly in an attempt to annoy me, no doubt.
“Hurry up,” I flitted around them in excitement.
Once we had finally reached the car, it felt like it took an excruciatingly long time to arrive back home, when in reality it only took twenty minutes, my incessant anticipation made the drive home feel like an eternity.
When the car finally pulled up to the long driveway, I began itching to get out of the car. Demitri and Theo chuckled at me, however I was barely listening. As soon as the car had screeched to a halt, I bolted out of the car and opened the front doors immediately.
Unfortunately, I did not expect to see my father’s assistant, Randall, standing with an expression of disgust.
“Your friend is upstairs, in guest room C,” he said with a sneer as Demitri and Theo followed behind me at a leisurely pace.
I moaned and broke into a run, with a vague idea where guest room C was, but not a definite idea. Racing up the stairs, I ran in the direction I thought the room was, thinking it was a little bit further down from where my bedroom was situated.
Barging into the guest room I believed to be Parker’s I noticed a travel suitcase sitting at the base of the bed, my heart picked up and I scanned the room, noticing a skinny, black-haired boy sitting by the open window with a cigarette in his hand.
“PARKER!” I squealed as the boy turned around, his face stretching into a wide smile.
He quickly stubbed out the cigarette and ran over to me, scooping me up in a hug that picked me off my feet. I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly as he spun me around. I inhaled his scent of cigarettes and a specific male deodorant and felt ecstatic to be around my best friend again.
Behind me, I heard Theo and Demitri enter the room.
“Park, this is my brother,” I indicated Theo. “And his best friend, Demitri,”
Parker shook the hands of both boys with a huge smile on his face.
“Was the drive rough?” Demitri questioned.
“Just long,” Parker said, flicking his hair out of his eyes. “But God, it’s worth it,” he nudged me with his hip.
I beamed at him. “Are you all settled?” I questioned.
“In this mansion of a house,” Parker spluttered. “I don’t know how you manage to live here,”
As Parker and I began chatting, Theo and Demitri excused the room, making their excuses and closing the door behind them.

Dinner that night was a formal affair, Nicholas had come home to meet Parker who, thankfully, knew how to put on an act in front of parents and wasn’t accompanied by his usual cigarette or fluent swearing. Sitting in the everyday dining room, as opposed to the formal dining room, Nicholas sat at the head of the table, with Demitri and Parker sitting opposite Theo and I.
“So, Parker,” Nicholas said, sipping his red wine. “How are your grades?”
“I’m riding a B average at the moment,” Parker said after swallowing his mouthful. “And, may I compliment your beautiful home,”
I shook my head; Parker was such a suck up.
Nicholas seemed flattered, Demitri rolled his eyes at me and I smiled at him. For the remainder of the dinner, Parker continuously kisses my father’s ass, before discussing business with him, something that was exclusively between Theo and Nicholas.
“What do your parents do, Parker?” Nicholas asked.
“Well, my mother is a teacher and my father is in banking,” Parker recited the lie he had been telling adults for a while now.
Truth was his mother worked at the local bakery and his father had a gambling addiction. It came onto him and his brothers to fund most meals, while their mother paid the rent.
“I have two older brothers who are both working at the moment,” he said with a flash of his charming smile.
Once the dinner was over, Nicholas excused himself to tend to more business matters before bed. Theo, Demitri, Parker and I flitted out of the dining room to the main foyer and all began walking up the large staircase.
“That was impressive,” Demitri whistled. “You sucked up to him like a pro,”
Parker smirked. “I’ve had loads of practice, adults see the piercing and automatically assume I’m a bad egg,”
“You are a bad egg,” I joked. “You deceitful, influencer!”
Parker blew me a kiss. “You love every second of it,”
“He seemed to really like you, Parker,” Theo said with a smile in Parker’s direction. “That’s good news, it means you can stay over more and more,”
“And see this slut whenever I want,” Parker gestured in my direction causing me to flush.
Demitri and Theo both turned to me. “Slut?” they questioned.
“Actually far from it,” Parker laughed. “Beth is-,”
I clapped a hand over Parker’s mouth. “About to punch you,” I finished his sentence. “Good night boys,” I called to Demitri and Theo who looked at us quizzically.
Pushing Parker into my bedroom I looked at him with a murderous look on my face. Parker laughed to himself and mussed the top of my head with his hand, kissing my forehead he made his way over to the window to chain smoke through yet another deck.
“Why did you do that?” I whined. “To my brother,”
“Speaking of, your brother’s cute. Straight?”
“’Fraid so, and you’re avoiding my question!” I squealed.
Parker rolled his eyes and lit up, inhaling deeply and exhaling the smoke through his nose. “You’re getting your knickers in a twist for nothing, babe,”
“I am not,” I said, flopping onto my bed. “I’m like, the only virgin in the country. Earlier on today, Theo and Demitri were discussing how Theo could get laid,”
“Oh wow, okay maybe it is a big deal,” Parker said sarcastically.
“Can I just lose it to you, Park? Do you want to have sex with me?” I grumbled into my pillow.
“Well aren’t you the romancer of young women’s hearts,” Parker said fanning himself with his hand. “As romantic a gesture as that was, I’m afraid I’d only be able to bang you if I was thinking about your brother,”
I flipped him off and settled back onto my bed putting my hands over my eyes. Moments later I felt the bed give in beside me, knowing that Parker was lying down next to me, I scooted down the bed and allowed for him to hug me.
“So, how has it been here, really?” he asked softly.
And that was when the floodgates burst.