We Are Like Young Volcanoes

The next two days went by in a blur of dust, soapy water and a shit tonne of hard work. The pair had little to no interruption from the outside world, save for the bloke who drove the garbage truck; he wanted an extra $50 for lifting the heavy furniture into the back. Rather than pay him, Kris offered him a six-pack of expensive beer that she ran under the tap to look new, which he accepted with a wide, gap toothed smile. They both had a good laugh over that; considering how old the bottles were they doubted it would still be deemed safe to consume.

Before they knew it, it was late Sunday afternoon and the sun was starting to set. They'd accomplished cleaning the bedrooms, bathrooms, reception area, kitchen, dining area and the lounge room which was pretty impressive when you look at the size of the house. Still with all their hard work the attic, spare rooms, basement, garage and entire front and back of the house were a mess, but they'd just ran out of time.

Kristina loaded her bag into the back of the car and shut the boot with a thud. "Well" she started, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. "This was exciting!" She grinned, wide enough to show off her slightly too pointy canine teeth. "Oh yeah, the cleaning was a hoot." His tone matched her level of excitement, but he rolled his eyes. "At least you get to show off your new haircut." She said, ruffling it up.

During their escapades Pete got incredibly frustrated with his long hair getting in the way and ended up grabbing the scissors to cut it off. He hacked away at the bulk of it and left Kris to try and neaten it up - which she did to the best of her ability but it was still shoddy. His now short fringe was to the side because of how uneven it was and the back layers were longer than the rest of it which he'd styled to stick up. "Maybe it'll catch on..?" She tried not to laugh as he looked in the mirror. "HAHAHA!!!" He laughed at his reflection, checking out his new do from every angle. "It's so uneven!" He was barely able to speak through the hysteria. "Once it's grown out you can get it PROFESSIONALLY cut and.. You know with the layers and.. Babes, Pete. Think of all the babes."

"Oh shit" Pete said, snapping her back into the present. He ran his hands through his hair and kicked the back tyre as he continued to swear. "Oi, don't bust my ride or I'll bust your ass, what's the problem?" She raised her brow, grasping his shoulders and keeping him still. He bit his bottom lip and scrunched up his nose in frustration. “I had to write a report on Romeo and fucking Juliette!” He bit out. “This is 10% of my overall grade; I needed to get at least a C on it to pass.” She moved her hands from his shoulders to either side of his face and leant her forehead against his. “Relax, last night when I picked your crap up off of the floor, I found your assignment sheet.” Kris dropped her arms to her sides and took a half step back to simply just smile at him. “Your paper is in your bag, it’s typed so they won’t realise that you didn’t write it. It should really get you an A, but your English teacher hates you so you’ll end up with a B which is still really good.” Pete’s face turned from dread into utter elation. He thanked her repeatedly, picking her up and spinning around in circles until she fought him off with the weakest punches you could imagine; she really had no strength in her at all. “Get in the car, loser.” She spoke through her laughter, walking around to the other side of the vehicle and hopping into the driver’s seat.
--
“Take a left here. And pull in at that house on the right with the two big trees out the front.” Kris followed his instructions, pulling up on the curb out the front of the small cottage style home. “Ok, I’ll be back in time for your graduation. Be good.” She said, dropping a set of house keys into his hand and kissing his cheek. Pete looked at the keys and pursed his lips. “There’s one miss-“ “You’re not going in there when I’m not home. No one is... Amanda and Stephanie are moving in tonight and are going to try and clean the rest of the place up a bit so there’s not so much to do when I get back. Pete closed his fist around the keys and grinned. "You're coming home..." He spoke quietly, looking into her eyes. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear that."

Pete leant over towards her in his seat and cupped her chin in his free hand and gave her a rough, closed mouth kiss on the lips. Kris chuckled through the somewhat strange (yet so familiar and normal to her) show of affection and shoved him away. "Get out Peter, you're gonna make me miss my flight." She leant back in her seat as he opened the door and hauled his bag out with him. "Catchya later babe." He winked, closing the door a little too hardly for her liking. Pete looked at his reflection in the window and fixed his hair again, earning a shake of the head from Kris. "Good lord.." She mumbled, putting the car into gear and driving off, hearing Pete's laugh in the distance.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and turned towards the house. As soon as he opens the door to the granny flat out the back he knew that he'd be interrogated. 'Let’s see what bullshit they have to say.' He thought to himself as he opened the gate and made his way out the back. Before he even made it to flat Joe was at his side, looking him over and smiling widely. "Fancy seeing you here!" His lisp more than anything made Pete smirk. "Hello Joseph. Nice weekend? Busy, was it?" He asked, walking through the door and throwing his bag on the floor of the small flat, greeting Andy and Patrick with a nod of the head and sitting in the single seater lounge chair. Joe leant across the bench grinning madly at his friend while the other two just stared at him. "What... the fuck.. happened to your hair?" Andy asked, running a hand through his own. Pete laughed, flicking a few stray strands out of his sight. "I cut it, it was annoying. Better right?"

Patrick shook his head and pushed his glasses back up his nose. "You really should have gotten a professional to do it, Pete. I mean, it doesn't look bad.. But it could be.. Cleaner." Somehow Patrick had turned the words 'it looks like shit' into 'it could be improved', a skill that only he possessed. With a half shrug he looked back at Joe. "Answer my question fucker, what did you do all weekend? Did you get shit written?" He glanced at Patrick then back at Joe who avoided eye contact. "Well.. Not really. Friday night we had a Star Wars marathon and because we were up all 'till morning we kinda slept most of yesterday.. And today-" he gestured towards Andy who was violently hitting the buttons on the Play Station controller. "Wow." Pete breathed, closing his eyes and taking a breath. "You guys suck-" "I wrote a few things." Patrick interjected quietly, pulling out his infamous black folder full of composed music and side ideas and handing it over to Pete. "Thank you" he spoke under his breath, taking the folder and shoving Andy aside so he could discuss it with Patrick.

-----TUESDAY ARVO

"Mandy for the love of god, just throw it in the damn trash." Steph's strong southern accent broke the silence; glaring at Amanda from the other side of the room, dropping her sponge and removing her cleaning gloves. "But he's so cuuuuute!" Amanda, an average height, crimson haired beauty held up a Ken doll and examined him, moving his limbs about and laughing to herself. "Mandy... MANDY! Look- fuck it." Steph climbed over the table and went for her, earning a squeal and chase down the left flight of stairs, out the front door and around into the backyard. There was no way that Mandy would be able to outrun her; she had a good four inches in leg height on her. Steph leapt for her and tackled her to the ground, rolling around in the soft grass and pinning her on her back. She held her wrists down with her hands and straddled her midsection, looming over her. "Are you deaf?" She asked evenly, looking down at a giggling Amanda who still had the stupid doll in her (pinned) left hand.

"I said-" Steph paused, grinding her hips against the red heads’ to which she took a sharp inhale, silencing her girlish giggles. "Are. You. Deaf?" With each word she gave a tiny thrust, watching Mandy's eyelids become heavy. "No.." She spoke breathlessly, staring at the goddess above her. Stephanie had long sandy blonde hair, bleached by the sun, with beads and feathers woven into strands above her left ear. She was the classic southern beach babe with tanned skin, long legs and a killer bikini body. "Ditch the boy." Steph spoke, watching as the plastic figurine was tossed aside the best it could be with a pinned wrist. "That's my girl." She commended, leaning down and pressing her lips to an over eager mouth. Mandy's breath caught in her chest as Steph started again with the shallow hip movements, she moaned into her mouth, giving Steph the opportunity to slip her tongue inside and lick at every surface she could. Steph released her wrists, keeping one hand on the ground to keep her from falling and the other slipped up Mandy's shirt toward her breast. Amanda's hands went straight to Stephanie's hair, roughly pulling her to the angle she wanted, now moving her hips in unison with her partners.

"Ahem.." The sound of the clearing throat came from the left. Not caring, Mandy held up her middle finger in the general direction and gave another light moan as Steph fondled her through her bra. "Fuck I am so close to just pulling up a chair and watching." The familiar voice was killing the vibe and so Steph pulled back from her reluctant partner. "What do you want, Wentz?" She flipped her hair to the side and saw that he wasn't alone, but with three (assumed) friends. The tallest had curly hair, cut short to keep it behaving and a lip piercing. To be honest he was kinda cute; his blue eyes were amazing. The next tallest in height had scruffy red facial hair and a kind face. Steph's mouth twitched into a small smile; she had a thing for redheads. And the smallest, wow he was short- had his hands in the pockets of his jacket and was looking away from them. Was he embarrassed or turned on? Whatever it was from, she swore she saw a blush. She smiled openly, leaning down to give Amanda a quick peck on the lips before getting up off the ground and hauling her up with her. "You're such a fucking twatblock Pete." Mandy faux glared at him, wiping her butt to get the loose grass off.

"Did you get the place cleaned up?" He asked, spying the male figurine on the ground; he bent down to pick it up. He and Kris had already cleaned out the kids rooms so why did they have this little guy out? "Fetish ladies? Take a man any way you can get one?" Mandy snorted out a laugh. "Somehow his dick is bigger than yours so he's already more useful than you." Both Joe and Andy laughed aloud whereas Patrick just smiled. Pete's grin widened, if there's one thing he loved it was banter.

"The house was clean yesterday; we've been moving new furniture in. Kids rooms aren't for kids anymore, they've all got new beds, new cupboards... Even the kitchen.. Is.." Steph's voice trailed off as she stared at him. ".....What happened to your head?" If it were possible, his grin became wider. Kristina was right about his new hairstyle, the babes were loving it; he'd pulled two different cheerleaders in one night. Even if she was being sarcastic, it worked. As Pete finished his story of how he'd cut and styled it himself they realised that they'd not been properly introduced to his friends. "Joe, Andy, Patrick meet lesbian extraordinaires’ Steph and Mandy." The girls gave each other a nod. "Lesbian extraordinaires’, that's new" Stephanie spoke while Amanda held up a thumb. "Accurate introduction then?" Andy asked as the group made their way back toward the house.

The boys walked through the front door and into the reception area in shock. From outside the place still looked like a dive (they needed to hire landscapers to fix that up), but inside it was like a palace. The reception area was massive, with the newly revamped kitchen to the right with a window showing the front yard. To the left was an oversized lounge area with a far too big of a lounge in the shape of a U. The television mounted on the wall in front of the couch was bigger than they’d ever seen. There were multiple doors leading off into unknown areas as well as two large oak grand staircases at either end of the home leading up to the second story ballroom-esque lookout to below, with two hallways either side of the walls veering off into (assumedly) the bedrooms and bathrooms.

“Fucking hell…” Joe swore, struggling to take in the details. “This must’ve cost a fortune.” The girls looked at each other and shrugged. “We did it on the cheap. All up I think it only cost us six.” His head snapped back around to look at them in disbelief. “Six? Six thousand dollars?!” Steph struggled to hide her smile. “Yeah babe, six grand.” She winked at her partner who gave a silent giggle. Six thousand dollars wouldn’t have covered the price of the refrigerator, let alone the entire refurbishment. “Anyways!” Mandy said, sitting on the breakfast bar and putting her feet on the stool. “How can we help you gentlemen? I assume this isn’t a casual drop in, Pete only sees us when he wants something.” She said eyeing him off. Pete grinned in reply, holding up his rude finger with the keys to the house looped over. “I don’t want anything from you. I want the house for the night.”

The pair glanced at one another again before bursting out laughing. Mandy tried to calm down by placing a hand over her mouth but Steph on the other hand was bending over in hysteria, clutching her sides. “LIKE FUCK!” She managed to yell out, leaning her head on Mandy’s arm as she stood beside her. Pete gave the two a few more moments to settle before he cleared his throat. “I’m a part owner of this house… Kinda. Kris gave me a set of keys which is pretty much free reign to do whatever the hell I want.” Mandy snorted out a laugh and gave a one shouldered shrug. “Fine, you’ll deal with the consequences, not us. But!” She held up her hand to silence Pete before he could butt in. “But – I’m locking all the doors, you can have this area and the balcony-lookouty thing up there. I’m going to shut the bifolds at the hallways to cordon off those areas because we are NOT cleaning this entire place again. Kris’ll be pissed enough as is. And I want everyone gone by 10AM tomorrow.” She gave him her terms of agreement, backed by a firm nod of the head by her partner. Naturally Pete tried to push his luck and get them to open a few of the side doors, but the girls weren’t budging.

“Why are we even throwing a party?” Patrick asked, leaning against the back of the lounge next to Andy. “I want to say that it’s to celebrate our graduation, but I’d be happy just playing music at Joe’s. I don’t know what’s on Pete’s mind.” He cracked his knuckles and fixed his glasses giving his friend a small smile. “Whatever the reason this ‘Chris’ guy sounds fairly chill from what he’s been saying.” He continued, motioning towards Pete. “If he ends up in a beat down over it though, I can’t blame the guy.” Although he didn’t want to, Patrick had to agree with him. Everything in here looked so expensive why would you run the risk of strangers getting drunk and making a mess? He didn’t understand it but he wasn’t going to argue either. Being that Andy didn’t drink or do drugs or anything he’d be hanging out with him the whole night, watching the chaos unfold.

Pete had always referred to Kristina as simply ‘Kris’, never by her full name, so the boys had always assumed that she was a he. When they’d ask questions about ‘Chris’ and discuss her as being a guy Pete never bothered to correct them to save himself the drama of having to cancel plans with them to hang out with a chick. Truth be told they’d been friends for so long it took him a moment to remember that she was a woman – she’d become gender-neutral in his mind ever since they were kids. When Kris dropped him back at Joes on Sunday evening he’d managed to get in first with telling them off about not practicing any music before they had the chance to ask questions about him ditching them for a girl.

“DONE!” Pete called out, holding up his fists in victory. “Joe, get on the phone and call up everyone you know. The party is ON!” He looked so excited and truth be told the girls were pretty eager to get their drink on with a bunch of strangers; even if they were all underage. “Looks like I need to go to the liquor store.” Mandy said, stretching as she hopped off of the counter. “It pays to have a 30 year old friend.” Pete said quietly to Joe, earning a flick on the ear. “I’m 23 you little shit-“ Steph tilted her head to the side and gave Pete a glare before kissing her partner on the cheek. “He’s just being a dick, c’mon babe let’s go.” Her southern accent calmed Mandy down to the point of just flipping him the bird and walking out the front door with her partners hand in her own.

Pete rubbed his hands together and grinned like a devious child. “Let’s do this.”