Chapter O3
When Remus woke up the next morning, Elliot's bed was empty.
He had slept uninterrupted until 9am, so that made almost 13 hours of sleep, wich was crazy. But in his defense, he hadn't rested well enough since the full moon of a couple days ago, because of the stress about the internship and all, he barely closed an eye. So he let it slide. Besides, Elliot wasn't home, so it would be awkward to hang around the house without him there for so much time.
Remus found a little note in Elliot's dresser, written in hasty, sloppy letters. "Late night shift. Be back 10". Okay, one hour of awkwardness. That wasn't so bad, right?
He made his bed -mattress- and marched to the bathroom after finding another messy note. "Don't be lame. Take a shower". That one made him laugh. So after he did, he slipped some clothes on -not too librarian-y this time- and braced himself to get out of the room and greet the whole family.
But when he did there was only Gia sitting in the armchair at the living room. She stopped reading her big book to look at him. "Hey... Rudolf, right?"
"Uh, it's Remus, actually. Good morning"
"Oh" they stood in an uncomfortable silence for a couple minutes. Remus sat on the couch, trying to act busy. Well, as busy as you can look while assesing the chipped paint on the walls.
"Um, what are you reading?" He liked books, maybe that would be a nice conversation.
"Some History book I got assigned" she answered, tucking a long braid behind her ear with hot pink painted nails.
"Are you in summer school or something?" Remus asked, raising an impressed eyebrow. He remembered yesterday, when Elliot went into her room and told her not to study too hard. She shook her head.
"I'm trying to get a scholarship at this fancy private school. They got a kickass Math program" she said, like that was the coolest thing in the world. "I have to know about the school's history or some shit" she winced, signaling to the book on her hands "Old white people are weird. No offense"
"Non taken. Where is the rest of your family?" He asked, more to keep the conversation going than actual concern. Besides, Gia looked glad to take a break from the boring read.
"Mom took Dominic with her to the store, Elliot's probably coming back from his shift at the bar right now and Lupe and Eric sleep as long as they can in summer"
"What about your dad?" It was a cunning question to ask and Remus inmediately felt like an asshole after the young girl seemed to slightly flinch at his words.
"Um, work trip. He'll be back this afternoon, probably" she answered quickly, going back to the book on her lap.
Ten silent minutes later Elliot arrived home, wearing blue jeans and a worn down messenger bag on his shoulder.
"Oh, hey. You sleep fine?" He directed to Remus after looking at him like he had almost forgotten he was there.
"Yeah, thanks. Maybe a little too good. Just got up" he explained, making the other boy smile.
Elliot didn't seem to care much about covering his arms anymore, now sporting a loose shirt with the sleeves chopped off. Maybe because Remus already knew what hid underneath, or perhaps it was because Remus was the outsider and Elliot could kick him out anytime he wanted if he did something out of his liking. And it was fucking hot outside. Yeah, that was probably it.
"Want some breakfast?" Elliot asked, looking inside the mostly empty fridge.
"Not really, I had like- three servings last night" Remus put a hand on his stomach, as to really probe how full he was.
"As you wish. There's probably just stale cereal anyway" Remus laughed.
"So..." Elliot leaned on the kitchen counter, arms crossed.
"So"
"No internship today?" Remus shook his head.
"I start as a regular this monday. The last couple weeks I had to go was to meet some people, see how I adjusted to the way the office worked..." he explained.
"Don't wanna pay you 'til next month, huh?" Elliot said, smiling knowingly and tilting his chin up a little. Remus cackled loudly, the type you let out when you hadn't expected to laugh anytime soon.
If he was having this conversation with any of the Mauraders it would be very different. They would probably tell him how great it was to only have to go a few times a week, checking the place out and that he should take advantage of his last days of "freedom", no strings attached. It would be great if he hadn't actually been running errands for almost everyone in the office and working without pay for those "adjusting" first days.
But Elliot wasn't part of the Mauraders. He lived in Jaywick and earned his own money since he was ten, took care of his family and knew how the real world worked. More than Remus, anyway.
"Pretty much" Remus answered, still laughing softly.
"Been there"
Remus went in to say something, but the door opened and Marian came from outside, Dominic following close behind her. Elliot inmediately took some of the very few plastic bags she was holding and placed them on the kitchen counter.
"Good morning!" She said, panting slightly at the long walk. The three of them greeted her in the same way "Look!" She pointed to the baby looking around the house and still standing on the doorstep.
"He's walking!" Exclaimed Elliot after his little brother walked up steadily to him, arms streched to the boy, who took him happily in his arms.
"Left him on the store's floor for a second and went straight for the Cocoa Puff's as soon as I turned around. Hasn't stopped walking since then. Well, 'til now" she said, looking fondly at her two sons while Elliot bounced him around and contratulated him "Had to get them" she said, taking the box of chocolate marbles out of one of the bags.
"Good job, Dom! Go for the vodka next time, 'kay? I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" Elliot said when his mother slapped him playfully on the arm and sent him a stern look. Remus and Gia laughed.
"You better be" she finished the conversation and going to put the groceries away.
Elliot sat on the couch next to Remus, sighing loudly and closing his eyes while Dominic played with his long curls.
"Tired from the shift?" Remus asked, looking at his friends puppy eyes and freckled covered button nose. Merlin, he was truly beatiful.
"Six hours of sleep isn't that bad" Elliot said, turning his head to look at Remus. They stayed like that for a few seconds, like they finally had the time to study eachother.
Maybe that was true for Elliot, but Remus has been watching him from a lot of time ago. Ever since the first months of third year, when Elliot and Lucas Servin -a really gnarly Sytherin boy- got into a passionate fight in the middle of Potion's, wich ended in the entirety of the ingredients shelf destroyed on the floor. That was the first time he noticed him, with a bruise forming on top of golden skin and another bruise.
After that, no one in Hogwarts had Potion's Class for a whole week, since the professors had to replace everything. He remained a hero for the rest of the year, before everyone forgot about it.
Besides that, the rest of the Mauraders never payed him much attention aside from the rare comment Sirius made about how 'rad' he seemed to be, with his cigarrettes and permanent too-cool-for-school demeanor. Elliot was the reason Sirius took up smoking in the first place -James kinda resented him for that-. But Remus liked it that way. It felt like Elliot was his underrated little secret, only a view for him to admire.
Until that had to stop, anyway. The universe seemed to know that the little crush he had had only grown stronger by sixth year and that he intened to do nothing about it. So the universe decided to give the matter a little push. In the form of a socially clueless Sirius Black.
Remus can still remember the day the long haired boy bursted open the door of their room while holding a bored looking Elliot from his wrist, screaming "He has muggle records!". Remus nearly choked on air at the sight. Partly because he was laying down in only his boxers when it happened. Marvelous for a first impression, really.
After that, Elliot bonded with Sirius about music, leather jackets and the apparent admiration the other boy seemed to have for him (after spending more time with him neither could deny that Elliot was, indeed, the coolest out of them). But Remus and him always seemed to gravitate towards one another in a strange, nochalant way.
"I was gonna hang out with some friends later. I can tell 'em to fuck off and we can do something together" Elliot was the one to break off the silence, but his eyes still fixed on Remus golden ones, who was the one to break eye contact. As nice as going out with Elliot sounded, being a burden to the boy was the worst thing that could happen to him. Remus didn't want Elliot to change anything of the way he lived just because he was there.
"No. It's alright. I reckon I can find something to do" he answered quickly.
"You can come with me" Elliot shrugged.
Thank Merlin he didn't add "If you want" to that sentence, Remus thought.
"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude" like he wasn't intruding enough already.
"You won't. It'll be nice, you can meet my friends. You'll like 'em... I think. They're assholes but only with people they know" Remus laughed lightly and nodded at Elliot.
"Alright. Sure"
The rest of the day went by rather smoothly, Lupe and Eric woke up, they all had some lunch together and Elliot took a nap while Remus read 'A Room with a View' by his side. Soon it was time to meet the friends Elliot mentioned, so he changed into some old faded shirt and a pair of sport shorts, advising Remus to do the same, but shook him off saying that what he wearing was comfortable enough. Elliot had only looked at him up and down and said "Suit yourself".
"Ma, we're going out" he said before opening the door.
"But your father's coming today!" she answered.
"Yeah, that's why we're going out" he said, lightheartidly.
"Okay... be careful"
They said their goodbyes and stepped outside, where a thin girl leaned on what was left of the torned down fence. She smiled at them.
"Hey!" She waved as Elliot smiled back at her.
The girl was absolutely beautiful, she had glowing skin, a pair of teal colored earings dangling from her ears and an afro so big it made her almost taller than Remus.
"Hey, Mar. This 's Remus. Remus, this is Marcia" he pointed at him. The three of them started walking down the street.
"Pleasure to meet you" Remus said, shaking her hand.
"Woah, this must be the first person I shake hands with on this block" She joked, althought looking sincerly surprised, wich made Elliot snort "Where did you find such a cute, polite boy?" She directed to Elliot, who rolled his eyes at the blushing boy.
"Boarding school. You coming with us?" He inquired, not leaving a second for her to say anything else. This was her turn to roll her eyes with faken annoyance.
"Yup. Richie phoned me, said he wanted to spend as many time as he could with me before moving back to America" she kicked a pebble on the floor, grimacing slightly.
"How you doing with that?" She shrugged.
"As cracking as I can. I'll miss him but I believe trying long distance would be worse" Elliot nodded in understanding.
The three of them enganged in some small talk after Mar said she would "get depressed" if they kept talking about it. She asked Remus about school and made jokes about how annoying Elliot was. She was nice, and it was funny seeing the curly haired boy pretend to be irritated by her antics. They were clearly comfortable with eachother, and Remus learned they became good friends after Elliot and his family moved to England, since she lived right next door.
They got closer to the small basketball court where there were already a few boys running around. Elliot took off the moment they arrived and stole the faded orange ball from one of them, dodging exaggeratedly and finally throwing it inside the hoop. Show off, Remus thought.
"Yo, I just got here and I'm aready kicking y'alls ass" he said jockingly, shit eating grin on his face.
"Fuck you, man" one of them said, but he was also smiling widly. They started greeting eachother and Elliot introduced Remus to them.
Mar went to give a shy kiss to a boy with short tight curls, who Remus supposed was Richie.
"You wanna be on my team, Mar?" Elliot asked her, boucing the ball on the floor. "Ew" was all she said before going to sit down on one of the benches in the side of the court, making him snicker "Remus?"
"Oh, no. I'm absolutely terrible. I'll just sit down with Marcia" he answered "Yeah, cheers, though" he said after Mike -a boy with a very strange mustache- politely asked him if he was sure.
"Okay. More space for me to fuck y'all up, then" Elliot said, squating down to start the game.
"You wish you could fuck me, Faye" was the last thing Remus heard before sitting down next to the girl, who pulled out a nail polisher from God knows where.
"Elliot never told me he had friends from the boarding school" she told him without looking up from her hands.
"We met properly last year. My mates pretty much stalked him everyday until he agreed to hang out with us"
"That sounds like Elliot" they laughed lightly "I'm glad he met you, then. Doesn't seem so much against going back this summer. He always goes round and round about how much he hates all of that potions and charms stuff" Remus face paled.
"You- You know about-?"
"About the magic? Yeah" she said, shrugging like it was nothing "We went to some party on Christmas and got pissed, like- really pissed, and 'Lio wanted to smoke a fag but couldn't find his lighter, so he took this stick from his boot and lighted it. In front of bloody everyone!" she was laughing sterically while telling the story "He was lucky everyone was too fucked up to care. Except me, of course. I'm the only one who knows"
"That's... an extremely careless and stupid thing to do"
"Yeah, well, Elliot is extremely careless and stupid sometimes"
Like if summoned, the boy trotted up to them while breathing heavily, wet curls already stuck to his sweaty forehead.
"Jesus fuck, it's hot today" he said, more to just complain than to obtain a response. He pulled off his almost drenched shirt and throwed it to Mar's face, who grabbed it with the tip of her fingers and a disgusted grimace "Oops" Elliot faked, running away before the girl could throw a punch at him.
"Ugh, he's disgusting"
They kept talking while watching the boys play for a couple more hours until they were quite literally about to pass out from exhaustation. Mar had to get in 'Mum mode' and tell them to at least rest for a couple minutes, so they all sat near them, panting and passing a single bottle of water around. Elliot was sat on the floor next to Remus legs, resting his back on the bench. All they could hear for a couple minutes was eachothers heavy breathing, their lungs trying to get to normal.
"Who's going to The Butcher with me tonight?" Asked 'Mouth' after a while, Remus almost didn't even understanding him by the accent and tired mumbling.
That was something Remus noticed quickly, that the majority of the group had an American accent, foreign to him. Jay, Mar and himself being the only ones with a british one.
Also, what the fuck was The Butcher?
"Not me, man" said Richie, looking lovingly at Mar and grabbing her hand "I'm taking Mar to Lucille's" they all faked gagged at the smiling couple "Say whatever you want. There's a reason the ladies don't want any of you dogs" they boo'ed at his declaration and punched him in a friendly way from their places.
Lucille's was the fanciest restaurant in Jaywick's perimeters. It wasn't expensive or anything, but they actually had tablecloths and served more than one option of pasta. That had to count for something, right?
"Me either" said Mike "Rugby practice" they nodded, knowing that if he wanted to get that sports scholarship next year missing practice was off limits.
"Jay?" The boy only shook his head sheepishly "Come on guys! None? What about you, Elliot? We are the only ones who participate, anyway"
Elliot tensed. He rested his elbows on his knees, throwing a quick glance at Remus and trying to not look so obvious, but failing "I don't know, man"
"What? You afraid white boy here getting heart burn?"
Okay, they called him Mouth for a reason.
"Shut up, Mouth" he scolded him trying to ignore the way Remus seemed to get a little uncomfortable and throwed a tiny piece of concrete at his head. Even Mike seemed to sense it, and shoved his shoulder.
"It's double bets today, you can't miss that" he insisted, but Elliot still seemed unsure.
"We'll go" said Remus, before Elliot had time to refuse the proposition. They all looked at him, suprised. It was obvious Elliot wanted to go -whatever The Butcher was- but was holding back because of Remus presence. Then again, all he wanted was to not be a burden. And maybe, just maybe, because Mouth's comment had pissed him off a little.
It was getting dark already, the sun was just finishing hiding in the distance.
"You sure?" Elliot asked him. He nodded surely "Okay, then. We'll go. But I should go pick up some clothes"
"The Betting Pool starts in like- 15 minutes. We don't have time" said Mouth, checking his wrist watch.
"You know they have a no shorts rule" Elliot directed to him.
"I have a pair of extra jeans in my bag, I'll loan them to you" said Mike, unzipping the said bag and throwing the pair of pants to him.
"You sure? I'll get 'em dirty"
"Yeah, man. They're old, anyway"
So Elliot stood up and pulled down his shorts right there and slipped the dark washed jeans easily. Mike was a lot bigger than him, Rugby and all, so they fit a little too loosly around his hips and legs. Remus thought he should start getting used to his friends lack of modesty and asked himself how could he look so good in anything he wore, baggy and all.
"We should get going" said Mouth, getting up from the floor.
Elliot, Mouth and Remus greeted the other boys and started walking down the street. Until Mar called for Elliot and pulled him apart.
"You know I don't like you going to that place. And I'm sure your family doesn't fancy it any more than I do" she crossed her arms over her chest, stern but concerned look on her face.
"Mouth's going too" he protested like a little boy who got denied to a sleepover.
"Elliot, I don't give a bloody fuck what Mouth does. I worry about you"
"Look, Mar. I aprecciate it, really, but don't worry, okay? It'll be fine, I always come back safe and sound" Elliot rested his hands on her shoulders reassuringly. He looked at her with his big puppy eyes until she gave up.
"Fuck! Okay, just be careful. But I don't want to bloody see any teeth missing from your mouth tomorrow" Elliot laughed.
"I promise, you'll see this beautiful smile again" he started walking backwards to meet Remus and Mouth again, talking loudier so she could hear him "Besides, it's the other guys you should be concerned about!" He smiled cockily, making her roll her eyes and fipping him while turning around to go to her boyfriend.
"Ready?"
"Yeah"