Chapter 2: Friends

 Chapter 2: Friends

            “Why is Landon sharing a room with Luxx?” Tess asked and Lacey shrugged.

            “They are working together,” Lacey said. Though she was wondering about it herself, something was up with those two.

            “He should share with me,” Tess pouted.

            “T, he doesn’t want you,” Claudia said. “Stop being so desperate.”

            “It’s not desperate, he just needs a little persuading,” Tess replied looking a little suspicious. Poor Landon didn’t know he was in trouble.

            “I’d rather not hear how you plan to seduce my brother,” Lacey said.

            She left the room then to look for Luxx, but she wasn’t in her room. Landon was though so it meant Luxx was probably with Charlie. Her brother was sitting on the bed with an odd expression and his cell phone in his hand. Lacey went in and picked up his camera off the bed and looked at the pictures he’d been taking. Luxx looked amazing in the pictures; then again she was always pretty without trying. It was surprising that Landon didn’t use her as his model before. She was waiting patiently for him to say whatever was bothering him. That was how things worked with Landon; you had to just wait for him to tell you.

            “I’ve got a new job,” he said looking up at her. “Few weeks in a gallery show. But I don’t know how Luxx is going to feel about a lot of people seeing her in my paintings. Honestly I’ve done my best work with her, she’s inspiring.”

            “I like these pictures, she’s beautiful,” Lacey replied.

            “Yes she is, it’s your fault she’s my muse you made me watch her dance,” he said.

            “Are you worried about her not wanting attention because of what happened to her?”

            “A little, I feel bad still like we should have done something.”

            “Yeah I know, I think about that all the time.”

            Lacey had been friends with Luxx since preschool, they even lived on the same street. All these years of being someone’s friend you should know when something is wrong with them. There were times when she suspected but Luxx explained everything away. Still things were different now and she still felt guilty about it. Maybe if she hadn’t been so wrapped up in her own life she would have pushed Luxx to tell her the truth. But there was no changing the past and it had been over a year now and Luxx seemed happy. Sometimes she didn’t really know. Could you ever truly know a person?

            “Anyway, I’m going to get to showcase my work like big time. I have some new ideas I need to put into action now, but I can work on it tomorrow. We’re here to have fun, right?” Landon didn’t look too happy but she didn’t get why.

            “You’re great at everything big brother,” she said. “Yes, we will have fun this week no worries just close friends that we know and trust.”

            “Yeah,” he nodded.

            After talking to her brother Lacey went to the master suite. Being with Porter certainly had its perks. His family owned this massive cabin and they got to use the biggest and best room in the house. It came with its own bathroom and a balcony. She loved him, it surprised her that she did but love was a little random. He was in the room when she got there so she went to kiss him. Porter had been her brother’s friend since elementary school and she wasn’t sure when he went from just her brother’s friend to something else. Just one day she saw him differently and he asked her out and here they were with two year of being together.

            “We’re going to get the grill going in a bit,” he told her.

            “Good and we can finally all relax,” she replied.

            “I like coming up here it’s so peaceful, I couldn’t live here but it’s good for awhile,” he said.

            “Before you uh go cook, we should spend a little time together,” she said suggestively.

            “I like the sound of that,” he said pulling her over to the bed. “Lace, did you think anymore about what I asked you?”

            “Yes, that’s my answer I’ll move in with you,” she said and he kissed her.

            “Perfect,” he replied. “I love you Lacey.”

            “I love you too,” she said and they kissed and kissed. She realized maybe she needed to focus on herself a little more. Her friends were good her family was good and she was moving in with her amazing boyfriend.

 

 

            Landon closed his eyes; everyone was out on the deck laughing eating drinking and having fun. What he wanted was to be near Luxx but he couldn’t. No, instead she was snuggled up to Charlie like she so often was. Sometimes he wondered if Charlie was really completely gay, it seemed like sometimes he was really into her. Yes, it made Landon irrationally jealous but he couldn’t help it. Would she even want to be with him like she was Charlie? People expected him to be rather emotional being an artist and all but he wasn’t, not really. Usually he lived for the moment and did what pleased him. Right now the only thing that would make him happy was Luxx. And if he was honest he didn’t care why, he just wanted her.

            “Hi,” Tess greeted and he opened his eyes.

            “Hey,” he replied she annoyed him. When something was too easy he didn’t usually want it. Not that he didn’t indulge occasionally, but she was way too easy.

            “We should take a walk,” she suggested.

            “Sure,” he agreed but not for the reason she was thinking.

            When he got up to follow her he caught Charlie’s eye. Of course he got Luxx to tell him everything. Yup, it was obvious when he whispered in her ear and she looked up at Landon. Then she went back to whatever Claudia was saying. Charlie glared at him and pulled Luxx closer. It annoyed Landon but he kept walking like nothing was wrong. He didn’t want to hurt Luxx she’d been hurt enough already. All he wanted to do was make Tess leave him alone once and for all. With the exception of Luxx, he didn’t do his friends.

            “Landon we should do something,” Tess said looking at him. It wasn’t that Tess was unattractive because she was attractive. Her skin was tan, her hair dark red and she was very busty. At the moment she had on tight and tiny denim shorts and an equally tight tank top showing off her ridiculous amount of cleavage.

            “Look Tess, I can’t do anything with you,” he said and that made her stop.

            “Why? We’re adults and it’s ok to enjoy each other,” she said. She traced her finger up his chest giving him a very obvious look.

            “I’m sort of seeing somebody,” he said reluctantly.

            “So? You aren’t married and you came up here without her,” she replied.

            “Tess, it’s not going to happen, ok? In case you never noticed I’ve never been interested and I’m not going to start anytime soon,” he told her.

            “So you’re gay right?” She asked and he stared at her.

            “Because I don’t want you I must be gay?” He asked a little shocked.

            “I saw you looking at Charlie and it makes sense you hanging with Luxx,” she said.

            “You are insane and I just don’t want you and like I said I’m seeing someone. Trust me she is female and even if I was gay I wouldn’t date Charlie,” he said. It was actually amusing a little, but he really wanted to go kiss Luxx. Why couldn’t she curl up with him? Right, because his sister was a pain in the a*s.

            “What’s her name?” Tess asked skeptically.

            “None of your damn business,” he replied. He turned and headed back then because she was boring him. Being nice and not doing this in front of everyone was obviously not worth it.

            When he got back to the deck Luxx and Charlie were missing so he went in the house. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her or upset her but he probably did. He went upstairs to check the room first, they were there. Charlie glared at him, Luxx didn’t even look. Her expression was one he’d seen on her before and he didn’t like that. In no way did he want to remind her of her ex but he was stupid. Maybe he needed to just tell Lacey and stop being a little b***h about it.

            “Luxx, can we talk?” Landon asked and she said nothing.

            “Leave her alone, you are a distraction she does not need,” Charlie said. If it was possible he’d become more attached to her than he previously was. Charlie was always with Luxx but now the only way to separate them was when Landon had her over to model.

            “Landon, I don’t expect anything from you, we aren’t together.  We had sex that isn’t a promise of anything. I’m not being jealous or emotional; I just need to stay focused on other things. It was stupid for me to do this,” Luxx said. She was staring at the floor not looking at him.

            “Do you honestly think I would ever touch Tess? I’m sure Charlie said something creative so you would act like this. But I told her that I was seeing someone which I am and that’s you. Why would I do anything with her when we are all here together? I’ll tell Lacey the truth if you want me to, I’ll tell everybody. Didn’t I tell you I wouldn’t hurt you? Luxx, can you at least look at me?” He felt incredibly guilty; he hadn’t thought the thing with Tess through. It was now that he saw Luxx was still very vulnerable.

            “Luxx,” Charlie started.

            “Just give us a minute Char,” she said. Charlie said nothing just shook his head and left the room. “I thought I was over it, I really did but I was wrong.”

            “Not every guy is like that Luxx; I’m not going to hurt you. Don’t you think I know better?” He asked and she looked at him finally. “Do you believe me?”

            “Charlie isn’t being mean you know, he just thinks if I’m focused on our plans then boys won’t matter. Well not boys anymore but men, you aren’t a boy are you? I remember being like 5 and thinking you were like the coolest person ever. Even then Charlie and I had plans,” she said.

            “You didn’t answer me Luxx,” he said.

            “When I started modeling for you it was the first time I was alone with a guy that wasn’t Charlie or my dad or my brother. It never even occurred to me to worry about being with you,” she said. Now she was looking at him.

            “And you don’t,” he assured her. He sat beside her on the bed; normally he would run from this type of thing. But he wanted to protect her and make her happy.

            “What would you say if you were telling Lacey about us?” She asked and he took her hand and she allowed him to.

            “Uh something like ‘hey Lace remember when you decided to f**k my friend on my couch? I’m doing the same with your friend only in bed. And on the counter at Porter’s cabin.’ Sound good?” He asked and they both laughed.

            “Wow that was a little dirty huh?”

            “Not the worst I’ve done. Luxx, I won’t touch you again if you don’t want me to. I want to be with you, if that wasn’t already clear just you. No one else just you Luxx Lenox and if I had to chose I would probably kiss Charlie before I kissed Tess.”

            “I freaked out when Charlie said you were going off with Tess. Not because I think you wanted her but because I really have feelings for you,” she admitted.

            “Good cause I have feelings for you,” he said. He leaned over to kiss her then; yup he was feeling a lot of things.

            “We should get back,” she whispered.

            “Or I should lock the door and keep you in here all night and in a lot of pleasure,” he suggested. Her cheeks flushed when he said that, obviously from the memory of earlier that day.

            “That would be very interesting but I’ve decided not to have sex with you again. Prove to me that you really want me,” she told him.

            “Alright I love a good challenge,” he said and kissed her again. “As long as I’m still sleeping with you tonight, Charlie can snuggle up to someone else.”

            “Or the three of us could sleep together,” she said with a mischievous look.

            “Hell no, you are mine and just hell no,” he said and she laughed.

            “Let’s go now before everybody gets suspicious,” she said and stood. So he pulled her down into his lap and kissed her.

            “Tonight you should sleep naked,” he told her.

            “Maybe,” she replied. “And maybe if you are a good boy, I’ll show you what I can do.”

            “Damn girl,” he replied and she smiled. Maybe Porter wasn’t the only one that was whipped, right about now he would do anything she said. All he had to do was keep her gay bodyguard out of the way. This would be an interesting week.

 

            Charlie was not happy; he didn’t like this thing Luxx got herself into. She didn’t need Landon hanging around her. But what could he do? On some level he loved Luxx in a more than friendly way. Just cause he had no desire to have sex with her didn’t mean he didn’t love her. They had such a strong connection and he couldn’t let Landon have her. Besides he would no doubt hurt her. Charlie would never hurt her and he would never leave her alone again either. Six months he was gone and she wasn’t the same person when he got back. None of their so-called “friends” did anything to protect her. He would have done anything to spare her that pain.

            It was dark out and everybody was still outside. He kept Luxx close to him to keep Landon from getting his paws on her. Everyone else was talking and laughing and drinking. Luxx didn’t drink anymore and he was abstaining in solidarity with her. Landon, Porter, Garret and Brett were playing stupid drinking games. He needed to figure out how to get rid of Landon. Couldn’t she see that drunken loser wasn’t good enough for her? Even if he was attractive, looks didn’t make a relationship. Charlie was the one that loved Luxx and yet he had to watch guys break her heart time and time again. And what the last one did… he just couldn’t afford to let that happen again. He made a promise to her family that he would look after her. Not that they needed to ask he’d been doing it since he met her.

Four years old Charlie was the only boy in his ballet class. Even though him being there made his mother cry. The first day he was drawn to Luxx, she was a natural. So since he knew that he had to be the best in the class he teamed up with her. From that day on they were a dynamic duo and that was still true. He even begged his mother to go to the same school as her when they were kids. Thinking that maybe if he liked a girl this much it would mean he wasn’t gay, she conceded. Just because he was in love with Luxx and she was the only girl he ever kissed, didn’t mean he wanted sexually. No, his love for her was on higher plane than the physical. One time ever in his life did he leave her since meeting and everything went to hell.

“Luxx,” Tess said when she came over to sit beside them. “Have you noticed any girls hanging around Landon lately?”

“Um not really, no more than usual,” Luxx shrugged.

“He claims to be seeing someone,” Tess said shaking her head. “I don’t think it’s serious, so Luxx can you do me a favor?”

“What?” Luxx asked, Tess couldn’t see it but she was gripping Charlie’s hand very tight.

“Switch me rooms one night, I know how to get him,” Tess said looking devious.

“Tess,” Charlie said so Luxx wouldn’t have to answer. “Quit acting so desperate, it’s not cute on you honey. If he wants you make him come to you not the other way around, you should be the one being chased.” How he wished Landon would go be with Tess, it would be wonderful.

“Maybe you’re right,” Tess sighed. She got up without saying anything and walked over to Landon and took the shot glass out of his hand. For a moment they stared at each other and then she drank, set the glass on the table and walked away.

“Is this what you want?” Charlie asked her when they were alone again.

“What? I know everything female likes him but that doesn’t mean anything. Char, I love you so much, but you’re acting jealous. It’s been a long time since I liked a guy and wanted to date him,” Luxx said pouting at him.

“Lenny, I have to protect you and he’s going to hurt you I have no doubts about it. Yes, it’s your life and your heart but once that happens this little circle of friends will be done,” he warned.

“Charlie Walker can I please just be happy? Even if it’s temporary and even if he never loves me, I need this. I need a man that isn’t you to want me and think I’m sexy and to do the sex stuff. A girl has to get some lovin to live, stop worrying,” she paused. “Besides if you weren’t gay I would just marry you and it would be perfect. Imagine our beautiful little dancer babies.”

Though she was joking he’d thought of that before. Even entertained the idea that they could get married and have children. If they wanted to have sex they could find some hot guys. But that was crazy and she deserved someone that wouldn’t be repulsed by the thought of having sex with her. If it wasn’t for that small issue, she would be his. He embraced his sexuality and always had, his family just had to get over the denial. Being gay was perfectly fine to him except for the fact that he was in love with Luxx. No other relationship he had came close to the one he had with her. What was he supposed to do? It was reminding him of that Jennifer Aniston movie The Object of My Affection, where she fell for her gay roommate.

“I just love you too much,” he replied. She kissed his cheek and smiled at him.

“No matter what happens I know I always have you to love me and that makes me happy. You’ve been making me happy for so long and I really do appreciate it. And honestly you better never leave me again Char,” she said. There were tears in her eyes and he hated that.

“Never,” he promised and pulled her closer.

They were in a big lounge chair and he just held her tight. He looked up and saw Landon staring at her, his expression was torn. Obviously he wanted to comfort her but he couldn’t do it without drawing attention. Charlie shook his head so that he wouldn’t come over, because he looked like he was going to. Maybe she could do worse than Landon but Charlie didn’t want to risk losing her to someone else. What if Landon fell in love with her? Then what? She wouldn’t be Charlie’s anymore she would be Landon’s. Charlie stayed over her house, had dinner with her family, they did almost everything together. What would he do if he lost that? Was it really selfish to want to her to himself?

 

Claudia liked this idea for going away for a week with friends. Except it sucked that half the people here were couples. She was sharing a room with Tess who was incredibly annoying with her Landon obsession. It seemed to Claudia that Landon was crushing on Luxx, he kept looking at her. But she minded her business; she was the quiet one of the group. She glanced over at Luxx she didn’t look that good. She got up and was happy to get away from Amanda and Lacey’s boyfriend talk. Like how many times could you compare how wonderful your boyfriends were? In her opinion they didn’t get anymore wonderful in the last few hours than they were previously.

“Hey,” Claudia said and Luxx looked up at her. “We should take a walk.”

“That’s a good idea,” Charlie said.

“Ok,” Luxx nodded.

The three of them walked out into the dark woods heading towards the dock. There were lights on there and it was quiet. Claudia didn’t really know what to say, nobody ever knew what to say to Luxx. What did you say to someone who’s boyfriend tried to kill them? Everyone skirted the issue and pretended like everything was normal. The reason for this vacation was because Luxx couldn’t go to some party beach destination. Crowds were too much for her, so Lacey suggested the cabin instead. Claudia didn’t mind the quiet time with friends as apposed to some overcrowded endless party full of sin and debauchery. But she hated listening to Lacey and Amanda all in love and annoying.

“So how’s modeling?” Claudia asked Luxx and she shrugged.

“It’s hard to sit still in the silence sometimes. Landon hates noise when he works, otherwise its fine. I’m happy to help out a friend and ok I like the idea of being inspiration to someone,” Luxx said.

“You need to get back to focusing on dancing,” Charlie said. By his tone it confirmed Claudia’s suspicion about Landon’s crush.

“Char, I’m focused you are driving me crazy,” Luxx replied.

“The showcase is important it could decide our future, sorry for wanting more from life. Being Landon’s “muse” isn’t going to help us in the future,” Charlie said.

“Do you two ever stop sounding like a married couple?” Claudia asked trying to break the tension. There was a secret she knew about Charlie and it seemed to get worse as time went on. She knew he was in love with Luxx, he’d told her so.  Things like this were why her parents didn’t understand her choice in friends.

“No,” they said at the same time and all of them laughed.

“So Claudia are you ready for our presentation? I’ve like obsessed over it,” Luxx said.

“I know, I brought the video so we could have a screening,” she said.

“Oh that would be amazing,” Luxx said smiling.

Claudia wanted to be a filmmaker, it was her dream. Her parents dream for her was to be a doctor or a housewife or possibly a lawyer. Anything really but film, the compromise was that she could take some classes. But she would be a doctor, she couldn’t exactly tell them no. So she took her extra classes and Luxx was in one of her film classes. Together they made a documentary about the life of artists. It started out to be about dancers but the way they all met was in a performing arts high school. Basically they followed around their artsy friends who did all different types of things. In her opinion it was really good.

In high school Claudia was a writer and even wrote two plays and had them performed. Her parents were traditional and against her “wasting” her life on hobbies. What was so wrong with wanting to make movies? They allowed her to go to art school but always made it clear that she couldn’t be an artist of any kind. For four years of her life she was allowed to express herself and have freedom. Then it was college and no more time for fun. Not when there were internships and summer jobs and such. It was rare for her to get away like this and she wanted to have fun.

Only once did she go with her friends to Cabo for spring break. That stuff wasn’t her, she had morals, thankfully Luxx understood that. So while everyone was drunk and hooking up with strangers, they stuck together. Having a drink or two was one thing but she never got drunk. If her parents knew she drank at all they would freak out. Thus was the life of a good and proper Indian girl. Soon enough she would be a wife too but that was a very different story. She was going to have an arranged marriage; she knew her whole life who she would marry. It was actually funny that it never bothered her but not being allowed to be artistic did. Interesting.

“S**t,” Charlie said when his phone started ringing. “I’ll be back.” He went off to answer the call that was probably from one of his admirers.

“Is there something going on with you and Landon?” Claudia asked Luxx.

“Sort of,” Luxx shrugged. “Lace is going to hate me for it and I don’t know he gets bored easily.”

“The reason I asked is because of the way he has been looking at you. I’m perceptive, I notice details people miss. That would come in handy being a filmmaker but yeah,” she sighed.

“Why don’t your parents just let you have one thing? I mean you’re marrying the guy they picked and you’ve stayed a virgin for them. Just doesn’t seem fair.”

“Oh it isn’t but I’m supposed to be an obedient daughter and want what they want for me. I will be a doctor and Ali will be a lawyer, perfect. He’s not so bad really he was the first boy I kissed and we agree on a lot. Like that until we are married dating is fine, it’s my choice not to have sex. Am I really missing that much?”

“Um kind of, before it wasn’t that important to me. Dancing was my only passion so I thought of sex as just a little release,” Luxx said. There was a dreamy look in her eyes now.

“So you had sex with Landon?” Claudia asked picking up on the obvious.

“Yeah, it was great but everything else is hard. I have feelings for him and he says he does for me too. But Tess is like crazy about him and Lacey’s been my friend forever,” Luxx sighed.

“She’ll get over it; Lacey is your best friend since forever. Besides her boyfriend is her brother’s friend, and Landon is kind of sexy,” Claudia said. “Not that I notice such things, proper girls don’t.”

“I think you need to have sex,” Luxx told her. “Just because you could let go and be out of control for once in your life. Besides its weird the first time so you don’t want awkward on your honeymoon. You should have told Ali to come up.”

“I’ve thought about that, but I haven’t found anyone I want to have sex with. And it’s easiest to hide behind my parents’ beliefs instead of putting myself out there. Ali expects me to go wild and have a little fun. We talk at least once a week but we don’t see each other too much. Both of us are busy and we don’t hang out alone ever. Usually it’s family dinners or holidays or family get-togethers, nothing intimate. He knows where I am and he planned to either work or go away with his friends,” she shrugged. Of her friends only Luxx could understand her sense of duty to her family.

“Why don’t you just date each other?”

“I don’t know actually, we’ve never talked about it.”

“Well if you have to marry someone your parents’ choose at least Ali is good looking.”

“The looks weren’t my priority but that does help. I just wanted a modern forward thinking man that didn’t mind my independence. Ali doesn’t treat me like a stupid girl or just an object, which is what I like about him. Even he thinks I should give up med school.”

“Listen to the universe Claudi, your parents will forgive you.”

“Lacey will forgive you; it’s only a relationship with her brother. This is my whole life, if I say no then I have to get married yesterday and they will expect children. Ali and I are not ready for children.”

“Give me your phone,” Luxx said. Instead of waiting she slipped it from her pocket. “I’m telling your husband that he needs to come spend time with his wife and her awesome friends.”

“He’s not going to come,” Claudia replied. Why fight to get the phone back? Ali wouldn’t come and he was probably out having sex with someone.

The fact that she had to marry him and knew he was out doing all sorts of things, should have bothered her. He was entitled to his own life just like she was. His life was definitely full of partying and clubbing and hooking up. But it just wasn’t her and she didn’t see a point to behaving a certain way because everybody else was doing it. All she wanted was to choose just one thing in her life, the most important thing to her. Sitting there on the dock on the quiet lake she was just thinking she wanted to be free. Part of her was afraid to think too much about the things Ali did. It was his life now and would be their life later. Unless he fell in love with someone else, that was one thing that did trouble her.

“Message sent, now it’s up to fate,” Luxx said.

“Now you sound like your mother,” Claudia replied.

“She would love to hear that, I’m excited to see our film,” Luxx said then paused. “Claudi, you have to follow you passion. After what happened I didn’t want to dance or be seen, I wished I had actually died. Working on this with you I saw a different side of you that I haven’t seen in a long time. Your parents will love you no matter what. They don’t know how important this is to you and they should.”

“Thank you for that, but I don’t have your parents. Maybe after I become a doctor and get married I could take time off to do what I love. It has to be this way, I can’t hurt my parents,” Claudia said sadly.

One of her sisters didn’t do as she was supposed to and it ended in disaster for everyone. Jaya choose her own path and Claudia wished she could too. Her other sisters Bakula and Gita made sure she did not attempt such a thing. Gita was married and a doctor and Bakula was a housewife with two children. Claudia had to do what her parents wanted there were no other options. It all came from her father being a doctor and once upon a time her mother was a nurse. No matter what she couldn’t be like Jaya, who refused to be married, dropped out of college, briefly worked as a stripper and disappeared for six months. Claudia would never do anything like that, but she did love her sister. This was just the way it had to be.

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[Uc Amalu Jr]

i do not exactly understand the theme of this chapter. Yet it looks good, maybe il go over it again. Write more