Chapter 3: Riding
"How long does it take for you to get ready!?" Leon yelled upstairs; they had been waiting for a solid ten minutes for the other to get ready and were waiting by the front door. They wore a black sleeveless hoodie which they paired with black track pants and sneakers.
They were leaning against the doorframe of the opened front door, arms folded with one hand playing with their straight, long, black hair which they had decided to leave out. "Give me a second, would ya!" They heard from upstairs, rolling their eyes at the comment. That's exactly what he had said five minutes ago and here they were, still waiting. Why couldn't he just take a shorter period of time to do these things? And he called them slow.
They still had to tell him what they were doing, as they were unable to do so the previous day. Yes, they had told Liam that he would get to choose but they were shamelessly going back on that statement, as things had changed. That being the realization that today they had the shortest amount of time. Though that would've been yesterday, they were still working things out on that Sunday afternoon. They had yet to make Liam aware of this fact and were quite eager to do so. Why hadn't they done so earlier? Well, they were too busy trying to come up with a way to save their asses from being caught. Or at least, that's what they kept telling themself.
After another minute or so, they glanced up after hearing footsteps coming from the stairs. Liam could be seen wearing overalls with a white shirt underneath and a random pair of sneakers. His brown curly hair was also messy and unkempt. "Shame. And here I was expecting something extravagant." They remarked sarcastically, rolling their eyes for the second time that day, pushing themselves off from the doorway and making their way outside. Though not before they noticed the eye roll they received from the other.
They could hear the other following closely behind. Probably about to respond to their previous statement though Leon didn't give them the opportunity to do so. "We don't have a lot of time today so I figured we could go riding, maybe to Phil's bookshop. It's a bit away, though it'll be worth it since we get to go riding and have the excuse that we were there."
With that, they averted his attention over to two bikes that they had placed to the right of the door earlier that day. One was red, while the other was purple. "Didn't you say I would get to pick?" Liam complained, though before they had the opportunity to say anything, he was already nodding his head in understanding. "Well, then again it does make sense considering the small-time frame."
They nodded, now walking over to their bike, the purple one, before rolling it out to the edge of the driveway, next to the surprisingly empty street. They glanced back at Liam, watching as they did the same. "Y'know, I haven't ridden a bike for two years, I don't think I'll be very good." "Well, you're in luck, being good isn't the point. Getting from point A to B is."
Liam let out a hum in response, before making their way over to Leon, with his bike. The two stood there for a couple seconds, waiting for the other to do something. "Well? Are you going to try, or no?" They turned to look at the other. "Oh! Right, uh, yeah, yeah, I can do that."
Liam was now to the side of the street, sitting on the bike, mumbling something to themselves. He was probably hyping himself up before he did anything, they assumed. It took a couple of minutes, but they eventually started pedaling, and as expected, they started off quite wobbly but eventually were able to ride smoothly. Also, to Leon's surprise, (and dismay) Liam hadn't fallen off the bike. It was a shame really.
Liam let out what seemed to be a victory laugh before coming back over and stopping in front of them. "Well come on then. We haven't got all day." And just like that, he had taken off down the road, without waiting for them to follow. Leon stared at them for a moment; proceeding to get onto their bike and ride after him.
"You know you didn't have to leave without me." They stated, slightly out of breath from having to catch up. "Well, you were the one that was hoping I'd fall. You deserved that." Leon looked at him a tad bit confused, sure it was true, and they weren't going to deny that but had they said it out loud?
"Did I say that out loud?" They sounded very confused, though the other couldn't see it as they were facing forward. In turn, he shook his head and chuckled a bit. "Well, no. But I could see the disappointment clear on that face of yours when I actually did it properly."
Leon scoffed, "Well did you actually think I would NOT want to see that?"
"I expected at least a bit of support. Especially from you, you're usually very supportive."
"Well, you took ten years to get dressed and come down looking like you've been hit by a truck. So, call it payback."
"But I didn't even- "
"Call it payback."
With that, they didn't even try to argue back about how it clearly couldn't have been payback as he didn't get hurt or that nothing came out of it. They kept riding for another ten, twenty minutes, without another word. This was much more boring than he had originally anticipated.
The two kept going, before deciding to break the silence. "Why'd you leave your hair out? It's usually in a ponytail or a bun. What changed?"
Leon glanced over to him for a moment. "Lazy. Didn't want to have to deal with it. Though obviously, I would've had the time to do so." Liam groaned, rolling his eyes. "You're still hung up on that?" Leon nodded before speeding up, by a significant amount mind you. That was what surprised Liam. Was he actually that upset? "H-HEY WAIT UP-!" With that, he started pedaling faster, in an attempt to catch up.
He was unsuccessful.
Had they just woken up in a pissy mood and decided to make it everyone's problem? No, that couldn't have been it. They seemed fine earlier that day. He thought about everything that had happened until it had finally clicked. They had forgotten about the skirt. Now a lot of things seemed to click in that regard. They let out another groan. How could he have forgotten? They made that deal yesterday. It hadn't been long enough to rightfully use the excuse. Though he never specified which week, Leon seemed to have hoped it would've been the rest of the one they were on.
They rounded the corner, only to find Leon stopped at the end, looking between the two roads, ignoring the road in front of them. Raising an eyebrow, he rode toward the other, about to ask a question, stopping before he could even get anything out of his mouth. The road was blocked. That's bad.
"Well, that's unfortunate," Leon muttered, questioning which route to take. "That way's a dead end and the other way's going to add another half hour to the journey." Leon mumbled, there was more to it though Liam couldn't seem to make out anything that came out of their mouth after that.
"Let's go-" They paused, before pointing to the road to their right. "That way. It seems like the only option unless I'm wrong about the whole dead-end thing." They proceeded to get back onto their bike and ride off. Liam, without saying a word this time, just followed.
He was thinking of something to say that could be a decent conversation starter but also possibly a way to take their mind off the whole, him not holding his side of the deal. Riding closer to them, he decided to ask something simple. Or the first thing that came to mind. "What did you have planned for tomorrow?"
This seemed to catch Leon's attention as they perked up a bit. "I was planning on keeping that to myself until tomorrow." They stated. "I tell you, and that'll ruin the surprise, will it not?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"I'm always right."
Liam scoffed at the comment before speeding up a bit so he could be next to the other. They didn't say anything on that topic, as it would likely start an argument between the two; that was not something he wanted.
"The road's quite clear today, isn't it? There are usually cars passing through at every hour of the day." It was an odd comment for Liam to make, yes, but it was true. The streets did lack cars and seemed a bit deserted at the moment. The houses the two would pass were dead silent. It was a change from the noisy environment they were used to. "Yeah, not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"I'd say it's neutral. It's good cause we're riding. Bad cause it's not normal. I wouldn't think into it too much though, it's probably nothing."
"Well, it feels like something bigger to me."
"That's just cause you're paranoid. You don't like the silence. Ever. Not even when you're pre-occupied."
"Eh, it's just a preference."
"It sounds more like you being scared, but alright."
Leon didn't respond after that, he only sighed and kept going. Though Liam wasn't facing them, he could practically feel the other glaring at him.
A couple of minutes later, they were still riding but one second it was sunny, the next it was not. That in itself was confusing, the sky hadn't seemed to be turning grey, and now, there was rain. Liam and Leon came to s stop both looked behind them, only to see that half the road was wet, while the other half was dry.
"How does that even happen?" Liam wondered aloud. "The clouds are probably heading that way. By the time we come back, it shouldn't be like that." Liam, seemingly happy with the response given, just kept riding. Leaving Leon behind for the second time that day in the process. They didn't seem to mind, as they caught up easily.
They kept riding in the rain, unbothered for the next couple of minutes until the rain started coming down much heavier than before. "Perhaps we should hurry it up." They stated, going a bit quicker than before, but not too fast that they would skid off the wet pitch.
-
It had been about thirty minutes since they rode into the rain and they were now in front of Phil's bookshop, under his awning. The two were now attempting to get themselves as dry as possible before walking into the store.
Liam was just standing there, letting himself drip. Besides that, he had also shaken his hair until he thought it was dry enough. Leon was busy wringing out their hair as though it was a wet washcloth.
"Shame we got caught in the rain. Or, more accurately, rode into the rain. I wasn't really in the mood to get wet." They commented, letting go of their hair, letting it fall, and grabbed their glasses, taking it off their face. They stare at the lenses for a moment question how they should go about drying them without smudging the lenses.
"It was nice. I quite like the rain. Probably wasn't the best circumstance but I wasn't all too bothered." Liam took a quick glance through the window of the store before looking back to the ground. Phil had to have seen them by now, he was sure of it. He wasn't sure what Phil would've thought of them if he had, but he wasn't going to think on it further.
He looked over to Leon, only to see their eyes on him, with one eyebrow raised. "You? Liking the rain? I assumed you didn't since you're prone to getting sick." Liam rolled his eyes. "Never said I liked getting soaked but that I liked the rain. Get it right." They made an 'o' shape with their mouth, though no sound came out. They put back on their glasses and glanced at the door to the shop.
"Should we head in? Or are we still too wet for that?" Leon took a glance at Liam and thought about a suitable answer. "I think we'll be fine to go in. He might be a bit upset but he should've expected this. Seeing the rain and all."
Liam nodded his head in understanding before he began hugging himself for warmth, to which he was unsuccessful. "What are you waiting for? Are you coming or what?" He looked up to see Leon holding the door open for him, looking at him expectingly.
"Right, yes." He stepped past them and into the shop only to be met with an even colder atmosphere. His body shook at the contact. "Oh, it's cold in here." Leon stepped in after him, lightly nodding his head. "It really is."
"Now where is Phil?" Leon questioned, glancing around the store. Liam also took the liberty of looking around. There weren't many people in here, but the people who were there hadn't come together. Except for a couple of boys who were reading together.
"Oh, he's just by the desk." Leon commented, sounding somewhat disappointed in themselves. Though it was quite obvious, he did run the place after all. "Well yeah, that much should've been obvious." They proceed to glare at him before making their way over to where Phil was. He simply followed looking at some of the books on display.
"Took you two long enough to come in, you've been standing outside for the past ten minutes."
"Was it actually ten minutes? It didn't seem that long." Liam commented, squeezing himself tighter, as though it would help with the cold. He glanced back over to Leon who seemed completely unbothered. He narrowed his eyes, only to brush it off as nothing.
Phil nodded his head, leaning onto the desk. His hair was out and stopped at just under his shoulders, similar to Liams' but was much straighter. And blonde. Phil was blonde, unlike anyone else in his family who was either brunette or had black hair. That just made him stand out from everyone even more than he already did.
"Well, it was nice seeing you Phil, but we're going to go sit in the corner away from the air conditioner and try to prevent Liam here from getting sick." Leon promptly grabbed Liam's wrist and started dragging him away.
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