Chapter Text
It was the morning after another party, Lucas and Dillon hadn’t long been awake and were getting ready to start the clean up from the night before. Lucas hadn’t long since received a text from Frankie asking if she could move in as she’d had yet another argument with Darren.
Lucas had just got the bin bags out of the cupboard and had handed one to Dillon when Frankie turned up. “Thanks for letting me move in with you both, I can’t deal with Dad right now.” Sighed Frankie in frustration.
“What’s happened now?” Asked Lucas, “I thought things were good with you both now?” Frankie and her Dad had come a long way over the past few months, she finally felt like she could call him her dad.
“Remember him turning up at that party and playing DJ and being really embarrassing? Well I found him in bed with Kat, he’s been cheating on Nancy with her! He’s denying it of course.” Frankie started. “But that’s not all, now he’s been arrested on suspicion of assault! I can’t trust him any more, he’s lying about not being a cheat!”
“I thought he and Nancy were solid?” Said Dillon, clearly surprised by events.
Frankie sighed, clearly frustrated at the situation. “So did I, we were finally starting to feel like a proper family after the trial. He’s ruined everything, Nancy broke up with him but he’s refusing to move out. I couldn’t spend another second in that house with him, I’m done with him.”
Lucas and Dillon both looked at each other in concern. “I’m sure once things have settled down a bit you’ll forgive him, he’s still your Dad.” Said Lucas. “All Dads make mistakes, just look at mine!”
“Yeah, well he’s got a lot of making up to do if he wants me to forgive him,” said Frankie. “Can I put my bags in your spare room?”
“Yeah sure, you know where it is.”
With that Frankie went to put her belongings in the spare room.
“Do you think she’ll be alright?” Lucas asked, clearly worried for her.
“She will be, she just needs a bit of space from Darren. Try not to worry about her, she’ll be fine.” Dillon said, wrapping his arm around Lucas’s shoulder. “We’ll look after her, she knows she can trust us or she wouldn’t want to move in with us.” He kissed Lucas on the cheek and moved away to sit on the sofa.
Not long after, Frankie joined them back in the lounge sitting next to Dillon. Meanwhile Lucas was continuing to clear away the mess from the night before.
“Do you want to give me a hand with this mess? It’ll be done quicker with the three of us.” Lucas said, hoping he could get the place tidy quicker. “I’ve got work in a few hours, I was hoping to be able to relax for a bit before I have to leave.”
“Just leave it babe, you can do it later before you go to work.” Said Dillon, clearly with no intention of helping with the clean up.
Lucas looks at him in disbelief. “It’s not just me that was at the party, you were both there too!”
“Lucas it’s fine, you’ve literally just said you wanted to relax before going to work! Come and sit down with us both, there’s plenty of time to clean up later.” Said Frankie.
“Well I’d rather we did it now, get it out the way. I don’t know how you can sit there surrounded by empty bottles and left over food. I’m not doing it on my own either, I’m not your slave.”
Dillon stood up and approached him, trying to take the bin bag off him and pull him to the sofa. “Please Lucas, just come and sit down for a bit. This can wait.”
Lucas sighed, he was starting to get annoyed at them both now. He was supposed to be Dillon’s boyfriend and Frankie’s best friend, not a house maid. It really was getting beyond a joke now, he was getting sick of them not tidying up after themselves. “You know it wouldn’t hurt for you to learn how to use a bin, it’s not hard to throw your rubbish away and tidy up after yourselves.” Said Lucas, not hiding his annoyance with them.
“Alright Dad, you need to chill a bit, learn to live a little!” Said Frankie, “you’re not even 18 yet and you’re already acting like an old man.”
“Guys please -” Dillon tried to interject before things got out of hand.
“No it needs saying Dillon! If you both want to keep having parties all the time, fine! But why should I be the one to tidy up all the time? While you’re both here, does anyone want to explain why I found this in the house?” Lucas held up the vape he’d found, the look on both their faces told him what he already suspected. It was theirs, they were using drugs.
“It’s just a vape,” said Frankie meekly, clearly not expecting to be found out. “We just wanted to unwind a bit, it’s not that big of a deal.”
“Not a big deal! Do you realise what’s in them? I saw the damage they do to people when I was in young offenders!” Said Lucas, alarmed at how nonchalant she was being about it. “Once you get hooked they’re hard to get clean from. It only takes one try and that’s it, you’re addicted.”
“It was just once, we only tried it to see what it was like! It’s not like we’re gonna use it again, we’re not addicts.” Frankie stood up to leave the room. “Now if you’ve stopped with the lecture I’m going for a shower.”
Lucas turned to Dillon in disbelief. “Is she for real?” He said, shocked at how Frankie had reacted to him finding out about the vape. “Did she not listen to a word I just said? Does she forget my Dads an addict?”
Dillon wrapped his arms around Lucas, pulling him in for a hug. “Babe I know you’re worried about us, but we’re fine I promise! Now we’re gonna tidy this mess up and you’re gonna sit down and chill before you go to work.” Said Dillon, kissing him on the forehead before releasing him to grab a bin bag to tidy up. “I promise you we’ll be fine.”
With that they both continued with the tidying up, and before long the house was back to being tidy again. Once they had finished, they both sat down together on the sofa with Lucas cuddling up to Dillon, resting his head on his chest.
Frankie rejoined them after a short while, apologising for being so blase about using drugs. She said she wouldn’t use them again, reiterating that it was a one off.
The peace didn’t last for long, Rex soon turned up at the house wanting to hide some bags. “Why do you want to hide those here, have you not got your own house to hide them in?” Asked Lucas whilst sitting up from where he was resting against Dillon’s chest, clearly not happy about the prospect of Rex storing things in the house.
“Hold on a second,” said Frankie, “Please tell me they aren’t stolen goods.”
Rex turned to look at Dillon, who looked uneasy at the whole situation. “Do I really need to remind you who owns this house, and the fact you’re living here rent free too?”
“Please tell me this is a wind up?” Lucas said to Dillon in disbelief. “Do you realise if the police find we’ve been storing stolen goods here, I could end up back inside, we all could! You know how much I went through when I was there, do you really think I want to have to go through all that again? Please Dillon, it’s too much of a risk!” He was practically begging by the end.
Dillon doesn’t say anything, just sits and watches as Rex hides the bags. He leaves the teenagers on their own after that, Lucas standing up and getting his phone out of his pocket. “This is too much, I’m calling the police.”
Dillon stands up, reaching out and snatching Lucas’s phone off him before he can even begin to unlock his phone. “Lucas you can’t! You don’t realise how dangerous Rex’s boss is, he’ll be out for revenge!” Dillon said in a panic. “I can’t risk anything happening to you, I can’t lose you!”
“Fine have it your way, but just so you know I’m having nothing to do with any of this.” With that Lucas took his phone back off Dillon and stormed out of the house, leaving Frankie and Dillon on their own.
Once Lucas was out of sight of the house, he went back on his word and phoned the police anyway. Little did he know that the policeman he spoke to on the phone was in on the whole operation and warned Grace about someone reporting Rex.
An hour or so later, Lucas returns home after he’s calmed down, telling Dillon and Frankie he’d phoned the police and told them everything.
“What the hell did you do that for?” Said Dillon in exasperation. “Did you not listen to what I said about Rex’s boss being dangerous, he’s not someone you can mess with! You’re just gonna put yourself in danger!” The last thing Dillon wanted was Lucas getting hurt because of him, he was taking all these risks to keep him safe.
“I’m not scared of him Dillon, I’m willing to take the risk as long as I don’t go to prison. I don’t care what happens to me on the outside, I can’t deal with another stretch inside again, I just can’t.” Lucas could feel himself getting emotional, he was getting desperate now. Nothing he said was getting through to Dillon and it was breaking his heart.
He failed to notice that Rex had re-entered the house whilst they were arguing. “So it was you who rang the cops? What good was that, you’re putting your freedom at risk as well as Frankie and Dillon’s.”
Dillon looked over at Lucas without saying a word. “What, not gonna say anything?” Asked Lucas, “Just gonna go along with whatever he says, as long as you don’t have to pay rent you’re fine with it?”
Dillon remained quiet, letting the silence speak for itself. He wasn’t going to back up his boyfriend, he was just going to go along with whatever Rex said. For the second time that day, Lucas stormed out.
“Do you really think I should trust you both after the stunt Lucas just pulled? Why should I let you live rent free if I can’t trust you to do as I say?” Rex said, “I could just evict you, you know. Let you go back to your families, where you won’t have the freedom to do what you want when you want. There’ll be no more parties, that’s for sure.”
“Rex please, you can trust us! We won’t say anything to anyone, we promise!” Dillon begged, unwilling to go back home, to face up to his responsibilities.
“Fine, you both have one last chance to prove I can trust you. There’s gonna be another party tonight, I want you to do some dealing for me. If you don’t do it or things don’t go according to plan, you’re both evicted. Understand? I mean it Dillon, do not mess this up.” The threat lingered in the air between them, the consequences if the party that night didn’t go to plan.
With that Rex left the house, leaving both teenagers thinking of the implications if things went wrong.
When Lucas returns home again, Frankie tells him there’s gonna be another party that night. “I don’t think you should be here this time, you’ve got a face like a wet weekend. You’ll just ruin the mood, you’ll turn the guests away.”
“Wow Frankie, bit harsh don’t you think?” Dillon said, clearly shocked at how she was speaking to her supposed best friend.
“It’s fine Dillon, I’ll be at work anyway. Not that I was interested in being here in the first place.” Said Lucas. “Who am I to tell you not to have a party, my opinion clearly doesn’t matter. I mean, I only live here.” The sarcasm was practically dripping from his words, he could just about stop himself from rolling his eyes. He was still uneasy about the whole situation, but there was nothing he could do or say to stop them. There’d been enough arguments for one day.
Dillon almost sighed with relief. At least Lucas wasn’t going to be here when they were dealing drugs on Rex’s orders, at least he could keep him away from that. He knew Lucas would be working late, so the party should be over by the time he came home. Little did he know just how wrong things were going to go, that the person he loved more than anything in the whole world would be put in harms way. It could be just the wake up call he needed.