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Holly saw him the first time when she was walking back from where the house was under construction. He looked a bit like her dad, but he looked more like one of her second uncles, honestly her entire family looked frighteningly similar. One day he came over to talk to her, he was smart and funny, they shared a sense of humour and both had friends who were absolute idiots. They became fast friends talking about nothing at all. His mom Jessica was kind and gullible, she was a single mom struggling to make time for her son. Holland and Jackson were happy to help them, they had too many rooms, the house was too big for them. The next months passed, Holly and Kenny became like siblings, they both learned from each other so the sarcasm and snark just got worse. Healy thought it was hilarious, it gave Holland a headache, though he already had a permanent headache from the booze. Though the double threat of blond sarcasm didn’t help.
Jessica hadn’t meant to have Kenny, she had gotten pregnant after a night with a man she had met in a bar one night. She gave him her number but never got his, she never saw him again as she understood he had moved away. She couldn’t afford an abortion so she decided to do everything in her power to raise Kenny. He already knew he was an accident but he didn’t really care, he knew she loved him. When they finished the house, the whole family was invited over, there were a lot of them.
All the doors were wide open, the front, the back, the conservatory every door. Summer snacks were in bowls on every flat surface, people were arriving slowly, Sebastian was reorganising the living room because he didn’t like the acoustics of having the piano in the corner. Colt, Ryland, and Court were catching up for the first time in years. Court had brought Claire along, so he had had to introduce her to everyone, she was now hanging out with Holly and Kenny, they were a good few years younger but made for good company. Holland was trying to be a good host, starting by being less drunk than he had been in days. Jessica was talking at Dylan(the Driver) who was shifting uncomfortably, he would rather be looking at the cars parked outside.
Jacob arrived 15 minutes later, a grey suit and sunglasses, he didn’t care that it was almost 100 degrees out he was going to look good. The ceiling fan was welcome though, Holland greeted him loudly at the door. He basked as the center of attention for a moment until he made eye contact with Jessica. They both froze looking at each other for a very long moment.
“I’ve got to get something from my car.” He backed towards the door.
“No you don’t, you’ve got to explain yourself to me, to your son.” She demanded raising her voice with every word.
“I have a son? I probably have a lot of sons. Nope I don’t know you.” He replied as he turned to run towards his car. Chaos erupted immediately, a number of people went to ask what Jessica meant. No one was particularly surprised to find out that Jacob had gotten someone pregnant, but her being here was a strange coincidence.
“Should I go get him?” Court asked as Jacob’s car started.
“Yes please…” she murmured this was weird and unexpected and overwhelming.
“I know! Race to catch Jacob!” Holland shouted standing on the stairs. “The first person to catch Jacob gets 20 bucks!” The room all looked at each other, $20 is $20 Colt, Court, and Dylan all looked at each other before taking off out the front door.
Ryland watched them go, “I bet a fiver on Court.”
Holland looked over to the scientist leaning against the wall sipping an apple juice. He was planning on starting the betting himself, he wasn’t complaining.
“I bet five on Colt,” Jody she added in, she had heard about his escapade chasing after a phone.
“Nu uh,” Grace tutted
“What do you mean Nu uh?” Jody accused
“He forgot his mouth guard.” Grace pointed at his jacket hung up on a chair, mouthguard case in the pocket.
“Well I’m betting $10 on Dylan. They’re in cars, and god damn it can he drive.” Holland added to the conversation.
“Court’s on foot.” Claire chimed up looking out the window, sure enough only 3 cars had left.
Chaos erupted as the bets climbed higher, at some point Seb went back to the living room and started improvising an action sound track only increasing the mania. There was chaotic clamouring every time something moved outside, there had been at least 4 cat based false alarms. Everyone started wondering what was taking so long, eventually Jody’s phone rung. It was from Colt, everyone crowded around the phone to see.
Colt was holding the phone, Court was holding Jacob down, and Dylan was just admiring Jacob’s car. “So I found him first, Dylan actually managed to trap him in a dead end, and Court jumped out of a window to pin him down. We can’t agree on who won.”
“I actually caught him.” Court shouted to the phone.
“No you didn’t. He couldn’t have escaped from the corner, he was already caught.” Dylan retorted, raising his voice just loud enough for the phone to catch it.
T
“This has been going on for like 5 mins” Colt whispered into the bottom microphone.”It took like 2 minutes to catch him, these guys are stubborn. Wait shoot, don’t fight it’s only $20–” With a buzz the call ended, instantly the bickering resumed, this time about who had won.
“I’m betting $5 on Colt being the most beat up when they get back.” Claire added trying to get more money and more chaos in the ring. It backfired and everyone went quiet, agreeing, Colt would definitely be the most beat up. Eventually they end up sat around the kitchen table, trying to figure out who won.
“How are we defining caught?” Grace asked, starting the conversation. “Are we saying can’t escape, or can’t try to escape?”
“Can we all agree Colt lost?” Jody added, putting her bet on the table, a couple of people who had bet on Colt slid their bets to the middle of the table, Mia and Dan were among them.
After a further 5 minutes they came to an agreement, using oyster traps and crab fishing buckets as examples. Around then there was a knock at the door, and sure enough Jacob was tied to Dylan’s backseat, Court was bleeding from his forehead and bruised on his forearms and shoulder, Dylan had a swollen jaw and was breathing shallowly with a broken rib, Colt was the worst. Broken nose, spiral fracture on his left arm, purple and red bruises across his both arms, and a black eye, standing awkwardly . Claire gave Court a devil horns from the front window, he winked at her returning the gesture. She turned around and took a pound from the other 2 children, the adults hadn’t let them take part in the betting ring.
Colt leaned on the door frame with his right arm, “Who won?”
Grace came forward holding a piece or baking paper open like a scroll “We have come to a conclusion, through much deliberation and to my personal disappointment, the winner is Dylan.”
“You’re kidding?” Court said, squinting in exaggerated frustration.
“I was betting on you, Court, you let me down.” He replied, dramatically looking up, hand over his forehead, he laughed and stepped out of the doorway heading into the house, the others followed suit, Jacob still tied up.
All three pursuers flopped onto the couch next to each other, Jacob sat on the floor disgruntled with a wounded pride. “Note to self, Court hits like a truck, and Dylan can turn anything into a weapon.” Colt laughed, cradling his broken arm with his shirt.
Court smirked at him smugly “So who won the bets?” He asked towards the party. “And how much for?”
“Seb, Irene, Alan and Holland beat literally all of us. For a total of $372.” Grace answered, having done the maths as the coins and notes had been sliding into the middle of the table.
“Wait… we’re supposed to get $93 each? I only got $90.” Seb asked, having run the numbers through the calculator on his phone.
“Huh, same.” Alan laughed counting up his change and falling $3 short. Holland had been the one to hand out the money, as everyone turned to look at him, he was quick to give in and give them their correct winnings.
Again the room simmered down, time to deal with the problem, Jacob. Everyone helped Jessica and Hannah to the front, where they just stood awkwardly next to each other looking at the somehow still sexy bruised idiot tied up sat on the floor.
“Look I know you’ve slept with a lot of women, but really not even a phone number?” Hannah asked, looking down at her boyfriend.
“You’re the only person I’ve ever followed up on, no one’s as cute as you.” He flattered, with the same voice he used to use jumping between tables at the bar.
“Can we focus on the fact, I have his child right here and he turned and ran.” Jessica snapped trying to keep the conversation on track.
“So he’s my son, I’m Jacob and you are?”
“Less of a douche than you.” Kenny replied, high-fiving Holly.
They bickered for a while, everyone trying to convince Jacob to pay his child support. Eventually Court got up off the couch earning him the entire rooms attention.
“Want something?” He tossed something small and brown. Jessica failed to catch it, it landing flat on the floor, a brown leather wallet.
She picked it up, looked at him then looked around the room “What do I do with this?” She asked.
Healy leaned over, taking the wallet. “Why do you walk around with $200 in cash?” He asked holding 4 $50s. No response. “Whelp I think you should at least take the cash while we figure this out.” He said passing the wallet back to Jessica, cracking his knuckles as he stepped closer to Jacob.
Who, like Holland, cracked under even the slightest threat of injury. Healy paused, “That was easier than expected… how did none of you think of that.” He asked, pointing at the idiots sat on the couch licking their wounds.
Dylan looked over “I don’t like fighting.” He answered quietly. No one said anything but it was hard to believe since he had literally just been in a fight over $20.
Ryland poked his head out from behind the crowd. “So who’s paying their hospital bills?”
Dylan just shook his head, there was nothing the hospital could do about a broken rib.
“Should probably worry about him, horses are put down for less.” Court said, looking at Colt.
Randomly their weird cousin from an island in the middle of nowhere just called out, “I think it’s tragic they put horses down so frequently, those beautiful beasts.” As he started monologuing about horses.
“Can I have my $20?” Dylan asked, completely ignoring the conversation, as Ken continued his lament, Seb added some sad music because he was bored, and Jody was doing some mental gymnastics to try and get Colt’s injury onto his insurance. Apart from that the party returned to normal.