||What Lies Under|| - Salvis

Chapter IV

         The day after, Sal had notified Travis that he was free today to speak to him, as they had done for weeks now. Travis had agreed to meet at Sal's place, and left Phillip's house to go over. Phillip lays bored in his bed, before Larry sends him a text.

11:13 AM— Larry: Hey man, Sal is busy most of the day, wanna come hang out? We can walk around town maybe, get high and whatever.

        Phillip smiles at the message, making sure to like the message before responding with an enthusiastic yes, standing up and getting dressed into a long sleeved striped shirt and a red short sleeved shirt over it. He puts on baggy ripped jeans with chains on the belt loops, and nice sneakers. He combs his hand through his dark blue hair, cringing at the feeling of the calluses on his hands coming in contact with his hair. He glances down at his hands, remembering how he had practiced new moves and skills on his skateboard so often that he had formed the callouses. No sign of cutting or scabbing is visible, though it's obvious that he had been through harsh conditions. He sighs, giving up on it and leaving his room, smiling at his parents. "Bye ma, pa! I am going to hang out with Lar!"
        Mrs. Volker glances over at him, smiling and nodding. "Have fun sweetie, we will leave the      door unlocked for you when you get back!"
         Mr. Volker barely gives a glance over, just nodding and giving a thumbs up. "Be safe." He says, focused on the game he is watching on the screen.
          Phillip smiles at the sight, leaving the house and going into the garage right after. He grabs his skateboard, leaving the garage into the driveway and looking around at the sunny morning. He puts his headphones over his ears, putting on his playlist through his phone and setting his skateboard on the floor. He feels the wind in his hair, then he sets off on his ride through town. He knows better than to try to bring any of his own stuff, already expecting Larry to have the good stuff. He checks his phone for a location that Larry usually has sent to him, and he nods approvingly at the area he had picked out for them this time. He remembers the familiar route, going along his way and stopping eventually at a park. A little playground is in the distance, multiple benches and such around the area with multiple sidewalks. A rundown building is by the playground, and Phillip halts his skateboard right outside it. He slips through the door, smiling at the place. This had always been his favorite hang out spot with Larry. He turns on the lights, dim but making the room light up nonetheless. Larry is in the corner of the room, already smoking a joint, expecting Phillip. ¨Hey dude!¨ he exclaims, gesturing for Phillip to come to him.
        Phillip immediately grins, putting his skateboard down and running to Larry. ¨Hi! I haven't seen you in a while man, I have so much to discuss with you!¨ he says happily, putting his playlist on pause and putting his headphones back around his neck.
           Larry nods, before crouching down to the floor and revealing a red backpack littered with stickers. Phillip stays by his side as Larry takes out a box, lending the contents to Phillip. ¨Knew I could count on you man.¨ He laughs, taking down a brownie from a bag.
           "Taking down the strong stuff I see" Larry chuckles, lending Phillip a joint once his hands are free.
           Phillip nods, taking the joint gratefully and getting a light from Larry's joint. He hums quietly to keep the silence away, before finally explaining to Larry everything that had happened the day before.

        When Phillip had finished explaining, his eyes were red and Larry was stumbling on his words. Larry nods, trying to think and just standing up straight. He stomps out the joint he had currently, leaving behind his backpack as he walks away to the exit. Phillip follows his lead, running to him after he had stepped out his joint, and he is led all the way to the playground. "What're we doing man?" He asks, laughing quietly.
         "Takin your mind off of it, dude. You don't need that stress right now. C'mon, I wanna see how high the swings go!" Larry laughs, racing Phillip to the swingset and hopping on.
           Phillip follows his lead, rolling his eyes but not caring as he gets on a swing. He giggles as they swing, his worries eventually fading, though unsure if it is from the stuff he had taken or if it was the swinging. Eventually they were both giggling messes, running around the park and such, having fun as if they were little kids. They sprinted to the road, grabbing traffic cones and putting them on their head before running for it back to their hang out. Phillip barely finds himself back to their hang out place, out of breath and slamming into the wall before getting into the building. Larry laughs hard at him, on the floor and the traffic cone next to him. "Jesus christ! W.. we just stole traffic cones!" Phillip breathes, putting his hands on his knees and letting the orange cone slip off his head.
         "Yep! The streetlights are already on, hah." Larry says breathlessly, the adrenaline wearing thin now.
         "Mhmm!" Phillip says, gasping for air, and he gets himself to stand up properly before getting a message from Sal.
    "Oh, Sal and Travis are finally done whatever the hell they're doing." he mutters, walking to larry.
    "If you wanna, we can invite Sal to play some uno, I have cards. I dont wanna talk to that asshat church boy." Larry says.
    Phillip rolls his eyes before passing the phone to Larry, so he can call his little brother himself. It takes a couple minutes, but Larry convinces Sal to come over, the bluenette already fed up with his high brother. "Okay okay fine. Jesus Christ, I'm on my way.'' Phillip hears from the phone, followed by a mumble of incomprehensible words.
    Larry chuckles before hanging up the phone, tripping to a box of cards and grabbing a uno pack out. His eyes red, he sits down, talking to nothing and separating cards for 3 people including himself. Phillip watches by the door, waiting for Sal, leaning against the door before it opens suddenly. He stumbles before catching himself, looking over at the very obviously annoyed Sal. "Hey Sal." he mumbles with a nervous chuckle, and Larry perks up.
    "Hiii!" he waves overdramatically, and Sal walks over to Larry with a "hello." to both Phillip and Larry.
    "I'll make sure to take you both home when we are done. I'm sure the world isn't safe from you two." Sal says, rolling his eyes and waving Phillip over next to larry.
    "Okay." Both Phillip and Larry agree.
Word count: 1174 words