Live in Color

thirty seven - azure

We end up parked down the street of the place Noel's staying. At eight thirty in the morning, Matt Smith leaves the house, work uniform on and backpack on his shoulder. Everyone in the van nods- now we just need for the others to leave, even if it's just for twenty minutes.

It takes a lot of waiting. At ten in the morning, Noel's car is still parked outside their house, so we decide to go to Taco Bell (again). By the time we get back, it's after eleven and we find out we're the luckiest people in the world- because just as we're pulling into the street, we see Noel, Dominick, Silas and Caroline getting into the car and pulling out of the driveway. Waiting a couple of minutes after they're gone, we drive closer to the house and pull up near the driveway.

Everyone is quick to jump out of the van, Tallie running to open the trunk. "Everyone remember what they have to do?" she asks, earning a five nods. She smiles wickedly, "Okay. Once you're done, get into your positions." She steps aside, gesturing to the loaded trunk. "Grab your things."

Everyone is quick to grab the things they've been assigned, filling our arms up. Everyone is then handed a water gun before Tallie closes the trunk, and we rush up to the door. Tallie rolls her eyes, "I don't even have to pick the lock- it's open."

Tallie knocks once just in case, but no one answers, so we make our way inside. The house is pretty big, and almost exactly the same layout as mine. Jericho and I head down to the basement while Cole heads to the kitchen, Jamie to the living room and Mitch stays at the entrance.

Once Jericho and I are downstairs, we get right to work. I take the packet of eggs in my hands and begin to crack them along the stairs, using at least one for each step to make sure it's nice and slippery. I hear the sound of Mitch setting up the bucket that'll hang over the door- it's and old prank in the books but Mitch claims he knows how to do it, so Tallie was eager to have him set it up. Cole should be working on the confetti machines by the kitchen entrance while Tallie should be setting up another automatic machine for the tennis balls covered in sticky fly trap.

I hear footsteps and see Tallie, who gives me a thumbs up and slides down the banister to avoid the stairs. Once she's down, she hands Jericho and I strawberry flavoured whip cream. "Here, put these in your water guns," she says, giving us four cans for us to fill our water guns with. While we're doing that, she takes a spray can of red paint and shakes it, taking the large banner paper Jericho brought down and sticking it on the wall with tacks. She winks at us, "Wouldn't want to write it on the wall- that'd be vandalizing."

We laugh and watch the way she begins to write with the red spray paint: L'amore calci culo.

I frown, "What does that mean?"

Tallie smirks, "It's an Italian phrase. It means: Love kicks ass."

Jericho and I laugh loudly, high fiving her as she comes around. She looks at the staircase, mutters, "How the hell am I getting back up?" and proceeds to climb the banister like a freaking monkey.

Jericho finishes filling up his water gun and tests it out on his hand, nodding when the red whip cream comes out. When I'm done, we toss the empty cans at the bottom of the stairs and turn to each other. "Ready?" I ask Jericho.

Jericho grins and kisses me. "Hell yeah."

We get in position- Jericho hides behind a column in the large basement while I hide behind some box. It's quiet for a good forty minutes, so Jericho and I chat softly, making sure no one can hear us. We shut up though when Mitch texts us in the group chat.

Mitchell: They just pulled up!

I wait and listen for what seems like agonizing hours. Jericho and I go silent, listening closely for any noise coming from upstairs- and then, finally-