Beverly Hills Brothers

Chapter 22

I was sitting in Chemistry, tapping my pencil on the desk as I waited for Erik to finish copying my answers. He dropped his pencil and turned in his test. I wrote out a random equation and erased it, waiting for two other people to turn in their tests before turning in mine, so Mr. Michaels wouldn't be suspicious. I turned in my test and he smiled at me. The bell rang and Erik slung his arm over my shoulder as we walked to our lockers before lunch. We sat at a table in the middle of the cafeteria with Lyle and his friends. "Hey Peach." Perry said as I walked over with Lyle, smacking my butt. "What's up Perbear?" I smiled at him. He had always been flirty with me, which I don't think the boys enjoyed, but the only reason he would back off is if one of the boys was dating me, and neither of them wanted to give me up. Also, Perry was harmless. Erik sat a little closer to me than usual and took a bite of his apple. "I can't wait to see all the USC girls. I'm counting down the days until I move in." Perry said, taking a sip from his Dr. Pepper. Lyle nodded, but didn't comment. "I guess we're gonna be rivals now. Trojans vs. Bruins. Are you gonna be in a frat or are you gonna be in the tennis house? I heard the tennis house is full of fucking dweebs." Perry asked and Lyle shrugged. He seemed very uninterested. I knew he didn't want to leave us, but 15 minutes away didn't necessarily count as "leaving." I decided to take the attention off of him, since he clearly wasn't in the mood for talking. "Is the party at your beach house or lake house?" I asked Perry, trying to figure out why Lyle had gotten in a sour mood all of a sudden. He was fine this morning and now he was stabbing at his mashed potatoes. "Oooo, I forgot about the lake house. The beach house is bigger and closer, but-" "The lake house is right on the lake and in the middle of the woods, so you don't have to worry with the cops showing up." I said and he smiled at me. "Exactly."

I was flipping through a Cosmo, listening to music, when a rock fell on my balcony, followed by another. Code for: "Can I come up?" I threw the rocks back over, which meant yes and soon the tree was shaking a little and Erik's head popped up and he lifted himself over my railing. "Hey, what's up?" I asked, turning down the music. "Nothing. I just wanted to hang out, since Lyle's been a bitch since lunch." Erik said, laying on his stomach next to me. "Yeah, I noticed that. Maybe he's stressed about moving." I mentioned, closing the magazine to look at Erik. He was wearing his glasses and boy oh boy did he look adorable. "I don't understand why. He'll finally be free." He said and sat up. I assumed he meant he would be able to do whatever he wanted without his parents breathing down his neck, but the distant look in his eyes made me think maybe he meant something deeper. "Where are your parents?" Erik asked, turning to me. "My dad is at work and my mom is probably out back by the pool." I said, scrunching my eyebrows, wondering where he was going with this. "Let's run away." he said and I smiled. "Are you serious? We can't just leave. Where would we go?" I said, loving the idea of leaving our parents behind, but knowing it was unrealistic. They owned us, whether we liked it or not. "You've always wanted to go to Mexico. Nobody would find us there." he said, almost frantically. "Er, our credit cards are in our dads names, they will have them cancelled before we even make it to San Diego, not to mention they are powerful and rich enough to hire the FBI to find us and bring us back." I said and I knew my words were sinking in as he bit his nails. I pulled his hand from his mouth and held it. "Erik, you know I would love nothing more than to run away with you, but realistically, it wouldn't work." I said and he intertwined our fingers. "I know, but sometimes I like to think about it. You and me, living in a huge ocean front house in Mexico, maybe Hawaii, some dogs running around with our kids chasing them." He said and I could tell he had thought about it a lot. "I would love that too, but we have to finish high school first." I said and he sighed. "I guess you're right. I wish I was more like Lyle. He actually has a future ahead of him." Erik said, sighing. "Don't talk like that bubby." I said, running my hand through his curls. "It's true though. Dad never yells at him." he said, resting his head on my shoulder. "He just wants the best for you." I said, as I wrapped my arms around him. "Yeah, that's what he always says." He leaned back on me and we fell back on the bed, with him still wrapped in my arms. I wish I could protect him from his father. I would never want someone to be treated the way my father treats me, especially not Erik. Erik never deserved to be treated bad, yet he did. He occasionally was picked on as a younger kid, not anymore now that me and Lyle were always by his side and he had a rough past back when he lived in Calabasas with stealing, but that's just because he felt he was always in Lyle's shadow, which his father didn't help by always praising Lyle and constantly criticizing every move Erik made. If only there was a way we could get rid of our parents.