Love Is The Best Thing We Do.

Eric Alexander Price, Seventeen, Swim Team Captain. You and I both know you know who I am, Baby Price, Kinglet, The Dumbass Pining Over His Brothers Girl. They all work the same but I prefer to be called Eric. Current king on Campus, keep your eye out for my parties. Definitely a dog person and if I have to give you one lesson for today? Unrequited love is a bitch. "Love doesn't make sense! I mean, you can't logic your way into or out of it. Love is totally nonsensical! But we have to keep doing it, or else..we're lost, an-and, and love is dead and humanity should just pack it in. Because love is the best thing we do." Prince Eric.

[young-price]

charles-price:

August had torn through Walterton with a vengeance, bringing with it unprecedented humidity, and a heat wave that was enough to make anyone wish for an early winter. For about the fourth time this week, Charles had thanked god that his apartment had good air-conditioning–none of that dorm crap. For all the prestige Kingswood held, it had better, after all. Shut away from the heat, Charles sat in his room wondering just what the hell to do with himself today. Garrett was out, leaving the place quiet and still. On the one hand, Charles was disappointed; there went one less person who could entertain him. But on the other, he was relieved. His breakup was still fairly recent enough that even when he was hanging out with friends, he felt like they were constantly watching him, Garrett being the worst of all. Standing up, he moved across the apartment from his bedroom to the kitchen, pulling a can of soda out of the refrigerator. He was standing in the same spot, deciding whether or not his boredom was severe enough to straighten up the living room, when there came a knock on the door, followed by the voice of his youngest brother.

Charles was surprised–he hadn’t been expecting Eric– but took it as a stroke of good fortune and strode forward anyway, pulling open the door with his easy, rueful grin. “I’m touched, you know me so well that you have to ask,” he joked as the door swung open, but broke off at the sight of Eric, and the smile died on his face. Something was wrong, he could read it instantly in the way that his brother was standing. He should have guessed Eric wouldn’t have come all this way just for a surprise visit. Immediately Charles’s trained eyes looked for bruises, but didn’t see anything immediately visible. Swinging the door open further, he stepped back to let his brother into the apartment, not speaking again until the door was fully closed behind them. “What’s up?” he asked, trying to keep his voice casual, even as they both knew he meant ‘what’s wrong?’.

Eric entered the apartment with a small smile on his lips, not wanting to concern his brother but he knew it was a second to late. The price boys knew how to sniff out one anothers problems in record time. He leaned casually against the counter, trying to think of a way to casually introduce the idea that he wasn’t going to be following the plan and coming to join his big brother’s. He shouldn’t bring up their mother, not with the bad blood between Charles and her but it was the dominant reasoning in his decision. “Ugh- you know how I told you I was starting to move stuff into my dorm room last week?” He asked, feeling suddenly much younger and smaller than he was. It was typically a feeling he reserved for the presence of his father, though it made sense that it reared it’s head in his anxious state now.

“Well I didn’t. I just didn’t want you to think-” He stumbled over his words before walking to the mini-fridge and pulling a beer just so he could have something to occupy his hands, immediately he begun to rip at the label. He wished he’d taken his medication today, it may’ve made it a little easier. Rather than beat about the bush any longer however, he stared at the wall just right of Charles face and blurted, “I’m not going.”

[young-price]

Eric was dreading bringing it up with his brother. He already knew what Charles would say, so the fact he was even wasting his breath was probably a mistake on his part. He was supposed to be heading to college in the next two weeks. Joining his brother’s frat would of course be a cake walk with his last name draped around him like some all access pass. In the beginning it had excited him. The chance to have a bigger pond to swim in where he could finally make a splash that didn’t ripple into one of his brothers.

But home had been more volatile than ever lately. Even walking on eggshells would be entirely too risky so he did his best to simply stay out of sight. Eric wished he could be braver, but he’d remembered all the times that he’d tried to stand up to the man before and how it had ended more horribly than had he simply tucked tail and run. With tension rising and absolutely nobody there to witness, what would happen to his poor mother? The woman spent more time cringing like a beaten dog at every little noise than she did any other part of her life. He knew that it wasn’t just the physical stuff she feared, it was the words. Some days it was even his highs when he walked around with a smile, leaving his family to wonder when his happy hollow fever would break. He couldn’t leave her alone in all of that. She didn’t make eye contact with Eric anymore, instead prefer to keep distance from her youngest as she had with his elder brother for so long. He could understand how it begun to blur together for her, even if it hurt.

He walked up to his brothers dorm room, noting for the hundredth time how nice the Kingswood halls looked. Maybe by his final year he’d have convinced his mother to go, or maybe the compassion he felt towards the situation would be beaten out of him and he could finally have his own room here. Maybe one at the end of this hall. That sounded nice. He gave three nervous knocks on the door, typically he’d stroll in if it was unlocked but now his brother was a single man he somewhat dreaded walking in on him and some girl. “You decent?”

[young-price]

pxsitivelyprimeval:

A slow, reluctant smile curved Garrett’s lips at Eric’s joke. “Fine, you got a better place? I’m just stating my social calendar so at least I can still attempt to have a life” 

“Somewhere my dad is likely to actually visit is probably a decent start, so I’d say that italian place by the water.” Eric rolled his eyes at Garrett before snorting. “Your social calendar can wait. It’s a matter of time until Kira goes all batty now which means hyper organized pain in the ass or a train wreck. And if my brother reverts back to the antisocial ass he was before her, neither of us are going to have a good time. So let’s fix this. Also, wear shoes you can run in.”

[young-price]

ana-tremaine:

“I know, its such a hard decision. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to join a sorority until like halfway through the semester.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to- I mean throwing parties is always great it’s just I’m not sure that a frats the right place for me.”

[young-price]

pxsitivelyprimeval:

The fact that I’ve been sober for the past 8 months mean anything to you? I never said I wouldn’t do it I was just pointing out the few flaws you missed. I’ll do it, but like i said I am not taking the blame if it goes pear shaped. There’s a party at the Rabbit tonight, could always get them both there?

“Alright, tell her you want to fuck her. That’ll get her there.” Eric joked- well sort of. Was it still a joke if it was true? “Blame on me, you got it. I don’t know if Charles will bite for that, but it’s worth a shot.”

[young-price]

wickdraven:

She chuckled a little, yet no humour was evident in the action, it being more a habit or an automated reaction then anything else. Like she was merely doing what was expected of her. “True–” she muttered, when he mentioned their class schedules, something she hadn’t always noticed when in High School. To her it had always just been focusing on the more scandalous aspects of the kids she grew up with, not their presence in her classes. She watched him carefully for his reaction, shaking her head a little. “No. Thanks, but no thanks.” She replied, before grabbing the letter and crumpling it into a ball. “Who needs college these days anyway?” she replied, shrugging it off as if it didn’t matter, as if she hadn’t spent her entire high school career working towards getting into a good college and getting off the island. “I just was excited about getting out of here and now I guess I’m stuck, that’s all”

“College isn’t the only way out you know, I mean you could save up as much as you can and just hop away. Hope for the best.” Eric had considered it before, the first time he really ran with the idea was when he’d found out about Charles and Kira. Losing that safety blanket and suddenly hitting free fall... It had been enough to want to leave all together. Take his money and go somewhere he wasn’t Baby Price, Kinglet or the guy that had fallen hard for the wrong girl. He could understand the appeal of running, he just didn’t have the stomach for it. “It might not work, but hell, you’ll get a shot. I mean that Panthera girl, she was an outsider and no one’s seen her in- what? A year? She obviously got out.”

[young-price]

pxsitivelyprimeval:

I usually have more interesting things to do then watch some obviously boring moving, I doubt either Kira or your brother will fall for that and even if they did, whose to say that it will work? If it doesn’t we will be in the shit for meddling, or more astutely you will be, because I sure as hell won’t take the fall. 

Kira wouldn’t believe you want to party and Charles wouldn’t believe our dad’s a controlling ass? Are you sure you’re thinking of the right people? I’ll do it with or without you, it just has a better chance of working with your help and they can both stop moping around. I didn’t throw away my damn crush just for those idiots to call it quits over a text.

[young-price]

wickdraven:

She was so absorbed in watching the traffic, the flash of cars as they cruised by that she hadn’t noticed Eric, barely even registering that he had sat down beside her and began speaking. She shrugged, her eyes flickering to the ground as she contemplated what to say. What could she say, other then her brothers had managed to finally make successes of themselves in some aspect and here she was, failing miserably at the one thing she wanted to do? “Melissa’s MIA, again. Sammy’s with his girl–” she replied with a sigh, “So no, not really. Don’t you have better things to do then sit talking to random girls?” she asked, her head briefly turning to his so that her eyes could study his features before she turned away again, her attention diverted by the fact that he had been glancing at her. “Not really much to talk about–” she replied, handing him the rejection letter from the latest college, he could figure the rest for himself. “They kept me on a waiting list for months, only to say no–”

“You’re not random.” He offered quietly. It was true that they weren’t the best of friends- hell, they were hardly friendly on the best of days. But he’d seen what her fight with Trevor had done to her, he didn’t want to see her that upset again. “I’ve been most of your classes since the second grade.” He shrugged, burying his hands into his pockets as he fumbled about for a cigarette. When his fingers found it, he placed it between his teeth before taking the paper that she offered him, scanning it quickly before frowning. It was the privilege of this town, a thinly veiled scheme to keep the poor, poor and the rich even richer. “That- I-.” He didn’t know what to say. He knew that most of his friends had D averages and were now attending but someone smart like Raven had been brushed off. He had no defense for it. “I- I could try talking to someone. I mean, a Price nudge could help. Plus there’s other schools, the one on the south side of the tracks doesn’t look so bad.” Not so bad for a crack den maybe.

[young-price]

pxsitivelyprimeval:

Funny. What do you propose then Baby Price? Because it will take a lot to get those two in the same room. 

Really? Come on, man. Have you not seen any movie ever? You tell her you’re taking her out to get her mind off of it, I tell him that it’s some important family thing and that dad will chew us out if we don’t show and I don’t know, we lock ‘em in an elevator or something and pray to god that it doesn’t turn into the thunderdome in there.

[young-price]

wickdraven:

This was it, the final letter, the final chance. She was finally finding out if she was stuck on this island forever or not. She opened the letter quickly, her eyes locked on the words as she felt the rejection settle in as she made it to the final words. Rejected, again. Her last shot. Her last rejection. She was out of options. She sank on the curb, resting her elbows on her knees as she stared aimlessly at the passing traffic, wondering if anyone even cared if she were to just jump underneath one of the passing cars. At least, every decent college she applied to wouldn’t. 

Eric’s stress levels were rising, his acceptance into Walt U. was anything short of surprising. God knows he could have been flunking out and still ended up with an acceptance letter. But campus living... That required leaving home and leaving his mom with William and he could only imagine how much worse things would be for her when he had none of his son’s left to take his rage out on. Them alone, with no one there to check on her wasn’t something Eric could live with, no matter how useless she had been when it came to mothering her boys all these years. When push came to shove, he still loved her as he loved his brothers. Charles would kill him if he turned down college and a guaranteed position in that idiotic frat. He knew he would. But as summer grew shorter, it seemed more and more likely that it would be what Eric chose. He’d been lost in his own thoughts, only to be dragged out of them by the sight of a miserable Mutt. Raven to be precise. He furrowed his brows before crossing to her, sitting down in a heap beside the girl. “I figured someone like you would have a better way to spend your time than this.” He offered, eyeing the traffic before glancing at the side of her face. “Wanna talk about it?”

[young-price]

pxsitivelyprimeval:

Isn’t their break up a good thing for you? She’s all yours now man, remember? What you wanted?

Charles or no Charles, Kira doesn’t want to be with me and I’m not in the habit of forcing myself on girl’s which I’m sure has to be a foreign concept to you, so I’ll let that comment slide. What I want is those idiots happy. And if she cries in front of me one more time I’m going to have to punch my own brother and I don’t want to have to do that.

[young-price]

pxsitivelyprimeval:

“You have precisely thirty seconds to explain why you are bothering me– what do you want?” 

I only need three seconds. ‘We need to parent trap our idiot best friends.’

[young-price]

eve-droid:

It’s one quick question. Glasses or no glasses? Which is less… awful?

“Well they’re both nice, honestly I’m a sucker for nice glasses.”

[young-price]

charles-price:

“I asked you what you want from Richie’s, it’s really not that hard of a question.”

“I beg to differ.” Eric defended, throwing the nearest object unlikely to maim at his brother. “What if I say burger and I get it and I don’t feel like it huh?”

[young-price]

I ugh- I don’t really know.

[xxmaddison-blog]

If I’m the only one left to talk to, I know you’re in the shit. So just spill it already, I’ll give you a hug and then give you a bottle and make sure you don’t choke on your puke. Be a good boy and I’ll even let you tell people I played naughty nurse if you want to, just keep your hands at ten and two.

[young-price]

“I think I can do without the conversation, really. ‘Kinglet, grow a pair and get over her’ or maybe ‘Baby Price if they’re over then it’s a green light so stop moping about it and nut up’ or you may just roll your eyes so hard you pass out and I’m not equipped to deal with that situation.” He sighed, shifting in his chair as his eyes trailed up the girl. “So, I’m going to take the Maddison in my head’s advice and take you up on that bottle rather than what I’m sure would’ve been a ground breaking heart to heart.”

[pxsitivelyprimeval-blog]

“Well I don’t know do I, you may not like me but heck I don’t care if Trevor Mutt and I can put aside our differences for a little while when it came to her, I would’ve thought you’d be able to –” she replied, before returning his gaze to the boy. “So this is another Charles/Kira saga? Great..”

[young-price]

“I wouldn’t be talking to you about it, because I’d be with her, Dumbass. Not because you’re a first class prick.” Eric had no affection for the man, partly because of the drama that he brought to his family that had resulted in an absolute caning for him but because Charles already had a brother. He wasn’t going to lose his place to Garrett freaking Hunt. “They broke up, alright? Donezo. Considering it was about two years and you feel to like them, maybe don’t be an ass?”