Reid's song and dance number didn't last long; it proved a bit too much of a strain on his TCH-addled concentration to bop about in his seat, sing, andmaneuver two tons of Jeep along the roads of Ravenbrook. He lapsed into quiet, focusing for the most part on conveying them safely to the party, but occasionally tossing glances Sharon's way. His grin had diminished into a less luminous, more thoughtful version of itself. He couldn't help but wonder how long Sharon's affectionate mood would last. As much as he hated the idea of chaperoning his... friend?... it probably was for the best that he keep him from getting too fucked up. Just fucked up enough that he'd make good on his promise to use Reid's body sounded about right.
His train of thought derailed when his cell phone chimed. It was the "discovery sound" from Legend of Zelda, the series of four tones that played whenever Link found a cool treasure or secret passageway. That meant it wasn't anyone in his contacts, since he'd assigned all of them individual ring and message tones (for reference, Zaria's texts were announced by the Tinkerbell sound effect, and on the rare occasion that Sharon called him, "Wasted But Ready" by Ben Kweller played). He wasn't about to fiddle with his phone while he was driving, though.
Every so often Sharon would lazily open his eyes to catch Reid looking at him, this could only result in Sharon smiling. He enjoyed seeing the boy dance, it was soothing? Sharon couldn't understand how his friend always seemed so bubbly and happy... especially with what was happening to them. For the most part it seemed as if Reid wasn't even fazed with the fact that someone was stalking him. Sharon admired it. "Ah, why'd you stop dancing?" The question came out as a whine of disappointment and caused him to frown. His little ray of sun was now responsibly driving.
Reid wasn't so much fazed by the fact that someone was stalking them than pissed. Anger came naturally to him; he'd been in a state of nearly perpetual self-hatred for the last few years, and it tended to bubble out. Tonight he was in a good mood- mostly because things were going so well with Sharon- but it wasn't uncommon for his emotional state to take an abrupt turn. He could sympathize with Sharon's mood swings, and that was what made it easier for him to deal with them. “Too stoned, babe,” he responded, but he did toss a glance Sharon's way and shared a sort of sleepy smile.
A odd chirp let out from Reid's side of the car, "What's th-" before he could finish his sentence his own phone vibrated in his pocket. Not thinking much about it he wiggled around in his seat until he was able to pull his phone out. Who could this be? The thing was Sharon kind of only had one friend, Reid, and he already knew Reid couldn't have been the one messaging him. Maybe it was his family? He deemed that unluckily, they rarely messaged him at night from fear he might not be at his best.
Sliding the message on his phone to unlock it; he squinted in order to be able to make out what the message said. Wha? He repeated the message three more times in his head, trying to completely take in what he was viewing. "Reid," if he hadn't been sober now he was, his voice stayed calm and conveyed from his mouth peacefully, though peace wouldn't be the best way to explain how he was feeling. He was feeling, relieved that it was him, relieved it wasn't Reid, but worried that perhaps it would be him that was next. "This person has kleptomania and pyromania. That is, they're a thief and a firestarter. Just how close did you let this person? 72 hours. Then the hunt starts... I'm assuming that's the same message you just received." After reading it allowed for Reid to hear he placed his hand on the other boys leg and began to rub it in a comforting way. "Everything's going to be ok-" cutting off quickly he took in a sharp breath to collect himself. "I assume that it's not you... whatever your secret is I'm here for you."
Reid's brow furrowed a bit when Sharon's phone went off. He was aware of how isolated the older guy was, and with the texts happening in such quick succession...
Reid's expression etched with concern as he watched Sharon read the text for what seemed like ever. He had to force himself to pay attention to the road, and was just about to ask what the matter was when Sharon finally read the text aloud.
It was like Reid's brain had a stove coil running through it, and suddenly that coil went red hot. His fingers tightened their grip on the steering wheel until his knuckles went white. Sharon's hand on his thigh registered dimly, but the words he'd read kept playing through Reid's head. He could feel tightness building in his chest and forced himself to draw a deep breath. He had half a mind to pull over, but they were close enough to the party that it didn't make much sense.
“No,” Reid said after another deep breath. “It isn't me.” He was... thankful wasn't the right word. There was no way he'd ever be thankful to the fucked-up creep who was putting them through this. Relieved, sure. But how long would it be before his text came through? This person killed their little brother...[i] Unconsciously, he'd stepped harder on the gas. In a few seconds, they were going nearly 80 in what was definitely a 35. He realized it and took his foot off the gas. “Sorry.”
At this point Sharon gave the best reassuring smile that he could. Reid knew of Sharon's [i]unsettling side, but he gratefully didn't know the fact that Sharon also treated his family that way. A part of Sharon thought if Reid were to find out he wouldn't leave him, but another part wasn't so sure. Regardless of how horrid of a person Sharon was he already knew he'd stick by Reid. He happened to be his only friend... he wasn't planning on losing him, no matter how awful his secret may be. Sharon had already decided to look past it, he knew how bad he need his relationship with Reid even though it was toxic, he knew he couldn't lose it.
“You're right though.” His voice was cold, and he looked over at Sharon, making eye-contact. “It is gonna be okay. Because we're going to make whatever sick fuck is doing this pay before anyone else gets hurt.” And before any other messages could be sent.
Sharon nodded his head in agreement, he wanted to punish whoever was doing this as well. When he locked eyes with Reid he could see the anger his friend possessed, it was a little unnerving. Reid was a strong boy, though Sharon usually was the dominating one, it was clear that Reid possessed great strength. Sharon would never want to be on the receiving end of his anger.
Squeezing his leg a little tighter he gave him a fake warm smile. "For tonight let's just pretend that nothing bad is happening. You and I have both been through some pretty fucked up things, and this will just be another to add to that list." Though Sharon was upset as well his anger wasn't matching Reid's. The thing was that Sharon didn't much care about the others that were being tormented, just Reid and himself is who he was worrying about in this mess of things. Sharon's mother left he lost value in other people, so if others were hurt in this process he didn't much care.
"We're going to party this night away, just you and I and a whole bunch of other people." In his best efforts he was trying to make the mood more light, but he was sure how well it was working. "You know, one day we'll look back at this time in our lives and laugh about how stupid this all, that we were slightly being stalking," he took a small break from talking to lightly laugh. "this will all be over before we know it." Though he was talking to Reid he was more or less trying to convince what he was saying. Sharon wasn't extremely worried about people discovering his secret, maybe if he was lucky he'd be chosen next and end up dead, but he still didn't want anyone knowing what was private to him. To most people he was fake: happy, bubbly, caring, and sweet as could be. Sharon wasn't sure how people would react to his truth, the only person that really knew of his addiction aside from his family was Reid, but not even Reid knew of the torment that he put his own family through. Sharon didn't much care for what people thought of him- he didn't want people thinking he was an evil person for how he treated the people he should be taking care of, yet he was a monster for it.
Reid knew that Sharon was just trying to help. He did, really. It didn’t help though. If anything, it only added fuel to the fire. They were close enough to the party that he decided to park. They could walk the couple blocks it would take to get there, and thereby avoid any driveway congestion. Having to walk back to the Jeep also made for a chance to check their relative sobriety before getting behind the wheel. Once the car was in park and off, he looked over at Sharon intensely.
“That’s just it though. That’s what makes me so…” His fist thudded against the dashboard. “So mad. That whoever it is has so much power that one stupid little text has us acting different. Being people who we’re not.” There was a note of the accusatory in his voice as he regarded Sharon. Drawing another deep breath, he relented. “I’m sorry. It’s just getting to me. I mean, who the fuck do they think they are? Everyone has secrets, and I’m guessing ‘stalking a bunch of teenagers and making murder threats’ is worse than anything we’ve ever done. It’s hypocritical bull-shit.”
"Tonight you can get as fucked up as you want, I've decided for one night I'll be the responsible sober-ish friend. I'll watching over you." Allowing his hand to slide from Reid's leg, he then positioned his body to look out the window, letting his head rest on the glass. He wasn't all too sure what to do anymore, he just wanted to cheer Reid up.
Reid had folded his arms across his chest, probably to keep himself from inflicting any more abuse on the defenseless automobile. He needed to calm down before he went inside, he knew that. He dug into the pocket of his hoodie for his vaporizer, then put it to his lips and inhaled hard. He could feel the heat building in his lungs and closed his eyes while he held it in. Eventually he pursed his lips and expelled a stream of steam. “I’m sorry,” he repeated before opening his eyes and managing a thin smile to Sharon. “We can both try to enjoy tonight, okay?” The apology was earnest enough, but Reid didn’t really care so much about partying. He wanted to get to the bottom of this. He wanted to find out who else was involved, and what they knew. There was no way it wasn’t someone that one of them knew.
After taking another hit off the vape pen, Reid finally dragged himself out of the Jeep and waited for Sharon to join him.
Sharon quickly hopped out of his side of the jeep and made his way over to Reid. A few things to say came to mind, but nothing came out, instead he just smiled, took Reid's hand in his, and started walking in the direction of the party.
Looking up ahead the place where the party was being head wasn't that far away anymore, they were close enough that a quick job would have them there within a minute, "C'mon, let's go have fun." While still holding onto Reid's hand he picked up his speed, he wasn't in the best of moods, but he still wanted tonight to be something worth his time.
Reid's brow wrinkled up as Sharon took his hand and led him to the party. Sharon was seldom so affectionate, and never in public. What did it say that being harassed by a crazy person was what it took to get them acting like their relationship was remotely normal? For that matter... did Reid even want this to end up something remotely normal?
He gave Sharon's hand a single squeeze before pulling his away, ostensibly in order to adjust some settings on his vape pen before taking another long draw off it... and offering it to Sharon.