60| Keep It Classy

"YOU and Mav need to come up for New Year's because, I swear, everything is imploding and exploding at once."

"Yeah, no fucking kidding. I didn't realize I was the sanity glue until you all went home for fucking Christmas," Skylar said over the phone.

The longer break went on, the more I realized I missed Skylar. And Maverick, too. But mostly, I missed living and sharing a room with Skylar. She was outspoken and sometimes outright rude. But honestly, Skylar was great. I'd grown to like having her around and even counted on the time we got to hangout together. You know what? I just fucking missed her energy right now.

"So I assume things are imploding because you've fallen so in love with Theodore the Third that you actually let him mingle with your limbs–"

"I'm sorry, what?" I said, sitting up in my bed. I was wrapped in covers and blankets. I'd stolen a blanket from Theo's house when I left because it smelled like him and also, it was really fucking soft.

"Sorry. You let him Rip-n-Dip. You allowed him to use his telescope to explore the black hole," Skylar said.

"Oh my god, no. Stop right now. Please."

"Fine, fine. But that's why things are imploding," Skylar said. "And they're exploding in a fucking pit of fire because of all the damn Wallstreet articles."

"Bingo," I said unenthusiastically.

"How is Matteo?"

I turned to lay on my side. "Mostly, Matteo's acting like the article wasn't even published. But he paused his social media because there were a few people finding him and leaving rude messages on his feed."

"Fucking for real?" Skylar asked. "Maverick says that's bullshit."

"Yeah, it is," I agreed. "Besides, Matteo and Will kind of broke up or whatever. They decided they can't be together because of the article and all of the complications."

"I mean, yeah. Technically a 20-year-old dude dating a 16-year-old is 'scandalous' to most people. And illegal, but who the fuck cares?" Skylar said. "Is Will okay?"

"Not great, no," I admitted.

Since the article, since being outed without his discretion, since having to stop being with Matteo despite the fact they were just getting somewhere – Will wasn't doing the best. He was pissed off at the articles. He didn't want our mother to be behind it all, but he was losing faith. Even though dad had apologized to Will and they had a little heart-to-heart between just the two of them, it didn't mean Will was fully comfortable or happy coming out of his room that much to hang out. He had just admitted to loving Matteo the same day things between them had to end.

So no, he wasn't doing great, all things considering.

"But little Nicolas has a plan, yeah?" Skylar asked. "The little demon comes in handy."

I barely laughed. "He recruited Butler, and surprisingly he agreed. Butler is at C&C 'volunteering' with the hope of finding something in my mother's office. We slipped one of the security guards some money so they'd keep an eye on Butler and act like everything was fine."

"God. The scandal!" Skylar exclaimed. "Fucking love it. I know that maybe it'd suck, but your mom seems guilty as fuck, Newbie."

"No, I know. I know." I sighed. "But is she only doing it because she hates the Montgomery's that much? Is she only doing it to ruin Theo because I'm with him?"

"No fucking clue. That seems like something you'll only figure out if Butler finds anything, or if Nic's little sleuthing abilities actually come to fruition here," Skylar said. "Why don't we not dwell on it right now? Your family has a New Year's party?"

"More like the company does. It's at C&C HQ every year on the top floor and the rooftop. My dad takes pride in his New Year's party more than anything," I told her.

"Me and Mav will be there, Newbie. Just because I know you literally are dying without me," Skylar teased. "I'm bringing Hannah."

I smiled. "Of course you are. How's that going, by the way?"

"She's hot as fuck," Skylar said. "Oh, but that's probably not what you were asking. It's going good. She's, like, semi-into girls. She FaceTimed her friend Alex, the one she had a minor girl crush on. What a cool bitch."

I laughed. "So are you...?"

"We're just not gonna label it, you nosy ass," Skylar joked. "But I will say that she's an incredible kisser and–"

"Skylar stop!" I heard Hannah's voice over the phone and Skylar laughed.

"Okay Newbie, send me the deets! How lame is it that I want to say I love you?"

"I already know you love me," I said.

"Fine. Egotistical, much? I don't love you just for that. Byeee!"

Skylar hung up and I let my phone fall on my bed while I curled further into the sheets. I wasn't thrilled about the New Year's Eve party only because it was at C&C HQ and I knew my mother would be there. Even if she had nothing to do with the articles, we were still at a shitty place. So I wanted to make the best of the party, hence why I needed Skylar there.

There was a knock on my bedroom door and I groaned. I didn't want to get up and there was no reason to. I wanted today to be a lazy day, and Theo apparently had the same idea. He'd texted me minutes before I called Skylar to tell me that, though it was almost 3 in the afternoon, he hadn't gotten out of bed. What a lazy boy.

The door opened and my dad walked in, holding a plate with food on it. I knew it was his mac and cheese. He made the best baked mac and cheese.

"Brought you extra cheese," dad said. I sat up and peeled a few layers of blankets off of me while my dad came in and brought the mac and cheese. "Lazy day?"

"Precisely," I said, taking the mac and cheese and setting it on my bedside table. "Thanks, dad."

He smiled. "I thought I'd bring some to Will, but I wasn't sure I should walk in there unannounced."

I nodded. "Maybe not the best idea. He'll come out for food when he's feeling it."

Dad sighed and sat at the edge of my bed. "Aves," he said, "is there something I can do? To do better? I feel like we were all doing so good before you left. And then things started to fall apart. Not because you left, but because shit is going down."

"Shit is going down," I agreed. "You haven't said anything about the articles. Besides the last one."

"I don't know what to say about them, honey," dad admitted. "I think they're terrible. I think whoever writes them is petty and just wants to hurt the Montgomery's."

"So you don't hate the Montgomery's?"

"No, Ava, I never have. We've always had a feud, but with me, it's never been personal. My own dad took it way more personal. He hated Theodore Montgomery," dad told me.

"But you were kind of friends with Theodore Montgomery II, weren't you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I mean. We were in the same frat house, so we were together all the time. Not to mention, we were both studying business, so it was inevitable we were having classes together. We'd do homework together sometimes. You know," dad smiled now, "I remember we did our Junior end-of-year project together. We had to create a business-startup with one other person in our class. Theodore Montgomery II sat on the opposite side of the classroom. I didn't even realize he was in the class until the moment I turned and we made eye contact. I swear, we both had the same evil grin that said we were gonna team up and crush the rest of our classmates. Cause we'd basically been in the business world since we came out the womb.

"We made a dope team. Right after class, we walked together back to the frat house and talked the entire way there. We each had about 5 different startup ideas," dad went on. "Yeah, we were friends after that, I'd say."

"So... Why aren't you still friends?" I asked.

I had a right to be nosy. Two families that supposedly "hated" each other didn't really seem to "hate" each other the more my dad talked. Besides my mother. But even then, I didn't fully understand why. I knew she had some past drama with Mrs. Montgomery, but come on.

She couldn't be that petty, right?

"It's not that we aren't friends anymore, really. We just aren't close. We didn't speak once we graduated and our lives became all about C&C and Montgomery Squared," dad said.

"And what about mom and Stacy Montgomery?"

"They weren't really friends, Ava. You know that."

"Right. But does mom seriously hate the Montgomery's so much because of some petty college drama?" I asked. "Because she's taking her anger out on me for being with Theo. But she shouldn't be so angry if she loves me right? She should support me and be happy for me."

"She should, yes. Ava, I couldn't tell you what runs through your mother's mind. Sometimes, she's as much of a mystery to me as she is to you," he admitted. "I wish she would get over it, I do."

"Do you think she has a part in the articles?"

Dad sighed. "I don't want to believe that. I love your mom. She wouldn't do something so shallow. And to Will? Of course neither of us were thrilled that he had gotten involved with someone 4 years older than him while he's still in high school, but Matteo is a good kid. He just seems to have a troubled past and a hard present sometimes. But regardless, your mother wouldn't have gone off and... done all that to hurt his reputation. We were confused when Will came out, and our reaction wasn't great, yes. But we love him no matter what."

"I know that. I'm just saying. She hates me right now dad," I said.

"She doesn't hate you, honey." I wanted to scoff. Yeah fucking right. "I wish I had answers for you."

"It's okay," I said, even though it wasn't. I knew it wasn't my dad's fault. My mother's behavior was solely up to her. And I couldn't exactly look to my dad to give me straight answers; he seemed to be as in the dark as the rest of us.

I was just holding out for Nic and Butler. Holding out the hope that they would find something concrete against my mom, or find nothing at all. I didn't know which would be better.

"I love you, Ava. And your brother too. So much," dad said, then stood up. "Are your friends coming to the New Years party? Theo?"

I nodded. "They'll be there. Theo, too. If that's okay."

"You know it's more than okay with me," he said, smiling at me. "Just remember—"

I rolled my eyes and interrupted. "Yeah, yeah, you'll kill him with your dope set of kitchen knives."

❥❥❥

"Butler's coming over, he'll be here in 5!" is what Nic yelled as he ran past my bedroom and I heard him run downstairs.

Because I was nosy, and because I knew Butler had been at C&C all day, I immediately got up from my bed and followed him down the stairs. He was running still and reached the bottom way before me. I could hear him open the front door and he left it open, so I walked out and joined him on the front steps.

"You seem eager," I said, not hiding my smirk.

"Well, that's what happens when my plans work out and Butler finds something useful," Nic said, sitting down on the front steps. I joined him.

"What did he find?"

"I don't know. He just told me he found something that we could probably use. The bastard didn't tell me what it was. It's like he knows incriminating evidence is my kink," Nic said.

"I don't need to know your kinks, Nicolas," I said. "Also, I didn't realize Butler was riling you up like that."

Nic glared at me. "Shut your stupid mouth. You're an idiot."

I didn't think I was an idiot about that particular matter. Nic didn't get that excited to see just anyone. And even if he said he was undoubtedly straight, I was pretty sure his line curved a little in Butler's direction.

"So does that mean he found something that makes Mrs. Cunningham... guilty?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I can only assume it's something like that. If not completely incriminating, it has to be a little bit. Because Butler wouldn't have come right over urgently if that wasn't the case," Nic said.

I could see headlights pointing towards our house and a car pulled into our drive. It was a taxi, and when it stopped Nic instantly stood up, so I followed suit. Butler got out of the cab halfway down the drive and made his way over towards us. He was in a formal suit jacket and button-up, the type of attire that had been suitable for volunteering at C&C. He ran a hand through his hair as he walked up to us, giving us a shy smile.

"Hey," Butler said.

Nic touched Butler's elbow to usher him towards the door. "Come inside and tell us everything. I have refreshments."

Nic let go and we all went into the house. There were refreshments in the kitchen where Nic led us and I immediately sat down on a stool by the counter while Nic stood on one side and Butler on the other. Butler was a few inches taller than Nic, as I noticed. I don't know, I just felt like analyzing the little things.

Nic passed drinks over to me and Butler. "Today, we have a lovely virgin grapefruit and rosemary cocktail. And hopefully, we also have some evidence we can work with." He looked expectantly towards Butler.

I took a sip of the drink. Hell yeah. It was bomb.

"It's not exactly evidence," Butler admitted. "But it is something we can use that will possibly lead us to evidence." He pulled out his phone, opened it, and slid it over to Nic's side of the counter. I had to lean over to be able to see it.

"Email records?" I asked.

Nic scrolled and zoomed in. His eyes widened and he looked up at Butler. "These are emails between Mrs. Cunningham and an unknown email address."

"They set up twice-a-week meetings," Butler added. "All of the emails were very vague. But they always mention meeting in private, photos or stories, etcetera. The latest one mentions meeting at the Cunningham & Co. New Year's Eve party in Conference Room B. It says–"

"–to bring a copy of the flash drive with everything," Nic read off from the email. "What the hell does 'everything' refer to?"

"I have no idea. But it does seem sketchy," Butler said.

"So we need to do some serious spying. Meaning, we need to get into the C&C party in 2 days," Nic said.

"I'm already going," I told him. "Ava can get you both in."

"Both?" Butler asked, his eyes looking over at Nic. "I don't have to be there if you don't want me to. I don't want to intru–"

"If you say that you don't want to 'intrude' one more time," Nic said, eyes intent on Butler, "I swear. I'm going to snap the 'intrude' right out of you."

Butler barely smiled. "If it's okay with you, I will come."

Nic rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it's okay with me. More than okay. I need a sidekick, anyway." Nic winked and looked over at me. "Ava can get us in?"

"Hell yeah," I said, taking another sip. "Sure she can get you in and get security off your backs."

"Cause we're gonna need to watch that conference room," Nic said to Butler. "I want that flash drive."

Butler shrugged. "We could maybe get it."

"We could definitely get it," Nic said. "Instead of partying, we'll just keep an eye out."

"Should we call Ava?" I asked.

Nic shook his head. "No. Not unless we get something concrete. Plus, she's already had a bad week with her mom. Let's not give her or Will another reason to worry or whatever."

I nodded. I didn't like keeping things from Ava, and there were supposed to be no secrets between the two of us anymore. But I knew Nic was right, too. And worrying her, especially at a party that was meant to be fun, wasn't the right call.

But if they found something concrete, then I would tell Ava right away. No secrets. Not for long, that is.

"I'll figure out the details. Butler, we'll pick you up. Wear something party-ready. But please," Nic winked, "keep it classy."

❥❥❥

We must drink for STRENGTH to get us through the Mrs. Cunningham drama smh.

But 1: We miss Skylar and Mav and don't worry, they'll be back for a little. It's so easy to focus less on characters while they're all on a break rn but hey WE WORKIN ON IT

2: MRS CUNNINGHAM BE LOOKING REAL SUSPICIOUS. Good thing we have the lovely Butler and Nic to help figure things out.

Nic especially seems to be focusing heavily on all this drama... more than anyone else. Guess we must stay tuned. Aaaaaand special things with Nic next chapter.... : ) hehe

Anyway ILL SEE YALL TOMORROW. ily all