Chapter 38: Girls Talk.

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Girls Talk.

(Sup. I just had a draining weekend and I'm fatigued right now lol. Enjoy the chap)

[Edward POV]

"Now. How should I play this?" I muttered as I reached my neighbourhood riding on Luke's bicycle.

The spring breeze tickled my nose as I rode the bike. "The weather is cold today." I muttered as the cold wind blew. Although the weather had been warmer, it was still a bit cold to be riding a bike without a jacket.

Passing through house 314, I saw Desiree walking out to the driveway with a hint of anxiousness in her eyes. I stopped the bicycle in front of her and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Oh. Edward. It's not a big deal, but I am locked out of the house." Desiree said. With her tight pink shirt and mom's jeans, she had dropped her keys somewhere while walking home a little bit drunk before this.

"Ah. Where's Abby? Does she have a key?" I asked.

"She does. She is at your house with Haley. I'm going there right now to get it. Although I hate to bother her.." Desiree said while looking like an abandoned puppy. "There is an open window, I figured if I could reach it, I wouldn't have to walk all the way over there."

"Wait. Just propel me in. I'll open the door for you. But, you'll need to do me a favour afterward."

Taking a step back in vigilance, Desiree tried to cover her breast with her hands, "W-What kind of favour?" Batting her eyes in embarrassment, she started fidgeting.

Narrowing her eyes at her, I said flatly, "What are you thinking about? I need a place to hide this bike without anyone noticing."

"Oh. That. Okay, I can do that." Desiree said while feeling relieved. Then, she saw Luke's logo on the bike. "Wait. Is this Luke's new bike?"

"Yup. He pretended to lose it so that I would paint and upgrade his old bike. So I'm going to teach him a lesson." I explained. Desiree nodded in understanding and said, "Won't Claire be mad?"

"...I think so." I smirked as I thought about it. Desiree chuckled and said, "That's what you're aiming for isn't it?"

"BINGO!"

Desiree and I walked to one of the windows at the side of the house.

"That's my room." Desiree said while looking at the window. Then, she looked at me up and down. "If you were an adult, maybe you could give me a lift. But I think it'll be easier if I do you."

"Yeah. Do me." I muttered, then I realised what I just said. "Damn. I need to stop hanging out with Phil so much. I have bad innuendo habits now."

I jumped and grabbed the windowsill, while Desiree pushed me from my buttocks to get up.

"Be careful with your hands. Don't grab the wrong thing." I yelled at her as she couldn't keep her hands steady. Her hands kept going to a place where she shouldn't go.

"You're unexpectedly heavy!" Desiree said with her face flushing as she used the last of her strength to push me up.

"I'm only 130 pounds. Pure muscle." I said as I managed to pass my torso through the window and no longer needed Desiree's help.

"If you're pure muscle, you can push yourself up." Desiree retorted as she threw her hand in the air to push me into the window one last time.

"Wa-Wait. STOP!" I tried to stop her, but it was too late. The push caused me to fall while I'm halfway through the window, hitting my jaw on the floor.

Desiree finally realised what she had done, widened her eyes in shock and asked quickly, "Are you okay?"

Rubbing my sore chin, I said, "Yeah. I'm fine. Anyway, your room smells like lotions."

"Thanks. It's a candle." Desiree replied from the outside.

With a lowered volume, I said, "It wasn't a compliment. But whatever." As I entered the room, I saw multiple undergarments thrown around everywhere and a suspicious lone cucumber inside the room.

"What's the cucumber for?" I asked to tease her.

I could hear her becoming anxious and say, "it's f-Formy eyes. I cut it and put it over my eyes. Anyway, Quickly open the door. You don't have to look around."

"Okay~!" I replied and continued to snoop for 10 seconds before I hurriedly went to the front door and unlocked it.

"Stop worrying. I didn't notice anything. Definitely not the baby oil and the cucumber's texture." I teased the moment I opened the door to let Desiree in. She was stunned, and I continued, "I'll leave the bike in your garage."

Patting her shoulder, I said, "You should go out. You know...date someone."

"W-W-W-W-"

"Well. You're single now, right?" I said while she was struggling to find the words. After teasing Desiree, I walked home with the paint cans and went straight to the garage. She was definitely crossed with me, and would tell Abby about what I said, but I am already prepared for it.

Claire was around, watching the paint slowly stripping from the bike, but Luke was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Luke? And has Phil gotten home yet?" I asked, startling Claire who was lost in the moment.

"Oh. I had a weird call from Phil before. And I don't know where Luke is." Claire replied with her arms crossed and a face filled with confusion.

"What did Phil say?" I asked as I put the paint cans on the desk filled with tools.

"He said something about finding the bicycle. I was excited after hearing that, but he wasn't. Now, I'm afraid he's injured. The call was cut off after saying he was going to print something and then come home." Claire shared with me in great detail as I couldn't help but wonder why.

Turns out that Claire's OCD had accepted my OCD-self as one of her species, making me part of her pack. She was sharing the matter for me to help her think about the possible ramifications of Phil's words.

"I see. Then Claire. Do you want to have some fun with me?" I asked with a sly smirk.

"What kind of fun?" Claire asked while remaining vigilant. At this moment, Abby and Haley called out to me from my bedroom window, attracting our attention.

"Heyyy. You're late~!" Abby said while waving at me from the second floor.

"Why are you in my room?" I asked in confusion. "Wait. How the hell did you get into my house?"

"Does it matter?" Abby chucked and called me inside.

"I'll talk to you later Claire. Call me when Phil gets home." I said and left Claire alone.

"Wait. What kind of fun?" Claire asked anxiously once more.

Stopping in my tracks, I muttered, "Oh right." Then I turned back and whispered something to her. Grinning madly, Claire patted my shoulder while laughing and said, "Okay, I'll do it."

There was a hint of jealousy in Haley's tone that was visible for someone with a high emotional intelligence. However, the two black haired girls beside her only have a high intellectual intelligence and didn't notice it in the least.

"Well. It was the first time a girl ever said that, so I'm a bit embarrassed."

Alex was annoyed by Abby's and Haley's conversation, so she decided to make a new topic. "You know, there is a rumour in school that Edward has an IQ of 167."

Abby widened her eyes and said, "Seriously? That's even higher than mine!"

"Is 167 high?" Haley asked in confusion. Before Alex could say anything sarcastic, Abby explained, "Yeah. It's really high. The average IQ is around 85 to 114. 160 is considered exceptionally gifted."

"Oh." Haley exclaimed in realisation. "So, he's super smart smart?"

"What is your IQ again? 70?" Alex asked sarcastically. Haley was mad and retorted, "What's your cup size again? A minus minus?"

Alex was offended, and before they could argue with each other, Abby stopped them. "Well, I'm going to go to Edward's house after this. I can ask him the question myself to confirm it."

"I'm going to go with you." Haley said casually.

Abby and Alex turned to Haley with a confused expression. "Why?" Abby asked. With eyes staring directly at Abby's plump lips, Haley replied, "He promised me 2 new outfits. I want to claim it."

Alex muttered without thinking, "Oh. So that was how he calmed you down after kissi-"

Haley closed Alex's mouth quickly, but Abby managed to piece the puzzle together.

"Di-Did he kiss you?" Abby asked, her face ashen and her chest hurts from the prospect of Edward's betrayal.

"Wait! NO! THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED!" Alex said quickly and then explained the entire situation. Finally, Abby understood everything.

"Haley. I'm hurt that you didn't tell me about it." Abby said in a fake sadness as she wiped her eyes.

"..." Haley was stunned, and Alex invited Abby to their room to talk in private. Haley explained everything that happened, and Alex explained the things that Haley had missed.

"I see. So, he was trying to help my mom huh." Abby muttered.

Haley explained anxiously, "Yeah. So don't be mad at him. He really didn't kiss me. He only pretended to."

...

[Edward POV]

Abby punished me by pulling my cheeks. "Anything else you're keeping away from me?" She asked angrily as she kept pulling.

In a muffled voice, I replied, "Yeah. I was just in your mom's room a few minutes ago." Abby flinched and pulled my cheeks harder, "Why are you there!?"

"Your mom pushed me inside. What else?" I reply ambiguously on purpose to freak her out.

"What!?" Abby's face contorted in confusion. I laughed and I explained the whole situation to her.

"Ah. Unlocking the door! Damn it! You were messing with me!" Abby said angrily and tried to punish me by biting my neck. Avoiding her, I said, "If you want to flirt, let's wait till Haley is gone."

"How about you don't flirt in front of me in the first place?" Haley interjected with a dissatisfied tone. "Oh, I miss being in a relationship."

"Wait. It hasn't even been 2 weeks since you got out of one right?" Abby asked as she blinked her eyes twice.

"Yeah. But for a popular girl, that's like 2 years." Haley replied smugly.

"More like a girl who didn't know how to love herself on her own." I replied, causing Haley's smile to freeze. Abby thought my words were too harsh, and she nudged me to apologise.

"Sorry."

"Anyway. Are you going to pick from the designs here, or are you going to make new designs on your own?" I asked casually to change the subject.

"..." She didn't reply and thought for a while.

While holding the designs, Haley's eyes took a quick scan and said, "I want to design on my own, but I don't think I'll do a great job like you did. So I'm just going to go with what you have made."

"Nah. Draw the ones that you want to make. Then, come back to see me with the designs. I will help you to upgrade it if needed." I said as I snatched all of my designs from her hand.

"HEY! What- Wait!" Haley tried to stop me when I was putting all of my designs in the desk drawer and then locked them inside.

Annoyed, she whined, "Ugh! Why are you being like this? Just pick one from there!"

Turning toward that girl, I said, "You have the opportunity to finally bring your creativity to life. You don't have to fear what anyone will think about it, and you especially don't have to fear me putting your efforts down. If you don't know how to design, I can teach you about it. It's okay to go slow if you need to. I will guide you on how to do it."

Haley was stunned, and Abby broke into a wide smile. She backed me up without me even needing to ask her to do it.

While hugging me from the back, she said, "Yeah. Do it yourself Haley. I want to see what you'll come out with. You always dress so fashionably, so I'd already know you have a good fashion sense."

"Well...I know that." Haley agreed with Abby's words, but she was still being hesitant.

"Then. Do it. If you really couldn't, then we'll just pick something from the pile. I also won't bring up the topic again" I added.

Finally, Haley gave up and decided, "Okay. I'll do it."

"Excellent." Abby exclaimed. Nodding my head in agreement, I realised that my phone was buzzing. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to play detective at Haley's house."

"My house?" Haley was confused, so was Abby. I smirked and I didn't tell them anything. They could've come and watched if they wanted, but Haley wanted to go to the mall in search of ideas, while Abby had promised to drive her.

"I'll see you tonight?" I asked Abby.

"Sure. Dinner at your house, right? Do you need me to buy anything while I'm outside?"

"No need. Just come by when you're ready. I'll prepare some nice meals for both of us."

With a peck on the lips, Abby said goodbye and went with Haley to the mall.

Once I received the call from Claire, I walked to the Dunphy's to settle the bike theft incident. But first, I needed to change my apparel first to be something of an old school, British investigator.