Chapter 6: Rules

We pull up in his driveway only minutes later. He lives on the outskirts of town, not another house for miles- it's only due to his extreme disregard for the rules of the road that we arrived this fast. I keep my mouth shut, though, since he's apparently willing to pay me a hundred dollars per hour to do just that. And that's a lot of money. Even though my parents don't explicitly talk to me about our financial situation, I know it isn't the best. It's why they push me so hard to get good grades- so I can go to university on scholarships and get a well-paying job. I've offered to work after school to bring in some more income, but they just want me to focus on my studies. So it seems like the least I can do.

This- this is definitely not focusing on school. But he's paying me money- a lot of money. And he says he'll get me home by 9:00. Plus, it's Friday. I have the whole weekend to finish my homework and study. If I can still focus after this- no, no, this is such a bad idea, I won't be able to focus- but I also have no way of getting out of here. I don't have my full license, and I would never steal anyone's car, it's a felony (even if he probably has ten).

He presses the button to open the car doors, and I get out, not sure if I should compliment the feature or not. I decide not to, he'd probably know I'm lying. And I don't want to suck up to him for his money.

When I finally look at the house, though- it's impossible not to gasp. It's enormous. And beautiful.

When I look back to him, he's smirking. I swallow. "Um... nice house."

He smirks a little more. "Thanks. I had it custom-built. Mum wanted a house away from the city, so there weren't really any restrictions on size."

"No kidding," I murmur, and he flashes me a toothy grin before starting towards the front door. I trail after him, still feeling kind of dumbstruck. He opens the door without a key or anything, and I frown, about to ask if he just leaves the door unlocked all the time, when I hear someone's voice from inside.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mum," he calls back, closing the door behind me and locking it. A moment later, an attractive woman with dark brown hair and a plump figure appears at the top of the stairs. She smiles when she sees us, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she descends the staircase and comes to shake my hand.

"Hello there, I'm Mrs..." she turns to her son, who's smirking a bit.

"Fitzgerald."

She turns back to me, smiling. "Pleased to meet you. You can call me Darla."

I give her a small smile in return. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Todd."

"Hi Dad," Jake (Jake?) says, and I look up to see an older man with a rounded belly coming down the stairs as well.

"Jake, who's your friend?"

"That's Todd."

"And I am?"

"Mr. Fitzgerald," Jake's mom (Darla) interrupts, smiling at me. "Jake's father."

I shake his hand as well. This has to be one of the oddest introductions I've ever experienced. I can't believe they just go along with Jake's random name-changing and let him call the shots. Also, I'm a little surprised at how friendly and casual they both seem. His mom is wearing yoga pants, and his dad's wearing sweatpants and slippers. Based on the house, I was almost expecting them to be wearing like, formal evening wear.

"I'm going to go change," Jake announces, disappearing up the staircase before I can protest. His parents both seem to be listening for something, until I hear a door closing. Then, his mom gestures to my shoes.

"Go ahead, take off your shoes, come in."

I do, and Jake's dad gestures for me to follow them. I get the feeling this happens a lot.

"So, Todd, was it?"

I nod.

"Alright, Todd. Rule number one: always agree with him. Don't correct anything he says," his dad tells me, as we enter what seems to be the kitchen. Jake's mom has the refrigerator door open and is concealed by it. I look back at the dad, confused.

The fridge door shuts and Jake's mom slides a plate of ham and cheese crackers across the counter to me. "He seems to be in an easier mood today, but I wouldn't test him."

"What- what are you talking about?"

"You go to school with Jake, right?"

"Yes."

"So I'm sure you've noticed that he can be a bit..." she looks to Mr. Fitzgerald.

"Eccentric, at times," he finishes for her. "Which can get him into trouble. He's had some dangerous ideas in the past."

Sounds about accurate. "Okay."

"So to minimize the risk of anything happening to you or him- mostly him, really- we have some rules."

"Okay." It seems like a good idea, honestly.

"First, is not to correct him. If he believes something, don't try to tell him he's wrong. Even if he's claiming that he's a purple unicorn. Just pretend he's a customer: he's always right, even if he's really, really wrong. Just go along with it," his mom tells me.

"Second: expect him to do stupid things. And then try and get yourself out of the way, because he usually will account for possible damage to himself, and figure out a way around it, but he doesn't factor in other people."

"Which leads to number three, which is not to try and stop him. He'll do it anyways. There is no stopping him, and the more you try, the more reckless he'll be about it, and the more likely it is that you'll end up getting involved."

"And that's all of them. Oh, and here's our emergency phone number, in case he gets into something way over his head. We'll be right there to get you exempted from the situation, and deal with whatever he's done this time."

I nod, taking the card and carefully slipping it into a specific pocket of my backpack. "Okay. Thank you."

They're both smiling at me a little. "Thank you, for keeping our boy company. He gets bored sometimes, and he finds people to be so interesting."

There. He finds people interesting. I open my mouth to ask why, or in what way, because that seems like it's definitely related to how he seems to have a habit of examining people when they're not looking, but before I can, he appears in the doorway.

"Are you guys done yet? I'm hungry."

"We're all done," his dad says, leaving the kitchen but pausing to muss Jake's hair on the way. His mom is right behind her husband, planting a kiss on her son's forehead. My chest aches a little at the shows of affection without Jake even having to do anything- study, or get good grades, or anything.

He pulls a stool out from under the counter and perches on it, grabbing one of the ham and cheese crackers and popping it into his mouth. "So, did they scare you?"

"W-what? Scare me?" Shoot, I don't know if I'm supposed to tell him about all their rules. It kind of seemed like he knew, and they knew he knew, but does he just know that they have them? Does he know what they are?

"Yeah, with their whole speech. I swear, every time I bring someone home, it's like they think I want to marry the person."

I blink, staring at him. He swallows another ham and cheese cracker, then pulls a stool out with his foot and gestures to it.

"What are you standing around for? Sit. Eat. Unless they did scare you, in which case- you seemed pretty scared on the way here anyways, so you're probably fine."

"Thanks," I mutter, though I do sit down, since he's essentially paying me to listen to him without complaints.

"My stylist will be here in a few hours, so we can look at cars first."

"You've only had this one for a week, though. Don't you..." think that's wasteful, is what I want to say. "Usually get a new one every two weeks?" is what I do say.

He eats another cracker. "I need to get them checked out by my mechanic, and that can take about a week. I gotta plan in advance."

I nod. "So... car shopping. Should be... fun."

He gives me a sly smirk. "Yes. It will be."

Dedicated to @satans_ex for voting and commenting! Thank you for all of your editing notes and hilarious comments, they're so helpful and brighten my day!

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