Tate Langdon X You - Blog Posts

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All my feminism goes out the window when I lay eyes on this man... Uff😬

Pretty Girls Make Graves - Tate Langdon

Multi Part Series

Dear America; From The Rubble to The Riches

Plot: Reader has just moved into the murder house and meets a certain character.

Warnings: Smoking, Drug use, Self Deprecation, Undiagnosed Dyslexia

When my mom told me we had to move, it didn't surprise me. The house we lived in cost too much, and there wasn't room for me, mom and my brothers. We moved house a lot to be honest. I was seventeen but had lived in over 20 different houses. It was the way mom lived. She had money and time, so she spent it being a nutcase, and we were along for the ride.

My mom was a bit of a hippy, and when I say a bit I mean a lot. She was living constantly in this "free love" dream where it was people's obligation to step away from society. Ever since I was tiny every house we've lived in has been filled with strangers. She lead a kind of open door lifestyle, with constant lodgers. They generally came along to coincide with whatever her new "calling" was.

I was the youngest child. I had two older brothers, Chris and Nathan. Chris was 23, but couldn't move out because he was too mentally unstable to keep a job. Nathan was 19, smart, with plans to go to college in New York if he could just stop messing about with drugs. I got on with Chris better, he was the one who bought me cigarettes.

The house we moved to was a large Victorian town house in L.A. It was exactly mom's kind of place, and was largely underpriced. She bought it instantly.

~•|•|•~

A week later we were bringing all our stuff into the house. I was carrying a box of CD's, ready to take them to the attic bedroom, which after several fights I had claimed as my room. I was currently paying for it, because as I walked in carrying boxes, Nathan kept kicking the backs of my ankles.

"(Y/n), just leave those there," mom instructed, gesturing the hall.  "I need your help in the kitchen." I put the box down and walked through. She was in the process of putting mismatched plates into the cupboards.

"Nathan said he's going to piss on my bed if he doesn't get the attic room," I told her, starting to put away the cutlery.

"He won't. Look at this amazing cooker they have in here," she pointed out, distracted. It was a big eggshell range set against the wall. I rolled my eyes. I took a cigarette out the packet I carried and lit it. Mom turned round. "Hey!" she scolded. "Share."

I gave her one and we leant against the counter.

"I bet school is shit," I complained.

"I know, honey. But I've still got to send you, even if I'd rather not."

I turned back to grab a mug to use as an ashtray. Mom started putting plates away again. We chatted, until I turned around to see a teenage boy stood by the back door. I jumped, almost dropping the glass I was holding. Mom turned round and saw him too.

"Hello," she greeted him in a friendly voice. "You must be the new neighbor." He smiled at her.

"Yeah, I'm Tate. My mom lives next door."

"Well, feel free to come in here anytime, we run an open door system, don't we (n/n)?" she asked me. I shrugged.

"I was wondering if you needed any help moving things," he offered. I didn't entirely trust him. He was dressed grungey, battered converse, ripped jeans and a knitted sweater, but was giving this kind of American Boy charm to try impress my mom. If he thought it was working, he was wrong. He could have told her he was a drug addict with intent to steal money to pay for gear and he would have got the same welcome. Mom loved pretending to save people.

"That's would be amazing of you. (Y/n), Tate can help you take your stuff up to the top floor."

"Sure, whatever," I agreed, stubbing my cigarette out into the mug. I went through to the hall and Tate followed. Chris and Nathan had just brought the sofa in and were arguing about it. Nathan spotted me walk in.

"Hey, you got one last chance to give me the attic room before I piss on all your shit," he warned me. I pulled the middle finger at him, picking up a box.

"Tate, you can just grab that one," I told him, nodding my head towards it.

"It's a bit soon for mom to have her friends in isn't it?" Chris asked me.

"That's Tate, he lives next door." Tate grabbed the box. "You can also speak to him directly, his ears work."

"Smartass."

Tate and I took the boxes up the stairs.

"Are they your brothers?" Tate asked. I nodded, not bothering to respond properly. "Are you going to Westfield?" I nodded again. "Why are you not fucking talking to me?" he snapped. I kept walking, but responded.

"Cause you're asking dumb questions. Do you go to Westfield?"

"I used to, but they kicked me out."

We got to the top bedroom and put the boxes down.

"What did you do?" I asked him, grinning. He frowned.

"Nothing much, just caused a bit of trouble."

~•|•|•~

Tate helped us move in over the weekend. It was lucky that we didn't really own a lot of stuff. It was mainly furniture, pots and pans and then all of mom's hippy crap. On the Monday, I had school. Chris dropped me off, giving me a tap on the hand before I got out his car.

"Hey, don't let anyone get away with any shit," he told me reassuringly. "And brush your hair, it looks like ass." I smiled at him half heartedly.

The first class I was in was English. I hated it. The teacher seemed nice enough but it had never been my subject, not that any of them were. It was a new term. She suggested a spelling test. The rest of the class groaned.

"We're not babies," one of the girls complained. I felt dread. After I'd finished I looked down at the words.

1. Culor

2. Defense

3. Axidentally

4. Foren

5. Principel

6. Realize

7. Nessercery

8. Happened

9. Carecter

10. Lesure

None of the words looked right. I felt like an idiot, but letters made no sense to me. The teacher gathered in our tests, and then handed out the books. Wuthering Heights. I felt dread in the pit of my stomach. If we had to read this on our own I couldn't possibly do it in time.

"I want us to read this as a class, now we have a new student. (Y/n) Bone, would you care to start on the first chapter?"

"What?"

"Just read it aloud, the first couple of paragraphs."

"No."

"Sorry?"

"I don't want to," I desperately tried to explain. She frowned.

"You don't have a choice, now go on."

I took a deep breath, opening the first page. The words seemed to wriggle around as I tried to recognise them.

"I have... just... returned form..." I struggled, conscious of how slowly I read.

"It's from," she added in.

"Oh. From a vis- visit to my... landlord." I paused, feeling my ears turn red in embarrassment. I heard whispers behind me and clapped the book shut loudly, making everyone jump.

"Keep reading," the teacher instructed in a firm voice.

"No." I was mortified. My first day and it had been revealed to everyone that I could barely read.

"You will do as you're told, I looked through your test and your spelling is atrocious, now get back to reading the book, and I'm writing you up for detention." I stood up, receiving an incredulous look.

"Fuck off," I told her, grabbing my bag and walking straight to the door and walking out. When I was out in the hall I kicked a locker and kept walking till I was outside. I sat on a bench and lit a cigarette. I sat, chain smoking, trying to decide whether to go to my next lesson or to leave. I contemplated this until I was joined on the bench. The guy had long, dark hair and a Slayer t-shirt on, chain on his jeans and a leather jacket.

"You're in shit with the principal now," he told me, pointlessly.

"I don't care."

"Well done on having the balls to walk out of Mrs Parks class."

"Who are you?" I asked bluntly, not wanting to bother with small talk.

"Dev, Dev Khare." He offered his hand to me, a gesture I ignored. "Come on, this place is fucking hell already. It's gonna be a bit better if you have someone to hang out with."

"I like being on my own."

"Bullshit." He reached into to the pocket of his jacket, pulling out a joint and raising his eyebrow at me. I looked back at him, unable to help cracking a smile. "We can skip next period and come back after lunch break."

I followed him to his car, an old Honda Accord, hopping in the passenger seat.

"This is a really old car," I commented, running a hand over the dash.

"Yeah, it's my dad's old one," Dev told me proudly. "Do you like metal?"

"Not really," I replied, honestly.

"There's a Misfits tape in the glove box, put that one on."

I opened the glove box, looking over the tapes he had. TOOL, Deftones, Slayer and Rage Against the Machine were just some. I found the Misfits tape and put it in the cassette player. Heavy guitars started blaring through the stereo.

~•|•|•~

I ended up ditching the last two classes and getting Chris to pick me up. He dropped me outside the house before leaving to go apply for another job that wouldn't last the week. I walked into the living room to find Tate sat on the sofa with three randos. I assumed he had taken my mom's open door policy as an invitation to spend his time here instead of at home. Apparently her gang of hippies had already shown up. They were passing a spliff round the group.

"Hey," said a white man with matted dreadlocks, spotting me as a walked in. "And who are you, friend?"

"Someone who actually fucking lives here," I replied, irritated. School had been crap, I was hardly in the mood for hippy stoner crap from a random trustafarian. I turned round and stated walking up the stairs to my room. Tate stood up and followed me.

"How was school," he asked, trying to keep up with me.

"Why are you following me Tate?"

"'Cause you're pissed off. I like people when they're pissed off."

If I was less annoyed, I'd be impressed by his response.

"Following me is only gonna make me more pissed off," I snapped.

"Good," he replied. "I wanna see what being pissed off makes you do."

I reached my bedroom and walked in, immediately noticing a dark patch on my red bedsheets.

"For fucksake," I cursed, feeling utterly defeated.

"Is that... piss?" Tate asked.

"Yeah," I responded, my voice wobbling. I felt my eyes prick and hot tears running down my face. I tried to forcefully wipe them away before Tate noticed, but he was already looking at me, almost surprised.

"Are you crying?" he asked me, sounding almost concerned.

"No," I lied, sniffling. He was the last person I wanted to see me cry. I hardly ever did, but the whole day had left me feeling like the ground had been taken from beneath my feet, and all of Tate's persistence to not leave me alone had made me feel a lot weaker than I wanted to be.

"Hey," Tate said softly, cautiously moving close enough to carefully wrap his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him. "Don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry." I let him give me a hug, wiping my eyes on the back of my sleeve.

"I don't cry normally," I apologised, ears feeling red and hot with my shame. "Especially not over stupid shit like this." He didn't let me go, just held me up next to his chest while I made my lame excuse.

"What made you so upset then? Was it the piss? I can help you get him back," Tate reassured, patting me on the back a little awkwardly. I shook my head, moving away from him.

"No, it was just school."

"Westfield is full of assholes."

"School makes me feel so goddamn stupid. Probably because I am," I complained, moving to the stereo on the floor. I never had a lot a furniture, not even a bed frame, just my mattress on the floor. It made it easier with all the moving house. I didn't mind. I put in a CD, one I made on a friends computer. Heaven Beside You by Alice In Chains started playing.

"I think you're smart," Tate told me. He was stood next to my bed, playing with the sleeve of his jumper.

"You don't know me Tate." I sighed. "I can barely fucking read, and that bitch made me do it in front of everyone."

"You can't read?"

"How shitty is your mom that you wanna be round here all the time?" I changed the subject.

"Very," he bristled. "She's a whore." I raised an eyebrow.

"Take it you don't get on with stepdads?"

"None of them. How'd you know it was stepdads?" he asked, looking from his shoes to meet my eye.

"Guessed. Kinda seemed like you were the kinda guy who's dad walked out and hasn't got over it."

"See. You are smart."