An hour later, the living room had somehow become even louder. Everyone was still arguing. Mostly about Nick. "You are impossible." "Thank you." "That wasn't a compliment." Nick shrugged. Meanwhile, Chase was sitting on the couch looking increasingly bored. The argument had been going on forever. Finally, he pulled out his phone. Nobody noticed. A few quick texts. A grin. Then he stood up. "Where are you going?" Adrean asked. "Out." The room froze. "What?" Before anyone could stop him, Chase headed for the garage. Everyone immediately followed. "Oh no." "CHASE." "Get back here." Chase ignored them. A minute later, the massive garage door rolled open. Sitting inside was one of Chase's motorcycles. Nick immediately crossed his arms. "No." "Yes." "No." "Yes." Before the argument could continue, the sound of engines echoed down the driveway. Everyone turned. A group of motorcycles appeared. Then another. Then another. Several riders pulled into the driveway. Most wore leather jackets. Many had tattoos. A few had piercings. The second they parked, Chase lit up. "GUYS!" To everyone's shock, Chase jogged over and started greeting them with hugs and handshakes. The riders greeted him like an old friend. "Thought you'd still be recovering." "I was bored." "Fair." Then Chase walked over to one of the motorcycles and opened a small storage compartment. Everyone watched curiously. "What are you doing?" Adrean asked. Instead of answering, Chase pulled out a small case. Click. The case opened. The room went silent. Inside were piercings. A lot of piercings. "What?" "CHASE?" One by one, he started putting them in. A nose ring. An eyebrow piercing. Then more. And more. And more. By the time he was finished, there were nine piercings in each ear, three lip piercings, a nose ring, and eyebrow piercings. The room stared. Completely speechless. One of Adrean's friends pointed. "YOU HAD THOSE THE WHOLE TIME?" "Yep." "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US?" Chase shrugged. "Never came up." Nick looked offended. "You never told me either." One of the bikers laughed. "He's had those for years." "YEARS?" The room exploded. Meanwhile Chase calmly grabbed his helmet. The bikers didn't seem surprised at all. In fact, they acted like this was completely normal. Which somehow made everything even more shocking. One of the riders grinned. "There he is." Chase grinned back. "Missed this." The group immediately started getting their helmets ready. Which made everyone else panic. "Oh no." "Absolutely not." "CHASE." Nick stepped forward. "You are not going anywhere." Chase pointed at his motorcycle. "I literally am." "No." "Nick." "No." One of Chase's friends grabbed his arm. "You just recovered!" Another pointed at the motorcycles. "You are definitely not doing whatever this is." "We're just going for a ride," Chase said. That did not help. At all. Within seconds everyone was talking at once. Nick. Adrean. Their friends. Chase's friends. All trying to convince him not to go. Meanwhile Chase calmly put on his helmet. One of the riders looked at the chaos. "...Does this happen a lot?" "Every day," Chase replied. The rider nodded. "Fair enough." The argument continued. The engines idled. And Chase looked entirely too amused by all of it.
An hour later, the front doors of the mansion opened. Chase walked in laughing. The bikers followed right behind him. Everyone in the living room immediately looked up. And immediately looked annoyed. Especially Nick. "You're back." The way he said it made Chase wince. "Yep." "You were gone for an hour." "That's how rides work." Nick looked like he wanted to argue. Very badly. Adrean wasn't much better. Neither were their friends. Meanwhile, the bikers looked completely unbothered. One of them glanced around. "These the people who were tryina to stop you?" "Yep." "Tough crowd." The biker immediately got hit with several glares. "Definitely a tough crowd." Chase started laughing. That did not help. At all. "Do you have any idea how worried everyone was?" Adrean asked. "We were literally gone for an hour." "Exactly." The room immediately started arguing again. Chase's friends joined in. Adrean's friends joined in. Nick joined in the loudest. The bikers just watched. Amused. Eventually Chase raised both hands. "Okay, okay." The room slowly quieted down. "I'm fine." "You say that every time," Nick replied. "Because I am." Nick looked unconvinced. Very unconvinced. Before another argument could start, one of the bikers pointed upstairs. "Can we change first?" "Oh yeah." Chase immediately turned around. "Come on." The group headed upstairs. Everyone else stared. "Wait." "What?" "You're just leaving?" "Yep." A few minutes later, Chase and the bikers disappeared into his room. The people downstairs could only sit and wait. And complain. A lot. Eventually the bedroom door opened again. The group came back downstairs. Gone were the motorcycle jackets and riding gear. Now everyone was wearing simple sweatpants and T-shirts. The bikers looked far less intimidating. Chase had also taken off his helmet and jacket. His piercings were still in. Which caused another round of staring. One of Adrean's friends pointed. "I'm still not over those." "Neither am I," Adrean admitted. Nick crossed his arms. "I have several questions." "You always do." "And none of them are being answered." One of the bikers laughed. "Now I see why Chase texts us so much." Nick looked offended. "You text them?" Chase immediately realized his mistake. "Oh no." The room erupted. And Chase knew the arguing was about to start all over again.
