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I always thought Crawford Lane was an extremely amazing neighborhood with extremely good people. That the residents of this lane stayed miles away from everything that was bad, unjust and wrong. That the residents of this lane could never ever indulge in anything immoral and scandalous.

How terribly mistaken I was.

There were people in the lane who had extra-marital affairs with their next door neighbors, did drugs, were corrupt in their professional lives and what not. There were also couples who indulged in swinging....

And how did I come to know of what went on behind closed doors in this neighborhood?

Devon.

Devon, in the past couple of weeks, had brought the dirty linens of the neighborhood in the public.

Thus the once peaceful and reputed lane had now turned stained and chaotic. Devon had scared the lives out of the residents since they now constantly dreaded that they would be next at whom he would point a finger in front of everyone. Almost the entire neighborhood hated Devon but he went around nonchalantly with a 'I-give-a-fuck' attitude.

Just two days ago, when I had gone to my next door neighbour's house to read with Jackson, I happened to overhear some parts of the strained conversation between Devon and his father.

".....so try and understand! You can't go around tarnishing reputations like that!" Mr. Parker was saying, "We live here, Devon."

"Agreed that few of my accusations turned out to be wrong but most of them are true to the last letter," Devon defended sharply.

"Almost the entire neighborhood has become hostile towards us! We can't keep on moving out of everywhere. We've to fit in some place!" Mr. Parker said in despair.

Devon had clenched his fists, his jaw had hardened as he began to speak coldly, "So you think there's nothing wrong in having an extra-marital with a next door neighbor? That adultery should be encouraged? You'll be sad to know, Mr. Parker, that my thoughts don't match your filthy ones!!"

Mr. Parker had tried to clarify himself but Devon had interrupted him in a very harsh voice, "Don't talk to me on this ever again with that sleazy mouth of yours!!"

Then I'd seen Devon storm out of the house in anger leaving a pale Mr. Parker in a state of anguish and distress...

And tonight, Devon had done one more thing.

He got arrested. For the second time.

It was evident Mr. Parker regretted telling me about his son's arrest. But then at times, when you're too worried, you tend to blurt out the very things you don't want to.

I spent a sleepless night. By next morning, it seemed the whole neighborhood had come to know of Devon's arrest. Apparently, the person who had spread the word had seen him being handcuffed and pushed into the police car. More than half of Crawford Lane was tremendously happy with the news. They never wanted Devon to come back but their hopes were brutally dashed when Mr. Parker got Devon back to the Lane the same afternoon.

Gran was among those people who had lots of issues with Devon coming back so soon. She expressed her displeasure to me during lunch.

"That Parker boy was arrested for serious amounts of reckless driving," said Gran with a deep grudge.

"Yeah..." I muttered, having a feeling it wasn't gonna end well.

Gran frowned hard. "An elderly lady suffered a panic attack witnessing his dangerous driving and had to be admitted to the hospital. Thankfully she's okay now."

"Yeah..."

"And what did the judge award Devon for his dangerous driving? Just a fat fine and ninety hours of community service at a homeless shelter," said Gran critically. "Devon should have been put behind bars for atleast three months. That would have set him right. Or his driving license should have been suspended for a year if the jail was getting too crowded to stuff him."

I shifted uncomfortably on my seat. Apparently the elderly lady whom Devon had got hospitalized was so smitten by him that she literally requested the judge to be less strict with him.

I didn't know that was even possible.

"Ermm..." I muttered lamely. "I don't think he was driving that rashly 'cause that lady----"

"That lady is a mentally retarded bitch," huffed Gran. "Excuse me for my language, honeycake, but if I'd been in her place, I'd have made sure the Parker boy got the punishment that he deserves for going around vandalizing the streets like that!!"

"Um, you're so young, Gran! You look like just twenty five. And you also have a strong healthy heart, Granny!" I tried to flatter her. "You wouldn't have fainted like that old lady!"

I could bet a million bucks that I looked like that silly smiling emoji that has a drop of sweat at the side of its head.

"So sweet of you to say that, sugar!" Gran beamed at me, her eyes twinkling. Even before I could smile in return, her grumpy face was back.

Okay, well.

"Err...um, Devon, uh, wasn't, well, drunk while driving..." I muttered stupidly but then I was actually thankful that he wasn't inebriated.

"It'd have made no difference at all," Gran gave me a flat look. "Mr. Parker still would have single handedly fought against the world to make sure his son got the same verdict he has got now.."

A grave reflecting silence fell over.

Gran was right. It was Mr Parker's immense love for his son that made him so helpless to his son's misdeeds.

"Devon knows he can get away with everything 'cause he has got such a loving father. I strongly disapprove of such boys who take undue advantage of their parents' affection for them."

I didn't respond in any way. The uneasy feeling at the bottom of my stomach was overwhelming.

"Also, he has no manners at all. He speaks whatever rubbish comes to his head," Gran frowned. "I'm so glad, sweety pie, that you don't talk to him," she added, smiling widely in appreciation.

"Y-Yeah..." I smiled meekly.

Fuck My Life.

***

I came across Devon in the hallway when I went next door to read with Jackson. He was wearing a white t-shirt with charcoal colored denim jeans and jacket, the sleeves of which were rolled up to his elbows. As usual, he looked right through me and was heading out of the house.

My gazes went down to his feet and as expected, his shoe laces were undone.

"Your shoe laces, you haven't tied them," I said.

"I know. So?"

"So tie them. Else they will knock you down just like you knock people down with your rash driving," I said sweetly.

Devon rolled his eyes at my taunt. "The Sun rose in the sky, the moon fell off the sky, The President went on rallies, I went to jail and came back but still, you haven't got creative with your silly remarks. Long time, no progress."

I scowled hard at him. That was so damn mean of him!

"Funny that being behind bars for a night didn't inspire you to start being a good person," I said, narrowing my eyes into slits.

"Funny that you thought it would," Devon drawled nonchalantly.

Argg!!

He started towards the door but just as he was walking past me, he tripped over his shoe laces. I clutched him tightly by the arm and prevented him from falling down.

"For someone who has a notorious reputation in the neighborhood and also on the road, it's funny you don't know something as basic as tying your laces," I ridiculed him.

Devon shot me a grumpy look, straightened himself and pulled his hand away from my grip.

"I know to tie my laces. But it's my wish if I want to tie them or not," he said.

I rolled my eyes and he strode past me. Right then, I heard a thud behind me. I turned around and saw that Devon had fallen down flat on his face on the carpet.

I walked over to him and gave him my hand but he ignored it and got up to his feet on his own. It was quite evident that he was struggling to hide how mortified he was of his fall.

"Let me tie your laces for you," I offered.

He was about to speak but I interrupted, "Can't you for once keep quiet and listen? Honestly, Jackson comes across as mature compared to you."

That seemed to have done the job. Devon stood glancing sideways without another blunt word or argument. Smiling to myself, I got down on one knee and tied his shoe laces.

When I stood up again and saw the nonchalance on his face, I felt resentment rising up my spin.

"Why did you have to go to jail for the fucking second time?!! Why is so difficult for you to act in a civilized manner?!! Do you even realize how big of a problem you could've been in??!! It's tolerable to some extent that you're reckless with your words but atleast don't be like that with your actions!!" I fired at him.

Devon clearly didn't like being shouted at. "What you're doing is called pretending to care!!" he said, grouchily.

"No it's called really caring!!" I retorted.

"Liar Lair Sanchez on fire!!"

"Luke and I broke up!!" I blurted out in anger.

Suddenly we had stopped yelling at each other and there was a dead silence that lasted for quite some time. Devon's mouth was hanging open and he was gaping at me with a blank expression.

It's not everyday that you get to make Devon Parker speechless so when you do, enjoy the time in the hall of fame.

Devon didn't take long to regain his composure. "Also tell me the date when you're going to patch up with him."

Now it was time for my mouth to hand open. "I'm not!! It's all over once and for all!! He's a pig! I'm not going back to him!!"

"From my experience I can tell that it's not advisable to believe in girls with names starting with an E."

"For someone who has got his shoe laces tied by me, you have no other choice but to believe in me," I blurted out, unable to come up with anything else.

He just walked off. Which got me so annoyed and frustrated. But somewhere in my head a voice told me that I deserved it. I hung my head.

"Hey, Eleanor, are you okay? You look stressed." I looked up to see Mr. Parker.

I sighed, "It's just that Devon--"

"Devon? What about him?" Mr. Parker's face wrinkled in deep despair. "What did he do now? Did he cause problems again somewhere? Is anyone harmed because of his doings?"

"No, no Mr. Parker! Relax!" I said hurriedly to soothe him. "I was just saying that Devon should drive carefully 'cause cop business is a shitty business."

To tell the truth, I felt pity for Mr. Parker. He is in constant worry due to his wayward son. The way Devon has been behaving since the last couple of weeks, Mr. Parker just couldn't have one moment of peace 'cause he feared that if he lost his alertness even for a second, Devon would create some situation or the other.

Mr. Parker sighed, a sad sigh, "Hopefully Devon is obediently doing his community service hours," he said.