Land.

The next day, Monday after school, I went to work with Luke again. It was, again, a lot of testing but mostly on the alchemists’ side. They’d confirmed that the original prototypes we had made were safe and functional, but they believed there were ways to improve the quality. The thing that they had me do was use my magic every three steps of the potion making process instead of only once at the end.

Luke seemed concerned that I’d grow tired, but it really wasn’t bad. I’d say I felt the drain more than the first time, but I didn’t even feel lightheaded. Reading minds was infinitely more taxing.

I really don’t have much to say about the process itself. I was pretty much sitting there waiting for my turn to do what I was told. I was paying attention to what the alchemists did, but it was hard to understand. Like, even with chemistry you see reactions happen when you mix things, but here the reactions were either very subtle, didn’t happen at all or happened at the very end. Knowing what it was they did to the potion components was also really difficult.

This was a short day of testing. It was only an hour or so, and the reason for that was that Luke and I had plans for the rest of the day. At 5:20 pm, after waiting a couple of minutes for Diana to finish her shift, we got our things ready and the three of us got in Luke’s car, a tuned, iconic, beautiful and spotless blue rally car.

“You drive in rally races?” I asked him with a raised eyebrow.

He laughed. “Oh, no. I’m not that good a driver. I just really like this car, and since we’ll be driving out of town I felt like it was the right choice today.”

Should’ve know.

“Alice would cry if she heard that,” Diana whispered to me from the back seat.

Yes she would.

“Well, Oliver, let’s begin. Your girls will meet us at the first location, right? Are you ready?”

“Still doesn’t feel real, but yes. I’m ready.”

With that, we drove off to the first of three places we were going to visit. My heart was pounding hard, mostly out of excitement but also from nerves.

You’ve probably figured it out by now, but we were going to check out the plots Luke had found. We were going to see them in person and I asked the girls to come with us. They’d meet us at the first location, then we’d drive to the second and finally to the farthest one.

“Thank you for doing this, Mr. Allen,” Diana said politely, saying what was on my mind. “You really didn’t have to.”

“Diana, we’ve kept a professional distance so far because it was appropriate, but now your boyfriend and I are good friends! Please, just call me Luke.”

We were good friends? I mean, I wasn’t about to step in and deny it, and I certainly didn’t have anything against Luke, but it had been too short a time to call us friends. But… Hey, whatever. I wasn’t against it, only a little apprehensive to call such a rich and influential person a friend.

The first plot of land was still in the outskirts of the city but the closest to the city center and a kilometer away from the main road back. We parked close by and stepped outside.

The others weren’t here yet so we went ahead and checked out the place.

“...” I looked around. The perimeter was marked by a wire fence, showing it was plenty of space. A LOT of space, actually. Maybe too much. As it should be, it was empty, too. The land was… dry and a sort of gray-ish brown. Even the weeds growing around were almost dead.

Luke clicked his tongue. “This is terrible,” he said. “The pictures shown must’ve been from years ago. This place is ugly.”

“Hmm, yes,” Diana agreed. “But considering it’ll be built upon, the look of the land matters little. The issue is space.” She turned to me. “I know you want a big house, but this plot is big enough for a hotel or an event center. Unless you’d like to build something like four or five basketball courts behind your house, I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Yes, but it’s also the closest to town,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “And I suppose the space could be used later to build another, smaller house if necessary. I bet Sarah would like to have a pool, too.”

And speak of the devil… Just as I said that, we heard Sarah’s SUV getting closer. Behind it was Alice’s car, surprisingly. She rarely took it out for everyday things. It used to be because she was keeping it a secret, but now it was mainly because it was only a two-seater.

Mila and Grace were with Sarah in her car while Noelle was with Alice. The redhead came out with a huge grin on her face.

“It’s so cool!” she told her friend. “And it feels so smooth!”

Alice chuckled. “Thanks.”

“That IS a beautiful car, miss,” Luke told her as the group approached. “Those wheels look brand new, too.”

“A-Ah, yes…” Alice smiled, but it was clear she was caught off guard. She knew OF Luke Allen, but had yet to meet him face to face. The same was true of Sarah, Grace and Noelle. “Um… I was putting those on before we came here, so I went to pick up Noelle in it,” she explained.

I made the introductions, but the girls still felt a bit uncomfortable around Luke. And of course they did. It wasn’t like the guy suddenly got rid of his shady aura. I was just able to look past it now.

“So?” I asked them. “What do you think of this place?”

“Isn’t it too big?” Sarah asked after they gave the place a good look.

“Yeah,” Grace said, nodding. “That’s what makes the price similar to the other two, right? Still, it could have its uses eventually,” she told me.

“Yes, I was thinking the same,” I told her.

Noelle and Mila looked at each other with mirrored grimaces and utter silence at my question.

“What is it?” I asked them. “You don’t like this place?”

“Don’t blame you,” Luke said. “I wouldn’t build a house here, either.”

“N-No, it’s not that. I think the place is fine. It’s also the closest to the city,” Noelle said. “But…”

“Are you sure we should be meddling, Oliver?” Mila asked. “I mean… It’s your house. You should be choosing whatever you like.”

“Yeah, it feels weird,” Alice agreed with a small, wry smile. “This is your chance to get the house of your dreams, isn’t it? We don’t want to get in the way of that.”

Remember when just yesterday they asked me what I was talking about? When I said I felt inadequate for not putting in the effort to enjoy parties? Well, it was my turn to return the sentiment.

“What are you talking about?” I asked them. “The only reason I want a big house is because I want to live with you all. You have as much say on this as I do. If I was alone I could be locked in a one-room apartment for the rest of my life and probably be okay with it. If I had a PC with internet and a guitar, that is.” Then I turned around to look at Diana behind me. “And that includes you, okay?”

Hey eyes widened at being addressed.

“I’m not saying you should move in with us the moment the house is done,” I told her. “I know it’s too soon to be talking about that. But even so… I’m including you, so start thinking about something you’d like the house to have, okay?”

“I…” Diana blushed and looked away from me. “F-Fine, I will.”

The other girls didn’t say anything else regarding that, but they did seem more at ease. And with the freedom to express their opinions, they all agreed on one thing: This plot was probably not it.