Lance rolled his eyes again:
"Aren't you an idler yourself? Also, why are you caring so much about this shop? It is not like you are lacking money."
He didn't wait for an answer he already knew would hit him in the heart like a sharp arrow and continued after moistening his throat:
"There will be a racing party tonight."
Alex nodded without taking his eyes off his game:
"Oh."
Then, there was no additional reaction.
Lance froze, then felt indignant:
"Oh!? That's all!?"
Tyler looked at the exchange while holding back a laugh. It was always entertaining being with those two. He looked down at the cup of cold drink he was playing with for a moment, then looked up at Alex across from him. As he did so, the latter glanced at him, then returned his calm gaze to the screen of his phone.
Alex spoke:
"Speak. It seems like what has been bothering you these past few days is still there."
His voice cut through the indignation he was ignoring, and also made Lance pause, then glance at Tyler. The latter simply smiled, not helpless, nor bitter:
"I won't be competing tonight, I will only be going as a spectator. Not being reckless anymore was part of my deal with my mother to get some more time for myself."
Lance's face fell, then he went quiet. He looked at Tyler, who looked to have accepted the way things had become, then looked down at his drink, but only for a second. In the next instant, he raised his cup and drained it of its content in one go, looking more depressed, or rather, more defeated, than disappointed, and once again regretting the lack of alcohol.
His behavior made the other two look at him. He exhaled, then looked up to find the curious gazes on him, and immediately defended himself:
"I'm free and unfettered. I didn't hash out any deal!"
Alex raised his eyebrows, while Tyler looked at him with a deep smile in his gaze. Lance squirmed on his seat, and turned his head to the side. He muttered in a voice whose vigor had taken a noticeable nosedive:
"I really didn't make any deal. I escaped. And I will be staying outside for the next few months."
But those words only made the looks in his friends' eyes more peculiar, because:
"You are not worried about having your cards frozen and your support cut off?"
Lance glanced at Alex, then let go of any feeling of embarrassment. He casually leaned back, his posture open and a smile on his lips:
"I know my father, he will not take such drastic measures immediately. He will give me three months before doing anything."
Tyler pointed out with a laugh:
"You don't know your father, you know your mother. She is the reason why you will get three months more to play."
Lance's lips curled up with pride as he raised his chin:
"I'm a mama boy, after all. I get some privileges. Anyway, who here isn't one?"
Alex simply shook his head:
"You are hopeless. At least, try not to send your father to the hospital."
The comment made Lance's pride collapse, and a helpless smile appeared on his face:
"I know he is doing it for my own good, and I know that I should start doing something productive with my life, but I just can't seem to find the motivation to live the same life as him. We are rich enough already."
The complaint in Lance's tone was sincere enough that his two friends knew he was not lying. With everything so easy to get, what more was there to strive for? Becoming the richest or the most powerful? Empty goals, because, for how long? A few years? A few decades? Maybe it would be enjoyable for some, but not for him who was already quite content.
After a whole life of everything going smoothly, he really found it hard to muster the same determination as his parents and elders to work hard. He couldn't exactly strive against fate when it was being so smooth, could he?
Lance exhaled, and looked at Alex with a miserable smile:
"Can you take the first step and let me follow you?"
Alex looked at Lance, then disinterestedly returned his attention to his phone before replying to the blond in a calm tone:
"It has been twenty years since we first met. Until when are you going to keep following me?"
Lance passed his hand through his hair and smiled sheepishly:
"Hehe… Maybe you were born a leader and I was born a follower? No, 'your' follower!"
Alex rolled his eyes, and stopped pushing. Without looking away from his phone, he returned to the previous subject:
"You want to compete tonight. Have you fixed the GT whose engine you wrecked last time? Or do you want to wreck another car?"
As Lance's lips twitched, Tyler also followed with a laugh:
"I also don't understand. You have no talent in racing, but you insist on racing on the circuit. Are you torturing yourself, your cars, or us who have to suffer from watching you every time?"
The embarrassment climbing up the blond's face immediately flew away as he flew into a rage:
"Bullshit! It is you guys who are always scheming against me, bullying me just because you are–"
"Better?"
"More talented?"
Looking at Alex's smile and Tyler's teasing smirk filled with amusement, Lance scoffed:
"Tch, why not just say you guys are freakishly talented, each more than the other? I'm not talking to you guys anymore. Anyway, with you taking an out, Alex won't be competing much anymore. The circuit will be boring without you guys. And I have the talent, but just less than you two."
There was a moment when none of the three friends said anything. Lance had his head lowered, looking somewhat dejected while playing with his cup. Tyler had his cup to his lips, taking little sips of its content as his eyes carried a somewhat distant look between wistfulness and melancholy. Alex looked at the two men, his lips almost twitching. He had been on his own leisurely self, only for those two to come taint his comfortable corner with a thick haze of depression.
He put his phone down with a helpless look and stood up with an exhale. He signalled Gaelle over with a wave of his hand, and turned to look at the two sources of the haze over his previous light mood:
"Alright, you guys are looking too pitiful. Let's go, I will help you find some light to illuminate the darkness in your lives."
"Oh? Alex Alexander Kenneth Lenner, have you illuminated your own life yet? If so, please do enlighten me on how you are planning to live it. And I hope it is not by remaining reckless until death, because in that case I will not be able to report to your mother the chairwoman."