"I should've stopped him from going to that fucking party!"
"Calm down, okay. No one knew this would happen."
The two were seated at a waiting area. They were told that the Sheriff was on his way, but they'd been waiting for over two hours, now. It was almost 4AM and Killian was cold, starving and pissed off. Knowing Dennis, he probably heard from one of the officers that his nephew was here, so he was intentionally taking his time getting to the station.
"Still. He's a B.I.O.A.T."
"Excuse me?"
"Biggest Idiot Of All Time. The fucker invented that term on Monday."
West shot Killian a confused look, "Oh."
They saw a police cruiser pull up in the parking lot through the glass doors. Dennis exited, looking all smug with a huge grin on his face and a styrofoam cup of coffee in one hand.
"Your dad's the sheriff?"
"That's his asshole twin, Dennis."
"Jesus."
"Same."
Dennis pushed the glass doors open and headed straight for the boys. He side eyed West, then looked over at Killian and smiled.
"You look just like your mom--"
"We're here for our friend. Could you get him out?"
Dennis finally acknowledged West's presence then scrunched up his face as if his voice was the most irritating sound he'd ever heard. He went to the reception area and asked the officer over there to hand him Harper's file.
"Let's see...uh, your friend...Harper Graham," Dennis frowned, "Jake's kid? I have to inform him of this--"
"Please don't. We're gonna bail him out."
"Well, are you little boys over the age of 18?" Dennis jeered while doing a bad impression of a small child.
"No. But we're turning 18 soon."
"Okay grown men, Bail's $1500."
"WHAT?"
The door to the station opened again. Dennis's eyes shot to the man who walked in and he instantly straightened.
"Sheriff. Do we have a problem here?" The man asked as he walked over to Dennis and towered over him.
Dennis cleared his throat, then adjusted the collar of his shirt as if it was the one making it hard for him to get a proper sentence out of his mouth. "Uh, no-- these uh, boys are here for-- for Harper Graham."
The man glanced over at West and Killian who were looking anywhere but in his direction. He was an intimidating man.
Dennis handed the file to him. West didn't miss how their fingers brushed over each other, though. He sniffled a laugh when he saw Dennis's flushed face. He'd never seen his uncle blush before. Cute, but also horrifying. This must be Detective John whats-his-name, as Paul had once put it.
Johnson gave Harper's file a once-over and smirked before reading the details out loud.
"Harper Graham, aged 17, Arrested for Public indecency, disrupting the peace and underage drinking. Neighbors reports say they awoke to a nude and pale, ghost-like man parading on their flowerbeds and chanting profanities."
Everyone in the reception area went dead quiet. That didn't sound like Harper, yeah he was a bit on the crazy side, but this was new. Killian concluded that someone must've slipped some drugs into his alcohol. Or maybe he just drank more than he could handle.
"Can we see him?" West inquired after seeing that Killian was still in a state of shock.
Detective Johnson narrowed his eyes at West, who surprisingly looked him dead in the eye, then gestured with his head for the boys to follow him, leaving Dennis none too pleased.
The holding cells were dark and dingy and smelled like piss. Harper was a huge germaphobe, this was probably the worst three hours of his life. Detective Johnson spoke up when they were out of earshot. "You fellas seem like nice boys, so I'm gonna let your little friend off with a warning. Plus, I don't wanna stir up trouble with his father. But if I ever see y'all's faces around here again, y'all spending the night in my cells. Understood?"
West nodded vigorously, "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."
Detective Johnson pointed to the last cell then slipped into his office, probably to retrieve the keys. The boys walked the short distance and found Harper sitting cross-legged in the middle of the cell, dressed in a grey oversized jumpsuit that probably belonged to one of the janitors at the station.
"Fucking A. What took you so long?"
Killian glowered at Harper who got up from the floor and walked over to the bars. He grimaced when he saw West.
"The fuck is he doing here?"
West gave him a blank stare.
"He gave me a lift, douchebag. You can't just call people at fucking 2am and ask them to come bail you out."
"Isn't that what best friends are for?"
Killian looked over at West and made a face as if to ask 'is this guy serious?'. West folded his arms over his chest and shrugged.
Harper gripped the steel bars tightly and his knuckles turned white. "I don't get why you're upset. I'm the one in fucking jail!"
"Yeah? And who's fault is that?"
"It was just a stupid dare, alright? God."
Detective Johnson arrived with the keys dangling from his Police duty belt before Killian could get in another word.
"Alrighty. You're free to go."
"Thank fuck."
"Watch your language, young man."
"Yes ma'am." Harper responded innocently, Detective Johnson paused to glare at him, but all Harper did was grin sheepishly. He opened the cell and the boys left the police station soon after that.
West drove the boys to Killian's house 'cause Harper didn't want to get 'sucker punched' by his mom. He was always over exaggerating when it came to that woman.
He pulled into Killian's driveway, and Harper literally bolted out of the car before it could even stop.
Killian watched him with a sneer, then turned around to look at West. "Thanks for this."
"S'okay."
"So uhm, I'll be busy this weekend, football practice and all. I've been missing a lot of those, anyway."
"That's cool."
"Yeah. I have a game on Monday. And you're coming this time." Killian asserted. They were Friends now. Friends watched each other's football games. Granted, West didn't play football. He had never played a sport in his life. But skateboarding was a sport. Sort of.
"Of course."
Killian gave West a half-smile, he wasn't expecting him to give in so easily 'cause he had declined coming to his last football game. "Good."
"Yes."
"Goodnight, Weston."
"The sun is literally rising, but okay."
"Shut up."
West inclined his head which caused strands of hair to come lose and rest on the sides of his face. "Okay."
Without thinking, Killian extended his hand and tucked a lock of dark hair behind West's ear then rested his hand on his cheek, slowly stroking the area with the pad of his thumb.
West leaned into his touch, but closed his eyes when Killian tried to hold his gaze.
Killian's eyes were as blue as the sky. They were the heavens that you someday wanted to call home. They also resembled the treacherous sea, if you weren't careful enough, you would drown in their depths. "Please go."
Killian dropped his hand, then let out a deep sigh, "I couldn't, even if I wanted to."
He exited West's car and watched as he drove away into the sunrise.
----
"HARPER IVAN GRAHAM!" Killian yelled from the doorway.
Harper tore his face from inside of the fridge, then scowled. "Shhhhhh, your family is asleep upstairs."
"Don't shush me! This is my house!"
"Then don't fucking scream. I'm in no mood to deal with Linda's wrath."
Killian watched as Harper took out ingredients from the fridge to make sandwiches. He intentionally shut the front door with a bang which in turn, startled Harper. "Okay, what is your problem, man?"
Killian raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything as he collapsed on the three seater couch, with Harper following soon after with two Lettuce, ham and mayo sandwiches.
"Y'know, I'm kinda growing into this jumpsuit. It's warm and cozy and there's space to move around, unlike those skinny jeans we wear 24/7. I think I'm gonna buy--"
"What happened today, Harper?"
"I got arrested. No big deal." He shrugged.
"Big deal. Very big deal. Were you drunk or some shit when you did what they said you did?"
Harper rolled his eyes, "Yes, I was drunk. But I knew what I was doing."
"You've never broken the law before, Harper. Is this about Mr Jensen? What really happened between you two?"
"What?" Harper exclaimed as he abruptly stood from the couch. "Not everything is about him. It was a dare, Killian. A tough one which unfortunately lead to my arrest, but I did it."
"You didn't have to."
"Yeah? And let the team remind me every single day that I backed out from a dare?"
Killian looked at Harper incredulously. "That's what this is about?"
"You may be dumb enough to take their shit but I won't. I'm not a fucking pussy. Matter of fact, that's why people walk all over you. Because you let them."
Harper let out a bitter laugh, "Y'know, I can't wait for the day Weston breaks your heart. Cause that what's they all do ain't it? Fuck and go like you're some kind of... I don't know... fuck station! And as usual, you'll come running back to me like you always do, then I'll have to pretend I give a fuck, even though I warned you about every single one of those fucking guys, like I always do! You're too gullible. The world is no place for people like you. It will eat you up and spit you out."
"Harper..." Killian gasped, his voice slightly breaking.
"Fuck you, Killian." He snarled. "Fuck these fucking sandwiches too. Tastes fucking horrible." Harper threw his plate across the room and shot a glass-eyed Killian a wry look before storming out of the house, slamming the door on his way out.
"Killian? What's all this noise about?" A sleepy Linda asked from the top of the stairs.
Oh, nothing. Just the sound of my heart shattering into a million pieces.
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