Freaks

15- Apologies & Promises

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They greet Malakai at the door, he walks up sluggishly with Aster following behind, her hair down and wet from a shower.

Malakai holds a bag up in the air, "Got some snacks."

"Guess that'll make up for the missed calls." Luka comments, taking the bag from him as they both walk through.

"I was hoping it would. I am sorry though, we were at the police station all night. We took naps but we didn't get to go home until five hours ago."

"Didn't find her?" Harper asks.

"Nope." They both respond.

Malakai slumps into a chair at the dining table, "But enough about sleep deprivation." He looks across the room, "How's your leg?"

"Great." Harper thins out her lips.

Aster sneers at him and hugs Harper, "I'm sorry you had to go through that Harp."

She hugs her back and shrugs, considering what Jackson had told her recently, "Now I have better pain tolerance."

Aster removes herself and giggles, taking Harper's arm to walk to the table. Luka digs out random bags of chips and cold bottled drinks while Malakai opens his.

Luka sits beside Malakai, "We should really start keeping food here. Never thought I'd be stuck in the middle of the woods for a whole night."

"Never thought I'd be the one having to apologize for that." He pops a chip in his mouth.

Aster sits across from him, "You could've been here for them if you didn't come back for us."

He gives a lazy smile to Luka and hands her a drink.

"So did you forget to get us after you left the station?" Luka starts up but the feeling of the room is mildly humorous, Harper watches them with a hidden smile.

"No." He lands a drink to Harper, "I figured you two were already asleep. I didn't mind going home and explaining some things to my dad before I crashed."

"You told him?" Luka asks with a mouth full of food, "How much?"

"Yeah...uh...basically everything. He said as long as I didn't almost die then it doesn't matter. I didn't tell him the part where I had a gun held to my head. But I told him everything else and that Alice wasn't found, actually, he was the one who suggested I stay home because of that."

"That's smart of you. Now someone else knows that we were there. As if we didn't already have Jackson to worry about. Harper's mom might find out later too, we only need so many people until one tells on us and we get caught lying."

"Jackson won't say shit. And my dad's a good liar, nobody can get into his head, where do you think I got it from?"

"Definitely not him. Anyone could get through your mushy brain."

"Try me."

Luka blinks tiredly at him. Someone yawns. They make chatter with the sounds of food in their mouths. Malakai leans his head back and closes his eyes with a loud sigh. Aster snaps chips in half inside the bag.