Matching Rings [h.s]

62

POV: BAYLIN GRIGGS

"How old are you, sweetie?" Alice asks the younger boy who's sitting on the couch beside me, his emotions disoriented at how worried he is for his brother.

"Fourteen." Ricky answers, his knee bouncing up and down.

Detective Williams and Officer Hill got here no more than ten minutes ago. Hill was looking around the apartment, under Ricky's permission, while Alice was questioning the rest of us.

"And your parents? Are they around?" The detective asks the frightened boy.

"Um, no. No, it's just me and Zayn. He's registered as my guardian."

Alice is sitting on top of the short dark wood coffee table that lays in front of the couch. She has her hands folded as she leans on her knees, thinking about what to do.

"You have no one to stay with? No other family members?" She asks, tugging at her lip.

Ricky shakes his head no.

Ricky is underage, like I was. He'll be forced to be put into a foster home if he has no family to take him in for the time being. I was going to offer for Jim to take him, but I don't want to put Ricky at risk for anything. Besides, it won't be for too long because Zayn isn't 'missing', he's just-

"He can stay with us, my mom won't mind I'm sure." Liam buds in, sitting on the other side of me.

"I'm sorry but it has to be a relative or we'll be obligated to put him into a temporary foster solution." She declines, flickering her eyes between Ricky and Liam.

"Detective," Liam starts, "It's really no problem with my family, I'd be happy to help. I've known the kid for years, he's practically family anyway."

I know Liam was doing this because we don't want Ricky to have to be put into the system when it'll be such a short amount of time. We still don't know if Zayn being... misplaced, has anything to do with the letters. God I hope not.

Alice pulls out her phone, getting ready to make a call, "I'm sorry there really isn't anything I can-"

"Please." Liam put his hand on her phone and pushed it down as if to put out of her view of vision, "Pull some strings?"

Alice scans Liams features, his big brown eyes making it hard to turn him down. He used to use those with me, worked every time. It's like telling a puppy they can't have any more treats— it's impossible to say no to him.

Of course his begging eyes worked. Alice signs, she puts her phone away and begins to speak. "I can't believe I'm going to allow this, I can get fired you know."

Ricky and Liam exchange a glance with each other, silently thanking the situation. I was relieved too, a bit jealous as well. I would have given anything to go live with Liam rather than a foster home, but mine was a little more permanent than this so I can understand.

"Keep quiet about it, don't even let Officer Hill know. He'll narc in a second, he's very strict when it comes to minors and where they get sent off." She lowers her voice and makes sure Officer Hill is nowhere to be seen. "But if this lasts any longer than a week we're taking him to a proper home. Understood?"

It won't take longer than a week, we'll find Zayn in no time. He's a smart kid, he can get out of any situation he's in.

We all nod to her, letting her know we understand.

Liam goes off to make the call to let his family know what is going on, I can hear his mom jabber her worries through the muffled speaker. Liam's mom is a sweetheart, I can't imagine her not wanting to help out Ricky. Especially after knowing the family for so long.