Bad decisions

ch. 18

ELI'S POV
After I got home I went up to my room, turned "The Eden Project" on pandora, lit incense, and smoked. I kinda just laid there numb while the music surrounded my body. What if what I did wasn't enough? He is older than me and probably more experienced too. maybe I should do more for him... but I also don't wanna peer pressure myself into a situation like that.. it might not end well. I'll just have to take my time and do things at my own pace. If he doesn't like it then oh well. That's his problem not mine. Bzzzz bzzz.
I looked over at my phone. A mass text from Shawn for a party tonight at Olivia's. Perfect thats exactly what I needed to get my mind off things for the time being.  Olivia's rich kid friends looking for a good high and Shawn who always invites me to make bank, and bums pot off me... which kinda equals itself out in a way. Besides I should probably talk to him since the last time was a bit awkward.
  Shawn texted me telling me to get ready and he'd come get me so I decided to take a quick shower and get dressed to go out. For me that means skinny jeans, a nice t shirt, and a zip up jacket I leave unzipped nothing fancy. I heard a honk outside telling me it was time to go. I grabbed my stash, a few pre rolls, and headed out the door and into the car with Shawn.

BRAIDENS POV
I went on my lunch break and thought about how that conversation would go with Eli.
'Hey Eli my boss thinks it's a good idea for you to have a mentor and maybe join a minors program that'll basically secure your future to becomes apart of some criminal justice thing. You just have to stop smoking pot and recruit some of your people...." like that's gonna work... I do want him to stay out of trouble and have a better future.. but how do I go about that? Someone sitting next to me broke my frustrated thinking.
"Careful braiden, you think any harder you might just burn a hole through the table."
"Ah sorry mayze..."
"Whats got that pretty little face of yours all bent? I don't think I've seen that look on your face since exam week in highschool haha."  Mayze and I were top students, rivals if you will. Always battling it out for highest test scores. He was always ahead of me though in everything. That was till police academy came. He was still ahead of me in everything but for some reason they chose me as head and him as an underling. He ended up in a different division. Same building, same supervisor's, same boss, but I was ahead this time. Somewhere along that time we decided we were no longer rivals, especially since we were playing for the same team of being in the criminal justice feild we had to learn to be partners.
"The chief wants me to recruit this kid for a minors mentoring program but I'm not sure how to go about doing that.. or if this kid really even needs it."
"Well why don't you tell me about this kid and I'll see if I can't help."
I proceded to tell him all I knew
"I'm sorry!? this kid had the teachers doing him favors, an amazing GPA, takes care of his family, but also  distributes pot, smokes it, has a Police record, and has friends with auto theft backgrounds? Geesh I need a water." He stood up and got a water from one of the outside vending machines then came and sat back down "and let me get this straight you're not sure he even needs a mentor?" He started SAS clapping his hands "Hunny.. HUN-nay.. this child, this grown ass child needs therapy mkay. It sounds like he's got high standards he wants his family to see but is surrounding himself with lowlives to feel more normal."
"I guess?" He slammed his water down
"You guess? No hunny that ain't gonna work. Get up."
"Excuse me?"  He started walking over to me
"Get up, stop making excuses, and do what the big boss man wants you to do. Sounds like this Eli kid has indeed taken a liking to you. Use that. Take him under your wing like a baby bird, force feed him like one too if you have to." He turned me around and gave me a slight shove. "Finish up work, run your errands, do whatever you have to but you definitely need to try to recruit this kid before he turns 18 child. The laws don't care about his GPA or his family. He needs to be on the right track braiden!" I started walking away slightly confused "like yesterday booboo!" I got back inside and was still processing what just happened.
After I clocked out I texted Eli that we needed to talk but no answer so I decided I'd go to the gym to work out for 30 minutes... still no reply.. then hit the swimming pool for 30... still no reply so I just headed home. I took a much needed shower and put on Grey sweatpants and an army green t shirt to head over to Eli's in. I tried calling him twice and I knew his family was gonna be out visiting his mom's sister for a few days so him not answering his cellphone even after I called made me worry.
When I got there all the lights were off and no one answered. The key was hidden under a rock by the mailbox so I grabbed it out and unlocked the door. I turned the hallway light on and walked into braidens room where I saw he left his phone on his bed. Where did he go without his phone and who did he go with? I couldn't leave his house till I knew he was alright.
Bzzz bzzz. I looked over at his phone for a split second.  No braiden you can't go looking at his texts... but what if he's hurt or getting into trouble? I kept trying to ignore my thoughts but the more I did that the louder they seemed to get till I eventually grabbed his phone. Password? What would he have as a password?
L- I -l- l -y  I pressed enter on his sister being his password...No?
B-R-A-I-D-E-N it unlocked
"Awe" I said outloud to myself then pulled down his notifications
Jason: are you going to Olivia's party? I wanna talk to you about something that's been on my mind.
Shawn: I'm outside hurry up
Areil: meet you at Olivia's?
My blood boiled a bit remembering the trouble Jason and Areil got him into... and shawn.... I just really don't like his lack of space bubbles when it comes to Eli. I opened up his texts and saw the most recent one that was open was a mass text from Olivia. A party that conveniently had an address attached. He only left about 2 hours ago..  I typed the address into my GPS and headed that way to check in on him and make sure he was OK. And that Shawn wasn't trying anything funny.