Impress Me Not: The Architect

Chapter 46

He was his first and only call. It wasn't a number he recognized but Valentino answered it anyway. He had been all nerves waiting for some kind of call from him. He was supposed to come over to his place that night. He was expecting a call to explain where he was at least. He just wasn't expecting it be from a jail cell.

What the hell happened?! That was the true mystery of all this. That was partially why Valentino was racing over there. That, and the fact that he was worried as hell about him.

"You really like him, don't you?" Lou asked the day they were cleaning up from Christmas.

"Shut up," he muttered, taking down the lights.

"Come on, Salty," Lou chuckled. "You're going to have to admit it some day soon."

He hated when his brother started talking like that. Lou was the sappy kind of guy who loved romance and all the stuff that came with it. It surprised Valentino that some broad hadn't buckled him down or anything just because of that right there. He was great at telling people how he felt, especially when he was...

Valentino, on the other hand, was the opposite of that. He didn't exactly do romance, and he was awful at telling anyone his feelings. Take what happened the first argument that Valentino and Casimir had, for example. It took him almost exploding with stress to finally say that he needed space and time to himself. And that was after almost breaking up with the man.

He was an idiot with emotions, but that was besides the point. All thoughts flew out of his head as he got to the police station. It didn't take long for the officers to know who he was talking about. He hadn't been in there for that long. The receptionist seemed shocked that someone was willing to get him so quickly, let alone pay the bail to get him out.

"This is your first time with us," the officer unlocked the bared door to let him through. "Some advice: make it your last, son. Next time you might not be so lucky."

"Thank you, Officer," Casimir nodded to him. He didn't look like he had been roughed up too much. His clothes were a little dirty and wrinkled, but the rest of him was still intact and unbruised. And that was all Valentino cared about. Casimir finally turned to look at him, giving him a sad smile. He looked troubled. Much more troubled than Valentino had seen before on the man.

They both walked out of the place in silence, neither speaking until they got into the car. It was possibly the tensest silence he had felt in a long time.

"You want to go to your place?" he asked, turning his car back on.

"No," Casimir shook his head. "Just take me anywhere, I don't care."

He understood that emotion. The roads were his therapy when he was upset. They winded and twisted and never ended. He didn't have to tell it how he was feeling, he could just show it by going down those empty roads all he wanted, and it understood him. So, he drove through the roads, hoping that it would help Casimir like it always seemed to help him.

"I'm sorry, Valentino," he finally spoke, rubbing his temples. "I'll pay you back as soon as the bank opens tomorrow."

"Mir," Valentino let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "Don't worry about it."

"I'm serious," he looked over to him with guilt written all over his face. "I'm sorry for putting you in this situation. The least I can do is pay you back."

"I don't care about the money," Valentino shook his head. He didn't know where he was driving to, he just drove down the sleek roads. It had been sprinkling that night. "I care about what the hell happened that got you in jail, Mir. How about you repay me with that?"