Come back to me

Chapter 3

When they got to Chip's house, Dale parked the car near the driveway as both got out of the car to Dale's shocked surprise at what house actually looked like.

It was only a small brown-bricked one-story place with a white guarded gate around the property as if Chip was living the normal middle-class life.

Chip then walked over to the keypad and placed in his passcode for the gate to open.

"Now, I know it's not the grandest thing in the world, but it is home. So make yourself comfortable." Chip added, modestly while opening the gate and the front door to the house.

Once the two went inside, he closed the door behind him and hung up his jacket on a coat rack so that he could cool off from the summer heat.

While Dale on the other hand, immediately ran towards the brown leather couch in the living room, near the fireplace, with speed.

"Alright! Couch time!" Dale yelled out as he flopped over the furniture with his feet digging into the leather.

"Ah. Ah. Feet off the couch and sit up straight, please. You're not raised in a barn, you know." Chip said, annoyed.

"Ugh. Fine. Yes, mother." Dale complained with his eyes rolled while complying to his request, lazily.

"Man, this place really feels compacted and it's so small. Why didn't you get a bigger house? Or at least a mansion? You could even have enough money to get a condo, if you wanted to." Dale asked, curiously while laying back and sprawling his arms out.

"Because, I like it here. It's already got enough room for me and it's comfy. Unlike you, I'm not into fancy rich stuff. I happen to have good taste in home decor" Chip explained as he turned on the air conditioner for the house.

"I see. Well, in that case, if this is your place, then where is..." Dale was fixing to ask, before his question was suddenly answered by a familiar noise from behind him.

Woof!

The sound barked happily as Dale immediately turned around and sees the dog staring right at him with its gorgeous brown eyes through the gated area of the house, since it was too small for the life sized dog.

"Oh! So this is why nobody ever visits your house, often. Who's a good doggie? That's right, you are." Dale said sweetly with a babyish sound in his tone while patting the top of its head, gently.

The dog replied happily by licking Dale with its tongue until he was completely covered in saliva.

Chip then turned around and immediately laughs when he sees poor Dale gapping at his soaked clothes.

"Now Millie. I want you to behave nicely towards our guest. We don't want to scare him now do we?" Chip loosely warned to the dog with a chuckle in his tone as he quickly hands Dale a towel from the kitchen to get some of the dog slobber off of him.

"Millie? That's a cool name for a dog. How long have you had her?" Dale asked curiously while drying himself up.

Chip then stopped smiling and hung his head over, sadly.

"Oh...well after we got into it about your career that night at the party, I started to get really lonely and decided to adopt her to help keep me company. She was really the only thing I had left, after all those years." Chip informed as Dale placed the towel on the kitchen counter and lowered his smile down in distress.

"Right..... I forgot about that day." Dale said while rubbing his neck, guilty.

He still felt like that their long-termed tension wasn't quite resolved and tried to apologize for that old wound in their past.

"You know, I'm really sorry about that. I should have never took that offer in the first place. Otherwise...we wouldn't have lost touch with each other for so long." Dale said as Chip sighed and shook his head.

"Sigh. No, it wasn't your fault. You wanted something different in your life and I was just too selfish to accept it. Even everyone on the set supported the idea of you leaving the show to go solo, all except for me. Because I was afraid....of being alone again. Kind of like back when we were in grade school all over again." Chip said sadly while Dale looked over at him, with his heart dropping low.

He knew how much the separation had really affected Chip and no number of apologies could ever really make up for amount of years that they have wasted, all this time.

However, despite this hurtful mistake, he managed to smile halfway and reminded him of what went right, afterwards.

"Well...it wasn't all a lost. At least we found each other again and stuck around after that bootleg case. Which really said a lot about the friendship that we still have now." Dale said as Chip slowly looked directly at him, with both of their hearts racing high and their faces growing bright red.

Chip then, suddenly coughed from some of the heat and tried to avoid anymore emotions running in his head.

"*Ahem. I'm gonna grab a beer from the fridge, you want one?" Chip asked, hoping to change the subject a little, while gripping his arm tight, nervously.

He didn't want to make the situation any more awkward than it already is.

"Sure." Dale answered with a relieved smile as Chip pokes through and takes out two bottles of Heineken before closing back the fridge.

"Here." Chip said while handing one of the beers to him.

"Thanks." Dale said as Chip walks over to small sofa chair near the couch and sat down to join his friend by the fireplace.

The two then talked for what felt like several hours until the time came to be about 10:00 pm when Dale started to fall fast asleep in the mist of their conversation.

Chip had a soft smile on his face and started to chuckle a little at his sleepy friend as he leaned over and placed a nearby blanket lightly on Dale to help keep him warm.

Afterwards, he was also fixing to get ready to rest up in his own bed when suddenly he got a notification tip from a Social Media page on his phone and notices that the next possible target, which was the town's top lawyer, is now at the event party that Captain Steckler had mentioned to them before!

The party is tonight?!

Chip thought in a panic.

He didn't realize that it would be this soon.

But knows that if he doesn't take this now, then the next opportunity might be bit harder to find.

He has to go now, if he's going to see the rest of the event before it ends at midnight.

Should I....

Chip thought as he turns to Dale, who was sleeping soundly on the couch and shook his head.

He didn't want to disturb his friend so, he decided to go alone with the stakeout and took his jacket with him as he heads out the door with Dale's car keys a short plan in mind.

This shouldn't take long.

I'll just go scout the place out real quick to see if it's a lead.

And then I'll be back home, before even he wakes up.

Chip thought while hopping into Dale's car and drove off to the party.

Hoping to help both of them get closer to the truth.

Without ever knowing the serious dangers that are lying right ahead of him.