"I fucking love her, okay?! That's why I was kissing her!" Reyn yelled at Bradley, "You happy!? I'm in fucking love with her!"
"I'm just trying to protect you, you don't know what she's like," Bradley's voice was exceedingly calmer than Reyn's, which was ironic since he had started this.
"I know what Fiona and Britney were like," He quipped back, "And all that time I spent with Fiona stopped me from seeing how incredible Cori is... I was stopped from loving her,"
"Listen Reyn, I knew Fiona a lot better than you ever did, and I'll know Cori a lot better than you ever will," Bradley sighed, running a hand through his hair, "You don't understand how messy this is,"
"How did you know Fiona? She was my girlfriend,"
"Was she?" Bradley just looked away, unaffected.
"Okay, not officially but look, you're just fucking with my head!"
"Boys, what's going on?" Cori emerged from the main entrance to the club, not overly alarmed, "Is everything okay, Bradley?"
"Yeah, I'm just saying goodbye to Reyn here," Bradley gestured to him, and he just gawked back in confusion.
"It's good to see you," She said, "I wasn't expected to show,"
"Happy birthday, Cori," He gave her a half smile.
"Thanks," She returned it, then turned to Reyn, "Hey, you should head down to J's, I'll see you in a bit," He was then gifted with a kiss from her, but her open eyes were locked with Bradley's, "Bye," She smiled at Reyn and ran back into the club again.
"Bye," Bradley shock his head and walked past Reyn, who stared after him, still confused.
"Where are you going? You can't just-"
"I'm going for a drink, if that's okay," Bradley sighed, not stopping. He was halfway down the road when Reyn decided to follow him. By the time he walked through the doors of the pub, Bradley was nowhere to be seen. He could've been in the smoking area, or upstairs, or in some crevice that escaped Reyn's squinting eyes.
"You alright, son?" Joseph looked at the worrisome boy from over the counter, "Need a drink?"
"Yes please," He had spoken without really hearing himself, "Um... yeah, please. Just larger please," He sat himself down at the bar, somewhere easy for Cori to spot him once she arrived.
"No worries, Joseph kept cautious eyes on him as he pulled him a pint, " Trixie, please use the ashtrays for your dead cigarettes," He called over to the table of usual suspects.
"I am!" She called back jokingly.
"She's lying, she put it in my glass!" Victor yelled, earning a playful shove from the brunette.
"Leave her be, she smokes outside like the rest of you," Elliott tsked them, though laughing himself.
"How's the washing powder sales going?" Spike asked her, smirking at the very thought of it.
"A bit stagnant," She shrugged, "He was supposed to buy some this evening but never showed,"
"Maybe he's actually working," Peter chortled to himself.
"Yeah maybe," Victor joined him.
Elliott was only there to be with Trixie. Victor was okay, he liked him. Spike and Peter were annoying and offensive when they were together. And Ebony was after going off on a night out with Elliott's ex. Which was fine, of course, but a bit weird. Elliott sat there a wondered why she stayed there with them every night. Some times they did nothing but offend her. They weren't her friends. But they had to be. She didn't have anyone else. Elliott got up from his seat to stretch his back but accidentally bumped into a passing Cleo.
"Oh hey," She smiled at him, in pleasant surprise.
"Hey, Cleo," He turned around so he could speak to her properly, "How's your investigating going?"
"Getting there, I think," She chuckled, "I mean, plenty of pieces missing from the puzzle. You wouldn't have seen or heard anything, would you?"
Elliott went quiet a moment, then pushed lightly on her arm.
"Let's go outside," He said.
"I'll get John," Cleo nodded and they both headed for the smoking area, picking up John on the way.
"You have information then?" He looked at Elliott with something like sternness that was trying to mask excitement.
"Two days ago, right? I was at work and Thomas, that lawyer, came in to meet with Lexi," He started, "He just overheard something that might be important or something,"
"Well go on," Cleo wanted to gently nudge him into talking without being forceful. He was clearly nervous.
"They just mentioned that there was washing up powder in Fiona's synesis,"
"Ah, but we know that already," John spoke smugly.
"Wait, I'm not finished," Elliott shot him a look.
"Go on, Elliott," Cleo kept her eyes on the young man. She needed to know what was going on. It was eating her from the inside out.
"Last night, we were all here and the boys just mentioned that Thomas does cocaine on a regular basis and then someone else said that they had been selling washing up powder to Thomas and saying that it's cocaine," Elliott said, quickly and quietly. No one else was around but he couldn't be too careful. He didn't want Trixie to get in trouble. But he couldn't stay silent.
"How are we supposed to ask Thomas about this?" John turned to Cleo, "We're not supposed to know anything about the forensic report,"
"I don't know. I really don't know," Cleo sighed, happy to have extra information on her hands but knowing it would be difficult to progress from that point, "Who sold him the powder, Elliott?"
"...I can't tell you that," Elliott bit his tongue hard, "They wouldn't have sold it or given any to Fiona though. I'd thank you if you took my word for it,"
"We can't," John shot back.
"Thank you for telling us, Elliott," Cleo looked to him, giving him the opportunity to go back inside the pub. He did. He passed by the tiny alcove behind the pool table, where Spike and Bradley had begun to have a hushed and worried discussion. What were they so worried about?
"You okay?" Trixie caught him staring over at them.
"Yeah, I'm fine," He returned to his sear beside her.
Just then the front door opened again and Thomas rambled in. He looked tired and very unwell.
"Everyone listen up!" He spoke up loudly. Something was wrong, "I've an important announcement,"
"What's going on?" Joseph looked away from Reyn and eyed Thomas.
"Two months ago, a seventeen year old victim was murdered just outside this building," He started, "Tonight, one of Fiona's closest friends died," He had to continue speaking before the murmuring began, "Before anyone gets too carried away; no, she was not murdered too. The crime scene and all evidence indicates that it was suicide. Bottom line though, Britney took her own life because of something related to Fiona's murder. We cannot allow this to continue. They were seventeen! ..For God's sake, if you know anything tell the goddamn Guards before the next one is killed,"
Bradley and Spike looked away from the angered lawyer in horror.
"Fuck,"
