The Trouble with Love

❝ there is something i see in you ❞

(unedited)

I think I know,
There is something,
I see in you.
It might kill me;
I want it to be true.

"Decode" –Paramore

Since I didn't have an exam on Monday, I went to the police station to see Ashton. Without Kaden's permission, admittedly. He had been watching me like a hawk all throughout Sunday. The fact that I had gone out Saturday and came back knowing that they had let Keira go seemed to only strengthen his resolve to keep me locked inside the house.

But on Monday, there had apparently been an emergency in the office that he needed to go in to solve. So he had left at nine in the morning after giving me strict instructions to not even think about going to visit Ashton.

I, of course, didn't listen.

Sorry, Kaden.

He would probably be pretty angry when he found out, and I'd be grounded until I left, or even longer, but I wanted to see Ashton at least one more time before I left. I'd be gone by Friday, the day my last exam was on, and who knew how long they'd have Ashton for? I wasn't sure what I'd say to Ashton, since I wasn't allowed to tell him about LA, but I still wanted to see him. Besides, I could prepare for Kaden's anger, I was expecting it.

What I wasn't expecting was for him to be at the police station, talking to Ashton.

They had told me Ashton was talking to someone already, since he was allowed to see visitors, but they hadn't said who, only that that person was okay with me being there too. That should've been my first clue.

"You know," Kaden said when I walked into the room. They were both seated at a metal table in matching chairs. One of Ashton's wrists was chained to the table. There weren't guards, but I knew the wall behind Kaden was actually a window from the other side and I could see a video camera in the corner. "I feel like I should be surprised or betrayed, but I expected this."

I stared at him. Okay, maybe not sorry, Kaden.

"What are you doing here, Elena?" Ashton asked.

I gave him a flat look. "Looking for the Loch Ness Monster."

"Those things are seen in lakes, Lena," Kaden retorted. I rolled my eyes. "By the way," he added. "You're grounded."

"I feel like I should be surprised, but I expected that," I said, throwing his words from earlier back at him. "Why are you here, anyway?" I asked, changing the subject before he could reply.

It wasn't like I expected him to not talk to Ashton, since they were probably still working on the case, but I didn't expect him to do it so openly. In a police station with cameras, too- Kaden had told me that the police wasn't letting Ashton stay in a private room like Keira since they didn't want him doing some sort of unofficial confession. I wasn't sure how else Kaden could've talked to Ashton, but it was Kaden, he could probably find a way.

"I, too, am looking for the Loch Ness Monster," he said.

I stared at him. "Act your age."

"Because he's my lawyer," Ashton replied for him.

I glanced between them both. "What?"

Kaden nodded. "Yeah, I'm helping bail your boyfriend out of jail."

I blinked. Well, technically he's not really my boyfriend, since I didn't get the chance to reply when he asked. The police are a bit of a mood killer. I didn't voice my thoughts, of course, since that would be a pretty awkward conversation, especially in front of Kaden.