affinity

45. the police station

Stella's P.O.V

We walk a couple more blocks until we reach my house. Stella frowns at me as we stop by my front porch so that I can unlock the door to get my car keys.

"What are we doing here? Is this your house?" She asks as I cock an eyebrow at her.

"No...what do you think? I love breaking into peoples' houses with a key." I mimic as she just scowls at me.

"Shut up Stewie." She mutters. At least she's getting normal with me now. Camp made us uncomfortable now that I think about it. So much happened there that there was a point that I barely talked with her. But here we are again, arguing and throwing the sarcastic comments.

Let's just say, I'm glad we're back.

I get my keys for the Jeep as Jordan and Stella follow me. Stella makes her way to the back and Jordan takes the seat next to me, and we're ready to go annoy my dad.

"Your jeep is much bigger than I thought it would be." Stella says as she leans back into the seat.

"It's great, but it had some problems with it before." Jordan says as I frown at him.

"There's no problems." I say as Stella raises her eyebrows at Jordan and I. "Everything that Stewie owns has problems."

Jordan snickers, rolling the windows down,"There was this one time where Stuart and I and a couple of friends went on a trip to Mexico. During the trip, the jeep broke down and we found out the engine stopped working."

"That's not true. It didn't break down." I defend as Stella just rolls her eyes at me.

"We checked to see what was wrong and we found out the engine did stop working, and you couldn't believe what we found inside." Jordan just chuckles as I frown at him.

Not at all. It wasn't even that bad now that I think about it.

"What? What was inside? A dead rat?" Stella asks, her eyes as wide as freshly polished coins.

"A dead rat? Where the hell did you get that from?" I almost shriek as Stella just giggles.

"It's a guess Stewie."

"We found all...well most of the parts wrapped in duct tape." Jordan replies and Stella just stares at me.

"Duct tape? You couldn't even go to the mechanic to fix your car?" Stella asks as she just huffs, "Good job Stewie. Is there still duct tape in the engine?"

I bite my lip and Stella notices it through the rear view mirror. She gasps and clings on to her seat belt, "Why did I bother coming with you guys?! I'm gonna die!" She cries and I narrow my eyes at her.

"You're not gonna die, and besides the Jeep is fine. I just don't have enough time to go to mechanic right now." I explain.

"Plus, school got us hanging over by the edge of a thread. I've still got like 2 assignments to work on." Jordan informs as Stella is now holding on to the seat belt so tight that I swear her knuckles are turning white.

"You've got no time to fix your duct tape car but you have enough time to go to the police station?" She shrieks as Jordan and I jump in our seats upon hearing her voice. Jordan's head even hits the top of the jeep and he sits there rubbing his head.

"That was really loud. Jheez, a small girl with a booming voice." Jordan murmurs as he rubs his head while he closes his eye.

She glowers at both of us, "I value my life okay!?"

"Well so do I, but I don't want to die with your crazy loud voice." I say as she just kicks the back of my seat in annoyance.

"Hey!! Hey!! Don't kick my Jeep!" I cry as I try to focus on driving.

"Your Jeep? Which one? The duct tape, almost broken down jeep?" She cries as I just purse my lips in annoyance. 

God this girl.

"Okay calm down. We're almost there. Don't wreck my car." I say as she frowns at me.

"Wreck your car? Your car is already wrecked Stewie." She says as I huff at her remark.

"Oh! We're here!" Jordan cries out as I stop and park the car by the station.

Jordan jumps while Stella quickly scampers off, patting her arms and legs and sighing as if she almost died. Which she thought she did.

I roll my eyes at her and she notices me. "It's all your fault."

"Nothing's my fault. You wanted to join in." 

"Not until I knew about your broken car." She mutters.

"For God's sake! It's not a car! It's a Jeep!" I sigh exasperated as she just scoffs and follows Jordan to the police station.

The moment we enter, Parrish sees me and smiles. "Hey! You're back."

I smile, "Yeah. I thought it's better to keep the tradition."

"Who's this young lady?" Parrish asks as he smiles at Stella. She is zoned out for a few moments until she notices Jordan and I looking at her. "Oh...I'm Stella." She introduces as Parrish grins.

"Nice. Stella. Stuart's friend?" He asks. He gives me a look as if what he was saying was right or wrong. From his eyes I could tell he meant something more than just 'friend'.

"Yup. Just friends." I confirm as Stella bobs her head up and down.

When I say that, I remember what Jennie told me. "She'll get angry if you don't tell her now."

I can't tell her now. Or maybe ever. I just don't have the guts to do it and I feel like even if I tell her, I'll ruin our relationship even more than it already is. And I can't afford to lose that.

Parrish just grins as he gathers his files and puts it into an empty basket by his desk. "What are you guys here for anyway?" He asks.

"Where's dad?" I ask as he frowns for a second.

"He's gone somewhere. He told me there was a special case going around in the woods. Apparently someone hung them self on a branch. It's weird." He explains as Stella frowns at me.

"Why would someone kill themself in a forest?" Stella asks.

"I don't know. The world can be a nasty place." Parrish says as he takes a bite out of his doughnut.

"They actually follow the police men eating donuts thing?" Stella chuckles as Parrish purses his lips.

"Parrish, you got some chocolate on your chin." Jordan points out as Parrish grabs a tissue and wipes the spot.

"Huh. Who knew? Anyways, kid I don't know where exactly Sheriff is but if I were you, I'd suggest you leave soon." He says, munching on his doughnut.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because it's getting hectic over here. A million strange cases are popping up." He says as I let out a tired sigh.

I'm not surprised.

"Fine. We'll leave." I answer as Jordan and Stella frown at my response.

"Come on guys. Let's go. Thanks Parrish." I say as he smiles politely and sits back on his seat again.

Stella scowls as we leave the police station. I notice her kick the rocks as we walk to my Jeep and Jordan notices it too, because he is also starting at her.

"Stella?" I ask cautiously as she darts a look at me.

"What?" She almost growls.

"Whoah jheez...why so angry?"

"I told you to do one thing for me. One thing, and you couldn't do that for me." She says as I roll my eyes.

"Stella, I've got another idea." I say as Jordan raises his eyebrows.

"What? Where are we going?" He asks.

"The hospital." I smirk.