Cuffed. [Norman Reedus]

6*The Number on the Wall.

Chapter Six ::: The Number on the Wall.

{*UNEDITED*}

After getting our mug shots snapped, we are led right back to the fowl cells where we were before. I slump back against the wall, sitting on the old, peeling bench and Boone just sits on the ground with his face squished between two bars.

To my surprise, I catch sneaky glances from Vampire across the hall, and then once I catch her gaze, her cheeks go red and she quickly looks away. I'm not good at the whole flirting thing, but all I can think to do is smirk back at her. I guess I'm doing it right; her soft giggles seem to approve of my actions.

Boone looks back at me with a hint of disgust on his face and then pushes his head into the metal once again as if he wants to put himself out of the misery of being locked in a cell with me.

"Boone, look. I'm not trying to get into trouble with you, I'm just frustrated. Once again, just like in college, you don't know when to quit!" I exclaim, tightening my fist to keep from yelling. "Those fireworks!" I start up again, "They could've hurt someone. And that's not okay."

Boone just scoffs through his teeth and taps his fingers on the ground beside him impatiently.

Just when I'm about to continue my lame speech, I get a small, faint section of a conversation through a wall. Everyone in the cells, almost simultaneously, goes silent to hear what's going on.

"Yeah. . . known him. . . Why can't you just. . ." is all I can pick out before a deep voice instructs him to sign some papers and do something else that I can't decipher. After a few minutes of silence, the same man that came in earlier is unlocking my cell.

"You've been bailed!" he says.

I pinch my eyebrows together as Boone stands to his feet. At first, I'm thinking that Boone has some crazy connections to a nice lawyer or something but as Boone tries to walk out, the police plants a firm hand over his chest. "Not you."

Boone clicks his tongue, angry and disappointed. And then the man looks to me. "Norman?. . . Reedus?"

I nod, slowly inching towards the cell door. My mind scans over all the people that possible could've decided to come get me, but I think of nobody. "Who?" I ask, confused.

"A guy named . . ." he looks down at his clipboard. "Jeremy? Says you guys are old friends."

I'm hesitant and surprised and confused all rolled into one. It takes me more than it should have to recognize that name. Jeremy; my stupid neighbor. Well, maybe not-so-stupid anymore. "Oh! Yeah!" I try to lie, but I know I've failed as soon as I open my mouth. The cop looks puzzled as I try my best to stride out of the cell with ease (not sure why I'm so worried and nervous.) I almost feel like I'm sneaking two ounces of drugs past a police; and failing.

But somehow, he still lets me go and shows me out the door. Before I leave though, I give an apologetic glance at Vampire, concerned for her current situation. Vampire looks back with a smile, though, seeming unshaken by the issue. So I just keep walking and end up face to face with the geeky, yet not-so-weird (anymore) neighbor.

Without a hesitation, I greet him like I would any old friend. With a handshake and a bro-hug. "I haven't seen you in forever!" I say, putting on a weak act.

Jeremy laughs almost hysterically. "We saw each other yesterday!" he pretends to wipe a tear before thanking the bewildered officer. With that, we saunter down the hall, through a door to the lobby, and out the front doors.

"What the hell?" I turn to him immediately. " 'Good friends'?" I ask, holding out my hands for emphasis. "You should know now that I am THE worst liar that has ever walked on this planet. And-and-and how did you even know I was in there? W-was there some sort of, like, uh, I don't know, news article about the party? With my name for the headline?!" I stutter, although I don't really know why I was so worked up over being bailed. I guess I was just taking out my anger for Boone on innocent Jeremy, or maybe I was a mess of emotions including hangover and having a school-crush on a girl in jail.

Jeremy lets me catch my breath before we start walking calmy down the street like none of this had happened. And then he speaks up to answer my frantic questions. "Actually, yeah. You were on the news this morning. . . Apparently, some old guy filmed half the party. The footage was mostly of him going around, spitting awful pick-up lines at men and women."

I think back, remembering the crazy bun-man.

"Then, I saw you, and. . . Yeah! You're my good neighbor, and that's what 'old friends' do," he makes air quotes around his words and then lays an awkward hand on my shoulder. "Right?"

I shake off his strangely warm hand and then shrug. "Thanks for bailing me, but seriously, why would you spend 1,000 bucks on me?"

"Uh, half of that money was my college fund that I never ended up using, and the other half was just because I wanted you to feel welcome to this city." he smiles.

I sigh, still calming down, and then realize that the best thing to do would be to just thank him and head home. I needed to rest and recover, so I generously thanked Jeremy and stepped in the street to wave down a taxi, dreaming of my bed the whole way home.

* * * *

When I wake up, it's 5:45 pm: My idea of dinner time. My stomach rumbles like a monster as I yank the covers off, forcing myself to stand up on my weak legs. In a slow manner, I hobble through the maze of boxes on my way to the fridge, holding my head with one hand and my stomach with the other.

I pull out some bread, turkey and cheese, and get myself a glass of water. As soon as I sit down to fix my sandwich, the phone on the wall rings obnoxiously loud. With a groan, I stand and trudge over to it, answering with a lame "Hello?"

"Um hi! Is this Officer Norman?" the woman on the other line coos.

Immediately, I perk up and it's like I never was asleep. "Yeah! Who's this?"

"Oh, it's Count Dracula! I got your number from your friend, Boone?" Vampire says, clarifying.

I smirk, knowing it's her, but then a spark of confusion lights up my brain. "Who bailed you?!"

"Funny story, actually: my ex's mom felt bad about the whole thing. She bailed him out an hour later after we got coffee just to teach him a lesson."

I chuckle, reaching over for my glass of water. I guess I'm too distracted by the sweet, heavenly sound of her voice and end up missing the glass completely. It falls to the ground, shattering.

"Dammit," I jump back, away from the shards.

"Oh! You alright?" she asks.

"Uh, yeah," I say nervously. "Just, my, uh, dog knocked over my drink. Can I call you back?" I lie, once again, trying to play it off like it was nothing.

"Yeah, sure. You got a pen?" she asks.

Having just moved to the new house, I really am not sure where everything is. But Vampire is waiting and I can't move really anywhere due to glass shards. Quickly, I grab a pen off the counter, searching frantically for a notebook or sheet of paper.

"Ready?" she asks nicely.

"Yeah," I lie, lifting my hand up to the white wall, getting ready to write. She tells me her number, and I stupidly copy it down on my new, clean wall. "Thanks! Sorry about this. . . I'll call you later tonight." I say before hanging up.

I push the phone back into it's holder, and then stand there for a minute looking at the mess I made, coming to a conclusion:

I can now categorize myself in with the desperate ten-year-old's with a blush-crush on a woman I barely even know.

This week just gets better and better, I think, stepping over the glass to go search Craigslist for cheap dogs.

(A/N: Ahh!!! We made it to 500 reads with just six chapters! I love you guys so much! Thank you!!!! Don't forget to vote and comment what you think! Byeeee :* ) ~writingslayer