Meeting Me Halfway (HSMTMTS Fanfiction)

Chapter 36

Lachlan
"Police. Open up, I'd just like to speak to the home owner." I yell, banging on the door of the address I was given. "Warning. Open the door."
The door flies open, a male with black hair at the door way.
"Uhm. Hello?" He asks.
"Hello. Uhm," I look at the name written on my wrist, "Carlos Rodriguez?"
"I'd say who's asking but," he stiffens himself and crosses his arms, "from your uniform, I think I can figure it out just fine."
His voice was deepened, It was easy to tell. His eyebrow was raised and his glasses were close to slipping off his nose.
"What do you need officer?" He questions.
"Well. Carlos." I take out the photo graph. "Do you know Richard Bowen?"
"Yes. Yes I do."
"Mkay. And do you know Nina Salazar Roberts?"
"Yes...I do. What do you need with them?"
"Do you know EJ Caswell?"
"Yes. I do. Now can you answer my question?"
"Did you know Nina was sexually assaulted?"
I say it with casualty as I dig into my pocket. He didn't answer right away, but just stared in silence. "I guess not, hmph."
He continues to stare.
"Well, listen. Since you don't know much, let me explain. Nina was raped, as there were photos anonymously sent. Richard and EJ are suspects but it's mostly Richard who is. Another photo was sent in just as Ricky was cleared since the photo went missing." I prop up the new photo of Ricky, Nini, and the other guy. "This was sent in," I flip it, "with your name on the back."
  He stares. It's like all he can do, I swear.
"Now, I'm not marking you as a suspect of a rapist...but..."
  "I'm gay y'know..." he says, annoyed at my assumption. "Im not about to rape anyone. And it was..Nini? Who got raped?"
He was distraught. "And that is Ricky? You think Ricky raped her?" I nod. "That's impossible. He was her boyfriend at the time and I'm pretty sure they got back together now."
  "They didn't seem too happy with each other before.." I say quietly.
  "What?"
  "Uhm nothing. Just.. I've seen them before, they never seemed too comfortable with each other."
  "That didn't seem the case this morning..." he says with a chuckle.
  "What?"
  "Oh. Uhm, me, my friend and them. We all go to this High School with drama students to help them and this morning, we caught them making out in a closet, and if you ask me, a victim of a rapist wouldn't necessarily make out with them years later." He explains. "Anyways, Whats it with me?"
  "That's what I'm trying to figure out Mr. Rodriguez. Do you know anyone...anyone who's maybe threatened, or jealous by you and the 2?"
  He thinks for a second.
"I do."

Nini
I never thought I would ever say this but, I miss school. East High, for the most part. I do miss the little closet lunch breaks, the crying, the laughter, I miss it all. I just had the basic high school life, and I'd do it all over again.
 
Flashback*
   "EJ that's not how it goes!" I yell, a tear streaming down my face. I stand up from his basement couch. "You don't just...you don't go off and just talk to other girls!"
  "That's not what I did Nin-"
   "From what I'm hearing it is. Your just admitting that you cheated on me. Don't try and make it any less than that!"
  "It IS less than that Nini. I'm telling you the truth that me and some friends went to a party last night and talked to som-"
  "Did you meet girls last night?
  "I-.....yes."
  "Did you have drinks with them?"
  "Yes.."
  "Did you kiss? any of them?"
  "Really Nini?."
  "Did you?!"
  "Yes."
  "Did you..." I hesitate. I don't even want to know the truth. "Did you sleep? With any of them?"
  "Nini that's not fair."
  "What?! What is not fair? To be frank, you going out, without me even knowing, and sleeping with a bunch of girls is not fair."
I grab my bag and phone.
   "Shouldn't have ever gotten back together with you.." I mutter.
   "Nini, we..we can make this fair." He tried to explain, stepping in front of me. 
   "You can't make this fair. I don't even know why you would even try saying that."
  "You can sleep with someone. Wouldn't that make it fair?"
  I stop in my tracks, angered from his preposition.
  "No shit.." I say quietly. I quickly rose my voice. "So that's why."
  "What?"
"I haven't had sex with you. You cheated on me because I never had sex with you."
  "What? No. When you told me you were waiting, I agreed. I was just drunk, I didn't know what I was doing."
   "EJ, are you slow? Are you actually slow? I turned you down so many times before you agreed! If you knew you couldn't wait or didn't want to wait, you shouldn't have stayed with me. It's not that hard!"
  "Nini I.WAS.DRUNK."
  "Your underage drinking too dipshit!"
I slide a hand through my hair as tears continue to roll down my face. "Why is it worth breaking my heart all because you can't keep it in your pants?"
  He tried to reply, but I stop him.
  "Right." I was laughing? It was clear I was going hysterical. "Cause your a guy. Males have needs? Right? They need to have support and comfort from a girl. Well guess what Caswell. DONT STAY WITH A GIRL WHO HAS NEEDS THAT YOU CANT COMPLY TO YOURSELF"
  "Nini stop." He puts his hands on my shoulders,"I can wait eternities for you. We have all the time in the world. My friends shoved drinks down my throat and yes, I fucked up and went for a girl all because I couldn't keep it in my pants, but never, would I ever, rush you."
  I wanted to stay. I really did. But I just stared as tears rolled down my cheek.
  "I'm leaving." I say, walking up the stairs. "Thank your mom for me, will you?"

***
   "Thanks," I say, taking both me and Rickys items back from the woman. "Sorry for the trouble."
   "Your fine dear."
  I close the door and breathe in relief. Lachlan had called and told me that she was coming but I totally forgot.
  "Ricky! Come get your stuff!" I yell, dragging the suitcases in more.
I grab my purse and check if my remaining money is in there. I don't put it in my wallet when I go out for small things for some reason, but maybe I should.
   "Oh finally," he says, running up to the suit cases. He opens his suitcase and grabs his wallet. "Nothing missing here."
   "Your not gonna check if any of your clothes are missing?" I ask, eyebrow raised.
  "Why should I? Who's gonna steal a bunch of suits?"
"Right. And how much did those suits cost?"
  He gives me a look before grabbing his suitcase.
  "Shut up..." he moves it to the corner of the room. "Should we tell Lachlan we don't need his place anymore?"
  "We can tell him tonight, unless you want to find a place today."
  A knock on the door stops our conversation. I look at Ricky before turning around and opening the door. It was the same lady who owned the rented house.
   "The keys. To your truck? I drove it here. I'm sure you didn't want this laying around." She says, holding up the keys.
  "Right. Sorry." I take the keys from her. "Thanks."
  I give her a nice nod before closing the door.
"Uhm. Looks like we can do it now, can't we?"

——
  
  "I texted Lachlan already. I thanked him and stuff." I say as he gets into the car. He had put all of our stuff into the bed of the truck.
"Do you mind if I get his number?" He asks.
  "Uh. Sure I guess. Why?"
  "Just in case. Seems like a good guy, don't he?"
  "He is a good guy. Plus, I forgot. I gave him your number. He asked for it."
  "Oh, cool. Uhm. I actually found a really cool hotel we could stay at. It's like $180 per night. It's not bad at all if you ask me." He takes his phone out and shows me some photos.
  "Yeah. I'm paying though. How long you wanna stay?"
  "Well, we're staying for the musical like everyone else, so maybe 4 nights?"
  I nod. My moms made me a saving account a long while and I have been saving since I was 13, and my moms also have been doing me good with it.
   "Hey," I say quietly, "we never got to see my mom.."
   He gives me a blank stare before coming to a realization.
   "Right. Sorry, I totally forgot. Do you wanna go right now?"
  "Uhm. No. It's fine. Let's just go to that hotel first and just take it easy. We can go tomorrow." I say with a smile.

Back again! It's currently break for me so I'm probably going to be writing more! Hoped you enjoyed this chapter.
Enjoy your day or night!