Costco Kisses

The TRUTH

It had been a few days since my panic attack in my room and things had shifted back to normal. Well, as normal as things could get. Without Tajon, Miriam and most of the rest of our friend group falling apart I stayed to myself.

I had been inside my house for four days straight and had just been working out a plan with Naliyah. Nothing solid in the works yet but we were planning on leaving town as soon as possible. I was going a little crazy alone in the house so when John, Chloe, Jo and Kaitlin showed up I was more than happy.

"Hi," Chloe said when I opened the door. "We figured being in this house for so long must have been driving you crazy and you probably need emotional support right now so... we're here!"

I smiled as John lifted a bottle of vodka. "And we brought refreshments."

"Well, come on in then."

The gathering was in full swing, most of us were sitting in the living room draped over couches and chairs. Naliyah had even come out and partook in the activities. I decided to grab some chips and dip from the kitchen.

Jo followed me to the kitchen and spooked me a bit when I turned around and she was standing there, leaning up against the island.

"Oh god!" I shouted and jumped then started laughing with her. She smiled at me and I put the chips down on the counter. "What's up?"

"Oh not much, it's been fun hanging out with you, y'know the real you," she said and rubbed my arm reassuringly. The gesture was nice but at the same time made me feel a little sad. To think, my friends missed me as much as I missed them when I was preoccupied with Tajon.

"Yeah...It has been. I'm sorry so much changed when I dated Taj-I don't even want to talk about him." I said, even the thought of Tajon made me upset, he truly fucked with my life to the point of no return.

"Well, actually I do need to tell you something, its-its about Tajon," she pryed and I turned to face a quarter away from her. Thinking there was another thing he could do to mess with my life made tears well up in my eyes. I couldn't help but think that even if it had nothing to do with me I would still feel bad for him. Even after all he'd done for me.

"W-what is it?"

"Well, the other day, y'know after the whole police station thing, um Tajon got super drunk at the bar Kaitlin and I just happened to be going to that night, so we took him in to stay with us for the night, and-" Jo swallowed hard and looked up at the ceiling. "We, we um got into a fight the morning after...he choked me and I called the police. We just reported him for assault, and thought he'd get off with a warning but then we found out that they're building a case around him..." She trailed off and I was in shock.

How could all of this happen within just the couple days I'd spent with Naliyah in isolation. He can't function on his own, how could this have happened. Also, why did she pause before the case details?

"And? Whats the case built around?"

"They-they um, think he may have killed your dad." Jo went from looking at the ceiling to facing me, with tear tracks down her face. "Honestly, I don't know what to believe, I wasn't with him until the next night, and I talked to Miriam and she was so blacked out that she doesn't remember what happened that night either."

Her words floated off into space. Had Tajon killed my dad? No. He couldn't have. Unless... I remembered that he told me about his dad and how he was scared he would end up just like him. But Tajon wasn't like that. He was sweet, and caring even though he was a fuckboy sometimes.

At the same time, what if he had. That would change everything. Until this point I saw myself forgiving him someday, now, if the cops were right, I could never forgive him. Never. Holy shit. There is a real possibility that he killed my dad. My ex boyfriend, murdering my father in cold blood. I didn't know what to believe.

"I-I need some air," I said as Jo reached out to hug me. I brushed her off and passed through the living room to get to the front door. Jo walked over to Kaitlin and she wrapped his arm around her as they watched me open the front door. When I opened the door I saw one of the last people I wanted to see in that moment.

"Hi," Miriam said sheepishly as she walked up from my driveway to where I had just left the front door. I was angry that she showed up but at the same time it was good to see a familiar face.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked, somewhat disgusted to see her with the amount of hope she displayed on her face.

"Um, I get it you're still mad at me, but Chloe invited me. I'll leave if you want me to, no questions asked." She presented her case and I looked at her for a moment. She looked tired, her hair duller than usual. "You know what, I'm-I'll just leave, I'm sorry for doing this-"

"You don't have to leave..." I cut her off with a low voice. As much as the thought of her and Tajon disgusted me, she was the only one who might know what Tajon did that night. The night of my father's death.

The four friends inside of the house were standing in the threshold watching this spectical go down and looked visibly dissapointed when I closed the door on them to talk to Miriam alone. I sat down on the porch steps and Miriam cautiously sat beside me, setting down the six pack she had brought with her.

"So, are we good now?" She asked pulling out two beers from the paper sleeve and popping the tops off on the side of the porch. She passed one to me and I took a languid sip. I never did enjoy the taste of beer but right now it helped me say what I needed to say.

"Absolutely not," I kept looking forward toward the street, but I could see her face drop "But you have information that could help me right now so we're on speaking terms." She and I took syncronized sips and she set her's down on the porch step.

"So, please without going into detail of your sex life, can you explain the events of the night my dad died?" She snickered beside me and I let out a small breath as a laugh.

"Well..."