Costco Kisses

The TRUTH pt. 2

(This is still from Kyla's perspective lol)

"Well...to be honest I don't really remember much from that night. When John and Chloe drove all of us back to Charlotte's house we all got pretty wasted. We busted into Danielle's supply in her room so the night started with us there. And I mean everyone was there, except for Danielle, hence how we stole her drinks.

"Anyways, we were all drinking in the living room and I remember sitting on the counter with Alehka who had come over and people were playing Just Dance. But anyways, Tajon was acting weird all night, and I mean he had the right to because he had just beat up your dad, but like especially weird. So I remember talking about it with Charlotte and Chloe and they ended up going over to talk to him about it.

"When they went to talk to him I couldn't hear what they said but Tajon looked pretty pissed off when the conversation ended, then he got a call and he went outside. I was feeling pretty tipsy already, and you know what happens when I'm tipsy so I went outside into the backyard where he was and waited for him to finish up on the call. I was kind of rubbing upon him but that's besides the point," I gagged a little at the thought of them together and Miriam giggle a little at my reaction.

"So he finished up the call and seemed really mad, like really mad. But because I was drunk I just continued to flirt with him and he went along with it for a while until he pushed me away and stormed out through the side yard. So at this point I was drunk and crying on the ground and I had no idea where he was going. So Jo and Chloe helped me up and took me to Charlotte's room to sleep it off.

"Now, this next part is still a little shady in my memory but I remember being in Charlotte's bed when the door slammed open and I woke up. I couldn't see who it was in the dark but they were tall and had a bottle of jack in their hands. Then someone else stormed into the room, obviously not seeing me, I think it was a guy, but not someone I'd seen before, and he started yelling at the other man and he turned on the light in the bathroom.

"When he turned on the light I recognized that the first man was Tajon but I couldn't remember who the other man was, then down the hall I peaked down and saw Danielle stumbling down the hallway with her dress torn and her heel broken but she went straight to her room. "Then, with the light in the bathroom illuminating the bedroom, the two men in the bathroom saw me and the second man grabbed the bottle from Tajon's hand and gave it to me and told me to drink so I did, I was really confused and already partially hungover so I just went with it.

"I remember the bottle was sticky and felt weird but I drank anyways and I heard their conversation. But... for the life of me I can't remember what they were saying, they were just yelling. I think this was around three am but My eyes wouldn't adjust to the dark so I couldn't tell.

"Then the man left and slammed the door and all that was left was Tajon, me, and the bottle. It was all very confusing and well, you know what happened next..."As she went on telling the story I couldn't help but feel a pit in my stomach at the thought that Tajon may have killed my father that night. And no one could tell me for sure. I mean, he was in jail, Miriam was too wasted to get the full story, and no one had seen Danielle in days. I was very confused when I was brought back from my thoughts to the sound of Miriam's voice.

"So, yeah that's about all I remember from that night, I mean you could ask Danielle but none of us have seen her in a while," She had only taken a few sips of her beer through the story telling whereas I had finished the bottle, nursing it as the complicated story unfolded.

"You really don't know who that man was?" I asked, in disbelief of her bad memory.

"I really don't, like I knew his face was familiar but I couldn't tell you who it was off the top of my head," She massaged her temples as if trying to pull the memory from the depths of her memory through her fingers but gave up and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, thanks for that, I guess," I said and started to stand up on the steps of the porch. She looked up at me suddenly and quickly stood up with me.

"So, can I hang out or should I just go?" She asked, a step down from me which made me feel like I had the power in this interaction. Something I hadn't had in a while. Power.

"How'd you get here?" I asked, realizing that it was already quite dark out.

"I-I walked..." She trailed off looking with despair at the dark suburban streets. I knew I was going to regret this but I wasn't about to let her walk home alone in the dark. For as much as I despised her in the moment, I didn't want her to get hurt.

"Fine, you can spend the night, I think the rest of them are going to, too," I caved in and she smiled a big toothy grin. It was good to see someone smile, it seems like in these past few days everyone had been way too dreary. I walked over and opened the door to find the other four with their ears up against it.

"Sorry, we wanted to hear too," Kaitlin laughed out as the rest of them got up and went to sit on the couches.

"Well, considering that Miriam is staying over, do y'all want to stay over too?" I asked in their general direction as I walked into the kitchen to get the chips and dip I had left in the kitchen. I heard a murmur of agreeance as I walked back into the living room.

"Good, because we have a case to solve."