passing shadows.

.

       “That’s the life we lead, though, isn’t it?” A life they were undoubtedly born into, further propelled by Jonathan’s problematic ways. He wasn’t about to go into that with Ben now, though; not unless he wanted to go right back to square one. “Yeah, I’ve uh.. been alright.” The 401 had recently had a raid, and it had caused him to be on high alert — who in the hell had outed him? He had his suspicions, but he was going to keep tight lipped. “Things have definitely been insane on my end too. But it’s all good.” 

x

“Yes…it is.” He found himself stating slowly as his brother’s statement sunk in. It had a neutral way about it that once again, rendered Ben stunned. Although instead of instantly resorting to anger, they had been surprising each more and more with their recent encounters. “Not that all the gossip isn’t obnoxious. — That’s uh…that’s good to hear.” He gave a simple nod hearing Will’s answer, having genuinely wanted to make sure with everything occurring within town. “I know what that’s like…has it been work for you too?” 

—

Pursing her lips, Holly closed her eyes, wincing almost. She had hoped, although she supposed foolishly, that maybe they could pretend the circumstances about their first encounter could be forgotten… or at the very least ignored. “Oh, well… I don’t usually make a habit of breaking into things… unlike some people.” she shot him a challenging look before eventually caving into a smile. “Since you’ve already read the paper,” she began indicating the crumpled newspaper in his hands, “maybe you could give me a update on this town of yours’ recent spike in crime?”

x

“Can’t argue with you there.” Ben knowingly gave a shrug at her retaliation referring to their previous encounter, technically a massive misunderstanding. “I couldn’t not. The opportunity was right in front of me.” He motioned back towards the box, although he huffed as she asked about the contents of the rolled up paper in his hands. This was rare and frustrating, as he did usually know more by now. “Other than the detectives being incompetent as always? I would stick to the defense system you have going at your apartment, trust me.” 

.

       It was there, on the tip of his tongue, to make a bitter reference to their dad, a comment he knew would spark instant tension between them. Given their recent progress, something stopped him. Knowing that he wanted, deep down, to continue to foster a positive relationship with his older brother. Whether that would last, or truly unfold, was beyond him. “Tell me about it. All this town needs is another drama to gossip about.. we’ll never hear the end of it.” Taking another drag of his cigarette, he takes a sweep of the locals around them. Things were quietening down slowly now that it was the end of tourist season.. at least, the summer tourists. “How are you travelling?”  

x

When it seemed as if he and Will had found themselves actually agreeing on something else, Ben practically dropped everything that he was doing, silent once again for a few moments. The fact that these instances had been happening more and more between them had to be something in the right direction with his younger brother. Knowing that all may not be lost in the grand scheme, Ben couldn’t help a slight grin upon his expression from the thought, and Will’s comment. “Yeah, you can say that again..it’s as if we can’t get away from any damn rumor at all.” He rolled his eyes. “— Things are just uh…even more crazy with more shit that’s been going on around here…you?” 

.

       “I don’t know.. I mean, maybe. But I just don’t—know if he’d go around flaunting that, you know? I mean, I don’t really know him much at all, so I can’t really say.” Except for the number of summers they’d spent together.. either way, it was nobody’s place to tell Cel except herself. And that’s the one thing she regrets the most. It should’ve came from her. “Ha.. no surprise there. Who do you get along with?” Rolling her eyes, she takes a decent sip of her coffee, leaning against a light pole. “Tell me about that specimen of a brother of yours. My little sister works for him. He as.. trustworthy as you?” 

x

“Well, he should if he even knew a thing about how great Sage is.” Ben scoffed. “But..I know you wanted to tell her. I bet she’ll come around, you didn’t even know Sage’s father would be in town anyway.” He attempted to reason, knowing how difficult this all had been for Camila. “You? But you’re right, that probably doesn’t count.” He jested to her remark of naming anyone he actually did get along with. “First off, can you put that in a much less gross way? No idea why your sister would work there…and wait. You’re actually asking if he’d be more trustworthy to you than me?” He asked, feigning offense. 

+

Seeing Ben hand over his copy of the paper, Celestina worked her magic as she made him hold it up before switching to camera mode on her phone and taking a selfie next to him. “Gotta let my followers seem to think I’m getting the Mystic tea.” She reviewed the photos she snapped before showing them to the other Holder, “I’m respectful, do you consent?” If he didn’t then she could improvise, draw a doodle on his figure to hide his identity or crop him out given that he was practically a tower next to her. 

“Typical.” she replied with a sigh. “Is that what your father will say to reassure the public?” It was a genuine question, but she’d understand if Ben got on the defensive side given that was his flesh and blood. Taking the lighter, she pulled out a sitck from her own box and lit it before handing the item back to him. “Thanks and yeah, I think I did. I go through these all the time, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned up elsewhere. Gonna have to buy another at the convenience store.” Looking around and smoking away, she wondered what she considered the more posh Holder is up to. “So, you’re just chilling like a villain out here or?” 

x

He should have known that instead of her taking the newspaper, Celestina instead had him right in front of her phone screen being hovered up above the both of them. “Your followers will be so proud. — And if only my brother would learn from your respect.” They had been talking some more, but in his eyes, nothing that warranted any major epiphany of progress. Proceeding to take a look at the photos she quickly captured on the camera roll, Ben shrugged. “Go ahead.” After all, his father always had spoke about the more promotion, the better. 

“It’s a good possibility he’ll say something like that.” Ben prominently huffed out of the aggravation that he honestly didn’t know, he hadn’t heard much with all the scrambling the mayor’s office had been doing with all the latest developments going on in town. Which was a rare thing and he did hate it. “Well, for your sake, let’s hope it does turn up somewhere so you don’t have to waste your time going to buy another.” As Celestina started her own cigarette, he nodded at her question. “Pretty much. I don’t even know why I bothered with the newspaper..” 

Emir actually grinned as he nodded. “Hey, surprisingly enough, I’ve been able to have a good time. So thank you for the suggestions.” Sure, it wasn’t anything like Houston where he could bar hop or even club hop, but it was better than having to throw house parties. That somehow felt out of place for someone his age now. He wasn’t surprised to hear and see that nothing had changed in town, after all, he imagined that the police weren’t used to cases like this one. They were probably working like crazy to get things done and as frustrated as everyone else. “Oh, no. I was just jogging.” He gestured to his running shoes, shorts and shirt as if to explain that he wasn’t just running around without a reason. “I have to stay fit somehow. But honestly, I’m not surprised there’s no news yet. By the town wide reaction after everything came out, it’s clear things like this don’t happen often, I assume?”

x

“That’s good to hear they helped. I’m sure it can’t be easy moving from a big city..” After all, Mystic was a significant down-size on those terms, he had to give credit to Emir for making that decision for himself. “You said you moved for your job, right?” Ben asked, trying to remember again from their previous encounter. At any rate, he figured it could be another decent guess, considering how the other guy seemed just as tied up with phone calls a lot of the time. “Oh, right.” Ben shook his head, as he hadn’t even come to that conclusions initially, considering everything that had been happening in town had frustratingly taken up most of his mind. “There are a lot of good running trails here, but you probably knew that already. — Trust me, I hear you. Yeah, I mean, not on this scale they don’t, no. No one wants a repeat of what happened five years ago especially…not to put a damper on how you’re settling or anything.”

       “If there’s lots of others then why can’t you just leave?!” One.. more.. comment. That was all it took for her frustration to reach it’s peak. He was really getting under her skin, and even though he had for many years, this interaction was different. That, and the way he was staring at her was unnerving, igniting an odd sensation in the very pit of her stomach. It annoyed her almost as much as the smug look on his features. “Ha.. you just think you’re so funny, don’t you?” Locking her gaze on his own, she was practically glaring despite the fact that she so wished to coil up and die of embarrassment. She needed to be free of this little.. hold he had on her. “Oh yeah? How’s this for a comeback, Holder?—” And before she could say another word, Yasmin pushed his chest with her hands, shoving him back into the water. 

x

Her insults went right over his head at this point, he only truly was amused…and entirely distracted by the way Yasmin returned his gaze. So he wasn’t entirely fucking crazy. Running into each other in recent years had been shifting, and the fact she seemed to take just as much notice was too compelling of a risk not to lean towards taking. “I do think I’m funny, thanks.” It was the sole response Ben gave before Yas retaliated, and he had no time to catch balance as her hands firmly met his shoulders, causing him to fall straight backwards nto the water. Upon surfacing, he managed to push himself up enough on one area of the pier’s edge amongst her blatant gloating. Gripping one of her shoes with a smirk, Ben pulled Yasmin forward to have them now both splash in. “Maybe you haven’t completely lost your comebacks.” He shrugged, holding both of them up once re-surfacing again. 

        “I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you..” Arching her brow at his latter statement, which definitely had her intrigued.. it was a little bit of a worry both as a mother and a business owner, knowing these things were taking place and had some correlation to one another. Mystic had always, up until five years ago, been the safest of towns… other than having to deal with seeing Jonathan Holder roaming about every now and again. “You think it’s linked to what happened?” Taking a sip of her own coffee, the brunette arches a brow and shrugs, “Fine, I guess. You know me, I’m a big girl.. I can handle being in a little bit of shit. —But.. I guess the suckiest part is knowing I hurt Cel. She found out about Sage and Marcus somehow and.. safe to say, she was not happy about it. Got any experience dealing with a pissed off sibling?” 

“I’ll take that chance, considering that’s all the time.” Ben smirked a bit, taking a sip from the soothing coffee she thoughtfully brought for him, and hearing her question was assurance in itself. Finally, someone was actually thinking in this town too. “I think it’s more of a possibility than not, and I don’t care how fucking crazy that sounds..can’t rule anything out when these things happen around here.”  Though, hearing that Camila and Sage were ok within everything occurring around town lately was most important. At least aside from the part of what Cam had previously disclosed to him about her daughter’s father being back around. “Wow…you think Marcus could have told her at the 401?” Ben practically scoffed, a light laugh escaping him. On that note, her words rang all too true with his own brother.  “You know you’re talking to the right person about ‘pissed off siblings’…Will and I haven’t got along for years.” 

       “Don’t tell me Mayor Holder suffered a break in?” Camila couldn’t help but roll her eyes, never having hidden her distaste for Ben’s father and teasing him constantly.. but also knowing not to cross the line too much. She holds out a cup of takeaway coffee for him, freshly made over at the Hideout. “I know you’re mid-cigarette, but figured you needed some caffeine.” She and Ben hadn’t caught up properly since the Summer festival, at least, not outside their usual catch ups at Moonie’s. Things had been a little insane lately, leaving her preoccupied and, admittedly, isolating herself some in a bid to deal with it all. 

“Now I can really shit on the investigators, I should have known it was you.” Ben jested, well aware her distaste for his father hadn’t waned. “But uh..the security was breached, they didn’t get all the way through.” To him, one robber being found dead pretty much proved how mindless they were too. After exhaling a bout of smoke, seeing Cam had brought him some coffee, he placed the cigarette at his side, taking the cup she extended. “Thanks, really.” He genuinely stated. Truth be told, he’d been exhausted. “ — How’ve you been holding up?” All this extra shit going on town was the last thing his friend especially needed.