take me back

Marissa knew it. She knew it. The kid was going to be as ungrateful as he had been the first time around, totally ignoring her kind gesture for his own pride and ego. Well, two could play at that game. Except she wasn’t meant to, she quietly reminded herself, she was supposed to be the mature responsible adult who understood that he was dealing with all the emotions that came with normal teenage life with the added stresses of being suspect numero uno in your girlfriend’s murder. She so desperately wanted to lash out on the hostile teen, but it hadn’t been appropriate last time and it would be worse given she should have reflected and felt remorse for her actions. Damn maturity.

“Rigatoni, huh? Good choice,” She tried to make small talk that she already knew Emmett was desperately avoiding. She didn’t mind though, making small talk was about half her job, she could talk about mundane topics for hours. Even to the unwilling. And she was mighty sure that he was unwilling. 

She bit down on her lip, careful to remind herself once more that she was not to fly off the handle because of some silly little comments made by an overgrown bratty kid. She would be the bigger person even if Emmett couldn’t accept her genuine outreaches, then or now. Still, she couldn’t let him just walk all over her, she needed to say something. “Well I was just trying to be nice, you looked like you were going through a hard time,” She defended herself, “Actually I know that you were because you sitting in a car park blaring emo music through your open windows and my husband’s a police officer so I know who you are. I would like to think if another mother saw my daughter in a similar situation they would offer some kind of help. But you’re right, I didn’t handle myself or the situation that best way I could have.” Lies, the last part was total lies. She thought she’d handled herself pretty well and only responded fittingly to his lack of gratitude, but she couldn’t exactly just take back the apology she’d forced out. “I just thought that I should let you know, that I was genuinely trying to help you and I’m sorry that it was offensive to you.”

Of course, this lady liked Rigatoni. Figures. Boring people gravitated toward boring pasta shapes. Emmett wanted to tell her it wasn’t his choice and that his mom told him to get it, but he also like, didn’t want to talk to her for longer than necessary so he kept that to himself.

He fucking hated this. She was like, trying to be a good person and shit and he had to validate her or some crap like that for recognizing that she was being a crazy bitch. What happened to letting bygones be bygones? What’s with people having to verbalize and communicate shit? Go all Kumbaya? Couldn’t she just ignore him and call it a day? It’s the twenty-first century, man. We’ve evolved from talking about shit. Just drown yourself in shitty memes and good music like a normal person.

“Look, just-- we’re chill, okay?” Emmett got out, forcing himself to talk despite the heat he felt in his cheeks from having to hear the lady out. S’fucking embarrassing having to talk about shit. In the middle of a grocery store, no less. “Just... do you and I’ll do me, and we don’t have to like, talk.” Ever. “You’re forgiven, I forgive you or whatever.” Christ, this was weird. Emmett wanted to curl his hands into fists and shove them into the pouch of his hoodie to ease his nerves but he couldn’t because he was holding a box of fucking Rigatoni.

“Just... don’t call your police officer husband on me, alright?” He added in a sheepish attempt at being lighthearted for once, especially since this lady couldn’t stop namedropping the fact that she had a husband in the police force. He didn’t know if she was trying to earn cool points or be threatening but like, he didn’t actually care what the man who didn’t fuck her did so she could totally stop mentioning it if she wanted.

Sophia just rolled her eyes, not even dignifying that with an answer.  Clearly he didn’t get her reference and she wasn’t going to waste her time trying to explain it.  “The clothes aren’t shitty, you are!”  Sophia was acting like a child but she didn’t care.  He insulted the fashion!  “You don’t know fashion if it bit you on the ass.  Clearly.”  She gave him an up down look, trying to make her point.  She bit the inside of her cheek at his suggestion.  “I’m not a fucking car salesman, Emmett.  I’m not putting a wavey balloon person out.  Please tell me you don’t plan on going to college for business school, I think that will be a waste of money for you.”

“Wow. That was such a bad burn. I don’t know how I’ll ever recover,” he told her flatly. He followed his words with a slight roll of his eyes. Did he really need to be here arguing with someone about fashion? It’s like, cover your body and don’t pair weird colors together. That’s literally it when it comes to fashion. People wasted so much time trying to be innovative. Just don’t go out naked, plain and simple. “Well, maybe you should consider it,” he countered. “Least car salesman are busy.” Okay, he needed to calm down. This rang too closely to petty arguments he’d have with his sister over nothing. Emmett scoffed at the mention of college, turning his head away from Sophia to look at... anything else that wasn’t her. “I’m not. But if I was, it’s none of your business.” He didn’t know what he wanted to do for college or his future. He didn’t want to think about it. Or talk about it any longer. That slight slip was enough. “Look, I lowered my shit. Don’t you have some clothes to not sell in there?”

“That’d be helpful, thanks,” she nodded, giving a half smile in return. Natalia had spent a good amount of time to make sure her notes all looked nice and put together. It was a skill she had grown to become very good at, and proud of, and what kept her grades high. There was something about organized notes that really did wonders for your mind. “I can help you right after school? I have to take care of something later this afternoon, but I’m free until then. This is an easy chapter, so I don’t assume it’ll take too long.” Natalia’s shoulders went up to a small shrug at her suggestion. She wasn’t going to go too in depth on where she had to be, but she could at least offer her help in the mean time.

"Okay bet,” Emmett agreed at the suggestion. He didn’t have practice today, which was probably a good thing since his shoulder injury was still acting up from time to time despite the PT. “Sure sure,” he chimed even if he knew that Natalia comprehended things with an ease he didn’t have and he would probably take longer than she assumed to understand the content. “Where are we gonna meet?”

You can do this. You can do this. That’s just what Marissa had to tell herself. She could, and better yet she would. How hard could it be? All she had to do was apologise. Sure, Emmett had technically been the one who had been in the wrong - after all, all she’d been trying to do was help the kid out and he’d been an ungrateful little…nope, no she wasn’t going there, it would only make her mad again. She was the adult, that meant she had to be the bigger person. At least that’s what everybody she had relied the entire situation to had said…except Mrs Henderson, she had firmly been in favour of using that cane to beat the boy’s ass. And so now that she’d finally spotted Emmett around town, after possibly subconsciously avoiding him, she knew she had to get it over and done with. She had to approach him.

“Hey there, I don’t know if you remember me,” She started after making her way over, smile plastered on her face as if he wasn’t the last person in the world she wanted to be talking to. They both knew that he remembered, but that was hardly polite. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about the other day,” She had to forcibly bite back the pride that was telling her not to do this, she was the adult, “I clearly upset you and that really wasn’t my intention.” She hated this, she officially hated this, and now the dumb kid better accept her apology so she could go back to not giving a damn and maybe even casually suggesting that the police take another look at him next time she made it down to the station.

@quartcrbacks​

Just one day. One day where nothing bothered him. Was that so much to ask for? Emmett squared his jaw when someone came up beside him. That voice. It was the first thing he recognized. Could it be..? A quick peek to his left confirmed his suspicions. Motherfucker. Oh, he remembered her alright. Emmett hoped if he just focused hard enough on the pasta selection in front of him, she’d go away. But no, she was talking. Or rather still talking. Which pretty much meant he had no choice but to deal with this.

Reaching forward, he grabbed a box of Rigatoni from the shelf and turned to face the woman who berated him not too long ago. It was either deal with this or get yelled at again probably, and he didn’t exactly want that after his mom spent the better part of an hour nagging him about going to the store to pick up some fucking Rigatoni for dinner. Which was the worst pasta shape there was by the way. He was pretty sure. He let out a soft sigh, just barely managing to contain his eye roll, before he spoke.

“Yeah, that’s what usually happens when some lady you don’t know shoves a ten dollar bill in your face and orders you to buy a coffee.” A beat as he observed her. Did everyone’s sense of fashion just disappear after you turned thirty or something? Or was this the result of a loveless marriage? Was she trying to drive her husband away by not trying anymore? He didn’t miss the wedding ring on her hand. Godspeed to the poor bastard hitched to this whackjob. “Look, lady, I’m pretty sure you have better things to do than apologize to me,” no, he wasn’t, this was actually him being generous and kind assuming she had a life outside of verbally assaulting high school students, “so why don’t you go do that?”

Jo looked across the street to where he nodded and they started to follow.  No matter how many times they made deals it always felt a bit off to them, like they were forgetting something in the process.  Sometimes it was something as simple as forgetting that sometimes it wasn’t the smartest move to deal in broad daylight.

They nodded and pulled out a bottle of pills once they both got into the car.  “We only have it in pills right now but I can probably get it for you in other forms if you’re looking for that.”  They said, trying to get all the professionalism out of the way and not look like how they felt - a small person just wanting to make friends with someone.  Jo took a breath and finally looked around the car.  “This is nice!  I like it.”

“Pills? Well shit, you guys are really stepping up your game.” Emmett chuckled a little. “Don’t worry about it, whatever’s good,” he assured. As long as it got the job done. He’d just crush them and space out the bumps anyway. Only when he’d really need it. Because he wasn’t a fucking druggie. He eyed the bottle. “How much is a pill going for? I’m probably good for like, 3.” Maybe. He didn’t actually know. He usually bought in grams but the price difference couldn’t have been that drastic, right? Emmett dug into his pocket for his wallet. In the midst of counting his bills, something Hanlon said made him laugh. “What, you’ve never seen the inside of a car before?” The first smile to grace his face in a week made an appearance. “You’re real funny, Hanlon.”

couldn’t he just tell her to fuck off already? speed this whole thing up? god, she almost kind of missed hayden. at least that interaction would be over quickly and not dragged out for a horrifically long eternity. “ cool. it’s cool, ” she said, pressing her lips together as she gave a quick nod. in truth, she did not like the music. not a bit. but if you were to learn anything about shiloh from this interaction, she was sometimes painfully polite. when he mentioned her work, but didn’t seem to realise it was where she worked, she was confused. brows furrowing a little as she glanced down at the shirt and back up again. “ i mean, i work for them so i think i legally have to say yeah if i wanna keep my job, ” it was a joke, and her lips perked up a little as she told it, but it was terribly hard to be enthusiastic in front of emmett. 

Oh. She works there. Fuck, okay, so he’s an idiot. Who chooses to walk around in their uniform after work? Does Baskin Robbins not provide locker rooms? Whatever. Irritated, Emmett just shrugged, laid back in his seat a little, and tried not to roll his eyes when he noticed... fuck, what was her name? smile or something. “I’ve always been more of a Cold Stone guy. Baskins is shit. No offense.” Actually full offense, that was for making him feel like an idiot.

“So...” This was fuckin’ weird. But like, was he just gonna tell her to fuck off now or something? Because tempting as it was, he was pretty sure that was rude. He didn’t feel like making an excuse and leaving this spot either since he was here first anyway. Shit, were they just going to make small talk until one of them caved? Fuckin’ probably. Oh well. “You have a favorite flavor at that place?”

Luciana didn’t know what was worse. Staying at home meant she would have to deal with all the family drama, but if she left she would have to deal with people suspecting the worst of each other and everyone looking at her like a possible killer. At the sound of a door slamming shut, she decided it was time to take a walk and hope for the best. Making sure the hoodie covered her face and the headphones blocked out all the noises, she began her walk. Focusing on her music, time passed quickly, it was already starting to get dark. Luciana would have turned around and head back home, but a car in an abandoned parking lot caught her eye. The smart thing to do was probably to walk away or call the cops or something that would not put her at risk, but Lu recognised the car. She knocked on the window, trying to get Emmet’s attention, not really knowing how this would go.

Emmett read somewhere once that you could die sleeping in your car. Something about the AC and carbon monoxide build up. So while it was tempting to just keep his eyes closed and pretend he didn’t hear that knock on his window, he willed himself to sit up and lower the barrier between himself and whoever was outside. “What?” He asked pointedly once he saw who it was. Luciana. Emmett didn’t really have any interest in talking to her. Ana may have been gone but he still abided by her dumb don’t talk to ex-best friends rule. “Hayden send you to bitch at me for ignoring her or something?”

“Good to hear,” Reid chimed brightly, attempting to keep chummy sort of approach with the kid, despite the fact that he barely knew him beyond a couple of photos at the station and a case file he hadn’t read in its entirety just yet. “No- no, not at all, no problems here, I’m just- vibing with you,”  nailed it, he was really getting the hang of his gen-z lingo stuff. “We’re not just here for people when there’s trouble, you know, we’re here all the time- the police force, I mean-” he clarified, “Through good and bad, we’re here for the community, so I’m just checking in with you dude, just doing my part,” he insisted, though Emmett didn’t look particularly charmed by the idea of having a cop, or anybody for that matter, tailing him for any reason.

Vibing? Was this... was this punishment? Emmett kept quiet. While being a smartass felt tempting, he knew it’d be better to just let this cop get it out of his system so the guy could go to bed at night thinking he wasn’t old and boring. But then he started saying shit that got on Emmett’s nerves, making his jaw clench as he listened on to Officer Allen. We’re not just here for people when there’s trouble, you know, we’re here all the time. Yeah, all the time? Really? Where were you the night my fucking girlfriend was murdered, fuckface? But rather than say any of that out loud and risk getting himself sent to the station again, Emmett settled for curling his fingers around his steering wheel in a death grip. 

“Yeah, that’s,” he started, doing his best to not lose his shit in front of Officer Idiot, “that’s cool. I’m good though. I’m just... vibing.” He couldn’t help himself. He didn’t have the patience of a saint. He needed to get out of here. And luckily for Emmett, a Snapchat notification made itself known on his phone just then. He scooped the device up from where it rested in the cup holder of his vehicle and got to spewing an excuse. “Yo, Officer, I just got a text from my mom.” He lifted his phone, quick enough to show it but not long enough to show that it wasn’t even a message. Or from his mom. “I should be getting back. Dinner and all that.”

whoever that bitch was that thought it was a good idea to approach stupid emmett’s stupid car, shiloh didn’t know her. she felt like she’d never seen a car window move so slowly, was he doing it on purpose? like a gag? like stan barber’s car in i am not okay with this? if it was, she wasn’t in on it. and his response to her did nothing to make her think this had actually been a good idea after all. god, couldn’t her moral compass just allow her to be a good person to her friends? fuck everyone else. she wasn’t even sure if emmett knew her name. he had to, she thought, but it didn’t mean he actually did. 

“ me? ” she asked, though clearly. she was just surprised to have the question turned back on her. “ yeah– yeah, i’m good. ” it was a lie but she’d quickly realised his question hadn’t been asked in the same empathetic nature shiloh had asked her’s. even if it had been, would she have told emmett any sort of truth? fuck no. 

the worst part of all this? now that she’d walked willingly into the situation, she didn’t know how to walk away. like, cool, was just checking you weren’t about to off yourself in a cvs parking lot because that would be super sad, but seeing as you’re good, i’ll be off now, pip pip cheerio– obviously she couldn’t say anything like that. so, she grabbed her fucking shovel, and dug herself deeper into the hole. “ what are you listening to? ”

Seriously? They were going to have a conversation? Well, fuck it. It wasn’t like he was doing anything serious anyways. Emmett let out a little sigh, turning to his touchscreen stereo to read what was currently playing. “Uhh, it’s called Without You. From some dude named Spooky Black.” Just some shit he found on Soundcloud that he really vibed with. He turned back to... fuck, what was her name again? Rather than asking her, Emmett couldn’t help but take notice of the bright pink shirt the chick was sporting. “Um... you like, really like Baskin Robbins or something or..?” Was it supposed to be ironic? Like a good thrift find or some shit?

“ you are lucky. lucky to have me as sister, ” she smiled. char could tell he was hurting just by the way he was talking to her. though, anyone would be hurting in his position. “ okay awesome, ” she smiled. the brunette walked over to his passenger side and slipped in. “ the only catch is you have to drive but we can go anywhere you want, ”  she said looking over at the boy.

Oh so lucky, sure. Emmett couldn’t even muster up much of a reaction as Charlotte walked over to his passenger side and just like, let herself in. Apparently leaving the same snatch gave you all sorts of privilege to someone’s car. Whatever. “You could just say you’re too lazy to walk home, you know,” he told her in his usual mumble before he started out of the parking space.

“Where do you want to eat?” He asked once they were on the road. Because honestly, food was low on his pyramid of concerns these days. It didn’t seem as important as like, trying not to suck at Warzone and finding decent porn. Yeah, not really something they tell you but you still get horny after someone you love dies. But it’s like, seriously not chill to fuck another girl so soon. Especially if cops out there thought you had something to do with it. It wasn’t even like he wanted to get into something serious, it was just sex but everyone and their mother knew him as Ana’s boyfriend and no one was a big enough dick to be like, yeah I’d fuck you. Unless you were Hayden. But Emmett wasn’t touching that mess with a ten foot pole. Not again anyway.

Jo sighed, knowing he had a point.  They should have brought their phone with but seeing as it was almost dead they left it at home for the time being to charge.  “Sorry I left it at home, but thanks for seeking me out anyways.”  They said honestly, knowing it was probably bad business to not have a solid way to get in touch with clients.  “Alright sounds good.  Anything in particular this time?  We have a little bit of everything today.”

Emmett only nodded, unsure how to respond to that. It wasn’t like he was doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He was just a desperate delinquent looking for a fix. Something to tide him over when things got really boring or really bad. These days, it felt like both were one and the same. Little bit of everything? Well shit. Hanlon was feeling ballsy carrying that crap around in broad daylight. Then again, there was a reason she was the dealer and he was the customer. 

“You got any K? And my car’s just over there by the way.” He tilted his head to across the street. So they didn’t, you know, have to make this exchange in front of the spaghetti lord in the sky and whichever member of the Crestview population that felt like stumbling onto the scene unexpectedly.

It was a largely uninteresting day on duty for Reid Allen while he took his leisurely lunch break to get a soda from the local convenience store. On his way out he couldn’t help but noticed an unusually loud drumming of speakers from inside a parked vehicle and he decided to check it out. He silently prayed that nobody was boning inside the car, he wasn’t quite sure how he’d deal with that but he also hoped nobody was doing drugs or like- dead or anything either.

He was relieved to see it was just a kid listening to weird music and zoning out but that relief was short-lived when he realized who it was. Fuck, it’s the boyfriend. He thought but said nothing of the sort when he knocked on the window, “You all good in there my man? How you living?” he asked, trying to keep it cool so as not to spook the male who was probably sick and tired of police by now.

One more person knocks on his fucking window this week, Emmett swears to God. He stabbed the appropriate button on his window switch, lowering the barrier between himself and-- shit, a fucking cop. Did these guys not have enough? He straightened his spine, sitting up because he didn’t want to risk looking like he was disrespecting one of the boys in blue. My man? How you living? Was this guy alright? “Uhhh,” Emmett started, a little dazed and weirded out by the cop’s choice of words. “Yeah. I’m ‘all good’,” he answered, loosely quoting the guy. He took a peek at the stitching on the chest of his uniform. Allen. Got it, he’ll remember that. “M’I doing anything wrong, officer?”

“Last time I let you borrow my notes, I never got them back,” Natalia pointed out, raising an eyebrow at his request. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be helpful- that was kind of her thing, helping her classmates out when they needed, but she also trusted people to bring her things back. She worked hard on her notes. “I’m happy to help you study, but you actually need to pay attention this time.”

Okay, so that might have been true. “So I forgot,” was Emmett’s excuse, shoulders lifting in a shrug. “I’m sure I still have them. I’ll give them back.” He wasn’t sure he still had them. And if he found them, he wasn’t even sure he could remember to give them back. But whatever. Emmett sighed a little. “Fine. Like when?” He asked, as if he had such an incredibly packed schedule that he couldn’t possibly fit in a study session. Being sad over your girlfriend being dead took a lot of his time, you know. He had ‘be a sad bitch’ from 2 to 4PM, ‘be an even sadder bitch’ from 5 to 6PM. Short break to eat and jack off and then he was back on the never-ending grind of grieving.

Marissa was a nice person. Sure she had her bad qualities, everybody did, but she valued herself as an overall nice person. Unfortunately one of those bad qualities happened to be argumentative, and she wasn’t about to let some ungrateful teenager walk all over her just because he hated the world. She let out a heavy breath through her nose, attempting to calm herself somewhat before she went a little too hard on the still grieving kid. She stepped closer to the vehicle, narrowing her eyes before she began. “Listen pal, I’m doing you a favour. One of the many customers that has complained is Mrs Henderson, who has asked me to call my police officer husband four times to see if there’s anything her can do about you. Now I haven’t because I already know that there isn’t, which you think would be good news for you but I’ve been doing Mrs Henderson’s hair for nearly ten years and I know that once I tell her there’s nothing I can do she won’t hesitate to come out here and do something herself. She might not look like much but she’s got a cane that I know she will not be afraid to beat you with and as much of asshole as you seem like right now I doubt that you are going to beat up an eighty one year old lady. So word of advice, swallow all that pride you have, take the nice gesture and go buy yourself a coffee. On her new hip Mrs Henderson could get out here in a half a minute and then your ego will really be hurt.” It still seemed a little harsh, but it was a lot more calm that what she had wanted to say.

Jesus fucking Christ, what was this lady’s deal? Is her police officer husband not giving her enough dick and now she has to take it out on everyone else? Fuck Mrs. Henderson too. He could definitely take her if he didn’t have a moral compass that told him he shouldn’t beat on anyone whose tits sagged past their stomach. Emmett hated every second of the berating, staring at this whole ass adult going off on him for just vibing and not wanting to take unsolicited money. Toward the end of it, he couldn’t put his hands on the driving wheel and slam his foot on the gas fast enough. “You know what, you’re fucking crazy, lady. I’m out of here--” Should he have been a little more cautious of zooming away in his car when some woman was standing right by his open window? Some woman who claimed to be married to a cop? Probably. But Emmett was annoyed and freaked out, and who really gave a shit when you were in that state?

Sure Sophia felt bad for the kid, she was getting a first hand experience of her little sister’s grieving of Ana.  And she felt bad for the two of them, she did, but in this moment she was just annoyed at Emo Boy Emmett.  “That means you have freedom from the government in some parts, not freedom from the Sophia.  Dumbass.  Honestly aren’t you learning anything in that school?” (x) She sighed and was thankful that he at least turned down the music to a more manageable level.  “Yeah and your music wasn’t helping that at all!  Who knows maybe I could have had five more customers if you didn’t blear your sad trap music.”

"Yeah, I’m learning that getting a diploma doesn’t stop you from referring to yourself in the third person so why bother trying to graduate?” The Sophia? Who the hell said that kind of shit? Emmett shook his head. His face then twisted in annoyance when she started blaming her lack of customers on him. “Hey, it’s not my fault your boutique sells shitty clothes. If sales are low, get better marketing.” If anything, his ‘ sad trap music ’ was the most interesting about this spot for miles. “Or better yet, instead of being out here talking to me, why don’t you set up one of those... tube balloon people outside? Attract attention.”

“ good comeback, ” she said with a small laugh. “ well i was on a walk and decided to be a good big sister and check on you, ” char said looking at he brother with worried eyes. she wanted to make her brother feel better but how do you comfort someone who lost their girlfriend. she wasn’t sure.  “ do you want to go get some lunch ? my treat, ” the brunette offered sweetly. 

It was a shit comeback but it wasn’t like standards were necessary when you were related. "Lucky me,” Emmett drawled tiredly. If he’d been in a better headspace, he’d probably have the competence to pull his head out of his ass and appreciate that. But he wasn’t, so. “I mean, if you’re paying...” Because apparently he was too cool to say ‘yeah, that’d be nice, I could use the company’.

Marissa had been about to thank him, even if the boy didn’t seem all that happy to be following her polite request, and then she’d realised why she knew his face. Crestview was a small town and she’d always considered herself a big part of the community, when she’d first recognised him she had just assumed that he was another kid she’d seen around town and let it be. No, this kid was definitely Ana’s boyfriend, she was sure of it, and suddenly she felt terrible for marching out here. Reaching into her back pocket she pulled out a ten, hand sliding into the open window, “Just that you look like you could use a coffee. There’s a good place across the street.” It was hardly much, definitely not enough to fix whatever he was feeling, but she felt like it was better than just berating Emmett and walking away.

The actual fuck? Of all of the things he could have predicted, that was nowhere on his list. Was this supposed to be a kind gesture? Because Emmett sure as hell didn’t take it that way. “I don’t need you’re-- like, charity or whatever.” He felt hot in the cheeks just looking at the bill in her hand. He frowned, turning his head away slightly. “What’s your deal? Going around giving people you yell at money? I hate to break it you, but that’s not how shit works.” A beat. “I have money,” he made known, mostly looking at his driving wheel and not the lady. “I can get my own coffee.” In fact, he could get hundreds of coffees, all on his own. He didn’t need pity money. Or guilt money. Or whatever fucking money.