Sara Devin

One more block and somewhere public should appear, she reminded herself as they walked. In case no cafe or some sorts made an appearance, she was going to run for it whether there was another stalker or not. But to her luck, he was right. She let him bring them inside and turned around immediately, “What’s going on?” she asked, unable to hide the stress in her voice.

Hailey was watching cartoons on TV as she ate cereal on the couch, with a blanket bunched up over her legs. She was supporting a messy bun she had made the night before and didnt bother changing into normal clothes nor cooking, hence the cereal. Her ears perked up as she heart the door being opened. It was unmistakably her roommate but her voice confirmed a second later. “Over here!” she called over from the living room and put her bowl on the coffee table, putting the TV on mute. As she saw Aya enter the room, she began, “Before you say anything, I wanna say that I’m sorry,” she muttered, playing with the corner of the blanket to avoid making eye contact. “I said some stuff I shouldn’t have. It was uncalled for. And I’m sorry,” she repeated, this time lifting her gaze to meet hers.

Aya had been avoiding the apartment for a few days. She had a second set of toiletries at her recording studio and had gone clothes shopping. But with all the mixes she’d been hired for done and sent to their respective musicians, and an entire bucket of grilled chicken eaten, she knew she had to go home and finally talk to her roommate about their night in jail. The musician drove to her apartment and went inside, taking a deep breath before she opened her apartment door.

“Hailey….are you here?” She called out from the hall as she took her shoes off.

Hailey knew he was right. He was. There was no doubt about it. It was just…Hailey hasn’t processed the whole thing yet and she was indeed worrying about the wrong thing at the moment. But still, she expected more from Hudson. She wanted him to hold her and say it was going to be okay. Not just stand there and yell at her for fucking up. “I know, I know I fucked up, okay?!” she yelled, the unshed tears falling on her cheeks. “I know I disappointed you, and my parents are going to feel the same way. And - and,” she started, trailing off and pulling the ends of her hair in frustration. “And yes I am worried about telling Elijah because he’s already perfect and I’m going to be the shameful child in our family! He’s you and I’m your siblings. I’m aware,” she added, her voice getting quieter as she spoke. The truth of her words suddenly settled, and along with Hudson pushing on more about her irresponsibility, she couldn’t hold back the sobs building in her chest.

Turning around, she started to walk away. “I wish I didn’t call you at all,” she muttered but still loud enough for him to hear. She wanted it to come out harsher but she was too aware of her mistake to snap at him. Instead it came out hurt and disappointed. She grabbed the ends of her cardigan and pulling them close across her chest and folding her arms as she walked with her head hanging low. She’d rather walk home than see him so disappointed in her. Her body was shaking with her silent sobs as she walked.

He didn’t like being angry but then again, he didn’t enjoy being pissed at her. She was a saving grace but right now, he was blinded by this dumb situation that was just a pile up from his own life. He crossed his arms as she went on her rant, his expression staying the same. “No, that’s not what I said–– I never fucking said that. You’re not a shameful child, you just did some stupid shit that you shouldn’t of done and you’re not Derek and Baylee, they do this shit to me on purpose. You’re not them,” he came to her defense. He didn’t know why the hell he did that, but hearing her put herself down was heart wrenching. 

As she started to walk away, his anger grew. “Wait what?! What the fuck no ––” he said reaching for her arm and catching up with her, leaving his car. He ended up in front of her, stopping her path. “How the fuck is this fair? I come bail you out of jail and you’re the one that’s pissed at me? I’m allowed to be angry, Hailey, I’m allowed to take my fucking time. You can’t expect everything to be fine after doing something like this. You don’t get to say that to me.” 

"I didn't say it was fair. I'm sorry if I can't be fair right now. I wanted my friend to be here for me, not just to bail me out but to tell me its going to be okay, even if I screwed up big time. You deserve to be angry but don't I deserve to be angry? Don't I deserve to panic? Because I am!" she said, throwing her hands in the air. " I am freaking out, Hudson, and for once, once I wanted - no, needed - needed /you/ to be /my/ support system," she said, her index finger in the air as she said 'once'.

Hailey scoffed when Aya talked about her connections. “Stop talking like a mobster. What connections? You mean a lawyer?” she rolled her eyes at her. Well, part of her did think maybe, just maybe, Aya had other connections who were not lawyers, but also this wasn’t a movie and she probably only had lawyers. Still, Ayas kind of connections were the least of her worries and she was getting off track again with her thoughts.

Even though on a normal day Hailey would agree and laugh along with Aya’s statement about Elijah, at the moment she wasn’t amused. She turned to face her fully once again, with fury written all over her face. “Boring? I beg to differ, Aya. He has his shit together, has a great career and what? That’s boring? What’s not boring for you? Being in jail, maybe? Because let me break the news to you: we’re in one! Is this fun enough for you, Aya?” she asked, her tone clear that the blonde was accusing her roommate for getting them both in trouble.

“Just one night I wanted to hang out with you and have fun and look where I ended up with. Do you just have to live up to your reputation?” she spat, running a hand through her messy hair and sitting on the floor at the opposite end of the small cell. “I can’t believe I was about to buy drugs. Me. I was supposed to be last person to do that!” she groaned, all she can think about being Hudson. “He’s going to be so disappointed. He’s not even gonna talk to me again,” she muttered, hugging her legs and burying her face against it. “All thanks to the best roommate ever!”

“Not big of a deal?!” Hailey asked, getting up. “Aya this could end up in my permanent record!” she cried, frustrated with not only the situation itself but with her roommate too. “Love doesn’t mean anything when it comes to this. Dammit, why couldn’t I be more like Elijah?!” she said, now angry about it too. Her focus was constantly changing because she didn’t want to think about being in jail. She just…couldnt. “I already called Hudson, he’s on his way,” Hailey muttered when Aya said she’d call Keiran. “I’ll tell Elijah too. And my dad. One of them /has to/ find a way to get rid of this,” she sighed, however her voice was still unsure. Her dad was a police, Hudson’s dad was a police and her brother was a lawyer. They /had to/.

Even though on a normal day Hailey would agree and laugh along with Aya's statement about Elijah, at the moment she wasn't amused. She turned to face her fully once again, with fury written all over her face. "Boring? I beg to differ, Aya. He has his shit together, has a great career and what? That's boring? What's not boring for you? Being in jail, maybe? Bevause let me break the news to you: we're in one! Is this fun enough for you, Aya?" she asked, her tone clear that the blonde was accusing her roommate for getting them both in trouble.

Hailey’s cries have been quieted down but endless tears were still rushing down her cheeks. She had never been in this much of trouble and she had never been in custody. The most she’s done illegally was underage drinking and…who didn’t do that?! But drugs? That was new. That was the first! And they were caught. Her mind was all over the place, thinking about herself, what this would do to her in the future, in her records, what she’d tell her parents… They’ve been always easy on her but this, this was too much for any parent to accept. She knew it and she regretted her actions already.

She was pulled back to the present by Aya’s voice. She loved her roommate and while she didn’t mind what she did, bringing Hailey in was irresponsible. Frankly, Hailey agreeing was her own risk and equally irresponsible, but the blonde was looking to blame somebody in time of fear and stress. She snapped her head towards Aya. “The worst? The worst?! Aya my life - my life is gonna go hell! What were we thinking?! What am I gonna tell my parents?! How are we gonna get out? I can’t call Elijah either, he’d kill me if he found out what I did!”

Aya felt horrible about Hailey getting dragged into this. It wasn’t that long ago that Aya was buying drugs regularly, and she had never been caught. Part of her felt invincible. Sting operation drug deals happened to other people, and on TV, but not to her. And for Hailey to be with her when her luck finally ran out? She was angry at herself, so when Hailey’s head snapped in her direction she knew - and felt she deserved - whatever her roommate was going to say. Instead, Hailey was focused on herself, and spinning out about the consequences of their night. She calmly waited for the other girl to finish what she was saying.

“I get why you’re upset, but it’s really not that big of a deal.” Aya said in an attempt to calm Hailey down. “I’m going to get the charges dropped. Your parents love you, they’ll get over it. I’ll call my brother and see if he can bail us out.” She decided not to mention the paparazzi might get a hold of the night’s events and put both their names and faces all over the internet and what few print magazines still existed. Hailey was freaked out enough as it was.

Hailey was doing the moves Dimitri told her to do, but when she saw him exit through the back door, she quickly dropped the weights and followed. She could tell by the way he talked, he probably didn’t assume it was her, so she picked rather light hearted tone instead of matching his sullen mood. “I’d suggest quitting smoking for the first thing. I don’t know what to think when my personal trainer is smoking in between exercises.”

Hailey chuckled at her cousin’s antics. “It is obviously fake,” she nodded sadly. “But I don’t know, maybe from afar, and if you pretend to hide it, he can fall for it. Can we actually, like, do this over the family dinner on Thanksgiving? I kinda need to see my parents’ reaction too, so I know how they’ll react to this one,” she grinned, pulling her up a little to show the tiny tattoo behind her ear. “It’s been getting really hard having my hair down all the time,” she rolled her eyes.

Brenna laughed a little at Hailey’s words. “I’d have to do something else if I was going to pull that off over Thanksgiving. But I was thinking about getting something for real - that’s why I was gonna test his reaction.” she explained before leaning in to look at the tattoo her cousin showed her. “Oh, that’s really nice!” she explained. “How about this, I’ll get something for real soon and be everyone’s guinea pig, then you can reveal yours unless they totally freak?”

He was giving her the cold shoulder. It was more than obvious. And although Hailey knew she deserved it, she didn’t necessarily need it right at that moment. She was already freaking out and was in shame of her irresponsible behavior and Hudson looking so…indifferent did nothing but stress her out even more. “Okay,” she said quietly like an obedient child, following behind him until they were outside. She told Aya to get home (and be safe) and that she’d come soon after. How soon would depend on Hudson but Hailey didn’t need to say it out loud - at least her roommate and she were on the communicating with looks level at friendship.

Once they were outside, she took a deep breath as if she had been released from jail after twenty years. She didn’t realize she was shaking like a leaf until she looked at her hands mindlessly in hopes to avoid Hudson’s gaze. But once aware of her own ongoing panic, she didn’t know how to put a stop to it. Internally having a panic attack, she somehow managed to make eye contact with her trusty friend. “Are you mad?” she asked, his image blurry due to the tears that haven’t fallen on her cheeks yet. “Of course you are,” she said before his reply, “I screwed up big time, I know,” she said, biting her lips nervously, starting to pace as she ran a hand through her blonde locks. She once again looked at Hudson, hoping he’s have an answer. “What am I gonna do? Do I tell Elijah? He’s gonna be pissed.”

Fiddling with his keys, he could only imagine his family group chat right now. His little sister probably going off the walls that he had to pick up his friend, one that he had deep feelings for, from the police station. But of course, no one was focused on their relationship, Hudson would rather focus on that but honestly he couldn’t tell where his mind was. She was always his support system and while yeah, people can mess up from time to time and have their own shit, but this was different. She broke the law, she could’ve been processed through the system. Jobs, futures, schools, everything would’ve been gone if he hadn’t stepped in. 

As the purple haired girl left, he sighed with relief before turning back to face her, leaning against the hood of his car. She answered her own question as it was, he was mad. He was very mad. “What are you gonna do? You’re worried about telling Elijah? Hailey –– I just bailed you out of jail. Out of fucking jail, do you get that? And you’re worried what you’re gonna tell Elijah?” He ran his hand through his hair. “Unbelievable,” he shook his head, keeping his eyes at his feet. “You fucked up bad. I can’t believe you did something so.. irresponsible.”