everglow

“Not really, just don’t feel like filling myself up with sugar, least not the refined sort” then again, he had never really had a sweet tooth. “If I had no dignity, I’d probably have ended up behind bars. Drinking a lot and no dignity are two different things. That point aside, Chicago is a big city, there’s at least two bars”. 

“You really give nothing away, huh?” Sohail mused, resting his head on his hand curiously. “That’s fine; you keep your business private and I’ll just let my imagination run wild about what you’re up to in your free time. If you were at...” Sohail paused as he checked the file to see where the fight had broken out. “Angels and Kings though, it would be helpful for you to open up.”

“Oh don’t say New York. I’m already a little homesick as it is. You’ll make me want to jump on the next plane outta here.”

“If anything will get you running straight back it will be the promise of decent pizza.” Sohail chuckled, his mouth almost watering at the thought of a proper slice. “At least there’s still the sound of police cars late into the night and drunks singing at six in the morning to remind you of home.”

Eliza rolled here eyes slightly as Sohail started to talk. “I mean - I thought it was your job to be looking after people, not harassing me but whatever.” The blonde was used to this by now but even so. It wound her up“Are you serious?” Eliza asked with a raise of an eyebrow. “I didn’t even do anything!” 

“I’ve heard that before.” Sohail muttered, dropping his arms to his side to at least try to reason with Eliza. “But I’m pretty sure if I didn’t take your statement the owner of this car would think I’m doing a shit job of looking after them. If you have insurance you probably won’t even be out of pocket so can you stop acting like I’m the super-villain of Chicago and just co-operate for once.”

“Okay - you’re gonna have to slow down and get off my back.” Eliza muttered with a shake of her head as she looked up at the person in front of her. “It’s nothing and I can fix it okay? I’ll sort it out.” 

Sohail took his notebook and pen out of his pocket and flipped it open, ready to write anything she could say which might give her up. “It’s my job to be on your back, ma’am,” he muttered, mustering all his strength to be polite. “And the car looks pretty dented to me, so I’m going to have to take your statement about what happened.”

“Isn’t Chicago kind of known for deep dish pizza? What am I doing wrong here? I was promised good pizza and this just… isn’t it.”

“Tell me about it,” Sohail said, unable to resist pouting. “All I’ve wanted for the past five months is a classic New York slice from some loud guy on the street.”

Isaac hadn’t been in the best mood to begin with, and it surely didn’t help to see the very officer who arrested him at his side. Just how small could the world get.”As we know. I’ve seen them been treated much worse. You didn’t realize it was me, or you didn’t realize I actually knew how to be a decent human being like yourself?” He said with a tilted head and a mocking tone in his voice. Isaac wasn’t the person to be rude to someone for no reason, but he just couldn’t seem to help it with this guy. All through the arrest and the trip to the station was filled with snappy and rude remarks. A defense mechanism that hadn’t worked to Isaac’s advantage. 

“So.. how’s life Sohail. Picked up any more delivery guys since we last spoke? Or maybe you’ve finally gotten closer to taking down that little club of ours? Although I seem to remember that you weren’t really doing that great of a job overall, so probably not.” He had heard one of the officers at the station call him but his first name, and would refuse to call him by his last name ever since. 

Sohail’s stomach churned. He could see the face of his informant clear as day; wide eyed, scared, barely eighteen, pulling down the hem of her tight red dress, embarrassed that she didn’t have anything else to wear. Sohail had taken her statement himself, jotting down the names she could remember before she was rushed off to the sketch artist. Her nails were chipped, her lips chapped, and her voice was husky and weak from years of smoking. Sohail had wanted to sweep her up and keep her safe for as long as he could; at least when his sister dealt with abuse she had the whole family rallied around her, but that girl had no one.

“You think that’s funny?” Sohail grimaced, leaning close against the bar and ordering a beer once he got the bartender’s attention. “That’s a sick sense of humour you’ve got there. You know what I find funny? What’s properly sidesplitting is when an arrogant punk kid who thinks he’s going to get away with everything finally gets held accountable for his shitty actions.”

“Why on earth would I have wanted sugar?” he asked, part of him knew it would have been normal to say thank you, but then that would be breaking the habit of a life time. He raised an eyebrow, “unless there was a worse crime, then it is. Drinking isn’t illegal, if it was then I’d have been arrested a long time ago”.

Sohail rolled his eyes. “Edgy,” he commented, but his teasing was undermined by a friendly chuckle. He grabbed the file off Carter’s desk and dropped it open in front of him, sitting down across from him. “Well, the guy has a black eye, a lost memory, and, much like you, no dignity. You might’ve seen something since you were obviously at a bar last night.”

          “Less than you’d imagine.” Came a reply laced with certainty. This job had been her lifeline— and she was thankful to those who kept her there. It wasn’t much. To the naked eye it was a job for college dropouts and those with narrowed prospects. She just happened to be both. “Nobody would.” She added with a smile, rushing to grab a glass of water for the man in need of some relief. “Offer’s still open.” Turning back to the man, a smile debuted on her features.

Sohail chuckled. Talking had never come too easy for him and he certainly wasn’t going to pour his heart out to a stranger, but he appreciated her compassion and sincerity. “I’m still new to town,” he said uneasily. Sure, it wasn’t why he wasn’t drinking alone, but he had to get something off his chest if he was going to breathe easy again. “I’ve not found a drinking buddy yet.”

Mayo was walking home from her night job when she heard the tiny mews coming for the ally. She took her keys in between each of her knuckles and the flashlight out on her phone. “Here kit kit kitty, it’s ok.” She said easing more into the ally and making herself lower to the ground. It sounded like there was more than one cat. “Mamma bear it’s ok, I wanna help you and the babes.” She said now fully on her knees in the ally across from where she was hearing the noise. She started to make the white noise sound that helped other cats come in hopes it would work now.

Sohail had been walking past the alley when he heard a quiet voice. His hand reached for his gun as he took a cautious step into the alley. “Hello?” he called out softly, but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness he saw a figure crouched over and his back straightened and his senses were on high alert. “What’s going on he-- oh!” His voice softened and his eyes crinkled when he noticed the cat. “Is she yours?”

Carter groaned as he realised that the other person wasn’t about to stop talking anytime soon. Perhaps if he felt more human then he would have listened… probably not. “Ok please stop, my head feels like someone just hit it with a hammer and this isn’t helping” admittedly the hangover was his own fault, but all he wanted was coffee. Granted this was about the 10th one he’d had, but still.

Sohail rolled his eyes but couldn’t resist the smile playing on his lips. He grabbed the mug from Carter’s desk and strolled over to the coffee pot to top it up. He placed it down again and sat across from him. “No sugar ‘cause you don’t deserve it,” he teased. “I was trying to ask you about the assault last night, but maybe that’s not the disaster from last night we should be talking about.”

                            “I’d serve you another, but I can’t bring myself to do it.” Wavering empathy was etched finely into childlike features. “Do you want to talk about it? A burden shared is a burden halved.”

Sohail had been staring blankly into his empty glass, but his head shot up at the voice. He forced a smile and shook his head. “Just work problems,” he insisted. “I’m sure you understand that.” He turned to look at the man across from him, slumped on the bar and his whole body shaking with hiccups. “I wouldn’t want to be the one responsible for him.”

Another day, another night at the bar. So far, Isaac had no friends, no job and no life. Unless you counted the friends, the job and the life he had just left behind in hopes of a brighter future. Which mean he mostly used the evening to check out new bars and maybe find some adventures, in the types of distressed women. However, this night he only wanted to chill at the bar and have a glass of whiskey when this guys comes over to pick up another girl by the bar. He clearly wasn’t doing a good job, and clearly he wasn’t really noticing it. “Seriously man.. just give up.. she’s not into you.” 

Sohail scanned the bar from the door. He couldn’t pick out a single familiar face, but couldn’t place whether that was the way he wanted it. Talking was exhausting sometimes, especially in bars; slurred words, sloppy pats on the arm, waking up sick from regret and memory loss in equal parts. To drink alone, though, seemed like surrendering to his own misery and he wasn’t quite at the stage of wallowing to drink away his sorrows. He made his way over to the bar and leaned close against it to get the bartender’s attention when he heard a voice next to him. He turned to see a sleazy guy with his arm draped confidently around the waist of a girl.

“Is there a problem here?” he asked, a small sign of support for the guy next to him trying to help the girl. The man rolled his eyes and sauntered away. “Can’t stand guys like that.” Sohail muttered to the guy next to him, cursing himself for even speaking when he turned to face him and realised it was Isaac. “Oh, didn’t realise it was you.”

{SOHAIL ARYA} looks a lot like {RAHUL KOHLI}! the {31-YEAR OLD}, {CISMALE} is a {POLICE OFFICER}. they can be {INTELLIGENT & COMPASSIONATE} but also {SECRETIVE & INTENSE}. for the past {5 MONTHS}, chicago has been their home.