“Absolutely, this is exactly what I need to keep my mind off of things.”
I had only taken a few days off of work. One, because I was so new to the department, I didn’t want to look like a pansy, and two, because I didn’t want to sit at home on my ass with nothing to do. Nothing to do meant letting my mind wander, and that was never good. I had already done plenty of damage to my liver recently. I don’t think it could handle much more. After Rose left, I swallowed a handful of Tylenol and downed a gallon of water, so I was ready for my shift tonight.
“Whatever, just don’t get my ass shot because you decided to come back to work sooner than you should have.”
I grunted in response as I opened the passenger door to our squad car and Ty slid in behind the steering wheel. Ty and I both knew that running into someone with a gun was always a possibility, but not a big one. We tended to get more calls about noise complaints, bar fights, and disorderly conduct, since we were in the same county as the college.
Our night was pretty busy since it was Friday, the biggest party night of the week. It made me feel old when I had to go in there and bust people for underage drinking, or break up a fight, since I had been doing some of the same shit only a year or two ago. If some people could see me now, they probably wouldn’t believe it.
“So, how’s everything going, dude?” Ty handed me a cup of coffee as he settled himself back behind the steering wheel.
I shrugged my shoulder, listening as a call came in. I really didn’t know how to answer the question, and I didn’t want to. I don’t think you ever really got over the death of a parent, especially when you lost them so suddenly, so unexpectedly. I needed to be strong for Mom, even though it was hard as hell to go to my parents’ house and not have Dad be there, to know that he never would be again.
“I’m all right.” I turned to look out the window as Ty pulled out of the parking lot, flicking the siren on as we headed toward campus where the call had come in from.
“Well, if you need anything….” He trailed off, and I nodded my head in confirmation. Ty really was a good dude, and I couldn’t have asked for a better partner, being so new to the force. He was only about five years older than me, but had a wife and three kids at home. So, I tended to be able to have actual adult conversations with him, unlike Nate who was still stuck in the college mindset, looking to party every night. I wasn’t saying that was a bad thing, but Nate never wanted to grow up. He’d probably be partying and hitting up strip clubs well into his nineties.
We pulled onto the street, and I recognized the house as one of the school’s fraternities. I think I had even been to a few parties here myself before, which amused Ty when I told him. Like usual, handfuls of college kids took off in all different directions when they saw a police car show up.
A shattering of glass sounded from just above us as we stepped onto the cement sidewalk, and I heard, “Oh, shit it’s the po-po,” just as we knocked on the front door. Yup, totally brought back some good memories. It was hell being the responsible one sometimes.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE I let you talk me into this.” I inhaled deeply, holding the smoke in my mouth as long as possible before my throat started to tickle and I began coughing. I passed it to Mia, who took it like a pro, and grinned at the guy sitting beside her that was next in line.
“Oh, please don’t start with all of that peer pressure shit. I didn’t force the joint down your throat, Della.” She giggled loudly when the same guy leaned over to whisper something in her ear, and she looked at me before shaking her head and murmuring something about “She wouldn’t be into that.”
“I didn’t say that, Mia,” I grumbled, before taking a sip of the warm beer that I was handed when we first showed up. I was beyond cautious when Mia told me that we were just walking to the party, knowing that a row of fraternity houses sat just a block from our place. I had heard the stories about her, and assumed most of them were true, judging by the overwhelming welcoming she received when we first got there.
We were currently holed up in someone’s bedroom with a group of about six other guys. I wasn’t much into drugs—in fact I hadn’t touched anything since I moved here—but the smoke I inhaled seemed to ease some of the tension in my body, and suddenly I didn’t care about the overstuffed couch I was sitting on and what exactly the horny owner of this room had done on it.