killer, m.clifford/a,irwin

20

"Well, that was another uneventful, wasted day of my life." Luke summed up, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table.

Michael was laying on the ground, scrolling through his phone. He gave a brief grunt of acknowledgement but I don't think he was really paying much attention to Luke's rants.

I nodded absently, my eyes glued to the television. I was trying to pay attention to this episode of 'Criminal Minds', but all I could think about was Sydney. It was a tradition for her to come over to my house after school and fawn over Spencer with me.

I reached over for the remote and changed channels, ignoring Luke's curious glance. He had put this on for me as soon as we had gotten to his house because he knew it was my favourite. I'm glad he didn't decide to question it.

The show now playing was 'Ex On The Beach'. Michael let out a soft chuckle.

"A bit ironic, yeah?" He said without looking away from his phone. "Ex On The Beach is about exes who show up out of no-where. Sort of like your situation, Atlantis."

I stuck my tongue out at him and just watched as another ex showed up on the beach. They did some dramatic entry by getting up and running out of the water.

"I do agree that it would've been more interesting to see Ashton arise out of the lake than kissing Sydney but alas his entry was probably more dramatic." Luke smirked.

"You're an idiot." I rolled my eyes and threw a pillow at him. The way Luke spoke so nonchalantly, actually made me relax about the situation. It let me know that they had my back.

I was about to challenge the boys to another marathon of Mario Cart when the doorbell rang. I looked over to Luke, considering this was his house, but he was too busy chowing down on whatever creation he and Michael had made in the kitchen.

I pushed myself up from the couch and walked over to the door, swinging it open with ease.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I laughed humourlessly as I came face to face with Sydney. "Did you seriously not get the message already? Leave me to fuck alone." I snapped, going to swing the door shut.

"He was a suspect for the murder of Sam Green!" Sydney blurted out before I could close the door on her face.

I froze, completely startled by this information. Slowly, I opened the door wider until I could see her nervous face.

"What did you say?" I asked slowly, my heart pounding in my chest.

"Ashton was suspected for the murder of Sam Green." Sydney repeated, her eyes wide. "That's why I've been acting so..." She waved her hands in the air, unable to come up with a word.

"How do you know this?" I cleared my throat, acutely aware of the newfound silence behind me.

"The summer after Sam died, I interned at the police office. You remember, yeah?" She asked and I vaguely nodded. That same summer she started to withdraw from Luke and I. We thought maybe the internship was too much for her.

"Well, Ashton was coming in a lot, like, too regularly. So, I decided to find out what was happening." She gnawed on her lower lip. "I read some files that I wasn't supposed to. They all basically said that the cops suspected Ashton for Sam's killing. They were really dead set on him too."

"Why the hell would they think that?" I scrunched my nose up in confusion, unsure if I bought her story. Ashton had told me to stay away from her.

"Apparently Sam's mum filed a restraining order against Ashton three days before Sam was killed." She explained, her eyes flicking behind her. She was clearly nervous being on the outside of this group.