43: Oregano

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"Look, I know you have a lot of questions, but I can explain," Jason says slowly, holding his hands up

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"Look, I know you have a lot of questions, but I can explain," Jason says slowly, holding his hands up. "I didn't break in."

Olivia glares at him. "Then what?"

"What's going on?" Alex asks under his breath, looking directly at Olivia.

"You do know everyone's looking for you, right?" Kal asks Jason.

"Yeah, which is why I have to hide for a while," he says. "I messed up."

I let out a huff. "That much we know." I regret the words as soon as they come out of my mouth. "But maybe we can help?"

"No, we cannot," Kal says before Jason can utter a word. He glances at me, eyebrows raised.

Jason lets out a sigh. "You can't help."

Alex forms a T with his hands. "Can someone explain to me what's going on?"

Part of me wants to grab the chance and talk to him like nothing ever happened, but I know I'm not exactly included in "someone".

"How did you get in?" Olivia asks, her voice sharp. "Is that why you had texted me? To let you in?"

Jason sits down at the edge of the bed. "I was actually trying to call your mum."

I notice Alex takes a breath, as if to speak up, but he never does. Olivia gestures for Jason to go on.

"Your parents brought me here," he explains. "I uh..." -he scratches the back of his neck- "had a plan to leave that business for good but it went downfall and had to lay low."

"Yeah, we're gonna need more on that," Olivia says.

"No, we won't!" Kal interrupts just as Jason is about to talk. "The more we know, the more we're hiding."

"Good thing I have no idea what's going on then," Alex mutters the way he always does: low enough to not be his normal volume but loud enough for others to hear.

"So, what's going to happen now?" I ask. "You can't stay here forever. Do you have a plan?"

Jason shakes his head and gets up again. "Olivia's parents are trying to see if W- if they know I messed up the stuff and if they don't I'm going to keep doing it and hope for the best."

Olivia frowns. "What do you mean you messed up the stuff? How hard is it to sell weed?"

Alex lets out a gasp but no one pays attention.

Jason shoves his hands in his pockets. "Well... I was diluting it with herbs so I could make more money and pay my way out of this."

"Clearly that didn't work out," Kal says flatly.

Even I want to punch some sense into Jason's head when he says that, no matter how bad I feel for him.

Jason clears his throat. "Right. I was with Gabriel when some people that buy from me took me outside of the bar. They're not ever violent, so I went along. By the time I realized they had figured out what I was doing, it was too late. I wanted to bolt but they were holding me in place. They threatened to rat me out to my boss if I didn't get them good stuff, free of charge."

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