Kiss My Sass [Books 1 & 2]

[book 2] chapter two: i become a convicted felon

My worry for the pressing matter at hand took precedent over my concern of Brenton's daytime drinking. "About that, Officer..." I started slowly. "I may or may not have lost my licence."

Between travelling to and from Cortland and Stone Creek, the occasional visits to Penbrooke and Birch Mount, and the spontaneous weekend road trip Amber and I took last month, I wasn't exactly sure where my licence was.

"Are you shitting me?" Brenton, who was now unhandcuffed, lunged himself at me.

~*~

"I'll admit," Brenton said after a long silence. "That wasn't my brightest moment."

I looked up from the metal bench I was sitting on to give him a dirty look. "You don't say."

Despite almost being freed, we were now locked up in the holding cell — me for driving without a licence, and my brother for attempted assault. Since Alex was a minor who refused to give the cops our mother's contact information, he was put in the cell with us.

"I have to use the bathroom," the youngest Parker whined. "Those milkshakes did not go down well."

"Alex," I groaned.

"Hold it in," Brenton snapped.

There was one metal toilet in our cell, and I refused to let Alex crap in it when we'd be here for who knew how much longer. We were allowed to make one phone call, and after my royal screw up, Brenton took the initiative to make the call. I knew he couldn't have called Niko since our big brother wasn't making it to Stone Creek tonight, so I was just praying he didn't call Mom.

"I shouldn't have come home," I said, voicing my thoughts aloud.

"Yeah, I wish you hadn't either," Brenton mumbled.

The vibrating of a cell phone interrupted our incoming spat. All three of our heads whipped to the plastic box on the desk across from our cell, wondering who was getting a notification.

"Kids," the officer behind the desk said with a shake of his head. He was an old man with greying hair and a matching salt and pepper beard.

He peered into the box and picked up the cell phone, the lime green silicone case catching my eye. It was my cell phone.

"Any of you know a James?"

"That's my boyfriend," I answered instinctively.

When the old man winced, I felt my stomach sink. "He said something came up and he can't see you tonight." He paused. "He also asked if you remember where he keeps the aspirin."

The sinking feeling in my stomach didn't dissipate. "In the cabinet under the bathroom sink."

He looked at me confusedly. "You, uh, want me to message him back?"

Ignoring the officer, I reflected over James' message. We didn't talk much to each other for over a month because he wanted to focus on his final exams, and now that they were done, he still didn't have time for me. I had the perfect weekend planned for us, and he couldn't even bother to show or give me a real excuse. What was this something that kept coming up when I needed him? The past few weeks were some of the hardest I had experienced and I didn't even tell anyone what I was going through because I wanted to talk to my boyfriend first, but he couldn't make the time for me.

Any remaining excitement I had for this summer quickly began to dwindle.

I momentarily escaped my thoughts when Officer Shaw entered the room. "Your bail's been paid, you're free to leave."