"Treasure Series" Book 1: CURSE [[CURRENTLY EDITING]]

Chapter 17: Tanner - The New Entangled With The Old

Sam arrived at the police station within ten minutes, a mask of happiness on his face. The reason I say this is because some of his features were strained as if he were trying to act happy, but not actually achieving it at all. I tried to act like I didn't notice this as he walked over to me, but even Sam could tell that I was trying to pretend I didn't notice. I guess we were good at understanding people's feeling by just looking at them.

It was something we had in common. Whether we both had this talent because we spent a lot of time with each other or because we just happened to have it, I didn't know. But, what I do know is that it might have been the reason Sam and I became friends. I mean, we were both alike in more ways than one, so...maybe that was all there was to friendship. You made friends with people who were similar to you.

My analyzation of him and also his analyzation of me soon turned into an awkward moment that took a while to get through. It was almost like whenever my friends and I were around each other it was awkward. Weird, huh? Well, with all the stuff that had gone on recently, it might not be that weird. But, the awkwardness between my friends and I – that just seemed to always pop up – was something we needed to sort out...as soon as possible.

The awkwardness always seemed to lift eventually, though. Almost as if it only wanted to last for an extended period of time, but not forever. This wasn't any different this time around, because after Sam asked me the following, harrowing question, it seemed to lift. "So, where's Gwen?" he asked as if he suddenly wanted to know.

"Oh, she went to get some coffee a few blocks down the street," I answered quickly so that the awkwardness didn't fall upon us again and so that I didn't raise suspicion.

"Oh, did she get coffee for all of us or just you guys?" Sam questioned, almost as if he knew I was lying, which I was, so he wasn't far off with his investigation – which is what I'm calling it since it felt that way.

"Oh, I didn't ask for any, so I don't know," I replied, keeping my voice calm and steady so that it would be easier for me to lie and so that Sam couldn't tell I was lying in the first place. That was the most important thing here because Gwen was not getting coffee down the street.

She was still at home, and I just hoped that she would get here soon because Sam was dangerously close to getting the answers that he really wanted out of me. I mean, Sam wasn't trying to question me in the way he was, but the more you lied to someone, the more they tried to get the truth out of you. That was exactly what was happening here.

Sam eventually gave up, though, nodding at my last reply and sitting down in a chair on the other side of the room. Then, he pulled out his phone and started rapidly texting someone. I had my bets placed on Astrid, but I asked anyway.

"Who you texting?" I asked casually, holding back the tension and fire in my voice, so that it didn't seem like I was the doing the same thing he was. If I could get to the point where I knew something of his that he didn't want me to know, then Sam couldn't ask me any more questions. It was a plan made to use for your enemies, but it was different in this case.

"Astrid," Sam replied in a quiet voice as if there was more there that I could get out of him. "We had a little bit of a fight this morning." And just like that, my "best friend" instincts kicked in.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. If you don't want to tell me about it in detail, that's fine. But, can you at least tell me what it was about?" I comforted him, hoping that he would take this as the best friends' act it was and not something else.

"Uhh...you see," Sam said, obviously at a loss for words. Whether it was because he didn't want to talk about it or whether it was just hard for him to explain it, that was something I didn't know. But, I did know that if he wasn't going to be able to talk about it right now, I couldn't budge him.