Best-Friends with Issues

Chapter 2- Caged In

~Selena~

"Selena? Are you ready to go?"

I blearily stumbled down the stairs, exhausted from another sleepless night. I didn't even bother trying to look like I wasn't dying. I was wearing Conner's old hoodie, though it had long since lost his scent, over a pair of leggings. And my hair- oh dear god my hair- was in the sloppiest bun I had ever seen.

But if I was going to remain miserable, I saw no reason in pretending that I wasn't.

I halted in front of my mother, who was frowning at me with her eyebrows scrunched in concern. "It's getting worse, honey." She raised her voice and called into the kitchen, not taking her blue gaze off of me. 

"Don't care!" My father shouted back from the kitchen. "The answer is still no!"

My mom sighed, rubbing a comforting hand to brush back my hair. "I'm sorry sweetie, I'm sure he'll come around eventually."

Somehow, I highly doubted that.

"Well, let's get going then! The police station awaits!" My mom said cheerfully, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me out the front door.

~

Once, we arrived, I had to be forcefully dragged into the police station.

Gotta say, not the first time.

"Selena!" I looked up in time to see Dave making his way towards me. I gave him a the biggest smile I could manage, though I'm afraid it wasn't much.

Dave was an old friend of ours. Unsurprisingly, Conner and I hadn't grown up as model children. We had gotten into loads of trouble, often ending in incarceration, where we had come to know Dave. Dave was the detective who usually ended up bailing us out of jail, and over the years I suppose we had grown on him. Like mushrooms.

"Hey sweetcheeks, it's good to see you." Dave smiled, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. 

"Hi." I smiled weakly. His eyebrows furrowed, and I knew that my miserable condition must either be completely obvious, or he knew me way too well and I needed to cut back on the arrests.

He turned to my mom. "Well, we're just going to ask Selena a few questions about what happened. It should only take maybe half and hour."

My mom smiled and nodded, but her concerned gaze was fixed on me as she went to sit in the waiting room.

"All righty then!" Dave wrapped an arm around my shoulder and started to steer me down the hall. "When the interview is over, I have a surprise for you." His eyes glinted mischievously, and I couldn't help but role my eyes.

"What are you, 12? It's scary to think that you're the guy who's supposed to be protecting people." 

Dave only chuckled, probably used to my sarcasm, and lead me into the interrogation room. 

As per usual, there was only one chair on each side. My heart panged, remembering how I would always force Conner to sit on the floor whenever we were in interrogation together.

We sat down, the only sound being the scraping of the metal chairs on the floor. The one-sided glass was reflecting back at us, and I grimaced when I caught a glimpse of my reflection. Gotta say, I've had better days.

"So Selena, let's get this show on the road then." Dave smiled encouragingly. "How did you meet Aaron?"

I shivered at the thought of him.  "Alex had introduced me to him. They were acquaintances."