"i'll be back in an hour." i tell him before walking out of the house. i get in my car and drive to the diner. when i get out of the car i notice that there was a police car parked their. i furrow my brows and walk inside.
i saw mel at the cashier talking to two police officers, one of them was a girl. mel immediately shot her head towards me and pointed at me. both the cops took a glance at me before walking up to me.
"juniper francis, i got a couple of questions regarding joey birlem. do you know him?" the lady officer asked. i gulped and shook my head.
"no, i actually only really saw him once and that was yesterday when i took his order." i lied, well kinda. if joey was hiding from the cops then there's a reason they haven't found him yet and i wasn't about to give him up.
"did he ever try to contact you after that?"
i shook my head. "why would he? i was nothing but his waitress, that's it."
both the cops seemed so unsure. the lady officer lets out a deep sigh and nods slowly. "if he ever comes around here again, please contact 911 immediately. we have a warrant for his arrest." she says before walking out of the diner with the other cop.
i let out a deep breath i didn't know i was holding in. why were the cops looking for joey? was it because they thought he murdered his sister or something else?
i walk over to an empty booth and sit down. i hear footsteps approach me seconds later but i chose to ignore them. "did you lie to them?" i look up and see mel standing there with her hands on her hips.
i shook my head. "lying to a cop is a felony, why would i?"
"i thought that was the judge?"
i scoff. "same thing."
"so you don't know or haven't talked to joey ever since you took his order yesterday?" i shook my head at her question. i opened up my notebook and started writing down some notes.
"stay away from him june." i heard her say. i look at her confused. "why?"
"he's dangerous, he's the most wanted criminal in california and the cops haven't even found him yet. i'm surprised he managed to get through the doors here yesterday without looking suspicious or anything." she shrugged.
"i don't think he even murdered his sister mel." i whispered to her. she chuckled a bit.
"june that isn't the only thing they're trying to convict him from." she sunk her teeth down her lower lip. "it's all over the news june, he's like a drug dealer or something."
i looked down at my notebook. joey never told me that last night. maybe it was because his friends called him or because he was trying to hide it from me i don't know.
i heard laughter come from the entrance of the diner. i look up and see tayler walking in with another guy i haven't seen before. i look back at mel. "would you mind? i'm kinda studying here." i tell her.
she nods and stood up then walked away from me. i chewed on my lower lip nervously and watched tayler and the other guy sit down at a booth by the window. i looked around and stood up. i grabbed al my things and walked over to them.
"would you mind if i joined you two?" i look over at tayler. tayler looks up at me and grins. "not at all waiter girl. scoot over dev." he cleared his throat.
i looked over at the other boy. he rolled his eyes and scooted closer to the window. i smile a bit and sat down next to him. "what are you up to waiter girl?" tayler asked. "aren't you suppose to be working?"
i shook my head. "it's my day off, i work tomorrow." i tell him. "i'm just studying, i got a big test coming up and i'm not trying to fail."
"you in high school?" he asked without taking his eyes off his menu.
"college, actually. freshman year." i tell him. "i actually wanted to talk to you guys about joey."
tayler immediately set his menu down when he heard me say joeys name. "what about him, love?" dev asked. i looked at him and shrugged before looking back at tayler.
"the cops came by minutes before you guys came in, they asked me some questions about joey and i just wanna know why the whole state is looking for him." tayler and dev both looked at each other. dev started cursing under his breath and ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly.
"please tell me you didn't sell out my best friend." tayler said angrily. my face dropped, i shook my head.
"i would never, i care about him." dev scoffed.
"you just met him." he turned his body towards me and stared into my eyes, almost like he was trying to kill me with just a look.
"actually he's been here everyday for the past month, i might've just started talking to him but it feels like i've known him for a while." tayler's facial expression softened. he gasped. "dev that's cute, give her credit for that."
"shut up tayler, we need to warm joey and tell bryce that we have to get to vegas as soon as possible." dev grabbed his things and looked at me. he motioned me to get out of my seat. i get up slowly and look at them both.
"i wanna come with you!" i cross my arms. tayler and dev both looked at each other before bursting into laughter. "why?"
"cause i care about him." i tell him again.
dev hesitated before nodding. i grin and grab my stuff before following them out of the diner.
robbery
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