Behind the Eight Ball

Chapter 74 - The Process of Being In Love

As I ride in the back of the patrol car it's hard for me to fathom how far I've fallen in just a few short months. To go from the most popular kid who was on the fast track to success, top schools fighting over him, a basketball star to... shakes my cuffed hands... this. It just boggles the mind.

All over a girl, a great girl. A girl, I can't possibly think of living without, even now, even after all this trouble. That stupid Eight Ball brought us together and she's been trying to pull us apart. But I won't have it especially now that I know how Brynn feels about me. Not even this circumstance, as bad is it is, can bring me down.

It's only a temporary hiccup as far as I'm concerned. We pull up at the station, and I am processed whatever the hell that means, it seems to be a word for a lot of paperwork. They took my stuff, put it in a bag, tagged with my name on it, which included my phone, bowtie, cufflinks and buttonhole covers. I imagine if I was wearing a cummerbund instead of a vest they'd have taken that too. 

Now I'm sitting in a cell with some rather rough-looking men, and one guy passed out from, I'm guessing, drinking too much. Since I'm no longer a minor I don't get any special privileges to who I spend my time with while in here. Yay! It's so great to be considered an adult. 

One of the angrier looking men stares me down. I try not to make eye contact and console myself with the thought that my dad was right behind us the whole time I traveled here, so hopefully, I won't be in here too long.

An out of place grin spreads across the man's lips. "Whatcha do kid? Crash a wedding or something?"

It took me a second to connect the tux to his question. I imagine I must look really out of place in this outfit.  I shake my head no. "Prom night didn't quite go as expected," I grumbled.

The man stood up, his pose threatening. He advanced towards me growling, "You tried to take advantage of innocent girl?!"

My mind raced to compute how that hell he got that out of what I said, I stammer, "No...n- no, I went with a friend but I got a call that someone thought my girlfriend was going to kill herself."

The man stopped dead in his tracks, which I was eternally grateful for because I really didn't want to die in prison.

"Did you stop her?" A man leaning against the wall asked.

"I found her but she was trying to run away. She wasn't going to kill herself."

"Why?" the mean-looking dude demanded to know.

"Things aren't going well for her at home and she's discovered she has cancer and doesn't want to be a burden on anyone."

"That still doesn't make sense," Wall Guy posed. "What's that got to do with you landing yourself here?"

"Her dad has a restraining order out on me. I'm not supposed to be within 500 feet of her. When her Dad saw we were together, he flipped out and called the cops and got me locked up."

Mean Dude's eyes narrowed, "Why the restraining order?"

"Don't go there again," I warned. "Her dad and my parents don't get along. It's been a long ongoing feud and my girlfriend and I are the victims of it."

Wall Guy scoffs, "So you're like what? Some sort of modern-day Romeo and Juliet?"

There was that reference again. I just shrug in response, wondering when they'll let my dad spring me from this place.

"News flash, she was running from you too, Romeo, " Wall guy reminds me. "Get it in your head no chick is worth it. Bunch of backstabbing..."

"Shut it!" Mean Dude said to Wall Guy who shrugs and retreats back to his corner, while the drunk snorts and begins to snore loudly. Mean Dude kicks the bunk and he rolls over to his side, stopping the obnoxious sound.