"And another one here" The officer stated as he guided Theo's thumb print onto the sheet of paper.
The station was anything but unordinary. The same as any other station; the dreary feeling of the dark waiting area. The constant beeping of walkie talkies, notifying passing officers of a new incident they could choose to go to. The loud shouts of drunken men and women in the station, who had also been detained. The officers who walked around like zombies, clearly tired of this same routine day in and out, and feeling even worse because it was a Friday - the start of the weekend - the busiest time for a police officer.
And last, but not least the corridor, which Theo now was walking down to be taken to one of the cells.
He wasn't expecting any less from when he was pushed into the back of the police car, but the least they could of done was cleaned up his hands, instead they were stained red with Sebastian's blood.
On the way through the corridor, him and the officer were stopped by another one of his colleagues.
"Smith, what's this one in for?" The new officer asked as he looked Theo up and down, knowing he definitely wasn't one of the regulars who would get detained there
"He looks no older than twenty, I know it's a Friday night and all, but mate it's not even one am yet" He continued as he unscrewed his water bottle cap, lifting it to his lips to take a sip
"You know that funfair, over on 'Diamond Green'... Yeah this one was in a bit of a fight, one sided" Smith, the officer, who was leading Theo to the cell told the other one
"Can see that...The boy doesn't have a single scratch on him" He pointed out, "Well, besides those knuckles, those are definitely gonna swell. What does the other guy look like?"
"Worse on the scene, but I've been told he's fine, just a broken nose and rib..." Officer Smith explained as the other officer gritted his teeth in pain of imagining that "He's been cleaned up and staying in the hospital for a night or two, just to be precautious"
"So I'm assuming this one here is just in for the night?"
"Yep...Only for tonight though, officer Kaur spoke to the other guy and he's fine, not pressing charges at all"
Seb knows not to, or else they'll know what he did to Naomi
"You taken his belongings?" The other officer asked, to which he waved a small clear plastic bag with Theo's phone, wallet, belt, keys and shoelaces were in
They even took his drawstring from his hoodie, just incase.
Without even having to ask, Officer Smith placed the bag in the other's hands, knowing it was routine for them to give it to the other in passing as it would make it easier to file.
"Wait" Theo interrupted
"Yeah?" Officer Smith asked, having this be the first time Theo had spoken since telling him his name to put on the forms when he was doing his paperwork
"Can I get something from the bag?" Theo asked
"I can't allow that"
"It's just a picture, I need the picture, please?"
"Okay" The new officer passed Theo the bag back, with the both of them watching him intently as he fumbled around with his wallet, pulling out a Polaroid picture.
"Happy?" Officer Smith asked
"Yeah" Theo mumbled
"Alright then, I'll leave you to it Smith, cell five is empty" The other officer called out, walking away
"Thanks Humphreys, I'll see you tomorrow...Come on now" Officer Smith ushered Theo, as he led him further down the corridor, walking past several closed cell doors
Finally making it to the one with the large number five on the door, Theo heard the lock being lifted and the door was opened.
Before him was a small room, which ironically reminded him of his room back in first year, when he was in halls, but obviously less luxurious. Very far from luxurious.
The cell consisted of a toilet, in the corner, and a bench with a mattress ontop of it.
Looks like this is my bed for tonight
"Go on in son, I ain't got all day" the officer huffed
"I know, I've been through this before" Theo mumbled, stepping into the room
"Before, huh? So you know that the whole 'I'm entitled to a phone call thing is a myth'" Smith asked to which Theo nodded, sitting down on the bed.
"Though, you are entitled to inform someone of your whereabouts, so make sure it's someone good because I'm only giving you this opportunity once" Smith spoke in his gruff voice
"I know, I need some time to think about it though" Theo answered
He did. He needed time to listen to Smith's advice and call the right person because if he didnt, things could get very messy. What were his options; Mum? Dad? Stass?
I can't, they'll all literally kill me, especially Dad.
A loud slam made Theo look up from staring into space. It was Smith closing the cell door.
"Wait!" Theo called out, knowing exactly who was the right person to call
"What is it now?"
"I know who I want you to call"
"Go on..." Smith urged as Theo told him the name of the one person who would help him right now.
"Alright, I'll tell them" Smith shouted down the corridor as he walked away from Theo's cell
Theo let out a sigh of relief of that name popping into his head last minute.
Looking down at the Polaroid picture in his hands, Theo smiled down at it. He knew the picture may not of been of her face, but instead her body, but that didn't mean it meant any less to him. He traced over the sharpie written handwriting along the boarder of the underwear picture, which stated 'I miss you just as much as you miss me'. A note from Christmas, their first time apart, but he now needed it more than ever.
"I miss you too baby" Theo whispered under his breath as he wanted nothing more than to have her in his arms right now, but he knew that wasn't going to be for a while.
He didn't even know if the person he wanted to be called would pick up, but all he could do was hope.
Despite everything, Theo laughed to himself. He let a small smile come to his face at the realisation of how Naomi would probably clown him for talking to a Polaroid of her body, but what else could he do? He missed her. He missed his girl and he was dumb enough to let his anger take over, and now he was reaping the consequences.
Why am I being so fucking over dramatic, I'm getting out by tomorrow even if they don't pick up...But that doesn't mean I don't want to be out earlier to see my girl.
"Fucking hell, I sound like I've just gotten told that I've got a life sentence in prison" Theo laughed to himself, shaking his head
Not knowing how long he was going to be in there for, Theo decided to get comfortable. He laid back on the bed, which was just a thin mattress, swinging his legs infront of him onto it as well, and stared up at the ceiling, hoping that either sleep would overcome him, or he'd get out...just anything to pass the time.
"THEO!"
Theo's eyes snapped open to the sound of his name. He was just staring at the ceiling, what?
Shit, I must of fallen asleep how long was I out for? Was it time for me to get out already?
Looking over at the cell door, he heard the sound of keys jingling, and that could only mean one thing.
The door was abruptly swung open and there stood Officer Smith, with a very angry looking person behind him.
Theo didn't need to be told twice that this was his time to leave and quickly got up from the bed, ensuring he grabbed the Polaroid of Naomi and walked out of the cell, smiling.
I knew he'd come.
"You better wipe that smile off your face because this isn't something to be happy about, you should be glad I'm even here" He told him as Officer Smith locked the cell door behind Theo
Theo dropped his smile instantly, he knew not to piss him off any further, as they began to walk straight out of the station, without even bothering to see if Theo was close behind.
Well he was going to make it out of the station, without any interruptions until he stopped abruptly, making Theo very confused.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me" He muttered under his breath as he glanced back over to Theo to see if this was his doing, to which Theo shrugged - looking very surprised
"Stone, Parker, go the hell home!" He shouted at Ollie and Elijah, who were half asleep, slumped in the waiting room chairs of the police station
"Five more minutes" Ollie mumbled, as Elijah's eyes snapped open at the sound of his last name, by the only person who could strike fear in him besides his parents and Tiana.
"You came all the way to the station and waited for me?" Theo smiled looking over at his boys
"Of course, we're family, I've been telling you th-" Elijah started as he shook Ollie awake to show him that Theo had gotten out
"Aht, no!" they snapped, "This is not the fucking time for a nice brotherly reunion, go home now!"
"But coach-"
"Don't but coach, me! It's three fucking am, you have no fucking idea what was going through my head when a officer called my phone telling me that my fucking team captain has been arrested for fighting" Coach Hale shouted at the three boys, turning to leave the station
Shit coach is definitely pissed, he's used the word 'fuck' in just about every sentence.
"Come on Theo, get in the car, I need to talk to you" Coach Hale told him
"I'll see you lot back at the house, yeah?" Theo asked as he glanced back at Ollie and Elijah, as they were all walking out into the cold night
"Yeah, yeah man, but we're sorry about all of this" Ollie apologised
"Don't even worry, we'll talk at the house" Theo reassured, jogging after coach, not wanting to get into anymore trouble as he took one more glance back at Ollie and Elijah and saw them getting into Elijah's car
Theo got into coach's car as he heard the engine roar to life.
Coach Hale waited for Ollie and Elijah to drive off first so he could follow after them.
"You've got to be kidding me Theo, you're in second year, you're my star player, you're my team captain and I get a call. A bloody call at two am telling me that you're here, that you've been fucking arrested"
"I-"
"Don't interrupt me" Coach snapped, "You're lucky that I know Officer Smith and I managed to convince him that you're a good kid and something like this isn't normal for you"
"I-"
"I swear this better not ever happen again Theo, and don't say oh it won't because you think I didn't see your knuckles bruised like this last year, during term three training. This whole fighting thing better not be a common occurrence" Coach huffed, referencing when Theo first beat up Seb back in first year
"May I talk now?" Theo asked as he patiently waited for Coach Hale to continue shouting at him
"Yes" he muttered
"Okay, so...I'm going to tell you why I did it, both times. I shouldn't even be sharing this with you but I know she'll know I did it for good reason. My girl-" Theo started as he saw Coach's eyes widen at the sound of the word 'girl' knowing that there was always problems that came with girlfriends and his players
"Your girlfriend?" Coach corrected
"No, not girlfriend, just my girl, it's complicated...But anyway, she-she had a shit first year, partially my doing but she got involved with this one guy and he was good to her as far as I know, well he was until I got in the way...He ended up hitting her because of it and then-" Theo explained as he noticed Coach's face soften after immediately understanding what caused Theo to act out.
"Shit, it reminded you of your sister's ex didn't it?" He asked, knowing all about the story of Theo's older sister and why he deferred university for two years
"Yeah" Theo mumbled not wanting to think about that, right now.
"So I gave the guy a physical warning to stay away from my girl because of it, but he showed up tonight and me and her got into an argument and somthing happened to her and he was something to do with it and shit just got bad and I couldn't stop hitting him" Theo rambled, gritting his teeth in pain of him unconsciously clenching his fist of the memory of Seb saying 'hit me like I hit her'.
Snapping him out of his thoughts, coach asked Theo "What's the boys name?"
Theo looked over at his coach not even bothering to take his eyes off of the road as he continued to follow Elijah's car.
Taking his silence as an answer, coach repeated, "Theo tell me the boy's name"
"No, it's handled, and if it isn't then I'll come to you" Theo breathed out, not wanting this to be a bigger deal, he still had to tell Naomi that Coach Hale knew of her trauma.
"Okay fine, but I can't let you off lightly, this was still a very serious incident, you put the boy in hospital. You're apart of my team, you're a reflection of those boys, me and this university, I can't let you-"
"Please don't tell me you're kicking me off the team" Theo interrupted knowing that he fucked up but he had his reasons, this couldn't be the end of him playing football in university.
"No, I know I may be dumb for coming out here at three am to pick you up but I'm not dumb enough to kick you off the team, but you're suspended from being captain, playing any matches, the training sessions and being on the team for three weeks" Coach named off
"Three weeks?!"
"I can make it four" he warned knowing that despite Theo had his reasons for what he had done, he still needed to understand there were consequences for his actions, especially when he had put a boy in hospital
"Okay, okay three" Theo repeated, not wanting it to be any longer
Quickly glancing over at Theo's glum face coach decried to say something, "Since there was a reason for all of this" he gestured to Theo's knuckles, "I will do you a solid though..."
"What is it?"
"You can pick whoever you want to be your team captain replacement" Coach offered
"That's harsh coach, I already know Mason Quinn is gonna be creaming his pants at the fact that he gets to play striker since I've never fucked up before, and now I have to pick my captain replacement" Theo groaned
"Yes or do you want me to do it for you?" Coach warned him
"No..." Theo trailed off, watching them nearing the area of his second house at uni
He sat in thought for a moment until the perfect person appeared in his head.
"Okay so I know this will be a long shot with you being pissed off with me and all but-" Theo smiled, trying to get onto coach's good side
"I'm not liking this Theo"
"No, just hear me out"
"Go on" Coach rolled his eyes at the boy he couldn't deny reminded him of a son
"My girl"
"Your girl?"
"Yes, I want her to coach the team as captain, in my absence"
"Theo I will pull this car over, what the hell has gotten into tonight, is this some elaborate plan for you to get into her pants because leave football and my team out of that"
"No" Theo laughed, "I'm not lying when I say she knows her shit, like seriously, one time I was watching the plays of that uni down in Leicester that we were against last year and she came and sat next to me, shouting when they did something wrong that I didn't even notice until I rewatched it"
"Okay but that doesn't mean..."
"She knows the boys, well mainly Ollie and Elijah, they'll help her out and I'm sure the rest will fall in-line. Come on coach, when would I ever give you a bad decision as team captain?" Theo teased
Theo heard him exhale, gritting his teeth, "Fine, if she's up to it, I'll give her a trial run and if she's good then you've got yourself a replacement until I see fit"
"Thanks Coach, I'll ask her when I see her"
"I'm confused though, what about Parker? I would of said Stone as well, but we all know he can get a bit lost sometimes, amazing on the pitch, but when giving out instructions, absolutely useless"
Laughing at coach's analogy of Ollie, Theo explained, "Elijah is great, but then that would mean that I would have to choose between my two best mates and I refuse to do that, Jimmy is a fat no because of some other shit I'm not getting into and then there's the other players who are either first years - who are still pretty new to the team so no one would listen to them - and then there's all the third years who have been asked to be benched because they wanna focus on academics more this year, so in reality I would only have second years to choose from and that leaves just Harry, so yeah Harry would of been my pick"
"Wow you really do know your team, V-" Coach nodded, happy to hear that despite everything Theo was an amazing captain who knew his shit and didn't take that responsibility lightly
"Please don't say my last name coach" Theo interrupted, feeling his heart drop at the sound of his mother's maiden name
"Shit sorry Theo, I forgot how you don't like the name"
"Hmm"
"You are going to have to call them though, you know...your parents"
"Why?"
"Because I've received calls from your father to make sure you're not spending too much time on football and are actually keeping up with your degree since you don't talk to him"
"For fuck sake, this is exactly why I kept my mum's maiden name on the back of my football shirt" Theo mumbled, remembering that the moment he turned sixteen him and his sister legally changed their last names to their mother's maiden name
He was annoyed at his father for even having the audacity to call coach to ask about him, forever sticking his nose in his business when he didn't even ask where he was over Christmas.
"Yes I know, so why don't you like me saying that one?" Coach asked, knowing that was one of the conditions when Theo agreed to be on the team, to not mention his father and certainly don't call him by either last name, just 'Theo'.
"Because it's still a reminder of my dad in a sense and I want to make it big time before my last name is what I'm known as, I want my mum's maiden name to actually have something to it. I want to show my dad it was nothing to do with him" Theo explained
"I understand...I guess I'll stick to calling you Theo then, but I have one more question" Coach acknowledged, parking the car down the road from the house he watched Elijah and Ollie enter
"Shoot" Theo nodded for him to ask away
"Please don't tell me this fight is all over social media because you just had that meeting with Grey Saunders" Coach reminded, knowing that this could put Theo's career in jeopardy. From his knuckles alone, he could see it was bad and the fact that Stone and Parker were waiting for him, apologising meant that they knew it was bad as well and knew not to even bother trying to pull him off because when anything to do with domestic abuse was mentioned in Theo's presence, all he saw was red.
"I-, um...shit I don't know, I'll check" Theo stuttered not knowing if it was.
It was as if reality hit him now, he realised if word got out, his career would be ruined.
He turned his phone back on and he was surprised. There were no new messsges, well besides the house groupchat with Elliott, Charlie, Drew, Cap, Morgan, Jack and Daniel that seemed to be active.
Opening up the groupchat, Theo scanned through the messages that had already been sent whilst he wasn't active.
Elliott - Did you guys hear about that fight that happened at the fair?
Drew - Yeah, we missed it cause Charlie was too busy trying to win a fish
Charlie - Okay...but I'd rather get a fish than see a fight and I did get it, you guys can meet Goldie soon
Elliott - Goldie?
Charlie - Yes, my goldfish, you'll love him
Drew - Not the time Charlie
Morgan - Did anyone actually see the fight?
Jack - Nah, I was on the other side of the fair
Cap - I got sent a video of it, but it was hella blurry, it was a shit fight though and no one I know was up there really so it was hard to find the it.
Elliott - How comes?
Cap - 'Cause the other guy wasn't even fighting back and no one knows who the fight was even between
Daniel - Yeah, yeah I saw the video on someone's story, the other guy was literally just laying on the ground taking it
Charlie - I heard the other guy got arrested
Drew - Oh shit, has anyone heard from Theo?
Theo - Yeah?
Drew - Okay just checking, we all kinda split off, thought you might of seen it
Theo - Nah was with Liv, Aimee and Eliza
Drew - you coming back tonight or can I double lock the front door
Theo - Nah, staying at Ollie and Elijah's but thanks for checking in, see you guys tomorrow probably
Elliott - A guy from my course just sent me the video, here it is.
Elliott - the video of the fight
Jack - Oh shit the other guy basically looks dead
Cap - He's in hospital right now, but people are saying that he's fine, just a broken rib and broken nose
Charlie - Is it just me or does the guy look like Sebastian?
Elliott- Hold on...I swear that is him
Charlie - I knew it, but I can't figure out who the other guy is cause he's not facing the camera
Drew - Well whatever happened, I don't care to be honest, Seb deserves it after everything with Naomi
Charlie - I agree
Drew - Has anyone heard from her?
Eliott - Nah why?
Drew - Just wanted to know if she knew that it was Sebastian who was involved in the fight
Drew - Gonna call her now
Theo exited the groupchat sighing with the relief that he was okay. No one knew it was him, his career wasn't in jeopardy and he was about to have Naomi in his arms again in a few minutes.
"It's fine, you can't see my face in the video and no one there knew it was me" Theo explained to Cosch Hale who sat patiently waiting for the news
"You're a lucky boy" Coach smiled, "Go on, I'm done shouting, you can see your girlfriend now" He said as he unlocked the car
"Not my girlfriend, yet" Theo laughed, getting out of the car