6. s t r a w b e r r y & s e a t b e l t s
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"-not able to take your call right now. I'll call back at the soonest convenience-"
I pull the phone away from my ear and hang it up, having heard the sound of my mother's voicemail long enough that I know every word by heart.
How sad.
I release a sigh as I throw the phone onto the couch, and I plan to join it soon, but the sound of muffled voices growing closer towards me stop me.
Gael finally comes into view, looking towards me with a light glint in his eyes. "We're almost done, Chandler. We've accessed the footage, so we just need to review the video and we should be able to find the suspect. "
I fold my arms across my chest as I stare back at him blankly, "Does that mean everyone can get out of my house now or are we having another slumber party?" I say sarcastically, not hiding my annoyance at the intrusions.
Yes, I can admit that I had been scared yesterday night, but now I was just overwhelmed. There had been people searching through my house the entire day and I know they were here to help, but I can't help my nerves from spiking with all the officers walking around my house. All the random men.
It was like my worse nightmare turned into reality, and it made me want to do many illegal things just to forget it ever happened.
"Chandler-" He blows out a sigh as he goes to take a step closer to me. "Chandler, yes we're about to leave. The guys are leaving now, and I was checking on you before I left..."
I release a sigh of my own as I wipe at the nonexistent sweat on my forehead, and finally allow myself to plop back onto the couch.
"...but you need to make a few changes around here, especially if you're going to be living alone in this big, secluded house," he continues, but I quickly drown out his impending lecture.
I roll my eyes at him because I have been living on my own for far longer than I'd like to admit, and this had been my first run in with any sort of danger.
I was fine, and would continue to be. And if it's my time to go, then I won't fight it.
He must see my thoughts written all over my face because he frowns, then his voice hardens with the next words he says, "Chandler, I'm serious. You need to get some more cameras installed and some other security measures. And you also need to make sure you're locking all the doors in this place because just going around last night, I found a few entrances that were unlocked. These aren't safe conditions for a anyone to be living in, let alone a woman!"
He finally comes to stand in front of me, and that glint in his eyes grows and I now know why; it's pity.
The man thought I was a lost cause; a fucking charity case. A helpless young girl that couldn't handle life without the help of someone else.
"I'm fine, Officer. I can take care of myself just fine," I snap, not being able to stomach that repulsive expression in his eyes.
"You can take care of yourself all you want, but people are crazy. You're a young girl living in this mansion, so it's best to get all the protection you can get. That's just the facts." He folds his arms across his chest as he looks down at me with a smug expression that clearly told that he thought he was right, and he was just waiting for me to agree.
I would never willingly give him the ego-boost from me admitting such a thing, so I keep my mouth shut for once.
I roll my eyes again, but choose to ignore him as I grab for my phone and turn it on, hoping I'd see a miss call from my parents.
"Will you be okay for the rest of the night by yourself or do you want me to ask one of the on-duty officers to patrol your house tonight?"
I turn my phone back off when I see that there's no new notifications and blankly stare up at Gael. His normal dark eyes are light with worry, and suddenly I feel bad for being so irritated towards his genuine concern.
I sigh as a weight begins to settle in my chest and I have to drop my stare from his as I try to shake away the momentary emotions.
"No, I'll be fine. You guys can go home and go do whatever police stuff that you guys do. Don't waste your time on me," I whisper, hating how it had become so natural for me to push everyone away, even when they were just trying to help.
People like me didn't get help, and so I've become so accustomed to the lack of care that it's hard to finally accept it when it's presented right in front of my face.
Yes, I hated being alone, but I hated asking people for help even more. So I'd rather suffer in silence, by my lonesome, but at least I didn't have to worry about being a burden to anybody.
I never wanted to be that heavy burden again. Ever.
He raises a questioning brow as he looks over at me as if he can see right through my words."You sure?"
"Never been more sure, Officer!" I send him a smile and a quick thumbs up hoping he'd leave, so I could chug down a bottle of burning liquor.
"I will order new security systems, lock the doors... twice, and I'll even call the station if I feel somehow endangered again. You can go now!" I urge as I leap from the couch and walk close enough to Gael where I can grab onto his hand and pull him out of the room and towards the front door.
"Chan-" he chokes out as I roughly pull him through the house, and he has no choice but to follow as I walk him to the front door.
"Well... this was nice. Thank you for staying the night with me and having all the other officers come to help find the suspect," his eyebrows raise as if he can't believe my words, "No, I'm being truthful! Thank you, Gael... seriously."
It takes him awhile to relax his hardened expression, but when he does, I slowly start to feel the weight lift from my own face.
"Yeah, of course, Chandler. It's always my pleasure to help those that need it, even when they think they don't," he says softly, and I know it's directed at me but I choose to ignore it.
"I've had a lot of fun, truly! Thanks for keeping the creepy men out of my house, but now... you're kinda... the creepy man," I laugh after each word as his relaxed face begins to morph into one of shock.
I take his momentary surprise to side-step him to unlock the door and open it as Gael finally breaks out of his state of shock.
"I'm not a creep for wanting to make sure you're safe. The person that doesn't care is the actual creep," he corrects as he instinctively takes a step back to the threshold of the door.
A sad smile makes it's way onto my face, but I quickly drop it when I feel Gael's stare on me. "Well, I guess that means my parents are the creepiest people I know," I half joke, but the more the days pass, the less it becomes a joke and more like the only truth in my life.
"Chandler-" he starts, but I quickly interrupt him before he can say something that I don't want to hear right now.
"Goodnight, Officer! I'll leave a good yelp review or whatever the fuck you do to show your thanks." I slowly push him out with each word I say, while making sure he doesn't have time to butt in. "Anyways... bye!" I scream happily once he finally stands outside the door, and only then do I grab the handle and close the door in his face.
I release a breath in relief as I lean against the door and try to brush away everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, but the action is hard to complete with a sober mind.
I push off of the door and take a step towards the bar when a knock sounds from the other side.
I hesitate for a few seconds as I think over who could be at the door, but Gael hadn't left long enough ago for another intruder to be able to make it inside.
With shaky hands, I unlock and open the door and I can't help the sigh of relief that falls from my lips when I see who's there.
"Ok, you're being more creepy than usual. Is this like a test or something because I surely failed by opening up the door right after my house got broke-"
But the sentence dies on my tongue when he grabs for my hand and pulls me out of the house without so much as a single word to say what he's doing or thinking about.
"Officer-"
"Gael!" He corrects, instead of explaining why he's dragging me to his car.
"What the fuck! Your name doesn't matter right now... not when you're trying to kidnap me!"
He finally stops pulling me once we reach his car. I double over to catch my breath, while he stands above me with his arms folded over his chest as if I were the problem.
"Get in the car," he commands after I had caught my breath and was now glaring over at the man.
"No! You're weird and I don't know if I trust getting into your car!" the same car I had previously destroyed.
"Chandler, just get in the damn car. I'm not taking you to jail or making you scrub my car clean with a toothbrush. You can get in," he deadpans as he impatiently opens up the car door and gestures for me to get inside.
My chest deflates in a sigh as I walk pass Gael and begrudgingly get into his car. He watches me for a second, keeping the door wide open as he stares down at me with a raised brow.
"I'm in the car... now what?" I ask. Seconds away from trying to escape again.
"Seatbelt," he instructs as he points to the strap hidden in the corner of my seat.
I roll my eyes, but do as he says for I just wanted to get this over with as fast as humanly possible.
I clip in the seatbelt, then turn to him with a big smile plastered to my face; fake smile. "Happy now, Officer?"
"Very, actually." With that, he finally closes my door, then quickly jogs over to the drivers side and gets in.
My arms fold over my chest as I turn to glare over at Gael as he turns on the car and begins driving away from my house."So are you going to tell me where you're taking me or am I supposed to get kidnapped in silence because you're an officer?"
My anger spikes as he chuckle in response, but doesn't give me any verbal response to calm my nerves.
"Can you turn on some music or something at least or are you the psychopath that drives everywhere in silence?" I ask as I stare out the window, trying to give myself something to distract my mind for the rest of the drive.
"Silence is okay, ya'know?"
I openly groan in response and shift even more towards my window as I contemplate whether I should open the door and jump out or not.
'We're almost there, Chandler. You can last a few minutes with me," he says as he slows to a stop at a red light.
I feel his eyes shift to look at me, but I don't make a move to glare back. "Planning on rolling out?" He asks, probably noticing my fist clenched around the handle in contemplation.
I unhook my grip from the handle and instead wrap it around myself as I feel his eyes burning the skin of my hand, "No comment."
He laughs in response, but doesn't say anything else as the light changes and he continues driving. I do notice the lock click once, then twice to ensure my escape plan wouldn't work.
How thoughtful of him.
"Ok, we're here," he announces as he pulls into Captain Garvin's half-full parking lot.
I look over at Gael with a confused eyebrow, then back towards the building to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. When those bright diner lights flashes in my stare again; I know then that this was real and not a sick joke.
But it becomes even less of a joke as he pulls into the nearest empty space, sliding his car perfectly between the fading lines, then turning off the car as he stares over at me expectingly.
"What are we doing here...? What am I supposed to do here because I'm not into staring at women's boobs and ass when they're just trying to work," I ask, folding my arms across my chest as a stubbornness behind to settle in. "I don't wanna go in there," my tone leaves no room for debate as I glare back over to Gael with a frowned face.
"Yes, we are going inside. You need to be around people... get out of that dollhouse of yours and see the real world." He unbuckles his seatbelt and pulls the keys out of the ignition, and his dark eyes wordless prompt me to do the same.
"No. I never liked this place..." I start, letting a shiver rattle through my bones at the mere thought of all the things that had happened. "The men are weird, they don't serve alcohol to the not-so-underage teens, and the men are fucking weird and creepy!" I explain exasperatedly, not hiding my emotions of disgust from entering my tone like usual.
"You're with me, Chandler. You'll be just fine," he reassures, and I almost fall for it; almost.
"I saw you in that place and those men probably barely noticed you were even sitting right next to them, so I don't know if your words can be that reassuring, honestly."
"You were watching me, no, stalking me?" His eyes squint in suspicion as his eyes scan the entirety of my face.
"Alright, I think we should go in now... maybe get a table before the nighttime rush comes in?" I unbuckle my own seatbelt and grab for the door handle to exit the car, but Gael's grabs for my elbow and pulls me back down into the seat.
"It's fine," he pushes the key back into the ignition and quickly slips back into his safety belt. "We can just go grab you a milkshake or something, then I'll end your misery and take you back home, Ok?" His eyes find mine again, warm honey now, and stare deep into my own orbs as he waits for my approval to drive away.
"That actually sounds amazing. Thank you..." he gives me a nod in approval, then begins backing out of the space. "...officer now turned kidnapper." He scoffs in reply, while I let out a small giggle at his eye roll.
"At least I'm not a stalker," he retorts back, turning to give me a 'I didn't forget about that' look.
"Touché. Tou-fucking-ché." That's the last thing that's said as he wordlessly turns on the radio and drowns out my thoughts and words that I didn't want to speak.
For once, I'm able to have a night not filled with partying and drinking to make me feel sane, and not a single part of me missed those things as the music played and I slurped down my strawberry milkshake.
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I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!!
I'm getting back into a writing mode, AND the next chapter is almost halfway done, so hopefully we can get back to a weekly upload schedule.
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I'm a sucker for the back and forth banter, and Gael and Chandler will always give it to me😫
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