Matt
His lungs were on fire, he'd felt like he'd betrayed everyone at the dorms and was an awful, selfish human being, but Matt kept running. He'd simply reacted; as soon as he'd heard the word "police," he'd shot down the stairwell, and hoped to any sort of god that'd listen that he hadn't been seen by that RA.
How could I just leave them back there? I should've stayed behind! Matt cursed himself.
He'd sprinted into the main lobby, loudly pushed the glass door, and while ignoring the startled receptionist, ran out into the night towards the others. It'd been so warm and calm that night: the frogs chirped and even the hum of the bugs added to the peaceful ambience, but the irony of it wasn't lost; everything felt like it'd gone into utter turmoil.
The group had traveled surprisingly far for how large it was. They'd already gotten almost halfway through the athletic fields, even as the mosquitos had returned with a vengeance. Jared was the first one to notice Matt running up to them.
"Dude, what's up?" Jared's blue eyes narrowed. Everyone else turned around and stared expectantly at him.
"'Suh dude," Brayden greeted him with a peace sign.
Ali frowned. "Where are the others?"
Matt had doubled over to try and catch his breath. "They...they got...busted...RA caught them." He'd heard a few gasps of shock and everyone froze.
"Shit," Schmidt muttered under his breath.
Ali eyes widened; her voice raised an octave. "Wait, they legit got caught?" She'd gasped again when all Matt could do was nod his head. She'd looked around in panic as if desperately hoping someone would offer up a solution. Everyone else had shuffled around, all at a loss for words. A few others looked around for someone to possibly step up.
Jared turned back to Matt. "Did they see you too? The RA?"
"I honestly...have no idea, I booked it as soon as they'd said...police," Matt admitted.
"You mean you didn't stay back with them?" Ali frowned at him, and Matt felt the sharp tug of guilt in his chest and his stomach dropped.
He'd inwardly cursed himself how he should've stayed behind with the others.
"Heyoo, when it comes to the police, it's every man for themselves," Schmidt pointed out. Ali turned her glare towards him, but he'd merely shrugged. "What? It's true, if it means getting out of a ticket on your record, why not?"
"It sucks, but it's true," Jared muttered. "Don't be a hero if it means getting a multi-hundred-dollar ticket."
"Not that you have to worry about not affording that," Ali shot back. Jared didn't respond.
"Let's just calm the fuck down, aight?" Brayden said, and everyone had gone quiet again.
Matt had felt as small as an ant in that moment. He'd felt a vibration in his pocket, and saw he'd gotten a few messages from Madison:
You need to come back, ASAP!
They recognized you and gave your name to the police
If you don't come back, you'll be charged with fleeing the scene!
Fucking Hell...Matt swore under his breath. He'd almost puked right there in front of everyone, his legs had also started to feel unsteady.
Matt read the messages back to everyone, and looked up from his screen to their reactions: pity, worry, annoyance, and concern.
What a night it'd turned out to be...
"Dude, you gotta go back then," Jared said. "If you don't, they'll put out a warrant for your arrest, and then you're really fucked."
Everyone had shuffled around aimlessly, but the Bryans had both started to walk back towards the houses past the fields.
"Dude, just come out afterwards!" Evans yelled over his shoulder. "You can't get two minors in one night!"
That hadn't reassured Matt in the slightest bit.
"Fucking assholes," Jared shook his head as he'd glared after them. He'd stepped forward and patted Matt on his shoulder. "Dude, it'll be fine, a minor isn't the worst thing that could happen." His voice had softened, and it'd made Matt have to try and fight the tears that threatened to fall. Jared had hardly ever showed anyone much compassion; and Matt hadn't expected it from him.
Gathering a small douse of courage by taking a deep breath, Matt had started to take his first steps back towards HKMC; he'd reluctantly accepted his fate.
Heather
Luke had sacrificed himself for her...
Heather couldn't get over that small, but important fact. They hadn't talked in months, but he'd stepped in front of her and taken the blame. No one had ever done something like that for her. While the RA called the campus police, Luke had come back into Eden and Madison's room. He'd worn a stoic expression, and Heather remained frozen in place.
"Heather, you need to get out of here," Luke quietly warned. "I'm busted, it's Eden and Madison's room, and she recognized Matt; you need to get out while you can."
How could he be so calm about all this?
"But Luke, your dad—"
"—Don't worry about me, but you seriously need to go."
Heather had felt tears run down her cheek. She'd wiped them away while Eden and Madison had whispered to each other in urgent, hushed tones.
"Let me grab some of those," Heather gestured to all the leftover bottles of booze spread throughout the room.
"Here's my key, put some of it in my room." Luke had started to hand her his small lanyard, but Madison interjected.
"Bad idea, they might search your room too," she'd warned while Eden had just slumped down in her armoire chair in despondence.
"Here, take my backpack," Luke offered. Heather took it, and together, they'd grabbed any bottles that were closed and piled them all inside. She'd looked at him again, and felt so bad for him; he had his parents to face after everything, with his dad who'd blamed him for what seemed like everything that'd gone wrong in their family, who'd expected Luke to fail, and in that moment, Luke had lived up to the expectation.
Madison snuck a glance outside the door, then returned to them. "You guys, she's right there," she whispered.
"What if she tries to stop me?" Heather asked. She'd wondered if she was really going to have to try and run through the RA.
"Just keep running," Luke told her. "Don't stop for anything."
Heather took a couple deep breaths in order to work up the courage in order to do just that. Luke looked absolutely defeated, but he'd given her a small reassuring nod. She could barely return a weak smile of her own.
Eden leaned forward in her armoire and had placed her face in her hands, so Madison silently sat by her and gently ran her hand across Eden's back to try and soothe her. Heather and Madison locked eyes, a final look of understanding and respect.
Heather walked up to the doorway, but not before she'd placed her hand on Luke's forearm. His look of anguish would haunt her forever, but Heather arched her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
With a final deep breath, Heather took off.
Matt
Madison had gotten breathalyzed by Officer Spetz in the hallway as Matt had returned to the scene. Eden and Luke stood off to the side with a younger officer watching over them; the former balling her eyes out while Luke stood silently, his whole-body tense. The RA who'd caught them also stood by; a look of disappointment deepened her frown with her arms crossed.
The police casually breathalyzed them one by one, and everyone had blown different levels, but they'd all had alcohol in their systems, so of course they'd all received actual tickets after answering a few of the police officer's questions. As a consolation, they'd gotten to keep the plastic tube they'd breathed into, not that anyone was excited about that in the slightest.
The worst part about it, however, was at the end of it when the cops had just given them the "have a great night," business casual like they hadn't just ruined everyone's night.
After they'd left through the stairwell, Eden had run back into her room and collapsed into the small couch; her whole body wracked in sobs. Madison, who'd just looked pissed off, said nothing as she'd gone back to trying to comfort her roommate.
Luke turned to Matt, and they'd tried to be indifferent about the whole situation with a shrug, which was fine; it wasn't like Matt had expected them to hug it out. Luke looked like he'd been through the wringer; his hair looked more disheveled than usual, his hazel eyes carried so much pain, even while he'd appeared to try and hold everything together.
Matt was surprised when Heather popped back into the room. She'd looked like she'd been crying; her face dropped even more as she'd exchanged a look with Luke, but walked over to the other girls.
"I'm so sorry, Eden." Heather's voice cracked. "This is all my fault."
"Where did you go?" Matt asked.
Heather sat down and wrapped her arms around Eden. "I hid all the booze in my room before the cops got here."
"She freakin' body-checked the RA to get away while they'd called the cops," Luke sounded proud. "Then disappeared around the corner before she could be followed."
They all came around Eden and sadly embraced; The room was silent except for some them sniffling, and small sobs coming from Eden. No one had said anything for a while, but nothing was needed to be. It'd certainly helped Matt deal with the fact that he'd just gotten an underage drinking ticket.
"Do we want to go for a walk or something?" Heather suggested. "Just to get out of here and get some fresh air?"
"I think I'm going to stay here with Eden, but thanks for the offer," Madison replied.
They'd disentangled, and Matt felt the pins and needles of circulation come back into his leg. He saw Heather turn to him and Luke for an answer.
"Yeah, why not? I don't think we should be alone right now anyway," Matt shrugged.
Luke, Heather, and Matt all walked along the sidewalk up into the residential neighborhood just off campus. The night had remained calm with more stars appearing in the sky. Matt thought the whole situation was so ironic; him being with just Heather and Luke on the last weekend of school kind of like how they'd been together at the beginning back in September. He'd remembered how he'd first met them, and that first weekend when the three of them had sat out front of Phi Sig by that bonfire, and the times they'd walked him back to HKMC when he'd gotten stupid drunk. Matt told himself how crazy it was about how so much had happened since then.
"It's not fair," Matt glared at a group of students who'd walked by; he'd hated the way they'd joked around without a care, no fear of consequences. "Look at them as they try to find the next party while our night's ruined."
Heather wrapped her arms around herself; she'd thrown on a cardigan before their walk. "It's weird how life keeps going on without a single hitch even as your whole world stops."
"It's a harsh reality," Luke said, his hands in his pockets. He'd kicked aside a stray branch at his feet. "It just really fucking sucks how that had to happen the last weekend."
Matt and Heather nodded, and they'd all kept quiet for about a block.
"Why did you do it?" Heather asked; she was so quiet Matt almost hadn't heard her, but she'd turned to Luke and ahd spoken to him for the first time that night, at least as far as Matt knew. "You had so much more to lose than I did."
Luke looked away and shrugged his broad shoulders. "I don't know, I didn't really think, I just acted out of instinct I guess."
Heather just stared at him in confusion.
"Well in better news," Matt cut in. "Jared told me how we could all take a class together and get the tickets off our records, that could be fun, right?"