Canon

My stomach drops as my mouth goes annoying dry. My mind raced trying to process what my dad just said. Niall. Arrested. How could he get arrested? Arrested for what? I open my mouth only to close it again, at a loss for words. Suddenly the room was spinning and the floor was moving underneath me. My mom stands to her feet nervously with Elijah wrapped in her arms, ‘what’s the matter, Lizard?’

‘Lizette, you there?’ My dad questions, bringing me back to reality. ‘Listen, sweetheart – I’ll try to see what’s going on and maybe get in there to talk to him but once they know he’s dating my daughter, they’ll want me to step aside and I’ll probably have to.’

‘I’ll be right there.’ I speak, hanging up as he advises me repeatedly not to come to the station. ‘Mom, I really need a ride. I don’t think I can drive right now. My hands won’t stop shaking and I feel like I’m going to be sick.’

‘What is going on, Lizette? Who was that?’ She wonders as she carefully shifts Elijah over to her free arm. ‘I can’t help you unless you tell me what’s going on.’

‘Dad.’ I cross my arms over my chest trying to ease the ongoing shakiness of my body, ‘Niall was arrested. Can we please just talk about this in the car?’

‘Here I come. Go start the car and get your brother situated while I lock up the house. I’ll be right out, it’ll be okay.’ She extends Elijah out to me and I immediately rush out to the car and fasten him into his car seat. I dig in the diaper bag in the trunk for his spare pair of shoes.

My mom drives as fast as she could, while still abiding the law as she says. She attempts to calm me down the entire drive to station which doesn’t work. At all. The moment she shifts the car into park, I leap out and hurry into the station. Chris, the usual on duty officer at the front desk smiles at me as he leans over the counter. ‘Long time, no see Lizette. How’s it going?’ He inquires, moving aside his papers. With the small talk, I’m guessing that he didn’t know about my relationship with Niall.

‘Is my dad around?’

‘Yeah, he’s in his office. Go right in.’ Chris nods, appearing slightly offended by my lack of small talk.

‘Liz.’ My dad sighs as he opens the door before I could put my hand on the knob. ‘I told you on the phone that you shouldn’t be here. You can make this very complicated, very fast.’ He lectures while opening the door to his office anyway. ‘And of course, you’ve dragged your mother out of the house?’ He runs a hand over his mouth as he steps out to retrieve Elijah. ‘Or did you willingly become her getaway driver?’ He teases kissing her cheek before shutting the door slowly.

‘Hey, it was either me driving or she was running the entire way here.’

‘Can I see him please?’ I pace back and forth, hearing all of the voices on the other side of the door. ‘I’ll be quick, I promise.’

‘Lizette-…’ My dad shakes his head sitting down in the chair behind his desk. ‘I just don’t think it would be the best. His arrest is still raw, maybe once we get some time to process all of the information. I told you to wait.’

‘What am I supposed to do, dad? He has no one else, literally no one. Can I please just see him for five minutes?’

I watch wordlessly as my parents eye each other and then look back at me. My mom nods her head coyly at him and he throws his head back towards the ceiling. ‘Five minutes.’

I follow behind my dad as he leads me to the various holding cells. He says something to guard on duty which causes her to look at me. She nods her head and unlocks the last cell on the left. Niall doesn’t move. He’s facing the corner with his head pressed against the wall. My dad glances at me once more before stepping out of the cell and shutting it. He stands beside the female guard just on the other side of the bars in some sort of hushed conversation. Clearly, they didn’t want me to hear. ‘Baby.’ I blurt, knowing my dad could hear every word that I said. Niall tenses up dramatically before facing me with open arms. I run over to him and collapse into his shirt as he runs his hands up and down my back comfortingly.

‘No physical contact.’ The female guard shouts causing my dad pinch the bridge of his nose.

Niall releases me and pushes his back against the brick wall. A small smile plays on his lips as he stares at me attentively. ‘How in the hell can you be smiling at a time like this?’

‘I didn’t do anything. It was Damon. If they actually took their head out of their asses, then they would know that. I’m smiling because I literally begged you not to go. Somehow when you’re gone, shit tends to hit the fan.’

‘Damon? What do you mean Damon? When did you see him, Niall?’

‘I went to John’s house to meet Damon like the biggest fucking dumbass out there but I just wanted him to leave us alone. I’ll admit that it wasn’t my best moment but I was desperate.’

‘What happened?’

‘Well, I listened to him ramble about shit for about an hour. Then the cops pull me over for going a measly 54 in a 40. I go into my glove department for my insurance card and my fingers are on some goddamn gun which was apparently used for some botched robbery and it is the exact same gun that Damon stole from that old man’s house at that party during winter break. Oh, wait – I’m actually forgetting that there was a nice little baggie with coke under my seat when they searched the car. I think you’re all caught up now.’

‘Niall.’ I breathe out, wanting to fall into him once again. ‘I’m sure that my dad is going to do everything in his power to get you out of here.’

Niall simply mutters under his breath, clearly unconvinced. He slides down onto the floor with his face in his hands. I sit across from him, sure to keep my distance to appease my dad as well as the guard outside in the hall. She’s not so coyly looked through the metal bars at least five times. He shakes his head several times looking at his Vans. I glance over my shoulder to see my dad and the guard looking into a tan folder. I grab a hold of his hand and slip my fingers between his. ‘This is not how I thought our night was going to go.’ Niall speaks after a while, placing his deep blue eyes on me. I give his hand a tight squeeze as the door opens and my dad walks in.

‘I’ll see you soon, yeah?’

‘Yeah, I have nowhere else to go.’ Niall releases my hand at the very last second. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too.’ I chime and my dad slightly stiffens beside me.

The walk back to his office was the longest walk of my life. He doesn’t say anything and neither do I. He places his eyes on me before directing his attention to one of his officers. I wander throughout the lobby until he leads the way into his office and shuts the door once again, ‘How’d it go?’ My mom inquires, swaying Elijah side to side.

‘It’s bad, El.’ He whispers as if I couldn’t hear, ‘It’s all stacked against him and I don’t see how a judge or a jury would buy that this is all some mastermind’s plot to set him up.’

‘It’s true.’ I blurt, suddenly both annoyed and defensive over Niall. ‘About Damon. Everything he said is true.’

‘Damon?’ My mom raises her eyebrows appearing to be taken aback, ‘What do you know about this Liz?’

‘More than I said.’ I nervously pick at the skin on my thumb, avoiding their intense eye contact.

‘I think that we should get home.’ My dad stands, grabbing his jacket from his chair, ‘We’re going to go home and you’re going to tell us every single thing that you know.’

‘But what about Niall? What’s going to happen to him once you leave?’

‘He’s going to have to stay in the holding cell until I get some more information. He’ll be fine, I got one of my best officers looking after him.’

The car ride with my mom was quiet. Too quiet. I couldn’t read the expression that rested on her face. She seemed concerned for the most part. I didn’t know if I was walking into open, supportive arms or a lecture about honesty when we get back home. The moment we do, my dad is standing on the front porch with his bright red tie already loosened and his sleeves rolled up. He slowly walks out to the car to get Elijah and heads into the house. I sit at the kitchen table as my mom scrambles to put together some of this week’s leftovers. ‘So, Damon? Who is he?’

‘Do you want the short or long version?’ I mutter, messing with the empty plate in front of me.

‘Whatever version gets me to the bottom of whatever this is.’ My dad retorts, squinting at me matter-of-factly. ‘How about from the beginning?’

‘Well, I first met Damon when I was with Niall. It was forever ago. He knew Niall’s brother. The two of them used to be really close but now? Not so much.’ I conceal the shiver running down my spine as I remember what Damon did to Greg. All of the blood. Definitely worse than what Niall did after he found out about Tara. ‘Anyway, Niall may have got back with Damon a little after senior year started just to get him to leave him alone. He had, something, over Niall. There was a party, illegal party and I found out about it. I was mad at Niall for getting involved with that side of things again so I left. He took it out on Damon.’ I exhale, looking up at their vigilant expressions. Their eyes never left my face. ‘Ever since then, Damon has tried to get even with Niall. He’s shown up at the school, his apartment, wherever he knows Niall is. He’s probably been planning this the entire time. If Niall says that he set him up, I definitely wouldn’t put it past Damon.’

‘Has this Damon ever hurt you?’ My mom puts aside her stirring spoon to join into the conversation.

‘No, he most just likes hurting Niall from afar.’

‘School? What do you mean the school?’

‘The fashion show.’

‘The boy that offered up money to spend the day with you? I think it was around a grand.’

‘That would be him.’

‘Lizette!’ My dad forcefully calls out, pushing himself away from the table. ‘You said right to our faces that you had no idea who he was. How long have you been sitting on this?’

‘Too long, I know. Most of this wasn’t mine to tell, it was Niall’s.’

‘Did you or your boyfriend ever consider looping someone else in? Did you ever consider that this was bigger than the both of you? I thought that things were going to be different here, Lizette – that there would be no more secrets. Yet, here we are again with lies and secrets.’ My dad places his hands on his hips, shaking his head several times. I had seen the exact same stance a few times in my life. The stance of disappointment.

‘Where are you going?’ My mom wonders as he tucks Niall’s folder under his arm and walks down the hall.

‘I guess I have work to do.’ He calls back before the door shuts harshly.

An awkward silence sweeps over the dinner table.