Mom wasn’t the first one to show up, though. Joe—Bubba’s dad—came in about an hour after Gregson brought me the sandwiches. I could see him outside in the bullpen talking to another cop—this one was in a suit and not a uniform. Though they glanced at the room where I waited, they made no move to come in here.
Joe was a good guy, and I wanted to say it surprised me he’d show up, considering it was Bubba I had the fight with, but I wasn’t. Joe was that guy. He’d been there when my dad wasn’t.
Guilt ate at me. Bubba and I had been close since we tried out and made football together. We’d always been friends, but the team drilled working together into us. I’d always thought it was easier for him and me, because we’d been buds before.
Thought that same team spirit would help with all of us dating Frankie. It had helped while we were all crushing on her and still being her friend. Bubba’s parents were part of that. My mom loved Bubba, too. She liked all my friends, even Archie.
Though she did tell me once that Archie was too young to be that much of a snob, but at least he was polite about it. I started to grin, then stopped when my mouth hurt.
It kind of sucked how all of this went down. I didn’t get what was going on in Bubba’s head. Fine, he felt guilty about the points. It was a shit thing to do. The points had never been about anything except us. We didn’t use them to lord it over anyone.
So why the fuck would he tell Frankie about it? What did that accomplish but give her one more thing to feel bad about? To feel like we’d lied to her?
The worst part…I had. She didn’t deserve that. Frankie asked me if there was anything about the summer she needed to know, and I’d told her no.
We all had.
Then he does this.
Fuck.
I was going to die in this room. The Cokes and the sandwich had been great, but now I needed to piss like a racehorse, and it was… I leaned to check the clock on the wall. After four.
The day had dragged past, but school was letting out now, and I was here and it was Tuesday. Would she go over to his place for homework? Had she been texting me?
No way she didn’t know about the fight.
Rather than dance around on the seat, I stood up, and everything ached as I stretched. My bruises had bruises, and I swore they stiffened in the time I’d sat in here. I opened the door, and Joe stood as soon as he saw me, as did the cop he was talking to.
“Mr. Benton, you need to remain in there until your mother comes.”
“I know,” I told him. “But can I hit the bathroom?”
Joe frowned when he saw my face. “Jake, has someone taken a look at you?”
“The nurse at school. I’m fine,” I assured him. “Bubba and I have done worse on the football field.” Technically, we’d never done it this bad. But we’d had our share of scrapes over the years.
“Morgan,” the cop in the suit said, and another uniformed officer came over. “Take Mr. Benton to the facilities.”
Great. I got a babysitter. Hopefully, the guy didn’t mind if I held my own junk.
“I’m waiting for your mom, too, Jake. I’ll be here,” Joe promised. He’d come through for me before, and he was here now. I wanted to ask about Bubba, but I bit my tongue. Not sure I should ask in front of the cops.
“Thanks, Joe.”
He nodded and then slowly sat back down as I followed ‘Morgan’ to the bathroom. Thankfully, he just stood by the door. I did my business, then washed my hands. I got a good look in the mirror. Yeah, Bubba cracked me good.
That was definitely going to leave a mark.
Well, at least grad pics had been done over the summer. I didn’t smile. Smiling hurt.
Back to my little room I went, and I’d almost dozed off when I caught sight of my mom.
She wasn’t alone. Archie was with her and another guy. Didn’t know the guy.
Huh.
We locked gazes, and he lifted his chin in greeting. Then he glanced back at the conversation briefly and asked something. When he motioned to my door, I figured the question was could he come talk to me.