"So...how many drinks does it take for you to finally decide that yesterday night was a bad idea?"
Travis rears his head from the bar, glaring at Desmond with sullen eyes. He lowers his head back down, emitting a guttural sound that makes Desmond laugh, "I'd say one too many, am I right?"
"Oh would you shut up," Travis growls, laying his head flat sideways and faced him, "besides...you pretty much enjoyed yourself last night too, that much I remember."
"Well sure I did," Desmond nods, "I was a bit tipsy, but what I really enjoyed was the part you decided it was a good idea to strip in front of the girls we just met and started flexing."
"Ahh...fuck, did I really do that?"
Desmond continues to wipe the surface with a cloth, laughing softly at Travis' reaction, "Yep, you did. Biceps and all, you seemed pretty keen on showing your 'bad boys' to them no matter how many times I told you to put them away."
Travis begrudgingly lifts himself away from the bar, rubbing his face and sighs, "Damn it...I shouldn't have taken those shots."
"You got that right. By my third attempt trying to stop you your pants were already gone." shrugs Desmond, "Yeah you're an idiot, and a pretty lousy stripper."
Travis chuckles, "Hey now, don't be jealous of my boys here." He then pats his arms, proceeding to make silly faces, "They both got you their numbers, right? Uhh, I think..."
"Helped," Desmond reminds, then turns away as his voice grows shy, "and...just one of them."
Travis' lips press together, "Oooh, was it that lovely red head? Buddy, tell me it was her, yes?"
"Actually, it was her friend."
"Oh...her?" Travis' brows knit together, "She was kinda quiet."
"She's cute!" Desmond blurts, arguing. "And might I remind you that you were drunk at the time."
Travis waves him off again, his head shaking, "Ah what ever man, I got- helped you with this. So you owe me one."
"Oh I owe you one huh?" Desmond starts to wipe the bar again, smirking to himself, "Riiiight..."
"Yeah, aaaaand..." Travis slurs, "You gonna call her even?" Travis looks up and down at Desmond, who's making it quite clear he wants to avoid his gaze.
"I don't know...maybe?" he hesitates, "I know I said she was cute but...I don't think I'm really-"
"Bzzzt! Wrong," Travis corrects him and rolls off the bar, wobbling to his feet, "don't play hard to get right now, I know she's into you-"
"You were drunk, you can't tell."
"-and she is pretty frisky."
"You just said she was kinda quiet!"
"Dude!" Travis finally shouts, "Just shut up, listen to me and call her! Okay?"
"Fiiiine..." Desmond flicks out his phone buried in his pockets. Glaring with boredom at his screen, before checking the time. "But...it's lunch, and I'm starving. Lunch?"
"Hmm," Travis looks around the quiet room, spotting one of their colleagues not to far away and waves them over, "okay, a quick break."
Desmond walks up to stand in the queue, a bottle of water in hand and packet of chips in the other. He hears his voice being called out, turns to see Travis making his way over, his hands full, as he shuffles beside him in line.
"There's a basket, you know." said Desmond, shaking his head.
Travis grins, "I know."
"And sweets? Really Travis?"
"Hey you're the one always sharing half the stuff I bring to work, remember?" Travis pouted, pushing the items he had on to Desmond. "Oh wait, hold these for a sec."
"Huh-!" Desmond balanced himself awkwardly, almost dropping Travis' load.
"Ah shit," Travis patted himself, his pockets and searched inside his coat, "I forgot my wallet at work again."
Desmond rolled his eyes, "I'll pay for them."
"Whoa, really?"
"Yeah I got cash, pay me back later." Desmond explains, "Just...take back your stuff please."
"You know you're the best, right Des?" Travis cooed, smiling sweetly and batting his eyes.
Desmond just shook his head once more, smirking, "And you're an idiot, as per usual."
He handed back Travis' items carefully, slowly stepping forward with the queue as it moved. Desmond paid no attention to his friend, who was acting the reminiscent of a child in a candy store. He faced forward, walked a little closer than he realised to the patron in front of himself who was dealing with the cashier.
"Really...?" The cashier seemed annoyed by the tone of her voice, and the man in front of her just shrugged, "Don't have anything smaller?"
"No." he replies smoothly, grabbing his items off the counter quick, "Keep the change."
The cashier looked taken by surprised, watching the man quietly take his leave. The whole time the patron had kept his head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone else, cloaked under his hood. "Okay then..." The cashier said no more, rather pleased with the transaction. Desmond caught a brief glimpse of the cashier slipping the note away in the till, but the numbers five and zero stood out pretty obvious between her fingers.
Desmond cringed, 'Are you seriously kidding me?'
Travis nudged him forward, loading his items on to the counter with Desmond following calmly. They let the woman scan their items, as Desmond looked around the store, specifically outside. The last man was still there in his dark hoodie, although just outside the sliding doors. He stopped to pull out the wrapping on his carton of cigarettes, discarding the plastic lazily before pulling out one and lighting it himself. After a long drag, he proceeded to walk away. The grey smoke trailed from his body.
'...that's it?' Desmond glared, and found himself being nudged by Travis again.
"Yo, pay the lady Des." he said, and Desmond started fishing out his wallet from his pockets. He pulled out a note, passing it to the cashier. He turned back to doors again, waiting as the woman calculated his change.
"Thank you," she said sounding pretty tired. Desmond took his change whilst Travis grabbed their items in a plastic bag. Desmond counted his change gingerly as they walked off, fingers poking at his coins, keeping his thoughts to himself. Travis was already having a go opening one of the sweet packets eagerly, then devouring it's sugary contents. Desmond wasn't paying much attention to him or what happened next because when they approached closer to the doors, he nearly bumped into someone.
"Move," the man growled shoving past Desmond. Travis caught Desmond by his arm, jerking him away in time but not before giving that greasy-looking stranger a dirty look.
"Rude," he huffed, and pulled Desmond along with him. "let's go man."
Desmond blinked rapidly, unsure of what just took place.
The following morning, Desmond woke to the sound fists knocking loudly at his door. He didn't open his eyes at first, until the noise grew louder, becoming more urgent til he could take no more. He groans, stretching in bed and throwing off the covers. He felt dizzy the moment he slide his feet to the floor, feeling light-headed. Desmond limped his way to his front door in the living room, just outside his own bedroom. The light of the day was evident, peeking through the shutters of his window blinds, stripes all over the floor and furniture.
"Fuck, man...it's like," Desmond yawned, scratching his head as he turned to the clock on his wall, above his bedroom, "eleven...in the morning? Geez, can't a guy get some rest on his day off?"
He was met with the reply of more obnoxious banging on his door, and Desmond wasted no more time approaching his rude intruder. His hand rest on the bronze door knob for a second, before quickly deciding it was better to check through the small peek hole on his door. The glass was blurry, but Desmond could make out two people behind his door, wearing the same dark coloured clothing. Blue upon black, and the shiny glint on their chest. They shuffled, leaning against his door. One of them had their hands to themselves, the other prepared to knock again.
"Shit," Desmond's eyes widen, his voice barely above a whisper. "...police?"
They knocked again, causing Desmond to flinch. "Open up!" one says, raising his voice, "It's the police, don't worry. We're just here to ask about a few things that happened, sir."
'It really is them...' Desmond felt his throat clench, swallowing nervously, 'How did they...? Aww fuck...'
He was even more hesitant to open the door now, but Desmond had the obvious inking feeling that they would never leave if he tried ignored them now. With much reluctance, he laid a hand on the door lock first, twisting it open with a distinct 'click' noise. He then squeezed the handle, his grip tightening as he slowly pulled the door open to be greeted with stoic faces.
"Desmond Miles?" one of them asked calmly, his partner already rummaging through insides of his coat.
Desmond barely had himself out in the open, a sliver of light on his face. "...yes?"
Both officers looked at each other with a nod, the one addressing Desmond first spoke with a charming smile, "We're here just here to ask a few questions, that's all. Mind if we come in?"
'Yes.' Desmond bit his lip, "Not at all."
Warily opening his door, the second officer pulled out his badge from his coats, as did the other. Their faces registered on the plastic card Desmond nodded, supposed they thought he must have made him a little safer. Desmond only felt like he wanted to shrink away.
"What is...the matter," Desmond carefully punctuated his words, "sir?"
"We have a warrant," the first one says, standing in front of him and quickly flashing a paper, to which Desmond didn't even get a chance to glance at the page. He was too busy worrying about the other officer poking his way through his home like it was his own, lifting lids off of jars and inspecting the dust of his tables.
"We're here to ask about what happened yesterday."
Desmond relaxed a bit, "...yesterday?"
"Yes, around noon to be exact. A robbery was reported around twelve thirty, the thief got away."
"Robbery?" Desmond could have collapsed on his feet from relief, but he also felt rather concerned about the lady behind that counter, "How?"
"We have footage of the crime happening, but unfortunately not a good enough angle to acquire the thief's identity. However," he says, sliding in, "we do have footage of you and another colleague of yours exiting the store just as the thief entered."
"I see." Desmond tries to recall that moment, and he does seem to recall the man who pushed past him. No time to think about how he really looked though. They both hear a loud thud from behind them, and Desmond spots the second officer trying to grab what ever he dropped underneath one of Desmond's cabinet. Desmond leans out, eyeing him worryingly, "Hey, please...careful with my stuff back there!"
"Mr Miles," the first officer walks straight into Desmond's view, voice loud and clear, "please focus. We're trying to report this case."
Desmond backs up, "R-Right, sorry."
"Can you believe this? Barging into my apartment like it's nothing," Desmond shouted angrily down his phone, stomping his way down the cobblestone path of the park, "I didn't even get time to look at the warrant they flashed me with."
"Des- ugh, wait...hang on a second," Travis was on the line, trying to make sense of all his friends yelling, "the hell are you on about?"
"I told you this morning, the cops. Weren't you even listening?"
"Sort of." said Travis. "Too much...screaming though."
"I wasn't screaming," Desmond pouted. "and you should be annoyed too."
Travis sounded confused, "I should?"
"Yeah, didn't they search your house this morning too?"
"Uhh..." Travis thought briefly, Desmond could hear muffled voices in the background. "Hey, I'm a little busy over here!"
"Travis." Desmond groaned.
"What? No, no they didn't." says Travis, there was a shuffling noise on the other end. Desmond guessed he was passing his phone to hold on his other shoulder. "Look, why is this such a big deal?"
Desmond began walking slower, "But...they didn't?"
"No."
"They caught me on camera Travis," Desmond said, "so why...didn't they go look for you?"
"I don't know." Travis said uncaring, you could hear the sigh in his voice. "I got up early for work, maybe they missed me?"
"Maybe." But Desmond didn't want to take that chance. "But they still would have at least-"
Desmond's phone was knocked out of his hand, his arm slams into another. Travis' voice is heard drowning out as his phone lands into the grass. "Hey!" Desmond says aloud, "watch where you're going-" it's the same outfit he wore yesterday, Desmond damn was sure of it. The scruffy and unkempt look, the same torn jeans ripped to his knees, and same thick black sweatshirt. And yet, Desmond knew he could have walked off. Quickly, he grabbed his phone from the ground with Travis still on the other end and ran up to the stranger.
"It's you! H-Hey!" Desmond called from behind him.
The stranger turns casually, "...what?" He looks down at Desmond carefully, his expression neutral. Then towards his phone, "You want an apology or something?"
"No I-...I mean, you were there yesterday." Desmond says all together, breathlessly. "Umm, at the store I mean. There was...something happened."
The stranger looked up at Desmond and met his eyes. There was a peculiar shine in them, under that hood of his. Desmond felt very distracted and taken when he caught the mans voice, "Sorry," the man smiled and it was yet another distraction, "but I think you've got the wrong guy."
He turned to leave and Desmond wanted to stop him for a second time, had he not felt embarrassed for staring and muddling up his words like a child. Travis was still talking on the line, his voice faint as Desmond watched the stranger walk away with his hands in his pockets. With his face a little more than flushed, Desmond lifted the phone to his ear again.
"Des? Hey! Where are you?"
"Hey..." Desmond replied.
"Geez! What the hell happened there, you were gone off for like a several minutes," Travis exaggerated, "I heard you talking to someone?"
"Oh, no..." Desmond laughed softly, "No...no it's nothing. Listen, I'll meet you at your work place, okay?"
Author's Note: (Posted with no beta) so I admit I made Desmond seem...aloof here. Poor guy haha. Also I'm letting Travis refer Desmond by his real name in this one cause...just to not complicate things really. Things will start to move even slower otherwise, college started and I'm still working (bummer!) but otherwise I post on any little story info (or general info) about how quick the next chapters are going on my tumblr~ Thanks for showing the love so far guys!
