Most of the group followed the agents downstairs. Jo drove Tyler home. Danny, Lacey and Whitney all hung out in the kitchen together to chat with Kyle, leaving a passed out Archie on the roof.
"It's over." Kyle bear hugged Danny.
Danny's eyes traveled to the girls, "I'm sorry about the roof—"
"Not gonna lie, roof sucked." Whitney nodded, "One out of ten, would not recommend."
"Apology accepted." Lacey said honestly, "Chief, what's happening with Regina?"
"I can't discuss the details, but she has been helping her mother more than you know. She'll probably do time."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"Just understand that this is how she grew up and I'm sure most of what she's done was to either please her mother or because she felt unsafe if she didn't do it. She'll need a friend."
"You left me on the roof?!" Archie stormed down the stairs.
"You're lucky I didn't roll you off!" Kyle laid into his nephew, "After everything I've done to clean up your messes, you get drunk at the first opportunity. I've called your mom and dad, you're next stop is rehab."
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Record is clean, now it's time to fix the rest of whatever is going on. You're spending the next few months in an inpatient facility."
"Months?!"
"Ninety days at least."
"This is bullshit."
"Try me, Arch, and it'll be longer."
"I'm over eighteen, you can't do this."
"You will voluntarily agree or I'll arrest you right now for underage drinking and whatever else I can find."
Archie's nostrils flared, "I'm going to bed."
"You leave for rehab in the morning."
"Fine." Archie stomped upstairs muttering expletives as he went.
Danny swallowed hard, wondering about his own future now that he knew his best friend wouldn't be with him for whatever this next phase would be. Danny had hoped he'd be able to stay with Archie and his parents in the city for a little while. Kyle watched him fidget.
"What are your plans now, Danny?" Kyle asked gently.
"I—um, I'm—" Danny struggled with how to answer.
"You know you're always welcome here. I could use your help on the farm again too."
Danny knew Kyle's offer was genuine but all Danny wanted to do right now was run away from Green Grove. He wanted to go home, but since his parents had made it known that he was no longer welcome in their house, Danny wasn't sure where home was exactly.
"Thank you, but I don't think I'll be staying."
Lacey's heart dropped a little. She really did want to keep in touch with him, to build a stronger friendship, figure them out. She couldn't blame him for wanting to get the hell out of here after everything he had been through.
Whitney thought he would at least have had a direction in mind, it was not like Danny to be completely lost like this. She could sense that he didn't want to stay here even short term while he figured out what to do next.
"He's coming back to the city with me." Whitney chimed in.
"I am?"
"To the new place, yeah."
Lacey could only watch as Whitney essentially absorbed Danny back into her life. She liked Whitney, a lot, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't a little jealous.
"What about you, Lacey? What's next for you?" Kyle asked, trying to move the conversation away from the weird tension between them.
"I start at Green Grove Community next week."
"Jo too. Sounds like a smart path, good for you. Maybe Danny can stay here on the weekends then or whenever he plans to come see you?" Kyle had no idea about their current events.
"Lacey and I have decided to take a break." Danny said it out loud for the second time, it hadn't gotten easier.
"Well, you've got plenty of time to figure all that stuff out." Kyle stayed right out of that, "It's late, you're all welcome to stay here tonight, get a fresh start tomorrow? Whitney, nice seeing you again. Take care of each other." Kyle gave them one last nod and headed to bed.
Whitney excused herself to the restroom and left Lacey and Danny alone. They all needed a break.
"Walk me to my car?" Lacey pulled Danny outside.
A few agents were still roaming around, taking photos and exchanging information. Danny and Lacey walked past them and over to her car. Lacey looked up at the sky, maybe hoping for a shooting star to wish on. She saw none.
"You're really going back tomorrow?" Lacey asked him without taking her eyes off of the stars above.
"I think so." Danny answered, his eyes glued to her, not convinced he'd go if she asked him to stay.
Lacey unlocked her car and leaned her back against the door. Danny walked up close and slid his hands around her waist, not stopping until he was hugging her low and tight. They both clung to each other.
"Stay with me tonight?" Danny's voice rumbled through Lacey's body, he was sad.
"I don't think I can." Lacey's emotional voice cracked, she squeezed him tighter.
"Okay."
Danny released her and leaned back a little. Lacey opened the door and stuck a leg inside.
"Goodbye Danny."
"Bye."
Lacey slid inside her car, slammed the door and took off. He stood there and watched her drive away. He didn't know how long he had been standing there, only snapping out of it when Whitney eventually found him again.
"She's your person."
"Did I make a mistake?"
"Several. Give it some time, that's all you got now anyway. Do something, evolve, be better. Then check in with her, see if it's still there."
Danny nodded, seemingly in even deeper thought now.
"C'mon D, bedtime."
Kyle wasn't lying about Archie going to rehab the next morning. At 6 am Danny could hear the transporter and his best friend shouting at each other in the room beside his.
"I can dress myself!" Archie snapped at whomever it was.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
"Easy, easy, ALRIGHT! Fucking Christ!"
Danny lay there with Whitney snuggled backwards into the front of him. Lacey's spot. He didn't want to be alone last night. They had initially slept back to back in an anti-spoon position, the physical closeness something Danny was craving after such an emotionally draining night.
By morning, the boundaries had melted and Danny had become the big spoon, molded together with Whitney like old times.
Only things had changed. Whitney and Danny were worlds apart now, just friends. At least they could respect each other enough to find non-sexual ways to soothe each other when needed. Maybe being roommates with Whitney would be exactly what he needed.
He watched Whitney sleeping peacefully, amazed that Archie's protests from next door hadn't woken her up yet. So much history, so much weird shit had to happen to get them to where they were right now. It was a shit-show, but it had also led him to Lacey and somehow that made all of the bad stuff seem more bearable.
"I need my belt, my pants are too big!"
"No belts. You'll have to wear the clothing I've provided if your clothing does not fit properly."
"This is BULLSHIT!"
Whitney writhed a little, her eyes fluttered open. She looked around the room, slowly remembering where she was and why. She felt his warmth first and then realized they were no longer back to back.
"Your dick is jabbing me in the ass." Whitney noted, half asleep.
"I just have to pee I swear—" He tried to roll away but Whitney hugged the arm that was wrapped around her tighter.
"No, don't go yet, you're so warm." Whitney begged him, something he hadn't heard her do in a long time.
Whitney turned around to face him, snuggled in further and closed her eyes. She remembered his smell. He remembered the way they fit together like this, but it wasn't comfortable for him, not any more.
Danny rolled away this time and sat up on the edge of the bed, trying to get his morning junk to cooperate so he could make it to the bathroom without pointing at everybody.
"We slept, Danny. That's all." Whitney picked up on his unease and tried her best to define it for him.
"I know, I just, I shouldn't even be putting myself in that situation."
Whitney rolled into his now empty space and wrapped herself up in all of the blankets.
"You used to like it when I begged." Whitney giggled, her head now almost completely under his pillow.
Archie stormed in and looked around at Danny sitting at half-mast with Whitney square in the center of his messy bed.
"Seriously?" Archie was confused.
"No, actually, it's not what it looks like." Danny reached behind him and nudged Whitney for a little help.
Whitney whined and unwrapped herself from the blankets, she sat up and that's when they noticed she was only wearing her panties. Well damn.
"Yeah, OK." Archie just shook his head.
"What the hell are you wearing?" Danny shoved his dick down further and scoped out Archie's weird green scrubs that were painfully too small.
"Listen, this asshole won't let me wear my own clothes or anything. I have to leave now so I'm here to say goodbye."
Danny stood and gave Archie a proper hug.
"I'm sorry, D. I'm sorry about what happened at your party. I ruined graduation. This summer was all my fault." Archie confessed, the guilt in his groggy morning voice made it seem like he was en route to his own funeral or something.
"We're good, Arch. Take care of yourself, okay? We'll hook up when you're back out." Danny tried to keep it light.
"Speaking of hooking up—" Archie gave Danny one last slap on the back and then reached to accept a hug from Whitney.
Yep, definitely just in her panties. Danny looked at the ground.
"Bye dick face." Whitney said affectionately.
"Take care of Danny for me while I'm gone? Please? Dude's got no friends." Archie smiled as they rocked side to side.
Whitney laughed and hugged him tighter, "Good luck Arch."
"Archie, let's go." The transporter for the rehab facility appeared at the door and caught an eyeful, "Oh, um—"
"Relax, they're just tits, Jesus." Whitney rolled her eyes and turned to find where she had thrown her clothes last night.
"Bye guys."
"Later man."
Danny turned around and watched Whitney yank her clothes on.
"You sure about this?" Danny asked seriously.
"Yep, you heard Archie, you're my responsibility now." Whitney winked at him and slid her sandals back on.
Danny and Whitney headed down to find Jo and Kyle outside. They had been up taking care of the animals together since 4:30. Kyle waved politely from the top of the hay bales and Jo took a break to walk them to Whitney's car.
"What do you have, like a couple hundred bucks?" Jo was worried about him.
"Seven. I'll find a job, it'll be okay."
"This is stupid you should stay for a while." Jo wrapped her arms around him.
"I need to go." Danny hugged her back
"Well you're going to need this." Jo pulled away and walked over to truck to fish out a brand new cell phone, "I know they had to confiscate the one from Gloria last night."
"Jo—" Danny took the phone and looked back up at her.
"Don't worry, there's no tracking on this one, you can sext anyone you want." Jo smiled, "It's from my dad and me. All our numbers are in there."
"Thank you, seriously. This is amazing." Danny gave her another quick hug, pointing at her as he opened the car door, "Talk to your mom."
Danny finally sunk into the passenger seat of Whitney's car and they sped away.
They made a pit stop at Johnny Cakes so Danny could thank Johnny for his trust and kindness before he quit with zero notice. Whitney waited in the car, big sunglasses in place. It was way too early for her to be awake right now.
Danny returned shortly after with two large coffees. It was time to go.
By the time Danny and Whitney made it back to the city it was still before noon.
"It's a one bedroom, but we can block off the eat in kitchen area with some blankets and make you a room." Whitney rambled on as they looked for a parking space.
"Does your girlfriend know I'm coming?"
"No, she was at work when I left, she's definitely still asleep right now. I haven't talked to her."
Danny was nervous, what if she said no? He didn't have much money and wasn't excited about trying to decide if he should waste it on a what would have to be an extremely small motel room crawling with lord knows what or going to a shelter.
"Listen, it's cool I promise." Whitney knew he'd worry about those exact things.
"I'll get a job today, two jobs. You won't even know I'm there—"
"Okay, chill. You've had enough trauma. I invited you so just relax, you're staying with me."
Danny took a deep breath and they headed toward Whitney's apartment. The building was average, maybe ten stories high. It was older, the front door didn't shut properly and there was no management office on site. There was a sign on the elevator: Out of order.
"Damn it, someone probably peed in it again. I guess we're taking the stairs."
They lived on the fifth floor. It was eighty degrees outside but it felt like the fiery flames of hell by the time they reached apartment 501B. They were both drenched.
"I hope she's still asleep, this is one hell of a first impression." Danny wiped his sweaty face with the edge of his shirt.
The apartment was small and not a one bedroom. It was only a studio. Part of the far end of the living space had two partitions up to close it off a little and Danny assumed that's where Whitney's girlfriend was sleeping.
"Home sweet home." Whitney smiled at him.
It was clean, bright. Danny checked out the small area he assumed was an eating area right next to the bathroom and figured this was where Whitney planned to park his homeless ass.
"This the space?" Danny went and stood there, turning in a circle, "I think this could work."
"Right? Get a futon here or something, more of those wall things." Whitney pointed down her space, "We'll go shopping later and get you all set up. Breakfast?"
"Um, are you cooking?" Danny roasted her.
"You're brave—" Whitney shot back.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding."
"You're right, I still can't cook." She giggled, "But I can heat shit up in the microwave." Whitney pulled out some frozen breakfast sandwiches and threw them in.
"I'm going to test out the bathroom." Danny said as he made his way into the extremely small room.
The door only opened in about half way before it hit the toilet. Thankfully he only had to pee, noting to himself that once seated, one's knees must be close to touching the sink. There was no bathtub, only a stand up shower. He peed fast and washed his face.
As he shimmied back out, Danny heard a small groan from behind the partitions, "Why eggs, Whitney? Turn the fan on or something."
"Sorry!" Whitney cringed a little and turned on the exhaust fan above the stove.
Danny accepted his first meal at his new place that hadn't exactly been confirmed yet. Whitney made them more coffee and they sat on the floor in the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible.
Whitney eventually headed into the bathroom to shower while Danny cleaned up the kitchen.
"Hey can I have a coffee?"
Danny heard the question from Whitney's girlfriend, realizing she didn't know that he wasn't Whitney. He made the coffee anyway.
"Coffee's ready. Can I come in?" Danny asked as sweet and non-threatening as he could, standing just outside the makeshift walls around the bed.
The woman peeked her head around the corner with wide eyes and checked out the handsome stranger in her apartment.
"Danny?"