I paused in the middle of the hallway when I saw two cops standing in the lounge taking accounts from Dan and Phil on little notepad thingys.
"Pj, I can't do this," I said, trying to turn back around, but his being stopped me from escaping.
"Yes you can, I'll be by your side the whole time. Just act like you're talking to me and not them. Keep your eyes on me," Pj said while nudging me forward.
"Isn't that what Cinna says to Katniss in the first Hunger Games?" I asked, hoping to distracting him.
"Yeah, something like that, but now let's go. And may the odds be ever in your favor," he said, smirking before leading me into the kitchen where there were four more cops besides the two talking to Dan and Phil. One of them was talking to Chris, but it didn't look like he was getting much out of him.
The second Pj and I stepped into the kitchen, the cops were in action. One of them put his hand and arm around Pj, pulling him one way while the other two were both pulling me in the other direction, pinning my hands behind my back.
Oh no, they're arresting me. Pj lied to me, I know I shouldn't have believed him. Then I realized they weren't putting handcuffs on me like they do in all of the crime shows. Then I realized Pj was saying something to the cops:
"-guys, just hear her out before you make any decisions. Listen, right now she's scared as fuck and is probably this close to breaking down, so I would recommend that you let her go, listen to what she has to say, with all four of us present, then make whatever decisions you have to make. Got it, good, so let go over to her now." Pj never rose his voice, but the way he said that made everyone stop and listen. The cops released me and I closed the distance between Pj and me as I hugged him and whispered my thanks. He nodded in response and led me over to one of the stools on the breakfast bar. I sat down on the stool I had sat on maybe thirty minutes before when everything seemed normal. The first thing I noticed was that my laptop was missing.
"Where's my laptop?" I asked Phil, not ready to even look at Dan yet and see the disappointment that I knew would lurk in his eyes.
"We confiscated it to looking through for evidence," one of the cops said, Detective Richards the badge said. I flashed Pj a look of horror and he seemed to understand, but motioned for me to explain for everyone.
"I really wouldn't recommend that," I started slowly but picking up speed as I went on. "You see, I'm a creative writing major and last month's theme was horror and murder, so we had to write some murder stories. Well, I'm terrible at character names, so Lindsey let me use her name when I wrote my first draft until I came up with names. So most of my stories look like plots for murder but they're not, I swear."
"Okay we'll keep that in mind," Detective Richards said while another one wrote stuff down. "Can you tell us where you were before you went to your dorm room?"
"I was at ShakeAway and I wanted to go over my final story one more time before I had to hand it in the morning, so I decided to head home."
"And then what happened?
"I got to the dorm rooms and the door was unlocked, which was strange but not abnormal. So I pushed the door, and I saw-" I paused, trying to compose myself, and I didn't realise I was crying until Pj hugged me and told me not to cry. "And I saw Lindsey just laying there, and there was blood, and my first reaction was to dial 999, then I got scared and I ran. I guess I just kept running till I got to here."
"You know that running from the crime scene was the wrong thing to, right?" one of the other cops asked me; I just nodded and leaned back so my head was resting on Dan's chest. I just now realized how tired I was.
"I think thats all for now, we just need to take your fingerprint so we can eliminate in from those that are in the room." I nodded, and did as they directed me to, putting my finger in the inkpad and they pressing into the paper. They left soon after, but not before giving Phil a business card and telling him to call them if I did anything else rash. I let out the breath I had been holding, and stared at Pj, afraid to look at anyone else.
"What the actual fuck was that about Mac?" Dan asked. I glanced over at him, but I couldn't bear the look he was giving me; a mixture of disappointment, worry, and maybe guilt, before I looked away a settled for staring at the very uninteresting counter.
"She's worried that you guys will think differently of her now," Pj said for me.
"Why on Earth would we think of you differently? We still love accused murderers," Chris said nonchalantly. He stepped forward and gave me a hug. "See? All better."
"Really?" I asked, unsure if he was joking or not.
"Yeah, you're still the same person, but you're not actually a murder, right?" Phil asked, but was then hit by Dan.
"Of course she's not a murderer, if she was we'd already be dead," Dan said. I tried to smile at their jesting, but it turned into more of a grimace because the next thing I knew, I was surround by four guys in a group hug.
"Don't scare me like that again," Dan whispered. I merely nodded and then everyone moved over to the couches. Phil, Dan and Chris were sitting on one couch, while I sat on the other couch with Pj. Phil, Dan and Chris were talking about making a video together or something; I was completely lost, and I think Pj could tell.
"You have no idea what they're talking about, do you?" Pj asked.
"Yeah, no, kinda. I mean used to watch videos all the time back in New York, but I never knew that Dan was actually on YouTube."
"Who did you watch then?"
"Erm, Shane Dawson, Alex Day, Charlie, Jack and Finn, Jenna Marbles." I said listing off the people me and my friends obsessed over.
"Cool."
"Oh, can you email my professor why my story is going to be late?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Thanks Peej, your the best."
"No problem."
"Hey Pj, we have to go, see you guys tomorrow?" Chris asked while standing up.
"Yeah, just text us beforehand," Dan said.
"Yup," Pj said to Dan before pulling me into a hug. "Text me if you need anything," he whispered. I nodded, but I didn't have my computer or my phone or anything that I really needed with me. I hugged Chris before they left. I went and sat back down on the couch and noticed that Dan and Phil seemed to be watching everything I did.
"You okay Kenzie?" Phil asked, sitting down next to me. Dan was in the kitchen making food.
"Yeah," I said, biting the inside of my cheek.
"No your not, no one would be,"
"Honestly I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"I'm -" I was going to say fine, but then I realise I wasn't 'fine.' My roommate was dead, gone. We would never stay up late watching movies again or complain about homework together. She wouldn't try to do my hair in weird ways and I wouldn't be able to share with her every random fact that I had. I had no one now that I could talk about guys with, be myself around.
"C'mon Kenzie, don't cry," Phil said, enveloping me into a hug. I buried my face into his shirt and did exactly that. I'm normally not the person who breaks down in front of people, or even at all. I'm known for being the strong one, and now I was crying into a guys shirt that I met less than a day ago. After what seemed to be forever, my crying finally subsided. I looked up at Phil who wiped a few stray tears from my checks and continued holding me. I wanted to say something, but I realised I had nothing to say. I leaned into Phil's hug and relaxed in his arms. Looking around, it seemed that Dan was oblivious to what had just happened, and he was still in the kitchen making a racket. Or maybe he was choosing to ignore what happened.
"Do... do you want to talk about it?" Phil asked; he seemed to be struggling on what to do. I shook my head, not wanting to dump all of my emotional shit onto Phil. He didn't deserve that, no one did.
"Well I don't mean to break up story time with Phil," Dan said, walking in, "but I made some dinner if anyone wants some."
"C'mon Kenzie you have to eat something," Phil said pulling away from the hug, but instead grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the kitchen.
Dan handed plates to us with grilled cheeses. "Not sure how good they turned out since they were made on the possessed pan that burns everything."
"It is not possessed, you just can't cook," Phil told Dan.
"I am hurt, Phil. I most certainly can cook. It's just your fault because you wanted to use the easier recipe instead of the DELIA FREAKIN SMITH RECIPE."
"Dan, you can't cook," I added.
"I have been betrayed by my sister, and this random girl named Mac. WHAT IS MY LIFE?!"
"A life with burnt food," Phil answered.
Dan sighed. "I suppose you're right. But it's still your fault."
"When did this become my fault?"
"When your mum had you, obviously."
"TAKE THAT BACK!"
"NEVER!"
"I SAID TAKE IT BACK!" Phil said before launching himself at Dan ending with both of them on the floor wrestling. Seeing how I was already done eating, I got up and headed into Dan's room. I stole some more of his clothes before heading to the bathroom. I showered and did my hair before heading back into Dan's room. I sat down on his bed and grabbed his phone. I scrolled through the contacts until I found Pj's number and sent him a text. "Can you meet me by the tube station on the south side of campus 9 am tomorrow? ~ Kenzie"
I waited for about fifteen minutes while flipping through one of Dan's books before I got a response: "No problem, c u then"
I erased the messages off of Dan's phone and then read until I fell asleep.