He sat on the couch of his poorly decorated apartment, looking at the items he had spread on his coffee table. It was a noisy afternoon, his fridge had begun making weird noises again, by the sound coming from his wall it seemed like his neighbors had gotten back together, from the ambulances that had passed there must have been an accident uptown. Every 30 minutes the train shook his floor, but he wasn't paying attention to any of that, he couldn't even be bothered to stand and close the window.
He stared at the strawberry lip balm that he had meticulously taken out of the purse and placed on the table, he looked at it hopelessly, like he was waiting for the items to yell at him where they had come from and where he could find her, waiting for a clue to slap him in the face.
He was so gone on his thoughts that he almost ignored the knocks on his door. Lucas almost jumped out of his couch when he finally noticed the loud thuds. He knew who was responsible for startling him, he hadn't realized how hungry he was until heis hand was on the handle of his front door, he had lost track of time. If his best friend was knocking at his door it meant that it was 6 in the afternoon, he had sat silently looking at the purse for almost three hours.
"Zay!" He exclaimed as he let his friend in. He seemed upset, Lucas showed him an apologetic smile knowing full well that he probably stood outside his apartment for a few minutes before he welcomed his guest.
"Do you have any idea how long I stood there like an idiot?" Zay asked, aware that there would be no answer. He removed the belt that held his holster and gun and layed it over the counter on what Lucas called his kitchen.
"Have I told you how much I like a man in uniform?" Lucas grinned at the smile Zay was trying to hide.
Lucas couldn't deny that the NYPD blue uniform really suited his best friend, it filled him with pride seeing him wear it, knowing that he wanted nothing more that to change the system from within.
"Shut up." Zay told him, stealing a beer from his fridge. "Your charming compliments won't work on me." It seemed in that moment that he had noticed the assortment of objects that sat on his coffee table. "Dude, what happened here?" He stepped closer, admiring the neatly arrangement. "Lucas... What did you do?" He turned to see his friend scratching the back of his neck trying to find some words that just didn't know how to come out. Zay was starting to have a bad feeling about the whole situation, his eyes picked up the obvious woman's purse that sat on the couch. "Lucas..."
"I didn't do anything bad, I swear." Lucas assured him.
"Just tell me what happened." He sighed, sitting on the couch making sure he was as far as possible from the mysterious bag.
"Okay, do you remember the blonde girl from the train?" He started, Zay's eyes opened up. Lucas had told him since the first day about his encounters with the girl, he maybe kept some of the interactions to himself not wanting to share her with anyone. "Well, that's her purse."
Zay stood up immediately, suddenly feeling like an accomplice of whatever crime had happened here.
"No, it's not like that, sit down and let me finish." Lucas tried to sound the least guilty but his voice pitched in a way that would make any person look desperate.
Zay listened to his demand, not without showing his disappointment by pursing his lips first. Lucas began telling him the events that had transpired the day before, telling him about all the signs of abuse she was showing. He had first hand experience with cases of abuse, Lucas had seen them sitting in front of his desk while he tried his best to explain them what their next steps would be, asking if they kept a journal of the assaults or evidence of the bruises. His friend had calmed down, elbows over his knees and thumbs pressed under his chin, like he had done whenever he was thinking about something since they were kids.
"So you went for the purse." Zay confirmed. "Why didn't you just ran after her, you could've easily caught up to her."
"I know, but I... I don't know." Lucas hesitated, he couldn't explain how he felt. "Something just told me that I should take the bag."
"Not only did you steal her purse, which is a crime!" He stood up, pacing around the room. "You looked at everything she had inside." Zay began with the tone he used when Lucas did something wrong or stupid. "Don't you know that you should never look inside a woman's purse, that shit is like part of their soul... It's too personal and I don't like this."
"And no only that..." Zay continued, his accusatory finger pointing at Lucas. "You go and call your friend who is a cop?! I could have you arrested, you are aware of that, right?"
"Zay..." Lucas rolled his eyes, ever since he had been given that badge he had pulled the cop card for every dumb decision his friends made.
"You've officially lost it! That's it! That's the only explanation for this." He extended his arms encapsulating the mess on the coffee table.
Zay opened his mouth as if to say something else, but he quickly shut it. He sat on the couch and sighed, rubbing his temples. Lucas watched his silently as his friend finished his can and began unbuttoning his uniform to display the white undershirt he had on.
"Alright..." Zay looked back at Lucas. "Where do you want to start?" Lucas smiled and his face said everything, he could see how important this was, he also knew that there was nothing on this world that could stop him from protecting the people he cared about and this wasn't just any blonde for Lucas.
It had been years since they had stopped keeping track of who owed who a favor. Zay knew that if they did he wouldn't live long enough to finish paying Lucas for all of the things he had done for him.