I parked my car in the driveway and got out, assuming Quinn was following me. Looking up at the stars in the sky, faded and drowned out by the light pollution, I walked up the sidewalk to my front door and unlocked it before turning around. I found that Quinn wasn’t behind me, he was still by the car just staring at the ground in silence.
“You okay, Quinn?” I was greeted with silence. “Quinn, answer me,” I said as I started moving toward him. He was always loud, wanting to be the center of attention. Silence was never good when it came to him.
When I got in front of him I put my hands on either side of his face and lifted his head up so I could see his expression. I was surprised to see tears streaming down his face, his eyes closed tight in either anger or sadness, I couldn’t tell which. I hugged him, an action I never do, but he needed it at that moment so I did what a best friend is supposed to do.
“Come on, let’s go inside. It’s too cold out here.” I said quietly while letting him go. He nodded and I grabbed his hand, leading him slowly inside.
I closed and locked the door before gripping his hand again and sitting him down in the living room while I went to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate. For years I didn’t know why, but he always told me I made it the best. At that moment, he was definitely not in a good head space, so hot chocolate was more than necessary.
After searching through the vast cabinet I finally found his favorite mug and poured the warm liquid into it before making my way to the living room where Quinn hadn’t moved from the position I left him in. I extended my arms toward him, inviting him to take the mug, he quietly lifted it from my hands to his own and took a sip.
He smiled at me. “Thanks, Dory.”
I chuckled at his use of my childhood nickname. “No problem, Quinn. Now tell me, what really happened today? This wasn’t your usual kind of stunt.”
His smile dimmed and he took a deep breath before answering. “Well, I’ve been thinking about this for a while and…” He hesitated.
“And…?” I asked.
“And I want to find my birth parents.” He almost whispered.
I felt my brows furrow and an involuntary frown formed on my face. “Why in the world would you want to do that?” Quinn hated his birth parents, they abandoned him when he was too little to fight for himself and threw him into the foster care system. Of course, the foster care system, in turn, tossed him around from one family to another. When each house realized they couldn’t handle his slightly dangerous and stupid tendencies they put him back in the system again. He had never stayed at one house for a year until the one he currently lived in and that was only because the Andrews lost his birth certificate shortly after he got there.
“I want to find them because I want to show them what they did to me. I want to make them see the consequences of throwing me into a dysfunctional system in hopes that I will survive. They had no right to do this to me but they did anyway. I don’t give a shit that they couldn’t support me or give me a good life, what kind of life have I had in this damn system, huh? I think my life would’ve been better if they would’ve just kept me, at least then I wouldn’t have been living with Satan and his offspring.” He breathed heavily when he finished his rant, satisfied to finally get that off his chest.
He took a long drink of his hot chocolate before continuing in a quieter tone. “I need to find them, Theo. I have to show them what they’ve done.”
“I’ll help you, you don’t have to do this alone, Quinn. You know I have connections to the police who have connections to literally everyone in this godforsaken town. I’ll ask around and see if I can find your records.” I grabbed his hand, trying to be encouraging. “You’re not alone, you always have me.”
“Thanks, Theo. I really appreciate that.” He smiled weakly at the floor.
I knew something was really wrong. My spunky, red head of a best friend was never like this. His bright green eyes usually smirked at whoever was looking at them with a shimmer of mischief shining behind them. Today they were dim and introspective instead, it was almost as if his personality had been sucked out of him and replaced with… well, with mine.
I got up from my perch on the arm of the sofa where Quinn was sitting and started pacing around the living room. I always thought better when I was moving so this seemed like a good idea. While pacing, I twirled my hair - weird nervous tick of mine - and abruptly sat down when I thought of something. Quinn was looking at me strangely but I expected him to, I wanted his attention.
“I have an idea” I finally said.
“Well, lemme hear it.”
“Okay, so this is going to sound crazy but hear me out-”
He cut me off again. “Do you know who you’re talking to?” He asked, mockingly.
I chuckled, he was coming back. “Yes, I do. Anyway! My idea is to go to the station and talk to Johnny for a bit, maybe Adrian and see what dirt I can dig up on your birth parents and or records. That way we can figure out if they know/have anything without breaking and entering. Again.”
Quinn jumped out of his seat, his eyes sparkling once again. “Sounds like a plan, when are we leaving?” He asked excitedly.
Shit, I thought. I’m gonna have to shoot him down. “Um… Quinn, I don’t think it’s the best idea for you to come with. Y’know, considering that you literally just got arrested for breaking and entering in that exact police station.” I tried to ease the subject and let him down as nicely as I could. It was always terrible to let Quinn down when he was excited about something.
“Oh,” He said, pausing a minute before he continued. “Yeah, I get you. Wouldn’t want them trying to arrest me again, would we?” His smile dimmed once again, not as much as the last time but enough that anyone could see he was disappointed.
“I’m sorry, Quinn, I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
“No no, it’s okay. I don’t mind. When are you leaving?” He asked, changing the subject on me.
“Well, as it’s currently 1 am, I’m thinking noon. Sound good?”
“Is it really that late?” He looked at the clock on the wall finding the time to be 1 am. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Yeah, and we’re going to sleep now. You don’t have a choice in this matter. We’ve both had a long day/night, we need the rest before tomorrow.”
Quinn rolled his eyes but I ignored him and grabbed his hand again. He was finished with his hot chocolate so I took the mug out of his hand and set it on the coffee table next to the sofa before dragging him up the stairs. I say dragged because he was so tired that he was trying not to move his limbs which unfortunately for me included his legs.
“Come on, Sleepy.” I chided.
“Shut it, Theo.” He shot back, firey as always.
I just chuckled and kept walking. We reached the top of the stairs and I let go of his hand then bent down a bit, my back toward him. “Hop on, you can’t walk properly and it’s getting annoying.”
He begrudgingly agreed and jumped on my back, wrapping his freckled arms around my neck. I held onto his legs in an attempt to not drop him as I walked us to my room. My fortress of solitude. I called it this because no one other than Quinn and I had been in there since the cleaning lady found changing one day after a shower. My parents were almost never home and when they were they didn’t speak to me until they said goodbye when they left.
My parents worked in business and they had a lot of trips either out of state or out of the country. For as long as I could remember Angie had been my nanny, she is the one who raised me into who I am today. It should have been my parents but they were too busy making money to notice that I was growing up. They missed Christmas almost every year, holidays were a foreign concept and my birthday? Forget about it. I doubt they even remember when it is anymore.
We reached my room and I walked over to my bed before dropping him down. He was already snoring when he hit the bed so I had to shove him over in order to make room for myself. He rolled over and immediately grabbed onto my arm pulling me down from my seat at the edge of the bed to lay next to him. Quinn was very cuddly when he was tired and/or sleeping but I was used to it. I doubt there was much about Quinn he knew that I didn’t, we were just that close. I would trust Quinn with my life; even though he was a crazy self-destructive maniac, I knew he wouldn’t let me down no matter what.
Comments (0)
See all