Chapter 7

       Through all the midst of what was going on with the case, I really needed a break. I was working a lot harder than most police officers because I really wanted to help put the Goodmans at rest. Sure, I wasn't particularly fond of two of them, but they still lost a family member and if that ever happened to me, I'd be devastated.

       I'd gone through the case file over and over again, and analyzed all the evidence we had more than once. I couldn't find anything, but I wasn't going to give up.

       I still needed a break.

       One of Dan's best friend's family owned a night club called Fusion and tonight, they were holding a traffic light party since it was very close to Valentine's Day. Apparently, it was very popular here in Spruceworth.

       A traffic light part was where people where a theme of one of three colors; greed, yellow, and red. Green meant they were single, red meant they were in a relationship, and yellow meant it was a possibility or their current situation was complicated.

       The party at the night club was for ages sixteen to twenty-two, and I was a bit surprised when Kenny said he was going. He wasn't really a party person, and I was certain he wasn't going to go looking for a relationship.

       If he was, I was going to be a very confused person.

       "I still don't get why you're going," I said as I heard Kenny come down the stairs. "You hate parties."

       "I don't hate parties," Kenny said as he reached downstairs. "I would just rather be at home eating food and watching TV."

       Kenny wasn't even wearing green like I thought he would. He was wearing yellow.

       Well, I guess it made sense since it was complicated for him right now.

       "Then why aren't you staying home?" I asked.

       Kenny shrugged. "I don't know. I thought I'd try something new."

       "Uh huh," I said. "Is Calvin going?"

       "Hey, shouldn't we be going there now?" Kenny asked, completely avoiding my question. How cute. He thought that would make me forget about what I had just asked him.

       "Fine, fine," I said. "I'll find out once we get there."

       Right as we opened the door to leave our house, Mom was walking up the front steps, carrying a few grocery bags. "Where are you two heading off to?" she asked.

       "Oh, the night club," I said. "They're holding a traffic light party since Valentine's Day is around the corner."

       Mom nodded. "I'm surprised you're wearing green, Horatio. Judging about how many times you've talked about Ariella, I'd assume you'd wear red."

       "All in good time," I said.

       Mom then looked at Kenny. "Yellow? Now you I thought would wear green."

       "Oh, it's, uh, complicated," Kenny said. "But yeah, I'm going to head off now, so...." Before Mom could say anything else, we walked down the front steps and in the direction of the night club.

       "What's so complicated?" Mom asked.

       "Oh, you know Kenny," I said. "He's not really interested in getting a girlfriend at his age, but he might be up to getting to know some people. Yeah, I'm going to head off too."

       "Alright, have fun," Mom said. "Please, make sure Kenny doesn't drink anything. I don't get why the night club is letting people around his age in."

       "Mom, come on, this is Kenny we're talking about," I said. "And they're still going to need an ID to get some drinks, so you can relax. But don't be mad if I come home drunk."

       "Horatio...."

       "What? I'm twenty. I'm the legal drinking age. Bye, Mom. Love you."

       I walked down the steps and headed to the night lounge. Quite a few people were there already, but the very first person to catch my eye was Ariella, looking as gorgeous as ever in her green dress.

       I walked over to her and she gave me a thin smile. "Hey," I said, smiling back. "How are you feeling?"

       "A bit better," she said. "It's still hard to believe that someone went out of their way to....to do what they did. But I didn't want to stay in my house any longer than I had been, so Calvin forced me to come here. Between you and me, he just wanted to come to hang out with Kenny." She gestured towards where Calvin was talking with Kenny. "Yeah, apparently, Calvin wanted to wear yellow because his heart is taken, but he isn't in a relationship."

       "His heart is taken?" I asked.

       "Yeah, he has a crush on Kenny," Ariella said. "Seriously, he talks about Kenny all the time, saying how he's sweet and adorable and an amazing person in general."

       "Well, he is my brother, so I can't disagree."

       Ariella chuckled. "Yeah, you're amazing too. I'm actually glad you're here so I won't be alone. Calvin basically ditched me as soon as your brother showed up."

       "I'm glad you're here too," I said. "I don't really have any friends in Spruceworth yet, so there's not too many people I can hang out with."

       "I know what you mean," Ariella said. "I mean, I have two friends, but one is currently crushing and is constantly ditching me for said crush, and the other has a boyfriend and is a mom."

       "And speaking of," I said as Destiny and Dan walked in the night club, then over to us once they spotted us. "Hey, what are you two doing here?"

       "Oh, we never get to spend any time together with just the two of us, so Eldon offered to watch Tasie so we could come here," Destiny said. "And Dan heard Vanessa was coming here, so he thought he would be petty and come here wearing red."

       "I did not," Dan said. "I heard she was coming after my grandpa already offered to watch Tasie for us to come here. Stop spreading drama."

       "Sorry, I've been spending too much time with Calvin," Destiny said. "He randomly comes over to see his goddaughter all the time. Well, not recently. Speaking of, wasn't he coming here?"

       "Yes, but he ditched me," Ariella said. "I'm so close to dumping him as my best friend. He does not deserve the status. He's over there." She gestured to where Calvin was.

       "Yellow?" Destiny asked. "Why's he wearing yellow?"

       "Oh, he said it's because his heart is taken but he is not in a relationship," Ariella said.

       "Don't tell me he's still hung up over his ex," Destiny said. 

       "Oh, trust me, he's not," Ariella said.

       "Good," Destiny said. "I never liked his ex."

       "Me too," Ariella said.

       "What's wrong with his ex?" I asked.

       "Oh, he's extremely selfish," Ariella said. "He was always thinking about himself, which was why he broke up with Calvin twice due to the whole Calvin still being in high school thing. Apparently, his friends were teasing him about it so obviously he didn't really like Calvin enough to not care what his friends think. And he was always cancelling on their plans with the stupidest of excuses. Calvin is better off without him."

       "So, then why is his heart taken?" Destiny said.

       "Reasons I can't get into," Ariella said. "You'll have to ask him that yourself."

       "Aww, but he might refuse to tell me," Destiny said. "Oh well. Can we go dance, Dan?"

       "Anything for you," Dan said, giving her a smile before pulling her onto the dance floor.

       "So cute," I said. 

       "I know," Ariella said. "I'm glad they got back together. They were still on good terms when they weren't dating and he did everything he can to help her out, but I like that they're dating again. Everyone was able to tell that they still loved each other when they weren't dating, even when Dan was dating Vanessa."

       "Why did they break up anyway?" I asked. "Destiny told me it was because their relationship was just getting too stressful and moving too fast, but there was no sense of them breaking up if they got back together."

       Ariella shrugged. "Who knows? At least they're together again. Too bad both of Dan's exes can't stand it and are constantly slut-shaming Destiny."

       "Really?" I asked. "Where are they exactly? I'd like to give them a piece of my mind."

       "Don't," Ariella said. "They're just small-minded. Destiny doesn't let it get to her, so neither should you."

       "I am, because she's my baby cousin and since she doesn't have an older brother, I have to protect her."

       "That's so sweet," Ariella said. "So....I'm not sure if you can say anything about the case, but have you found anything yet?"

       "No, not yet," I said. "And yeah, I'm allowed to talk about the case. We're really trying everything we can and I've been working really hard. I've analyzed all the evidence, looked at the case file, everything. There's something we're missing, but it won't take us long to find it. We'll figure out who did it soon. I promise."

        Ariella gave me a smile. "Thanks. It's nice to know someone is willing to tell me about it. I know sometimes when a crime happened, the cops would refuse to say anything, even to the people who were affected by it. But anyway, I came here to take my mind off of everything. Let's go do something other than standing here and talking."

        Ariella spent the whole time together, so nobody else wearing green would try talking to us. Good thing too, because my heart was taken so I would have to turn down so many people.

       The party ended at eleven-thirty, and I looked around for Kenny, but I didn't see him at all. He probably didn't want to be here too long and went back home to eat food and watch TV.

       I walked Ariella back home, even thought it was in the opposite direction of my house. "If you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be here," I said once we got to her house.

       "Thanks," she said. "I'll really need it considering my only two friends are busy all the time. I don't really care, though. Seeing Destiny with Dan makes my sister angry and I don't like my sister, and Calvin really needs someone way better than his ex-boyfriend and I know Kenny is way better."

       "Of course he is, he's my brother after all," I said.

       Ariella laughed slightly. "Thanks for that. I needed the laugh. I should get inside now, but I'll see you around."

       "Yeah," I said. "And I really mean it. If you need someone to talk to, just call me."

       "I will," she said before heading inside.

       I walked to my house and once I walked in, Mom looked over. "Where's Kenny?"

       "He's not here?" I asked. 

       "No, he isn't," she said. "I thought he would come home with you."

       "He was gone before the party ended," I said. "He probably didn't want to be at the party and decided to go somewhere else instead of staying home on a Friday night."

        "Well, I tried calling him earlier to check up on him and he wasn't answering," Mom said. "What if something happened to him? What if he's hurt? What if---"

       "Indigo," Dad interrupted. "Just calm down and take a deep breath. I'm sure he's fine. It's only a bit past eleven-thirty?"

       "Only?" Mom repeated. "It's almost midnight and my sixteen year old son isn't home yet and he's not answering his phone. And after what happened not too long ago...."

       "Mom, don't bring that up," I said. "That was planned. Nobody is going around killing random people, and Kenny probably isn't just wandering the village alone. He'll be home soon."

       Almost after I said that, the door opened and Kenny walked inside.

       "Oh, thank goodness!" Mom said, rushing over to Kenny and pulling him into a hug. "I was so worried!"

       Kenny squirmed out of her grasp. "Mom, I'm fine. Why were you worried?"

       "Because you weren't answering your phone, and Horatio said you were gone before the party happened," she said. "I thought something bad happened."

       Kenny pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Oh, it was on silent. I had it on silent at school and I guess I forgot to take it off of silent."

       "Don't scare me like that again," Mom said. 

       "I won't," Kenny said. 

       "Good," Mom said. "I can finally head off to bed now." After saying goodnight, Mom headed upstairs with Dad.

       I looked over at Kenny. "Where were you?"

       "Nowhere."

       "Right, because one someone says they were nowhere, they were somewhere."

       "Seriously, I was nowhere."

       "I totally believe that."

       "Don't you have to head off to bed?"

       "Uh no. It's too early for that on a Friday night. I'm not even that ti--" I stopped mid-sentence when I caught sight of something on Kenny's neck.

       Kenny noticed and quickly lifted his hand to scratch his neck in an attempt to hide it, but I already saw it.

       "Oh, Kenny, you rapscallion," I said.

       "Who even says rapscallion?"

       "I do. I just said it."

       "Well, it's nothing."

       "Nothing. Nowhere. All words I don't believe. Did Calvin give that to you?"

       "We were....practicing for the play."

       "Really?" I asked. "Is the play rated PG or something? Maybe R?"

       "What? No."

       "So his character gives your character a hickey in the play?"

       "Would you keep your voice down? Mom and Dad are just upstairs."

       "I would still like to know if that actually happens in the play or you're just trying to cover up something that you don't have to hide from me."

       "It....it doesn't matter. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm tired and I'm heading off to bed."

       "Aww, party pooper," I said as Kenny headed upstairs.

_______________

Ooh, Kenny. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

Lol, I did not expect this chapter to be so long. cx It's 12:30 am here. WOOPS.

Omg, you do not know how many times I almost typed Hunter instead of Kenny because of the actor I have for Kenny, so I'm just imagining Hunter from Degrassi. cx (funny because one of my characters is a Hunter who is shipped with a Kenny aka Cannon. cx)

So, am I a bad person for liking remakes more than the original or well-known version? Like, I like Grease Live better than the movie (and I've seen the movie first years and years ago), I like a cover of the song It's All Coming Back to Me Now more than the original, and I love the new Beauty and the Beast's Gaston more than the one from the 1991 movie. cx Idk, it just seems more lively.