Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ A Cheap Hat, and Cigarettes, and a Peculiar Name ❯ Chapter 2

A Cheap Hat, and Cigarettes, and a Peculiar Name: [Two]

 

Sorry the last one turned out to be completely bolded. It made me sort of mad when I seen it.

 

-Chance

 

…

 

Adelyne sat in front of her laptop, fingers stretched over the keys, thinking. Starting out the piece she was about to work on was always the hardest part. She liked to make it suspenseful yet informative, and coming up with a way to start it so that people would actually enjoy reading it was easier said than done. Adelyne had complete freedom when it came to her own opinion on the subject, but sometimes that made it more difficult.

 

Her current focus was a series of home robberies, but she was getting nowhere and fast. The last victim wouldn't even talk to her about it, and the one before that was asleep during the whole thing. The one before that wasn't home. She didn't have any leads, so she was even capable of sympathizing with the police working the case.

 

It was almost three in the morning now, and she had just as much down as when she began.

 

Brain Stew began to play from her phone that was on the charger beside her. She picked it up and saw that it was that Joe character again. “I was just wondering if your grandma is OK.”

 

She sighed. Honestly, she didn't want to take the time to reply, so she didn't. Maybe if she stopped texting him, he would drop the whole thing. She shut her phone off and lay down on her bed to get some rest before the next morning.

 

 

 

The next morning she woke with a start. There was a knock on her door that would wake the dead. She made her way to the door and looked through the peephole. Campus security. Great. She opened the door.

 

“Adelyne Keller?” the taller man asked.

 

“Yeah, what can I do you for?”

 

“Your neighbor downstairs was murdered last night. Did you hear anything?”

 

She couldn't believe what they were saying. Someone was murdered? “I, uh, I was up `til about three… I didn't hear anything, though.”

 

“No struggling? Did anything fall? A scream?” the shorter, chunky man asked.

 

“Nothing, sorry. Who was it, anyway?”

 

“Lauren Lowery.”

 

“How did you find her?” Adelyne questioned.

 

“We're not releasing any information at this time. The BPD will be here in about ten minutes. If you have any questions about safety, see them.”

 

“Okay. `Bye.” She shut the door, and then locked it back. She looked at the alarm clock by her bed. It was almost eight. “Might as well stay up, then,” she mumbled to herself.

 

She sat back down on her bed and grabbed her cell phone and turned it on. It didn't take long for it to start playing Brain Stew, showing that she had three new texts. All of them were from Joe. The first one read, “Are you still at the hospital?” the second was, “Wanna go out again?” and the third was, “Are you ignoring me?”

 

Oh God, she thought, the first time I go out with someone that randomly texts me, and I pick the stalker.

 

Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold began to play from Adelyne's cell phone. It was set for her mother's ringer. “Yo.”

 

“Adelyne, why won't you just fly? I'd feel much better if I knew you were safe.”

 

“You wouldn't know if I was safe if I was in a car? Okay, Mom, planes crash, too. And I don't have enough money for a ticket. I do not want to take your money, either.”

 

Her mother sighed. “Adelyne Estelle Keller, you are not a bother and you're even less of one when you actually listen. Swallow your pride before you choke on it and take the damned money. Grams and I would both feel much better if you'd fly out.”

 

“But I—”

 

“We already sent the money. We'll meet you at the airport to pick you up, so make you call and tell us when the flight lands.”

 

“I'll send it back.”

 

“Adelyne, you're too stubborn for your own good!”

 

“I get it honestly!”

 

“Will you listen to me this once? Take the money and fly home. Then you won't have to worry about gas money and getting back, or breaking down or anything.”

 

Adelyne sighed this time. “Fine, Mom.” She looked out of her window and saw that Lauren was being taken to the ambulance in a body bag. “I gotta go…”

 

“'Bye, honey.”

 

“Bye.” Adelyne closed her phone and walked out the door, not bothering to lock it this time. There were police everywhere. It would take serious balls to break in anywhere within five miles of the campus.

 

A lot people were looking out of their doors and standing in the hallway watching the police do their work. Adelyne was the only one that was getting close to the scene.

 

An officer with black hair and emerald green eyes stopped her. He was actually attractive to her. “Ma'am, I'm gonna have to ask you to step back,” the officer stated firmly. “This is a murder scene and I can arrest you for tampering with evidence.”

 

“I'm just walking by. I'm leaving,” Adelyne shot back.

 

“Go back to your room until this is over with. You can leave in an hour.”

 

She crossed her arms. “You can't do that.”

 

He stepped into the small space between them, showing that his height was only about four or five inches taller than hers. “I can also get you for failure to comply.”

 

“I'm not doing anything wrong, Officer…”

 

“Strong.”

 

“Officer Strong. I'm simply trying to leave to go to class.”

 

“Classes are closed today because of the murder,” he retorted.

 

“Then I'm going grocery shopping.”

 

He chuckled. “You're about to be going to the station if you don't go back to your room.”

 

“Fine.” She turned sharply on her heal and walked back upstairs to her room. He was just rude! she thought.

 

Brain Stew started playing from her pocket. “Damn!” She opened her phone and saw that it was Joe again. “You're not in that dorm with the murder, are you?”

 

She sighed in frustration. This guy was impossible. “No. Stop texting me. I'm fine.” She sent it.

 

Being malicious wasn't Adelyne. Being blunt was. Sometimes people would look at it like she was heartless, but it all honesty, she was kind to just about everyone, and the few that she wasn't nice to, she had damn good reasons. The fucker that wouldn't stop texting her was a good reason. She didn't want stalked.

 

A few minutes later the reply came. “OK bitch.” She laughed out loud. What a jackass.

 

There was a knock on her door. She walked over and looked into the peephole. It was Candice, her neighbor. She opened the door. “Hey, Addi!”

 

“Hey, Candy. What're you doin'?”

 

“Just a little rattled from the murder. Can I come in?”

 

Adelyne nodded and moved out of the doorway. “Do you know what's goin' on?”

 

Candice shrugged. “No clue. They're not saying anything. She sits next to me in Professor Mosley's Psychology 201. I'm a little freaked out.”

 

Adelyne nodded. “I know. I think she's in my American Litt. class, too. I'm not sure, though. I don't really remember her being around much.”

 

Candice shivered. “It's just weird… I never thought anyone would want her dead. She was so nice… She gave me notes that I missed when my sister went into labor. She was just a good person.”

 

Are you doing her sermon, here? Adelyne thought. “Maybe it was a robbery-gone-wrong. Maybe she wasn't supposed to be home and startled the burglar.”

 

Candice nodded. “Maybe. I dunno.”

 

“Ya know, that Officer Strong down there is a real dick, though.”

 

Candice laughed. “What? How do you know?”

 

Adelyne shrugged. “I wanted to leave and he told me to go to my room. He sounds like my mother…” she mumbled the last part.

 

“And you actually listened to him?” Candice asked, completely shocked.

 

Adelyne shrugged. “He threatened to arrest me. The last place I want to be is jail. I'm leaving for Vallejo in eleven days.”

 

“Vallejo? Is that where you're from?”

 

Adelyne nodded. “It isn't that bad of a place and it's only a five hour drive from here.”

 

Candice snorted in an indecorous style. “It should be a seven hour drive.”

 

“I'm flying, anyway. My mom said she'd feel better about it. I suppose she thinks I'll be safer or something.” She shrugged. “I dunno. She's a worry wart.”

 

“Within good reason, I presume. You seem like a handful to me. My mom would have whipped my ass for talking back and mouthing an officer like that. And you don't follow any rules, either.”

 

Adelyne chuckled. “She's the same way. I get it honestly. My little brother Cade is more careful than I am. He's only fourteen. He's a smart ass, though. We both are.”

 

“Is he like your dad?”

 

“We have different dads.”

 

“Oh, sorry.”

 

“Don't be. I never knew my dad and his dad died when he was four. Cancer.”

 

Candice frowned. “That's so sad.”

 

“He was a drunk bastard, though. Couldn't stand him. I was only five when I met him and I knew he was an ass.”

 

There was a knock on the door and a girl poked her head in. “We can leave now! I know you really wanted out, Adelyne.” She smiled and closed the door.

 

Adelyne looked to Candice. “Who was that?”

 

“Maria Rumarez. She lives down the hall.”

 

Adelyne mouthed an “Ohhh,” and grabbed her Smashing Pumpkins hoodie that she wore the other night to meet Joe. “I need to go talk to Jim and see what he has for me to do today. I'll see you later.” Candice took the hint and walked out after saying her goodbye.

 

She was still dressed in the outfit from the night before when she walked downstairs to get to her car. Before she got out of the building, however, Officer Strong stopped her. “Hello, Miss. Sorry about earlier. I was just doing my job.”

 

“And what's that? Jackass Patrol?” she asked as she shifted her weight to her left side and placed her left hand on her hip.

 

He chuckled. “I guess I needed that.”

 

“I can think of a few more things you could do with in addition, but I'm going to keep them to myself. I'm sure I could get arrested for assaulting a cop, as well.”

 

“There's verbal assault, too. And threatening.”

 

“Isn't this supposed to be an apology?” Adelyne questioned, still a little annoyed about what had happened beforehand in the dorm.

 

He chuckled again. It was becoming a habit of his, but it was another one of those little things that Adelyne had always found… interesting. “I guess you're right. The best way for me to say sorry would have to be taking you out for coffee.”

 

She laughed, sort of a “Ha, ha, that's hilarious!” laugh. “What's it with guys and coffee? Take me out for a drink that isn't crammed full of caffeine and you'll probably have a better time. Last guy that took me out for coffee was a bit of a basket case.”

 

He must have found that funny as well because he decided to chuckle. She was beginning to think he was one of those guys that laughed at everything. So much for interesting, she thought almost bitterly. “Well, I'd take you out for a drink, but I highly doubt you're twenty-one.”

 

“Rules are for people who can't do anything without being told they can,” Adelyne countered.

 

“And to keep from total anarchy and pandemonium breaking out,” he added. “But I think you can act your age if I took you out. How old are you?”

 

“Seventeen. I'm one of those smart kids that graduate early so I can go to college and be ahead of my game in life,” she joked.

 

“Well, uh, I, uh…”

 

“I'm just kidding, Officer Strong! I'm nineteen, almost twenty. My birthday is in February.”

 

“You can call me Jake.”

 

She extended her hand and smiled. “Addi.”

 

He took it. “So do we have ourselves a date?”

 

“When and where?”

 

“How about Crosskey's Bar and Tavern at nine tonight. It's right after I get off my shift.”

 

She nodded. “Late date. Sounds fun. I'll be there.”

 

…

 

Tell me what you think. I should have more up later tonight or really early tomorrow morning… about one or two AM. That's how I roll.

 

-Chance