Law and Order- complete

XVIIII

The apartment door is locked and I instinctively toss the brown leather shoulder bag on the island. My hands run through the brown waves in an effort to detangle them and I release a loud huff. It was warm since I left the heater on, and I'm grateful.

The afternoon was rather difficult. Now that I was home, I could figure out what I needed.

I find the computer desk next to the right corner of the living room. Next to the keypad sat a white mug of old coffee. It's slid to the side as I tap in the password and make myself comfortable in the chair. My feet kick the shoes off under the desk and I huff in concentration.

Tabs from a few days ago pop open and I immediately close them out.  I'm taking a break from my case, I need to do this.

I have the address and date, I need to know who all was there. Fortunately, the students at UNC were a bunch of a half wits. That's something that I'm guessing would never change. The easiest way to find out who was at a party and when would be to check social media. It was her friends Ryder's party. My first step would be finding him.

Opening Instagram, I type in Ryder along with a few popular tags from the school. Sure enough, his account is the first to pop up. The user reads @yaboiryderfuentes_ . His account seemed to be on public. I didn't even have to scroll down through the pictures because he'd added a highlight of his 20th birthday to his page. Idiot.

'pregame lit asf @ theycallmelolomarie'.  There's a picture of the tanned student. For some reason, he had an apple logo drawn at the top of his left cheekbone. Logan's chin rested in between the crook of his neck and shoulder as she gave a soft smile for the picture. Her brown hair fell behind him and a single strand stood out. I almost got chills thinking about what happened soon after the  picture was taken.

I ignore it and continue to scroll passed highlights. Each profile he'd tag, I'd write it down to go back and check theirs. It felt like hours of scrolling when the story ended with a blank screen. From the looks of it, the party was long. The good thing is, the faces he didn't tag, I was able to take a shot of them to cross reference for later. The only picture he had of Logan was the first one. There was one where the both of their heads hung over the front camera, but it was blurry and they were visibly drunk.

Clicking though the other profiles felt time consuming as well. They all seemed to be full of pictures of alcohol bottles and dancing bodies. I'm not sure how her friend even knew enough people to have such a large party.

Finally, I reach the last account. I'm assuming it was Ramon's seeing that there was a pathetic off guard of he and Audrey. I try not to think about this too much. I have to remind myself that I couldn't give less of a shit about what she does.

As I'm clicking on the profile, my phone rings in my pocket. 

"Hello?" I hold it to my ear without checking the caller ID. 

"Hey," It's Logan. I hear shuffling in the background paired with the whispering of another voice. Though it was masculine, it was very nasally. My brows furrow and I lean back in the chair, "Do you need something?"

"I um- Are you okay?"

"Yes... Are you?"

"Yeah I just- hold on-" The phone goes blank as she puts me on mute. As much as I'd love to waste time on the phone, I had to figure this out.

"Hello?" She calls.

"Still here."

"I was just wondering why you cancelled today, and if it has something to do with...you know." I could hear the nervousness in her voice as she waited for me to answer. More shuffling is heard as well as a grunt from another voice. I hope she isn't getting cold feet on me.

"I was celebrating my birthday." I say truthfully, bobbing the chair back in the seat.

"It was your birthday?"

"It was,"

"Well happy late birthday, dude. I'm sorry about that." She chuckles.

"Harry," I correct, "And thank you. I'll see you tomorrow." I pull the phone away from my face to hang it up but she objects.

"Wait! I should tell you. The address I gave you... it was Ramon's. Ryder had his party there. So."

This information would have been useful half an hour ago. But I blame myself. I could have easily put two and two together. It made sense anyway.

"Goodbye, Logan."

****

Logan

"Wait! I should tell you. The address I gave you... it was Ramon's. Ryder had his party there. So..." I trail off. Ryders large brown eye burn holes in the side of my cheek as he sits next to me. The phone was on speaker.

There's silence for a while, and Ryder mouths, "Check the phone."

As I'm making sure it isn't on mute, Harry speaks. 

"Good bye Logan." There's movement, and then the line goes dead. I look at Ryder and he stares at me for a good six seconds before his head falls back into fit of laughter. My eyes roll and I scoff. He pulls his knees to his chest and  smacks at the bed we sat on. "That was so fucking awkward, my God."

"Shut up," My hands drag down my face in embarrassment. Listening to Ry was a dumb idea, in honesty, he was just being nosey and wanted to hear Harry's voice. I feel like an asshole for not realizing he had a life outside of what we were doing. Of course it was his fucking birthday. He never said anything to me about it. Maybe I overestimated my role in his life.

"I've seen a lot of awkward shit. I've seen your underwear."

My brows furrow and I turn to him to see him nodding, ugh. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" I grab the fluffy black pillow and hit him against his chest. He catches it and tosses it onto the floor, nearly hitting my Macbook in the process. "Actually, I was gonna ask you about that."

"About what?"

"My families having this big dinner thingy cause my cousin Jacob got released from prison, so..."

"So?" I push. I had no clue who Jacob was.

"Ugh, don't make me beg. I need a date, they don't know I'm...ya know."

"Oh," My lips form into an 'O' and I nod. It'd slipped my mind, "When is it?"

"Next week, the 8th I think, I dunno. I'll text you the deets."

"Nobody, fucking says that." I grunt as I send another pillow to his abdomen, instead of fighting back, he rolls his eyes and shrugs me off with a sigh. "Anyway. It is getting late and as much as I hate the bitch, my mom made Hamburger Helper."

"Ew, enjoy."

 He climbs off of the bed and finds his shoes while I peel my shirt from over my head. It is getting late and I need to shower. 

"Hey, Lo," He stops, his hand on the door frame as he swings back around to look at me. His entire demeanor had changed. The thick bushy eyebrows of his were tugged down and his lips were pulled into a frown.

"What is it, Ryder?" 

"Are you sure you wanna open a case against the guy?"

"For some reason, my chest wrenches. Of course I'm not sure. But I know it's the right thing to do. And it'll be good for me. I just want to get it over with. I release a sigh, "I don't even know."

"Well, I don't think you should. You aren't ready to face it." He reminds me and I nod. He's right. But I've waited this long. 

"I'll see you later." I end the short conversation with a tight, friendly smile, to which he flicks me off. 

"Love you."

"Bye bitch,"