Law and Order- complete

XXIII

thank u @kiwi_l0ve  for your support

"I texted you." Harry says bluntly after we hear the water turn on upstairs. Miranda was taking a shower before her weekly visit to the farmers market. This meant we had about thirty minutes to talk before she came  back downstairs. 

He wore his usual black slacks and a cream colored button up. His hair had some effort put into it, but it seemed to deny the pomade as it dropped in its natural waves.

"I know, I just didn't get around to it." I grab another piece of bacon, to which Harry slides the plate towards me, as if surrendering his pieces. I doubt he was hungry to begin with. Miranda has a thing for immediately cooking when we have guests.

"Did you know that your friend texted me? Said that he wanted to have a chat with me." 

My face pushes back in denial and I release a chuckle. "You must have gotten the numbers mixed. Ry doesn't even have your phone number." I say, and this was true as far as I was concerned. " Not to mention, why would he need to talk to you?" I crunch into the crispy bacon.

Style's brows raise tentively as he reaches into his pocket, leaning to put his weight on one thigh. Once he has it, he taps the screen a few times before sliding it across the table to me, running a hand through his prince charming hair as he does.

I run my tongue across the inside of my mouth as I read the text, and sure enough, it was my friend. "Why would he need to talk to you?" I ponder, mostly to myself, but Harry responds anyway.

"Yesterday when I had your phone, I saw something."

I grit my teeth in embarrassment at his words. There are a thousand things in my phone that I don't want anyone seeing, let alone him. The nudes, the burner social media accounts, and even the messages. God knows Ry and I texted a lot. And Ramon's. He didn't know we were-

"Are you listening to me?"

"Uh, ye-yeah I am. What did you find?" I pull my legs up on the chair and wrap my arms around them. Despite the flannel, I was freezing.

"Do you know ChiPhi?"

"The frat?"

"Yes, the frat."

"What about them?" I reach forward and grab a piece of scrambled egg in my fingers.

"They requested to follow you on your Instagram, which was odd. When I clicked on the account though, I saw that they were only following one person." I didn't realize that he had taken his phone back. Within moments, he was sliding it across the table again. I peer my chin over my legs to read the username.

yaboiryderfuentes_

What the hell? What association does Ryder have with a frat?

And how long did Styles have my phone  to find all this?

"ChiPhi didn't have a social media presence back then-"

"What do you mean back then?" I look up at him. By the look on his face, I don't think he meant for me to catch his words. I know Harry went to UNC, but he didn't seem like the type to be involved in any frats either. Part of me found it amusing. 

"Well I -"

"Wait, you were in a frat?"

"Are you going to let me talk or not?" He snaps. His eyebrows sat perched high on his forehead as he stared at me, awaiting an answer. "Yeah, sorry."

A huff is released and his hand is ran through his hair once more. I can't help but mentally sink into the floor. I was starting to grow uncomfortable. I know there's something he isn't telling me, or hasn't gotten around to. Surely this was deeper than bunch of childish ass frat boy drama.

"I wasn't in the frat, technically. I was trying to. I was getting initiated when...everything happened."

I notice he's referring to his murder case, which I oddly forgot about. He hadn't brought it up since the first time it was mentioned, that felt like such a long time ago. There were plenty of frats at UNC. It was strange that Harry and Ryder were both affiliated with ChiPhi. Maybe that's why Ryder texted him. Maybe he wants to get initiated. As much as I tried to make this make sense, I couldn't. Ry hated frats. He says they're full of preppy mommy's boys with something to prove. There has to be an angle we're missing.

"Do you think Ryder is getting initiated?" I asked, clearing my throat afterwards.

"I don't know. But if he is, it isn't any good."

There's a short moment of silence. I stared at the white wall behind Harry, where the staircase was, listening to the shower water run. I felt something, but couldn't pinpoint it. Maybe it's the uncertainty? Maybe I was feeding of of Styles' energy. He seemed uncomfortable. But who wouldn't be when talking about the time a murder happened. One that they were still standing trial for. Ryder texting him was weird, him being connected to a frat is weird, and Styles coming all the way to my house to tell me this was even weirder. He's not telling me everything.

"There's something else." I say aloud.

His eyes dart to mine. I saw in the way his brows sat low above his eyelids and his lips were tightly pressed together that I was right. He waited for a few moments before speaking.

"ChiPhi. They're a hard frat to get into." His head shakes as if recalling something. "You don't get jumped in. You don't prank a professor. You do...weird shit. Illegal shit."

"Well earlier you said you were trying to get initiated. What did you do?"

"You don't need to know that, this is about your case, not mine." He shuts my question down entirely, placing his phone back into his pocket. I hear the water upstairs turn off and I clear my throat, pulling my legs down from the chair. Harry looks behind himself towards the stairs, then back at me. "I'll see you on Monday."

"Wait." I object as he stands to his feet, grabbing one of his many coats from the back of his chair. He reaches down to grab his bag as well. "You can't just stop there. What am I supposed to do? I mean I can ask Ry-"

"No, you don't. Did you hear anything of what I just said?"

"Yeah, I did. All you told me is that you think he's being initiated by some frat, just because they follow him...and he, what? Texted you? Maybe he wanted advice." I try to make sense of his words. He can't just leave like this.

"You can't possibly be this stupid." 

"Excuse me?" 

"You can't talk to him about this. He's already either getting initiated, or is. Either way, that's no good for you to be around."

"And how do I know that? Just because you told me? He's my best friend and I'm supposed to just go off of some half assed story that you can't even tell me."

"Don't be ignorant, Logan."

"I'm not bein-"

"Ah Harry, leaving so soon?"

Both of our heads snap to the bottom of the stair case, where Miranda held a white towel to her damn her, squeezing it to fully dry it. She was dressed for the market in a pair of denim jeans and a black tank with a faded congratulations on it, I learned it to be won for a ticket raffle at the 07 county fair.

"She's a fast learner." He responds curtly, giving her a tight smile to which I roll my eyes. His ominous personality may have been attractive before, but it sure as hell isn't now. If he isn't going to tell me, I'll figure it out myself. 

It wasn't until then that I was able to pinpoint that feeling.

Fear.