Crazy but Sweet, Sweet but Crazy

26: only one answer

From around 1 to 3.40pm, Elliot and I sat across each other, studying.

Not a single bit of useful study content would've entered my head, without the help of the baseball cap blocking everyone in the library- including Elliot- from my peripheral vision.

At 3.42, Elliot tapped on my paper and slid across the table his phone.

It was a text he'd gotten from Joseph Chavez yesterday. 'Meet you at the Stbks across my school at 4. Let's talk in yr car'

After putting away our books and stationery, we left the library and got into his car.

I wasn't one to make small talk, but the thick silence and the interior of the car warmed by the heater, were almost tempting me to start one.

When the car had stopped at traffic, Elliot's phone buzzed.

I couldn't see the caller ID from the angle of his phone resting on his lap- but when his eyes landed on his screen, his knuckles whitened against the steering wheel.

Plugging in his earphones, Elliot answered the call. "Yes?"

It was one word, but breathed almost like a weary, stifled sigh.

A long pause came, and Elliot listened. His lips parted, as if he was about to say something, but closed again.

Stiffly, he responded, "I'll be there.", before hanging up and dropping the earphones onto the car seats carelessly.

When the car was parked in front of Starbucks, we waited, in silence, watching the interiors of the cafe through its glass walls and doors. 3.49. 3.51. 3.56. 3.58.

"What kind of an act have you orchestrated for Joseph Chavez?" I broke the thick silence first. "To protect him, like you protected the Romanos with an armed burglary?"

Glancing at the dashboard, Elliot let out a small breath.

"Joella and Joseph Chavez were long ago estranged from their parents, so they lived with their only relative, their grandmother. So it's just this kid and his eighty-plus year old grandmother. I encouraged him to stay out of all this."

I stared at Elliot, and he raised an eyebrow. "Could you even pretend to make an effort to hide your shock?"

"I applaud you for your unusual sense of sympathy for others," I deadpanned. "Okay. But he insisted on meeting up?"

"Yeah. I told him we could try Skype- slightly lower chance of being listened on then doing a phone call-"

"Did you just say 'Skype'? Kids nowadays don't Skype anymore, they-"

Elliot's mouth quirked into a grin of disbelief. "You're focusing more on 'Skype' than the 'chance of being listened on' part?"

"Okay, sorry. Go on."

"But he said he needed to pass me- or rather, you, whom he trusts- something. He doesn't want to risk mailing it."

I glanced at the dashboard. 4.01. "So you're saying there's no protection for Joseph Chavez?"

Hanging up, Elliot's eyes searched the nearly-empty Starbucks, and the streets.

"I did offer to pay for a 24-hour bodyguard service. He declined, saying it's creepy, and added that if I put a man on him without his permission, he's going to report me.

"He thinks just because he's got some swimmer muscles he'll be able to keep himself safe. Even more naive than you."

4.02. I pointed to my watch. "Should we call the police for the sake of the naive boy?"