Underthink

Chapter Forty Three // Freedom

- Leila's POV -

Me and James began our journey to the police station to find Dale, it was like a fairy tale quest. The princess and the knight saving the prince from eternal suffering in a rotting cage.. How exciting! We walked in silence, James seemed troubled as he continuously sighed every few minutes.

"So.. What's been going on since I left?" I asked with a smile, James laughed to himself and shook his head.

"You don't want to know, honestly Leila" He muttered, I nodded and lowered my head.

"Dale isn't doing the best, those guys have been chasing him for months and he has been homeless since" James began explaining to me how much Dale had been suffering the passed month or so, how his room mates were arrested and the gang who kidnapped me were trying to kill him.

"He is going to be okay, we got away from those guys" I have always been the one to look at the bright side of things and when I think of the bad side it always comes crashing down on me. James shrugged his shoulders and didn't answer. I told him how badass I was while escaping the gangs trap, he laughed loudly when I told him that I kicked one of them in the face.

"I'm pretty sure I broke his nose" I said proudly, James shook his head with a smile on his face.

"How are you and Louise? Good as always?" I asked while grinning, Louise and James were always relationship goals to Dale. We used to sit outside his grandparents house and talk about about them, how they had been together for such a long time and that Dale knew they would be together for many more years to come.

"Actually she cheated on me, numerous of times and now she is pregnant!" James shouted with a sarcastic smile, I could instantly see how heartbroken he was. I put my hand on his shoulder gently and sighed, that was a surprise.

"I'm fine, honestly. It wasn't love at all.. What even is love? I don't know" James spoke quickly while laughing, I stayed quiet and just nodded. He is clearly not over her at all. A minute later he pointed across the road to the police station, we were finally here!

James grabbed my arm to stop me from walking, I looked up at him in confusion.

"You better not leave him again, he was broken when you did last time. I think of Dale as a brother and I don't want him to be as low as that ever again, alright?" James said seriously, I smiled and nodded. Dale and James' friendship warms my heart, even if they do fight a lot they still look out for each other.

"I love him, I know that now. I won't be going anywhere" I whispered to James, he grinned and we crossed the road into the police station.

- James' POV -

We entered the police station and Leila ran straight up to the desk, I followed after her and waited patiently for the woman behind the desk to notice us.

Leila began to explain her whole situation with the group of guys capturing her and Dale, also how they forced him to deliver cannabis but he was caught. The woman left the desk and entered a room behind it, Leila looked back at me in fear.

"It's all going to be okay remember?" I reassured her with the exact same words she said to me fifteen minutes ago, she nodded and looked back at the desk. The woman returned with a bunch of files in her hands, she threw them down on the table before sitting down again.

"Firstly, we have found the location in which you called us from the phone box. Some police men will be waiting there until the boys return so we can arrest them" The woman explained, Leila sighed with relief.

"Dale Merrick is here but he will only be released with a bail"

"Are you kidding me? He was forced to deliver the cannabis!" Leila shouted angrily while slamming her hand on the desk, I pushed her aside slightly and pulled my wallet from my jeans.

"How much?" I asked, Leila stared at me weirdly as the woman gave me a piece of paper with the price of Dale's bail.

"FOUR HUNDRED POUNDS?" Leila screamed, I face palmed and handed the woman my credit card.

"James, your parents are going to kill you!" She shouted at me, I shook my head.

"I've been saving up my money for a while, I was going to buy Louise a present but I obviously don't need to do that any more" I said while typing in my pin. The woman told us to wait in the small waiting room next to the reception, we sat down and stayed silent.

An hour passed of silence and it was lovely, I was almost asleep until Leila was breathing on my neck..

"Where the hell is Dale? Why are they taking so long?" She asked anxiously, I stared at her before rolling my eyes.

"We paid the bail, he is fine. Stop worrying"

- Dale's POV -

I walked through the cold corridors with a security guard holding my cuffed wrists, I had no idea where I was going. I had only been in jail for a few hours and I already had a nap, it was the comfiest place I had slept in for months.

We turned a corner and approached a door which said 'Exit' above it. When we arrived at the door, the security man took the hand cuffs off before walking in the opposite direction.

"Wait what?" I said in confusion, he continued to walk and left me at the door. I stood still for a moment before opening the door and realising that I was in the main entrance of the police station. I looked around before noticing James and Leila almost asleep in the waiting area, I smiled widely and ran over to them.

"Dale!" Leila screamed before jumping on me and kissing my cheek, James looked over at me and smiled.

"How did you get away from them? Did the police find you?" I asked Leila in worry, she smirked and told me about her inner ninja moves. James rolled his eyes as if he had heard the story hundreds of times.

"James bailed you out.. It was a lot of money" Leila whispered, I set her down gently before giving James the biggest hug. We hadn't hugged properly since we were children.

"Thank you dude.." I muttered, he nodded.

"Dale Merrick?" The woman at the desk shouted across the room, I approached the desk.

"Can you and that other girl involved in the kidnapping come back tomorrow for questioning?" She asked, I nodded and Leila also agreed. The woman got in contact with Leila's grandmother and James' mum to come and pick us up from the police station.

"What a day.."