don't get me wrong () prodigal son SLOW UPDATES

Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Two:

They all agreed to meet back at the precinct, and when Theodora went to turn towards Malcolm he was already walking away. She scrambled after him, walking beside him waiting for him to say anything. He didn't.

"Hey." She said.

"Hey."

Theodora frowned, "I tried calling you last night."

He glanced at her, "oh?"

She pursed her lips, what was wrong with him?

"Are we alright?"

He stopped, looking at her with knotted brows. "What?"

"Are we alright?" She questioned again, "We're still good, right?"

"Yes. Why would you ask that?"

"I don't know! You ran out last night after... you know. Then you didn't answer any of my calls."

He nodded slowly, "We're fine. I'll see you there."

Theodora watched as he took off once again, disappearing in his car and speeding away. She watched, not knowing what else to do.

"Ride with me." Dani was next to her, "Come on."

Theodora looked to where Malcolm's car once was parked before following the other women,  a frown still on her face. She said silent, focusing her attention out the window at the leaves falling to the ground in the wind. Dani said nothing either, but that was normal. Theodora bit the inside of her cheek, the night before playing in her mind.

What had she done wrong?

Nothing. She thought, Or maybe what I did wrong was not stopping it. Or wanting it.

"Are you alright?"

Theodora glanced at Dani, "Mhm."

"Bright was less talky— you know what I mean." She said, "Is everything okay with him?"

"Yah."

"What about you?"

"Good." Theodora nodded, "I am doing so fine. Great actually. Is great better than fine? I don't know—"

Dani rolled her eyes, "Tell me what's up."

Theodora didn't really want to, if she was being truthful. She didn't know Dani every well, certainly not enough to tell her what happened the night before.

You know how me and Malcolm are best friends? Inseparable, some may say? Yah, well... he made a move last night and I tried to finish it. Now he's being extra weird and avoiding me, ya know? No? Ok, cool.

"I think I'm getting sick." Theodora said, "Malcolm is really weird about germs and he can probably sense it."

There was a long pause.

"That's the dumbest explanation to something I've ever heard, but honestly I don't not believe it."

Theodora shrugged, mind racing.

I think I like him. She thought, leg bouncing with nerves. More than I'm supposed to. A lot more.

She couldn't tell Dani this, or anyone for that matter. It was already weird now between both herself and Malcolm and she didn't want to make it worse. She didn't want to somehow ruin so many years of friendship.

"Yah, I know." Theodora sighed, "Something happened. I think he's trying to deal with it in his own Malcolmish way."

Dani nodded, "I'll tell JT to lay off him then, if he's going through some stuff. Is it about his Dad?"

"Yeah."

They fell silent, not even the radio was turned on. Theodora stared down at her lap, running over things she could say to him, to try to get him to talk to her for longer than a minute.

She could corner him, but he'd gently move her out of the way and rush out. If she straight on confronted him, just blurted out "why did you do it?" He'd say nothing and stare at her until she caved from feeling uncomfortable.

Theodora sat like that until at some point the car was parked and Dani shut the door loudly as she'd gotten out.

"Okay. Cool." Theodora mumbled scrambling out after the other women, following her to the elevator and into it. Dani said nothing the way up, and when the machine dinged and the door slowly opened, Malcolm stood on the other side speaking to Gil a few feet away. She wandered up to him, planting herself right beside him. His conversation with Gil never wavered until the other man smiled at her, "See you've made it back in one piece."

"Next time I'll try to convince Dani to jump a couple ramps on the way over. Shake things up a bit."

"That's extremely illegal." Malcolm chimed in.

Theodora looked up at him, "That's why I'm gonna do it right in front of you."

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards, and something jumped around in her chest. He looked away, and Theodora pursed her lips, disliking this new feeling swelling within her. It was strange, to feel this away about someone she'd always seen as a best friend, and for it to come crashing into her all at once.

Maybe this was just a phase. Probably not, and she knew that.

Screw it.

"Can I talk to you?" The words fell out of her mouth before she could process them. Malcolm's eyes filled quickly with panic, disappearing before anyone else could read them. He was doing an amazing job with pretending nothing ever happened, but he could never hide anything without her noticing. "Please?"

"Gil actually wanted us in the board room, to talk about this case."

"Yup." Gil sighed, pointing towards the closed door across the room. "Everyone get going, we have a lot of things to figure out."

Dani followed the older man there, and JT trailed behind them both. Malcolm went a different way, and Theodora dashed after him. He walked a tad faster when she found herself next to him, which managed to anger her. They were walking towards the stairwell and she grabbed ahold of his arm, shoving him through the wooden door and out into the white landing.

"What—"

"What the hell is wrong with you!" She yelled, whacking his arm.

"What!"

"You can't just... do what you did and decide to never talk to me again! What's wrong with you!"

"We've been talking—"

"But you're making it weird! You're being distant and I don't like it, Malcolm Whitly. Not one bit."

He frowned, "I-I... I just need to think. That's all."

"Since when do you need time to think? I'm the one who usually helps you think—"

"Just a few days. That's all, Theodora."

Her face fell, "What do you need to think about?"

"Everything." He muttered, "My father, my mother— my family! Me. You... us."

"What about us?"

Malcolm took a step towards her, saying nothing he brushed by her and out the door. Theodora turned and stared at it as it clicked shut, as if she could see him walk throughout the precinct towards the board room.

He was lying. She knew him to well to not know. He didn't need time to think about his family or his father, his mind was already set on that. What worried her, was his thoughts on her. Because apparently, in his mind there was an us. Of course, there was one in Theodora's mind as well, but hers was already set.