A Kiss for Maya

Interrogation Rooms and Absent Lawyers

"I don't like this one bit, Meyer." Detective Connors says to Luca.

I'm sitting on the rather uncomfortable chair of the interrogation room. I don't know what's going on but Luca is somehow involved in my arrest.

Why would he get me arrested? We have a deal.

"I know, I'm sorry, Connors but if we want to finally cracks this case we need to do this." Luca tries to calm down Detective Connors.

"I don't like the measures you're taking, Meyer. I don't like them one bit. If anyone ever finds out what we've done today we might lose our jobs." Detective Connors says through clenched teeth.

"Trust me, Connors, I'll handle this."

"You better." Detective Connors turns to me then Luca and shakes her head. "I have work to do."

She turns around and walks out of the room.

"What the fuck is going on?" I glare at Luca, purposely raising my voice.

"Calm down, calm down." He pulls back the chair opposite me and sits down.

"Don't tell me to calm down. What the fuck is this?" I hit my palms on the metallic table.

"Let me explain." Luca raises his hands in surrender.

I give him a deathly glare and sit back, folding my arms.

"After we last met, I realised that someone had been following us." He pauses.

"What?"

"Yeah," he sighs, "so I realised that I needed to find another way for us to meet up or communicate."

"This was the best you could come up with, genius?"

His face falls and he gives me a bored expression.

"Calm down, Mason. We can't risk things. I brought you here so I could explain everything to you. We can't waste anymore time. We need to act now so today, I'm taking you through the plan."

"Are you trying to get me killed?"

"Well it seems you've given me a head start." He points to my face and I roll my eyes.

"Luca, The Man is going to find out about this arrest. He'll start seeing me as a threat, a loose end. Do you know what he does to loose ends?" I raise my voice when I say the last sentence.

"Unfortunately I've been given those cases one too many times." He sighs.

"You don't want to see my face next time you open a murder case docket." I narrow my eyes at him.

"Don't speak like that." He frowns. "I promised you and Max I'd protect you and I'm going to do exactly that."

"Uhm..." I sit up, starting to feel nervous. "Luca, it's no longer just Max and I who need protection."

"Huh?"

"There's...Maya." I look down and take a deep breath.

"Who's Maya? Your girlfriend?" I look up to see his sympathetic smile.

"Kind of, it's...it's complicated."

"Don't worry, you just do everything I say and I'll make sure you never have to worry about your loved ones."

I hope it's that easy.

***

Maya's POV

Justin, Max, Nathan and I run into the police station. While everyone seems to be fine, I'm struggling to breathe.

We had to wait until school was out before we could rush here. The longest last three periods of my life.

Truth be told, we're not even sure if Mason is still here. Max tried calling his mom but she didn't answer. I just hope he's been released.

"Kids, can I help you?" A police officer stops and asks us.

"Our friend was arrested, we need to-"

"Maya?" We turn around and find Mrs. Wilder sitting on a chair behind us.

"Mrs. Wilder." We rush to her and Max thanks the officer before joining us.

"What happened?" She asks me.

I sit on the chair next to her. Her eyes are reddened and her make up is ruined. She's clearly been crying. My heart breaks and I want to hug her.

"I don't know. We were in the cafeteria when the police came, we didn't even see anything. He was with Max and he says they just called him to the principal's office." I explain, trying to make sense of things as I do. "Mrs. Wilder what did he do?"

"They say he was," she hesitates, unable to grasp on to the reality of the news, "in possession of illegal firearms or something. I...I..."

My eyes widen and I sit back on the chair.

Firearms. So that's what they deliver.

"I've been here for hours and everyone is just ignoring me. I don't know what to do, my lawyer is out of town but he called his colleague who's nor here yet."

"This makes no sense." Max says.

"Maxwell," Mrs. Wilder stands up, "please tell me the truth. Is Mason involved in criminal activities? Is that why he came back home looking like that?"

Max looks at Mrs. Wilder and remains silent. What can he say? How do you look a mother in the eyes and tell her that her son is a criminal?

I look down and fiddle with my thumbs. I hope she doesn't ask me anything.

"No, he doesn't." Max replies.

I look up and gasp.

How did he just look an adult in the eyes and lie about something like this?

Mrs. Wilder breaks into a sob and I get up and go to her. Before I can offer her a hug, an officer walks over to us, followed by Mason.

"Mom."

"Oh God, my baby." Mrs. Wilder wraps her arms around him, trying not to cry.

"What's going on?" I ask the man now behind Mason.

"Mrs. Wilder," he ignores my question, turning to Mason's mom, "I'm sorry for what has happened. The station apologises, we had the wrong guy."

"What?" My eyes widen and my mouth forms an 'o' shape.

Max's eyes move between Mason and the police man. Faint lines form on his forehead and I assume he's just as confused as I am.

"You what?" Mrs. Wilder asks, gently wiping her eyes with the tissue in her hand.

"We apologise for any inconveniences we've caused you or your son. He's been cleared of all the charges and we're working on catching the real culprit."

"Why did you arrest my son? How was he even connected to your case?" Mrs. Wilder asks, shaking her head in disbelief.

The police man hesitates to answer. "We uhm...he..."

"Mom, I'm really tired. Could we please just go home? I don't want to be here any longer." Mason interjects.

"Of course, my baby. Let's get out of here." Mrs. Wilder takes his backpack and turns around, heading to the exit door.

Mason looks at me and smiles but I quickly look away and fold my arms. I'm not happy being involved in all of this but it's even worse seeing his mom like this.