"Her name was Paige."

☠☠☠☠☠

August 28th, 2025

He woke up to the sound of his alarm blaring right in his ear, making him jump up. He'd fallen asleep with his phone right by his head, watching stupid YouTube videos. It wasn't a great way to wake up and now he realized he'd forgotten to charge his phone too. It's gonna be a fun day.

Julian rose out of bed and got ready quickly, throwing on a t-shirt and jeans, nothing fancy, nothing shabby. He was never the type who tried to stand out, he liked being in the background, an NPC. Alex had been the one to break him out of his shell a little bit, he was always so outgoing and surrounded by smiling people who hung on his every word. Julian wasn't one of those people, he'd been the one who stuck by Alex when everyone else's backs were turned. When his smile finally faded and was replaced by tired eyes and dropped shoulders.

The smell of weed smoke had drifted into Julian's room, making him sigh. "Starting early?" he shouted, slightly passive-aggressive. It was starting to get annoying, he knew they definitely weren't getting their deposit back once they left the apartment, but he seemed to be the only one worrying about it. At least Alex was still paying rent, but Julian worried about where he was getting the money from. He was going to have to plead the fifth if that ever came crashing down, try to play dumb. That's what Alex told him to do.

"You got a helluva lot more going for ya," he'd said, "don't let me bring you down."

There was a time when Julian would've argued that Alex was the only thing keeping him up, but now he was starting to feel the weight on his shoulders.

He finished getting ready, stepping out of his room and poking his head into Alex's room across the small hallway. "Yo, you going to class today?" Julian asked.

"Nah."

The reply came from the figure sitting at the desk, silhouetted by the light of a computer screen. He was disappointed, even though he already knew the answer. He just hoped those graphs on the screen were something productive.

"Alright, see you later," Julian said, starting to back out of the doorway again.

"Hold up," Alex said, turning around. He held up a small, plastic ziploc, Julian could see two brown-green capsules inside of it. "Just slip it under her door, nothing else."

Julian frowned, looking at his friend with a serious expression. He'd promised not to involve him in these things, that was the deal. Julian wouldn't judge, Alex wouldn't ask him for any favors. It was five feet, he just had to leave the apartment for a few seconds, but it seemed like doing that would kill him lately.

"Fine," he replied without protest. He entered the room and walked to Alex, taking the little baggie from his hands. "Don't ever ask me to do this again."

"You got it, boss."

Julian rolled his eyes, turning away and leaving him there without another word. He knew damn well that this wouldn't be the last time that Alex asked him for a favor.

☠☠☠☠☠

"Except it was."

☠☠☠☠☠

He slipped the baggie under the door and went on his way. He remembered when they'd first moved in, it was Paige's first day there too. Her brother was helping her move in, he seemed like a nice guy, even though he was physically intimidating. Big muscles, tall stature, short-cropped hair, arms covered in tattoos. He was honestly a bit surprised when Paige told him that her big brother was actually an elementary school teacher. They seemed to be polar opposites, she was short and very fragile looking but had a fierce attitude. Her brother was the definition of "gentle giant."

Despite the occasional attitude, Paige was a fairly sweet girl. She was smart and quick-witted, going to school for an English major. Julian always imagined that someday he'd see her picture on the back of one of those books with the "best seller" sticker on it. After a few weeks though, her shine seemed to dull. She seemed exhausted and was quicker to anger, that was when Alex got to her. He took advantage of it, offered her those little brown-green pills and that was the end of it. Alex was his best friend, but Julian had felt a certain sort of disgust toward him for doing it.

He was disgusted with himself for looking past it.

Of course, Paige perked up again after that, but she was hooked and those little deliveries persisted. The only real sign that anything was wrong was the fact that there were visible dark circles under her eyes, prominent as if she hadn't slept in weeks. Julian had tried to talk to her about it, but she dismissed the subject quickly and went on to ask when Alex would be making more.

Julian walked to school, a short ten-minute walk, the apartment building was only a couple blocks away. It was a university town, so many of the commodities were geared toward the college student demographic. Quiet, internet cafes for studies, plenty of parks and sporting stores for the jocks. Any time there was a game or any school function, the town was decorated with flags and memorabilia in school colors.

It was impossible to forget the upcoming football game with a rival university, there were signs on every corner with the date and time. People were starting to flood in already, family, friends, and people who were oddly invested in college football. Julian didn't really understand what the big deal was but to each their own.

For the most part, his day went by uneventfully. He noticed the lack of students in a few of his classes, but everything was chalked up to the stomach flu that had been going around. He didn't think much of it besides hoping he would, and simultaneously hoping he wouldn't, get it too. He had some exams coming up and as much as he wanted a break from schoolwork, he knew that getting sick now would just make it more difficult later.

After his classes were done, he decided to go to a nearby park to do his homework. He couldn't bring himself to go back home just yet, he wasn't looking forward to the thick scent of smoke and that lingering smell hidden just underneath. Whatever Alex was putting in those capsules. He didn't want to ask, he didn't want to know. Ignorance is bliss.

Sitting quietly and getting his homework done was not going to be an easy task, that was made clear when someone plopped down across from him at the picnic table he'd set up at. Julian looked up slowly, slightly annoyed at the interruption. He saw a young man sitting there, he was sniffling a bit and he seemed frustrated. Julian didn't know him by name, but he knew he'd seen him around before, though he was usually wearing a football jersey with the name Reynolds on it.

"Hey, you," he said.

"Umm... hello?" Julian responded, raising an eyebrow.

"You're Alex's roommate, right?"

He sighed and looked back down at the textbook in front of him. "Yeah, I don't know anything about whatever it is you're going to ask me for," he replied, "we're in 35-A, go bother him yourself."

The football player's hand reached forward, slamming down on the textbook, startling Julian a little bit. "He won't answer his phone. I have a game in two days, my old man is coming to watch-"

"I can't say I care," Julian interrupted.

He glared at him, hand gripping the page, wrinkling and ripping it. "Just tell him to get me what I need."

"Seriously? I'm not paying for that," Julian complained, "you literally just have to go knock on the door."

"Alex told us to never go knocking there because you don't like being bothered with his business, but since he can't seem to be bothered either, I'm bringing this problem to you."

Great. Even when Alex was trying to be nice and keep him out of it, it somehow always bit him in the ass.

Julian pulled his hand away from the book and slammed it closed, silently hoping they wouldn't see that when he tried to return it later. "Well, I do not care. This is between you and Alex and I'm not going to get involved. Whatever you need from him, you guys need to deal with it."

Reynolds did not like that in the least, lunging forward and gripping Julian by the collar of his shirt and dragging him halfway over the table. "Listen to me, I have a lot riding on this game and if I don't get-"

"Is there a problem here, gentlemen?"

☠☠☠☠☠

"That was the first time I met Quinlan, even though I only knew him as Officer Livingston... Well, I only knew him as that for about three hours. After that, he became Quinlan."

"Getting the crew together, so to speak?"

"Yeah, 'so to speak.'"

☠☠☠☠☠

They both turned to see a couple of police officers standing nearby. This seemed to startle Reynolds way more than Julian expected, but he figured it was typical paranoia. Who wants a cop to walk up on them in the middle of an assault?

"No, no problem," Reynolds said, quickly letting go of Julian.

Julian straightened his shirt, the cop gave him a quizzical look and he shrugged back. "No problems, officer," he replied. The last thing either of them wanted was for the police to ask exactly why they were arguing.

"Nicholas Reynolds, shouldn't you be at practice? C'mon, I'll walk you back to the field," the second police officer said. He started to walk past them, motioning for Reynolds to follow him.

Name drop, this guy's really serious, Julian thought, raising an eyebrow. That or they knew each other and it was meant as a warning.

Nick rose, shooting a glare at Julian. "I'll see ya later," he said.

A veiled threat, one that Julian hoped he wouldn't go through with. He'd have to go talk to Alex, tell him to answer his damn phone before more of these people showed up. He didn't realize it was getting to this point, having people seek him out. He watched Reynolds and the other officer walk away before turning his attention to the other officer that was still there.

"Wanna tell me what that was all about?"

"I didn't wanna help him with his homework. Being an unpaid tutor sucks," Julian replied without missing a beat. He'd gotten good at lying, he had to be with his upbringing.

The officer nodded, Julian could tell he didn't entirely believe him. "Mind coming down to the station with me?"

That caught Julian off guard, his eyes widening a little bit. They weren't even there for Reynolds, they'd come for him. Panic alarms started to go off in Julian's mind as he went through every scenario, everything that could possibly be wrong. "Why?" he said after a moment.

"You're not in trouble," the officer said, smiling a bit, "but your friend sure is."

"Alex?"

"Yep, let's go," he motioned for Julian to follow as he turned and started walking back to the waiting patrol car.

People were staring.

He wasn't being forceful and he wasn't arresting him, but Julian knew that he couldn't just refuse or run away. That would definitely get them into trouble.

⊷☣⊶

The ride to the police station had been quiet. Julian didn't dare speak and Officer Livingston seemed content to let him sit and stew in his imagination. The college student kept going back and forth between, 'If I was in trouble, I'd be in cuffs' and 'Oh dear God, I'm going to prison.'

Officer Livingston stopped the car in front of the town's police station. Getting out of the car and starting up the steps without even checking to see if Julian was following. Of course he was following, his head down, his shoulders hunched. He tried to make himself as small as possible, trying not to draw too much attention to himself. Not that he had much of a reputation anyway, but he wasn't keen on letting people see him getting led into the police station.

Wintervale Police Department.

It was a small department, even though the town had been growing in recent years. There were a few things holding onto the 'small town' image, not quite ready to move into city territory. That being said, the town was only ever bustling when there were games up at the college. Otherwise, it was fairly quiet and the policemen could do their jobs just fine without incident.

Officer Livingston led Julian into a room. Not quite an interrogation room, it didn't have any two-way mirrors, didn't have any gruff-looking cops waiting to be bad-cop. There was still a camera in one corner and a desk with two chairs across from each other. He pulled one chair out and motioned for Julian to sit before going to the other side and taking a seat.
"Your name is Julian, right?"

Did he really have to mess with him like this? He figured the cops knew his name the moment they grabbed Alex. Not because he was a snitch or anything, he simply assumed that they could check with the landlord and ask about Alex's roommate.

"Yeah," Julian replied, wary.

"You're not in trouble kid, relax," Livingston said with a soft chuckle.

Julian rolled his shoulders a little, leaned back in the chair, he kept his eyes on the officer. "Is Alex okay, officer?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's fine. He's got a nice new shiner, but he's fine."

Julian raised an eyebrow and Officer Livingston gave him another smile.

"Do you know a young lady by the name of Paige Steele?"

Fuck me. Now he was asking about Paige? What the fuck did Alex get himself into? "Yes sir. She lives across the hall from us and she's in a couple of my classes." He may as well get the truth out now, the police probably knew all that information already. If he told the truth now, it would make him a bit more credible when the lying inevitably came up.

"Do you know if she and Alex had any... Problems? With each other?"

Now that question threw Julian for a loop. They definitely never had any problems with each other, but with the admission of Alex having a black eye and now this question, he was realizing that they'd come up with a scenario he hadn't prepared for.

"No? I mean, they're not best friends or anything, but definitely never had any problems," he told Officer Livingston.

The policeman looked a bit at a loss with that answer, as if he'd been expecting something else. He looked just as confused as Julian now. "Any idea why they'd be fighting?" he asked then, raising an eyebrow.

Julian's eyes widened a bit. "Fighting? Were they fighting?"

"Yeah, right in the hall of the apartment building. From what the other witnesses gathered, Alex wasn't answering his phone and this upset Miss Paige a lot. She confronted him and dragged him out into the hall," he explained.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The entire thing was far-fetched, but he definitely couldn't imagine Paige dragging Alex and punching him in the face. What the hell had-

He remembered the way Reynolds looked, the way he'd picked him up. He almost ended up with a black eye too, if the cops hadn't shown up. They couldn't possibly be going through withdrawals, he knew Alex kept everyone well-supplied. How did things start to go so bad, so suddenly? What was Alex mixing in those little capsules?

"No way," Julian said, still shocked. "Paige? She's like... a foot shorter than Alex. I mean, not just that, but the two have never fought about... Anything, ever."

"They're not... dating or anything?"

"No," Julian said flatly, perhaps a bit too quickly.

He saw a little smirk on Officer Livingston's face, it only lasted a second, but long enough for Julian to catch it. The officer's blue eyes glittered with amusement as he took a moment to clear his throat. He knew he wanted to ask about it, but it wouldn't be very professional of him. Instead, Officer Livingston sighed and cleared his throat. "Let's talk about Reynolds," he said then.

Julian's guard went back up. "Okay?"

"You two looked ready to start throwing punches too. Am I missing something? Are any of these situations connected?"

Yes.

"No. Like I said, Reynolds wanted me to do his homework for him, I refused," Julian replied.

"No connection between Reynolds and Paige? Reynolds and Alex?"

"No."

"All right. Sorry, I just think it's a pretty big coincidence. Two roommates getting into, and nearly getting into, fistfights with people who are seemingly strangers."

Julian gave a shrug, "They're not strangers, we all go to school together. I just don't know any reason Paige and Alex would fight. Did he... Um..."

"He didn't hit her back, if that's what you were wondering. I can tell you that much," Livingston told him.

There was a little bit of relief there. At least it hadn't gotten that bad, Alex hadn't sunken quite that far. "I guess that's good..."

"He didn't get a chance to, from what I hear. That girl went after him like a bat out of hell. I'm betting on a lover's quarrel, since you don't have any other reasons. Maybe your friend is just good at hiding it."

Julian studied the officer for a moment. He was trying to get him to spill more, he could tell as much from the tone he used. As if he thought Julian was some jealous lover who would defend their relationship by spilling the beans. "Maybe. Can I take him home or is he getting sent to prison or something?"

"You can take him," Officer Livingston replied. "Let me just fill out the forms and we'll get you guys on your way. We really just brought them in so we could keep them separated for a bit. No charges are being pressed since Alex refuses to do so."

If Julian knew Alex, he was really just raring to get out of there. He'd rather let Paige kill him than have to spend any more time in the PD. "What about Paige?" he asked.

"She's being released to her brother."

What was that?

Another little slip in the officer's demeanor. Just for a split second. He said the word 'brother' and his entire expression darkened. Now it was Julian with a little smirk on his face, trying to wipe it off. This guy had something against Paige's brother, it didn't take a genius to notice that.

Julian was brought out to the lobby and left to wait there, sitting in an uncomfortable chair. He looked up when he heard footsteps, seeing Paige and her brother walking out. She spotted Julian and her hand lifted as if to wave, but she quickly lowered it again. She looked ashamed, her eyes were downcast and she quickly turned away. Her brother noticed him too, giving him a slight nod. He whispered something to Paige and she nodded, then he walked quickly over to Julian.

"Hey, I don't know what's going on with these two, but I'm taking her to my girlfriend's place to cool off a bit and keep them apart," he said.

Very blunt, but there was no other way to go about it. "Sure... I don't have anywhere to take my unruly kid, so we're going back to our place."

"Mind keeping away for like... Twenty minutes, just so we can go grab some necessities?"

"We can go buy some frozen peas," Julian replied.

The man scoffed, giving Julian a smile that was half-friendly, half-disappointed. "Fair enough. Hopefully..."

Julian shrugged, "They'll be fine."

Seeing Paige now, she still didn't seem like the type of girl to try to beat up anyone. She might hurt their feelings with some sharp words, but fistfights?

Her brother gave him another nod and a wave before returning to her. He gestured for her to go ahead of him and he followed. Julian caught an interesting interaction before they left. Officer Livingston was on his way to Julian again when he passed by Paige's brother. It was a passing glance, but there was animosity and coldness there.

"Keep her from attacking people, will ya?"

"Ness will help," Paige's brother shot back.

Aw snap, who's Ness?

"Don't let her hear you call her that, she hates it."

"She seems to like it just fine from me."

Julian screamed internally. Who is Ness? The girlfriend? Were they fighting over a girl? Red-head vs brunette, green eyes vs blue. They were both attractive in their own right, surely they could both get anyone they wanted. Ness must've been pretty stunning for them to snap at each other like that in public.

He was staring so hard, daydreaming of the infamous Ness when Officer Livingston's eyes caught him. They bore a hole right into him as if he knew exactly what Julian was thinking of. He marched away from Paige's brother without another word, heading straight for Julian. As he walked, Julian saw the grumpy look dissipate, a more calm expression taking its place.

"Okay, he'll be out in a minute, keep him out of trouble please."

"Cool, so, you and Paige's broth-"

"You stay out of trouble too," Officer Livingston said with a glare.

Julian didn't know why he thought he'd be able to get away with that question.

He handed a white business card over to him, on it was the PD's logo, the address, and phone number. Underneath was Officer Livingston's name.

Detective Quinlan Livingston.

An extension number was under that and towards the bottom of the card, there was a hand-written phone number.

"If you think of anything you may need to tell me, give me a call," he said.

"I'll keep that in mind," Julian replied.

Detective. This was more serious than he'd thought, they probably knew that the fight was about something else. Julian wondered just how much they knew about the whole situation. Livingston left him there, he gave him a small wave, then continued to stare at the card and worry. He chewed his lip nervously, his mind racing a mile a minute. He should've known everything would come crashing down eventually, it always did.

"Hey, Julian!"

He looked up, seeing Alex stepping out into the lobby. He was grinning and waving as if his eye socket wasn't swelling up and turning purple already.

"Come on, asshole," Julian growled, getting out of his seat.

"Aw, don't be like that," Alex whined.

Julian ignored him, making his way out of the police department, Alex trailing behind him. Outside, the sun was starting to set and it was starting to rain. As if the day hadn't gone poorly enough, now they had to walk home in the rain.

He sighed and turned to Alex. "Wanna tell me what the hell happened? I just about got attacked by one of your other customers, that guy Nick Reynolds."

Alex's brown eyes darkened and he shook his head. "I don't wanna talk about it. I don't wanna talk about Nick Reynolds either," he said, stepping past Julian and starting down the sidewalk.

"Well I do," Julian protested, going after him.

Alex whipped around, his eyes filled with a sudden fury that Julian had never seen before. It was enough to make his blood run cold, enough to make him stop in his tracks and for his breath to hitch in his throat. "I don't," he growled in a low voice.

Julian didn't reply. It was as if a switch had flipped, Alex had never so much as raised his voice, much less glared at him like that. No, whenever he looked at Julian his eyes were always bright and warm, the way someone should look when they're looking at their best friend. At that moment, Julian felt none of that warmth and none of that friendship. Two words had shaken him up more than having to spend his afternoon in the police department, wondering if there had been a drug bust. Just a few moments ago, he was still smiling and waving despite the circumstances. How could he flip so easily?

And now he was walking away with a sauntering step, humming gently. "Let's get some grub man, I'm starvin'," he said.

What the fuck? He flipped back, just like that. Same old Alex and yet, Julian couldn't help but think that this wasn't the same old Alex before. It wasn't just an off day, it wasn't just Alex being exceptionally grumpy. No, something else was happening, he could feel it in the pit of his stomach.

☠☠☠☠☠

"Sometimes I wonder... I wonder if that was still Alex in there, or if he was already gone."