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ZACH
I was in a deep sleep and jarred by the ringing of my phone. I felt around for it and mumbled a hello.
"Emma's been arrested. I'm not going down there to bail her out. If you don't go, I'll have to call her dad and I know that'd kill her. Not that I really care about her right now."
I rubbed sleep from my eyes. "Who is this?" I grumbled.
"It's Jake," he spat.
Like I was supposed to know it was that asswipe. "What's going on? What are you talking about?"
"Emma attacked Bianca. I'm heading to the emergency room right now. She's going to be fine, but Emma was taken to the police station. I'm trying to talk Bianca out of pressing charges, but she won't listen to me. Look, someone has to go down there, at least to bail Emma out."
"And that's supposed to be me?" When did I become her keeper?
"Well, it’s not going to be me. Right now I'm so pissed off, I don't care if I never see her again."
I sat up in bed and tried to absorb everything. "Well, she lives with you."
"No, not anymore. If you can go get her, bring her to a hotel or something, I'll pay for it for a few days, but she's going to have to find another place to live."
"So you're throwing her out? Where do you expect her to go?"
"I don't care where she goes. She can go back home! Are you going to bail her out or not? They took her downtown."
"Why'd you call me?"
"Aren't you her friend?"
I thought of the last time I spoke to her. She was so naïve, but I hadn’t wanted to argue with her any further. Either she would eventually come around, or she wouldn’t. Only now she’d apparently beaten the shit out of a no-doubt deserving Bianca.
Well, everyone had their limits.
"Fine, I'll go get her. She can stay at my place until she gets things sorted. You know, Jake, you're a real piece of shit."
I hung up before he could say another word. I changed and sent Genie a quick text to let her know of the potential new living arrangements, not that it would matter much to her. I got into my truck and drove the short distance to the precinct. I spoke to the officer on duty. He told me to sit and wait. I texted the asswipe to have Bianca phone me ASAP. She did a few minutes later.
"How are you?" I asked.
"How do you think I am?" she cried. "I've lost a tooth, I have a broken nose and two black eyes. I'm fucking fabulous."
"I'm sorry this happened to you, but I don't want you to press charges." My tone was matter of fact. I didn't want her to think I cared about her face.
"Not you too! No fucking way that bitch is getting off."
I kept the calm approach. "Bianca, it would be in your best interest to drop this. I'm going to guess you did something to provoke Emma, and while that doesn't excuse her actions, I know that you've also done some pretty stupid things in the past. Stuff you wouldn't want dredged up. So I want you to call whichever officer took your statement and tell him you've had an epiphany."
A long silence followed. She knew what I meant. "I really hate you," she seethed, finally. "You better tell her to watch her back. I mean it, Zach."
"Bianca, let it go. It's over. Let's call this even."
"She ruined my face. We aren't even. She crosses me again she won't know what hit her."
The line went dead.