The smile that changed a life - 3. Chapter 3

"I know you. I saw you at the precinct."

I nodded. The alley smelled like weed and the few rays of light that reached the cold-looking bricks of the walls, lit up some shady looking boxes stacked onto each other. There was what looked like an improvised bed out of worn clothes and bags on the ground, probably from a homeless guy, although it looked like no one slept there for a while.

"You got a tour there or whatever. Are you trying to become a cop, or what?" Brian asked.

Now that I heard his voice, he suddenly became less mysterious. It's not as if he had an ugly or annoying voice, the opposite really, it was deep and smooth. It sounded like he tried his best to sound threatening, but his voice was too relaxed. When you're trying to figure out someone's mystery, you make up all kinds of stuff in your head. Hearing a voice attached to the boy makes him… I don't know, human? Real? Normal? What was I thinking, chasing him around?

I smiled. "I wish. It doesn't matter though, you stole money from a friend of mine."

The guy in the middle grinned. "He's friends with ginger. Cute. Now, sod off."

"Just give it back."

He spat. "I'm giving you one minute to leave. Haven't punched someone in a really long time now, y'know."

I noticed Brian was just staring at me, as if he was trying to figure me out the same way I tried to understand him. Thoughts about everything I found out about him zoomed through my mind. The arcade owner knew him, he wanted to get caught by the police, officer Martin knew him, he had a brother called Ryan with what I suppose is a good job. Who was this guy?

"I'm not a cop in training or whatever. I'm the son of the police department's captain." I tried to suppress the grin appearing on my face.

"Wow, my knees are shaking," the middle moron said. The guy right of him didn't say a thing, he was just grinning.

"I didn't expect you to panic. I just wanted to let you know that if you did anything to me, even just lifting a single finger towards me, next time you're caught, even for a minor thing, you'll be in a world of problems." I turned my attention to Brian. "And all the offenses they haven't prosecuted you for yet will stack up enormously. Can't imagine that's fun."

He just shrugged indifferently, challenging me with his eyes.

The middle dude looked sideways to Brian. "I never get caught… and do you really think I care what happens to this dude? I don't." He laughed.

Brian didn't respond, he didn't even flinch. Why would someone voluntarily hang out with people who openly say they'll throw you under a bus the first chance they get?

"Just give me the money and leave Billy be, okay?" Then I remembered the arcade and turned my attention back to Brian. "Oh, by the way, you left some stuff at the precinct. You can get it back at the main desk."

"Oh. Thanks, I guess."

I knew he was here together with these really shady guys, but something deep inside of me told me he wasn't like them. I also don't think his 'friends' knew about his arcade membership. Of course, he helped harass Billy, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Is that just because he is cute? Am I being a hypocrite now?

"I can't remember exactly, some money… a letter…" I watched as his eyes grew, and with a smirk I added: "And a card… not sure what it was again. A membership…"

"Minute is over. You should leave." He grabbed me aggressively by my arm and dragged me out of the alley. It took me completely off-guard and it hurt quite a bit. When he released me just around the corner, I could still feel the imprint of his hand. "You made your point," he said, this time his voice sounding completely different. It wasn't stern or threatening anymore, but it was genuine. "Seriously though, you should stay away from these guys. They can be unpredictable and dangerous. Not fun company."

I frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you with them? Why be so secretive about the arcade?"

He glanced away for a second. "None of your business. Here is the money." He handed me twenty euros. "And now leave. Please, don't come back. You're a good guy, I can see that. Don't get involved."

"Are you stuck in some kind of shit you can't get out of?"

His nostrils flared and an insincere smile appeared across his face. "Who do you think you are, really? Got a hero complex like everyone there at the precinct, like daddy? Y'all want to help this helpless little bird, don't you? Fuck off!"

I took a step back.

"Heard me? Just fucking leave and mind your own business. And oh, enjoy your freaking money, if that's all you care about!"

Woah, didn't see this coming. I swallowed. "I don't, actually. I cared about Billy. You should've seen him. Really scared. He didn't deserve that."

He grinned. "That's life, chap. You never get what you deserve." Without leaving me time to respond, he turned around and disappeared into the alley again.

I stared at the twenty euro in my hand. What just happened? Who is that guy, seriously? Is it weird that after this encounter I'm even more fascinated by him?

No! Fuck him! He hurt Billy. I could still see Billy's teary eyes. Brian didn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. He's a loser. Without thinking twice I walked back to the arcade.

The woman behind the counter looked up, saw me and waited patiently, probably wondering what I was going to try this time.

"Hey, a friend of mine should be here."

She raised an eyebrow. "Again?"

I glanced into the hall and noticed Billy. "Yeah, Billy over there. Can I just go over there? For a second?"

"Sure, but don't play any games, you need to be a member for that."

"What does membership cost, by the way?" I asked right before heading over to the boy.

The woman pointed at a screen above her head. Ten euros a month, it said.

"And I can't just pay for one day?"

She shook her head.

"Jake?" I heard. It was Billy. "Are you becoming a member?"

"Not really, no. I don't think I'd come often enough to get use of the ten euros."

He looked disappointed. "I see… then what are you doing here?"

"I got you back the money they stole from you."

Billy immediately looked at the owner of the arcade. Did Billy know the owner was acquainted with Brian? Or did he just not want her to know his money was stolen. Interesting. It feels like I'm stuck in a spider's web and with every movement I try to make, I get entangled even more. I thought I was done with the mysterious boy, yet it felt like the universe was still trying to remind me of him, giving me clues about him.

I handed him the twenty euros. His eyes grew.

"Yeah, I know. This is what he gave me."

"Who?" Billy asked.

I was quickly this time. "I'm not sure, the emo boy." Trying not to be obvious about it, I peeked over my shoulder to see the lady's response. I knew she had been listening to our conversation.

She looked quite surprised. I think she knew I meant Brian. And she also knew that I knew who he was.

"That's Brian," Billy whispered. Perhaps he was trying to make sure she couldn't overhear him.

"Oh, an Brian's the one who ambushed you and stole your money?" I said much louder and the redhead flinched. Okay, perhaps I was pushing it too far now. If Billy really knew the lady also knew Brian and he wanted to keep it a secret he was the one that robbed him, he must have a reason for that. "Anyway, I gotta go now."

"Oh, okay. See ya, Jake. And thanks again for helping me out."

"By the way, did you plan anything for the weekend?"

He shrugged. "Nah."

"I think we're going to the lake again. At least, it's supposed to be really sunny. Wanna join?"

He smiled. "Yeah, thanks."

"I'll add you to our whatsapp group."

"Thanks. Bye!"

On my way out I made sure to lock eyes with the arcade lady once more. She was practically staring at me, seemingly confused by what happened. I think I might be as mysterious to her as Brian is to me. For a split second I thought about going back to the alley, just to see how another encounter would unfold, but I contained myself and instead went home. He was not worth my time.

Once I got home, I asked my friends on whatsapp what the plans for the weekend were. As expected, they wanted to go to the lake again. I didn't like swimming that much, but I liked being with the gang and it was also great to look at the boys playing in the water. Nathan would always look so extremely handsome when wet. I knew this was the case with basically everyone, but for some reason he took it to the next level. His medium long blonde hair would hang down on his face in strands, and the quite long hair he normally put behind his ears, would get stuck on his cheeks. I must have made this up, but in my memory he also always had this single drop of water hanging from his nose. More than once I wanted to walk up to him and just kiss him, with all our friends around us. It's been an urge hard to suppress. Needless to say, I liked going to the lake.

I asked the guys if we could invite Billy as well. Ella and Aiden would be coming too, and I consider them to be even less part of our group than little Billy. It was Jenny who responded first.

"Yeah, that's cool!" she said.

I couldn't suppress a smile. Of course she said yes, that girl is literally a saint. If it was up to her, she would include everyone. Soon everyone else also agreed. I made a new whatsapp group called "Swimminggg!" and added everyone, plus Billy, Aiden and Ella. I didn't want to add them to the existing group, since that was reserved for the four of us. We would never be separated. We made plans to meet up tomorrow around noon.

I was watching some tv when the door opened. It was dad.

He put his suitcase down and took a seat next to me. For a few seconds he was quiet, and I'm not sure why, but that struck me as odd. I had expected something immediately. My mind started racing. Did the officers tell him about what I said about Brian?

"How was the lake?"

I shrugged. "When I got there, they were already packing. So I went home."

My brain immediately started frantically scrolling through a mental log of the afternoon. I left the police office around 6 P.M. I immediately walked to the arcade, I didn't go home first. If I had biked to the lake instead, I would've gotten there around 6:20, around the same time I noticed Billy. The whole encounter with Brian and his friend took about 5 minutes. Was I home too quickly? Does dad know I couldn't have been home before him if I went to the lake? No, they were getting ready to leave, so I just returned home immediately.

"Oh," was all he said.

I tried my best not to look up. I knew that if I looked him in the eyes, he'd know I was lying.

"So, you really went to the lake?"

For fuck's sake, he knew something. I hated it when he was able to figure stuff out about me. How could he know? "Yep." At this point, it wouldn't matter anymore. I could continue the lie or tell him the truth, it didn't matter, he'd get angry at me regardless. I always chose to continue the lie, because if I were to admit everything every time when he questioned me, I'm sure he would start doing this shit even when he didn't suspect anything, just to test me out. Gotta stick with your story, that's what he taught me. Before admitting anything, I had to figure out how he knew I lied, to avoid this in the future.

"No, you weren't."

I grinned. "Good police work!" The trick was to not show him you were trying to figure out how he knew. He liked not telling what gave it away, he wanted me to turn mad for not understanding how he figured me out.

"So where did you go? Not far, right?"

That's when it clicked. "My bike…" I sighed.

An enormous smile crossed his face. "Yes. Your bike hasn't moved since yesterday. Couldn't have gone to the lake on foot."

I'm so stupid. I should've thought about that! That's what living with a detective gets you, you have to take care of all small details.

"Are you going to tell me where you went?"

"To the arcade," I said.

He frowned. "The arcade?"

This was another thing he had taught me subconsciously; if you're lying, stick as best to the truth as you can so you will remember the lies more easily. "Yeah, I was on my way home when I saw Billy. He was crying, some guys harassed him and took his money. He was on his way to the arcade, so I went with him."

He took the bait. "Oh… he should report this."

I rolled my eyes. "The police aren't going to be able to help him."

My dad grumbled. After a few seconds, he said: "Next time don't lie to me, okay?"

"What does it matter? You would get angry anyway."

"I'm not angry."

I stood up. "Reason for a party." And I went to my room. Admittedly, this encounter wasn't as bad as normally, but it still got me upset. Why did he always have to meddle with my life? Why couldn't I just do my own things without him always checking up on me. It was so exhausting to have to make sure everything was alright when I wanted to lie to him. what kind of parent would notice that a bike hadn't moved in a day. He literally remembered the position of my bike before he went to work. Impossible!

I'm sure Brian's dad wasn't like that. Brian could do whatever he liked. He could steal money, get caught by the police, probably even destroy stuff and his dad surely wouldn't notice.

My mind wandered back to something I decided earlier today. I wanted to befriend Brian to piss off my dad. I'm not sure if that was just an excuse to befriend him and whether it was really the reason I was so obsessed with him, but I didn't care. Maybe I should continue this? I'd have to stop thinking of him as cute, I should stop trying to figure out who he really is, but I should still get in touch with him. I'm sure he would also love to piss off my dad!

A sly grin appeared on my face as I tried to come up with different ways of doing this. By far the best idea I came up with is to have dad catch me and Brian making out. Just down here, on the couch, with him walking in on us. I'm sure he'd explode! And admittedly, I liked this idea not only for what it'd do to my dad. I realised I was slowly getting hornier while thinking about this.

No, stop it! This is so unhealthy to think. I didn't even know Brian, but in my mind I was undoing his clothes. What would I think if I discovered other people thought this way about me? I really should get my shit together, I don't want to end up like some creepy guy. Think about tomorrow, hanging out with the guys. Seeing Nate wet. Now that's a healthy fantasy.

Involuntarily I started smiling. This was a much better obsession. And let's be real, the plan with Brian would never work out. I don't even think I'd ever get in a situation to talk to him again, even less so to convince him to trick my dad. But it doesn't hurt to think about it, I guess. Oh god, what I'd do to show dad that I got a life of my own! That he has no control over me.