Don't Stand By Me (COMPLETE) - Chapter 12: Chapter 12

VIOLET
August 1st: 08:10
I was in the heart of the town, tossing pennies into the fountain, when it hit me that I may have acted rashly. But, in my defence, I had just been utterly betrayed by two people I loved more than anyone else. And of course, my boyfriend cheated on me. And of course the corpse in the trunk, who could forget that? It was really shaping up to be a shit week. My phone buzzed a few times and I pulled it out of my pocket to see a few texts from Fitz, which managed to bring a smile to my face.
August 1st, 08:10 - Fitz: that fountain looks familiar...
(ONE IMAGE ATTACHED)
It took me a moment longer than I cared to admit to process the photo he had sent me. The fountain I was currently standing at, tall and flowing with a petite blonde girl standing in front of it, her back to the camera. Me. I whirled around to see Fitz standing there with a grin, his arms folded.
"Fitz!" I beamed, "What are you doing here?"
I ran forward to envelop him in a hug, which he eagerly returned. We had been talking constantly since we exchanged numbers at that truck stop and it had been refreshing. He was witty, smart and full of conversation topics. He asked about me, he genuinely wanted to learn things about me, unlike Brent who used those topics to segue into talking about himself. It was one of the things I loved most about meeting new people, getting to unearth things about yourself that everyone else around you already knows, to refresh someone new on that intel.
"Passing through for work." He grinned when we broke apart, "Do you have time for breakfast?"
I nodded, feeling the familiar rumble in my stomach.
"There's a diner just a block away." He looped his arm through mine, "I don't know about you but I would love some pancakes."
"Definitely!" I grinned as we began walking.
Conversation with Fitz just felt...right. He made me laugh constantly and it just felt natural. Once we reached the diner, we slid into one of the booths and started peering through the menu. Once we ordered, Fitz propped his elbows on the table, resting his chin in his hands and fixing me with a smile. I couldn't help but blush at the attention, his eyes boring into mine as if I was the only other person in the room. His eyes were a deep hazel colour, almost black to match his unruly curls. His lips were plump, turned up in a smile that I soon realised I couldn't tear my gaze from.
"So, what does one wish to do with a criminology degree?"
His words snapped me out of my stupor, "I'm not sure yet." I shrugged, not wanting to get into the whole 'lawyer family business' aspect of it. I gave the waitress a friendly smile as she dropped off our drinks, "I was thinking maybe a PI but God my dream would be FBI for sure."
"Really?" Fitz took a sip of his drink and in that brief pause I felt as if I was sitting across from Brent, waiting for him to come out with something unintentionally scathing, "I could see that from you."
"Really?"
"Definitely!" He smiled, "You're smart, resourceful and want to help others. Plus you in that uniform...hot."
I flushed bright red, shaking my head and ducking down, avoiding eye contact, "Shut up."
"I'm serious! You shouldn't give up on things because you're afraid. I think you'd make like a badass agent."
"You should meet Kiara - my best friend - I have never seen someone so fit to be an FBI agent. It's wild. I don't think she'd ever do it, though."
"Why not?"
"She's been through a lot, especially with childhood and I think more than anything she wants to help the little guy. I could see her as a cop maybe, but with how things are right now..."
"Not the best field for anyone to be joining."
"But the best way to instil change is from within." I noted pensively, "But yeah...I don't know what I want to do just yet. What do you-"
We were interrupted by the waitress bringing down two large plates stacked with pancakes, glistening with maple syrup. My stomach growled as I fought the urge to scoff them down, present company be damned.
"Jesus, I'd say we could have shared one of these."
"Speak for yourself." I smirked, digging in eagerly...but not too eagerly, I was trying to impress him, not get my face covered in maple syrup. My days of being a stuck up socialite came in handy in these respects.
"So where are you from?" Fitz asked between mouthfuls, careful not to speak with his mouth full.
"New York City born and raised." I rolled my eyes, "Proper upper east side type. I was a monster until I was twenty."
"Oh boujee...I like it." He snorted, "I was born in Seoul, got adopted by an Irish family and then moved here to the states about ten years ago for my dream job."
"Ten years?" I raised my eyebrows, "How old are you?"
"Twenty seven... that a problem?"
It struck me very quickly that this was not at all an issue to me. Sure, he was a bit older, but it's not like I was a child. I was a fully grown, consenting adult, who cares if I was interested in a guy five years older? five and a bit.
"Not for me. I'm twenty two. Twenty three in a few months."
He shrugged, "You're an adult."
I smiled at that, nodding, "Yeah! I am!"
It was so refreshing to hear. I was a goddamn adult! And it was nice for people to see that. Kiara never got called childish or immature, nothing she did was questioned or called overdramatic.
"Wait...what is your job anyway?"
"Oh, I'm an-"
He was cut off by my phone buzzing incessantly.
He raised an eyebrow, "Everything alright?"
I shook my head, typing furiously. For the next thirty minutes I kept conversation topics light with Fitz, frequently lifting my phone to fight with Kiara. By the time it had cooled down, I was red in the face, both from anger towards Kiara and embarrassment for my behaviour towards Fitz.
"I'm sorry." I silenced my phone and shoved it into my purse, "That was really rude of me."
"It's no problem." Fitz grinned, "Gave me a chance to polish off these pancakes...plus sneak a bite of yours."
"Hey!" I smacked his hand away as he pretended to hover his fork over my plate, "Jerk!"
He chuckled, reaching across the table to lay one of his hands on mine, "Do you want to talk about it? Might give you a fresh perspective."
I smiled warmly, flushing at the contact, "That would actually be nice. Just try not to judge me, I may have gone a bit crazy."
"Please, in my line of work, I deal with things way worse."
I raised an eyebrow and made a note to ask what he did later.
"So, my best friends, Kiara and Elvis and I decided to go on a road trip to celebrate us finally graduating from college. We rented just the cutest airbnb RV to drive to the Grand Canyon. We ended up picking up the two most adorable strays and we've been driving, partying, the whole nine yards. Then last night I had crawled into bed with Kiara and Elvis and dozed off, when they started talking and it woke me. Then they start talking about a secret they were keeping from me."
"Yikes." Fitz's eyes widened, "What was the secret? If you don't mind me asking?"
"My boyfriend, Brent, cheated on me about a month ago. He made a pass at one of Kiara's girlfriends."
"Fuck." Fitz frowned with an odd look on his face, "And they didn't tell you? That must have been tough."
"It was. So I drove us to this town, parked before they woke up and came here. Took the keys with me." I groaned, putting my face in my hands, "You must think I'm insane, don't you?"
"Not at all!" He exclaimed as I peeked at him through the gaps in my fingers, "I'm serious! That must be horrible to find out when you're trying to have a nice time. Especially because they kept it from you for so long."
"Exactly!" I exclaimed, "It's not like I left them for dead!" I froze once the words left my lips, my hands dropping to the table.
Because I had left them for dead, with Charles Price rotting horrifically behind them. I had left them without the keys, total sitting ducks when there could be police swarming the area. I needed to get back to them immediately. I couldn't believe I had been so selfish, let my anger cloud my usual crystal clear judgement so easily.
"Yeah," I sighed, "It was horrible. I haven't spoken to Brent since. I left before he woke up." I looked around to signal a waitress but to my frustration none of them would glance at me.
"Wait..." Fitz gaped, "You're still together? You have a boyfriend?"
Fuck.
"Well..." I hedged, "Not really. I've come to the realisation on this trip that I just don't love him. I think it would be better if we broke up and last night just seemed to give me ample reason."
Fitz, looking disgruntled, opened his mouth to speak when someone else beat him to it.
"Well, that's that isn't it." A voice spoke darkly, giving a chuckle.
I whirled my head around to see Brent standing there, arms folded.
"Brent, I-"
"Don't bother!" He snorted, "Enjoy your date. Go fuck yourself." He began to storm off, "This day just gets better and better!"
"Fuck!" I cursed, "I'm sorry Fitz, I need to go after him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"Of course." Fitz raised his eyebrows and said nothing else.
I reached down under the table with my head turned sideways, grappling for my bag. My fingers grabbed the first one I could find, reaching in for my phone. My fingers instead brushed a wallet. Realising my hand was actually in Fitz's open duffel bag, I turned my head to glance under the table at it, pulling the familiar looking wallet open. Then I instantly realised why it was familiar. My brain flashed back to Brent standing soaked on the river bank, the informant's ID clutched in his hands. Flipping over the wallet, I immediately dropped it as I realised what I was looking at, head smacking off the table in my haste to start moving.
Andrew Fitzgerald, FBI.
"Jesus, are you okay?" Fitz reached a hand out, which I jerked away to avoid.
"Yeah!" I almost yelled, "Great!" I grabbed my own bag this time, "I better chase him down. I'll text you!"
"Alright..." Fitz frowned as I got up.
Staring at him for a moment, I realised this was a very now or never situation. I blamed the adrenaline coursing through my veins as I stood next to him, taller than his seated position. He looked up at me curiously, but didn't say a word, letting me make the first move.
And fuck it, I did.
Leaning down, I cupped his chin with my hand and kissed him. Within seconds, his hands were gripping my hips tightly, holding me close. My entire body flushed with heat, my free hand curling into his hair as he took control of the kiss. It was hot, electric, unlike anything I had felt before, Brent be damned-
Brent. The RV. Kiara-
I pulled back instantly, "I gotta go."
Fitz, hair in disarray and lips slightly swollen, nodded, removing his hands from my hips, "You are something else, Miss Hastings."
Unable to resist, I gave him one more swift peck before backing away, "I have to keep you on your toes somehow." I sent him a wink and walked slowly out of the diner, feeling empowered knowing he was likely watching me every step of the way, making sure to sway my hips as he did.
Once out of the diner, I broke into a bolt, pretences be damned. But something worse was looming over me; Fitz was an FBI agent. Out in this tiny town for business? What if he was there for us, tracking Charles Price? What if they were onto us, and that's the reason he was being friendly with me, flirting with me? What if there was a horde of other agents looming, ready to get us? My blood went instantly cold as a thought struck me; What if they already had? I needed to find everyone quickly.
Where the hell could Brent have run to in the space of five minutes? The town was the size of my parents' country home in the Hamptons for Christ's sake. I looked positively crazed, running through the streets of this peaceful town, glaring around every corner hoping for a sighting of him. Reaching into my bag I pulled out my phone to see a multitude of messages.
August 1st, 10:10 - KiKi<3: Girl we have a MFP
Major. Fucking. Problem.
Please I know u hate me rn but this is srs
Life or jail srs
(FOUR MISSED CALLS)
Please Vi
August 1st, 10:25 - Dollface: Kiara's going insane
Please answer one of us
Bad shits going down, V, we need u
Fuck, this was bad. This was really bad. Pulling up Kiara's contact I pressed the call button, but it instantly went to voicemail. I called Elvis and it rang out. I even tried Cassie and Dixon but still no answer. What the hell happened? What if the FBI truly had captured everyone and that's why they weren't answering. I took my phone off silent, praying to feel it buzz in my hands, but it didn't. Finally, my finger hovered over Brent's contact, fingers hesitant to call. Surely he would answer...
He didn't. Not on my first attempt, or my third. But by the sixth, thankfully he answered.
"Fuck off. Stop calling me. I'm hanging up-"
"Brent, wait!" I sobbed into the phone, "Something's happened to the others and now I think they might have gotten caught?"
"What?" His voice went hoarse, "Like by the police?"
"Worse!" I hiccupped, "The FBI!"
"Jesus. Are you sure? Where are you? "
"I don't know." I sniffled, "By a colourful house, but they're all colourful!"
"Okay, did you pass that fountain? With the creepy statue?"
"Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'll meet you there.''
I broke into a brisk jog this time, hoping to blend in a bit more. I reached the fountain in literal minutes seeing Brent already there, pulling a weird face at the creepy statue looming over it.
"Hi." I said quietly, suddenly very awkward around the man I had been closer to than almost anyone for the better part of a year.
"Hey." He shot me a strained smile, "Shall we?"
We walked in absolute silence until we exited the town, which was a surprisingly long time. The town seemed a lot bigger than it appeared as we trailed through the streets, now slowly beginning to fill with people. As we finally left the main entrance of the town, the sign where the RV was hopefully parked was visible in the distance.
"Brent...I..."
"Save it." He said, but there was no malice in his tone this time and he gave me a small smile, "We had a good run, didn't we?"
I sniffled, "Yeah, we did. I'm sorry for how everything went down."
"Me too. Maybe we just weren't meant to be."
"Maybe." I mused, "Can we be friends?"
"We'll see what happens after this, okay? I don't want to make you a promise I can't keep right now."
His words stung, but they made sense. To be fair, I didn't know how I would fare being his friend either.
"I'm sorry." He sighed, "About Sophie. And not telling you. It wasn't Elvis and Kiara's fault. I blackmailed them."
Surprisingly, the mention of Sophie's name didn't seem to cause an ache in my chest. I didn't feel hollow like I had from leaving Fitz behind in the diner. Maybe because Brent and I were clearly over now but...I didn't care. But then it hit me, blackmail?
I raised an eyebrow, "You did what? How?"
"I think you'd rather hear it from them, if that's okay."
"That's oddly...respectful of you."
"Seems to be a common theme today." He muttered, running a hand through his hair distractedly, "I really wish I could just run away, ditch you all here and fuck off forever."
I barked out a laugh, "Well, there goes respectful."
"At least I'm honest." He shrugged, "If they didn't have my DNA...I'm going to tell you the truth, I don't know what I would be doing right now."
"Maybe it's for the best that we don't think about it."
He nodded as the sign grew closer to us, "What makes you think the FBI knows?"
I blushed, "You know the guy I was in the diner with? He's FBI."
"What?" He roared, stopping in his tracks, "You've been fucking around with an FBI agent? Are you insane?"
"I haven't been fucking around with him!" I hissed, "I met him at that gas station yesterday, I didn't know he was FBI until the diner, then I bolted."
"Fuck." He clenched his fists, "This is bad. Did he seem suspicious of you?"
I thought back to Fitz's easy smile, his wholehearted laugh and his genuine interest in me and what I had to say. There was no way he could have been acting, faking that...surely not.
"No, I don't think so. But he said he was passing through for a case...why else would he be in this thimble of a town?"
He shook his head, muttering curses, "You really are naive sometimes Violet."
I didn't respond to him anymore after that, head ducked down to hide the tears threatening to spill from my eyes. After what felt like hours of uncomfortable silence we reached the sign, both running around the back to find the RV still in place, Dixon's car hitched behind it. I breathed a sigh of relief, but still feared stepping into the RV.
"You wait here." Brent seemed to notice my hesitation, "I'll check inside and give you the all clear."
I nodded, grateful I didn't have to burst through the door. As Brent slowly approached the door, my phone buzzed in my purse. I pulled it out, hoping Kiara had managed to get through to me. I glanced at it right as Brent opened the door.
August 1st, 11:02 - Fitz: Never got a chance to tell you. I live in New York too.
Brent exclaimed, entire body in the doorway, "What the actual fuck? Who is that? And why is she cuffed to the fucking couch?"