“He has an outstanding warrant?” She quirks a brow.
I shrug. “Not that I’m aware of. I don’t know anything about that.”
A while later, the cops leave, promising to file a report and confirming that Parker is banned from the premises for the next seventy-two hours.
I dial Timmy’s number, my hands shaking. I’m so upset that he ran away and I just don’t understand.
A girl's voice answers the phone. “Hello?”
Again, what the actual fuck?
“He’s a really nice guy, and he’s getting blamed for things that aren’t his fault,” she says, before abruptly hanging up.
I text him:
Me:
You’re hanging out with some random girl?
You left me when I called the cops?
You told me to let someone into my apartment who then tried to ruin it?
Timmy! I just moved in! This is so embarrassing and I’m so confused.
Timmy:
I’m so so sorry. I’ll be back soon.
I’ll explain everything, I promise.
I don’t know who the girl is, a bunch of teenagers just saw I was upset and she grabbed my phone.
I was so mad when she did that.
Can you meet me down a side street so we walk back in together?
Me:
Of course.
A knot of anger tightens in my chest. I’ve just had to call the police on my first full week in this new neighborhood. The only impression I’ve managed to make so far is of someone who can’t handle my own friends—or my fiancé’s, at least.
He sends me a pin with his location, and I walk to meet him. He’s a couple of blocks away, and I meet him down a side street.
“I’m so sorry,” he hugs me to him, kissing the top of my head.
I feel numb.
“I freaked out,” he explains. “There’s a warrant, and it’s for a traffic thing, and I really didn’t want them to look me up and arrest me.”
“But you left me with the cops by myself,” I frown. “That’s awful. It’syourfriend that came and threatened to damage my home. And you abandoned me.”
I had an ex with a warrant once. Some concealed weapons charge. That guy got really twitchy about that, too, whenever he was around cops. But still, it feels wrong that Timmy ran away and left me to deal with this by myself.
“Yeah, I know,” he sighs. “I feel so bad about that. I’ve seen Parker be a bit weird from time to time, but he’s never threatened to break someone’s stuff or get violent like that. I don’t know what was up with him. Maybe he was doing a bunch of drugs before we met up or something, because that’s not how he normally acts. I’d never have invited him around if it was. I know he'd been taking shrooms. ”
“Well, I feel like I’m at risk of getting kicked out of my apartment. I’ve been here less than two weeks and I’ve already had the cops come to the property. They’re going to think I’m a problem tenant.”