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Mason gets his good looks from his dad, as their dark hair and tanned olive skin are almost identical, but Brian’s a bit shorter than his son Brian’s dark eyes also lack that certain spark of ain, this isn’t a happy situation

As the two dads talk to the officers, I sit straight up and study the well Brian’s running his hand through his hair like Mason does when he’s frustrated, the gold wedding band sparkling brightly in comparison to his dark hair My heartbeat hasn’t slowed down to normal since we sat down

After a while, Vince is led by some officers to the back, and Brian comes to sit with us

“What’s going on?” Mason asks his dad

“They have Aiden in holding right now He’s still a feeeks shy of eighteen, so they can’t question him without the presence of an appropriate adult and a social worker, and we’re trying to sort out who that is, exactly,” Brian explains, pulling out his phone and going through some contacts

“But they can’t question hi him a lawyer?” Annalisa exclaims

“He doesn’t need a lawyer because he didn’t do anything!” Noah defends Aiden “He has, like, seven alibis! Eight if you count the guy working the counter at the pizza place!”

Brian ignores Noah and stands up “I’ a lawyer now Hopefully, he’ll be here soon”

And with that, Brian walks away to find a quiet place tothe rest of us to our unproductive worrying

Half an hour later, a professional-looking ets up to shake his hand They talk to so is Aiden’s lawyer into the back room

Charlotte is sitting beside Chase, and they’re talking in hushed tones between thelares down everyone in the police station, and looks like she’s trying very hard to not punch anyone who looks at her the wrong way Julian’s beside her, talking to Mason and Brian about what could possibly happen to Aiden a

nd what’s going on in the back Noah’s besidethe floor, the sound slowly driving me crazy

Since h to meet all these incredible people—friends who have become like a family to me I’ve never had friends like this, who have your back no h hard tiht instead of out enjoying ourselves, and it’s all because we care about each other, about Aiden

While I’rateful to have my friends, I hate that I’e roo except try really hard to ignore the pit of anxiety and worry building in my stomach