Page 65 of Your Rhythm
“Jean-Paul, you pervert, she is fucking amazing.”
We spend another two hours in the basement talking, and even sit down at our instruments for a bit to fuck around and try writing a new song. The lyrics end up being about Ace and Cole having small dicks, but rhythmically I think we might be onto something.
It’s past one in the morning when I’m finally in my bed and ready to crash for the night. I check to make sure I plugged my phone into the charger and that’s when I notice it’s blowing up with texts. There are seven from Shayla and another five from Cole. I scan over them all, sitting straight up in bed as my heart hammers harder against my chest the more I read.
Shayla and Cole are at the police station. Ace beat someone up and got arrested. The texts are mostly just a jumble of swear words and repeated questions about where I am right now, but from what I can make out the whole thing has something to do with drugs.
“Yo!” JP pounds on the wall that separates his bedroom from mine. “You get the texts?”
“I’m calling Shayla right now,” I shout back.
It takes her five rings to pick up.
“Jesus fuck Matt, where were you?”
I’m about to interject and tell her I was brushing my teeth, but she bulldozes right on.
“I’m at the station. Oh wait, I told you that already. Fuck, this is so bad. Sorry, I’m freaking out. I have the lawyer we work with sometimes coming in. Thank fuck she was in town. I don’t even know why I texted you. There’s really nothing anyone can do right now.”
Everything comes out in one huge gush of word vomit. She’s never lost her cool like this before.
“Shayla,” I begin, waiting to see if she’ll let me talk, “what exactly happened?”
“I don’t know, Matt. I don’t fucking know. Cole doesn’t know. I don’t think Ace even knows. He was hammered, of course. The two of them went out for a smoke at a bar and Ace wandered off to go talk to someone. The next thing Cole knew Ace and some guy were beating the shit out of each other. Cole tried to stop it. I’m scared his nose is broken. He looks like a wreck. He said Ace is even worse and—”
“Shayla,” I interrupt, “it’s okay. It’s going to be okay. Breathe, all right? You’re freaking me out.”
“Right. Breathing.” I hear her inhale and exhale rapidly into the phone. “The cops showed up after that, and the guy Ace was fighting tried to run away. They caught him, and then they took them both to the station. Cole thinks it has something to do with drugs, but he’s not sure. It’s all really unclear and they won’t tell us anything.”
The room feels like it’s spinning. I pinch the bridge of my nose and focus on the floor. “Is he getting out tonight?”
“I don’t know.” I can hear Shayla swallow. “Cole said everyone was taking pictures.”
I stop to contemplate just how bad this could be.
“Should I come over there?” I ask. “Is there anything I can do?”
“I don’t think so. I’ll keep you posted. It does look like he’s going to have to stay the night.”
“Natalie’s home, right? You have someone to look after you later? I’m worried about you, Shayla. You shouldn’t have to deal with this.”
“I’m okay.” The high-pitched edge in her voice doesn’t sound too convincing. “And yeah, Nat’s home. Don’t worry about me. It’s my job to deal with stuff like this. It just...wasn’t how I thought I’d be spending my Friday night.”
“Don’t stay there all night,” I tell her. “Ace doesn’t deserve that from you.”
“Matt...”
“I mean it,” I insist. “Get out of there once the lawyer arrives. Like you said, there’s nothing we can do right now.”
Even if she does take my advice and go home, I doubt she’ll be getting any sleep tonight. JP and I don’t. We spend most of the night in our living room, pointlessly going over the few details we have and checking our phones every few seconds.
I head back to bed around four and manage to sleep until the whistle of an arriving text wakes me up at eight-thirty. It’s from Shayla.
He’s still at the station. Atlas knows. They’re sending their own lawyers.
“JP!” I shout, banging on the wall. “We have news!”
I just hear a loud groaning in response as I text Shayla back.
