Perhaps it was the blue uniform, but it took Lori a few seconds to come out of her shocked state. “Um, yes. Is there a problem officer?”
“Victor and Sandra Cross are currently in police custody. Are you their daughter?”
Lori became a mix of worry and regret. Why? Why did I have to be their daughter? “Yes,” she said regretfully. “What were they arrested for?”
“DUI. We called the home phone last night, but there was no answer.”
“What's the bail?'
“For the both of them? It's three thousand dollars.”
Lori's eyes become wide and she suddenly feels like throwing up. “Three thousand dollars?” she repeats.
The officer nods as if he pities her which he does, Lori was used to people pitying her. “They said to take money out of their bank accounts, but in all honesty, I wanted to ask you just to make sure it was okay. I know they're adults, but I just wanted to make sure.”
“I'm gonna have to come to the station, aren't I? Would it be okay if I came and got them tomorrow? I have a prior engagement.”
The officer shrugs and nods. “It'd be fine, but you'd have to get them tomorrow at the latest.”
“Thank you so much,” Lori says with a thankful smile. Just as the officer leaves Harry pulls up to her house. He gets out of his car and watches the police car before jogging up to Lori who is standing in front of her door. A look of curiosity and concern is on Harry's face when he reaches Lori.
“There was a police officer at your house. Why was there a police officer at your house? Are you okay? What happened?”
Lori lightly laughs. “Calm down, I'm fine. My parents got arrested last night for a DUI, but don't worry I'm getting them tomorrow.”
“You don't have to make them wait just to go to the concert, I can give you a ride to go get them.”
“It's fine, I want them to wait so maybe they'll learn their lesson. Ready to go?”
They got into Harry's car and drove to the park. On their way there Lori laughed at all the funny stories Harry told her about him and Ed. She could tell they liked fun and messing around. When they arrived and walked toward the stage Lori recognized the park. It was the park she and Harry went to the day their first met. Lori giggled as she remembered them running out of the club to avoid Taylor Swift. Some fans saw Harry so he took a couple of pictures and signed some autographs. Soon the concert began and Lori smiled at the screams of all the people when Ed stepped on stage. Besides his orange hair, Lori liked his smile; it was goofy and cute. She loved listening to him live, the way he connected with his audience was genuine and easy going; just like him. Near the end of the concert he pulled Harry up on stage. Literally, he grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him onto the stage. The crowd went wild when they saw Harry and both he and Ed laughed at their reaction. Ed leaned in to whisper to Harry.
“Is that that Lori girl?” he asked as he nodded at Lori.
Harry nodded with a smile and Ed gave him a thumbs up to show his approval along with mouthing the word “fit.” The two guys joked around, making the crowd laugh along with them. When Ed was given the signal that he had to end the show he gave the same signal to Harry. He grabbed the mike and pointed into the distance.
“Look, it's Justin Bieber!” he shouted.
The majority of the crowd turned just to play along and as their heads were turned Harry pulled Lori onto the stage just like Ed had done to him. Ed ushered Lori off to the side of the stage so she wouldn't be seen and then grabbed the mike from Harry.
“No, Harry,” he said in an annoyed tone, “that's a dog, not Justin Bieber. Go get your eyes checked! Alright everybody, it's been really cool performing for you guys, but I gotta head out. You guys were amazing!”
The two guys walked off stage and met up with Lori.
“Ed, this is Lori. Lori this is Ed.”
Lori smiled and accepted Ed's hug. “It's awesome to meet you, I love your songs.”
“It's great to meet you. Harry talks about you all the time. Finally, I get to meet the girl with the purple streaked hair. Is it true you saved One Direction's life?”
Lori laughed and moved the hair out of her face. “Yeah, something like that.”
The three had to part ways because Harry had to go catch his flight. Ed said goodbye to the couple and they wished him luck on his tour. They walked to Harry's car and Harry noticed Lori had been smiling a lot.
“You must've really like that concert,” Harry said as he started the car.
Lori snapped back to reality. “What?”
Harry chuckled at how distracted she was. “That smile, is it from the concert?”
Lori shook her head. “Don't get me wrong, that concert brought a lot of smiles and laughs too, but it didn't bring this smile.”
“Then what brought that smile?” Lori looked down and started playing with the hem of her shirt as pink rose to her cheeks. Harry looked over, waiting for the answer.
“You talk about me a lot?” Lori asked as she looked up at Harry.
“Yeah, I guess I do.”
“Well, what do you say?” Lori asked as she nervously bit her lip.
“I say, there's this girl named Lori and she has pretty brown hair with cool purple streaks in it and her eyes are like warm chocolate. She has a really cute laugh and a great smile that makes everyone else smile. Her personality is amazing along with everything else about her. Lori is incredible.”
Lori smiled down at the floor of Harry's car, trying to hide how red her cheeks were. She looked back up and kissed Harry on the cheek. Both of them smiled the rest of the way back to Lori's house. Words weren't needed at the moment, they would just complicate things. When they got to Lori's house, Harry walked her to the door just like the night of their first official date. He leaned over her and kissed her softly on the lips. When he pulled away he saw there were tears in her eyes.
“What's wrong?” he asked gently.
“I'm gonna miss you,” she whimpered.
“I'll miss you too,” he said as he embraced her in a protective hug. “Promise me you'll stay safe. If your parents are mad I want you to climb out that window and run somewhere where you won't get hurt. Promise me, Lori, promise me you'll stay safe.”
“I promise.”
They stood embraced in each other's arms for what seemed like only moments before Lori told Harry to go before he missed his plane. He reminded her that in a week they'd be together in England. When he left Lori felt incomplete again, as if a part of her had gone with him. Lori shook her head and decided she was being cheesy and cliché. She went inside and tried to find a way to distract herself from missing Harry. Finally she decided to go for a run even though it was dark out; running from everything always refreshed Lori's mind. Her concert clothes were replaced with running shorts and a t-shirt. The fresh, night air soon filled her lungs as she started out her house. There wasn't a maped out route in her head, she didn't have a destination, she just wanted to keep going. Soon she had a good pace and she just kept going and going until she was uncomfortable with the her new surroundings then she turned back. Streetlamps lit her path until she was back on her porch breathing heavily. After she went inside she took a nice, long, warm shower to relax her tired body and when she changed into some sleeping clothes she fell onto her bed as her eyes began to shut. Harry was on her mind the entire night.
The flight back home was a little boring for Harry. There were a bunch of screaming fans and flashing cameras and reporters trying to ask about the girl with the purple streaked hair, but Harry only smiled and waved. He didn't want to expose Lori to the world yet, he wanted to keep her safe from the cruelity of being known by thousands; he wanted to keep her for just himself as long as he could. Some fans had put purple in their hair which brought a smile to his face. Lori's face formed in his head and he wished he could be with her.
***************************************************
There was a weird feeling in the air when Lori woke up. At first she was relaxed, but then after noticing something was wrong she became uneasy. Lori couldn't quite put her finger on it and she was concentrating really hard on the unusualness when she jumped because she heard the phone ring.
“That's what it is,” she said to herself, “it's the silence.” Lori walked over and picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Hello, This is chief Grim from the police department. Is this the Cross residence?”
“Yes, this is Lori speaking. Are you calling about my parents? I was just about to get them.”
“Oh, alright. We'll see you in a bit then.”
Lori hung up the phone and quickly got dressed. Just as she was about to call a cab she saw that her mom's car keys were on the kitchen table. After thinking it over, Lori took the car keys and drove her mom's car to the station. It was weird being there, like picking up your kid after he had gotten expelled from school. Lori walked over to a blonde secretery.
“Hi, excuse me,” Lori said, “I'm here to get Victor and Sandra Cross. I'm not exactly sure what to do.”
The lady smiled at Lori, most people did. “I'll get an officer for you and he can help you.” The lady left her desk and returned moments later with the same officer that had stopped by at Lori's house.
“Hello Miss Cross,” he greeted, “Please, follow me to your parents.” Lori followed him through a door which led to a huge back room. There were a lot of desks with officers behind them, but not many people were around at this time in the morning.
“I don't think I ever caught your name,” Lori said as she followed the officer.
“Daren Fields. What's your first name?”
“Lori.”
“Do you have the bail for your parents?”
“Yeah, I wrote the check this morning.”
Daren brought Lori to the very back and unlocked the door to the room that held her parents. They walked out and saw Lori, but neither of them smiled or ran to hug her. The four of them just stood there awkwardly.
“Mr. and Mrs. Cross, you're free to go. Lori can I have the bail, please?”
Lori handed him the check and left to the parking lot with her parents. No one talked while they drove home. Things were a little awkward, but Lori didn't mind and neither did her parents. When they got home everyone silently went inside and Lori went inside her room for the rest of the afternoon. Sometime while Lori was reading Perks of being a Wallflower she fell asleep and when she woke up she noticed is was past midnight, but she couldn't go back to sleep so she walked into the living room and turned on the TV. The Big Bang Theory was on so she watched that for sometime. Being alone was nice, the quiet was weird, but better than the usual screaming. Lori was so focused on the show she jumped when she turned around to see her mother watching her.
"S-sorry, was it too loud?"
She shook her head and Lori noticed she looked very uncomfortable and tired. Granted her mom wasn't even forty, but she had bags under her eyes and gray in her hair. There were photos of her parents we they were young and Lori thought they looked genuinely happy and carefree. Lori felt bad for her mom despite the mean words she would say to her, Lori just wanted her mom to stop looking so sad, but she knew that wouldn't happen if her dad was still around. The only reason her parents were married was because of her an neither of them had the money for a divorce. Being young and pregnant is scary, but like how all young people think, they thought they could conquer anything as long as they were together.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
Those two words barely came out of her mother's mouth so you can imagine how wide Lori's eyes were when she heard them. She didn't know what exactly to say and it didn't help that her mouth was now dry, but somehow she was able to speak again.
“You're welcome.”
Lori's mom went back into her bedroom, leaving Lori in the dark, contemplating the events of that day.