08

"So when are you gonna tell her?" Emma had asked her older brother as the two were passing a ball back and forth in the living room, she threw it under her leg and passed it towards Rupert. "well it's not like it's gonna have a big effect on her, we already know her father passed away some how. We just need to figure out who did it." He simply put as he threw the small ball back towards Emma. 

"Yeah, but it would help to know that you are an undercover detective don't you think? With her breakup maybe shedding some light that you have a lead could be great for her." Emma had tried to say as she threw the ball back after she collapsed on the couch and looked at him. Clarissa was out getting some things for their fridge seeing as it was empty that morning. The two had a chance to talk alone with each other about some important matters.

"I don't know, wouldn't it be kind of weird just coming out and telling her I'm trying to figure out who killed her father? She never brought him up to us yet and I haven't mentioned that I'm an undercover police officer have I?" He remarked as he ran a hand through his dark brown hair in slight frustration. 

"Emma, I just can't do that. Maybe Laurence will know something about her parents? But we will have to ask her to go and get her stuff back just so we can see what he's like" he had continued to say as he threw the ball back towards his sister. 

"But, even that's suspicious. She isn't ready to face her ex yet, that much I know. So why should she want to go over there?" She had asked as she threw the ball a little too quickly as it went and shattered their flat screen tv, causing the whole platform to fall over. Rupert had tried to run to catch it, but gravity is much faster than our feet. 

"EMMA!" He scolded, as he felt defeated, that was THEIR tv, the one that had grew up with them and now it was shattered. "this thing has traveled with us for such a long time!" He whined like a child as he went over to see the screen fizzing out slowly. He didn't like the fact that it was now ruined, all of the football games he had watched and pre recorded- "Okay okay.. maybe this is fate saying something!" He heard Emma say, but he was too busy mourning the loss of his precious tv as he slumped to his knees and stared down at the damage. 

"Maybe.. but it was OUR TV." he huffed as he finally managed to pick up the TV single handedly to go and take it out towards the trash. "Stay here, I need a moment with this one." He had said as he honestly felt upset about it. He walked out of the loft after Emma had opened the door for him, and walked outside towards the big trash cans that was outside of their house, dumps. "I'm gonna miss you.." He mumbled to himself, he saw Clarissa's car come back towards the loft as he turned his back towards her, so she wouldn't see him dumping their Tv out. 

After he was done, he waited a few minutes outside of their loft and thought about what Emma had said. He was holding a secret, a secret so big that maybe it'll ruin the whole investigation. He knew that when they had saw that Clarissa was looking for a place to stay, he wanted her to come into his and Emma's life. The questions that they had asked was just a ruse to see if she would randomly bring up some stuff about her family, but what he didn't know was that she was going through a relationship breakup and ended up talking about Laurence instead. He knew there were right ways of doing this, and wrong ways. But as many of us know, if you are being investigated by a police for something, you might not want to share a whole lot because it's slightly uncomfortable if it's a crime you didn't commit. Running a hand through his hair, he knew what he needed to do, and that is why he went to go talk to Clarissa that day. He needed more information about her family, so maybe bringing Laurence into the picture will help them figure it out. 

"Are you ready?" Rupert had asked after an hour had passed by, he appeared in Clarissa's room to see her still sitting on her bed, curled up in a ball. Emma appeared behind him and glanced at Rupert mouthing 'I told you so' before disappearing to go get the car keys. 

"Clarissa, Emma and I will be there with you." He had tried as he approached her bedside and sat down next to her. Clarissa had turned over and glanced at him and he saw that her eyes were slightly red like she had been crying. 

"I know, I'm just scared." She stated before sitting up. "I'm ready, I'm lazy to change and such but you know. I'm ready, but not ready." His roommate said as she got up and walked over to get her purse from her nightstand. "Let's go."

The three had got into Emma's car, and Clarissa had pulled out of the parking lot, they insisted that she drove because neither Emma or Rupert knew where Laurence lived. The radio was on as the quiet music was playing in the background. "So, what should we know about Laurence?" Emma had asked, striking up another conversation with her friend. She knew what Clarissa would say, but she just thought she needed to get a couple things off of her chest. She was sat in the backseat while Rupert in the front.

"Well, he's attractive, caring, but I might still be a little attached because of his hair.." she had started to say as that was something she was truly obsessed with. "Luscious hair.." She scooted forward a little towards the wheel and rested her forehead on it, as they were stopped at a stop light, they had quite some ways to go before she reached her old neighborhood that she stayed in with Laurence.

"Has Laurence met your parents?" Rupert asked abruptly, making Emma kick his seat hard, causing him to lurch forward a little, thankfully though Clarissa wasn't paying attention to them as she continued to drive. 

"Uh.. no, actually." She paused as she bit her lip, trying to think up of a reason as to why. "Even if we were together for a long time, I didn't want to introduce Laurence to my mom. Dad unfortunately, passed away and didn't get the opportunity to kick his ass for what he did." She had said, smirking a bit at the way she put it. Clarissa had missed her father terribly, he was a good man, and always knew how to cheer her up when she was down. They had many adventures together, the three of them and somehow, her mother doesn't even know who had killed him, it was quite pathetic as she thought of it, but she'd never liked to talk about it out loud. 

The two had stopped talking, as they had got their one of many answers. If Laurence hadn't met the parent's maybe he wouldn't know anything. But at the same time, Emma had thought that maybe Clarissa had told him something that could help out her brother. 

After sometime of driving, the group had made it to the neighborhood that Laurence had lived in. It was really nice to live in, the neighbors were nice as well and it made Clarissa miss it just a tiny bit. As She pulled up to the single yellow house in the middle of the neighborhood, she parked the car and glanced out Emma's window. 

"Here we are." She said before starting up the car again, She slowly drove past his house earning confused looks from Emma and Rupert. "Uh isn't his house that way?" Emma asked as she pointed backwards. 

"YuP! It is!" Clarissa said as she turned up the radio louder, some rock music came on and it started to give her a random burst of energy as she circled the block a couple of times, stopping in front of Laurence's house each time. 

The siblings were worried for her seeing the reaction she was having it felt like she was gonna have a nervous breakdown or something.

"okayyy and here we are!" Rupert shouted over the music that was blasting from their car. As Clarissa pulled up to Laurence's house for the third time she parked and watched as Rupert cheered. 

"No I can't." She said as she pulled out again and drove so slowly around the block one last time. Rupert and Emma groaned, Emma placing her head on the backseat as she felt slightly annoyed. "Maybe this is a bad idea.." she mumbled glancing out the window as they turned around again and went back up to Laurence's house. 

"No- I just need to stop the car.. that's all." She heard Clarissa say, as the car came to a stop in front of his house. "I got this, besides you guys need a TV right?" She asked as she finally turned off the engine. "In and out that's it." She huffed as she unbuckled her seat belt and got out very reluctantly. 

"She's actually doing it." Emma said as she watched from inside the car. Clarissa had now walked up Laurence's gravel driveway like she had tried too many times before, her hands were feeling slightly sweaty, palms sweaty, knees weak as her hand slowly reached to ring the doorbell. 

"You've got this Clarissa. In and out." She reminded herself as she awaited her ex to open the door.