“She drowned, I think she was pushed.”
“She was not pushed, she tripped and fell over.”
“I heard her scream.”
“They all look guilty if you ask me.”
“She probably jumped, you know she loves attention.”
Gabriel Motors kept his head down, eyes scanning the crowd as he was escorted into the police station.
People from all over campus and town were there, watching and whispering about something they knew nothing about. His parents tried their best to keep him away from people who were shouting and throwing things at their son.
“What happened to Ava?”
A question anyone has yet to answer.
But they didn’t do it.
All three of them were together the whole night.
At least that’s what they said.
But did she fall or was she pushed?
Before
Gabriel Motors sat quietly in the library, reading over his notes, as he studied for his midterm that was two days away.
He was a Sophomore at the University of Florida, studying Biology because he was a complete science nerd. He knew facts that people didn’t even think about and was always filling the silence in the room with these facts. His friends enjoyed it, others not so much.
Jet black hair, brown-green eyes that he luckily inherited from his father, smooth tan skin from his mother’s Hispanic genes, and stood at about 5 '8. He was generally quiet, keeping a lot of his thoughts in his head and preventing them from coming out of his mouth, except when he was drunk. He’d tell a random man the nuclear codes when he was drunk, he had absolutely no filter.
He was the only child of his parents and technically an accident, his mom being 42 when she had him but they never treated him like one. He was spoiled with the best things and his parents allowed him to explore any and everything that he wanted.
Gabriel or Gabe, was a great student, he stayed up late, tore his hair out studying, and got blackout drunk every once in a while. He enjoyed parties like any other college kid his age and looked forward to one, in particular, every year.
Dre Johnson’s Yacht Party was that Friday after midterms and he was pretty excited for that. He had one every year and sadly, this would be the last one since he was graduating that Spring.
Dre and Gabe became friends after he learned that Dre was excellent in Biology as he was planning to study sports medicine in Grad school.
Gabe was snatched out of his studying thoughts when a set of calloused hands landed heavily on his smaller shoulders. He smelled the familiar scent of cedarwood and cinnamon as he turned, eyeing the culprits with a small smile and narrowed eyes.
Dwight Cunningham and Logan Hart. His best friends since middle school.
The boys took the empty chairs adjacent to Gabe and smiled at him.
“Haven’t seen you all day man, you've been hiding in here?” Dwight asked his friend, taking out his books and setting his materials up across from Gabe.
Gabe chuckled, watching as Dwight searched for a pencil because he never seemed to have one. Dwight looked at him with a grateful face as he took the extra pencil being slid in his direction.
“This midterm is not about to kick my ass. I’ve been studying since my parents left. And even before they got here.” Gabe told them, going back to staring at his laptop screen.
“My midterm is going to be so easy.” Dwight leaned back in his chair and threw his arms behind his head.
Gabe snorted.
Dwight was a Criminology and Law Major, taking after his favorite Aunt in wanting to be a detective. He was the tallest of his friends, standing right at 6 feet. He had broad shoulders, deep brown eyes, and dimples. He loved to talk and always bragged about being the oldest and the only one of the three who was legally able to drink. He was humble in other ways, always putting the feelings of his friends over his own, taking care of everyone around him,and being loyal to a fault, nothing could tear him away from the people he loved.
Dwight only partied with his friends, he was very cautious around people he didn’t know. He never got blackout drunk, he was usually the designated driver for anyone around him.
He was going to the Yacht Party of course.
He and Dre had previously dated the same girl and had been friends ever since. After dumping the girl.
“I’m not worried about my midterm. I am already halfway through the paper I have to write.” Logan spoke up, not bothering to take out his books or anything school-related but instead setting up his laptop to watch Netflix
“How many pages does it have to be?” Gabe asked.
“10,” Logan told him.
“And how many do you have?” Dwight chimed in.
“Three and a half,” Logan said, shooting them both a confident smirk.
“And your midterm is Wednesday? Today is Monday bro, you’re screwed.” Gabe informed his friend.
Logan held up his hand, sassily blocking Gabe’s comment.
“It’ll get done.”
Logan Hart was also a Sophomore. A Journalism major.
He was the least hardworking of the bunch.
They were surprised when he was accepted into the University of Florida with them after almost not graduating from high school.
He lacked motivation for everything except parties and girls.
He was almost 5 '9, with blue eyes, a small head, and a big body. He worked out frequently to impress girls. He was only close to his friends. His family wasn’t very close and his siblings, one being a doctor and the other being a lawyer were distant, often looking down on their brother for his unwhelming career choice.
“Have you clowns even tried to study?” Gabe watched as his friends went back and forth about something not school-related.
Dwight rolled his eyes.
“I studied last night a little after Ava left, Dad, so sorry.” Dwight defended, reaching over to poke Gabe’s furrowed brow.
“I legit haven’t seen Ava since last week, where has she been?” Logan turned to Dwight for an answer.
“Being a good girl and studying probably,” Gabe muttered from his notes.
“Not asking you, geekface,” Logan said to Gabe.
Gabe threw his pencil at Logan’s head but he ignored it, focusing on getting an answer out of Dwight.
Dwight shrugged.
“I don’t know dude, she came over last night because her roommate was sleeping with some dude, preventing her from getting any work done,” Dwight told him.
“Why’d she go to you, I was very bored last night?” Logan asked, frowning and slumping down in his chair.
“Cause you’re a clown.” Dwight teased, poking Logan’s sharp bicep.
“I’m a great person.” Logan huffed.
“Deep down inside maybe.” Gabe continued to mutter.
Logan took the pencil that was thrown at him and threw it back at its original owner. Gabe ducked, watching as the pencil landed on the ground next to him.
“Terrible shot.”
“Hater,” Logan muttered.
Gabe went back to his dorm a few hours after chatting with his friends and getting very little studying done. His roommate was nowhere to be located which wasn’t unusual and he didn’t mind at all.
He just wanted to study and feel secure about passing his midterm.
After he’d read over all of his notes from the entire semester, he felt his eyes begin to flutter close.
Before he knew it, he was fast asleep.
“He said he was going to study but look at him, sleeping like a newborn baby.” Gabe hears Dwight’s voice say.
“Look at all this, I’m pretty sure he died fighting,” Logan said, beginning to move all the notes off the bed so he could sit down.
“Are we going to be creepy and watch him sleep or is someone going to wake him?” Gabe recognized that voice as none other than the beautiful Ava Roberts.
The group's longtime friend and fellow partygoer.
Dwight shook Gabe awake and sat down on his bed.
“Good morning bro, class starts in a few minutes.” Dwight joked.
Ava and Logan laughed as Gabriel stretched, kicking Logan off his bed with his feet.
“Hardy har-har, I know I didn't sleep that damn long,” Gabe says, sitting up and running his hands over his face.
“It sure looks like it, you've got drool hanging from your mouth,” Ava said pointing to a stain on his shirt.
“You’re a giant baby,” Logan said.
“Shut up, why are you guys in here anyway?” Gabe asked, wiping his face and looking around at his half-dressed group of friends. Logan was in a rube bathrobe and slippers.
“You have the biggest TV, dude, we want to watch something,” Logan said, getting comfortable on his friend's bed.
Gabe looks over at Ava who is sitting comfortably on his beanbag chair.
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” he said to her, holding out his fist for her to bump.
Ava rolled her eyes, returning the motion.
“You guys act like I actually went missing. My family was here this weekend and before that, I was studying.”
“But we usually see you at least once a day.” Gabe insisted, getting up to get his friends some refreshments.
Ava looks over at Dwight who was already looking at her.
“Well, you know where I am, come look for me like this one does.” She says, gesturing towards Dwight.
“Noted,” Logan mumbled, watching the actions between the two of them.
Ava had been friends with the boys since her freshman year of college. She is a sophomore English major. She’s the shortest in the group, with coffee-colored eyes, curly hair that she rarely had time to do and a smile that had all the boys bending at her will whenever possible.
They all love her.
Some more than others.
It was a secret that Dwight had liked her for a while because the only person he ever told was himself in the mirror when he practiced what he’d say when he asked her out.
Something had been brewing between the two of them for months. They spent a lot of alone time together, having designated movie nights, cooking for each other, and studying together. Dwight didn’t want to ruin their long friendship but he knew this wasn’t one-sided. He saw the way she looked at him.
He also saw a side of her that the other guys didn’t get to see. The vulnerable side.
Ava is very tough, being the only girl in a group of guys was intimidating and she always acted bigger than she was but her guard was down around Dwight. She wasn’t afraid to be open and let her feelings show, knowing he was a safe space.
Dwight smiles at her from his spot on the floor.
Ava winks from her position on the bean bag.
Gabe gets off his bed and goes to plug in his TV.
“You guys are going to Dre’s Yacht Party right?” Ava asked, pouring a small bowl of M&Ms, picking out the green ones, and handing the rest to Dwight, who happily took them.
“It’s a party on a boat.” Gabe retorted.
Ava flicked him off. “Okay smart ass, I was just asking.”
“You’re going? I thought you didn’t like boats because you can’t swim?” Dwight asked Ava.
She shrugged.
“I think it’ll be fun, I’m just going to stay away from any edges that might cause me to fall.”
The boys agreed, turning to the show they’d been watching and shutting up for a while.
After a few episodes and a lot of snacks, Logan, Dwight, and Ava left Gabe’s dorm right around 2 that morning.
After saying goodbye to Logan, Dwight and Ava quietly snuck over to Dwight’s empty dorm.
Dwight was a junior and made enough from working a part-time job to pay for a room for himself.
He didn’t let many people in his single room other than his friends.
And of course, Ava.
Ava sat down on his full-size bed and waited for him to bring her a bottle of water.
“How often do you change your sheets?” Ava asked quietly.
Dwight rolled his eyes fondly, plopping down next to her.
“What kind of question is that?”
She giggles, shrugging. “Just trying to make conversation,” He sits down next to her as she turns to him.
“Let’s talk about what you came here to talk about. If your administrator catches me sneaking back to my room tomorrow morning, you’re screwed.”
Dwight takes a deep breath, going over his speech in his head, the words feeling too heavy to say.
Ava takes his hand, clutching it reassuringly.
Dwight opens his eyes and looks at their joined hands and how perfectly they fit together.
He swallows.
“I really like you, Ava.”
A smile instantly spreads across her pretty face.
“God, I was hoping you’d say that.” She leans forward, bringing their lips together without letting him finish.
He leans into the kiss on instinct, pulling her closer by his waist.
Ava pulls back, caressing his face. He turns to kiss her palm, their eyes locked.
“I like you too Dwight. I don’t wanna tell the guys yet because I like our private moments. I like it when it’s just you and I.” She whispers, her lips ghosting over his.
“I was thinking the same thing, they don’t need to know yet. I like you so much and I’d love it if you'd let me take you on a real date.”
Ava slides her arms around his neck, resting their foreheads together.
“I’d love that.” She says, finishing the sentence with a kiss on his lips, soft and secure.
Dwight melts into her, smiling into the kiss.
Midterm day
Dwight walks out of his midterm, breathing in the fresh outside air and breaking his pencil in victory.
He was certain he passed, the test was too easy and everything he had studied was right there in front of him. He felt lucky and was now very excited for the boat party that was to take place the following day.
Dwight walked over to the English building so he could wait for Ava to finish her test. He busied himself reading a book she’d given him as a recommendation.
He planned to take her to lunch to celebrate and was waiting on an outside bench for a little over half an hour, watching people he knew and people he didn’t know walk past him.
Girls smiled at him but he didn’t pay them any mind, especially when he saw Ava walk out of her building.
Her yellow sun dress wrapped around her and showed off every inch of her perfect figure. Her curly hair was only tamed by a small black headband and her lip gloss was shiny.
He watched her walk over to him, almost in slow motion it seemed.
She sat down next to him and laid her head on his shoulder.
He wrapped his arms around her and breathed in her perfume. A mix of vanilla and her strawberry-scented shampoo was his favorite scent.
“How was your midterm?” She asked, breaking the silence and looking up at him.
“Easy, I breezed right through it. I pretty much knew everything that was on there.” Dwight tells her, holding his hand for her to take.
She takes it, leaning up and smiling at him.
“That’s good. Mine was kind of hard. There was a little bit of an essay at the end, that’s why it took me a minute.”
“I have absolutely no problem waiting for you,” Dwight assured her.
“I’m hungry and before you know it, Logan is going to be calling and asking to meet up. You know that boy can’t function for too long without you and Gabriel.” Ava told him, moving from the seat and guiding them to his car.
Dwight drove them to a small restaurant just off campus which not many students visited. They got a table in the back and began to talk before someone took their order.
“I feel like this is good, we don’t have to go through the whole awkward phase of trying to get to know each other,” Ava tells him, getting comfortable in her chair.
“This is true. But now it’s just figuring out how well we work in relationships.”
“Well, my last relationship was a trainwreck,”
He was completely unaware that Ava had dated someone over the summer of her freshman year.
She and the three boys spent a lot of time together that summer, a boyfriend was never mentioned.
“My last relationship was last semester, with that girl from my favorite store near the beach. She was cool but had no goals in life, she loved working at the store and wanted to work there forever. Wasn’t into traveling, wasn’t into experiencing new things at all. She had to go.” Dwight told her, chuckling at the story he hadn’t given a single thought to in the last few months.
“I remember her. She was really pretty.” Ava said, taking a sip of her drink. “Yeah, but nothing else.”
The couple sat talking about things they’d done in the past that they were proud of and not so proud of.
They were nearly done when someone sat next to Dwight at the table.
“Here you guys are.” It was Logan, followed by a tired-looking Gabe. Dwight moved his arm from around Ava’s waist and turned toward his friends.
“What are you guys doing?” Gabe asked, watching Dwight’s arm snake back to his lap.
“Just grabbing something to eat after our midterm,” Ava confirmed, smiling coldly at her friends.
“Didn’t bother to wait for us? Shame on you.” Logan said, snatching a menu from the other table and flipping it open.
“Well, they probably would have if I hadn’t taken a million years to finish my midterm. It took me 3 hours to finish. It was only 150 questions and I felt like I hadn’t even studied. I had to pull out equations that I used my freshman year. It was crazy.” Gabe relayed, looking at the menu over Logan’s shoulder.
Ava chuckled.
“Biology is something else, that’s why I stuck with English. All it is are words and sentences. An essay here and there but nothing too crazy.” She says, picking over her now cold food.
“My midterm took me an hour. Then I took a nap. But how long have you guys been here, I’m starving.” Logan asked.
“Logan, when aren’t you hungry?” Dwight teased, tossing a fry at his friend. His arm magically finds its way back around Ava’s chair.
Logan got up and sat on Ava’s other side. Taking a strand of her hair and it twisting around his fingers. “Next time you decide to dye it, you should try black.”
Ava nods, turning to him.
“I was thinking dark brown but I will consider black. It’s been a while since I had black.” She says, her chair moving closer to Dwight’s by his hand.
Gabriel doesn’t miss the glare he gives Logan that causes him to flee back to his seat.
“We’ve been here for about an hour but we don’t mind staying while you guys order,” Dwight said, signaling the waiter.
Logan and Gabriel made themselves comfortable.
Ava and Dwight share a look. So much for alone time.
Later on that night
The boys and Ava were eating pizza in Logan’s dorm room, discussing what they were going to wear to the yacht party and arguing over what show to watch.
“I’m wearing an all-white outfit. White cargo shorts, white button-down with short sleeves, my Nikes. Oh yeah.” Logan announced, pointing to his Air Forces in the corner of his messy room.
Dwight and Gabe shook their heads.
“Ava, you should match with me, all white would look great on you,” Logan tells her.
“I would but I bought my outfit last week. It’s so pretty, I can’t wait for it to be seen.” Ava informed him, smiling a little smugly.
“I have a Hawaiian shirt I’ve been dying to wear. And I just got new polo shoes. I'll bring those out.” Gabe says.
“Hawaiian shirt? This isn't a cruise, Grandpa.” Logan jokes.
“Shut up, it looks great and it’s on theme with the party. We’re going to be on a boat.”
“Whatever, you’re still going to look like someone's uncle.” Logan spat back. Gabe kicked at his foot.
“I’m wearing either yellow or orange, I’m torn between shirts. They both make me look amazing though.” Dwight told them.
“My button-down shows off the guns.” Logan threw both of his arms in the air, flexing them roughly.
No one was impressed.
“Put them away buddy, it’s nothing new,” Gabe said to him, rolling his eyes.
Logan sat back on his bed, throwing up the middle finger at his friend.
After a rigorous game of Monopoly, ending with the board being flipped by an angry Dwight and pieces being thrown into Gabe's hair by an angry Logan, they decided to go their separate ways.
“Ava, let me walk you to your dorm,” Logan suggested.
Ava darted her eyes toward Dwight who was already halfway out of the door.
“I’ll be fine, Dwight’s going that way anyway so I’m going to just walk with him.”
Logan rolled his eyes, resigned to letting her leave with him.
Once Dwight and Ava were out of sight, Ava jumped onto Dwight’s very strong back and he carried her to his dorm.
The pair lay on the bed together, holding hands and arguing about Gabe cheating in Monopoly.
Ava sat up and looked at Dwight who was still going off about it.
“Let it go.” She whispered, rolling over on top of him and resting her chin on his chest.
He relaxed immediately, his mouth snapping shut.
He ran his fingers through her curls, they were soft and smelled fresh even though it had been all day.
“You’re so beautiful.” He muttered to her.
“You’ve told me.”
“I’m seeing you in a different light though. A brighter light. I want this to last as long as you want it to last.”
Ava sat up, hovering over Dwight’s tall figure.
She leaned down and gave him a passionate kiss.
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close into his chest and holding her tightly.
“I’m so glad to have you in my life, even if this didn’t happen, you are amazing and you are my best friend,” Dwight told her.
Ava smiled, burying her face in his neck and taking a deep breath. “You’re my best friend too, Dwight,” Ava said to him, still smiling when she leaned back up.
The couple ended up sleeping together that night.
Ava didn’t bother sneaking back to her dorm, she stayed with him that night.
Meanwhile, on the other side of campus, Gabe and Logan were playing 2k and chatting about mundane things.
“I wonder what Ava is doing?” Logan said randomly.
Gabe rolled his eyes, this was the fourth time Logan had brought Ava up since she left with Dwight. He was getting annoyed with the obsession he could see brewing within his friend.
“Dude, why do you care? You’ve been talking about her majority of the night since she left.” Gabe asked, refocusing on the game in front of her.
“I'm just wondering about her dude. She’s been looking pretty good these days.” Logan admitted.
“She has always looked good, what's your point?”
“I’m just saying man, a different type of good.”
“Dude lay off, she doesn’t like dorks like us,” Gabe said, pushing Logan over.
“You and Dwight might be dorks. But I’m a man. All man. I think she’d go for it.”
Gabe rolled his eyes and got up, going to his mini fridge.
“Not going to happen.”
“I don’t get rejected. I’ve never been rejected. Ladies love the Logo-Man.” Logan boasts.
Gabe chokes on his water at the sound of that nickname.
“Please tell me no one calls you that.”
“The girls do. They love me.”
“You think too highly of yourself. Even more than Dwight does of himself,” Gabe shakes his head. “Your ego is going to get you shot.”
“Doubt it.” Logan shrugged. He let his thoughts roam back to Ava and after losing another game to Gabe, he kicked him out.
Dre Johnson’s Yacht Party 2018
Gabe had just finished ironing his blue and white Hawaiian and putting it on over his undershirt with confidence. He paired it with starch white pants and his brand new polo shoes he’d bought when shopping with his parents.
He put the finishing touches on his hair and walked over to Logan’s room.
He wasn’t kidding about the all-white.
And it was the whitest white Gabe had ever seen in his life.
Logan was dressed head to toe in white, dark sunglasses and a silver watch he’d probably stolen from his brother on his last visit home.
“I look great, don’t I?” Logan asked, doing a little twirl.
“You look bright as hell man and paler than usual. This white is something else.” Gabe tells him, squinting his eyes dramatically.
“Shut up, I look great.” Logan admires himself in the mirror.
“What time did Dwight and Ava say they were meeting us?” Gabe asked, sitting down in the chair in Logan’s room.
“Dwight said 8, Ava didn’t text me back,” Logan told him.
Dwight stood shirtless in his dorm, switching between his orange and yellow Ralph Lauren shirts.
He had on very light blue pants and sneakers, a gold watch, and a matching gold chain.
Everything but a shirt.
His indecisiveness was going to make him late.
He picked up his phone and quickly called Ava to come and help him decide.
She arrived 10 minutes later, dressed in a gorgeous red and orange sundress, and red sandals, her hair pulled into a messy ponytail full of untamed curls.
Dwight couldn’t even think about what he was going to ask her when he opened the door.
“Whoa…”
“What?” Ava asks, eyebrows knitted with confusion. “Is there something in my hair? I walked under a tree on the way over here.” She asks, ducking over to the mirror to check for herself. Dwight comes behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She leans into the embrace.
“No, you look great. Like a summertime princess.”
“It’s only March. But thank you.” She kissed his cheek.
Dwight shrugs, letting her go and reaching for his shirt.
“Which shirt, orange or yellow?” He asked, holding both shirts up near his chest.”
“Yellow obviously, it goes way better with the blue pants you have on. Blue and orange will never go together for as long as I live.”
Dwight threw the orange shirt on the bed and slipped the yellow shirt over his head.
“You’re the best.”
“You look great. We should head over to Logan’s, he has been texting me all day.” Ava tells him.
“I don’t know why, I told him 8,” Dwight told her, locking his dorm room and taking her hand.
Ava looked down at their intertwined hands, smiling.
They walked slowly over to Logans, not caring if anyone saw them.
Gabe opened the door to Logan's dorm and the pair dropped hands.
But that didn’t go unnoticed.
“Geez Logan, that is a very bright white,” Ava says, holding her hand over her eyes.
“Right, isn’t it great? I look great.” Logan said, throwing his arm over her shoulder.
“If we don’t leave now, the boat will leave without us,” Dwight said, staring at Logan’s arm around Ava, hoping it would burn off.
“Who’s driving?” Gabe asked.
No one spoke, they all looked at Gabe. He rolled his eyes, fishing his pocket for his keys.
“Okay, I’ll drive.” Gabe had the nicest car. Being an only child and all.
His gray Range Rover was the envy of the entire campus.
Logan tried to get in the back with Ava but Gabe snatched him by his shirt collar and tossed him in the front seat.
Ava and Dwight held hands under a layer in her dress but were careful not to sit too close.
The conversation was perfectly normal between friends as they drove to the dock.
“This boat is freaking huge.” Ava admires as they approach the dock, looking at Dre’s yacht.
“Dre is one lucky senior,” Dwight mumbled.
“Guys, and beautiful young lady! So glad you could make it. Hurry up and get on. There’s drinks, a dance floor, a movie room, the pool room, a sitting room, and various other just places to hang out, we’re leaving the dock in 10 minutes.” Dre announced to the group as they were leaving the car.
The music was so loud and the lights on the boat were amazing.
Dwight and Ava immediately went to the dance floor, Gabe went to the snack room and Logan got lost in a group of sophomore girls who pined over him and his all-white.
At around 11, most of the people aboard the yacht were drunk.
Including Gabe, Logan, and Dwight.
Ava was practically sitting on Dwight and he was telling her about how if he wasn’t drunk, he’d be seasick.
Logan was flexing his muscles somewhere by a pool full of women.
Gabe was reading an article on boats and sharing what he thought was interesting information with Dwight and Ava.
Ava had only had one and a half wine coolers, she didn’t like alcohol but liked to watch other people get intoxicated.
Gabe clicked off his cell phone and looked at his friends.
“So what’s going on with you guys?” He slurs, swirling around his vodka and pineapple juice.
Ava looks at Dwight who is rocking his head back and forth and rubbing on her leg.
“I will answer your question when he sobers up,” Ava responded.
“What question?” Logan pops up, swinging around the table and landing next to Gabe.
“I was asking about Dwight and Ava,” Gabe tells him, half-lidded eyes looking at him.
Ava shook her head, immediately tensing up in Dwight’s lap.
“What about them?”
“Dude, isn’t it obvious? They liiiike each other and stuff.” Gabe was a chatty drunk.
“What proof do you have?” Dwight asks, looking directly at Logan despite him not being the one talking.
“Well, I caught you guys holding hands and shit on the drive over here. My mirror is very clear.” Gabe says, taking another sip of his drink.
Logan frowns, blinking between all of his friends.
Ava said nothing.
She got up from her spot next to Dwight and went upstairs to the top of the boat.
Dwight was going to follow her but changed his mind, to give her a minute.
“So, is there something going on between you two? I mean, I thought friends share stuff?” Logan asked, crossing his arms over his chest, in utter disbelief that something like this would be kept from him.
Dwight shrugged.
“It’s not a secret, we’re just taking it slow right now, I’d appreciate it if you guys fell back a little, I don’t want her to feel rushed,” Dwight tells his friends, looking in the direction of where Ava went.
Gabe nodded and saluted his friend. “I’ll keep it hush, sorry bro.”
Logan rolls his eyes. He gets up and goes back to where he’d come from, leaving the two of them alone.
Dwight looks at Gabe with a frown. “What’s his problem?”
Gabe chews on his lip. He didn’t have enough evidence to confirm that Logan might have a thing for Ava. He’d never actually said it so Gabe just shook his head.
“Not sure, maybe just upset you didn’t tell us? He thinks we’re blood-bonded and need to share everything.”
“Well, some stuff I’d like to keep to myself. I like what me and Ava have right now. It’s new and I don’t want to rush her.”
Gabe just nodded, fully understanding.
The boat rocked slightly, making them both lean over in the booth they were sitting in.
Then came a scream and a giant splash of water.
Dwight and Gabe turned to see people looking over the edge of the boat and into the water.
A minute later, Logan came running from around the corner.
“I think that was Ava!” Logan screams, his eyes wild.
Dwight got up immediately, sobering up completely.
“Ava? That was her that just screamed?” He yells.
Logan nodded frantically. “Her dress, I saw her dress-”
The three of them ran to look over the deck, they saw nothing but dark water.
Dwight ran up the stairs to the top deck where Ava had been. The deck was an open space, with no doors or anything. Only the railing that went all the way around the top.
She wasn’t there.
Dwight flew back down the steps, his head in his hands.
“She can’t fucking swim, Logan go get her!” Gabe yelled, looking over the boat, searching for her.
Neither Dwight nor Gabe knew how to swim either, especially not in the middle of the dark lake somewhere.
Logan was the only one who could swim.
“I’m not jumping in there!” Logan yells back.
Dwight was taking off his shoes and jewelry and was about to jump when Gabe caught him by the waist and tackled him to the ground.
“I’m not losing two friends today, we’ll go downstairs and ask Dre to do it,” Gabe tells him as he holds him back. Someone has to be the rational one here.
Gabe and Dwight run down the steps to the first floor to look for Dre.
He was in the pool room with his girlfriend.
“Dre! Ava fell off the boat and into the lake, she can’t swim! Will you get her please?!” Dwight pleaded.
Dre gets up immediately and goes to the edge of the boat where everyone was looking in the water for Ava to resurface.
He jumped overboard and into the dark lake.
Dwight and Gabe watch, and Logan watches from upstairs.
Dre resurfaced several times to catch his breath but came up with nothing.
Both Dwight and Gabe were practically in tears at this point.
It had been about 10 minutes.
Dre came up a fourth time and looked at the guys.
“I think I found something! Somebody call an ambulance and tell the driver to pull over to the nearest dock.”
Dwight darted through the crowd over to the driver, giving him instructions as Dre climbed back onto the boat with Ava’s limp, soaking-wet body. He tried CPR and compressions, he and Dwight taking turns and begging her to wake up.
Nothing was working.
The driver pulled up to the nearest dock and the police were waiting for them.
Dwight held Ava’s lifeless body and sobbed loudly.
Gabe could have passed out at the sight of his dead friend.
Logan had joined the rest of the party, tears running down his face.
An officer pried Ava’s body out of Dwight’s arms and lifted her onto a gurney.
Gabe and Logan both held back a hysterical Dwight from grabbing onto her as the officers took her away.
The boat was cleared and everyone was told to find rides either home or back to campus.
Dwight sat on a bench next to his friends, with blankets wrapped around them.
He had gone completely silent.
He couldn’t move or speak to anyone. Officers were asking everyone questions and everyone said the same thing.
“The last people I saw her with were Dwight, Logan, and Gabe, she’s always with them.”
The boys sat on the bench until someone approached them.
Detective Lola Francis was the best Detective in Gainesville, Florida.
Also known as Auntie Lola and his mother’s twin sister to Dwight.
She didn’t say anything when she first approached the boys. She studied them.
Gabriel first. His eyes were down, sad and distant, lips quivering, shoulders slumped, he looked like dead weight if someone tried to move him.
She looked at Logan next.
He was sitting back, staring at a bush, shoulders not as slumped but he was leaning to one side, cheek resting on his arm and arm leaning on the bench.
Dwight was sitting in between them, both boys had a grip on his wrists to keep him from running over to lifeless Ava.
Each had a leg wrapped around his too.
His pupils were dilated, it didn’t even look like he was breathing. He was staring straight ahead, an expressionless look on his face, it looked like if someone knocked him over, he would shatter. Dry tear stains faded on his cheeks.
Lola leaned down in front of the boys.
Gabe and Logan looked at her but Dwight continued to stare straight ahead.
As if she weren’t there.
“What happened?” She mumbled to them.
“Dwight loved that girl, we all did. Anyone who met her loved her but he was in love with her.” Gabe spoke first.
“She fell, none of us can swim,” Logan told her.
Gabe cut his eyes at Logan.
Logan could swim, he was just an asshole.
“I’m going to have to take all of you to the station with me. Your parents have been called and will be waiting for you there but you will be in police custody.”
Gabe frowned.
“Wait in custody? Why Mrs. Francis?”
Detective Francis got up and looked at Gabe.
“You were the last people to see her. Be around her and now she’s dead.”
Dwight exhaled suddenly after hearing the word dead.
“She’s dead?” He whispered barely audible.
Detective Francis nodded.
She took her nephew’s hand.
“I’m so sorry, honey.”
Dwight covered his face and sobbed quietly.
The police escorted the group away and to the police station.
What happened?
As soon as they arrived at the station, all the parents were waiting for their children.
Gabe’s parents pulled him into a tight hug as he cried silently in their arms. A part of him felt like he was drunk still. Or asleep and maybe this was all just a nightmare he could wake up from at some point. No one in his life that was close to him ever died, he didn’t know how to feel this.
He couldn’t even imagine what Ava’s parents were going through.
He cried for them too.
Logan’s parents sat next to him, holding his hand. He leaned on his mother’s shoulders, letting tears fall. He thinks about the last thing he said to her, wishing he could take it back.
Dwight practically fell into his mother's arms.
He’d just told his parents about his budding relationship with Ava and how he was already starting to fall for her. Something he’d never felt before. He’d never cried harder before in his life.
Dwight’s mother got up and walked over to her sister who was talking to fellow officers.
The women were identical, the only difference was London, Dwight’s mom, wore glasses.
“What happened?” London asked, folding her arms and keeping her voice low.
Detective Lola sighed.
“Ava Roberts drowned on that yacht during the party.”
“Okay I know that but why are the boys here?” London asked, rolling her eyes.
“They have to be questioned like everyone else,” Lola told her.
“I get that but why Dwight? You see he’s in complete shock, let us take him home and we’ll come back tomorrow or in a few days when he can actually breathe.” London said to her sister.
“I can’t do that, London,” Lola muttered, looking away from her sister.
London frowns. “And why the hell not?”
“He was one of the last people to see the girl. He’s a suspect.” Lola whispered as fellow officers walked by them.
London took a step back, eyeing her sister up and down.
“What do you mean suspect? He didn’t do anything, he really liked that girl, that was his friend.” She was trying very hard not to raise her voice.
“She was friends with the other two as well. They said the boat rocked and she somehow fell into the water. Nobody saw her fall and she couldn't swim. A few minutes went by before someone jumped in there and got her. She was already dead by the time that happened.”
London just listened. She looked over at her son and the other two boys.
“I know for a fact Dwight can’t swim. Water terrifies him. He only went to that party because Dre is his friend and his other friends were going,” London says.
“Okay, I get that but was he drinking? Was she drinking? Were the other two drinking? What did she trip on? Who witnessed that? Questions that one of them needs to answer for them to not be considered suspects.”
London looked back over at her son, he was lying on his father's shoulder, staring straight ahead.
Rashad, Dwight’s father, was praying silently, holding his son.
She looked at Gabe, he was lying on his mom's shoulders, eyes closed.
Logan was talking to his mom and dad, trying to distract himself from what was happening.
London turned back, following behind as her sister walked away. “I want you to hurry up and question him so I can take my baby home please.”
Lola stopped walking and took a deep breath.
“It’s a process, London, I can’t just question him and let him go. Hell, I can’t even be the one to question him because he’s related to me. He’s a witness to someone dying, whether it was an accident or not, he was there and needs to be questioned.” Lola explained.
London wanted to slap her.
Lola and Dwight were pretty close and now she was acting like she barely knew him.
London leaned forward close to her sister's face.
“You know he didn’t do anything to that girl.” She whispered loud enough for only Lola to hear.
“I still have to question him,” Lola whispered back and walked away.
“What do you think happened?” Lola asked her partner as she approached where she was standing and observing the three boys, Special Agent Nikki Ross.
“I can’t tell yet. I’ve been on plenty of boats that have taken sharp turns and people fall, and drinks get knocked onto the floor. Never on a yacht, though. Those are big boats and even if they rock a little, it’s not hard enough to fall off. What I would like to know is, was she drinking and that’s why she fell or was there an altercation? That’s the only thing I’m thinking about right now.” Nikki told Lola as she looked over at the boys.
“That might be my biggest question as well. There were a few people there who were drinking legally and some drinking illegally. The host jumped in there to save her.” Lola relays to her from her notes.
Agent Ross raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrows.
“So you’re telling me, these three grown ass men sitting here crying in our station, none of them can swim, at all?” She asked, crossing her arms like it was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard.
“I know for a fact my nephew can’t swim, I don’t know about the other two. It’s easy to say you can’t swim but when something like this happens, you'd expect one of them to do something.”
“The host said Dwight and Gabe came and got him but how much time was in between?” Agent Ross asked, going over it like a math problem.
The two women looked at Gabe, Logan, and Dwight, who were still trying to process their friend’s drowning.
A dumb way to die.
One of them could have saved her.
But chose not to.
Agent Ross was confused.
Questioning.
Gabriel Motors.
12:56 Am. March 4th 2018
“This is Detective Lola Francis, accompanied by Special Agent Nikki Ross, being witnessed by Officer James Waters,” Lola spoke into her recorder.
“It is 12:56 on the morning of March 4th, 2018, we are questioning Gabriel Motors on the recent death of UF student Ava Roberts. She was pronounced dead at 11:14 pm, March 3rd, 2018.” Lola spoke.
She set the recorder down in front of Gabriel. He was nervous, sad, and still in a complete state of shock. Hearing all these things, sitting in the hard, cold chair, he never thought he’d ever be here for something like this.
He’d never been inside a police station before tonight and never inside a questioning room. There was a mirror where he could only see himself, the two officers, and the other officer in the corner, making sure nothing went wrong. There was a small window in the door leading out but it was blurry to see out of.
He was sweating profusely. The chair was hurting his back and he just wanted to tell them he knew nothing so he could get out of there.
“So Gabe, I’ve known you for a little while. Can you tell me what happened tonight? From the start of your night leading up to seeing Ava fall off the boat.”
“I didn’t see her fall. I heard a scream and then heard the splash.” Gabe said quickly, looking up at Lola with frantic eyes.
“Tell us about your night,” Nikki says from the other side of the room. Gabe looks at her, swallowing. She was taller than him, she didn’t smile and she was blonde, he had every right to be terrified.
“It was normal. I ironed my clothes around 4 o’clock, just to make sure they were ironed and ready for the party. I played a little of the game, texted my mom which is something I’m always doing. Logan had texted everyone asking what time he should be ready because he likes to get ready at the last minute. Dwight told all of us 8 so I showered at around 7, did my hair, got dressed, and made my way to Logan’s dorm. He was dressed and bragging about his outfit. Dwight and Ava came to Logan’s dorm right at 7:55 and we agreed that I would be driving.” Gabe recalled, speaking quickly and taking a deep breath at the end.
Lola and Nikki looked at each other. Lola sat down across from Gabe while Nikki stood next to him.
“Was anything different about Dwight and Ava when they arrived?” Nikki asked, watching Gabe’s every move.
“They were holding hands but let go when I opened the door.”
“You knew they were an item?”
“No. Dwight would tell me later on in the night.”
“So it was like any normal night?” Lola asked.
Gabe nodded.
“Was there any drinking?” Nikki asked, sitting next to Lola.
Gabe nodded lightly. He knew he wasn’t old enough to be drinking and that was a crime within itself.
“I know I’m underaged, but everyone was drinking and I felt like I had to.”
“How many drinks did you have?”
“About five. I was hammered.”
“What happened right before Ava went to the top floor of the boat?”
Gabe looked down a little ashamed.
“I told the group that Dwight and Ava might have been something. Only because I talk a lot when I drink.” He admitted.
“I thought you said Dwight actually told you,” Lola said.
“He did after Ava went upstairs. He said it had only been a few days and he wanted to keep it to himself for a while.”
“Were you jealous?”
“No no! I only liked Ava as a friend, I’m way too focused on school to like girls. Or guys. Or anyone. Ava’s a beautiful woman but I never looked at her as more than a friend.” Gabe could feel himself getting choked up.
“Was Ava upset when she went upstairs?”
“She seemed to be with me for running my mouth.”
“So, really the only person in your four-person group who didn’t know was Logan, am I correct?” Lola asked, moving the tape recorder closer to him.
“I’m pretty sure he knew. It was obvious on the ride to the boat.”
“Was he jealous?” Nikki asked him.
Gabe swallowed. If he said yes, his best friend could be in trouble. It wasn’t like he was jealous enough to do something so heinous.
“No. He liked Ava as a friend too,”
“Did anyone go up after her?” Lola asked.
“No, we just let her be until we heard a scream and a splash and went to get Dre.”
“You can’t swim? At all?” Nikki asked him, sitting up.
“No ma’am. I’ve had a few unsuccessful lessons when I was younger, but haven’t since,”
“No one in your little group could swim?”
“Dwight was about to but he is more scared of water than any of us, he would have ended up...” Gabe swallowed his words, he was quite ready to say it but he had a feeling they knew what he meant.
Ava was dead.
Surreal.
“How much time between hearing her fall and going to get Dre was there?”
“Time kind of stopped. I honestly don’t even know.”
Lola and Nikki look at each other.
“Okay Gabriel, thank you,” Lola says, patting his hand and ending the tape.
Questioning the other two went about the same. Dwight was so upset he could barely speak and Logan wouldn’t make eye contact with either of them and burst into tears when they were finished. Lola didn’t suspect any of them but something about it still didn’t feel right. Or real.
The boat couldn’t have rocked that hard for her to just fall off. Unless she was really close to the edge. Dangerously close.
Lola went to sleep replaying it over and over in her mind, trying to get it to add up. But it wouldn’t.
A day later
The boys all sat curled up on Dwight’s couch the next day. They were close enough to admit that they were borderline cuddling, all holding onto each other for dear life after losing their friend.
It’s spring break now and they’re not in the mood to party, socialize, or even move.
One minute, Ava and Dwight were making spring break plans to visit Miami Beach and now, they were deciding what to wear to her funeral in a couple of days.
Ava’s older brother, MJ, had called Dwight earlier that morning before his friends arrived to talk. Dwight and MJ were pretty good friends, they liked the same football team and would often go to games together whenever MJ was in town. MJ liked Dwight and his sister together, he was rooting for them.
MJ wanted to check on Dwight. They cried together and MJ asked Dwight to make a speech at her funeral. Dwight agreed of course.
Mrs. Roberts, Ava’s mother, was a complete mess. Ava was her only daughter. She’d put her husband in charge of the funeral arrangements and locked herself in her bedroom.
Dwight didn’t mention the speech to Gabe or Logan, wanting to keep it private so he could get his thoughts and feelings out without their opinions or grievances over him not telling them about his relationship with Ava. He was also still in a lot of shock and he just wanted to be there for his friends so they could be there for him.
London made the boys some food, encouraging them to get up and eat at the table since they hadn’t moved since the morning time.
“You boys should get dressed and go to the vigil tonight at the school,” Lola suggested, rubbing her son’s shoulder as he leaned on her shoulder, silent tears rolling down his face.
“That’s a good idea.” Gabe finally said, forking over his food.
Logan got up from the table, not saying anything, grabbing his keys and walking out the front door. The three of them watched without saying a word.
London just thought it was grief. Dwight thought he wanted to be alone. Gabe knew it was anger.
But what about?
“So, Ava had bruises on her back and her elbow from a recent fall. Her skin is very sensitive, any small scratches or bumps will bruise, which means she got these sometime before she fell overboard. She also has head trauma, meaning she hit something hard when she landed in the water, maybe a rock,” The Medical Examiner told both Lola and Nikki when they arrived a few days later to get her final report.
“Is the bruising consistent with a fall…or a push overboard?” Lola asks as she looks down at Ava’s body. She makes the sign of the cross and pulls the sheet back up.
“Either one yes because of the way she fell. Not to say she wasn’t attempting to dive but the bruising is consistent with a fall…or a push.” Dr. Miranda confirmed, handing Lola her chart.
Lola opened it and showed it to Nikki.
“You’re ruling it inconclusive?” Nikki asked, her arms crossing.
“I am. I wanna run some tissue samples on the bruising on her elbow, it looks like a hand outline, possibly but I can’t be sure.”
Lola and Nikki share their infamous look.
“What do you mean by hand outline?” Lola asks for both of them.
Dr. Miranda faced them both. “I mean, I think I see a fingerprint indent on her arm. Meaning someone grabbed her hard enough for her skin to bruise before she…fell.” She said to the both of them before turning around and leaving the two women standing there with their mouths agape.
The Funeral
Dwight looked around at all the people. Everyone who knew and loved Ava gathered around in the park to celebrate her life. Her family was huge on its own but all the people from campus who came, people he didn’t even know she knew were there.
As he, Gabe, and Logan walked by, the students whispered and stared at them. Like they’d done something.
“Why is everyone staring at us like we pushed her off the boat?” Gabe asked, sitting down next to one of Ava’s aunts and giving her a nervous smile. She patted his leg and he instantly felt at ease.
“Cause people are idiots,” Logan answered as he sat on Gabe’s other side, he had a sour look on his face as he looked around at all the people. She was so popular.
Dwight went over to talk to MJ.
“I’m glad you’re doing this D, I know Ava really loved you man, thank you,” MJ whispered to him as they hugged.
Dwight wanted to break down and cry. He could barely even speak, he just nodded.
“We saved you a seat with us, plus Mom wants to speak with you,” MJ told him, guiding him to sit with his family.
He looked over at his friends who were staring at him, waiting for him to come back and sit next to them but he followed MJ instead.
“What’s he doing?” Gabe whispered to Logan as he looked over at Dwight.
“Betraying us, that’s what he’s doing, we should go over there. We loved Ava just as much as he did, maybe even more.” Logan sneered, about to stand up. The sound of the Pastor's voice immediately sat him down when he realized they were about to start.
“Good afternoon. Thank you all so much for joining us on this unhappy occasion. Ava would have been overjoyed with the amount of love she is receiving right now. I would like to start with a prayer…”
Dwight sat down next to Ava’s mother, who had tears running down her face as she sat next to her husband.
When the prayer was over, she turned to Dwight.
“Ava loved you. Even though you were only together for a few days. I could tell even before that in the way she talked about you. I appreciate you giving a speech today.” Avery whispered to Dwight.
He took her hand.
“I loved her too, Mrs. Roberts. She was so wonderful. This is all so surreal for me.”
“I feel like I’m having a nightmare in a never-ending nap.”
Dwight nodded.
The funeral went on for half an hour before it was time for speeches.
MJ was first.
When he concluded, with tears running down his face he set flowers on his sister's body in her open casket.
Her father and mother were next. Malcolm did all the talking, holding his wife’s hand as she cried.
“Someone very close to Ava would like to say a few words,” Malcolm concluded, pointing out Dwight.
Dwight held his speech in his hand for about 5 minutes as he stood at the podium.
Birds chirped, the wind breezed by and no one said a word.
“Okay, we were close to her too. Why didn’t we get to make a frickin’ speech?” Logan asked, crossing his arms.
“M-my name is Dwight Cunningham. I was Ava’s...boyfriend,” Logan’s jaw dropped, Gabe however, wasn’t surprised to know that. He also wasn’t mad about it.
“Me and my friends knew Ava for almost two years, we met her when she was just about to start as a freshman. She was one of the smartest people I’d ever met. She was ambitious and goal-oriented. She was also the most beautiful woman I’d ever met,” He pauses, swallowing as he can see her face in his head. “When I met her mother, I knew instantly where she got it from. Mrs. Roberts, you raised a magnificent, smart, gorgeous, funny, adventurous woman who I was glad to have known...and fallen in love with…”
“Love? What does that dumbass know about love?” Logan mumbled to himself.
Gabe gave him a look similar to a look a mom would give a bad kid.
“Me and my friends are grateful to have known her in the short time she was here,” Dwight was trying to keep tears from coming out of his eyes.
“Thank you.”
He went and sat back down next to Ava’s mother, taking her hand.
“I’m not buying any of this crap,” Logan muttered, rolling his eyes.
“What are you talking about?” Gabe gritted through his teeth as one of Ava’s cousins got up to speak.
Logan scoffed. “We were all friends with her, we all loved her, we all knew her parents and everything.”
Gabe rolled his eyes, he couldn’t believe he was dealing with Logan’s bullshit right now. Curse Dwight for leaving him to play the babysitter.
“Okay, but Logan, Dwight was in love with her. It’s different when you love someone.” “Not buying it.” Logan shook his head and slumped in his seat.
When the funeral was over, everyone was giving their condolences to the family and Dwight.
Logan was drinking by the food table, staring his friend down, trying to burn a hole in his forehead.
“This service was beautiful,” Gabe told him as he was stuffing his face with meatballs.
“I honestly didn’t know Dwight and Ava got married,” Logan said sarcastically.
Gabe rolled his eyes.
“Let it go, Logan, she’s dead for God’s Sake. Let her rest. Let this whole jealous act rest. Let’s just support Dwight so we can move the hell on.” Gabe muttered, annoyed.
A few people looked at them but turned around, minding their business.
Dwight sat down finally in a chair in the corner with a small plate of food, far away from anyone who could bother him.
Ava was gone. He could process it now.
He should have never taken her on that boat.
There were other people
On the boat
Jack Evans.
Anika Marcelle.
Kia Scott.
Three more witnesses.
The three students who were on the same deck as Dwight, Gabe, Ava, and Logan.
Kia and Jack were a longtime couple, friends with Ava and drunken witnesses to the evening.
Anika Marcelle was on another set of steps leading to the top deck and remembers hearing things before Ava’s great fall.
Lola and Nikki got a call from Anika that morning saying she and two other students had some information that might help the case.
The officers questioned the couple first.
“Alright, who wants to go first?” Agent Ross asked.
Kia raised her hand slightly.
Agent Ross pointed the recorder towards him.
“Jack and I have been friends with Ava since the sophomore year started. She was nice to me when I first moved into her dorm and gave us a campus tour. Whenever we’d hang out with her, she’d always mention Dwight, I know him, he’s in my Civil Rights class. She really liked him and was working up the courage to ask him out,” Kia started.
“We were hanging out with her a little on the boat, she, Dwight, and Gabe. Logan was downstairs entertaining women.” Jack inserted.
“He came back up eventually and joined us. He kept making glances and stuff at Ava.”
“Was Ava drunk?”
“Ava doesn’t like the taste of alcohol. She might have had a wine cooler or two but that was it, I think she was the designated driver for the night.” Jack told them.
Lola raised her eyebrows.
“Did either of you see Ava storm off at any point?”
“Yeah, we had gone to the edge of the boat to look at the water and have some alone time and I saw her storm upstairs out of the corner of my eye,” Jack remembered.
“Does one follow her?” Agent Ross asked.
“Either Gabe or Logan, Dwight was sitting the entire time.”
“We had gone downstairs after that, I got hungry,” Kia told them.
Nikki turned off the recorder and smiled at the both of them.
“Thank you both so much.” She escorted them outside.
Lola ushered in Anika.
Anika was just a freshman, she’d never been in a police station but she was afraid if she held the information in, someone would find out and she’d be sent to jail.
“Hi, Anika. What made you come forward with this information?” Lola asked, setting the recorder in front of her.
Anika looked at the recorder nervously and then down at her shoes.
“Because the funeral was so beautiful and I felt bad because I heard her right before she fell,”
“What was she doing?”
“Well, I was sitting on the other set of steps leading up to the top deck, trying to get some service to text my boyfriend and I heard footsteps. She didn’t say anything and then I heard another set of feet. I couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying because I wasn’t listening. Then it sounded like she was arguing. Then I heard her say “Stop!” and then she screamed, that’s when I walked up further and she had already fallen. I ran downstairs to see if she was resurfacing and that’s when Dre jumped in.”
“Were you drinking that night?” Agent Ross asked.
“No ma’am, I do not drink. I love boats so when I was invited, I was only going because I love boats,”
“Was the voice you heard a male voice?” Lola asked, giving the girl a tissue.
Anika nodded meekly.
“I don’t know what he looked like though but it was definitely a guy she was arguing with,”
“Anika, do you think whoever the guy was, pushed her off the boat?”
“I think so, ma’am.”
Nikki sighed. She was expecting this. Between the Medical Examiners inconclusive report and now three witnesses, she was sure Ava was probably murdered.
“Thank you very much, Anika.” Lola turns off the recorder and walks Anika to her car.
When she went back inside, Nikki hadn’t moved. She was trying to stop herself from losing it. It was always way too hard to have to rule a young woman's death as a murder and then search for the bastard to figure out why he did it. She swallowed heavily, clearing her throat and wiping her eyes.
“You okay?” Lola asked her friend.
Nikki shook her head.
“Somebody pushed her off of a boat. Left her to drown knowing she couldn’t swim. I’ve heard of terrible things but that girl had so much potential, so loved, you saw all those people at her damn funeral. She was falling in love and one of them lousy, assholes decided she shouldn’t. Unbelievable.” Nikki says, her voice cracking in an attempt to keep it together.
“The hard part is getting them to admit which one it was,”
Nikki looked at her.
“You heard Kia, she said she definitely saw either Logan or Gabe. All three of them said Dwight just let her be,” Lola told her, running her hands through her hair.
“We could just accuse all three and call it a day. They all lied to protect someone. Lying under federal law, acquaintance to murder, anything else I can think of.” Nikki sniffed.
“Should we get them before this leaks somehow?”
“Absolutely. We’ve got witnesses and it won’t be long before one of them fucking breaks and confesses and if we have to put them in a lineup, so be it.” Agent Ross said to her partner before walking off to get started on it.
Too late
Earlier that day, the three friends decided to take a trip to Orlando, Florida, to escape the sadness that had watered over Gainesville.
Their spring break was going on for another three days so they decided to make the most of it.
Gabe was of course driving in his car, Logan was in the backseat on his phone and Dwight was in the passenger seat, fast asleep.
Car rides always relaxed him, especially since he had barely slept since the yacht party.
Gabe was quietly listening to music on his stereo, trying not to wake his friend.
“Do you think this trip was a good idea, despite everything that’s going on?” Gabe asked Logan, eyeing him in the mirror.
Logan smirks. “This trip is exactly what we need man, a little distraction from the real world,” Logan reassured, leaning up to pat his shoulder.
Gabe nodded and continued to drive.
When the boys arrive, Gabe wakes up Dwight and they check into their hotel.
“I’m going down to the pool to scope out the women, meet me down there later on guys, whenever you get your heads out of your asses,” Logan told them, changing quickly into swim trunks and sunglasses and leaving the room.
“He’s sleeping on the couch,” Dwight mutters.
Gabe hums in agreement.
Dwight took a shower as Gabe flipped through the channels on the TV.
He stopped on the news when he saw a press conference being held by Detective Lola Francis.
“Do you think someone might have pushed her off of the boat instead of her falling?” One reporter asked.
“We interviewed a witness that confirms that Ava Roberts was not alone when she fell off of the yacht,” Lola answered.
“Do you have any suspects?” Another reporter asked.
“Yes, we do. The suspects are fellow college students, they will be brought in and questioned as soon as we find them.” Her response was completely confident.
“Find them? Did they escape from custody?”
“No, they didn’t. They were her friends and not originally suspects but after questioning the witnesses they are now.”
Gabe’s heart almost fell out of his chest.
“Dwight?!” He called but Dwight was standing right behind him in boxers and a white t-shirt, mouth agape.
“Someone talked to her before she fell?” Dwight breathed out like he couldn’t believe it.
Gabe swallowed.
Dwight didn’t waste another second, he darted out of the door and towards the beach. Gabe hopped up and quickly ran after him.
Vacation Over
Logan was doing exactly what he said he’d be doing; tanning next to a bunch of girls he didn’t know.
Dwight and Gabe walked down to the pool and yanked Logan off his seat.
“What do you chumps want?”
“We have to go back home, dude-” Gabe told him.
Dwight pulled Logan close to his face.
“Lola said a witness came forward and told her that someone was talking to Ava right before she fell. Gabe was with me and she didn’t talk to anybody else that night, so it had to have been you! Did you see her fall?” Dwight spat, trying hard to keep his voice low.
Logan swallowed.
“I went up there to check on her but I could barely walk up the stairs so I went to get some water and when I was walking back up, I saw her fall. The image of her dress falling from what looked like the sky won’t erase from my brain. It’s on replay up there. I came here to try not to think about it.”
“So you saw her fall? And you left that part out?” Gabe ran a frantic hand through his head.
“Yeah but there wasn’t shit I could do, that’s why I came to get you guys!”
Dwight was twitching, his brain trying to process this information.
“Logan, you can swim!” He screeched, catching the attention of the other people.
Gabe pulled them all away from the crowd and to a secluded part of the beach.
“Logan, why didn’t you tell us you actually saw her, we all look like liars now!” Gabe exasperated, his face flushing hot.
“I barely even saw her, I wasn’t even all the way up the stairs, all I saw was the dress and heard the scream-”
“Then who was she talking to? Who are the witnesses talking about?!” Dwight jacked Logan up, and Gabe stepped between them.
“I don’t know!” Logan yelled back, not backing down.
“You don’t get it. We lied for you dude, we said we were all the last to see her but now the story has changed and we look like liars. We have to go back and tell them this, they could arrest us and throw us in jail for lying and we’ll get kicked out of school and-” Gabe told him.
Logan pushed Dwight off him, straightening out his shirt.
“Look! I appreciate the loyalty but we aren’t leaving until it’s time to go. Try to enjoy yourselves.”
Logan put his sunglasses back on and went back to join his group of strangers.
Gabe shook his head as they watched him go. Dwight stood with his fists clenched.
“Logan talked to her before she fell?” Dwight breathed out like he couldn’t believe it.
“Dude… do you think…?” Gabe couldn’t even finish his sentence.
“It’s Logan, no no, he would never.” Dwight shook his head, trying to convince himself.
Gabe wasn’t so convinced.
He wanted to tell Dwight about Logan’s secret, all of a sudden crush on Ava right before it was announced that she and Dwight were a thing.
Did Logan already know about them getting together and just wanted to ruin it?
Couldn’t be. They were friends.
“Logan didn’t do anything to her. She fell off the boat, he’s not a vicious murderer, he’s our brother and we have to protect him, do you hear me?” Dwight said right in Gabe’s face as he stood frozen in his spot.
Gabe blinked back tears. He wanted to tell Dwight but Logan was his best friend and he knew Dwight would kill Logan if he found out he had something to do with this.
Then that would be two down.
“Find them!” Lola screamed into her phone, clicking the end button and shoving it into her pocket.
Nikki threw her cigarette butt on the ground, squashing it, and looked at her partner.
“Dwight’s parents said the last they saw of him was last night, he told them he was going to Gabe’s. Gabe’s parents said he was going to Logan and Logan’s parents said he was going to Dwight’s. So they’re with each other but just somewhere else.” Nikki updates her.
Lola scoffs.
“They’re liars. That’s some high school pattern lying. They’re just tired of seeing their kids in the police station. I’ve got every officer I could think of on the Gainesville border looking for them. I think they ran.” Lola said to Nikki.
Nikki shook her head.
“Can’t be sure the parents are lying. Their kids are grown, they don’t have to tell them anything at this point. Did you check the campus?”
Lola nodded.
“No one’s seen them since the funeral, checked their dorms too, nothing.”
“I’ll call my buddies in Miami, Jacksonville, and Orlando, see if they can spot them,” Nikki told her.
Lola nodded and went back into the building.
Dwight, Gabe, and Logan were sitting in a restaurant, waiting for their food, chatting.
“You’re going to be a senior in a few months Dwight. How’s that feel?” Logan asked, trying to ease the tension that was still brewing among them.
Dwight gave him a weary smile, unclenching his jaw.
“Feels good man. College is really the dumbest and smartest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I can’t wait for the academy.”
“You’re going to be a pig, I’m going to be friends with a cop,” Logan gritted, chuckling.
“Detective, get it right asshole. Better pay, better benefits, better crime.”
Logan rolled his eyes, taking a sip of the drink Dwight ordered him.
Gabe was quiet, looking out the window.
Logan and Dwight followed his gaze and saw that he was staring at a girl.
Dwight nudged Logan who was smiling. Gabe had never had a girlfriend. He was way too focused on school and wanting to succeed to want a girlfriend but he did like girls. A lot.
“Gabe, I was with her and her friends earlier, I could say something to her for you if you want dude,” Logan said, nudging.
Gabe turned back to his friends, blushing.
“No man, it’s alright, we’re only here for a couple of days.”
“All the more reason to go for it, you never know where she lives.” Logan insisted.
Gabe wasn’t convinced but Logan was not about to take no for an answer.
He got up and went outside to the girl.
Gabe turned around and watched them talk.
Before he knew it, Logan and the girl were on their way to the restaurant.
She sat next to Gabe and looked at him.
“Hi.” He mumbled.
She smiled
“Hi, I’m Tanya.”
“Gabriel.” They shook hands.
“Just call me a matchmaker. She lives in Ocala, Gabe, at least 40 minutes from campus. 30 depending on how fast you want to drive.” Logan said, winking.
Later on that night, the boys were slightly drunk, walking around on the beach.
Tanya had given Gabe her number and went back to her friends.
“Hey guys,” Logan said, interrupting Gabe in a speech about how beaches were created.
“If we all get arrested and end up in jail, I just want to tell you, guys, how much I appreciate you guys, nothing can come between us anymore,” Logan told his friends, laying drunk hands on their shoulders.
“Got that right man.” Dwight agreed.
“You guys are really my best friends, I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.” Gabe slurred.
“Nothing can come between us,” Logan announced.
“It’s crazy ‘cause you almost let Ava come in between us and now here we are.” Gabe thinks he mutters to Logan but actually says in a normal volume.
The smiles from both Dwight and Logan’s faces fade immediately.
“Great.” Logan sighs, tossing the rest of his drink back.
“What’s he talking about?” Dwight asks, turning to Logan.
“Oh man, Logan liked Ava too.” Gabe spills like it’s nothing.
Dwight sobers up almost instantly, his cup dropping from his hand and onto the ground. His eyes are locked on Logan.
“Is he for real?”
Logan rolled his eyes.
“Gabe, you will never get drunk with us again, you’re such a talkative lightweight,”
Logan tried to walk off but Dwight grabbed him by the collar of his polo shirt, pushing him to the ground.
“What the he-”
Dwight stands over the younger man, fists balled up. “You liked Ava? For how long?”
“A while man, I just started to look at her differently one day,”
“Bastard! You probably just wanted to sleep with her!” Dwight yells.
Logan pushes Dwight and gets off the ground.
“Hey man, I would never just sleep with her, I actually liked her! You love to swoop in and take stuff from me, like always!”
Dwight’s face twisted in confusion.
“Stuff like what? You just never want to let me have anything, I can never be happy around you!” He admits.
Gabe raises his eyebrows, he didn’t see that coming.
“You took almost every girl I liked in high school, stole my spot on the basketball team, and the first place medal in track, you can never let me win, I wanted Ava and as soon as I did you got her, you get everything you want you spoiled bitch-” Dwight punches Logan hard in the face before he can finish.
“The difference between you and I is that I was in love with her!” Dwight yells before storming off.
Gabe helps Logan off the ground as he wipes the blood from around his mouth.
“Screw him, and screw you too for having the biggest mouth on the fucking planet.” Logan walked in the opposite direction of Dwight, leaving Gabe alone on the beach.
Found
“I traced the boy's credit cards. Dwight used his at a restaurant in Orlando, Logan used his for a hotel in the same area. Gabe just got some gas, he probably has cash.” Nikki tells Lola the next morning as she enters the office.
“You call the police department down there?” Lola asked, sipping her coffee.
Nikki nods proudly.
“They’re going to the hotel right now.”
Gabe was sitting in the room, flipping channels.
Dwight was at the bar, Logan was with some girl.
There was a knock at the door.
Gabe got up and opened the door to see Tanya standing there with a bag.
She smiled.
“Hi.” He said, smiling back.
“I brought you some wings I made with my friends last night,” Tanya said, walking into the room quietly.
“Where are your friends?” She asked.
“Everyone is mad at each other.”
“Oh wow, vacation cut short?”
“Yeah, we might end up leaving today.”
Tanya set the bag down and sat on the bed.
An hour went by of Gabe and Tanya talking and eating before there was another knock at the door.
Gabe opened it and saw two officers standing there with a paper.
“Gabriel Motors?”
“Yeah, what's this about?”
“You’re under arrest.” The male officer told him, turning him around and cuffing him.
“Wait what?! What did I do?” He asked.
“Gabe, what the hell?” Tanya yelled.
“I don’t know!” He said as they escorted him away.
When Gabe got to the station, he saw Dwight and Logan sitting there, staring at him evilly.
The officer sat him down across from Dwight. His jaw was clenched tightly, nostrils flared like a bull as he stared at Gabe.
“Do you know what this is about?” Gabe whispers.
Dwight didn’t reply. He just stared at his friend.
“They are saying that witnesses have come forward and pinned one of us...not one of us, one of you guys on the top of the boat right before Ava was...right before she fell. I’m only here because I lied to the cops.”
Gabe’s mouth dropped in shock.
“One of us? Meaning me or Logan. So basically Logan. I didn’t go with her.”
Dwight shook his head.
Neither of them said anything.
An officer came to escort them to the questioning rooms but Logan began to panic. He was sweating profusely, his entire face was flushed red and his breathing was sporadic.
“What’s wrong with Logan? He looks like he’s about to go into cardiac arrest?” Gabe whispers to Dwight as they are being moved to a different room.
As soon as the officer turns his back to unlock the door, Logan takes off running, pushing the emergency side door open to the outside, and darts up the ladder leading to the roof.
The officer ran after him while another one called it in. Dwight and Gabe ran after him, climbing up the ladder to Logan.
Logan was standing on the edge of the building, looking prepared to jump.
Two officers were about to climb up and confront him but Gabe stepped in front of them.
“Let us handle it, please, we’ve known him longer.”
The cops stood back, each holding a gun toward the roof just in case.
Dwight and Gabe walked slowly toward Logan.
“Dude, what are you doing? Why are you being like this?” Gabe asked.
Logan turned towards his friends, he was completely red, the rage was in his eyes, and his fists balled up.
They’d never seen their friend look like this before, with such fire in his eyes he ran towards Dwight, knocking him to the ground and squatting over him.
Logan’s fist was balled up and cocked back.
“What happened?” Dwight asked calmly, trying not to cause any more damage. He holds his hands up to try and touch Logan but he slaps the touch away.
“I can’t go to jail.” He rasps, getting off Dwight and going back to the edge.
“Logan, no, what are you talking about? You didn’t do anything, lying to the cops doesn’t get you jail time.” Gabe tries.
Logan turns back toward his friends, feet on the edge of the building, tears on his lash line.
Down on the ground, the police were blowing up an inflatable prop for Logan to fall on so he wouldn't die.
“Logan, come off the edge so we can talk about this.” Dwight motions for him to come to them.
Logan took his phone, wallet, and keys out of his pocket, throwing them at the boys.
“I pushed Ava.” He chokes out.
Neither Gabe nor Dwight said a word.
“I pushed Ava off the boat!” He yelled loud enough for the cops to hear.
By this time, Lola and Nikki had shown up and were watching from down below.
“I knew it,” Lola said aloud.
After another minute, Dwight lunged for Logan only to be held back by Gabe.
“No Dwight, no it isn’t worth it!”
Tears were streaming down Dwight’s face.
“Why?!” He screamed. “Why her? If you were so mad at me, you could have pushed me but why her?! She did nothing to you-”
“She rejected me! I have never in my life, in my LIFE, been rejected by someone I liked. I wanted her but she wanted you! You of all people! I pushed her because I didn’t want you to have her!”
Yacht Party
Ava stormed upstairs.
She was pissed that Gabe was such a chatterbox, telling her business to everyone.
She needed some time to herself but heard footsteps approaching.
She turned and saw Logan standing there. She sighs.
“I know what you’re thinking but I really like him, he is special to me.”
“He’s special to all of us, you didn’t consider who else was involved,” Logan says to her.
She frowns.
“What?”
“Ava,” He took her hands. “I have always wanted you, just never dared to tell you, this is the perfect opportunity. I think this could work between us.” Logan says, smiling.
Ava snatched her hands away from him and walked to the edge near the rail.
“How dare you? Dwight is your friend, you’ve known him longer than me and you’re flirting with his girlfriend. You’re not a real friend at all.”
“I don’t care about those simpletons, all I want is you, I have plenty of other friends.”
“No stop, hell no!” Ava yelled, trying to walk back to the steps to go down.
Logan angrily grabbed her arm hard enough to bruise her and slammed her on the ground.
“Ouch!” She cried, trying to get up.
She pushed Logan backwards causing him to fall.
He got right up and pushed her back hard into the railing.
Logan stood in front of her, his hands on her shoulders.
“Come on Ava, just give me a chance.” He begged.
“Never.” She spit on him.
He lifts her on the railing, her eyes going wide, arms and legs flailing to try and grab his shoulders. He pushes her hard on the chest and she falls backwards off the railing.
She screams. He holds eye contact with her until she splashes and sinks further down. A smirk crosses his face before he wipes it off to run downstairs to tell his friends what he saw.
Present
Dwight couldn’t breathe.
“There you have it, I feel so much better,” Logan says, shaking himself out, a smirk on his face.
Gabe lets go of Dwight, tears in his eyes.
“You’re sick,” Gabe shutters, standing back.
Dwight takes his first breath after about 5 minutes, his entire body is twitching, teeth gritted together.
“You are the most evil person I’ve ever had the misfortune to know. I called you my brother, I let you stay in my house, drive my car, spend my money, I was there for you when NO ONE WAS! And you take away the one woman I love!” Dwight ranted, walking towards Logan.
“Go fuck yourself, Dwight,” Logan mutters, spitting in Dwight’s direction.
A moment passes and everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
Cops were yelling, Gabe was standing by the ladder, Logan was on the edge and then he was on the ground...dead.
He didn’t jump.
Dwight watched him fall to his death, looking him in the eyes the whole time.
Betrayal stung but hitting concrete stung even worse.
Logan hit the ground hard, eyes wide open.
It took a second for blood to start pouring out of his head.
Dwight stepped back and looked at Gabriel.
Gabe’s mouth was hanging wide open.
He wasn’t expecting Dwight to push Logan off the building.
“Dude…” Gabe started.
Dwight just looked at him, breathing hard.
“Did you know he was going to do that?” Dwight asked Gabe.
Gabe quickly shook his head, a tear falling from his eye.
“No Dwight, I swear I didn’t. I didn’t know Logan was capable of something like that. I swear.”
Dwight nodded and went to the ladder, climbing down but stopped to look at Gabe.
“If anyone asks, he fell.” Dwight croaks and climbs down the ladder to the crowd.
Gabe watches him go, realizing this was all his fault.