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You would have preferred to stay in the dorm. There's an Economics midterm you both have to take in the morning, but of course Craig was never going to take that for an excuse. Your friend and roommate is too carefree for his own good, and he's always dragging you along with him. It hadn't taken more than few minutes of his best puppy-dog eyes and wheedling for you to agree to go the party with him.So now here you are, tucked in a corner of some stranger's house as loud music pounds around you, the loud chattering of dozens of people you've never met filling the halls. Craig met up with his friend Ashley shortly after you arrived, and the two them disappeared together as you tried to quash the subtle feeling of jealousy in your gut. Craig and Ashley aren't involved, you know that – but neither are he and you. There's no reason to be jealous.You push away that thought as you scan the room and automatically take another swig from the cup of beer in your hand. It's about the only entertainment you have other than pulling out your phone to look at pointless notifications every three minutes. Part of you thinks maybe you should go looking for Craig, but the rest keeps you rooted to the spot. Is it worth having to put yourself in a position to interact with more of these people? The very thought makes your chest tighten. He'll come back eventually. You hope.You wince as someone in another room turns the music up even louder. The very wall behind you vibrates with it, and you step away before it can clatter your teeth together uncomfortably. Another drink. Where the hell is your roommate?Then there's some kind of a commotion, a susurrus that starts at the front of the house and flows to the back room where you've tried to seclude yourself. Murmurs flow back and forth, faces turned to each other in question, and then there's a shout from the next room: “Police – fly the coup, people!”You know that voice, and a moment later Craig is bursting into the room, eyes scanning wildly, making a beeline for you when you lock gazes. “We gotta get out of here,” he says as he catches your wrist.You think to remind him how you didn't want to come in the first place, how it's going to be his fault if you both end up bagged for underage drinking tonight, but what comes out instead is, “Where's Ashley?”“She's fine,” Craig says tersely as he tugs you toward the back door. “Left with some guy from her Psych class half an hour ago.”You don't have time to focus on how that lightens your heart a little as the two of you burst outside, cool air smacking your faces. Around you, party-goers are scattering in every direction, and you can hear shouting from the front of the house. “What do we do?” you ask, voice shaking a little. You hear a thwap-thwap-thwap sound in the distance, and is that a helicopter?“Put that down, for one thing,” Craig says, grabbing the cup from your hand and dropping it to the ground with a splash. Then he looks around for possible exits. He still hasn't let go of your hand. “This way.” There's an ivy-covered wall standing across the back alley, and he ducks through a gap, pulling you along behind him.The two of you stumble as you emerge, legs tangling together, and you feel yourself going down even as you claw at your friend for support. An oof huffs out of you as you land on your back on hard ground, and then Craig is atop you, laughing. There's an adrenaline-fueled grin on your face, and before you can analyze the situation, there's someone else there, too.Someone with shiny black boots and an authoritative voice yelling, “Hey!”You and Craig turn wide eyes to each other as the beam of a flashlights pinpoints the two of you in the darkness. Craig looks away first, and you follow his gaze to see a police officer. Behind him, a parking lot, empty but for two cruisers. You curse inwardly; of all the bad luck!“Evening, officer,” Craig says smoothly as he climbs to his feet and offers you a hand.You can feel your face going red with anxiety and guilt as you take it and stand up next to him. This is it. You're caught.“What are the two of you up to here in the middle of the night?” the officer asks with a raised brow.You suddenly feel a little light-headed as Craig throws an around around your waist and pulls you close with a lascivious grin. “Wasn't it obvious?”The officer frowns. “Word is there's been some trouble not far from here. You two know anything about that?”“No, sir,” you pipe up, thinking it's going to look weird if you let Craig do all the talking. You find yourself instinctively leaning into him. Just to further the ruse, of course.Behind the officer, the door of one of the cars opens, and another cop, this one female, gets out and approaches. “Trouble?” she calls.“Not sure,” the first grunts.“If there's something going down,” Craig asks calmly, “why aren't you guys there?”The man bristles, and for a second you flinch, thinking that's the end, you're both going to jail. Yes, Craig, make the suspicious cop angry, brilliant plan...But the woman stops next to him with a light laugh and puts a hand on his arm. “Easy.”“When you're fresh from the Academy, you don't get called to anything interesting,” the male officer grumbles, and the woman laughs again.Craig removes his arm from you, a shiver running up your back at the sudden loss of warmth, and gestures emphatically. “Really? Even after you've graduated you don't get to do anything exciting?” He frowns expansively. “Maybe I'll have to rethink my plans, than...”“You're thinking of becoming a police officer?” the man asks, and you want to echo the question. This is the first you've heard of it.Craig nods. “Sure! What could be better than to protect and serve? And it's a far more interesting job than most I can think of.”It suddenly occurs to you that Craig is lying. And well, it looks like, because both officers start to smile, and that makes you feel better. Perhaps the two of you will get out of this after all.“It is that, once you start rising up the ranks,” the woman says. “But seeking excitement isn't why you should join. A routine shift is a safe shift.”“That makes sense,” Craig says, as if her reasoning is convincing him.The conversation goes on like that. Craig asks the cops questions about their job, and they answer them, telling stories about their training and the incidents they've seen so far. Eventually, they go on to give Craig tips for the law enforcement entrance exam, which he accepts with grateful enthusiasm. He's good, you realize, not for the first time.Half an hour later, the advice peters off, and Officer Dawson, as you've learned the man is called, sighs as his radio crackles. “We should head off,” he tells the woman, Officer Stevens. “This break has already lasted much longer than it should.”The two give each other mournful looks, and you and Craig exchange a glance, and you can tell what he's thinking: it seems maybe before you bumbled in these two were up to the exact thing you claimed to be.“Behave now,” Dawson says, fixing Craig with his gaze. “Any little thing on your record can affect your chances of getting accepted. Any little thing like getting caught loitering,” he says pointedly, and you quail as his gaze drifts to you.“I understand,” Craig says firmly. “Thank you for everything.” He holds out a hand and gets firm shakes from both officers.“Run along now,” the Stevens says, and they turn back to their cars. You watch as they both pull away moments later without so much as another backwards glance.As soon as they're gone, Craig turns to you with the hugest grin. “Did you see that, bro?”“I saw it.” You're grinning, too, relief swimming through your veins. You could kiss him.“You weren't so bad yourself,” Craig adds, smiling down at you in a way that has you feeling light-headed again. “Kept your mouth shut, followed my lead.” He chuckles.“Shock will do that to a person,” you pout, and you can feel your words getting ahead of your brain. “Try and warn a guy next time you're gonna go hard on pretending he's your boyfriend in front of complete strangers.”Craig pulls back, his head tilted curiously, eyeing you. “Did that make you uncomfortable?” he asks honestly.Shit. This was not the way this conversation was supposed to go.“Oh my god.” If his grin gets any wider, it's going to break his face. “You liked that. You...” He steps closer, and one hand lands on your hip. You shiver. “Bro. I didn't realize.”You look away, and it occurs to you that neither of you are particularly sober, and you're standing in the dark in an empty parking lot. Not very romantic. But... “Yeah,” you mutter, because you can't figure out what else to say, your face in flames.Craig's expression softens as he cups a hand around you neck. “Here's what's gonna happen,” he says gently. “I'm going to kiss you right now, if that's okay, and then we're going to go back to the room where it's warm and we're gonna talk about this.” Your lips stutter open, but before you can say anything, he adds, “Yeah, I know that doesn't sound like me, but it's definitely what you want, even if you won't say it. Now, kiss?”You nod mutely, heart thundering.Craig leans in, and there in the cold and the dark, all you can feel are soft, warm lips on yours and a future you'd barely imagined was possible opening before you both like a sunrise.