Afterward (A Veneer prison story)

Velvet's Court Trial

Veneer opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. Was Velvet really coming home tonight? He sighed, he knew he needed to get ready, but he didn't want to get out of bed.

He rolled over and grabbed his phone. After checking his socials, he texted Ritz. Veneer realized that he never told Ritz what time he was getting him. His parents had said that it was fine to bring him and that they wanted to meet him.

Hey, is it okay if I get you at 10? ❤

It was 8:30, and Velvet's trail started at 11. He groaned, it was raining, which just made it harder to get up.

Finally, he got up and went downstairs to eat. His mom was already up and making pancakes. Veneer thought that it was weird to make pancakes before going to see if your daughter is getting out of prison, but he guessed that she must be in a good mood.

Veneer yawned. "Hey mom."

She turned around, "good morning, do you want some of these?"

"Sure," he said while grabbing a plate. "I'm getting Ritz at 10."

"Okay, just make sure to get to the courthouse before 11. They don't like it when people are late."

"We won't be," he said while putting some pancakes on his plate.

Veneer ate and talked to his mom for a while. When he got up to get ready, it was 9. He had to leave to get Ritz at 9:45.

Veneer went upstairs and grabbed his outfit. It was black pants with a pink long sleeve, his mom had told him to try to dress nice, and this was the best he could do. He went into his bathroom and got dressed. He didn't know what to do for makeup, so he just put on
sunscreen and lip gloss. He didn't want it to seem like he was trying to show off while his sister was trying to get out of prison, but he still wanted to look put together. After he was done with his makeup, he gelled up his hair. He figured that he had been wearing it down too much recently.

He went back into his room and grabbed his bag. He got his water bottle off his nightstand and went downstairs to leave. It was only 9:30, but if he left early he and Ritz could stop to get something to drink.

He walked into his parents bedroom, "I'm going to leave so Ritz and I can get something to drink before."

"Okay, find us when you get there," his dad said.

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

Veneer was about to leave when his mom came out of the bathroom holding a makeup brush, "love you honey."

"Love you too."

Veneer walked out to his car and got in. After turning on music and texting Ritz, he left.

After a short drive, he got to Ritz's house. Veneer didn't know if he could see him, so he texted him.

I'm here :)

Right after Veneer clicked send, Ritz opened the front door. He was wearing a black button up and baggy grey pants. Ritz walked over to Veneer's car and got in. "Hey Veneer, thanks for getting me."

"No problem, do you want to stop for coffee or something since we're early?"

"Sure."

Veneer pulled out of Ritz's driveway and drove to the coffee shop. They listened to Ritz's playlist, which for some reason had Floyd on it. Veneer thought this was weird, but he liked the song. The more they listened, the more it seemed like the playlist was about him.

Veneer looked over to Ritz, "Is this playlist about me?"

Ritz's cheeks flushed, "uhh.. yeah. I made it after that first interview. I added Criminal later though."

Veneer laughed. "I like it. Criminal was a good addition." 

They kept listening and singing along until they got to the coffee shop. They got out of the car and walked inside.

"What can I get you today?" asked the barista.

Ritz gestured for Veneer to go first, "I'll get a medium Strawberry Mango lemonade please."

The barista wrote down Veneer's order and then looked at Ritz. "And what for you?" 

"I'll have a pineapple dragonfruit frozen lemonade please."

The barista wrote down his order and handed the paper to a man working in the back. "We'll call you when your orders are ready!"

Veneer and Ritz walked over to a table. They sat down and talked until they were called. They picked up their orders and walked out to Veneer's car.

After a short drive, they arrived at the court house. It was 10:45, so Veneer figured that his parents were already there.

They walked inside and found Veneer's parents. Veneer waved and they sat down by them.

"Hey guys," Veneer felt awkward, "this is Ritz."

Veneer's mom smiled. "Hey Ritz. Veneer told us so much about you." 

"Veneer told me a lot about you too. It's nice to finally meet you." 

"It's nice to meet you too," Veneer's dad said.

They made small talk until the judge banged his gavel. "Okay, so basically today we are here to see if we should let Velvet out of prison. We've never really dealt with anything like this before, I mean except for Veneer but that case had a pretty obvious answer, so I don't know what I'm doing," the judge paused, "umm.. bring out Velvet I guess," he shrugged. Veneer wondered how Mt. Rageous's court system was so bad.

Just then Velvet walked in, she was smiling and wearing a nice dress. It was the most put together Veneer had seen her since she first got put in prison. Velvet walked up to the front and sat down at a table in front of the judge.

"Velvet, you are here today to see if you'll be getting released. You have been very well behaved over the past weeks and have been helping out a lot. And you're like, the only person in there. Plus, everyone's basically over what you did. So, I guess we're letting you out."

Veneer saw Velvet smile. He didn't know how the judge was able to decide that she was getting out so quickly, he didn't even have Velvet speak. Veneer guessed that no one ever committed crimes, so no one knew how to handle them. Which was a good thing, but a little concerning none the less.

The judge banged his gavel again. "Okay, we're done here. Velvet, you're free to go."

Veneer's parents started walking up to her. Veneer saw Velvet cringe a little, but she kept smiling. Ritz and Veneer followed, Veneer figured that she would want him up there with her.

Veneer's mom started crying, "Honey.." she was struggling to speak.

"It's okay mom." Velvet hugged her.

They continued to talk and hug for the next half hour. Veneer thought that it lasted a little too long, but he knew that his parents really missed Velvet, even if they saw her in prison. Veneer stayed back and talked with Ritz. He couldn't help but wonder how much this would change things.

*There should be a link to Ritz's playlist if you click the link button, but if not you could just search Ritz's Playlist on Spotify and it's the one by Mesa375 :)