*** At night, Royal Resorts***
” What’s your problem?”, my sister asked with a look of both concern and disdain, ” You’ve been acting really weird for the past one week”, she said.
” You wouldn’t understand”, I said to her, ” but I think I’m in love”, I revealed.
” What?!”, she yelled, ” As if! All you can ever fall in love with is a bottle or a gun and besides, I don’t know who she is, but I feel sorry for her it she has to date you”, she said.
” Wait! You really think she’d date me?”, I asked her excitedly.
” I don’t know. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t if I were in her sorry shoes”, she said.
” Geez thanks for all your help”, I said sarcastically as I rolled my eyeballs.
” You’re welcome bonehead”, she said as she put on her lipstick.
” Where the hell do you think you’re going anyway?”, I asked.
” Pfft”, she mocked, ” what are you? my dad?”, she scoffed as looked at the mirror.
” You know what? Fuck this! I don’t got time for your shenanigans today”, I said, ” I’ve got a date tonight and you’re definitely not gonna ruin it. Go wherever you want but make sure you’re back here before midnight, are we clear?”, I asked her.
” Yeah whatever”, she said as she walked out of the room and banged the door shut. I shook my head. ” This girl’s gonna be the death of me”, I muttered. Anyway I began to get ready. I had to be there early. ” Wouldn’t want to be known for lateness on the first date”, I thought as I got out of the shower and got dressed. I took my car keys and walked out of the room.
* About half an hour later****
” I wonder where she is”, I thought as I sat in the restaurant waiting for her. I watched as couples swarmed in and out of the restaurant, holding hands, laughing and being all cuddly. ” I sure as hell would want that”, I thought as I coveted their lifestyle.
” Would you like to take an order?”, one of the waiters in an elegant monochromatic tuxedo asked as he walked up to my table. ” No not yet, I’m still waiting for my date”, I said.
” Okay sir. Please do make your order soon”, he said as he walked away. I quickly looked at my watch. ” She’s running quite late”, I muttered as my hands fidgeted. I took a glass of water to calm myself. ” Was I being stood up?”, I wondered. ” Maybe I should give her a call”, I thought as I got my phone out of my pocket. ” Nah, it’ll probably make me seem desperate”, I blurted. After a few more minutes, I had lost every ounce of hope that she was coming. I beckoned to a waiter to come over.
” Yes sir. May I help you with anything?”, he answered as he got to my table.
” I think I’d like to place an order now”, I said. Then he looked at the other chair opposite mine in the table and then looked back at me.
” It happens sir. She probably has her reasons”, he said as he winked at me. ” Anyway, what would you like to order?”, he asked as he gave me the menu. I picked out a couple of dishes on the menu and gave it to the waiter. It began to drizzle with rain drops appearing on the glass walls of the restaurant. ” I wonder where she is”, my mind wandered as I stared at the reflection of car headlights off the window and raindrops.
______________________________________________
*** On the streets at night***
” Really? I think your brother’s so cool”, he said.
” Pfft “, I mocked, ” he’s not as great as you make him out to be”, I said as we walked down the street. There were a lots of little stands selling street food and the night was bustling.
” So how long will you be staying at the hotel?”, Jeremy asked.
” Uhhm, I don’t really know yet. My brother just took me here one day and next thing I know, we had lodged in the hotel “, I said to him with a chuckle.
” Damn, so he really is as sporadic as you said he is”, he laughed.
” Yeah, but he’s really nice. Of course I don’t tell him that, but he’s sorta the reason why I feel so confident”, I said.
” Awwwn, now you make me wish I had a sister who would admire me this much”, he said.
” Oh yeah? I doubt you’d like it though. Little sisters can be really mean sometimes”, I said.
” It’ll be worth it as long as I know she’s happy”, he said. Then we saw a chilli dog stand. ” Hey how about some chilli dogs?”, he suggested.
” Sure, I haven’t even had dinner yet”, I said. He laughed and we walked over to the stand, where he bought two. As we continued our stroll through the streets, we ate different types of street food, laughing and talking throughout.
” Man this is fun”, I said as I ate the ice cream he had bought.
” Uhun, it sure is”, he added. I was just about to take a bite from my ice cream when he took the cone and ran off eating everything as he ran.
” Jeremy, you idiot!”, I yelled as I ran after him.
” Catch me if you can!”, he taunted as he kept teasing me while running. I obviously couldn’t catch up to him, since he is a baseball player and all.
” I’ll rip your hair off when I catch you, I swear to God!”, I said as I kept trying to catch up. We got to the riverbank where he stopped. I finally stopped running.
” Now….. now you’re gonna get”, I said in a fidgety voice as I tried to gain my breath back.
” Whoo, that was pretty fun right?”, he asked tauntingly with a chuckle.
” You jerk!”, I said to him as I hit him on the back rather playfully with my hands, giving him light punches too.
” Okay okay, I’ll get you your ice cream back okay?”, he said as he held both my hands in his to stop me from hitting him any further. Our eyes met and I stared at his.
” Your eyes are really beautiful”, he said as his grip loosened from my wrists.
” Geez that sounded really corny”, I joked.
” Yeah I figured”, he said with a chuckle, ” but I really do think you’re beautiful and I like you. I like you a lot”, he said.
” Oh Jeremy, I really don’t know what to say. I’m not really so good at love stuff”, I said which made him laugh.
” Well that’s a first”, he said.
” What do you mean?”, I asked.
” What you said about ‘not being so good at love stuff’ “, he said as he tried to mimick the way I sound mockingly.
” Stop it!”, I said with a giggle, hitting him on the shoulder. After our laughter had subsided. Our eyes locked again, and I really could feel my heart skip a beat.
” I was serious about liking you though, and I would like you to be my girlfriend, if you’re okay with it of course”, he said.
” Well I certainly have no objections against it so why not?”, I replied with a smile.
” Yes!”, he exclaimed under his breath with his head turned to the side.
” You know I heard that right?”, I said with giggle, ” and besides, you can have this”, I said as I leaned forward to give him a kiss on the lips. I was about to stop when he pulled me in by the waist, kissing me until his tongue was in my mouth. Then it began to drizzle. We stopped kissing and looked up at the sky. I screamed in excitement as the drops of water collided with my skin.
” Let’s get out of here or we’re gonna end up drenched”, I screamed at Jeremy.
” What?!”, Jeremy yelled pretending not to hear due to the sound of the rain. The rain got serious and there was a downpour. But Jeremy and I kept playing under the rain, kissing and making out most of the time.
______________________________________________
*** Abandoned factory in the outskirts of town***
” Where is he keeping her?!”, I yelled at him. His was already beaten to a pulp. ” I swear to God, I really don’t know. All he told us was to guard this factory. Please don’t kill me!”, he pleaded with his hands all fidgety.
” You guys are a waste of my time”, I said before hitting him with a club on the head, knocking him out instantly. I wiped the blood, which had splattered all over my face a few minutes ago.
” Dring! dring!!”, my phone rang. ” Urrghh, who is it?”, I grumbled as I got the phone out of my back pocket.
” Hello, Maddie here”, I said. ” Yeah, it’s me Justin”, he said.
” Oh, how’s it going man?”, I asked. ” Everything’s alright here. Where you able to get any information from them?”, he asked.
” Nah, they were all trash”, I said, ” it seems to me like these guys are just decoy. This is the third hideout this week and still no new info”, I explained.
” Yeah you’re probably right. Perhaps we’ll cut back on the factories and find another way”, he said. ” Dring! dring!!”, my phone rang again in the middle of the call.
” Fuck! who is it this time?”, I complained. It was an unsaved number. ” Perhaps, I’ll get back to you later Jus, let me take this”, I said.
” Oh yeah sure. Goodluck out there”, he said before hanging up. Then I picked the other call.
” Hello, Madison speaking”, I said as I picked up.
” Good evening Madison. How are you?”, a male voice asked. ” Sounds kinda familiar”, I thought.
” Uhhm, who is this please?”, I asked as I tried to jog my memory.
” Geez, that says a lot”, he said, ” anyway, it’s me Jared, the guy you were supposed to meet at the Chinese restaurant an hour ago”, he added.
” Oh my god! the date!”, I thought as I remembered the date. ” I am so so sorry. I kinda got caught up in some work”, I said to him.
” Don’t worry, I get it. Though you could have just told me you didn’t want to go out on a date with me rather than the way you stood me up”, he said.
” No I really didn’t mean it that way actually”, I said, ” alright, how about I make it up to you?”, I suggested.
” Oh yeah?”, he asked.
” Yeah. Let’s meet at my place tomorrow night by eight o’clock. How about that?”, I asked.
” I guess that’s okay. See you then”, he said before hanging up.
” Damn, I can’t believe I forgot that”, I thought. ” Die bitch!”, one of the guys said as he stood up from the pile of bodies. Then I shot him on the knee while looking at my phone. ” Arghh! my knee!!!”, he wailed as he rolled around on the ground.
” And you better stay down! if you don’t want to end up dead like most of your friends, that is”, I threatened. Then I texted Jared the location. ” I really gotta stop all this crazy shit”, I thought as I walked up to my bike and rode off into the drizzly night.