Elzina
2 MONTHS LATER
NEW YORK
12:49 AM
Sirens, dim yet increasing. Nearing.
"Shit" I muttered, quickly tearing my gaze from admiring my work as I turn.
"Aren't they a little early today?" with my black leather gloved hand holding the spray can by side, I enquire.
The one I asked stared at the wall behind me as if blankly wondering if it was possible to hit his head upon it and die for a little while, while there the other man gawked opening his mouth. The sounds now a bit a clear,
Seriously, the New York police are way too impatient for my liking.
"Indeed Ma'am" Oliver gulps, the sweat oiling his forehead like a coat of olive oil. "And I prefer it's time we leave"
I nod, pondering with pursed lips.
"What do you think Mason? We should leave?"
He stares at me, the thirty something large built body guards nose almost flaring. Something tells me he doesn't like the sweet little me, or the idea to baby sit, or the thought of even breathing near me.
"We can't be lucky every time Miss" is all he says.
The sirens.
Shrilling by my ear drums.
"Run" I whisper, and as if suddenly jolted by a sizzle of shock they take off. Along with me may I add.
"Keys" extending my hand I expect Mason to dump the aforementioned stuff I asked him of. But instead.
"I drive, ma'am"
"With regards to the respectable speed of snail? Yeah." I smirk as Oliver screams from inside the back seat of car to get inside. He was already braced I see.
How did he even passed the security test to pass as someone who secures some one?
"It's called speed limit" gritting his teeth he says politely.
The thrill intensifies as the light falls by the lone street next turn, they were near. I don't request, I grab them from his clutch as I slide inside. He sighs, the boulder of a man sighs in defeat as he opts for shot gun. Adjusting his gun by the belt holster once seated.
Gripping the wheel with clueless smile at Oliver, on whose side sat a life sized pink fluffy teddy bear, holding a box of large pink bowed cupcakes in his finger less wooly hands, Oliver did indeed looked the part which screamed his job.
Sarcasm at its best.
The engine purrs softly, it doesn't roar because luxury car yawns alive with elegance. Even the Audi with countable seven dents, a broken headlight and an age old pizza and coke infested seats, had its standard.
And grateful to it but i was already sprinting down the roads before the mood killers could blink on us.
"See, not like last time. No police chase. As I promised" grinning I took a cautious peek at Mason. He stared ahead. His focus undisrupted and plain.
But Oliver grins, I watch him from the rear mirror.
At least someone has sense of humor.
I drive in bliss,that is until I find myself pressing for breaks.
"Why? Just Why?" I growl, whining. I let my head fall upon the steering wheel as I hug them.
"It's New York Ma'am. What's this city without some well aligned traffic" Oliver butts in, as I frown. A guy who likes traffic. But who stays awake at such late hours. The lights were all bright, like digital stars that never got drained of its electrical power, busy humans robotic in nature, millennials who thinks they rule the world and a population which suffers from insomnia.
That's one of the reason they call it a city that never sleeps.
I spot a thin smirk quiver and die on Mason's face. He sure was enjoying this.
I let him. It's the least he deserves after the things he goes through because of me. Mental trauma of keeping a stone face when he wants to cement my existence in one place.
After a lot, lot and a lot more of lot wait later for the coast to clear off I finally found myself pulling at the parking lot.
Standing by the closed burnished large door I feel the adrenaline wear off me. I pull at the straps of my back pack, feeling the clinks of metal canisters crinkle at the momentum.
"What are you guys waiting for, you can leave now. I have worse nightmares to deal once I am in" I say adjusting the hat above my head. What promoted me to wear it? I would never know. It was as if it was there asking me to wear it.
"We will. once we drop off your things Ma'am" Oliver voice resonates the empty, but glowingly lit corridor. The rugs down plush and rough against the sole of my boots as I shift to watch him, lean by the door.
He hugged the bear, while his other hand was busy balancing the cake box.
Mason on the other part carried the bags containing the labels, Gucci, jimmy, prada and Armani. I don't even remember buying them, it was just the task to exceed the cards limit.
"Take it"
"What?" at Oliver's confused creases I smile, worn out and tired.
"Fiona loves pink, and which kid doesn't like cakes?" I blink, recalling the five year old daughter of his that I once met, he had bought her here since her mother was ill that day. And that was one day I actually didn't regret living in between these months. She reminded me of Ashley.
"Are you sure?" he smiles warmly, Oliver was young. Probably in his late twenties. He was playful just like Fiona. But what made him mature was how good of a father he was. The love and adoration in his tone was the proof.
"I bought it for her" I shrug "Tell her that Elsa Misses her"
And you miss so many others. So much that you introduced Fiona as Else unconsciously.
"What about these?"
Mason calls out as I slide in the key card, the door binging open.
"Those clothes would look fine on your fiancé." I tell him genuinely "Besides marry her soon, she will leave you if you keep this icy nature of yours on for long. I am telling you this with experience"
What I told him left him tongue tied, but as I closed the door I spotted a small smile on his face as the man in tux whispered you are unbelievable.
The Manhattan's penthouse was everything that ninety eight percent of world's population wants to live in, as the rest two percent owns it.
I live there, hating every moment of it. Feeling sick every time I breath the scent of it. From two months I have been this way, doing everything under my vicinity that would make it feel like home and failing miserably. Standing so high at 16th floor and not to feel tall at all.
People make home, people who you love. And not the one who you have a dense knowledge are here to watch your every move, to risk their life for you no matter how much of a stupid thing it was to do.
"Where were you?" my eyes shrinks shut, a low hiss of disappointment leaves through me as I turn, slowly.
Mike stood there, under the crafty light shades from the chandelier looking like a pre teen out of a therapy session gone wrong. He looked stern, he was fuming. And the hands crossed across his chest kind of intimidating stance wasn't helping at all with the situation.
"I was were my path took me to" shrugging I walk, the heel ticking as I sensed his gaze fixated on my movements.
"And where that would exactly be?" he asks, the sharpness of his voice cutting through air as his cat lazily circles and snuggles by my legs. The selfish Persian fluff ball knows how to charm someone for a treat and dump them the next second. Of course, Mike's pet has to be extraordinarily lazy, she sleeps like a pro.
I help myself to a can of soda and her a tuna, and after rolling down the hot leather glove from my wrist I take a sip from it. Taking my time.
"I asked you something" he comes again as I go and plop myself comfortable by the couch.
"Weren't you suppose to be somewhere, internship and stuff?" I ask with my brow furrowed, shrinking as I grab a pillow to my lap.
"That wasn't the answer" he hisses, I glance at him to see the green of his eyes turn grassier. I take another sip.
"And you aren't my mother"
"I am not, but Nana is. She is your guardian and you have a spa appointment with her tomorrow" my mouth falls open as he smirks, with a disbelieving look I watch him.
"You told her?" my voice raises as he narrows his eyes.
"I did not, Mason did. Great respect for that man" he then proceeds to eye me, his lips twisting in question while I plot the silent ways to shake the world Mason lives in. He may work for Nana, I have no sympathy for back stabbers.
"You can't keep this up, fourth vandalism in two weeks? This is against-"
"This is against what Mike?" angry I get on my feet, the coffee table rattles as my side disrupts it. "This is against rules? protocols? family heritage?. No Mike, this is not against anything. What goes against the phenomena is you being here, with me. Leaving behind your life for my sake. For my safety as you risk yours"
He doesn't say anything, blankly stares at me as if he was watching a ridiculous opera with a crazy girls monologue.
"You are the dumbest human ever. You left Riley and you have the audacity to keep asking me every day what my problem is, then listen. I don't want any more people getting hurt because of me you bag of peas" I crane my neck to face him, still hands folded across his chest as he looks down. I wanted to scream bloody Mikey and hurl the blankness off his face.
"You are an idiot to stick around with me" I blaze out, I could feel the heat in my ears. I was fuming and all he gave me was-
Silence.
And then-
"If you do want to keep up the graffiti shenanigans, at least disguise good." He says, simultaneously turning to walk In the direction of his room "Purple? Seriously?" with that he closes the door.
Unconscious my hand automatically goes to my hair, to touch the soft purple wig. Angrily I tear them off, the hat falling to the ground in process as it rolls, skating its lane upon the tiles, coming to stop right by the foot of someone's night slippers.
I don't look up, there was just one person who was stuck with us.
For how long had Nathan been witnessing the show unfold, I don't know? But it wasn't new to him.
But after what had happened in Orlando and the things he got to know later was. They were new, they were cruel. What happened to him was, what he went through was. He didn't deserve it. He was just there for me, while I was there for him. The only difference was he helped me, and I was a peril for him.
I don't face him, I make a beeline to my room.
The room that doesn't even feel like a room. It was made of sight forbidding one way glasses more than walls that it felt like the whole city could watch me when I undress. It was creepy. It was luxury. Apparently.
I sit at the edge of the bed, it bounces a bit at the harsh way I had thrown my body at it. Without much remorse I tug at the pins that held my hair up
When it stubbornly sticks up, I try to rip it when I felt a hand hover above it, the mattress dips next to me as Nathan helps me. It felt like ages when my hairs grazed my shoulders in fizzed up strands.
Nana is going to freak out.
That's what spa is for. My conscience reasoned.
"Sorry, I broke some of your hair during that" he says, as I raise my brows amused.
"I lose hundreds of them a day"at that his blinking eyes goes wide.
"Are you balding?" Baffled he asked as I frown.
"No" he blinks in confusion " I am a girl Nathan, that's normal for us"
That silences him.
"Are you here to blame me about how insensitive I am?" I ask sniffing, looking ahead as speck of lights blink high up in dark black sky as the flights sails through the clouds afar.
"Quite the opposite" he chuckles, I frown as the side of his eyes crinkle. The bandana he usually wears to cover up the scar above his brow from that night absent. Instead loose bang of his hair falls upon it. "You are trying to do senseless stuffs to stop your guilt from making sense"
My anger dissolves to vengeful understanding as I began accepting his words. He was right.
From past months I had been running from it, but today I was falling apart again.
"Stop ignoring the guilt" he says, his hand touching my shoulder in a strong grip "No matter how much I tell you, you won't believe that I don't blame anyone for what happened that night. So feel it and let it pass." I suck in a breath at his words.
"Beside, the incident bought me a roof above my head" he chuckles as I narrow my eyes playfully "Not every one like us has a billionaire for best friend. This house is sick" he says shuddering, his eyes roaming to drink the view in as I shake my head smiling.
"So what was it tonight?"
I grin at his question. Pulling the ever trustworthy tab I show him the image. The calligraphed sentence on a brick wall that read out-
THE NYPD WAS A MINUTE LATE THIS TIME.
YOU ALL SUCK.
He stares at it for a good fifteen seconds and then bursts out laughing.
"You must really hate them" he says wiping away the tears as I smile sadistically.
"They are everywhere, nosey people" I gnaw at my lower lip thinking about how I came to stoop to the diversity of crowning myself a street vandalizer. It started when I was bored, it began when Oliver gave me a heads up, it motivated me when Mason freaked out during the first chase, it became a habit when Mike wanted me to stop it. it became a distraction when I wanted to stop thinking about him for a while.
I was crazy.
I am crazy.
We sit in silence. Suddenly the drop in diverse subjects.
"What if he moved on?" I look at Nathan, my eyes almost pleading him to make my fears go away. " What if he Alex realized that I am too much of a hassle-"
"He won't" Nathan cuts me off, his tone positive and assured "I don't know him much, but from what I've seen he would wait for you even twenty years from now. Two months changes nothing El. Stop hurting"
I wanted to tell him, show him how wrong he was. How big my fears were.
That two months changes so many things. It changed me.
Like before times I hear the voices in my head, but they don't tease me to fall weak and take measures that I shouldn't.
Instead they are powerful, they whisper me to use the authority I have.
I sense the steel beneath my vision, the gray of my orbs a molted metal more than a warm smoke of hidden emotions.
I don't cry much, I don't beg much, but the most fearful lacking nature was I don't fear much.
Everything stopped hurting after I left Orlando to a place I've never been. The only time my heart ever trembled was with the idea of facing him again.
Or losing him.
And since the ball was nearing, it was like an explosion in my head. I close my eyes.
"Tomorrow night, and then we'll find out" Nathan says, a confident whisper.
Tomorrow night.
I've waited for the day.
But was I prepared?
I open them to look at the beholding sight in front of me, the beauty of it captivates me. Built with delicacy and strength. They won't break down at the harshest of weather and disaster. And what Alex and I have, Is far more brave than them. Beautiful. I won't let anything break us.
And in the moment I know I was.
I was prepared.
***