Cops & Robbers

Chapter Two (Revised)

Pic of Ben (Adam Levine) ---------------------->

I woke up at an absolutely ungodly hour and wanted nothing more than to fall back asleep. Unfortunately my bladder said otherwise and Lord knew once my happy ass got out of bed there would be no getting back in it.

I laid there for a moment, hoping the urge would pass. It didn't and I sighed, resigned.

"Dang it." 

Rolling out of bed, I made a beeline for the bathroom. As soon as my butt touched the cold porcelain of my Epiphany toilet, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt there'd be no wooing my mind back into the wonderful land of Unconsciousness.

Grudgingly resigned to stay awake, but unwilling to abandon my bed completely, I returned to bed afterward and snuggled into my covers for a little longer. Early mornings and I had never really mixed and today wasn't proving any different. Catching a glimpse of white on my black bedside table, I reached over and swiped Ben's business card. I stared at it, knowing I had to call him, but was suddenly and inexplicably apprehensive about doing so.

Refusing to be a lily-livered coward, I grabbed my phone and quickly dialed his number before I could change my mind. It rang a few times before his familiar voice greeted me with "DioGaurdi."

Silently, I cursed myself, because I realized that I'd called with no gameplan. Usually pointless conversation was my specialty, but I wasn't sure how I wanted to play him. Was I planning to treat him like I did every guy other than Alex? Manipulatively, as though he were nothing but another warm body? Eventually, I decided I was overthinking it and responded like I should have to begin with.

"Um... Hey."

"Adrienne," he huffed out, "hold on for a minute, will ya?"

I heard thumping and grunting noises for a good sixty seconds before a muffled, "Alright already! I give!" was heard on my end.

Heavy breathing filled the silence and I knew I had his attention again. "Hey, so do you want to meet at that donut shop across the street from the station?" 

"Um... Sure." I immediately wanted to bang my head against the wall, because it was obvious that my responses weren't getting any smarter.

"Can you be there in an hour? I'm not sure where you live now, but traffic isn't too bad if you take the highway."

"Um... yeah."

"Um... Adrienne?"

"Huh?"

"Um... why do you um... keep saying um?" He chortled, clearly thinking he was hilarious. At least one of us did.

"How about you um... shut your face before I um... kick your um... ass!" I challenged finally saying my first sentence with more than one word. "Ya jerk!" I added with a grumble.

"There's the Adrienne we know and love." He laughed and it was so infectious that I found myself smiling despite myself.

"See you in an hour." 

I'd barely hung up on him before I began to berate myself. "Adrienne, you dumbass, seriously... It's just Ben for Cripe's sake."

Just Ben. Was he still "just Ben," or had he become like every other self-interested, moraless bottom feeder? I laughed at myself, unsure where I got off looking down on the concept. Last I checked, I was one such self-interested, moraless bottom feeder. And in all fairness, that was a little harsh, even for me, because I had morals. Good, stong morals, in fact; I just chose not to live by most of them.

Glancing over at the digital clock with numbers so large I could read them fifty feet away without squinting, I realized time was ticking.

I grabbed my worn in tights, ignoring the small tear on the back of the thigh and paired them with a pair of black silk shorts and bustier half shirt. The knee high boots I had planned to wear were buried under a mountain of crap that I'd haphazardly thrown into my closet out of laziness. I made a mental note to clean out my closet as soon as possible. Eventually I found them in the farthest corner of my closet wrapped in a polka dot jacket I'd never seen in my life, but it didn't really surprise me because my closet was the equivalent of Mary Poppins' bottomless carpet bag.