Deny Everything

Chapter . . . - -

Surprise, surprise. Tuesday sucked. I knew It would. I mean, come on, rain? All day?

        Now I felt the same feeling I always felt when I was about to go on a mission. My stomach was doing little flip-flops, my mind was thrown into overdrive, and I was shaking. Not uncontrollably, and barely noticeable, but enough so that if anyone did notice they would probably think I was either sick or high.

        “You okay?” I moved to look at Nick until I realized his voice was coming from the hotel-room bath.

        I sighed and looked down at the floor, calling back to him, “Are you seriously shaving?”

        I heard the water stop running, and Nick slowly refuting my statement. As he put it, that would be stupid, and it’s not as if he was trying to impress anyone. I figured I would need to talk to Molly later.

         As we walked out of the hotel I turned my face up to the sun, basking in all its glory. I lifted my arms and spun in a small circle, laughing. The heat was wonderful, but I stopped myself when Nick started to mock me.

        “Maine?” He asked in a girly, whiny voice. “I don’t wanna, it’s cold, blah, blah, blah.”

        I stopped walking and glared at him as he laughed. He saw my face, made a pouty one back, and kept walking towards the car. Just for the hell of it, I charged him full speed from behind and jumped on impact, flying up over his head as he ducked and trying to spin myself back around. By the time I had, Nick grabbed my arm and pulled me back towards him, pinning me on the ground.

        “Are you ever going to learn? I trained you, idiot.”

        I was trying to laugh, but the force of Nick’s knee on my back made me cough into the ground. I grinned fuller than ever and kicked my feet up backwards, knowing that I didn’t possibly have enough force to move Nick, but I could at least stun him.

        As he hesitated I pulled myself out from under him and grabbed his gun simultaneously. I rolled over his head and down his back, switching our positions and putting a gun to his head. I was smirking until he said, “Are you trying to get us locked up? Put the damn gun away, or I will ground you.”

        I stepped back, held the gun out to him, and waited for the scolding to start. For a second, Nick looked as if he was angry, but then he smiled and ruffled my hair.

        “You’re getting better, Kid, but you got a ways to go.”

 .-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-

        We approached the cafe where we were meeting our contact with little caution. We were in a terribly busy area, surrounded by old, tall, brick buildings that were crowded with shops. My happy encounter with the heat was over as soon as we arrived, for the area was on the ocean and there was a “cool” breeze rolling in.

        Nick and I had been walking around the vicinity for a while, pointing out any places to avoid, and any others where we could blend into the crowd. It was a populated area, but smaller than I had expected, being less than a mile in length on the main road; Commercial Street, as it was so conveniently named.

        “We’re meeting him in here?” I asked skeptically. The entrance into the building was worn down but cared for, and the lighting inside was poor. “Seems a little… sketchy.”