Mission: Undercover

Chapter 16

Vanessa smiled, admiring the strength Rebecca was showing at that moment. "That's my girl."

Rebecca closed her laptop, looking even more excited. "And speaking of which. Take a day off on Wednesday, Nessa. We have work to do!"

"Work?"

"Yeah. I'm going to Italy. And you're going to the ball. We have some serious shopping ahead of us!"

"Becks, you realize you're going to the mecca of fashion, where you can buy all the clothes in the world, don't you?"

"Exactly! But I need new clothes to get to where I'm going to buy other new ones."

Vanessa giggled. "You're incorrigible."

"I know! Don't try to fix me." Rebecca brushed her hair back.

"Okay, but I can't take a day off to shop. Can I?"

"Of course, you can. Well, you will save some details from Cole. Just tell him you need a day off for personal reasons."

Vanessa looked out the window and smiled again.

***

Wednesday

Three hours. One mall down. More to come.

An absolute pleasure for Rebecca. Real torture for Vanessa.

"Remind me why the hell did I agree to that?"

"Oh, come on, Nessa! Don't tell me you're not having fun!"

"No, Becks, I don't. Believe me."

"Well, it would have been more fun if you had tried on at least one dress!"

"Well, you tried about a thousand, so you made up for me."

The two were already walking down the corridors in the second mall.

"Coffee." Vanessa stopped suddenly.

"What, Nessa?"

"I need coffee. Neither a step more before I drink coffee."

Rebecca looked at her watch. "Okay, we have two more malls to go around. We could take ten minutes for coffee."

"Ten? Really, Becks?"

"Tick-tock, Nessa."

The girls sat in the first cafe they saw. Vanessa sipped her coffee and sighed, "Now, this is a pleasure."

Rebecca smiled while looking at the shopping bags she had left on the other chair.

"Well, tell me about Mike," Vanessa asked out of nowhere.

"What about him?" Rebecca looked at her in surprise.

"You two have a story together."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because I can read people," Vanessa simply replied.

Rebecca bit her lower lip and smiled, going back in time. "Okay. It's true. We do have a history together. He was my first—"

"Don't say your first love."

"Um, I would say my first... you know."

"Your first sex partner? You know you can say it out loud, right?"

"Yes, that's what I meant. But not only that. Yeah, he was also my first love."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. We were very young. As much as we loved each other, many things separated us. Or so it seemed. He was older than me. I was still in high school. He went to college. We barely found time to see each other. And it just happened. We decided it was better for everyone to go their own way and be friends."