Getting Away

「TWENTY SIX」

I wake up with a case of amnesia. I don't know where I am or what year it is. I hate it when I take a nap and wake up to an empty brain.

I blink rapidly and shake my head in an attempt to re-inherit my memory. Lucky enough for me, it works. The last thing I remember is taking a nap with Ridge. Looking at his side of the bed, it seems  like he had gotten  tired of sleeping—if he a guy like him even needed sleep.

I yawn and get up. I visit the washroom first before gracing anyone with my presence and morning breath.

After several minutes of scrubbing and brushing, I finally open the doors to a fresh new outfit. I pick out a light green blouse and simple black jeans. I look at my reflection in the mirror and decide I look okay, not half as bad as I had thought I would. Because half as bad is still half as good.

There's nothing I don't like more than bad silence. There's good silence, then there's bad silence, the kind that makes you sick in the stomach. I was okay with the latter, which seems to be what I would face this morning. I was definitely not complaining about good silence either.

Ridge's eyebrows are furrowed in concentration as his gray eyes skim the words written on is on his laptop screen, James is lying on the carpet facing the ceiling, deep in  his thoughts while Elena is the only one who appears to have been awaiting my presence.

“Eiffel you're up,” Elena says looking at me with a wash of relief on her face. I give her a small smile and take in her appearance and I notice we're wearing the same types of outfits. However her blouse is a light blue with white floral prints.

“I've been sitting here for hours with nothing to do, I was starting to go crazy! These two didn't even try to talk to me and I love talking. That's why I worked at the museum, BECAUSE I GET TO TALK,” she lets me know quickly in one breath with her eyes wide open and I chuckle at her melt down in amusement.

Suddenly everyone seems to be back to laugh. We all stare at each other for a good two minutes, not saying a single word. It gets too much for me. Like I said, silence suffocates me and when I get suffocated nothing goods ever comes out of it.

How does Ridge keep up with a serious face every single second of his day. If I ever were to be like that I'd probably be miserable knowing I can't take a joke. This reminds me of a meme I saw a few weeks ago.. It's a joke not a dick, don't take it so hard.

I struggle with keeping a straight face as well as  breaking away from Ridge's serious face that I end up bursting into fits of  laughter, with tears  streaming down my face and  three pairs of eyes blink at me.

I try to catch my breath but only end up bursting into another fit of laughter while clutching my stomach for support. I get kind of ticklish on my sides, which doesn't make it any better.

Not even two minutes later Elena joins me, cackling like a hyena and then it's James' turn to fall into our foolishness.

"Wow. Laughing really is contagious,” Elena admits mid laughter causing us to laugh even harder. Even Ridge's upper lip twitches slightly as  he looks at us amusedly.

I manage to stop but I snort at the end and my face flushes in embarrassment. Ridge chuckles while idiot one and idiot two  stare at me wide eyed.

I look away awkwardly and clear my throat so hard I'm surprised I don't accidentally swallow my own pharynx. Not like anyone can swallow somebody else's pharynx.

“So how far are we from Japan?” I question Ridge who in turn  looks at me and remains quiet while looking smug.

“What?” I interrogate him and he smirks. He tends to do this a lot when I speak to him. Which makes me wonder whether I look funny to him or whether he thinks I'm naive or something in between those lines.

“We're heading back home Mushroom,” He says with finality. I look for any traces of humor on this features and come up with nothing. When did we change plans? And when did we become Ridge.

“WHAT!?” James and I shout at the same time. What kind of joke was this? We were men on a mission and things seemed to look up slightly when we made plans and communicated as a team.

“Travelling isn't safe for you,” He says and I narrow my eyes at him in an intimidating manner and he sends me a warning look.

“I'm certain Damone will pay me a visit soon. There really isn't any need for us to fly around like a bunch of air heads,” he says and I take a seat frowning. We needed to do something though. We were dealing with a dangerous man.

“B-but.. What about the clues?” I ask him and he chuckles.

“Mushroom, anyone could've placed that key in your grand father's place as a trap, or even a prank,” Ridge says and I send him a glare. Why would anyone feel the need to  pull a prank like that. There was nothing remotely funny about any of this. In fact, my blood went cold and shivers ran through my body in fear.

“Look. I'm certain it's a false lead,” Ridge concludes and I groan burying my face in my hands. This isn't the way. There is no way I could would letting him downplay this entire mess we that were currently in. We could pretend it was nothing but that would only come back to bite us in the long run.

At the same time, there's a nagging feeling at the back of my head that this wasn't so much of a prank, but rather a diversion. A goose chase. Someone's distracting is with false information and purposefully leading us in the wrong direction. This could be something big. Something bigger than a nonsense note left behind for us.

“You are right. Someone was trying to trick us into leaving... But why?” I ask no-one in particular.

“So what happens to me?” Elena questions in her thick accent, looking between me and Ridge, who in turn smirks in her direction, causing me to wonder what he was planning.

“Welcome to the United States,” he says and Elena's eyes widen. Oh. That's what he was planning.

“But I don't even have a passport,” she says with a mix of worry and fear. Ridge gently shuts his laptop and focuses solely on the conversation going on.

“I know. I told Daniel to get you another one,” he says and I gasp. We are heading in that direction it seems.

“Just like that?” I ask him and he scoffs.

“You'd be surprised by the things you can do with money Mushroom,” he says and I shake my head in disbelief.

“Where am I going to live?” Elena asks and James raises his hand like a child.

“My housemate just moved out to go live on campus so I can share my apartment with you. You don't have to pay for anyth-,” He says.

“WHAT? Of course not. I'll pay you once I get another job,” Elena says and James nods his head and smiles knowing there's no way he can change her mind.

“So I'm just going to go back to my normal life?” I ask and Ridge nods.

“Yes, that's the point Mushroom,” he says and I look at the floor.

“What about you?” I ask him.

“I'm going to go after Damone,” he says and he sees the look on my face “ALONE.”

“What!? That's dangerous are you insane?” I ask him and he clicks his tongue.

“There's nothing dangerous in this world Mushroom. But there's someone who is,” he says and we all look at him.

“Who?” I ask and his face hardens.

“Me.”