DRIVE WEST

SEVEN - (Lie)

His semblance looked down towards the table— where his fingers played with the silver knife. His back was laid back on his chair, "I don't. Would you explain it to me?"

She leaned over on the table like a ready carnivore, "Ezra. You walked into my store like you were doing me a favor. You demanded a date. We've been here five minutes and I'm already wearing your jacket. You've written the rule book on seduction."

He smirked, "I prefer Gentleman's Guide." She laughed, "I kid, I kid." He added, and sat back straight at his chair. "Well, you'll be surprised to know that this is my first date in a couple of months, Miss. Zen."

She raised her eyebrows, "That does surprise me."

The wine was placed down on the table in two tall glasses, round at the bottom.

Zen and Ezra exchanged looks as the wine was being poured by the waiter.

Suddenly, "Ah!"

Ezra stood up instinctively, his pants completely ruined by red wine.

Zen's mouth, 'O' shaped and unprepared, her eyes flew to the waiter intuitively.

Yes, the waiter wore the uniform and yes, he was blonde. But as their eyes locked, her head got hot with anger.

(Apollo.)

The restaurant stared and murmured, but Ezra dealt with the unexpected disarray, "It's alright." He told the waiter. "These things happen." He looked around and raised his hands, "It's alright, we'll get this cleaned up."

Zen turned to him, faking obliviousness, "Oh my,"

Ezra laughed a little, "I'm afraid this won't clean up, actually."

She laughed along, "Yes, red wine can be really unforgiveable. It looks good on you, though!"

He gave a bitter laugh, "Thank you! If you like it, I'll keep it, then."

"Let's call you a car." She said to him.

He agreed with good humor, and started walking towards the door. "Oh, I haven't paid for the wine yet."

Zen gestured at him to keep walking, "Don't worry, dear" She brushed her shoulder aggressively on the wigged Apollo, "This one's on them."
-

Standing on the sidewalk, they waited for his car. "Please. Please give me a second chance." He begged.

Her eyes tightened as her smile grew accidentally, "It's a date."

His perfect smile showed, his eyes glistened in the dark. "I can tell you right now it can only go up from here. In fact," his index finger pointed at the sky, "I can tell you right now how our next encounter will end."

She giggled, "Is that so?"

He sighed and looked down, "We'll go on a date and you'll ask to split the check. I'll know it'll be a test to know how I react with strong women but I'll still want to pay. Please let me pay. Please let me overcompensate for the small awkward silences I let occur on this date because I got distracted starring at you by paying for this. Please let me try to impress you somehow. And you will. Let me pay, that is. And I'll be happy with you and you'll be happy with me. And more importantly, my trousers will be wine-free."

She smiled and his car arrived.

They both looked at the black car, dreading what this meant.

"I'm afraid I've got to leave you wanting more, Brightly." She slithered his jacket back into his hands.

He looked at her and then entered his car quietly.

She bent over so her head could reach his window, "Next time, we're ordering a soda."

-

As she watched the black car leave, Zen waved goodbye.

"That was... cute." She heard.

Monday turned around and saw Apollo, this time without the blonde wig.

She walk towards him stomping her tall heels, "What the fuck made you think you had the right to interfere with my date like that?"

"I'm sorry but I'm not about to see you waste this mission with your personal fantasies."

She pushed his chest with both hands, "How stupid are you! This is part of the mission!"

"Ha! How lucky that your mission isn't some nerdy zit-faced geek, huh? I guess this charming rich boy should do, right?"

She shook her head, extremely annoyed, her face crunched up in rage, "You're sleeping with Peaches Oberlin! A literal super-model! Are you stupid?"

He diverted, "That's not the point, March. She's a direct mark of the mission. This Ezra character is literally just a side game to you."

"If you had waited for my letter tonight, you would've known that I've seen this boy go in and out of the GUST House several times. You do remember that we've placed the flower shop right across the street from them for me to be able to identify and engage with the members right?"

(Uncomfortably), "Of course I remember."

"Great. So what I'm hearing is that you get to go around breaking sinks—"

He rolled his eyes, "Could you let the sink thing go?—"

"You get to go around breaking sinks and I can't even get to a main meal on a date!"

"Monday, I—"

"Last morning I sold flowers to fucking Edwin Dorsell and tonight I met with a new member. And I didn't break a single—"

"Monday!"

"You crossed a line with me, Knight, and I won't stand for—"

He took two steps forward and touched her hair suddenly, she inhaled deeply, frightened. "There's something in your hair." He untangled a stray of hair and smoothly slid his fingers to get rid of a white speck of dust. "You were saying?"
(She lost her breath)

Though her hair was back to being impeccable, he didn't move. He stayed there.

"You're... really close to me right now." She whispered.

Suddenly, Elliott and Feyre crossed the street and meet with them.

"We tracked you two and saw you were together." Elliott stated.

"Yeah. What the fuck?" Feyre added. "We were supposed to be notified about things like this."

Apollo took a step back and rolled his eyes heavily, "God, I didn't know this was going to be a reunion or else I would've dressed for the occasion!"

They all bickered at the same time.

"Enough! This moment is over!" Monday affirmed, "Go back to your positions and wait further instructions."

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you." Feyre said to her, and the boys finally settled. "What did you say your boy's name was?"

Apollo let out a growl, "Her boy!!! God, this has got to be a joke!" He raised his hands to the sky.

Monday ignored, "Ezra. Ezra Brightly."

Feyre pulled out her phone and typed in something.

Elliott joined the search and whispered something to her, "Try the filter."

They kept typing, "No."

Monday hugged her arms, trembling with the cold, "What's going on?"

The two ignored the question and kept typing and murmuring.

Apollo grabbed the phone from both of their hands like an ape, "She asked you a question."

They both looked up at him. Elliott pushed up his glasses and cleared, "We can't find Ezra Brightly in the system."

"What do you mean?" Monday stiffened.

Feyre tensed her shoulders, "Ezra Brightly doesn't exist."

In that moment, Apollo and Monday both knew what this meant: They had just been fooled by a man who they thought was clueless and they were closer to GUST then they had thought.