espionage [h.s.]

FOURTEEN

HARRY

With my back leant against the black escalade parked outside the warehouse, my foot taps impatiently against the ground as I wait for Rochelle to meet us. Niall is here too, but he was non-stop talking until I had to eventually tell him to shut up before I kicked him off the mission and replaced him with someone else. He ended up going to sit in the car, because he said he couldn't trust himself to not talk while stood beside me.

When I glance up again, I find that Rochelle is now making her way towards the car, a black duffel bag swinging from her arm. Her lips are curved slightly, ponytail swinging out in the wind behind her as she confidently strolls towards me. "What's with the bag?" I ask when she finally approaches me, eyeing it curiously.

"It has my disguise in it," she tells me, causing me to raise my eyebrows. "Don't mock. Connie helped me with it. It's very good."

"Hmm, we'll see."

Rochelle furrows her eyebrows, a puzzled expression flashing over her features in response to my tone. "What's up with you?" she asks, eyes scanning over my slightly tense posture.

"Nothing," I say, but judging by her expression, it's pretty clear she doesn't believe me.

"You still don't want me to go on this mission, do you?" she surprises me by asking next. "I told you before, I don't mind that I'm essentially being used for my sexuality. At least I get the chance to dress up nice."

"That's not the problem."

"Then what is?"

As I look at her, I consider telling her the exact problem I have with her going on this mission. But I decide I can't, because that would mean revealing a lot more of my feelings about this situation than I would like to admit to her, and more than I would even admit to myself. I shake my head to rid myself of the thoughts, tearing my gaze from hers. "Get in the car," I order, turning around to open the door of the drivers seat. "We can't be late."

"Oh, I would never be late for a date. It's unladylike."

Much to my annoyance, Rochelle and Niall spend the whole drive talking and laughing, which I try to block out but it's quite hard due to the volume of their conversation. I switch on the radio in an attempt to try shut them up, but they just continue to talk over the music anyway. Even when I let out occasional huffs of annoyance, they still don't seem to get the message, or if they do, they ignore it.

After a couple of hours, their conversation begins to fizzle out and they both become slightly restless, clearly bored of being cooped up in the car for so long. Niall begins to rhythmically tap his fingers against the side of the car, letting out a small sigh as he rests his head against the window. "Are we almost there?" he asks for about the fifth time.