Present time, London...
{ note: Whenever this stamp comes up, the action takes place in the present moment }
As she sat down at the interrogation table, her hands bound in front of her and looking nostalgic at the empty chair across, Ariana recalled that day with a cracked pout.
That was the day she had gone out with Joseph for the very first time...
Nothing much had happened, but maybe there was something lurking in there too. She didn't know, she wasn't even sure she knew herself anymore.
So many things had happened that she was exhausted. She rested her head onto her handcuffed hands.
Where was Joseph now and what was he doing? Did he still care about her or think about her like before, or had he forgotten her?
She almost couldn't breathe right with those thoughts in her brain.
Strangely enough, she was the one with baggy eyes now...
*
Two years ago...
That day Ariana wrapped up her work within the headquarters.
She walked out of the building at 6 p.m., carelessly, wondering if she'll be able to achieve her dream of catching criminals at this job.
And maybe one day, catch her mother's killer...
"Hey Ariana! Are you going home?"
Ariana turned around to see Ioana coming out of the HQ building and barely managed to show her a grin before a dark green SUV car parked violently in front of her, its unexpected appearance fazing her.
She slightly frowned. The green car carried a familiar air but she didn't know where she'd seen it before. She blinked her eyes.
Then a dark haired guy with a nose piercing and an earring on his left earlobe slid out of the driver's seat side.
He was Joseph Baggy Eyes, whose eyes were not as baggy today as if he had managed to catch some sleep since the time of their first encounter.
She was embarassed to see him. The first time they met, she was drunk. He was smoking and giving her a long, cheesy smile while leaning against his car.
"What are you doing here? Have I told you where I work?" Ariana crossed her arms.
"Pretty, you were too wasted to remember if you did. But here I am, not too late I hope?" The guy tilted his face a bit farther, inspecting her.
"So why'd you wait two weeks, then?" Ariana asked, out of curiosity and her innate suspicion.
"Oh, just had some business to deal with. Didn't wanna mix you up with business. Where would the fun be if I didn't get intoxicated?"
At that, Ariana displayed a sarcastic, slightly amused smile.
"So what do you want? Why'd you come here?" she inquired. She knew already why he was here, she could tell and it was darn obvious.
"Why, I came to take you out on a date... Miss cop?" Joseph smiled viciously.
"Detective," she clarified. She looked around. There were some people from work around but she hoped she'd escape unnoticed.
"Fine," she muttered. Joseph piqued her interest.
Maybe he just wanted to take advantage of her, having seen her wasted before, but she was clever.
He wouldn't do anything to her that she didn't want done to her.
"So, where do you wanna hang out? I'm a rich girl and I have high standards."
"That's what she said." Joseph was shaking his head as he sighed and opened the passenger side door for her.
"Well, I'd like to drive with you up to The Seine... But we'll have to work with what we have here in this small town, I guess? But I know a really good locale, trust me." The guy winked.
A steep laughter erupted, suddenly, from Ariana. She brought her hand, adorned with gold and silver bracelets up to brush her hair from her shoulders.
"Something tells me you're not an Englishman. If you're confident about hanging out with a detective, let's go. I'm pretty popular, so they're all looking over here."
"You don't like the attention, huh?"
He inquired, jumping behind the wheel.
"The thing is, in college I used to be called a man-snare. I don't want that reputation here at work, too." Ariana was ogling herself in the rearview mirror as she talked and he saw that.
"And why were you called a man-snare in college?" Joseph quizzed as he started the engine.
She rolled her eyes, drumming her very long, fake looking nails on the edge of the window.
"I never had any serious relationships in college; all those guys were soo ephemeral. And if you're going to be a one night stand following the series that a guy whom I dated two months ago for about three weeks started, I'm going to be making quite a reputation here, as well," Ariana revealed, rather quickly.
That guy she'd dated then was, of course, Mike.
"What makes you think I'm going to be a one night stand?" He swerved on another street, but his voice sounded like a smile. "I tend to think I'm a persistent guy."
"I don't have expectations."
"I really love your hair, Ariana. I think I could get used to seeing it everyday," he confessed, rather cheesy.
Ariana then, looked down at her hair. Was it that beautiful?
"Take care about what you're saying, you might regret it," she warned.
Joseph frowned. Was she playing hard to get?
When the car stopped she didn't know where she was until he told her it was where he lived.
She then became suddenly hesitant, wanted to draw back and change her direction, because she had expected he wanted to have sex and she wasn't loose.
He, however, caught her look.
"The local I've told you about is on the ground floor of my apartment building. It's pretty much underrated, I probably wouldn't have known about it if I didn't live just upstairs."
Ariana pursed her lips.
"Okay," she mused. "You're truly American. Do they serve decent coffee and beverages at least?"
"Oh, trust me on this one, they have the best iced cappuccino with all your favorite flavors, and the place just looks tidy and cozy. It's my second home."
Joseph licked his lips as he pushed open the door of a chestnut like local.
Really cozy, Ariana was thinking, as she struggled to make her way through the almost too close to each other tables.
The proximity in that restaurant was suffocating.
The local was considerably full, but the people there all looked like neighborhood junkies, juveniles and bunches of youngsters.
Just the place for a rich, fine woman who settled for too little.
The waiters looked regular. They were, perhaps, some eighteen or twenty year-olds making their university tuition or just living the job of their lives after having dropped out of the last year of high school.
"I suggest that table in the corner, it's the most private. Do you want something quick to drink? I'll go order." Joseph waved his hand to an unoccupied table.
Ariana liked his assertiveness.
"Don't worry about it, I'll go sit and hit on the menu. You go ahead and order for yourself," Ariana told him and smiled.
Once she sat down she flipped through the menu.
Two minutes later Joseph threw himself in the chair in front of her sporting the very cappuccino he had been commending earlier, coconut flavored.
"This is for you." Joseph sent the tall, glass cup across just as she was looking up at him.
The whipped-cream seemed to be melting as the girl studied the beverage.
"Have I also told you back then that coconut is my favorite flavor? Do I really tell this to everyone I meet?"
Joseph laughed.
"Well, good thing that you did or I wouldn't have been a gentleman just now."
Ariana didn't hesitate and got to drinking while Joseph looked at her, amused.
She seemed to be caught in her own mind as she drank, not really paying attention to him. Was she shy?
"Your mind seems to be very far away, Ariana." Joseph smiled at her with a small chuckle.
And then her phone vibrated against her hip.
"From work. Excuse me." She vanished, leaving Joseph longing after her black dress and fishnets.
She seemed very mysterious tonight.
The waiter was just arriving then and he turned his head to behold his Crispy menu with a smile.
"What is it, Mike?" Ariana was speaking on the phone.
"Oh, just called to tell you you forgot some of your stuff here. Coming to pick them up or are you busy?" Mike asked sternly, with a trace of irony.
"Michael, I don't think I'll come by tonight. But my things are safe inside our secure headquarters, aren't they?" Ariana was mumbling, giving Joseph a side glance over her shoulder.
She found, with foreign satisfaction, that the piercing had been staring at her.
"Are you somehow dating some Joseph?" Mike, with the tone that you have when talking about a certain something and accentuating the two last words, making them sound more like one single noun, inquired through the phone.
"That's not your business. See you tomorrow Mike The B." She hung up with a smile and turned around.
She really couldn't stand Mike's misplaced jealousy.
Walking back to the table, she caught Joseph's bewildered look.
"That attitude's going to pan out negatively someday," Joseph remarked.
Ariana was back at her coconut flavored cappuccino.
" Mike and I have history. I used to date him once, so I can hardly see him as a workmate," Ariana waved her hand, looking at the food.
"Everything they serve here really is fast-food, huh?"
She had only ordered her dish because it included a salad, but on actual sight, even the salad looked greasy and fatty. "I really can't eat this."
Joseph just continued eating, trying to ignore the fact that he had been feeling insulted by her attitude since they came here.
A man-snare? He just had to be patient, he guessed.
"I took you out here tonight to my top favorite, though underrated local, in the world, to get to know you. I'll be reserving to make a comment that I'm hoping to ask your hand in marriage here someday, but you still got to do some talking," Joseph said.
Ariana's palm violently connected with the wooden table.
A high pitched shriek laughter then escaped her throat.
Finally.
"What?!"
"Please, let me get to know you."
He wore grunge clothes, looked musky, had a piercing, but he was a gentleman, wasn't he?
...
Note: If you're reading this please let me know what you're thinking. I'd really, deeply appreciate it 🤍
s.e.