15 | Code Red, Literally
Calum | POV
I ran as fast as I could, pushing open the door. I was trying to catch my breath as I ran past the aisles and stopped at the wall of things I can't comprehend.
I stare in confusion. As I stand there, I hear a fit of giggles from girls around the store. They were whispering to each other, some even turned pink. Let me correct my first statement, I stand here in confusion, AND embarrassment.
"Holy shit." I cursed under my breath as I stare at the wall of tampons and sanitary pads in front of me.
"Look how confused he is!" I hear a woman giggle with her friend I sent them both a glare and they quickly walked away. I grunt again, cursing under my breath, "Mia fucking Roux."
Which one is it? My chest heaving up and down, still trying to catch up on the little marathon I had. That one? I thought as I look at the one in front of me. Or that one? I ask myself again.
"Ah fuck it." I finally said as I tossed as much as there is this store has to offer. I can't deal with these giggling and gushing ladies, i'm out!
2 HOURS EARLIER
"Has anyone seen Mia?!" Miss Mendez was almost out of patience. All of them shook their heads. Today was a Saturday but Sophia had rehearsals. I wanted to tag along to make up for yesterday. "Luke! Where the hell did your Snow White go?!" Miss Mendez glares at Luke and he shakes his head saying he doesn't know. "God, I give a 30-minute break and this happens!" She frustratingly sighs.
I can't help but feel a little worried and guilty after our fight last night. What if she bailed rehearsals because she saw me? Harry went out earlier to look for her, probably trying to contact her over and over again. I felt my stomach drop remembering Mia's words, that she didn't want to talk to me again.
I pushed her away, literally, and hurt her. "What's with the angry face?" I noticed that my brows were furrowed as soon as Sophie nudges me from my thoughts. "Nothing, just becoming impatient. Can't you just rehearse without Mia?" I asked her and she scoots closer to me and shakes her head. "No, she is Snow White, Cal." She laughs.
"Being Snow White is a boring thing, it's good that you were casted as the witch, it's a more interesting role." I joked and pinched her nose. She laughs. "Of course you'd say that, you're a mafia don's son, you love trouble and live for trouble." She says and I frown. "Cal, I was just teasing." She sits straight and looks at me. She presses her palm on my cheek. "A little trouble is nice." She says, landing her lips on mine. She breaks off the kiss, "I have to go before Miss Mendez grills me again." She laughs and jogs back to the stage and I smile.
Two heartbeats later my phone rings, I checked the caller ID and answered immediately, thinking that she had forgiven me for last night. "Mia?" I ask. My body runs cold when I hear her voice. "Camille.." she says weakly. "Mia it's Cal—"
"Camille please, the ladies' room. Cam..it's painful. I c-can't take it." I can hear through her voice that she can barely speak through the phone and I get up immediately. "Wait for me, Mia." I said, already walking out the theatre. I slowed in my tracks when I realized I didn't know which ladies' room she was in. I curse under my breath, genius. I dial Mia's phone but she doesn't answer.
It took me four ladies' room before I finally found her. She was sat on the floor leaning on the side wall of the stall. Her bangs matted with cold sweat and her lips almost colorless. I got down on my knees and tapped my palms on her cheeks gently. "Mia, Mia." She pries her eyes open.
"What are you doing here?" She whispers. "I'll take you to the clinic." She opens her eyes and manages to send me a glare. "I don't want to talk to you, this is the ladies' room." She weakly scowls. "You accidentally called me instead of Camille." I told her, she doesn't say anything. "Please get Camille.." she says but I don't listen. I tried to lift her but stopped as her skirt moves up her thigh as I do.
There were bruises to. Was this because of last night? Did I do this to her? I lay her down again so that she was leaning on the stall. I studied her legs, it was marked with bruises and I looked at her with worry, before I can say anything, she winces in pain as she hugs herself and curls up.
"It hurts." She cries. "Cal just.. Cal I need you to do something for me.." She hesitatingly looked at me with pleading and sorry eyes.
AT PRESENT
"She says she has some extra clothes in the dressing room." I instructed Camille. "Okay, i'll be there in a moment." She says and ends the call. I sighed and looked over at Mia. I sat her on the counter, I insisted, if she locks herself in the stall she won't have enough oxygen. She took the painkillers I bought for her and some water. "Are you feeling better?" I asked, keeping as much distance as I can. She nods.
"Why did you have to ask Camille to bring me clothes? I didn't leave any stain." She complains. "Your clothes are soaked from your sweat, Mia. Just stop complaining." I tell her. Her hair was all over her face so she pushes it back and ties it in a ponytail, together with her bangs leaving her forehead exposed. It was the first time I saw her without her bangs and she looked...neat.
I cleared my throat, the silence was uncomfortable. "Those bruises..was I the one who—" she shakes her head before I can even finish my sentence. She had her eyes closed but she smiled the slightest. "It just happens..you know, when it's that time of the month." she says and I nod, understanding the situation perfectly after remembering that she has anemia.
"Listen," I start and I walk towards her, her eyes were kept closed but I know she was listening. "About last night," I say but the door swings open and there emerges a frantic Camille. "Oh my goodness, Mia." She says and hands me the bag of clothes before walking to Mia. "Do you need any water?" She asks, Mia opens her eyes and gives me a brief look before turning back to Camille. "I'll just change, thank you." She replies to which Camille nods and grabs the bag from my grasp. She sees the plastic bag full of girl necessities.
She gives me a very amused look and I can tell she's trying very hard to suppress a laugh. "Wow, does it look like Mia is going to have her serious 365 days every year?" She laughs. "You don't mind if I have some of these, right?" She asks me and I look away, cheeks feeling hot and embarrassed. "Whatever." I mutter and walk out the ladies room. I hear Camille giggle and close the door behind me and locks it so she can help Mia change into new clothes.
***
Camille explained to miss Mendez Mia's situation and she excuses Mia for rehearsals today. I watch as girls swoon and boys stare with jealousy as Harry helps Mia walk out the theatre.
I frown at how vulnerable Mia's health is and how fragile she can be.
I found myself wanting to protect her.
***
"Get up." I kicked the couch and Michael jerks awake. "Don't you have a huge ass bed to sleep on?" I tossed my jacket angrily on his face. He grunts and gets up, throwing the jacket as I turned my back. "I would have gone home last night but—" he yawns, "I was on to something. I found something while clearing out the tapes." he says and I turned to face him. He was already closing his eyes and laying back on the couch.
I walked towards him. "What do you mean you were on to something?" I bent down to ask him. He grunts, turning the other side of the couch, ignoring my question. "Michael." I demanded. He waves his hand aimlessly, his words barely audible as he says, "Check the tapes, the tapes on the table..I just—" he yawns. "The tapes, good night." I roll my eyes, "It's 10 in the evening."
I look into the tape labelled "ANDERSON, J: 122499 STATUS: LIQUIDATED". On top of the tape was a post-it with Michael's crappy penmanship '27:03' The start of the clip shows the President surrounded by reporters but he didn't seem to acknowledge them. It was snowing, there were police cars behind him, as well as a rescue unit. I fast forward and paused at 27:03.
There she was, or I'd like to believe that it was her. The footage shows a little girl peeping out of the black limousine's window. The window was only rolled down enough to see her face from eyes up. The photo was barely visible, I can barely make a girl out of it, but as I studied it carefully, indeed..there was a girl in the president's car.
Mia | POV
My cheeks flush red. Harry had an amused smile plastered on his face ever since we left rehearsals. "Stop being so happy." I look at the window. I hear him choke back a laugh. "Go ahead, throw me an 'I told you so' card." I roll my eyes and he bursts into hysterics. I turn to him pissed but faltered when I saw his face.
His eyes were fighting to stay open while laughing so hard. I let out a soft laugh and shook my head. "I told you so!" He says and laughs louder. "Eyes on the road, Harry. Don't get me killed." I smile, leaning on the seat and crossing my arms over my chest.
"By the way," he calms. "Of all the people, why ask Calum to buy you those—" he laughs and clears his throat."—you know."
"Oh my god." I cover my face with my palms, cheeks hot with embarrassment. "I meant to call Camille! I wasn't exactly in the perfect state of mind." I lean my head back, closing my eyes shut. "I'm so embarrassed." I admit. He giggles. Giggles. "I can tell, your face is turning pink." He points out, briefly looking at me.
As he did, he pauses for a while before turning back to face the road. "It's the first time I've seen your forehead." He says out of the blue. "You always had those bangs." He motions. "What's that thing on your forehead?" he asks. "Oh, this?" I touch the upper right corner of my face. "It's a birthmark." I tell him. "They say your birthmark shows how you died in your past life, in your case, maybe you got shot in the head, or had an arrow through your skull." He jokes and I nod in curiosity. "What about you? do you have any?" I ask him and he shrugs, bringing the topic back to me.
"You know, you should wear your hair up like that more often." He sends me a quick smile. We've arrived. He parks the car and we both undid our seatbelts. He shifts his body so he's facing me, and I do the same, our shoulders leaning on our seat.
"Yes, love. It shows how beautiful you are." He smiles, catching me by surprise on how he can casually compliment me like that without feeling awkward. I chuckle. I held out both my hands and reached for his hair, holding it up into a makeshift ponytail. "What are you doing?" He raises his brows but he smiles, showing his dimples. I tilt my head as I held his hair in place. "You should also tie your hair up, if you want me to tie my hair up too." I let go of the lock of hair.
"Your face is not that bad either." I admit, looking away, pretending to take my bag. He didn't say a word but grin. "By the way, love? That's so British of you." I laugh. He smiles. "Of course. Remember the red buses you've always fancied when we were younger?" His eyes seem to tell me a story, and I stare.
Ashton | POV
We were so close to finding out who's after Mia, but as we thought that we were one step ahead of them, they proved us wrong. They managed to get a copy of the tape, the tape that can prove that the president's daughter, my sister, is alive.
"I thought the last copy of those tapes were destroyed?" My father asks, as he was now pacing back and forth in his office. "This can't happen to Mia. I can't let the same thing happen to her. " He nervously thinks. I stared at his desk, trying to process it all in my head and come up with a plan.
"You said a group was after her." He stops and looks at me dead in the eye and I nod. Mia might not understand why my father has to push and hide Mia away, but I do. I see the struggle and panic in his eyes when I enter his office, automatically thinking I've bad news to tell about Mia.
"Have you looked into it?" He asks, finally taking a seat. I nod, taking an envelope and passing it to him. He takes it and looks into the files. He squeezes his eye shot and breathed out despair. "Mafia.." he whispers hopelessly.
There was a knock on the door. Lieutenant Jacobs enters the room, leaving a respectable distance before proceeding. "This package has arrived addressed to you, Mr. President." He hands out a box wrapped in brown paper. Father nods to him and he walks towards us, I take the package. "We don't know how it ended up in the white house, sir. We've checked all the security camera's, nothing. No return address either." Jacobs informs. I ripped the brown paper, showing a black box.
Once I opened the black box, there was a small device with a button. I took the envelope that came along with the device, ripping it open to show a note.