Coming on here as a little rant haha. I'm Hello! As you can see, I have updated my story, but not because of a death threat. I want everyone to know that I'm trying to update latest once a week so just keep that in mind. I'm sorry I sound a little bitter. I really do love and appreciate everyone who reads this and enjoys the story! And I don't mind too much when people ask me to update (though keep in mind I try to do once a week). However, I don't appreciate when people say "UPDATE!!! Or I'll find you and kill u". If it was from a friend or reader of a long time, I wouldn't be too concerned as it is probably a joke but I don't appreciate comments like that from people who I don't know of and who I didn't know read my story. Plus I don't appreciate it from someone who, based on their profile picture, is a middle aged man. Please do not comment that kind of stuff on this story, thank you. For everyone else, thank you for the lovely comments and please enjoy!!
As Raymond accompanied me inside, I tried to test my breath and smell under my armpit until Raymond gave me a weird look. I was actually going to see Erica again. I've been dreaming about this moment for a long time. It was happening. I just hoped I looked acceptable and I smelled good.
Right before we entered the vast doors to her house, I got really nervous. I hoped she still remembered me as well as I did her and she still maybe even liked me. No I can't think like that. I thought. I think she's dating a really hot celebrity. I was getting delirious and stressed out. What do we even have in common now? Her schedule is probably so busy, she doesn't have time to help me with my case! And even if she had time, would she want to? Erica has probably way better things to do. This was a dumb idea!
But before I could dwell on it too much, Raymond lead me past the great foyer and into a big, beautiful living room and kitchen. It was open concept and very white with straight cut lines through. There was a giant, crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, which was three stories high. Floor to ceiling windows were in the walls, showing a gorgeous view of downtown Los Angeles.
But most importantly, sitting at the island of the kitchen, was Erica Hale.
She smiled at me as I gaped at her. She was gorgeous. Erica was wearing light makeup and her dark, raven hair was straightened and down to the middle of her back. She was wearing stylish (and I'm pretty sure designer) clothes and was eating a salad. I suddenly lost all coherent thought and didn't know what to say.
Luckily, the security guard broke the silence, "Miss. Handler, I'll stay here to make sure everything goes smoothly."
Erica turned and smiled at him, "No it's okay, Ray. I trust him. In fact, I want everyone out. I want to talk to Ben in private. And tell Scott, if he needs anything, to wait until I'm done."
"But ma'am, are you-" Raymond was cut off by Erica's light blue eyes piercing into him.
"Of course, ma'am. If you need anything, please let me know." With that, the big man left.
"Uh..." was all I managed to stutter out.
Erica smiled at me, "Hi Ben."
"Wow... um... hi." I felt so awkward. Even though we were standing only a few feet apart from each other, it felt like there were miles between us.
Erica smirked, reminding me of her old self, "That's it? Hi? How about you tell me why you randomly show up unannounced at my house after ten years?" She said this jokingly and lightly.
"I... um... can we talk?" I asked a bit meekly. I didn't want to be this way when I arrived but I couldn't help it. I'd been looking forward to this moment for a long time.
"Yeah, of course. Are you okay? This is so unexpected." She got down from the island and gestured me to sit down on this giant wraparound loveseat/couch thing. It overlooked LA.
I sat down and she sat down a few feet away. It was so awkward. I didn't think we were just magically going to go back to the way it was, but I didn't expect this much distance. It seemed like we were such different people, it was hard to talk. But once we got into conversation, I hope it goes back to the easy conversations we used to have.
"Yeah... I... well I'm doing okay. I tried to let you know I was coming, but you kept denying my calls."
Erica arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow in confusion, "When? Wait were you the unknown number that kept calling me a day or something back?"
"Uh... yes that was me." Internally, I was grinning. She kept her promise! After ten years, after she became a celebrity, she didn't change her number. It renewed hope for me. Hope of what, I wasn't sure. But hope.
Erica pulled out her phone, "So you're that 202 number?"
"Yep," I said.
Erica looked like she was going to say something else, when this young-ish (probably thirty) year old guy walked in. He had blonde hair, blue eyes and a beard. He was really handsome. She turned to look at him.
"Hey Scott," Erica said, smiling.
For a very panicked second, I thought this was her boyfriend. I felt my blood run cold. I was still into Erica. I was still into this fantasy that everything was going to go back to the way it was ten years ago. That she'll like me and I'll like her. I didn't care she was rich and famous. I just loved myself when I was with her. But deep down, I knew that was unrealistic. It was ten years ago. We were both very different people. I was stuck in the past. And it seemed she moved on.
But luckily, Scott stuck his hand out. "Scott Pierceton, Erica's assistant. Pleased to meet you. You must be Ben Ripley."
I shook it, "Yes, I'm Ben-" It suddenly hit me how I wasn't supposed to use my old name. I was Ben Randoph to the rest of the world now. So how did Scott know? Did Erica tell him? Was he a mole for a bad organization?!
"I'm Ben Randoph," I finished, "And the pleasure is all mine."
Scott gave me a confused look, "Ben Randoph? Isn't it Ripley?"
"No!" I said, probably way too quickly, "Why would you think it's Ripley?"
"Because that's what you told Raymond, the security guard who let you in." Scott looked really lost. Erica was looking between us, not uttering a word. Okay, at least he wasn't a double agent. It was my stupidity that tipped him off.
"Uh... yeah... but..." I was breaking into a cold sweat again. I didn't know what to do. I was never the one to come up with excuses on the spot.
"But," Erica interjected loudly, "See, I knew Ben in middle and freshman year of high school. When I first met him, I thought his last name was Ripley instead of Randoph. It's been an inside joke ever since. And he probably knew that's how I would know him, so don't worry about it Scott." See, even after ten years she saves my ass. Snippets of our old life were coming back to us.
Scott nodded in understanding, "Oh, got it. Well I'll leave you two to talk. This was unexpected but you guys seem to need to catch up. Erica, I should cancel everything today right? It was just some meetings you can easily reschedule."
"No you don't have to do that-" I started, feeling bad to uproot her day unexpectedly, but Erica interrupted me.
"Yes, thank you Scott. And will you tell someone to move Ben's luggage?" She turned to me, "Are you expecting to stay in LA for a long time?"
"Well, I have some news for you and if you have time, we might need a few days to investigate it."
"Invesiage it?" Her expression turned wary, "Okay well where were you planning to stay?"
"Uh... you know... a hotel somewhere?' It was clear I did not think the whole plan through.
"Well, that's fine, but you can stay here if you'd like. The house is big enough for many people. There's an entire guest wing of the house. As long as you don't murder me in my sleep." She joked. I considered the offer and wanted to take it because hotels are expensive, especially in LA, but mainly because I want to spend more time with Erica.
"I don't think I would be able to if I tried," I joked back, referring to the murder thing. It was an old inside joke from spy school. Erica smirked.
Erica was definitely different than spy school. She was less high strung and seemed to want and have many friends. She was also joking around a lot, which was a pleasant surprise.
Scott took my bag to the other side of the house, the guest wing.
"So what's the news you wanted to talk about? Does it relate to middle school?" Middle school was code for spy school.
"Um... yes, kinda." I didn't know how much she trusted her entourage, so I kept it very vague.
She looked at me, like she knew what I was saying. I felt my face getting hot again. Damn, she was beautiful. Her piercing blue eyes were the same as they were ten years ago. Erica was even more gorgeous and I felt myself falling for her, even though I didn't know her that well anymore.
"Okay, well let's talk in private. Melissa!" Erica looked over at a woman standing in the kitchen on her phone, "Tell everyone that I'm off for the rest of the afternoon. No one bug me. No one interrupt me unless it's life or death. Text me if anything important comes up."
The women nodded. It was weird that there were a bunch of random people all around the house. Melissa looked like another assistant, there was Scott and multiple housekeeper and gardeners. And those were the only people I saw. It was probably hard to get a moment alone, but if you have the money to afford all these people, then why not.
Erica stood up and motioned me to stand up as well. I did and I followed her to one of her many house's wings. It was a long, tall hallway with beautiful white doors on both sides. She went up to a door and opened it. I was expecting a grand room, but it was a storage closet.
For a small, fleeting moment, I thought we were going to do the stereotypical high school makeout in a closet, but she just lead me to the back of the closet.
"Erica, what are we-"
She cut me off with a vague "You'll see."
On the wall, there was a thermostat. It reminded me of the one Audrey and I used ten years ago when we saved the United Nations. A lot of things remind me of the old spy school days.
Erica approached the thermostat, but instead of turning the temperature up or down, she was tapping on the little screen in the middle.
Suddenly, I heard a grinding sound and the entire back wall pushed out, revealing a staircase leading down. It was just like a spy movie! Finally, something stereotypical about spies!
I let out a giant gasp.
Erica shot me a look, "Keep it down. No one knows this exists."
I could only nod, because I was completely in awe.
She started stepping down the staircase and I was close to follow. I heard the grinding sound again and the wall went back into place. The staircase was modern and well lit, with polished wooden stairs and white walls. After awhile, we were let off into a small room with giant glass doors looking out into a warehouse looking thing. It was epic! I couldn't believe this was in Erica's house! I could sort of believe it though, since her life was hectic and she probably wants time alone. She has the money too anyway. And she has so many secrets, not much surprises me anymore.
On the other side of the area, next to the warehouse was a separate building. Inside, it looked like it had a kitchen and table and bedrooms. It was like a fully functioning house down here.
But it made even more sense to what was in the vast warehouse type thing. In the corner closest to us, there was an entire gym set, complete with weights and treadmills and everything in between. Sharing that side of the room, there were mats and dummies, assumingly to practice self defense. There were also all different sorts of punching bags.
What was the most shocking was the other half of the warehouse. Along the far wall, there were targets and bullseyes. On racks and hanging on the walls, there were all different sorts of weapons. Guns of every variety, arrows and many different weapons I didn't even recognize. It gave me a wave of de sha vu. It reminded me too much of spy school.
And this is Erica I know and love. The badass spy who can take down twenty men by herself. The one who can shoot through the same bullet hole in the bullseye. The Erica who can use any weapon. Spy Erica.
She noticed me looking all over in shock.
"You like it?" She asked me.
"Uh huh," I said shakily, still awestruck. It was amazing.
"Yeah I built it when I moved in. I was still fresh from spy school and missed this. Plus, after what my life has turned into, I need peace and quiet sometimes. And I needed to stay in shape and trained." She walked over to the gun rack, grabbed a handgun and shot it right dead center into the target over fifty yards away. She hasn't lost her touch.
I was expected to be deafened by the gunshot in an enclosed space, but I actually wasn't. In fact, it was quieter than at spy school.
"Cool right?" Erica said as she noticed my confusion, "The walls and ceiling are made of a material that actually absorbs the sound. Also, this entire place is soundproof, so no one else can even hear it."
"So Scott doesn't know about it? Or Melissa? Raymond?" I asked, rambling names I heard her say. But I would imagine it would be hard to hide this from people, especially people who work for you and need your approval of everything.
Erica shook her head. Her raven hair floated through the air, "Nope. Only Audrey, well, she helped install the place, my dad and mom and some really close friends. Oh and I guess you too."
She paused for a moment.
"You know who else knows? Zoe, from spy school. She was one of the first people who saw it."
I could barely contain my surprise. Zoe and Erica hung out after spy school? And without me? For some reason, that stung.
"What? When?" I sputtered out.
"When I first moved in, so like three years ago? She was coming to LA from where she lives in Illinois and she reached out to me." Three years ago? That was a few years after I stopped talking to them. I was hurt I didn't get an invite, but I don't know why. I wasn't anywhere near LA and Zoe and I stopped talking long before that. But I know in my heart I would have dropped everything to come.
Erica continued, "Well, she couldn't get ahold of me so she went to my manager. We grabbed a coffee and I showed her this. She gave me some great feedback on it too. Speaking of which, have you talked to her in the last few years? Any of them since spy school?"
"Well, I went to school with Mike until he got recruited to the Red Sox, but we drifted apart in the last few years of high school. I spoke to Zoe on Instagram a little bit, but not in a long time. I completely lost contact with Chip, Jawa, Audrey..." I paused, "And you."
Erica raised her eyebrow, "I gave you my number when we left. You never even reached out to me. I thought you were over Spy School. That you wanted to move on and forget what happened. Well I can clearly see that that's not the case."
"What do you mean?" I demanded, coming out harsher than I intended.
She looked a little surprised at my sudden outburst, "All I'm saying is you seem caught up in the past. I can tell. Your eyes completely lit up when I showed you this area. It seems like you want life to go back to the way it used to be, back at spy school. You looked disappointed at my lifestyle now. Ben, it's been ten years. By coming here won't change the fact that we can never go back to our life as teenagers."
Her words hit me like a bullet. I've barely been here a half an hour and Erica already seemed to figure me out. It was the harsh reality I've been avoiding. It hurt to see everyone else living their best life, and then there was me. Unhappy. Back then, I was cool. I defeated SPYDER! But all that means nothing now. Heck, I have to pretend it didn't even happen. It's true. I wanted my old life back.
"I know that. And you're right; I'm stuck in the past. But life hasn't been so great since spy school. It seems like everyone else is living their best life while I'm not. At all. I mean, Chip is an action star, Jawa's going to the Olympics, Mike's a star baseball player and Zoe is happy with a family. And you... well, you're a millionaire."
"That doesn't mean everyone is happy, Ben. Fame and riches doesn't mean someone's content with life. That's one thing I've learned from Hollywood. Have you spoke with Mike? Does he seem happy?"
I shook my head. I haven't spoken to Mike in so long.
"Does Mike seem happy now? Last I saw, he's a playboy baseball player, although good, he's potentially ruining his baseball career with drugs and drinking. Yeah, he might be rich and famous, but that doesn't mean he's happy." Erica looked at me.
I considered what she was saying. It was true. Mike was getting into trouble these days with DUI's, MLB fines, and is starting to get an awful reputation. I guess Mike wasn't too happy, maybe. But at least he's doing what he's loved to do since he was five. I like math, but being an accountant is so dull.
"I guess not. But still, I'm living worse probably."
"Well what have you been up to these last few years?" Erica asked.
"Well, Mike and I went back to our local high school. We kind of fell back into our old routine, but everything was different. It was just... weird. We couldn't talk about the school so we didn't have anything to talk about. We ended up drifting apart, especially towards junior and senior year. He was super popular, and I was that math nerd. I really had no friends. Mike got scouted by the Red Sox senior year, so he skipped college to go play for them. I got into Columbia and after that, got the job I have now as an accountant at a private equity firm." As I was talking, I could see sympathy and pity on her features. Yet another person who feels bad for my sad life.
I kept talking though, "But as I was watching the news, I noticed something strange that led me to research it extensively. That's why I'm here. I wanted to run it by you. But I didn't know if I should. Then I got evicted from my apartment and that was the sign I needed. So to get here, I called your father who connected me to your sister in order to find you. You keep your life very secret."
"You talked to my dad and sister?" She sounded excited. I was worried she'd think that was creepy.
"Yeah, I even had lunch with Audrey yesterday."
"How are they?" It seemed that Erica doesn't get to talk to them much, "Wait you had lunch with Audrey?"
"Yes, some guy attacked her while I with her!" I guess I forget to mention that in all the excitement.
Erica looked shocked, "And why didn't you lead with that?! Is she okay?!"
"Oh don't worry; she beat his ass." But Erica wasn't listening to me anymore, she was on her phone.
Erica pointed to her screen, "Oops, yeah I found a text from Audrey sent yesterday: 'Saw Ben from school today. We went for a coffee. Some guy from an Afghanistan trip attacked me. He's being interrogated and is in custody now. Gave Ben your address. He has some information. But be careful with him, he seems to be in pretty bad physical and mental health right now.'" Erica trailed off as she read the last part.
But I was hurt. I thought I looked good for Audrey! I was wearing my nice shirt! What does she mean that I look like I'm in bad physical and mental health?! How can she even tell?
"What does she mean by that?!" I snapped at Erica.
Erica looked uncomfortable at answering that, "Well... Ben... have you looked in the mirror recently? I mean, I know you look really different since the last time I saw you but... you have dark circles under your eyes, your hair is greasy and messy, your clothes are dirty and you get angrier easily since ten years ago."
I was shocked and offended! Who is Erica to judge what I look like or how my personal hygiene is?! And just because she was a former really good spy, doesn't mean she can go around pointing out all my flaws!
"Excuse me?! Is that any of your business how I keep myself?! Who are you to judge, miss millionaire?! God you've become so rude!" I completely lost my temper. It really hurt coming from the Hales.
She looked unaffected by my words and just gave me a pointed look.
"Oh, okay, I'm sorry, point taken." I realized that I was proving her point exactly.
Erica exhaled, "I didn't mean to say that in a rude way, but I'm concerned for you. You really look like you're not taking care of yourself."
"Okay, well, it's none of your business." I was getting super agitated.
Erica held up her hands in surrender, "Alright I'll drop it." Her voice was a bit bitter.
I sighed. This was not how I wanted our first meeting back to go.
"Erica, I'm sorry. I was just evicted from my house yesterday so I'm a little more stressed than usual. I'm taking my anger out on you and that isn't fair. I'm sorry."
Her gaze instantly softened, "It's okay, Ben. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. But about being evicted, I'm so sorry. What happened?"
"My stupid landlord is a jerk and evicted me because everyone else in the complex loves to have raging parties and I complain about the noise constantly." I grinded my teeth just thinking about it.
"That's not fair. Are you going to sue?"
"No, I'm thinking of it like a blessing in disguise. Now I can come here and tell you about my thoughts."
"Oh right," Erica didn't sound as excited as I thought she'd be.
But I explained it all. How I thought Joshua Duncan was actually Joshua Hallal and how I thought he did something shady to get to his position. Erica listened thoughtfully through all of this and even imputed some great ideas and theories. It reminded me of old times. And it was the happiest I've been in a long time.
"So what do you think? Do you want to explore and investigate this with me?" I asked, already anticipating the trip together we would have to take.
But the response threw me off.
Erica looked very apprehensive about answering, "I would love to, Ben, but I don't think it'll work out. I'm sorry, I can't do it."