One Night Assassin

|CHAPTER 11| |Liars Never Prosper|

|CHAPTER 11|

|Liars Never Prosper|

Being woken up to the sound of a cell phone blaring right in your ear is probably the worst sound to hear in the morning. Well, right next to your alarm clock. But just by my ounce of shitty luck, that's exactly how I get greeted on this wonderful Saturday morning.

Stumbling for my phone on the side table due to my head being still shoved in the pillow, I feel the phone in my grasp before picking it up to look at the name on it. Low and behold, Veronica's name and picture came up, making me let out a groan before clicking the answer button.

"Last time I checked, this was your 'deal with a hangover' day. What is the queen off of her party schedule for? Special occasion I could only assume," I say in a snarky tone before she could even get a peep out, getting a snort out of her in response.

"And I thought my lovely best friend was supposed to call after she was done doing whatever made her hang up on me, but sometimes we people have to go out of our comfort zone to get the things we need."

"Touché," I say with an arched eyebrow, making us both begin to c***k up at our strange yet idiotic connection we have.

"No, but seriously, are you okay? I mean this is kinda your relax day off from work, why are you calling me?" I ask after I caught my breath after laughing, making Veronica sigh on the other side of the phone. There was a pregnant pause on the phone before she finally took a deep breath in to speak.

"Other than the fact I was kind of stunned that you hung up on me yesterday, in which I understand. I... You promise you won't get mad?" I scrunch my face in confusion before sitting up in my bed to try and wake up and contemplate on what was currently happening.

"Uh yeah, what's up, V?" She takes a shaky inhale before finally speaking.

"I'm kind of worried about you." She utters in a timid tone, making me even more completely perplexed.

"What? Why would you be worried about me? Let me rephrase that, why should you have a reason to be worried about me?"

"Did you seriously ask that? We rarely even talk anymore. And if we do, I'm the one to start it. And not only that, but you just left with no warning, it as if you were kidnapped... Oh my goodness, were you kidn*pped?! You're being held against your will, aren't you? Cough twice if you need me to call the cops for yo-"

"Veronica, please stop. I haven't been kidn*pped, and I'm not being held against my will. It's just-" I pause for a moment to take a breath, thinking onto what I could tell her and not give away the whole plate. I genuinely want to tell her the truth. That I'm doing this for my dad, and that I'm doing this for reasons only I would understand, but I can't. I guess I took too long for my turn to talk, because I get cut off.

"Look, Luna. I'm not trying to interfere with your life or whatever is going on in it, but I just want to be sure that you're okay and safe," she says in the most somber tone I've ever heard her speak. I know I should've told her the truth and she probably wouldn't have told anyone else. But the point is I need to just keep my jaw shut completely, because I'm not getting anyone else that I love involved with this deal.

"I'm fine, V. I promise."

"Then everything's all good." I could hear the tension between the both of our conversation as we spoke. To other people it would've sounded like an everyday conversation, but we knew there was something not right by the way we spoke.

"Alright, well I gotta go take care of my little niece at my sisters house, so I'll text or call you later if that's okay with you," she says in questioning tone, making a grin begin to grow on my face at how close we manage to stay together, even at the crappiest of times in life.

"Definitely, love ya' sis, bye." Hanging up after she reciprocates the message, I fall back on my bed with a groan before finding the desire to yank myself out of the bed and put on some decent clothes to wear. Walking to the closet I was currently borrowing for the time being, I stop when I see a small sticky note on the closet door. Picking it up, I see that it's a note from Adriano before reading it.

Don't forget about our day out together. Remember, my treat. 

~A

I let out a chuckle at his childish behavior before walking into my closet to find anything that fits. Pulling on a random burgundy shirt and a pair of kaki shorts, I'm out the door.

• • •

"Really? We're gonna start all this this early?" I say as I walk down the stairs, being greeted with Adriano's smiling face this early in the morning. His face then falls in confusion when he looks me up and down to see my outfit.

"What are you wearing?" He ask making me look down at my outfit.

"Uh, clothes? You know, the thing that covers peoples bodies from expos-"

"Didn't you get my other note?" He says making me give him a questioning look as to ask 'there was another note?'. He lets out a sigh before shaking his head.

"We were supposed to go running first, it's a rest day but running is usually our first routine in the morning." My expression then turns of one of shock and humor before almost letting out a humorless chuckle slip past my lips.

"You're kidding right? There's no way I could run without getting out of breath now. Don't you know how out of shape I'm in?" I ask but of course, only get that same annoying cocky arrogant smirk from him in return.

"You ran track in high school, Fiore. I know you can run at least a few times around the block." I then groan at the fact he knows all my records. I mean, how does he remember something like that from all that information about me?

"That was two years ago! AKA a thousand potato chip bags ago." Only getting a chuckle out of him, I knew that there was no point in arguing. With a sigh, I stick out my hand before speaking.

"Give me your shirt," I speak with no hesitation while looking him dead in his eyes, making him give me a look of shock before answering.

"And why do you need my shirt exactly?"

"Well I'm not about to get my shirt all sweaty for something that you are wanting to do. And plus, I know you won't have a problem showing off your hot 31 year old body," I finish with a small smile as I pat his chest lightly, making him roll his eyes in defeat before lifting up his shirt. My eyes immediately go wide at the sight of his very chiseled chest and abs that would probably cause a car accident at the sight.

"Are you gonna take it? Or would you rather just stare at me for another good hour?" He says with narcissism leaking as he spoke, but snapping me out of my daze as he does so. As I snatch it from his hands, I turn around to quickly undress, but stop before turning slightly back around.

"Could you maybe- turn around."

"Why don't you just go to the bathro-"

"Because that's stupid when I'm just going to change my shirt, now please turn around," I say sternly enough for him to turn around with his hands up in surrender. Quickly I pull off my clean shirt before slipping on Adriano's workout one.

Turning around, I just give a quick smile to him before putting up my hair with a tie and starting to make my way out.

"Let's roll old man!" I yell with a chuckle before going out the door.

•  •  •

"See, it wasn't too bad," he says as we finally make it back to the house. A house I thought I would never be so happy to see again. I never understood how it was freezing cold a month ago in spring, and now it's hotter than the Saharah desert now.

Global warming is a myth my ass.

"I can't. Breath," I say as I kneel on both of my knees while trying to gain some oxygen back into my lungs. All I hear is Adriano chuckling before looking up to see a grin on his face.

"What's so God damn funny mister 'I run 5 miles everyday'?" I ask, finally gaining enough energy to stand up again.

"You know we've only ran like a mile and a half, right?" At that, my eyes go wide at what he just said. A mile and a half?! I thought we already ran twice of that! 

"You're telling me, I went through all those girls catcalling you and laughing at me. Falling in a bush, tripping I don't even know how many times, and I've only ran a mile and a freaking half." I say in the calmest tone I could prosper as I slowly walk up to him, looking up to see him holding a laugh back. Probably due to the fact I look like a total wreck right now.

"Yup, but since this is your first, I let you off easy and we can stop right now. Don't forget to get ready for our day out," he says in a rush before running off towards the house, leaving me with my mouth a gape and a panting mess. And right as I thought he was going to leave me outside, he yells something loud enough to reach me 15 feet away.

"Oh, and nice Mickey Mouse bra by the way!" He laughs aloud. My eyes go wide before I start to make my way back in in embarrassment. Quickly rushing back in, I storm to my room before shutting it with a loud thud. Storming to my bathroom to take another shower, I mumble something under my breath only loud enough for me to hear before shutting the bathroom door.

"It's Minnie Mouse." 

• • •

"Hey, you ready yet?!" I hear Adriano yell from downstairs, rolling my eyes, I pull up my hair out of my face–which I rarely do–before heading out of the room and downstairs. Looking to see him in regular everyday clothes for once, I can't help the smile but to grow on my face at the sight of his casual button up T-Shirt and beige shorts.

"Finally, now where to go first?" He ask while putting his arms on my shoulder and leading me out the door, making stop in my tracks at the sight of the motorcycle in front of us.

"Oh no no no, I'm not going anywhere on that thing," I say pointing at the bike in my line of vision, getting shoved and pushed still while trying to fight back. Feeling hands turn me around, I come up to Adriano's chest at my 5'2 stature before looking up to see his expression stern.

"Look, I know you and the bike has got some conflict between each other, but can we all just put aside our differences for just today, because I know the bikes feelings with you is mutual." At that, I raise my eyebrow in question before eyeing the bike. Finally, I release the breath I was holding before giving in.

"Fine, but this girls day out better be damn fun," I say poking him in the chest with my finger, getting a genuine smile out of him in response before he pulls me towards the bike.

He jumps on before I do, padding the seat as gesture for me to do the same, I repeat the action and straddle the back of the seat.

"See, not too bad, now put this helmet on," he says gesturing for me to take it, and right I was about to complain about him not having one, he takes another one off the handle bars before putting it on. With a loud growl of it starting, I take a deep breath.

"Hold on to my waist, okay?!" He yells out, not to hesitate at the action in fear that I'll fall. As we take off, I then wonder where he's taking me.

"Where are we going?!" I try and yell over the loud sound of the motorcycle, but obviously fail when I get nothing in response. Waiting for us to finally come to our stop, I look to see we're at a mall. Parking in a space, I repeat Adriano's action to take my helmet off before strapping it to the sides.

"And what exactly are we here for, Nightmare?" I ask as he interlocks his arm with mine, making me roll my eyes with a laugh before focusing back on our conversation.

"Well, I figured we could do what most friends do when they go out. So we're going to do a bunch of random stuff around the mall for about an hour, and end up going to the movies when the timing starts. How does that sound?" He says as we finally make it to the front, making me look up to him and answer.

"Sounds like a plan." 

•  •  •

"Oh my gosh, we've got to go in here. There's a sale and I need to be there for it," I say trying to pull him in, but of course there's no use in even trying to pull a man twice your weight.

"Come on! You're supposed to be a girlfriend, that's what us girls do. And you need to tell me your opinion of them when I get in. So pleasssee!"

"Alright, just no more winning, please," he says trying to sound serious, but obviously is joking told by the smile prominent on his face.

Truth is, there is no sale. And I actually hate shopping, but I'm damn well not going miss the chance at torturing Adriano like this.

And that I do for the next 15 minutes while searching and digging for clothes while dragging Adriano along for all of it. And of course, he got nothing but fangirling women and girls staring at him, but of course he just blew them off.

"Okay, now bare with me on this part, okay?" I say while beginning to unbutton his shirt, stopping at a certain button before ruffling up his hair a bit to give it a disheveled look.

"What in the hell are you going?" He ask in a monotone voice as he lets me do what I was originally doing.

"Just trust me on this," I say with a smile before going up to the changing room station with his arm locked in with mine. And just by luck, the lady looks at Adriano with one look and begins to shake her head.

"I'm sorry, but this is the ladies changing room, you can't come in here," the lady says smacking the she had in her mouth, making the expression on my face change to one of fake sadness.

"But I need him, this is my gay best friend and I need his opinion on these clothes," I say putting up the best pitiful act I could, making the ladies eyebrow arch in question before looking back to Adriano. He gives me a questioning look, making me give him one to just go along in return, and that he did.

"Oh, yes. I need to see how she looks in them or else it could be a total disaster, because this girls taste in clothing is total trash if you know what I mean," he says in a somewhat of a feminine tone, but not enough to oversell it, in which making it perfect. But yet still offending me in the process.

"Hey!"

"Alright, alright. You and your strange friend can go to the last stall, but he has to wait on the stool outside," she starts to say, but we're already chuckling and heading down the place before she could even finish talking.

As we make it to the end of the small hallway, I demand for him to sit on the stool, making his smile fall into a depressed grimace as he follows my demand like a dog.

"Too flashy?" I ask as I show the last outfit, making him let out a groan before standing up and answering.

"No, you look amazing in everything you try on and it's all so beautiful. Now can we go? The movies about to start," he says, making me tilt my head in question at him.

"Hm, you see, I thought a friend was supposed to be honest and not lie just to get out of a boring situation." I say as I slowly walk up to him, almost an inch from his face before finally whispering in his ear.

"I guess not," I say before swiftly turning back to the dressing room, but not before looking back to see the a gape smile on Adriano's face. I quickly get dressed back into my everyday clothes before heading out of the dressing room with all the clothes in my hand. Interlocking my arm with Adriano's again, I make my way out before handing all the clothes to the girl and heading out.

"Wait, you're not gonna let me buy any of the clothes for you?" He ask in curiosity as we make our way out of the store and towards out the mall.

"Um no, why would I do that? Friends ask each other for opinions and only buy each other stuff on occasions," I finish with a shake of my head.

"Plus, I wouldn't buy anything from that store anyways, they're way overpriced," I say before starting to walk ahead to make my way back to the bike before sitting on it. Looking back, I see his face mirroring one of confusion and shock, only making this day even better.

•  •  •

"That movie was..."

"Sad," I finish for him as we begin to make our way back towards the bike, still sipping on the sweet tea that I got while in there.

"I mean, it was sad, but she deserves what happened to her. She ran away from her mom and knew what she was risking," Adriano says as we walk the dead San Fransisco street at night while still drinking our drinks. Looking around, I see that there's a few seats from an outdoor restaurant we could set at. Adriano pulling me to sit before I could.

"Hey, I'd just wanna thank you for letting me make up for being asshole to you. I know I'm only like this because of- Never mind that, I'm just glad we don't have to be at each others necks anymore while we work together," he says shaking off the hurt I originally saw in his eyes at the beginning of the sentence. Noticing, I grab his shoulder in comfort.

"Hey, it's no problem. But be honest with me, are you okay?" I ask looking into his eyes, making him shake his head with a smile on his face, but not in a no fashion.

"I'm fine, it's just-"

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me about her if you don't want to," I say with a smile, already knowing the thin of it, making him look up to me his eyes glowing fear and confusion.

"How do you-"

"Pretty obvious since you've never denied it every time someone brought it up," I say with a small grin while rubbing his back in a friendly matter. There was a few good seconds of silence before he finally took a breath in and out to finally speak.

"Her name was Rosalyn. She sort of passed away in a car accident a few years ago. We were supposed to get married a few months after her death and some idiotic f*****g drunk driver hit her and killed her and... Maybe that's enough for you to know for now." He stands up abruptly, making me grab his hand and sit him back down.

"Adriano, I'm so sorry for your loss. But you need to know something. When you lose someone you love, you need to learn that just because you open up to other people or express feelings towards another being, doesn't mean you're going to love that person any less. You could always love more than one person, even if one of those people aren't in your life anymore. So do me a favor, and stop shutting everyone around you down, please. If not do it for me, do it for your wife. Because even I know that's not what she would want for you," I finish before standing up and giving he a pat on his back in reassurance. 

As he stands up he takes a moment to scan my face, the sadness gone and replaced with something between relieve and contemplation. I breath in slowly at the proximity of our faces, making Adriano's head fall forward before backing up and away. He lets out a long breath before gesturing for me to go forward and start walking, and that I do.

"Thanks for the talk, I needed to hear that," he says in a genuinely appreciative tone, getting us back to our friendly attitudes once again. Interlocking my arm with his, I give him a smile.

"No problem, that's what friends are for, right?" I say, trying to sound cheerful. Pushing back the slight bit of feelings I have for him to the side. Let's face it, he could never like me, I'm too immature and he's still hooked on his wife. And I'm not selfish enough to try and get what I want and not think of what's sane for him.

"Well, since we're friends and all, you want to know a secret?" He ask, practically hearing the grin as he spoke. 

"Always," I say taking another sip of my tea. He gets an inch from my ear before saying something that actually made me spit out every drop of tea in my mouth.

"You and I... never had sex."