I Spy With My Little Eye

Chapter 4

Eli:

I sent d**k over to Grace’s suite to help her pack her bags as quickly as possible. It didn’t take me long to pack up my stuff considering I had a backpack worth of clothes and a duffel bag of weapons and spy equipment. Most of it was already packed anyways. I shoved Grace’s file into my backpack and tossed it by the door. Yes, I had a file on her. Maybe it’s a little creepy but I could guarantee that she could easily find a file on me whenever she wanted too. She was also my assignment, and I needed to know everything I could about her. I probably knew things about her that her dear sweet daddy didn’t know. I made the file when I first started following her around. I didn’t sleep at night. Ever sense I was twelve I’ve had trouble sleeping during the night hours. So, while she was sound asleep in her room, I was finding every bit of information anything or anyone had on her. It wasn’t really something I wanted her to know about.

After I finished packing, I sat on my bed waiting for Grace and d**k to finish packing and the car to get here. I realized I hadn’t slept in two weeks. I may not sleep at night but for some reason, in the middle of the day, I could sleep like a baby for two hours. The good news was the irritated skin around my eyes didn’t show the dark circles that had formed over the past several days. To most people I probably looked like the beginnings of a zombie. I laid back on the bed and ran a hand through my hair. I had 55 minutes until the car came. And who knew how long Grace would take to pack? I sighed and let my eyes drift close. A little nap was better than no nap at all…

“Do you think he’s alive?” I heard someone ask. It was a female voice, very distant but still interrupting my sleep. Seriously?! I had just closed my eyes! Why was someone bothering me?

“Yeah, he’s alive.” Someone else said. This one was male, d**k. I wanted to kick him right then, but I really didn’t want to move.

“Don’t wake him up.” The girl said, “he’s probably had a long day.” What was her name again? It was somewhere in the back of my mind.

“If he thinks this is a long day, he’s in the wrong business.” d**k said moving away from me.

“Can’t we just let him sleep?” The girl asked quietly. Darn it what was her name?! “I’m sure his eyes are sore and all.”

“The car is here.” d**k said. Well make the stupid car wait! I just got to sleep.

“You people suck!” I said rolling to my side and sitting up my eyes still closed.

“See, he’s awake. Problem solved.” d**k said patting my back. I swatted his hand away and rubbed my eyes.

“I told you not to rub your eyes.” The girl said. Grace… that was her name.

“Don’t care.” I said simply trying not to yawn.

“I’m sorry we woke you up.” She apologized quietly.

“I’m not.” d**k patted my back, “You’ve been zonked out here for an hour.”

I looked at my watch and sighed running a hand through my hair, “Alright let’s get going.” It was six o’clock which means my ability to sleep has been diminished by about 99%, there was no hope of getting back to sleep. At least I had an hour. I hoped it would last me another two weeks.

“You can go back to sleep when we get to the other hotel.” Grace said cheerfully.

“No.” I shook my head and stood up, “I’m fine.”

“Alright!” d**k announced, clapping his hands together, “Before we depart, I have cell phones. They are only to be used to call each other and Mr. Mitchell. Got it?” He looked pointedly at Grace.

“Why are you looking at me?” Gracie asked blushing. It would have been kinda cute when she blushed, but I had followed her around for two weeks, so I was immune to thinking she was cute.

“Next,” d**k said ignoring her question, “Gracie will always have one of us very, very, very close by.”

“Why do you keep looking at me?” Grace asked, her voice raising an octave.

“And lastly,” d**k’s voice deepened, and he looked between us and raised an eyebrow his eyes landed on Grace pointedly, “don’t kill each other.”

“Why does he keep looking at me?” Grace turned to me her eyes wide.

“Because I know the rules already.” I walked to the door and grabbed my bags. Grace and d**k followed. d**k had a backpack and a duffel bag like I did while Grace dragged her large suitcase behind her. I sighed and turned around.

“Trade.” I commanded handing her my backpack and grabbing the handle to her suitcase. We marched down to the hotel parking lot. A sleek black car was parked out front of the hotel lobby. Grace handed the driver my bag and crawled in. d**k and I left our stuff out for the driver to grab and situated ourselves on either side of Grace, so she was sitting in the middle.

“Let’s play "I Spy'!” Grace said after a few minutes.

“Let’s not.” I grumbled resting my head on my palm.

“I spy with my little eye….” I saw her out of the corner of my eye biting her lip, her eyes rested on me and she frowned, “Someone grumpy.”

“Eli!” d**k yelled from the other side of the car. Grace’s frown deepened and she continued to watch me.

“It’s not polite to stare.” I said casually leaning back.

“d**k’s turn!” Grace turned toward d**k.

“My name’s not Dick.” He said, “It’s just what Eli calls me.”

"Because you are a dick.” I said with a small smile, “Consider yourself liked because you have a nickname.”

“Yeah a mean nickname.” d**k grumbled.

“You would miss it if I stopped calling you that.” I said shaking my head, “I could call you loser, or jerk.”

“Or you could call me Levi.” He said turning toward me, “Cause that’s, you know, my name.”

“Your name’s Levi?” Grace asked, turning from me suddenly, “I like it better! How did he come up with d**k?”

Dick smiled, “I was his partner when he first came to the agency.”

“More like my personal torturer.” I grumbled crossing my arms over my chest and turning to look out the window.

“Nah, I just gave him a hard time.” I could hear the smile in d**k’s voice.

“You tried to drown me!” I yelled at him, turning suddenly.

“It was a joke!” d**k said in defense, “You are such a baby!”

“Stop fighting.” Grace looked between both of us her eyes wide and her hands pressed against our shoulders. I settled back in my seat and continued to look out the window. “Now let’s finish our game.”

“How does 'I Spy' end?” I asked. I hadn’t played the game in years and I never remembered it ending.

“Ignore him, he had a deprived childhood.” d**k said with a wave of his hand, “It’s my turn, right?”

“You know nothing about my childhood.” I scoffed.

“I met your mom remember?” d**k spat, shooting me a glare. I had forgotten he had met my mom after the last assignment, and I went back home, not wanting to face the music of my failure. “Now,” d**k tapped his finger on his chin, “I spy a baby!”

“Eli!” Grace called out. I shot her a glare.

“Will you two stop spying me?” I asked harshly, gritting my teeth together.

“Not until you agree to play too.” Grace said turning her little nose up in the air, “I spy with my little eye, something stupid.”

“Eli?” I grumbled. Grace beamed at me.

“Okay, so maybe it’s not so stupid.” she winked playfully, “Your turn.”

“I spy with my little eye,” I sighed and looked around the car, “something black.”

“The car!” d**k yelled ready to have another turn.

“Close.” I mumbled, a small smile on my face. Everything in the car was black, or to me it looked black, and various shades of grey.

“The driver?” Grace asked with a smile on her face. I shook my head.

“The seats?” d**k asked.

“the mini bar?” Grace pleaded. I shook my head again.

“I give up!” d**k groaned throwing his hands up in the air.

“So do I.” Gracie said looking up at me.

“So, does this mean I won?” I asked with a small smile. Okay maybe this game wasn’t so bad.

“Yeah I guess.” Grace shrugged, “what was it?”

Suddenly d**k sat up strait and looked at me like he was ready to kill me. “That’s not fair!” He yelled pointing a finger at me.

“Your shoes.” I said quickly before he could say anything else, “And I won no takesy-backies.”

“My shoes are navy.” Grace looked confused, “not black.”

“He’s color blind.” d**k groaned, “I should have remembered.”

“Ah, that’s not fair!” Grace whined.

“Your shoes are black.” I said finally, crossing my arms.

“No, they’re navy.” She argued simply, “I bought them to go with a dress I wore for a benefit last year.”

“They’re black.” I said again, not willing to admit I was wrong.

“Eli, you’re color blind.” d**k said, “You don’t know squat!”

“You were born that way, right?” Grace asked suddenly, “It wasn’t because of the pepper spray?”

I looked down at her. She looked so darn concerned and freaked out all at the same time. She was probably wondering if I was going to sue her. I couldn’t help it, I laughed. She clearly led a sheltered life if she thought I went color blind because of pepper spray.

“What so funny?” I heard her ask d**k as I tried to calm down.

“Yeah, I was born that way.” I gasped out.

“Oh.” She sighed in relief, “I’m sorry you can’t see colors.”

I sobered up pretty quickly. It bugged me that people always thought it was a bad thing. I lived a perfectly normal life. Graphs were a little hard to read, but I didn’t care because I didn’t read graphs much.

“I don’t care.” I said bluntly.

“Oh well then…” Her expression turned smug, “No wonder your clothes don’t match.”

“I match fine!” I argued in defense, looking down at my clothes. I had on dark jeans and a light-colored shirt. I didn’t see anything wrong with that.

“Clearly I’m going to have to pick your clothes in the morning.” Grace turned away from me and d**k smiled over her head.

“I like this girl.” he said.

“You’re not picking out my clothes.” I said flatly.

“I pick out his clothes when he has to fit in.” d**k piped up.

“Shut up!” I growled my teeth together and glared at him.

“Eli, you’re wearing green pants.” Grace told me, “with a lavender shirt.”

“These jeans were on sale!’ I said.

“Yeah, because they are green!” Grace cried with a small smile on her face, “You clearly cannot dress yourself.”

“Yeah sure let’s go into a ‘make fun of Eli’ session.” I grumbled, crossing my arms.

“Now we know why he didn’t want to play 'I Spy.'” d**k murmured to Grace, and she giggled.