From Low To High: Book 2

I wake up to the smell of fresh brewed coffee and scrambled eggs in the making. I sit up on the couch and give a well rested stretch towards the ceiling, letting my long black hair fall to the couch behind me. When I get up to go to meet Kye in the kitchen I see him in his kitten embroidered apron with cat buttons in the back to tie it up I can’t help but give a small laugh even though i’ve seen it a million times then i hear,

“Do you have something you want to say miss giggles?” and Kye turns around with a spatula in one hand and a mug in the other,

“No not a single thing~” I say with a smile and go to walk to grab some plates out of the top cabinet. After we finished eating breakfast at his fold out table we put in the living room behind the couch I started folding the blankets I used last night. I finish some chores and yell up the stairs,

“Hey! I’m heading out to the Mall downtown, want anything?” I don’t hear anything for a moment so I say “Besides a video game!” and he lets out a huge moan of disappointment even though he knew I would never buy him something like that. I grab my thick black purse and make my way out the front door, as soon as I step out the door I dial the number on the office card that the detective gave me. When he picks up the phone I start talking immediately, “Hello, is this Jack?” he asks me who’s calling “Well, I know this is a weird thing to call about but I was your waitress at the cafe yesterday and I noticed you had left behind a large amount of money on your table yesterday. I was hoping you could meet me at the mall in town so I could return it? I mean I know it must have been a mistake so I thought you would want it back.” the phone goes quiet for a moment then I hear a laugh on the other end only to be followed by Jack’s voice,

“No no! I’m sorry to laugh but that wasn’t a mistake, I left that for you.” I find myself at a corner street near the mall just standing there dumbfounded. All of a sudden Jack speaks up again “But if you don’t mind I would like to join you at the mall” he says with a inquisitive tone. I am standing there quiet for a few seconds then got back to him,

“Yeah, sure. Where do you want to meet up?” He hung up right away. “Ummm okay?” I say to myself then I feel like someone is coming up behind me and grab the pocket knife out of my purse and point it directly behind me, to my surprise my blade is pointing directly at Jake,

“Woah! Hold it!” he shouts out in surprise and I quickly put it away back into my purse and say

“Sorry, I don’t really like it when people sneak up behind me. So… WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?!” and scream that last part at him. After that little fright he backs up a few steps and starts talking,

“Sorry I was on my way to the mall too and I saw you walking from the other side of the street” he explained to me and I gave a little sigh at his words. We finally come to the entrance of the mall and it’s my turn to talk,

“Well sorry i over reacted to it but anyway I need to stop by a couple stores, which ones do you need?” he thinks for a second as we walk in,

“I need the phone store, video game store and food court” then he looks at me. I continue walking towards the video game store with him and as soon as we walk in I see the newest game I wanted, I run over to the display and find Jack right next to me almost knocking me over,

“Hey! Watch it!” He apologizes and continues looking at the new game as do I. After we both analyze the game we speak up at the same time

“You like Ghost and Froggo?!” and both laugh almost doubled over at our own comments. When our laughter came to a halt I start talking to him

“Ah I didn’t know anyone my age still liked these things, let alone someone older! Heeheehee” Jack just looks and questions me,

“How old do you think I am?!”. I couldn’t help but stand there and look him up and down trying to figure out his age,

“uh… now that I think about it you don’t look… too old?” i say with a a big question mark, he scoffs at my comment and looks back to the game “hey hey! I’m sorry, okay?!” he continues looking at the game not saying a word so I start pouting and walk away to the nearby food court. Soon after I return with two churros and hand him one of them “Here ya happy?” he finally looks at me and smiles with dimples on each side of his face. Jack gladly takes one and says,

“yes. yes I am!” with sarcasm in his voice and we both buy the new game and go to the food court to enjoy our churros. While we are sitting there Jack speaks to me after he finished his churro long before me “I am 27 by the way” I look at him with huge eyes and choke on my food and he gives me a look “hey now! How old do I look?” I quickly swallow the last of my churro and respond in a small honest voice,

“uh… MAYBE early thirties” and he slugs me in the arm. We get up to go to the next store so I start to talk again wanting to know more about him “So how long have you been a fan of video games?” he holds up his bag,

“i’m not really a fan of video games I only play the ones with ghost and froggo” I beam at his words because I do the same thing,

“so what about you?” I smile and look up at him as we walk.

“I bought it for a friend, he lets me couch jump from time to time. He is a big fan of video games I love the anime, it’s kind of a compromise to get me to play with him”. as I am talking Jack looks at me with concern,

“why are you couch jumping? Don’t you live with your parents or something?” I accidentally let out a little growl at his last question and put some space between us as we walk. He didn’t say anything until we get to the phone store,

“hey, sorry I probably overstepped my boundaries” I nod and work up the courage to say “it’s fine you didn’t know, I don’t really talk with any family. The friends I have now are pretty much the only family I have. I couch hop because I can’t afford my own apartment yet” after that I sigh to myself because it is really hard to open up to people. When we walk into the phone store he walks up to the counter and talks to the employee, I decide to walk around and look at some of the new phones on display. One of the phone cases catch my eye, it’s got a clear base but on the front of it is a red cross with a circle around it. Just as I am looking at the case an idea pops into my head, we should have a trademark! Something to get people to recognize us when we rob places! Not the best thought to have when you're with a detective but oh well. When Jack is done picking out a phone and some other stuff he walks over to me,

“hey, I just got done here. Still wanna go to the food court?” I look out the door and see the food court a little ways down,

“nah, I think I’m going to head over to Sam’s”. After we walk out of the store I pull out my phone and dial Sam’s number for a brief second it dials then I hear,

“hey! On a date hot stuff?!” and he said it loud enough the whole mall could hear,

“oh my god! No! Would you shut up about that already?!” I just hear Sam laughing in the background and I look away from Jack and say back to him“I need a ride ass hole! Now I won’t be coming to your place! Take that! haha” immediately I hear,

“no no! I’m sorry okay?! PLEASE DON’T HATE MEEEE” I can already see him doing puppy dog eyes through the phone. As I stand there facing my back to Jack I accept his apology and Sam hangs up. I turn around and gain my composure,

“okay! I have a friend on his way to come get me, you heading home?” Jack nods as we walk towards the exit. Just as we step out the door a thought comes to mind and I accidentally blurt it out “Oh crap! I have to get Sam something or he’s gonna tell on me!” and I dash back inside the mall Jack close behind trying to keep up. We arrive at the food court and I rush up to the coffee counter and order a frozen hot chocolate, when I turn away from the register I hear Jack,

“what’s that all about?” I turn my gaze to the floor and pout out the words,

“if I get one of them something the other’s will get jealous… so I am getting Sam something to keep his mouth shut!” All I hear is a small chuckle and look up to see Jack trying to catch his breath,

“oh my god I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for you to chase me!”. When he finally gets a second wind he looks at me with a smile,

“it’s fine, I just got worried! Anyway who is Sam if you don’t mind me asking” I look away trying to figure out how to explain our relationship

“uh well at first he was a co-worker, then a creep and now he is a friend I consider to be a brother” Jack just stares at me. Next thing i know i hear my order being called out and I make my way over and grab the drink and I call out to Jack,

“we should probably get back out there” he nods in agreement so we start speed walking our way back only to find a loud, honking jeep outside with Sam in it. I whisper to myself “oh shit” as I see him gaze at Jack, Sam calls out,

“ah ha! So you were on a date! I knew it, you can’t keep secrets from me Max!” as he is shouting I race over to his car and throw the drink at him to where he could catch it. Only a little spilt on him, hehe. Then I feel someone walk up behind me.

“hey! I thought we agreed no sneaking up!” and Jack steps aside to get a good look at Sam,

“oh so you’ve got a thing for redheads?” I turn my attention to Jack now ,

“not you too!” they both start laughing at my remark as I stand still trying to grasp what’s going on. I go to sit in the front seat as they’re laughing and when I shut the car door Jake hands me a office card and I say,

“I already have this card” as I’m giving it a second look. I see it had his personal number on it and I look back at him while he says “I had fun today, we should hang out again sometime”. Next thing I know we are speeding off to Sam’s house, I can’t understand why guys joke around about that kind of stuff but I can’t focus on that right now I have to think about what I want to use for our trademark. My first thought was paint but that’s too heavy and bulky to lug around and then It hits me! Spray paint! It’s light, small and easy to use, while we are driving across town I see a home supply store “hey! Sam stop over there for a minute!” he does as he is told and I hop out of the car. When I enter the store the scent of fresh cut wood hits me like a wall, I make my way around the store looking for the painting section, as I am looking I see a pok-a-dot couch and lose track of time thinking about what all I could get to put in a new apartment. By the time I get to the spray paint it’s already late at night and I accidentally shout out “shit!” and I grab the black spray paint. As soon as I get done checking out I make a mad dash for the jeep Sam had been waiting in for me to get back. When I finally get there I jump in and slam the door behind me, “okay, let’s go. I am so sorry I took an hour” while I'm looking at him he just rolls his eyes and starts the car. Once we get on the road Sam finally talks,

“We are going to have to head straight to the hideout you know” I hang my head in shame and stare at my lap with no words to say.