Chapter 10

POV Rio

The two bodyguards standing in front of Davis's office don't say anything to me when I approach the door and knock. I don't wait for him to tell me to come in and simply go inside. He's talking on the phone when I come inside and gestures with his fingers for me to wait one minute.  I sit in front of his desk and patiently wait. I know very well that nothing about my expression indicates that I've come here to have a friendly conversation and Davis must be able to see it on my face. 

When he finally  hangs up the phone he looks at me with such a fake smile that I want to puke. "Rio my man! Glad you came back safe and sound."

"Why'd you send me out for this job?" I ask with a serious face and his fake smile immediately drops. Clearly he was hoping that I wouldn't ask this kind of question.

"What do you mean this job? Why so serious?" He laughs.

"You shouldn't try a career in acting because you really suck."

I lean forward with my elbows on my knees and look straight into his eyes to make sure that he understands that I won't be playing dumb to make this situation easy for him. 

"You seriously thought that I would've picked up those boxes without taking a look at what's inside?"

As soon as I say this the mask that he was wearing falls and I can see the real him, the businessman. 

"You saw the weed." It's a statement not a question. 

"I saw the vodka," I say. There were boxes of vodkas too that probably served as a decoy for the weed. "Whether I saw the weed will depend on the answer you give in regard to the question that I asked earlier."

I don't have to say anything more than this. He perfectly gets where I'm coming from, I can see it in his eyes. Davis is the closest thing to a friend for me and if he lies to me I will know that it's not worth it to put my trust in him anymore. 

"Last month when I sent my employee to do the job some of the boxes were missing upon his arrival. I don't know how he managed to do that in such a short span of time but he stole from me. I chose you because I knew there wouldn't be any risk of that happening with you."

"And what about those guys with guns?"

"Pure intimidation. They wanted me to pay more than the merch was worth and I refused. As soon as you called to tell me that they were after you, I called their boss and got the situation fixed. I'm really sorry that you had to go through this."

It looks like he's telling the truth so just this time I decide to let it slide.

"You owe me a bottle of vodka," I say as I stand up and his expression lightens up. 

"Sure mate, you totally deserved it."

***

Nothing extraordinary happens for the rest of the day and for the first time  I'm grateful for having a boring life. What can I say? Getting shot at changes people. Though something quite strange happened in class today.

I was lost in my thoughts when my eyes accidentally landed on Jade, she seemed upset. I've never seen her like that before. But what was more strange was the fact that after Jade suddenly left the class, Noralyn did the same. It looked like she was following her. I didn't know those two were friends. Not that I care of course.  I don't care about that girl. She might as well be invisible to me. Except she keeps popping up in every situation where I am. That's gonna be a problem if it keeps happening but I'm pretty sure it won't happen again. I think I've made it very clear to her this morning when I told her to stop minding my business that I didn't want her to keep barging into my life like that.

When the bell rings I gather my stuff and leave. Once I'm outside I'm heading toward my bike when someone grabs me by my shoulder.

"Hey Rio! Wait up."

When I turn around I see a guy who seems vaguely familiar but I've never spoken to him before. 

"Yeah?" My face clearly states that he better have something really important to tell me for his own good.

"We're doing a race tonight, up in the hills. It starts at 10pm." He hands me out a flyer that I glance at without taking it.

"And?"

"I mean- uh..." he laughs nervously. He wasn't expecting my cold reaction, that's for sure. "You look like you're an awesome biker, your presence would add fuel to the competition."

"Are there winning prizes?"

After all, if they're giving money I'd be more than happy to take it. 

The guy smiles wildly as if he was expecting that question and has been practicing how to deliver the big surprise. 

"It's gonna be a boy vs girl race. Each boy will be paired with a girl and they both will compete against each other. The one who wins has a date with the one who lost."

What is this elementary school? This sounds stupid like prize.

"I'm not interested."

I turn around but the guy suddenly jumps in front of me holding the flyer under my nose.

"Hold on! At least take a look at the girls who will be competing. "

"I said I wasn't interested." I take his piece of paper, ready to tear it to  shreds before my eyes fall on a particular name and I freeze. 

Noralyn Chase.

This is not a joke.

It's literally her name, right there, before my eyes. Too many questions start spinning around in my mind and I can't untangle the mess that they make.

That girl is able to  ride a motorcycle?

"Are you sure all the girls in there are able to ride a bike?" I ask.

"Of course they can! We're not stupid," he laughs. "We made all contestants do a little demonstration before adding their names to the list."

I frown while looking at him. "There's a difference between being able to ride a bike on a plane surface and competing in a race in the mountains. This shit can be dangerous."

"Dude relax, we've thought about everything okay? The perimeter will be secured. "

This sounds like BS to me. Just a bunch of kids stupidly trying to prove how "manly" they are and easily get some dates with girls. How pathetic. 

"Count me in," I say and pin the flyer on his chest before walking away. 

I have a bad feeling about this race. I'm simply going to make sure that everything happens within the rules because I don't trust this guy or anybody who had the dumb idea  to make this race.

When I arrive at work I take off my shirt and put on the stained grey shirt that I only wear at work. 

Kline who arrived at work before I did waves at me from under the hood of a car. 

"Hey dude, did you get a chance to talk with Davis?"

"Yeah I went to see him before school today," I say as I pick up my box of tools. "We kinda got the situation sorted out." 

"So you're both cool?" 

"Yes we are."

I open the box then start taking out the tools that I will need for the car I'm working on.

"Well that's good."

"Yeah it's-"

The words get stuck in my throat before I have a chance to let them out. I stand still unable to move. My mind is refusing to believe what my eyes are seeing. 

"Dude you're okay?" Kline asks  when he notices that I've stopped moving. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"What is she doing here?" Is all I can manage to ask. 

"Who, Noralyn?" Kline follows my stare then looks back at me as if I had grown a second head. "She's obviously working here duh."

"But how?"

"I saw that she was an artist so I told her that our boss needed someone to make a mural here. I introduced her to him and here we are."

I must be cursed. There's no other explanation as to why the only person on earth that I don't want to ever cross paths with is the only one that I keep bumping into over and over again.

"Something happened between you two, am I wrong?" Kline asks again, bringing my attention back to him. "You acted weird last night when she came with me at the pub and again this morning when we dropped her off."

I pick up my tools then walk toward the car that I'm working on. I can feel Kline's stare on my back and I don't want him to get any wrong ideas so I say over my shoulder,  "Something happened,  but it's not what you think."

I start working and immediately forget my surroundings thanks to the music in my ears. I always work with my earphones in. Camilla used to joke about how I wouldn't notice if the end of the world happened while I had my earphones in. I used to reply that she would always be there to warn me of the danger. And it seriously felt like she would always be there. I couldn't imagine any of my days without her smile, her carefree attitude, the fact that she loved to pull my curly hair just for the sake of annoying me. She was literally a ball of sunshine.

Whenever she entered a room it felt like she brought her own light with her to chase away any darkness. I know it's a cheesy thing to say, but my soul felt at peace whenever she was around. It often felt like my whole being was vacillating until she came around and kept me grounded. 

Well… That was then and this is now.

Something kicks my leg while under the car that I'm working on and I take one earphone out of my ear. " What's up?" I ask.

"Snack time," Kline answers and I'm surprised. We usually take a short snack break after two hours of non-stop working. I was lost in thoughts of Camilla for so long that I didn't notice time flying that fast.

When I get out from under the car, Kline hands me a bag of chips and a canned soda. We eat in silence and my eyes travel toward where Noralyn is working. She's standing on a step stool to have better access to the highest part of the wall where she's applying the paint. 

"What do you think the final result is gonna be?" Kline asks.

"Don't know. Don't care," I answer, still keeping my eyes on her and that's when I notice her foot slips and she's losing her balance. She's about to fall on the ground any second now and it will be a serious blow for her head. 

I don't even realize that I'm running toward her until I toss away my bag of chips to catch her with my arms as she's falling. She stops screaming the moment she falls into my arms and I hold her tightly against my chest to make sure that she wouldn't lose her balance.

I can feel the rhythm of her heart beating wildly and she looks up to see who caught her, her eyes get bigger in surprise but she doesn't say anything nor does she make any gesture to get out of my arms. For the first time I notice something that I never did about Noralyn's eyes. She has the eyes of a warrior. She looks like she's fighting a merciless battle against her own demons and that she won't let them win no matter how hard they try to bring her down. Her courage awakens something inside of me. A need to keep fighting despite the darkness that has taken over my life.

"Thanks for catching me," she whispers out of breath. 

I don't answer and I don't let her go either. I'm still looking into her eyes. I don't why, but I can't stop.

What is she doing to me?