Kings And Bishops (The List)
Kings And Bishops (The List): Chapter 14
Casinos are soooo overrated. Because, you know – there you can lose all your money. And the last thing I wanted right now was to lose it, I mean, I had just stolen it, after all. Well… Not stolen. How can you steal something that belongs to you? Nope, I hadn’t stolen it. I just got it back.
Vic buried his fingers into the bag, grinning widely as the pleasant sound of rustling paper filled the air.
“Maaaaan. What are you gonna do with all that money?”, he looked up at me.
“Well… I don’t know yet. But I gotta spend it all for a month, so…”, I grinned back. “I think we need to go shopping, how ‘bout that? I’ll buy you cool stuff and spoil you from now on.”
“Aww, damn.”, he giggled. “I totally wouldn’t mind you do that.”
“I know.”, I glanced at him, then looked back to the road. No one was chasing us. For now, we were safe. “For starters, I suggest we buy some new clothes, what do ya think? Some expensive suits, shit like that.”
“I’d also like a new phone, please. Because as far as I remember, you took mine and threw it away.” Vic laughed a bit and poked me.
“Yeah, that’s true.”, I chuckled, pushing his hand away, to make sure he won’t poke me again. “Alright, you’ll get your new phone. I’ll buy one too, myself. Also… what else…”
“We can go to a show, if you want.”, he suggested. “You know. There are shows everywhere here, all kinds of shows. We must just pick one.”
“Oh, yeah, sounds great!”, I nodded. “And after the show we can go to a fancy restaurant and eat expensive exotic… things that we can’t even pronounce, and drink some good wine…”
“That’s cool, yeah, and we can also get a room in a nice hotel. Y’know, I’m tired of those shitty motel rooms. I think we deserve to finally get some sleep in a proper bed.”
“Fuck this, let’s stay in a whole apartment. With roomservice and… a huge TV, and…”, I paused for a moment, to think, “…And a bath. And soft carpets. And free breakfast.”
“Yes, yes, yes, let’s do this!” Now Vic was looking excited. His enthusiasm made me smile, his big brown eyes were open wide and strangely sparkling with impatience, a huge grin stretched on his face, making tiny dimples appear on his cheeks. Shortly said – although I didn’t want to admit it, he was looking absolutely adorable. So adorable that I wanted to… wanted to… what?
“So, off to the clothes shop first?”, I asked, trying to ignore these thoughts and concentrate on the road again, as I almost missed a turn.
“Yup! Let’s get handsome, shall we?”, he poked me again, with his elbow, and this time he hit an injured rib. I pushed him away once more, not sure if I want to giggle or complain.
“We’re already handsome.”, I corrected him. “We’ll just get more handsome.”
“Hah!”, he laughed. “Sorry, my bad. More handsome.”
“Right.”, I nodded in approval and laughed too. “After all, we deserve it.”
“Well, even if we don’t.” Victor shrugged. “Who the fuck cares.”
* * *
The face of the shop assistant was absolutely unreadable. However, I knew what he was thinking, and I was damn sure his opinion on us wasn’t good at all.
“Gentlemen, are you sure you didn’t come into the wrong shop?”
I raised an eyebrow and crossed arms. “What makes you say that?”
“Well…”, his look meaningfully moved down from my messy hair to the baggy T-shirt and torn skinny jeans. Oh, I see. We weren’t looking like proper clients. Oops.
“Is it the clothes? It’s the clothes, isn’t it.” I grinned. “Yeah, I know they suc- I mean, they’re far not the best I can afford. That’s why I’m here. To buy better ones. And now you sell us some, how ‘bout that?”
I could see how the disapproval was fighting with his politeness (the second of which was in quite too big amounts, in my opinion) underneath the expressionless mask of fake friendliness. Otherwise said, he was wondering how to politely tell us to fuck off.
“Hey, how much is this one? I like this one.”, Vic’s voice interrupted our conversation. I turned to see him stand next to a black suit, set on a plastic mannequin. “Can I have it? Kellin?”
“Sure, just try it on first.”, I nodded.
“No, no, no, I’m afraid I can’t sell you this one, sir!”, the salesman quickly said, his face pale. “It’s a special custom-made suit for one of our very… special clients. I’m sorry, but you need to pick something else.”
“But I want this oooone.”, Vic insisted, now clinging to the sleeve of the suit, with the tone of a child, who wants a toy that his parents aren’t willing to buy.
“Sir, I already told you-”
“If he says he wants it”, I interrupted him, “then he’s going to get it.”, then added reproachfully: “You must be ashamed of yourself, look how upset you’ve made him.”
Before the salesman could reply, I pulled my wallet out of my pocket. It was a new one, I had just bought it from the last shop we visited, and I had already stuffed it with money, so much that I could barely close it. Now I opened it and after a moment of hesitation, I picked two one hundred dollar bills.
“Here. That’s for being so kind and letting him try the suit on… Only if you’re willing to do that, of course. Otherwise we’d have to get something else... preferably from some other shop…”
His eyes sparkled hungrily as he smelled the easy profit.
“Actually…” He smiled like fox, who intended to steal a chicken from a henhouse, no matter that he knew that the owner is waiting behind the door with a gun, ready to kill the intruder; he had that specific expression, which seemed to say ‘Take the money now, think about the consequences later’. The “special client”, who was going to be left without a suit was a problem he would deal with some other time. He continued: “Actually, I don’t see why not. Go ahead, if you like it, it’s yours. Just let me warn you, it’s one of our best works, and it costs a lot. I’m afraid you might not be able to affor-”, but then his look fell on my wallet again. “No, actually… no, I bet you could.”
“Why thank you.”, I looked to Vic and winked. “C’mon. I wanna see how you look in that thing.”
“Okay.”, he started pulling the suit off of the mannequin, but as a result, the plastic window-doll broke, a lonely arm remained in Victor’s hand. “Oops, damn, no, I’m so, so, so, so sorry, I don’t know how this happened, look, I’ll put it back…”
He tried to do so, but all he did was pushing the whole thing down on the floor, where it completely fell apart.
“Oh no, shit, I didn’t mean to do that… Let me fix it…”
For a few moments the shop assistant was watching him in silent horror, but then his instincts took over before Vic could destroy the whole building. “No!”, the man said, a bit louder than he should’ve. My friend froze, holding the jacket in his hand and a part of the mannequin in his other one. However, they were quickly taken from him, and he was sent to the fitting-room before he could break something else. I chuckled. That clumsy idiot…
While he was inside, putting the suit on, I decided to take a look at the others. The shop was pretty big, full with designer clothes I usually wouldn’t even look at, I had never had neither the money, nor the interest, I’d always thought that they don’t look much different than any other clothes. Now, though, I almost enjoyed walking between the stands with countless different suits, shirts, ties, gloves and other things. Most of them sucked, they were either too shiny, or too boring. The shop assistant was following me the whole time, probably to make sure I won’t make a mess like Vic did, or steal something. I smirked. Ah, the trust…
Alright… This shirt looked okay. And… yes. That jacket. And those pants. In a few minutes I was set and fully equipped, I had even tried everything on and found the right size for me. Vic was still inside the fitting-room, when I was done, I had no idea what took him so long. I stopped outside and after a short moment of hesitation, I knocked.
“You okay in there?”, I asked with a slightly worried tone.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”, he replied from somewhere inside. “Almost ready…”
“Okay, I’ll wait for ya here.”
In a minute he finally went out, wearing his smart, brand new suit. My eyes slipped up and down his body, observing his new look, and my eyebrows unconsciously jumped up, as an impressed expression appeared on my face. Hell, he looked… good. So good. His thin, elegant figure seemed even more elegant now, the folds of his jacket traced out every movement he made. The white shirt contrasted with his tanned skin, highlighting his handsome face. My look moved down to his quite tight trousers and stayed there for a bit too long… Ahem. Umm… Yeah. They were a bit too long for him, but that could be easily fixed.
I caught myself staring, so I quickly looked back up at his face, before I start to look weird. Vic obviously hadn’t noticed my attention, and thank God he didn’t. He grinned and spread arms.
“How do I look?”
“Absolutely b- I mean, I think you look great.”, I quickly corrected myself, grinning back. “Except… Where the hell did you find that tie?”
“It was combined with the suit.”, Vic looked down at it. “Why, what’s wrong with it?”
“It’s fucking horrible man!”, I frowned. “Seriously.”
“It’s Gucci!”, the shop assistant gasped. “Do you have any idea how much it costs?!”
“The label says $189, but I don’t even fucking care. It looks like shit, just look at the colors! What is that, grey, green, brown? I can’t even tell.”
“Perhaps you’d prefer it to be yellow?”, Vic chuckled and poked me.
“Shut up and listen to your friend’s advice.”, I laughed. “Pick another one. Please, I’m really not willing to watch you wear this thing every day.”
“Ah, I see what’s going on here. You’re jealous, because I’m prettier than you, hm?”, he giggled and punched my shoulder lightly.
“Nope, I’m just sayin’ your tie sucks.” While saying that, I reached and started trying to take it off, almost strangling him with it. “Sorry… Here ya go.” I looked down at the tie in my hand and made a face. “Ehh.” I turned to the shop assistant and handed it to him without even asking him.
“Noo, give it back!”, Victor made a weak attempt to struggle.
“Shh. Here.” I looked around and grabbed another (better) one – a very simple, black one. “Have this one, and shush. Don’t object. I’m an expert.”, I winked at him.
“But of coooourse. We all know that.”, he rolled eyes while tying it around his neck. “…Better now?”
“Yup. Much better.”, I adjusted it and nodded in approval, smiling.
Vic smiled back and looked down at his suit, brushing a strand of hair off of his face and putting it behind his ear. I felt my smile get wider as I watched him do that.
“So… Shall we pay and go? We have a lot of other stuff to do.”, he finally said, looking back up at me.
“Yeah, true.”, I glanced down at my wristwatch, a little awkward because of the eye contact. “We have plenty of time, though, we don’t need to rush things. Take your time. Your trousers need to be fixed first, and then we’re going.”
Surprisingly how quickly that could be done with the help of another bill. I smirked. Well… No matter how much money I had right now, it was still quite difficult to part with some of it. Oh well. Fifteen minutes later we left the shop with a wallet much lighter than before, and proudly wearing our new clothes.
“Now what? What’s next?”, Vic asked once we were out, fixing his lapels.
“Hmm.” I knitted eyebrows. “We still need to buy new mobiles. And then… we’ll see.”
* * *
Someone needs to remind me never to bring Vic to a magic show again. He just gets too eager to find out how the magic tricks work, and a bit too hyper to stay at one place, so he just walks around the stage the whole time, trying to see where all the flying objects and little fluffy animals come from.
We saw that poster of the “Incredible Allazaress – true magic for all audiences” and thought it sounds cool. And really, the show was great, it was really interesting, and that Allazaress guy didn’t just do the traditional magic tricks – instead, he took hats out of rabbits, rabbits out of pigeons, pigeons out of nowhere, and nowhere out of handkerchiefs, if that was even possible. He even took a real bra out of my pocket, and I didn’t get how he did that, I was damn sure it wasn’t there before. Because, you know, I don’t just keep bras in my pockets, it would be somehow… awkward. Besides, it wasn’t my size. I chuckled at this thought.
Shortly said, we were having fun. And free drinks, which could always make the fun better.
After the show, we really went to a fancy restaurant, as promised. It’s amazing how when you’ve got a shiny suit and a wallet full of money, everyone’s opinion on you changes at the velocity of light, and we quickly managed to get the best table, outside, on the terrace.
“Let’s see… What is… “cuisses de grenouilles”?”, Vic looked up from the menu.
“I have no idea, but it sounds interesting… We gotta ask the waiter. How about… Oh, look at this, I think I’ll get that, it sounds nice. Except, what does ”yeux” mean?”
“Well, I don’t know French, but as far as I know, it must mean “eyes”…”, he said as he kept reading. “I might be wrong, though.”
“Ew, I hope you’re wrong.”, I made a disgusted face. “You know what? Forget about the eyes. I’ll have some of that fish over there. See it? On the fourth page. It looks delicious, and I’m absolutely certain it’s fish, not some suspicious bullshit.”
“Mm, it looks great, yeah. But first I guess we gotta order salad or something?”
“Works for me.”, I shrugged. “And… wine?”
“Yeah, but since we’re rich enough now, let’s get the best one, shall we?”, Victor grinned.
I smiled back. “Sure. I just wonder where all those waiters went…”
As if he had read my mind, a waiter appeared right next to me.
“Ready to order, sir?”, he said with a fake French accent and smiled at me politely.
“Yes, we are. Umm…” I furrowed eyebrows, then stuck my finger in the menu. “This salad. Does it have eyes in it?”
The waiter’s eyes widened a bit. “No, sir…?”, he replied, confused.
“Okay. I’m just cautious.”, I explained. “We’ll have from that one, then. And a bottle of your best wine. We’ll order the rest later.”
“Marvelous. Thank you, sir.” The guy wrote something down, then nodded and walked away, leaving me and Vic alone again.
I left the menu on the table and stared down at the countless different kinds of cutlery. Someone had told me that I needed to start with the ones closest to my plate and continue to the ones at the end. Or was it the opposite…? I decided to just pick random ones that seemed most comfortable, and use them until the end of the dinner. Besides, if I dropped my knife on the ground, I’d always have another one to replace it with.
“Hey, Kellin… I don’t think I thanked you.”
I looked up to see Vic watch me with his big, seemingly innocent eyes.
“Thank me? I’m pretty sure you did, like, twenty times already, you thank me all the time, for different stuff.”, I grinned.
“Yeah, that’s true, oops.”, he admitted, grinning back at me. “But no, I meant, I wanna thank you for today, and for all the new stuff you bought for me…”
“Oh, you’re welcome. I bet you never had a Friday night like this, hm?”
“Yup. The whole Friday was awesome, since the morning. I never thought that bank robberies can be so amusing.”
“Same here. By the way, you did great, yet again.”, I shook head. “Damn, how do you always manage to be so convincing?”
“I don’t know, man, I just do.”, Vic shrugged.
I tilted head, suddenly remembering something.
“Is it true that you were in some school plays when you were a kid, or were you just kidding?”
“Yeah, I really was.”, he smiled, kind of shyly. “When I was little my parents decided they want me to do something related to art, so they sent me to theater classes. I didn’t like it much, but I was pretty good at it, so I kept doing it, until I graduated.”
“Wow, really? That’s kinda cool, actually.” I leaned against the table, my fingers unconsciously playing with a fork. “So you’d be a famous actor in Hollywood now if you didn’t quit doing it. If you didn’t start working for Terrance instead.”
“Nah, I doubt it, I’m not that good… Plus, even if I was good at acting, it’s far not my favorite thing to do.”
“It’s not? Then what is?”
“Well… I used to also study graphic design, this is the thing that I really like practicing… Maybe, if I had made other choices, and done different things, I’d be a graphic designer now.”
“Ooh, that’s awesome, yeah. So you can draw?”
“Well…”, he repeated, still smiling awkwardly. “Kinda…”
“Y’know what? Draw something for me!”, I took a pen out of my pocket and stuck it in his hands. “Please?”
He blinked at it, confused.
“What, now? Nooo. I’d need paper, space and time. But I promise, some other time, I will.”
“Okay, but don’t forget, alright?”
“Alright.”, Vic nodded. “I won’t…” Then suddenly his eyes lit up. “Oh, look, our salads are coming!”
…I decided to eat mine with the medium-sized fork and the big knife, because, fuck the rules. At some point, we went quiet, we were both too busy appeasing our hunger. The food was absolutely delicious and it was totally worth its price.
Finally, Vic broke the silence once more.
“How about you?”
I looked up again and mumbled with my mouth full: “Hmmfffmmh?”
“What would you be doing if things had happened differently?”, he was watching me, interested.
“I…”, I swallowed and hesitated, unsure what I should tell him. “I don’t know. I didn’t really have time to think about the future when I was younger, I had a pretty… tough life. I spent every day wondering if I’d survive until tomorrow, I didn’t even dare to think about what I’m gonna do when I grow up. But, I guess I wanted my job to have something to do with music. I’ve always liked singing.”
Victor nodded understandingly, and, surprisingly he didn’t ask me what I meant by ‘tough life’. I was glad he didn’t. Instead, he grinned.
“Let’s have a deal, then. I’ll draw you something, if you sing something for me.”
“Naaah, you’d hate my voice.”, I chuckled shyly. “No.”
“Otherwise you won’t get your drawing.”, he stuck his tongue out at me. “So, what do ya say? Do we have a deal?”
“…Ooookaaaaay.”, I sighed, smiling.
“Great. I can’t wait, then.”, Victor winked, then came back to eating.
Suddenly, I felt someone’s presence behind me.
“Your wine, sir.”, the waiter carefully put a bottle on the table and started opening it.
“It better be good.”, I smirked.
“Oh, I assure you, it is the best.”
We got some of it poured in our glasses and before I could thank him, the waiter was gone again, busy with other clients.
Vic picked up his glass and smelled the liquid inside. For a moment it seemed strange seeing him do that, but then I remembered he comes from a rich family. No matter that he looked like just an ordinary guy, I needed to remember that he probably had tasted wines much better than this one, many times before. After a few moments, he nodded in approval.
“Yes, it’s good.” He raised his glass a little higher. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” I grinned and raised mine too. “To the Bonnie and Clyde of our century.”
He grinned back. “To you for being that awesome, Kel. And to our… friendship.”
My smile widened as I noticed the hesitation before the word ‘friendship’. “Yeah.”
Clink.
* * *
“Holy fucking shit. This is awesome.”
I looked around. The apartment was huge, there was a big living room with a soft couch, upholstered with leather, a few comfortable-looking armchairs, a TV that covered half of the wall, a minibar, full of beer, whiskey and other drinks, a small fridge with food… There were also two bedrooms, and each one had a separate bathroom.
I clapped my hands again, to see the lights go out again. “Duuude. I’ve always loved those lamps, watch this.”
I clapped again, and then quickly once more. The light flashed for a second, and then stayed off.
While I was messing with the lighting, Vic was exploring his bedroom.
“There is a TV in my bathroom!”, he announced loudly, so I could hear him.
“What? Really?”, I grinned and clapped for one last time, to leave the lamps on.
“Yeah, and a radio, so I can sing along while I’m showering.”, he giggled.
“Then I hope the walls are soundproofed, too.”, I joked, then headed to my own bedroom, to check it out.
It was bigger than I expected it to be. Whoever designed this apartment obviously loved putting TV screens practically everywhere, because there was one here, too. A person would think that’s what the guests here do all day - watch television. There was a dark wooden wardrobe, where I could put my clothes, and a mirror covering one of its doors. The bed was huge, and when I touched it, the outlines of my hand remained printed on the mattress.
“Man, come and check this out!”, I called out. “My bed is made from that thing that remembers the shape of your body when you lay down on it!”
I slipped my shoes off and sat on the bed. It was soft as hell, and for a moment I was really tempted to try jumping on it.
“Vic, get your ass here!”, I yelled again.
After a moment he peeked in. “What?”
“Look at the fucking mattress, man. Look at this shit.”
I pressed my hand against it again, to show him how it left prints. Once I pulled my fingers back, the soft surface slowly returned to its previous shape and went smooth again, as if I had never even touched it.
“I love that thing.”, my grin widened. “It can’t be even compared to the beds we slept in the last couple of weeks.”
“I know, right!”, Victor sat next to me heavily, letting himself lightly bounce on the mattress. “Haven’t you seen memory foam before?”
“Of course I have, but that doesn’t make it less awesome.” I shrugged.
“And the pillows?”, he took one. “They’re made from the same stuff, so when you sleep you’d be like…” He pressed the pillow to his face to show me. “Memory foam is dangerous, your face will just sink in the thing, man, you might suffocate.”, he giggled.
“No, I wooon’t!”, I objected and grabbed the pillow from him, chuckling. “I won’t suffocate. But I will suffocate you!”
I hit him with the pillow, to prove I really mean it (though I didn’t). Vic let out another giggle and pushed me away.
“Are you starting a pillow fight with me, Kel? Seriously?”, he raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh.
“I might or might not be…”, I winked and hit him again. This time he managed to catch the pillow and stop me, trying to pull it out of my hands. I squealed, laughing, and gripped it tighter, so as a result, he pulled it too hard and I hit my forehead in his.
“Ouch!”, I finally dropped it and fell down on the bed, rubbing my forehead, still amused. “Okay… okay… You win.”
Victor just chuckled and threw it at me. “You silly idiot.”, he shook head, smiling. I sat back up and poked him.
“Shut uuup.”, I murmured. “Don’t call me an idiot, because I’m still a dangerous criminal, and if you piss me off, things might get rough…”
“Oh yeah?”, he raised eyebrows ironically. “Awww, shiiit, I’m already sorry. And what are you going to do to me if I do it again… you silly idiot?”
I made a thinking face.
“Hmm… I just might… I don’t know. How does ‘tickle you to death’ sound to you?”, I grinned evilly, leaning closer and pretending to get ready to really do it.
“…Horrifying.”, Vic murmured. He looked up, his eyes meeting mine, then his look slipped down my face and stayed fixed on my lips, and I knew what he was going to do a part of the second before he actually did it.
And it still got me unprepared.
I gasped softly as his slightly tasting of wine lips met mine, but this time I didn’t pull back, I just let him kiss me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this – it seemed wrong, but on the other hand, I totally enjoyed it, even though I didn’t like to admit it to myself. My heart started beating faster, a strange, warm feeling filled my lungs, suffocating me, but at the same time, I felt like I didn’t need to breathe, like everything froze around us and I remained trapped in this strange, but somehow perfect moment. Before I could stop myself, I caught myself kissing back, my hand slipped to Vic’s back all by itself, and pulled him closer to me.
In a few moments, he let me go and pulled away.
“I’m… Damn, I’m sorry, this wasn’t planned to happen. Shit.”, he facepalmed. “I’m really sorry.”
“What? No, don’t apologize, I…” I hesitated. “I really didn’t mind you doing that. In fact…” I grinned. “I wouldn’t mind it if you do it again, too.”
“…Oh?”, his eyes widened slightly. “I didn’t expect you to say that… I’m glad you did, though.”
“Yeah… Yeah, me too.”, I smiled shyly.
“Kellin, I… um, first I want you to know that I’m not doing this for no reason… I do have feelings for you, whatever that might mean… I’m not quite sure yet too, myself.”
“Well, let’s try and see, hm?”, I smiled wider.
He hesitated, then leaned in again. This time I was ready, though, and kissed back immediately, wrapping my arms around him. My heart was racing widely, leaving me breathless. The blood rushed into my face, making me blush hard, although I wasn’t sure if that was from excitement, or awkwardness, or both. Feeling him so close to me made me happy and at the same time a little nervous, afraid I might be making a mistake… But I didn’t really care, not right now, right now I would just give myself in to the countless feelings, each fighting with the others to take control over my body. Suddenly, a thought made me break the kiss once more. My eyes flickered open and I took a breath before I spoke.
“Vic, and what if that cop was right…? What if it really is Stockholm Syndrome?”
“I don’t care…”, he murmured and pulled me back into another kiss.
I didn’t give up that easily, though. After a moment, I pulled away once more.
“But soon I’d have to leave, Vic, and leave you, and I don’t want you to be upset over me… If we let the emotions lead us, this would cause us too much pain in the end… I’m sick, Vic, I’m fucking dying…”
“Shh.” He gently pressed his finger against my lips, to stop me from talking. “I don’t care if you’re sick. I don’t care if you’re contagious. Dammit, I would kiss you even if you were dead…”
Our lips met for a third time tonight and I couldn’t find any more reasons to stop, I just let myself follow my instincts, pressing Vic close, slowly slipping my hands up his back and burying my fingers into his hair. He wrapped his arms around my waist, his soft touch was comforting and made my heart slow down a bit, before I have a heart attack or something. After a minute, he broke the kiss to take a breath, then trailed small kisses along my jawline and down to my neck. I gasped and tilted my head back, as his grip tightened and his kisses became more passionate. His hand slid to my thigh and my body slightly shuddered at his touch. A soft moan escaped my lips. Yes-
I fell on my back and sunk into the clean, white sheets, with Vic sitting on top of me. His fingers were shaking a bit while he started unbuttoning my shirt.
My first night in a good, soft bed for weeks… Such a pity I wasn’t going to use it for sleeping.
END OF CHAPTER 14.
Vic buried his fingers into the bag, grinning widely as the pleasant sound of rustling paper filled the air.
“Maaaaan. What are you gonna do with all that money?”, he looked up at me.
“Well… I don’t know yet. But I gotta spend it all for a month, so…”, I grinned back. “I think we need to go shopping, how ‘bout that? I’ll buy you cool stuff and spoil you from now on.”
“Aww, damn.”, he giggled. “I totally wouldn’t mind you do that.”
“I know.”, I glanced at him, then looked back to the road. No one was chasing us. For now, we were safe. “For starters, I suggest we buy some new clothes, what do ya think? Some expensive suits, shit like that.”
“I’d also like a new phone, please. Because as far as I remember, you took mine and threw it away.” Vic laughed a bit and poked me.
“Yeah, that’s true.”, I chuckled, pushing his hand away, to make sure he won’t poke me again. “Alright, you’ll get your new phone. I’ll buy one too, myself. Also… what else…”
“We can go to a show, if you want.”, he suggested. “You know. There are shows everywhere here, all kinds of shows. We must just pick one.”
“Oh, yeah, sounds great!”, I nodded. “And after the show we can go to a fancy restaurant and eat expensive exotic… things that we can’t even pronounce, and drink some good wine…”
“That’s cool, yeah, and we can also get a room in a nice hotel. Y’know, I’m tired of those shitty motel rooms. I think we deserve to finally get some sleep in a proper bed.”
“Fuck this, let’s stay in a whole apartment. With roomservice and… a huge TV, and…”, I paused for a moment, to think, “…And a bath. And soft carpets. And free breakfast.”
“Yes, yes, yes, let’s do this!” Now Vic was looking excited. His enthusiasm made me smile, his big brown eyes were open wide and strangely sparkling with impatience, a huge grin stretched on his face, making tiny dimples appear on his cheeks. Shortly said – although I didn’t want to admit it, he was looking absolutely adorable. So adorable that I wanted to… wanted to… what?
“So, off to the clothes shop first?”, I asked, trying to ignore these thoughts and concentrate on the road again, as I almost missed a turn.
“Yup! Let’s get handsome, shall we?”, he poked me again, with his elbow, and this time he hit an injured rib. I pushed him away once more, not sure if I want to giggle or complain.
“We’re already handsome.”, I corrected him. “We’ll just get more handsome.”
“Hah!”, he laughed. “Sorry, my bad. More handsome.”
“Right.”, I nodded in approval and laughed too. “After all, we deserve it.”
“Well, even if we don’t.” Victor shrugged. “Who the fuck cares.”
* * *
The face of the shop assistant was absolutely unreadable. However, I knew what he was thinking, and I was damn sure his opinion on us wasn’t good at all.
“Gentlemen, are you sure you didn’t come into the wrong shop?”
I raised an eyebrow and crossed arms. “What makes you say that?”
“Well…”, his look meaningfully moved down from my messy hair to the baggy T-shirt and torn skinny jeans. Oh, I see. We weren’t looking like proper clients. Oops.
“Is it the clothes? It’s the clothes, isn’t it.” I grinned. “Yeah, I know they suc- I mean, they’re far not the best I can afford. That’s why I’m here. To buy better ones. And now you sell us some, how ‘bout that?”
I could see how the disapproval was fighting with his politeness (the second of which was in quite too big amounts, in my opinion) underneath the expressionless mask of fake friendliness. Otherwise said, he was wondering how to politely tell us to fuck off.
“Hey, how much is this one? I like this one.”, Vic’s voice interrupted our conversation. I turned to see him stand next to a black suit, set on a plastic mannequin. “Can I have it? Kellin?”
“Sure, just try it on first.”, I nodded.
“No, no, no, I’m afraid I can’t sell you this one, sir!”, the salesman quickly said, his face pale. “It’s a special custom-made suit for one of our very… special clients. I’m sorry, but you need to pick something else.”
“But I want this oooone.”, Vic insisted, now clinging to the sleeve of the suit, with the tone of a child, who wants a toy that his parents aren’t willing to buy.
“Sir, I already told you-”
“If he says he wants it”, I interrupted him, “then he’s going to get it.”, then added reproachfully: “You must be ashamed of yourself, look how upset you’ve made him.”
Before the salesman could reply, I pulled my wallet out of my pocket. It was a new one, I had just bought it from the last shop we visited, and I had already stuffed it with money, so much that I could barely close it. Now I opened it and after a moment of hesitation, I picked two one hundred dollar bills.
“Here. That’s for being so kind and letting him try the suit on… Only if you’re willing to do that, of course. Otherwise we’d have to get something else... preferably from some other shop…”
His eyes sparkled hungrily as he smelled the easy profit.
“Actually…” He smiled like fox, who intended to steal a chicken from a henhouse, no matter that he knew that the owner is waiting behind the door with a gun, ready to kill the intruder; he had that specific expression, which seemed to say ‘Take the money now, think about the consequences later’. The “special client”, who was going to be left without a suit was a problem he would deal with some other time. He continued: “Actually, I don’t see why not. Go ahead, if you like it, it’s yours. Just let me warn you, it’s one of our best works, and it costs a lot. I’m afraid you might not be able to affor-”, but then his look fell on my wallet again. “No, actually… no, I bet you could.”
“Why thank you.”, I looked to Vic and winked. “C’mon. I wanna see how you look in that thing.”
“Okay.”, he started pulling the suit off of the mannequin, but as a result, the plastic window-doll broke, a lonely arm remained in Victor’s hand. “Oops, damn, no, I’m so, so, so, so sorry, I don’t know how this happened, look, I’ll put it back…”
He tried to do so, but all he did was pushing the whole thing down on the floor, where it completely fell apart.
“Oh no, shit, I didn’t mean to do that… Let me fix it…”
For a few moments the shop assistant was watching him in silent horror, but then his instincts took over before Vic could destroy the whole building. “No!”, the man said, a bit louder than he should’ve. My friend froze, holding the jacket in his hand and a part of the mannequin in his other one. However, they were quickly taken from him, and he was sent to the fitting-room before he could break something else. I chuckled. That clumsy idiot…
While he was inside, putting the suit on, I decided to take a look at the others. The shop was pretty big, full with designer clothes I usually wouldn’t even look at, I had never had neither the money, nor the interest, I’d always thought that they don’t look much different than any other clothes. Now, though, I almost enjoyed walking between the stands with countless different suits, shirts, ties, gloves and other things. Most of them sucked, they were either too shiny, or too boring. The shop assistant was following me the whole time, probably to make sure I won’t make a mess like Vic did, or steal something. I smirked. Ah, the trust…
Alright… This shirt looked okay. And… yes. That jacket. And those pants. In a few minutes I was set and fully equipped, I had even tried everything on and found the right size for me. Vic was still inside the fitting-room, when I was done, I had no idea what took him so long. I stopped outside and after a short moment of hesitation, I knocked.
“You okay in there?”, I asked with a slightly worried tone.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”, he replied from somewhere inside. “Almost ready…”
“Okay, I’ll wait for ya here.”
In a minute he finally went out, wearing his smart, brand new suit. My eyes slipped up and down his body, observing his new look, and my eyebrows unconsciously jumped up, as an impressed expression appeared on my face. Hell, he looked… good. So good. His thin, elegant figure seemed even more elegant now, the folds of his jacket traced out every movement he made. The white shirt contrasted with his tanned skin, highlighting his handsome face. My look moved down to his quite tight trousers and stayed there for a bit too long… Ahem. Umm… Yeah. They were a bit too long for him, but that could be easily fixed.
I caught myself staring, so I quickly looked back up at his face, before I start to look weird. Vic obviously hadn’t noticed my attention, and thank God he didn’t. He grinned and spread arms.
“How do I look?”
“Absolutely b- I mean, I think you look great.”, I quickly corrected myself, grinning back. “Except… Where the hell did you find that tie?”
“It was combined with the suit.”, Vic looked down at it. “Why, what’s wrong with it?”
“It’s fucking horrible man!”, I frowned. “Seriously.”
“It’s Gucci!”, the shop assistant gasped. “Do you have any idea how much it costs?!”
“The label says $189, but I don’t even fucking care. It looks like shit, just look at the colors! What is that, grey, green, brown? I can’t even tell.”
“Perhaps you’d prefer it to be yellow?”, Vic chuckled and poked me.
“Shut up and listen to your friend’s advice.”, I laughed. “Pick another one. Please, I’m really not willing to watch you wear this thing every day.”
“Ah, I see what’s going on here. You’re jealous, because I’m prettier than you, hm?”, he giggled and punched my shoulder lightly.
“Nope, I’m just sayin’ your tie sucks.” While saying that, I reached and started trying to take it off, almost strangling him with it. “Sorry… Here ya go.” I looked down at the tie in my hand and made a face. “Ehh.” I turned to the shop assistant and handed it to him without even asking him.
“Noo, give it back!”, Victor made a weak attempt to struggle.
“Shh. Here.” I looked around and grabbed another (better) one – a very simple, black one. “Have this one, and shush. Don’t object. I’m an expert.”, I winked at him.
“But of coooourse. We all know that.”, he rolled eyes while tying it around his neck. “…Better now?”
“Yup. Much better.”, I adjusted it and nodded in approval, smiling.
Vic smiled back and looked down at his suit, brushing a strand of hair off of his face and putting it behind his ear. I felt my smile get wider as I watched him do that.
“So… Shall we pay and go? We have a lot of other stuff to do.”, he finally said, looking back up at me.
“Yeah, true.”, I glanced down at my wristwatch, a little awkward because of the eye contact. “We have plenty of time, though, we don’t need to rush things. Take your time. Your trousers need to be fixed first, and then we’re going.”
Surprisingly how quickly that could be done with the help of another bill. I smirked. Well… No matter how much money I had right now, it was still quite difficult to part with some of it. Oh well. Fifteen minutes later we left the shop with a wallet much lighter than before, and proudly wearing our new clothes.
“Now what? What’s next?”, Vic asked once we were out, fixing his lapels.
“Hmm.” I knitted eyebrows. “We still need to buy new mobiles. And then… we’ll see.”
* * *
Someone needs to remind me never to bring Vic to a magic show again. He just gets too eager to find out how the magic tricks work, and a bit too hyper to stay at one place, so he just walks around the stage the whole time, trying to see where all the flying objects and little fluffy animals come from.
We saw that poster of the “Incredible Allazaress – true magic for all audiences” and thought it sounds cool. And really, the show was great, it was really interesting, and that Allazaress guy didn’t just do the traditional magic tricks – instead, he took hats out of rabbits, rabbits out of pigeons, pigeons out of nowhere, and nowhere out of handkerchiefs, if that was even possible. He even took a real bra out of my pocket, and I didn’t get how he did that, I was damn sure it wasn’t there before. Because, you know, I don’t just keep bras in my pockets, it would be somehow… awkward. Besides, it wasn’t my size. I chuckled at this thought.
Shortly said, we were having fun. And free drinks, which could always make the fun better.
After the show, we really went to a fancy restaurant, as promised. It’s amazing how when you’ve got a shiny suit and a wallet full of money, everyone’s opinion on you changes at the velocity of light, and we quickly managed to get the best table, outside, on the terrace.
“Let’s see… What is… “cuisses de grenouilles”?”, Vic looked up from the menu.
“I have no idea, but it sounds interesting… We gotta ask the waiter. How about… Oh, look at this, I think I’ll get that, it sounds nice. Except, what does ”yeux” mean?”
“Well, I don’t know French, but as far as I know, it must mean “eyes”…”, he said as he kept reading. “I might be wrong, though.”
“Ew, I hope you’re wrong.”, I made a disgusted face. “You know what? Forget about the eyes. I’ll have some of that fish over there. See it? On the fourth page. It looks delicious, and I’m absolutely certain it’s fish, not some suspicious bullshit.”
“Mm, it looks great, yeah. But first I guess we gotta order salad or something?”
“Works for me.”, I shrugged. “And… wine?”
“Yeah, but since we’re rich enough now, let’s get the best one, shall we?”, Victor grinned.
I smiled back. “Sure. I just wonder where all those waiters went…”
As if he had read my mind, a waiter appeared right next to me.
“Ready to order, sir?”, he said with a fake French accent and smiled at me politely.
“Yes, we are. Umm…” I furrowed eyebrows, then stuck my finger in the menu. “This salad. Does it have eyes in it?”
The waiter’s eyes widened a bit. “No, sir…?”, he replied, confused.
“Okay. I’m just cautious.”, I explained. “We’ll have from that one, then. And a bottle of your best wine. We’ll order the rest later.”
“Marvelous. Thank you, sir.” The guy wrote something down, then nodded and walked away, leaving me and Vic alone again.
I left the menu on the table and stared down at the countless different kinds of cutlery. Someone had told me that I needed to start with the ones closest to my plate and continue to the ones at the end. Or was it the opposite…? I decided to just pick random ones that seemed most comfortable, and use them until the end of the dinner. Besides, if I dropped my knife on the ground, I’d always have another one to replace it with.
“Hey, Kellin… I don’t think I thanked you.”
I looked up to see Vic watch me with his big, seemingly innocent eyes.
“Thank me? I’m pretty sure you did, like, twenty times already, you thank me all the time, for different stuff.”, I grinned.
“Yeah, that’s true, oops.”, he admitted, grinning back at me. “But no, I meant, I wanna thank you for today, and for all the new stuff you bought for me…”
“Oh, you’re welcome. I bet you never had a Friday night like this, hm?”
“Yup. The whole Friday was awesome, since the morning. I never thought that bank robberies can be so amusing.”
“Same here. By the way, you did great, yet again.”, I shook head. “Damn, how do you always manage to be so convincing?”
“I don’t know, man, I just do.”, Vic shrugged.
I tilted head, suddenly remembering something.
“Is it true that you were in some school plays when you were a kid, or were you just kidding?”
“Yeah, I really was.”, he smiled, kind of shyly. “When I was little my parents decided they want me to do something related to art, so they sent me to theater classes. I didn’t like it much, but I was pretty good at it, so I kept doing it, until I graduated.”
“Wow, really? That’s kinda cool, actually.” I leaned against the table, my fingers unconsciously playing with a fork. “So you’d be a famous actor in Hollywood now if you didn’t quit doing it. If you didn’t start working for Terrance instead.”
“Nah, I doubt it, I’m not that good… Plus, even if I was good at acting, it’s far not my favorite thing to do.”
“It’s not? Then what is?”
“Well… I used to also study graphic design, this is the thing that I really like practicing… Maybe, if I had made other choices, and done different things, I’d be a graphic designer now.”
“Ooh, that’s awesome, yeah. So you can draw?”
“Well…”, he repeated, still smiling awkwardly. “Kinda…”
“Y’know what? Draw something for me!”, I took a pen out of my pocket and stuck it in his hands. “Please?”
He blinked at it, confused.
“What, now? Nooo. I’d need paper, space and time. But I promise, some other time, I will.”
“Okay, but don’t forget, alright?”
“Alright.”, Vic nodded. “I won’t…” Then suddenly his eyes lit up. “Oh, look, our salads are coming!”
…I decided to eat mine with the medium-sized fork and the big knife, because, fuck the rules. At some point, we went quiet, we were both too busy appeasing our hunger. The food was absolutely delicious and it was totally worth its price.
Finally, Vic broke the silence once more.
“How about you?”
I looked up again and mumbled with my mouth full: “Hmmfffmmh?”
“What would you be doing if things had happened differently?”, he was watching me, interested.
“I…”, I swallowed and hesitated, unsure what I should tell him. “I don’t know. I didn’t really have time to think about the future when I was younger, I had a pretty… tough life. I spent every day wondering if I’d survive until tomorrow, I didn’t even dare to think about what I’m gonna do when I grow up. But, I guess I wanted my job to have something to do with music. I’ve always liked singing.”
Victor nodded understandingly, and, surprisingly he didn’t ask me what I meant by ‘tough life’. I was glad he didn’t. Instead, he grinned.
“Let’s have a deal, then. I’ll draw you something, if you sing something for me.”
“Naaah, you’d hate my voice.”, I chuckled shyly. “No.”
“Otherwise you won’t get your drawing.”, he stuck his tongue out at me. “So, what do ya say? Do we have a deal?”
“…Ooookaaaaay.”, I sighed, smiling.
“Great. I can’t wait, then.”, Victor winked, then came back to eating.
Suddenly, I felt someone’s presence behind me.
“Your wine, sir.”, the waiter carefully put a bottle on the table and started opening it.
“It better be good.”, I smirked.
“Oh, I assure you, it is the best.”
We got some of it poured in our glasses and before I could thank him, the waiter was gone again, busy with other clients.
Vic picked up his glass and smelled the liquid inside. For a moment it seemed strange seeing him do that, but then I remembered he comes from a rich family. No matter that he looked like just an ordinary guy, I needed to remember that he probably had tasted wines much better than this one, many times before. After a few moments, he nodded in approval.
“Yes, it’s good.” He raised his glass a little higher. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” I grinned and raised mine too. “To the Bonnie and Clyde of our century.”
He grinned back. “To you for being that awesome, Kel. And to our… friendship.”
My smile widened as I noticed the hesitation before the word ‘friendship’. “Yeah.”
Clink.
* * *
“Holy fucking shit. This is awesome.”
I looked around. The apartment was huge, there was a big living room with a soft couch, upholstered with leather, a few comfortable-looking armchairs, a TV that covered half of the wall, a minibar, full of beer, whiskey and other drinks, a small fridge with food… There were also two bedrooms, and each one had a separate bathroom.
I clapped my hands again, to see the lights go out again. “Duuude. I’ve always loved those lamps, watch this.”
I clapped again, and then quickly once more. The light flashed for a second, and then stayed off.
While I was messing with the lighting, Vic was exploring his bedroom.
“There is a TV in my bathroom!”, he announced loudly, so I could hear him.
“What? Really?”, I grinned and clapped for one last time, to leave the lamps on.
“Yeah, and a radio, so I can sing along while I’m showering.”, he giggled.
“Then I hope the walls are soundproofed, too.”, I joked, then headed to my own bedroom, to check it out.
It was bigger than I expected it to be. Whoever designed this apartment obviously loved putting TV screens practically everywhere, because there was one here, too. A person would think that’s what the guests here do all day - watch television. There was a dark wooden wardrobe, where I could put my clothes, and a mirror covering one of its doors. The bed was huge, and when I touched it, the outlines of my hand remained printed on the mattress.
“Man, come and check this out!”, I called out. “My bed is made from that thing that remembers the shape of your body when you lay down on it!”
I slipped my shoes off and sat on the bed. It was soft as hell, and for a moment I was really tempted to try jumping on it.
“Vic, get your ass here!”, I yelled again.
After a moment he peeked in. “What?”
“Look at the fucking mattress, man. Look at this shit.”
I pressed my hand against it again, to show him how it left prints. Once I pulled my fingers back, the soft surface slowly returned to its previous shape and went smooth again, as if I had never even touched it.
“I love that thing.”, my grin widened. “It can’t be even compared to the beds we slept in the last couple of weeks.”
“I know, right!”, Victor sat next to me heavily, letting himself lightly bounce on the mattress. “Haven’t you seen memory foam before?”
“Of course I have, but that doesn’t make it less awesome.” I shrugged.
“And the pillows?”, he took one. “They’re made from the same stuff, so when you sleep you’d be like…” He pressed the pillow to his face to show me. “Memory foam is dangerous, your face will just sink in the thing, man, you might suffocate.”, he giggled.
“No, I wooon’t!”, I objected and grabbed the pillow from him, chuckling. “I won’t suffocate. But I will suffocate you!”
I hit him with the pillow, to prove I really mean it (though I didn’t). Vic let out another giggle and pushed me away.
“Are you starting a pillow fight with me, Kel? Seriously?”, he raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh.
“I might or might not be…”, I winked and hit him again. This time he managed to catch the pillow and stop me, trying to pull it out of my hands. I squealed, laughing, and gripped it tighter, so as a result, he pulled it too hard and I hit my forehead in his.
“Ouch!”, I finally dropped it and fell down on the bed, rubbing my forehead, still amused. “Okay… okay… You win.”
Victor just chuckled and threw it at me. “You silly idiot.”, he shook head, smiling. I sat back up and poked him.
“Shut uuup.”, I murmured. “Don’t call me an idiot, because I’m still a dangerous criminal, and if you piss me off, things might get rough…”
“Oh yeah?”, he raised eyebrows ironically. “Awww, shiiit, I’m already sorry. And what are you going to do to me if I do it again… you silly idiot?”
I made a thinking face.
“Hmm… I just might… I don’t know. How does ‘tickle you to death’ sound to you?”, I grinned evilly, leaning closer and pretending to get ready to really do it.
“…Horrifying.”, Vic murmured. He looked up, his eyes meeting mine, then his look slipped down my face and stayed fixed on my lips, and I knew what he was going to do a part of the second before he actually did it.
And it still got me unprepared.
I gasped softly as his slightly tasting of wine lips met mine, but this time I didn’t pull back, I just let him kiss me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this – it seemed wrong, but on the other hand, I totally enjoyed it, even though I didn’t like to admit it to myself. My heart started beating faster, a strange, warm feeling filled my lungs, suffocating me, but at the same time, I felt like I didn’t need to breathe, like everything froze around us and I remained trapped in this strange, but somehow perfect moment. Before I could stop myself, I caught myself kissing back, my hand slipped to Vic’s back all by itself, and pulled him closer to me.
In a few moments, he let me go and pulled away.
“I’m… Damn, I’m sorry, this wasn’t planned to happen. Shit.”, he facepalmed. “I’m really sorry.”
“What? No, don’t apologize, I…” I hesitated. “I really didn’t mind you doing that. In fact…” I grinned. “I wouldn’t mind it if you do it again, too.”
“…Oh?”, his eyes widened slightly. “I didn’t expect you to say that… I’m glad you did, though.”
“Yeah… Yeah, me too.”, I smiled shyly.
“Kellin, I… um, first I want you to know that I’m not doing this for no reason… I do have feelings for you, whatever that might mean… I’m not quite sure yet too, myself.”
“Well, let’s try and see, hm?”, I smiled wider.
He hesitated, then leaned in again. This time I was ready, though, and kissed back immediately, wrapping my arms around him. My heart was racing widely, leaving me breathless. The blood rushed into my face, making me blush hard, although I wasn’t sure if that was from excitement, or awkwardness, or both. Feeling him so close to me made me happy and at the same time a little nervous, afraid I might be making a mistake… But I didn’t really care, not right now, right now I would just give myself in to the countless feelings, each fighting with the others to take control over my body. Suddenly, a thought made me break the kiss once more. My eyes flickered open and I took a breath before I spoke.
“Vic, and what if that cop was right…? What if it really is Stockholm Syndrome?”
“I don’t care…”, he murmured and pulled me back into another kiss.
I didn’t give up that easily, though. After a moment, I pulled away once more.
“But soon I’d have to leave, Vic, and leave you, and I don’t want you to be upset over me… If we let the emotions lead us, this would cause us too much pain in the end… I’m sick, Vic, I’m fucking dying…”
“Shh.” He gently pressed his finger against my lips, to stop me from talking. “I don’t care if you’re sick. I don’t care if you’re contagious. Dammit, I would kiss you even if you were dead…”
Our lips met for a third time tonight and I couldn’t find any more reasons to stop, I just let myself follow my instincts, pressing Vic close, slowly slipping my hands up his back and burying my fingers into his hair. He wrapped his arms around my waist, his soft touch was comforting and made my heart slow down a bit, before I have a heart attack or something. After a minute, he broke the kiss to take a breath, then trailed small kisses along my jawline and down to my neck. I gasped and tilted my head back, as his grip tightened and his kisses became more passionate. His hand slid to my thigh and my body slightly shuddered at his touch. A soft moan escaped my lips. Yes-
I fell on my back and sunk into the clean, white sheets, with Vic sitting on top of me. His fingers were shaking a bit while he started unbuttoning my shirt.
My first night in a good, soft bed for weeks… Such a pity I wasn’t going to use it for sleeping.
END OF CHAPTER 14.
Notes
*totally didn't write the ending while listening to Deja Vu, nooooope XD*A few things:
1) In French, “cuisses de grenouilles" means "frog's legs" XD And "yeux" really means eyes XD
2) Fun fact: Vic really wanted to be a graphic designer before, he says it in this interview: [link]
3) The lyrics I've used in this chapter are from King for a Day ("I bet you never had a Friday night like this"), and I Don't Care If You're Contagious ("I don't care if you're sick, I don't care if you're contagious, I would kiss you even if you were dead")
Enjoy!
OMG I know it was written a long time ago, but this is the best fanfic i've ever read<3
10/8/14