Without Her ✓

The Girl

Leo

"Maybe try keeping your advice to yourself when you're talking to people you don't know"

I knew I'd heard those words before somewhere, or at least something similar. I just couldn't remember.

I spent all day trying to focus and remember, but it wasn't until I got in bed that it hit me.

"Why can you wander out after midnight and I can't? Why don't you take your own advice and fuck off?"

Could it really the the same girl? They both had curly hair, but that's all I knew. Why was she in the same neighborhood, being chased by those guys?

I didn't know why, but I just had to know. The way she was so unbothered by the situation when her whole life could be in danger was irritating.

But the way she was so bold and mysterious was...interesting.

I kept telling myself that I only wanted to find out more because it could help me and the guys do our job. Maybe she had some good information, but deep down I knew that wasn't the only reason.

I would find out more even if I had to ask Tessa myself and I would do it tomorrow.

So the next day, I went to that same coffee shop and waited. She would probably come here after school. I tried to ignore the fact that I was happy about talking to her. It was amusing how angry she would get everytime someone tried to tell her what to do.

So I waited and waited, but she never came. I couldn't say I wasn't disappointed, but I was now more determined than ever and I didn't even know why, but if I couldn't ask her today,  I knew someone else I could ask.

_______

"Leo, you seem to be in thought. Worried almost" Ares pointed out.

We were at the base hanging out together in the living room.

"Yes! I never thought I'd live to see the day you actually show emotion!" Nate said excitedly.

I rolled my eyes.

"Does it have to do with that girl?" Nate asked.

I almost choked on air.

Does he know about Tessa? How does he know?

Ares raised an eyebrow and looked at me, "What girl?" He asked.

"Well when we were at that coffee shop and Leo left a girl from Serenity's table left right after him" Nate said.

Oh fuck.

"I didn't notice anything" Ares said.

"Of course you didn't! You kept staring at Serenity" Nate said rolling his eyes.

"I just wanted to make sure she's okay and I needed company so I asked you"

"No, you dragged us there"

They're changing the topic. Great.

"You don't want to go out with us but the minute she's involved you have to drag us with you" Nate said dramatically "I am deeply hurt by this behaviour, Ares" He put his hand on his chest, "Maybe when I finally meet her I'll be able to say thank you for being the reason my best friend wants to spend time with me"

Nate loves creating drama for no reason. Sometimes it's funny though.

Ares rolled his eyes, "You're not meeting her and we literally spend all day together. Don't forget the time when-"

"-anyways, Leo what happened with that girl?" Nate asked turning to me.

I didn't know if I wanted to tell them yet. I trusted them with my life, yes, but that girl seemed like she was already in big trouble. Did I really want two of the most dangerous people I knew to know about her? I was worried about them hurting her, I was worried about making too big of a deal out of this and getting her into more trouble.

"No, I don't remember a girl walking up to me"

"Probably because you're used to it, pretty boy" Nate said chuckling

I rolled my eyes, "Stop calling me that"

What Ares said next made me panic. Maybe a little too much.

"Maybe we should do a background check on her. What if she really was following him and she knows something she shouldn't?"

"No!" I knew I was getting too defensive and it looked really suspicious, they both looked surprised and confused.

What's it to me if they want to do a background check on a random girl?

But she wasn't a random girl. As much as I told myself this, she definitely was not a random girl. She stopped being a random girl when she helped me that night.

"I mean she walked past me after she left the coffee shop. She took a completely different route too"

"So you do remember a girl" Nate said.

I quickly made up a lie, "I thought it was pretty weird that she left right after I did" I shrugged, "but she walked past me and went a different way"

They both seed to be in thought and they looked at each other, "Fine, no background check needed then" Ares said.

I let my shoulders relax and held back a sigh of relief. They couldn't know about her, at least not yet.

"Well I'll go question the guys"I said standing up.

"Maybe we should just get rid of them. They said everything they had to say" Nate said, "And why do you want to do it anyway? It's my specialty"

"I just want to try something" I said.

I was definitely acting suspicious and pushing it here, but I had to risk it.

"Sure" Nate said.

That was close.

________

"Fine! Fine! I'll tell you everything I know about her"

I sighed and sat back on my chair, "I'm listening"

"Her name is Tessa Laurence, she's seventeen. She has two sisters and they all live with their dad. Her mother  passed away when Tessa was fourteen"

Damn I really didn't need to hear the last sentence. It was heartbreaking, losing a parent during your teenage years. I wondered if her dad was treating her well.

Maybe I need to find out later.

"Do you know their address?" I asked him.

"I know everything about her. Our boss wanted all the information about her"

"Why?" I asked.

Oh she was in big trouble.

"She saw something three years ago. She saw too much. Somehow she managed to get away. She hasn't really been a threat but our boss is interested in her. She is not as weak as she looks, you know. You'd be surprised"

Somehow the fact that he knew so much about her annoyed me. I didn't like it one bit.

"We gathered all the information two days ago but didn't get the chance to show anything to our boss" He said.

"So only you and the other two know about her?" I asked.

"Yes, everything. Her address, her family situation, her phone number, her friends-"

"You know too much" I said in a low voice before getting my gun.

"No! Please! I'll get you, I'll give you all the information about her just pelase-"

But what he didn't know was I didn't care about getting information about her from a stupid guy. She was interesting because she was a mystery and I wanted to find out more about her little by little, even if I couldn't admit it, I wanted it.