Spy School Undercover

Part 16

Apologies for the shortness of this chapter! Enjoy

"Jessica! Wait up!" I ran into the night after Jessica. We had just gotten released from a long day of filming and it was the first chance I had gotten to hand over the info. She turned around with a big smile on her face as I caught up to her. 

"Hi Ben!" she gave me a quick hug, which even though I kind of hated her right now made me flush. 

"I got these for you." I pasted a smile on my face and shoved the papers and small box into Jessica's arms before I could stop myself. She looked at me curiously.

"Whats this?" 

"What you asked for. What we need for our mission. The list of names and the research- the result of the research. The first few papers will explain how it works." Jessica grew ecstatic. 

"Oh my god! This - this is perfect!" she opened the box and looked over the chip, then shut it again and put it in her designer handbag. 

"So- when do you plan to tell me the second part of your plans?" 

***

"We have two days." I flopped down in the passengers seat of Catherine's car, although Erica was the one sitting in the drivers seat next to me. I had called her to pick me up- she had gone back to the hotel to take a nap while Jessica and I went to a small pizza parlor to discuss SPYDER's further plans. 

"They're broadcasting the signal from a big karaoke lounge on sunset." I sighed. 

"Hm. Interesting choice." Erica said evenly, eyes focused on the road ahead. I didn't recognize the place. 

"Where are we going?"

"To have some fun." a small smirk flashed on Erica's full lips.  

"Since when does Erica Hale do fun?" I asked, smirking a little myself. 

"Don't make me turn around." We drove in silence for a while until we reached a stand of trees. Erica parked the car and we got out. She led me up a steep dusty hill until I saw a familiar sight. A sight I had always dreamed of seeing in person.

"You brought me to the Hollywood sign?" Erica grasped my wrist and led me up to the humongous white H. She quickly scaled the letter and pulled me up after her. The crescent moon shone down on us, the sliver of light reflecting in Erica's sapphire blue eyes. I found her hand and wrapped my fingers around hers. For a moment she stiffened, but then she squeezed my hand and leaned into me. 

"Ben- I need to tell you something. Something that I should have told you a long time ago." Erica said quietly. 

"Go ahead. I'm listening."

"Ben, when I first met you I thought for sure you were a lost cause. Mole bait sure to die. I thought you were the worst spy at the academy. Doomed to fail." 

"Wow. I thought that maybe you were going to say something nice." 

"Just hear me out. When we were working together on the mole hunt... I was using you. I didn't expect you to survive either. I never thought I would care again about anybody else. But then you figured out my dad's secret, and I let myself go a little- accidently letting a little teenage girl slip through. That teenage girl kind of fell for the cute little mole bait with the big brain." a small smile flitted in Erica's eyes. "then when you saved everyone from that bomb and that's when the first drop of water melted off my icy exterior. I saw a glimmer of hope for you, and now, after all our missions together, I feel like I've finally found the one person I can trust. The one person I can go to no matter what. The last person I will ever love. The only person I will ever really love. I love you Ben."