Perfidia

the good cop

"No." Raquel was staring at Alicia with her brows furrowed and her fingers tightly locked around her cup, feeling almost insulted. "Don't even continue it, I am not doing it!" she stated firmly, and took a sip from her coffee.

Alicia clenched her jaw and exasperatedly started knocking with her nails on the counter top she was leaning against. "Just this once!" she tried again, pushing herself away from it. "Maybe it will be enough! I can't deal with both of them at the same time! I mean... It is fucking exhausting to try getting someone to betray himself while there is someone else near you who gives the impression that he is working on making you betray yourself! You think you could handle it? I doubt it..." she sat down on the other side of the table looking at her friend with pleading eyes. "Please, Raquel!"

"No!" the other woman repeated decidedly. "First of all, I would have never started into this madness! Second... Stop with the puppy eyes, do you remember how it turned out the last time you dragged me into something like this? And that wasn't even half this serious! No, Alicia, I don't want to have any part in this little play of yours, I'm sorry. I am not going to spend time with you three just to try to draw the nerdy brother's attention away from you!"

Damn it, you are so annoyingly... level-headed! Alicia let out a frustrated sigh, and rubbed her forehead, trying not to insult Raquel. Their last fight was not that long ago. "That's a pity." she mumbled offhandedly as she lazily laid her head on her arm which she rested on the table. "You might have liked him."

"Seriously?!" Raquel laughed. "I doubt it! I am not interested in thieves."

No, you are interested in manipulative sons of bitches... "But you like the nerdy ones." Alicia eventually said with a smirk.

Raquel just blinked at her with her mouth slightly open. "Is this now you actually setting me up for a date with a much younger guy - how old is he? 16?! - or it's still just you getting pathetic about convincing me?" she looked at the redhead with tired disbelief.

"Maybe both." Alicia sighed, and reached her hand out towards the plate with the biscuits. "And he's 17. Soon 18. You are barely 23..."

"I am barely 23 and seeing someone!" Raquel said, not being impressed at all.

"Yeah, I know..." Alicia bit into one biscuit, rolling her eyes. Alberto, the very definition of the manipulative son of a bitch, and you refuse to see it... "Whatever, forget it. I'll handle it by myself eventually. Hopefully before Andres comes home with a dog... Try these biscuits, they're tasty!"

"A dog?!" at this point Raquel's voice sounded more concerned than pissed off. "Alicia... I've told you that you will find yourself stuck in this mess...

"I am not stuck. It's just..." It's just taking longer, and becoming a lot more real than I thought it will be... Because something is distracting me... "I can handle it." Alicia said again pondering. He is indeed a distraction. In more than one way...

Raquel was not so sure about it, but did not give voice to her doubts.

"Yeah, I can work my way through the traps of that bastard." Alicia nodded, more to herself, sounding more and more convinced about her own words. I can use it against him.

"How could you know that? You barely know the guy!" Raquel laughed.

"Because you know Alberto so well..." Alicia gave her friend a judging look. "You've been seeing him for like three weeks, and you were ready to carry the stuff he fucked up on your shoulder, just because... why even did you take it?" Alicia frowned.