Vintage Rob

Chapter 20 - Who-rah!

Trigger Warning: Sex alluded to but not described. Some character ages ambiguous.

The two girls played with Brian Keating's hair. Rob photographed them. "You should leave," he said to the girls.

They did not move. He expressed the idea in his best Japanese, a couple different ways, but they shook their heads. One stroked Keating's face and his chest. She tried to rouse him with kisses. When that didn't work, they laughed.

Rob switched cameras in case he had to surrender one to the guards and took more photographs. The pictures would be more embarrassing than incriminating, especially given the public's tolerance of celebrities. It was unfair to Keating, maybe, but since worse things had probably happened this evening, Rob was not going to split hairs. He could always delete them later.

One girl did not sit like a lady.

Rob put away his cameras and checked Keating's pulse. A fatality would skyrocket the value of his photographs and start off his paparazzi career with a bang, but he laid out Brian Keating so that he would not suffocate on his own vomit. "Mr. Young," Rob said, and the girls looked at him sharply. When he arrived with Mr. Endo, maybe Mr. Young was here... playing too...

The girls stretched out beside Keating. One multitasked by chatting with the other girl and tapping away on her phone's keypad.

She could be messaging Mr. Endo or one of his pimps. Rob had tried his best to get them to go. "Bye, girls," he said and left.

The hallway was empty. He reached the security detail and accosted the short one with the headphone. "Hey, I just helped a couple of girls move Brian Keating into a room. I think he'll be okay but someone better check on him. I'm not a doctor."

***

Rob exited the elevator on the basement floor. After five meters of fast walking, Ayako appeared from another hall. She matched his stride without meeting his eyes. Her silence suggested she knew about Brian Keating and was afraid of Rob's reaction. He wanted to ask the girls' age but didn't trust her. Besides, he had to leave the impression that he was indifferent.

She was still silent when he shooed her into his hotel room, where she sat on the bed and smoothed out her skirt. He wanted her out of his sight but needed his identity to stay secret. Kicking her out without niceties was not an option. If she thought everything was cool, she would not give Keating's people any details. Hopefully.

"Did you see Brian Keating?" she said.

"By accident. I helped two women move him into his room." Rob laughed. "Now I know why women think he's a hunk. He looks good even when he's passed out."

Instead of laughing, she bit her lips.

He could mention everything except the photographs. All was good if she thought him uninterested. "I met Mr. Young too. Suave guy. Have you met him?"

She exhaled. "Yes."

"He must be Keating's main man. I liked him."

She wrung her hands. "This isn't good. What if they mention you to the General Manager?"

"I told them I'm flying tomorrow. They're not going to look for me. Does the General Manager know you sometimes sneak people into the elevator?"

"Maybe... but my friends stay with me."

"Sorry. I am your friend."

"Why did you do that?"

"I realized he wasn't going down the elevator and I wanted to see him."

Ayako frowned.

"Look, your General Manager won't want to admit there was a breach. I think he'll play along if they mention meeting a Mr. Fitzgerald. Then he'll come looking for you. When he does, if he does, just assure him that I'm harmless." Rob touched one of her shoulders. "Does he like you?"

"Yes."

"Okay then." He let go of her shoulder and shrugged. "Don't worry."

He sensed her doubts, her uncertainty.

"What else did you see?" she said.

"What else is there to see? I saw Brian Keating," he gushed.

She pushed strands of hair behind her ears and stared at him. Then she slid back on the bed. "Okay." She patted a portion of the comforter. "Come."

Observing Keating with the girls had not been a turn-on, and sex was not going to silence him. "You're gorgeous, but no. It's late, I'm good. Thanks. I'm not as young as I used to be." Her face twisted as though she could not believe it. "You're beautiful and sexy. Ordinarily, yes, but... up there..." He had to reassure her that all was okay. He smirked. "Keating invited me to play, you know. Honestly, I can't."

He hated to imply he was complicit, but it could do the trick. She had a reason to believe he would remain silent. And for now, he would be. Makiko took a backseat for years, and he only had three days left in Japan. Makiko was more important than photos of Keating.

***

Lying alone on his hotel bed the next morning, Rob pressed the ringing phone against his ear. "There's a lecture I want to attend," Rachel said. "Join me. We can meet at my school tomorrow."

There was a conspiratorial tone to her voice. He sat up. "At school?"

"Yeah, we'll leave for the lecture from there." She cleared her throat. "A lot of students get picked up in the cafeteria at the end of the day. For example, a sophisticated woman picked up Sophia Lombardi today..."

"Rachel, thank you. I love you." He shimmied off the bed toward the sunlight streaming through the window.

"If Yukiko's there, you can't make a scene. I'll personally shish-kabob your penis if you do anything stupid. It's a Catholic girls school and my employer. Do you understand, Robert Pirone?"

"Yes, ma'am, you know me, never a stupid move."

Rachel laughed. "You'd be no fun if that was true. Just not at school."

"Don't worry, I want to win Yukiko over. Maybe she'll agree to meet me for lunch before I leave Tokyo. I just want to lay the groundwork for next time. Do you think Makiko ever picks up her little sister?"

"No idea. Anything's possible. I only scoped them out today."

"Thanks." He'd suffer through any lecture for a chance to see Yukiko in person. It was easy for her to refuse his disembodied voice on the telephone, but shunning him in person required a very hard heart. Hers couldn't even be that rotten, could it? "I'm up for anything. What's the lecture about?"

"No backing out."

"I wouldn't dream of it. Let me guess: feminism?"

"You'd love that. This lecture's about releasing your inner powers and identifying your true self."

"New Age bull-?"

"If you want to talk to Yukiko in person, show some enthusiasm, Pirone."

"Who-rah! Let's do it!"

Do you think Rob should send the photos of Brian Keating to a publisher immediately, do you think he should delete them immediately, or are your thoughts about them somewhere in-between?

Do you think Rachel will regret helping Rob get onto the campus, or is he wise enough not to do anything outlandish?

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