NICE MASK | ᴅᴀɴɴʏ ᴊᴏʜɴsᴏɴ.

FIVE

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚 :
IN THE WISE WORDS OF RANDY MEEKS "EVERYONE IS A SUSPECT"

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     GREG AND HER CONNECTED LIKE LONG LOST FRIENDS. The officers had been right. There was a lot of dad jokes:

"What did the mermaid wear to her math class? An alge-bra."

"What do you call a fake noodle? An Impasta."

"Where do pirates buy hooks? The secondhand store."

"What is a funny mountain called? Hill-arious."

There were even some bad pick-up lines:

"Was your favorite school subject science? Cause I feel the chemistry between us."

"Are you from Tennessee? Cause you're the only Ten I See."

"Okay, okay, that's enough," (F/N) tried to quiet his blurting, laughing while she did so, "focus on the road."

"You're right, I should probably be doing that," Greg grumbled playfully, his head snapping back to the road like a dog who had heard a sound in a random direction.

It had been a few days of them getting to know each other, and (F/N) felt like she hit the lottery. Greg was respectful-holding doors open for her wherever they went, and on top of everything, he wasn't ugly. But the cherry on top was that he was good company. He was more than happy to sit in the cafe during her eight-hour shifts, even giving tips every time he bought a drink.

And though it was fun having him around, he wasn't the presence that she had been waiting for.

That meant that her only regular was the cat lady who lived a few apartments from (F/N). She liked to complain about anything she could and always watched her neighbors. But of course, the one night she hadn't been staring outside her window was the night Ghostface had broken into (F/N)'s apartment.

It wasn't until about a week later that Jed showed up at the store. Even though she was somewhat upset and worried about speaking about him (knowing he was a reporter and could be using her for the story), she couldn't deny that there was a part of her that wanted to see him. Her own feelings made her worry. She couldn't be having romantic issues at a time like this.

Yet when she saw him for the first time in a week or two, she knew damn well her heart skipped a beat.

Jed walked in when Greg was standing across the counter from her, leaning on it with a playful grin. Since she was at the register, she simply moved to the other side so that Jed could face her. Greg moved only far enough to give the man space, but not leaving his bubble quite yet.

"Long time no see," (F/N) piped, offering a small smile to Jed.

"I got busy at work," Jed responded, appearing upset about the fact. But who wouldn't be?

She nodded, "Anything special today?"

"Just the usual." Once Jed noticed that Greg hadn't left the area he inquired, "Who's this?" Though he asked, Jed seemed to already know.

"This is Greg." She motioned to the man, then to the customer, "Greg this is Jed."

"Jed's a unique name." Greg piped, leaning on the counter slightly as he observed Jed.