After the black-haired girl and her boyfriend said bye-bye and went home in their way, the blonde left the café quietly and was going away without one more word when the lad with her held her back by the shoulder with a cold grip.
"They had a recorder, Eloise"
She looked back with pallid eyes.
"Are you trying to scare me?"
"No, I'm being extraordinarily nice by telling you something that I noticed, and you didn't, and that might mean an interesting threat. Maybe that's the first step for my wish to come true; maybe you're about to screw up." said the boy smilingly.
She looked fixedly at him for some time, as if trying to read his blocked mind. "You know very well that if I screw up you're going together, don't you? I don't plan to hide the fact that I'm sharing the money with you, and that you're blackmailing me." She replied cautiously, measuring each word, and never looking at anything but his eyes. They were dark blue, deep as a well of mysteries.
"I don't mind dying if that will take you to hell" he said in a gallant whisper. "That's true" the blond girl smiled faintly "I can't imagine you minding. But suppose hell wasn't able to contain me? Wouldn't your death be in vain?"
"No, if it makes you suffer truly, even if it's only for a single second; I'd give the world to see you suffer, Eloise. But don't change the subject. What are you gonna do about the recorder?" he asked.
The girl stood some seconds in silent observation, and chuckled.
"Maybe you're not aware, as a stupid member of the stupid sex, but Rose is a dumb. Whatever is that recorder for, probably it isn't going to record anything worth of hearing, only the bullshit we said today. And if she recorded more than this, who cares about that? We acted so well there's no way she can even connect things or discover your secrets"
The boy shook his head impatiently.
"What I saw was worse than only a recorder, idiot. Ollie and Rose weren't only chatting today if you didn't get it. They were talking in codified language, using interjections, laughing, and making faces. The faces competition was a signal. Rose's coughing attack was a signal. While you were distracted, pretending to worry about her, she passed the recorder under the table to Ollie."
"So, you're accusing me of being too slow to play with two kids" smiled the blond girl, amused. "Well, maybe I didn't notice all this ridiculous, pedant scheme under the table, if it's not you who's got neurotic and is imagining things, because you're scared of dying and you lie as much as you throw up, but for sure they are after nothing more than gossip, and if they are smart enough to discover our fake date, more than that is impossible and we have millions of options to find a way out; leaving them in the shadows by making some drama and putting airs of 'private issues' is one of them. You're worrying for nothing, jerk."
The blue-eyed boy looked at her expressionlessly and didn't say any more.
