Impress Me Not: Neon Underground

Chapter 13

"Okay, Time-Out," Sarah put her hands in a T shape. "Who the Hell is this Mr. White? And how do you guys know him?"

"He's an old member of our community," Cameron quickly explained. "Rony's his first name. He's the one who coordinates the Pride festivals here in Amor." He donated quite a lot of money to many projects to help the youths in the LGBTQ+ community, and even housed many who were kicked out of their homes for their sexuality.

"No, I understand why you guys would know him," Sarah said. "What I'm wondering is how you know about him," She looked over to Will. "And why are you grinning like that?"

The brunette had been smiling like a man who just won the lottery. Instead of saying anything to them, he had been telling them to look at the screen the whole time. All the way until Mateo met the old man and got invited to check out his bar.

"I've been wondering that myself," Benny looked to his partner. He had asked him before, but Wil was being very secretive right now. And Benny hated when he got that way. Because that usually meant that he was missing out on something.

"Justin," Will caught the anticupid's attention. "Do you remember Valentino and Casimir's case?"

"How could I forget?" He answered. "It was the first one I almost got in trouble for." His boss was so angry with him when he found out that Justin was working with the cupids. That was not in their job description at all.

Anticupids weren't working against cupids either, all things considered. They just worked on separate cases, and had different procedures because of the specific details that their cases had.

"Do you remember the man who spoke with Valentino at his friend's wedding?" Will asked. "The one who helped to convince Valentino to consider marriage in the first place?"

"Vaguely," he wrinkled his forehead, trying to remember. "It was a pretty small conversation. And we weren't exactly trying to get them to marry each other. Just being with each other was enough."

"Aw! I'm glad they're deciding to marry though," Benny smiled. "They make such great couple, and the wedding they attended the last time was so magical for them!" He could almost picture it all in his mind's eye. "Valentino was so grumpy and overwhelmed at first. Then Casimir came in and comforted him and-!" Benny froze as all the dots started connecting in his head. He looked at the screen that still showed the old man talking to Mateo. He was a great conversationalist too. He had somehow managed to make Mateo comfortable there, which he had been struggling with the feeling for about a month now.

"I own that building on the hill over there," Mr. White pointed towards the hill that Benny recognized. "Usually, people book it for weddings and other special occasions. They won't come to this beach though, so you have nothing to worry about."

"Wait a minute!" The blond paused the TV, pointing at the old man. "He was the guy that owned the wedding venue that Valentino's friends had!"

"How the hell did you even remember that, Will?" Sarah looked towards the brunette again. "That was a few cases ago, and it was only, like, the tiniest conversation." Now she remembered that small moment in time. They had been busy partying with Benny and Will around then, so the whole thing was kind of a blur.

"It's easy to remember a name like Mr. White," Will explained. "Once he talked to Valentino some, I had a feeling he might be helpful for our other cases here. This is the city where everyone knows each other, after all."

"He might be a good ally for us cupids," Obasi said. "But I don't quite understand what you think this is going to accomplish."

"Easy," The brunette took the remote from Benny and skipped to the present, where Mateo was given a business card to a bar. "This is going to be how the two are going to meet again. It's their second chance."