Meeting Mr Wainscott

9: Ian

"God, I've never seen this many nerds in one spot at once," Mirabella whistled, slamming the door as they arrived at the front of the Melbourne Space Lab. "Can we hurry this up? I'd rather not be around when Fanshaw decides to open his package of pills."

Darkness had fallen, yet Ian, Naomi, and Mirabella stood out in their stained old labcoats, fake ID badges dangling down from lanyards. Ian hesitantly got out as well, his eyes flitting about and taking in his surroundings. The minimal light from the street lights let him at least see they were the only ones at the front. He could see that down the road was another scientific research building, light pouring out of the open windows. The stars above glinted back dimly and the cool air made the hair on his arm stand on end. The lab itself was inconspicuous, the outside blending in with the other buildings. People walked in and out of the building, most wearing lab coats or scientific apparel.

"Why the fuck can we not go from the back?" Ian hissed to his sister as she stepped out from the driver's seat. "There's an alley right there."

"Because, you idiot, it's less suspicious if we just walk right through," Naomi whispered back. "How would we explain ourselves if we were caught in the alley."

Ian scowled. He really had not wanted to tell his sister about Friday, but what other choice did he have?! What if she saw him!? What would he even say!? Ian then glanced at Mirabella, who knew Friday and didn't frankly care. His eyes trailed to her neck, where she wasn't wearing makeup there like she usually did, now showing off the snake tattoo that slithered around her neck twice.

"You're my sister, right," he began hesitantly to Naomi as they began walking in.

Naomi glanced at him with an eyebrow raised. "Unfortunately."

"And I can tell you anything, right?"

"... Go on."

Mirabella leant close and grinned, speaking before Ian could.

"He's got a girlfriend, and she works here."

"Mirabella!" Ian hissed as quietly as he could.

Mirabella simply shrugged, placing her hands in her suit pants.

Naomi stopped and looked at Ian as though he was a tiny puppy. She made the face, the one right before she was about to tease him mercilessly. Ian immediately placed a hand over her mouth and looked her dead in the eye.

"First off, she isn't my girlfriend," Ian corrected, grimacing.

"You've been on a date though," Mirabella reminded, the three stopping in the main lobby.

Ian looked away, removing his hand. "It wasn't a date and even if it was, it ended abysmally, so shut it. Where was I? Oh, right. Secondly, I don't understand how you're even alright with this, considering she knows you too!"

Mirabella shrugged, rolling her eyes. "Oh, please. I'm not an idiot, Ian, I've been doing this for years. I've already made up multiple plausible excuses," she paused, looking at him with bored eyes. "Don't tell me you didn't."

Naomi blinked, gently covering her mouth as she smiled. "You are the biggest moron I know. Why did you not tell me this before? Why didn't you tell Father?"

Ian snapped his attention to her. "Because I wasn't speaking to either of you all! How dense are you!?" he exclaimed. "Let's just get this over with and make it quick, I don't want to have to look at Fanshaw for too long."

"Amen," Mirabella muttered.

His sister scowled, muttering about how he was 'ticking her off'. Naomi led the way, fluidly scanning her ID card and going in as the automatic doors opened for her. Ian's hand shook as he scanned his, sudden images of loud sirens going off, alerting everyone that he was a no-good, bastard gangster popped into his mind.