Elliott Miller is your average 23 year-old, only with a lost father and a resentful mother. When he goes back to his hometown to make amends, he inadvertently gets dragged into the activities of an illicit criminal group.
Enter Marcel Nixon, 25, wh...
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"Oh my God El, you're alive!"
Vivien dramatically shrieked and flew into me, wrapping her arms around my waist in a bone-crushing hug.
I let out a startled laugh and hugged her back, glad to finally hang out with her after all this time, even if it was just for work.
"You wouldn't believe, I got this sketchy e-mail saying that you were mixed up with a criminal gang or something and then they transferred you to some kind of safe house, and...," she rambled on about how she 'totally freaked out' and wondered if I'd been kidnapped, or worse, 'electrocuted by a rogue Ronald McDonald.'
She tended to go a little crazy with her conspiracy theories when she was stressed out, but beneath the dramatic delivery was a genuine worry that touched me.
"You're ridiculous," I said, smiling.
"You're welcome," she replied brightly. "Anyway, we've got time before the shoot. Let's grab something to eat, and you can explain why you ghosted me like that. Maybe I'll forgive you. Maybe I'll kill you. We'll see."
"Yeah, sure..." I replied, growing nervous at the last bit. I knew she meant it figuratively but given the current situation, I'm not so sure it was the most appropriate choice of words.
We walked down a couple of blocks to a diner and picked a table in the corner to ourselves. The whole time Viv was talking my ear off, but I was more than happy to listen since I'd been deprived of her company for so long.
Suddenly she stopped talking and I looked back up from the table to see her skimming over the menu, so I hastily did the same. The waiter brought our orders soon enough and we slipped into a comfortable silence.
"By the way, I forgot to ask, how's the new bodyguard?"
I choked on a crouton.
Don't be fooled by the simplicity of that seemingly innocent question because the smirk she held was anything but innocent.
I stammered, at a loss for words, face flushed in hot embarrassment.
"Er, I... uh... what?"
"It's just a simple question, no need to get so flustered," she said, trying to play it off casually, but the wide smirk on her face gave her away.
"Yeah he's fine I guess," I said weakly.
"Oh come on, fine's all you're going to give me? After all I've done for you?"
She tried using her puppy eyes, but they didn't work on me. I wasn't going to be beaten that easily.
But then she stuck her lower lip out into a full blown pout and along with the Oscar-level waterworks, I finally caved.
