The Protection Program

TPP : Chapter XLIX

The dinner was nice, the food was nice, the drinks were nice. But none of that mattered. Aubrey was no where to be found and everyone was worried, this was his event, his festival that he was running and he wasn't here. Not to mention the mayor was waiting for him as well.

Nina stare down at the nicely folded napkin in her lap, the blood red colored cloth went well with the other dinner decor. The weather was nice, so having it all set up outside under tents wasn't such a bad idea, it was warm with a nice breeze. Unfortunately Rico and the gang couldn't get passes which wasn't much of a surprise, they had been to every event so far so she was hoping they would attend this one. Now that Oliver was in charge she wouldn't be seeing them anytime soon, unless it was convenient and they ran into each other, even with that she wasn't to sure that they would be able to "hang out" per se.

"Where the hell are you?"

She looked up from her napkin for once to see Oliver on the phone. She was guessing it was with Aubrey because he was the only one missing that meant something. Oliver sighed out and rolled his eyes, that wasn't a good thing. He wouldn't give that reaction to a good thing, right?

"I'll let them know, this won't look good on your part."

He hung up the phone and placed it into the pocket of his tux blazer, he then leaned over and whispered things into Chubbs ear. She would have given anything to know what Oliver said because after that him and a few others of the crew got up and left. She didn't have anything to do so she just kept her gaze lowered to her red napkin, Oliver pestered her about eating but she didn't want too. She felt sick, eating was the last thing on her list of things she needed to get done.

"Um, hello."

Her head shot up, before all the tables and tents was a podium that stood higher so everyone could see. She smiled at the sight of Aubrey, he wasn't dressed up but he still looked good. He had a look in his eyes though, he looked tired and some other emotion she couldn't quite put together because she hadn't ever seen him with it before.

His eyes searched the crowd for her, his eyes scanned over everyone until he found her. There eyes connected and a small smile appeared to his face, she had to look away and she knew that would hurt him but she had no choice. She didn't feel like crying in front of everybody. Oliver probably already thought she was a cry baby.

"I would just like to apologize for arriving late, I had some .. Problems. I guess you could say. But, everything looks great and I hope you are all enjoying your time here so far. Once again, I apologize... Thank you."

He walked off the podium, the crowd got a little more rowdy at his arrival. After all, he was the reason they all came, the talking grew louder, the commotion was much more heavy.
Aubrey quickly walked over to the mayor first and foremost because he felt awful for keeping her waiting.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Graham, I've already met your project over there, Ms. Nina."

He swallowed and blinked, he put on a smile to make it seem like he wasn't about to lie to the Mayor of the city.

"She's wonderful, such a sweetheart. Very polite young lady, the program gave you a good girl."

"Yes, yes she is."

He looked over at her as she tuck a hair behind her ear. His insides grew fuzzy per se, at the sight of her. She wasn't paying any attention to him which kind of hurt but he could see why, he knew she would be upset at the fact that he didn't fight for her and he regretted not doing that as soon as he walked out of the door.

"Shouldn't she be with you at all times though? Why did she arrive with Oliver?"

He cleared his throat, trying to give him more time to think. It was no use, he had nothing. Thankfully his boy, OB, was right there to have his back

"I asked him to come alone, I needed help with something's but when we were done I came straight here. He went back to get cleaned up. I asked him to not bring Nina....... Boy talk."

The mayor nodded her head and smiled, he felt relief set in due to the fact that he didn't have to say Nina was taken from him.

"I see, well it was nice meeting you. Very nice event by the way. Your slate is coming clean, I'm proud."

"Thank you, it's nice meeting you too."

She walked away but Aubrey didn't care, as soon as she was out of his sight he turned to hug OB, that's what best friends are for, right?

"Thank you. So much."

"Anytime bro, you okay?"

He pulled away from the hug and took in a deep breath.

"Yeah I'm okay."

He lied, he lied big time. He was far from okay, he was positive he wouldn't be okay for 2 months, even after that he didn't know if he would be okay because he didn't know if Nina was staying. His plan was to make her stay, treat her so well, spoil her, be as affectionate as possible to the point where she wouldn't leave. That couldn't happen now, she probably couldn't wait to leave because now she was stuck with Oliver.