Superhero

Chapter 116

Addison told Jake to pick her up at Speedmart and started her short journey over there. Despite how it was in a pretty busy area, the alleyway was still a bit dark and that somehow made it seem isolated. She caught sight of a shadow lurking around in an alleyway between two of the buildings and quickened her step until she reached the bright lane beside Speedmart.
But she still felt like she was being watched, which made her refrain from looking over her shoulder.
Addison was relieved when she reached the shop and got whatever she needed, mostly a carton of ten eggs, some salt, pepper, some vegetables—like tomatoes, spinach, garlic, and potatoes—and some biscuits and milk.
For some reason, the milk section was placed beside the pet food shelf, so Addison ended up getting some wet food for Freesia and Frida as well. After that, she made her way to the counter to pay.
Addison then walked out of Speedmart and scanned the area for Jake's car since he had informed her that he had already arrived. She soon spotted it parked on a spot across the lane. It was busier than the alleyway, which Addison was glad for given the dark things she had seen in Spring Valley. She nearly bumped into a taller person clad in black as she made her way towards the black car.
"I got some wet food for Freesia and Frida too," Addison said as soon as she was in the car.
Jake smiled. "Yeah, Mom just messaged me about it. I was about to come over myself. Thanks, by the way."
"Eh, it's fine. They're adorable."
Jake pulled out of the parking spot and started driving towards the main road. Addison couldn't help but spot a dark figure lurking at the end of the alleyway, but didn't think much of it. Soon, he was driving down Spleen Street, the street adjoining Spine Street.
It was a more happening place, with bright streetlights, more traffic, and buildings all around it. Addison even realised that a new cafe had opened.
"Huh, look at that," Addison said. "Vegetarian shop."
"Oh, they have a vegetarian restaurant here now," Jake remarked. "That's nice. We can eat there if we ever feel like going meatless."
"I hope the prices will be reasonable though."
"Yeah, there's that too."
When driving down Spinner Street, it was a little less lively even when the road was lined with nightlife hotspots like bars, snooker clubs, and even hookah bars.
"It must be a nightmare walking this street at night," Jake remarked, taking Addison's attention away from the passenger window.
"Oh, no, I never walked here," Addison said. "I usually take the alley behind this area."
Jake sighed. "Now I know why you always get in trouble and meet the Superhero."
Addison chuckled sheepishly. "Yes. Even the other day, you. Caught me just as I was getting out of there."
"Oh, yeah I remember that happening," Jake said. "Please be safe, Addie. Just wait for me."
"Yeah, I guess I should learn from that."
"But it never seems like you do."
Addison clicked her tongue and leaned back in her seat with her arms crossed.
"Come on, I'm just messing with ya. I won't let you walk home like this, okay? So wouldn't Mom."
Addison couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, Jake. You guys are the best hosts ever."
Jake simply shrugged. "It's easy we do."

Addison scrolled through social media while having her dinner since her mother said she would call a little later than usual. Most of the videos were just memes, cat videos, funny pranks, and some stupid trend that she never followed.
None of them seemed odd, but there was one video that really caught her attention.
It was a video taken in the busy alleyway behind Spine Street, right where the Speedmart was located at. It was a video of the Superhero just standing around, seemingly waiting for something, and then there was a certain young woman that crossed his path before leaving the scene.
The young woman was Addison, she realised, but her face wasn't very clear. Apparently, the person she had nearly bumped into was actually the Superhero, who was then seen strolling down that road to enter the more isolated alleyway behind the aisle.
Just as Jake's car drove past him.
"Darn..." Addison said aloud.
Apparently, even her safe night somehow involved Superhero. She sighed, but couldn't help but smile to herself. What did he actually look like under the mask? Was it really Giuseppe like Jake and Jordan had thought? Or was it someone else? What if she had actually seen the Superhero countless times in broad daylight, but never once thought that it could be him just because he was unmasked?
And what if it really was Galante? But wasn't he out on a trip with his girlfriend?
A sound interrupted her thoughts so Addison briefly abandoned her dinner and went to look outside her room. What greeted her was Giuseppe dragging a heavy load up the steps before retreating into his room. Addison gasped and quickly closed the door before retreating into her room as well.
Maybe it really is Giuseppe. Giuseppe is the Superhero?
Addison quickly shook those thoughts out of her head and resumed her dinner before calling her parents.

Even though Galante had already returned the night before, there was still no Galante Class. Addison was glad for that because she was getting increasingly sleep deprived.
As usual, when she went down, she spotted Jordan having his morning cocoa at the counter, Jake was chatting with him while having an Itchy-Bun, and Giuseppe was occupying the water dispenser. Addison tried to seem causal after the events that she had tried to put together last night.
"How was your trip?" Addison casually asked. "I heard you arriving at around ten."
"Yeah, it was pretty late," Giuseppe sighed. "Sorry we didn't have class."
"Nah, it's fine," Jordan piped up. "I was quite tired last night too."
The rest just looked at him silently until Giuseppe moved away from the water dispenser to let Addison use it.
"Francesca seems like a really fun person," Jake piped up. "You guys are really cute together."
Giuseppe smiled. "Thanks. Many people thinks she's out of my league, apparently." He gave Addison a sideways glance.
Addison groaned. "Come on, I never said that!"
"You we're still pretty shocked when he mentioned a girlfriend," Jordan gently spooned some oil to the flame.
"And you weren't?" Addison smirked.
Giuseppe gave Jordan a rough pat on the back. "So you're just blaming Addie now."
Jordan shrugged. "Well, you were quite sus in that weather news."
"Seriously?" Giuseppe frowned at him. "You're still on about that? I just happened to be there and I was excited to see a live telecast going on in front of me and you think I was up to something sinister? Just because, what, my wallet fell out of my pocket?"
"Well..." Jordan gulped. "I didn't know?"
Giuseppe shook his head and left the kitchen, clutching his water bottle in one hand as he did.
"Jordan, come on," Addison groaned. "First you pick at me, and now him?"
Jake gave him a nudge. "Leave the guy alone, man."
Jordan frowned at the two of them. "Yeah, but... he could be the Superhero. Remember the video yesterday?"
"Yes, it was even uploaded by FunnyBean," Addison sighed. "And that's like one of the biggest social media news channels."
She realised that the two of them didn't seem to know that it was her that almost bumped into the Superhero in the clip and decided to keep it that way. Jordan was soon done with his cocoa and motioned for Addison to come along with him to go to school. Addison quietly followed.

I think I need to rant about something freaky that happened after I started this book. So it started back in 2021, and decided to give all of the male characters names that start with J (G in Giuseppe's case because he's Italian) since it was easier to come up with names if I just had one letter to work with. Fast forward a few years later, and I end up with a bunch of male friends whose names ALSO all start with J. I find this a bit creepy since I only chose the letter out of random since I had named Jeff that and felt lazy to choose any other letters besides J. But why on earth do most of my guy friends' names also start with J? Mind you, all of these guys are of different races and ethnicities, but they all have names that start with J and that somehow makes it weirder for me. All I did was make up random names and this happens? But one good thing is that all of my female friends do not have names that start with F like how I had named the ladies in this book (Fiolina, Felicia, Francesca, Frida, Freesia, and there will be more lol). Funny thing is, I don't have a single friend whose name starts with F and I'm quite glad for it.