Secrets, Spies, and Lies

Chapter 1

"Yo dude!"

I look up from the box of the newest comic books I'm shelving to see my best friend Logan walking towards me with a wide grin on his face. I turn towards him as he approaches me and reply "Yes?"

"Hot chick, 12 o' clock..." Logan says through the side of his mouth while jabbing his thumb over his shoulder, trying to be discreet and failing. I look where he's pointing and see a girl with beautiful strawberry blonde hair standing with her back to Logan and me flipping through a comic. She looks over her shoulder and her eyes meet mine...her beautiful, deep green eyes. I break away from her gaze blushing. Logan looks at me with a smirk on his face. "If I didn't know better, I'd say someone has a crush." Logan says with a wink as he walked away.

I return to shelving the comics, but all I can think about for the rest of my shift is that pretty girl and her piercing green eyes. It's like she was looking right into your soul. Time drags on, but eventually 5:30 rolls around and it's time to go home. I go to the back room of the comic book store and open my locker. I grab my box of leftover Chinese food from lunch and sling my jacket over my arm as I grab my keys from the top shelf and close the locker. I walk back out to the front of the store where Logan is reading a comic in the corner and the comic book store owner Fletch, the only other person in this world I would call a friend, is organizing some shelves at the front of the store.

"Good night Logan." I say as I pass where he is sitting.

"Good night buddy." Logan says, without looking up from his comic.

I continue walking towards the front of the store. As I pass the desk where Fletch is sitting I say, "I'm heading home."

"Ok," Fletch nods, "have a good night."

"You too." I say as I walk out of the store and over to my car. As I slide in and turn the ignition I still can't get that girl out of my head.

You're being stupid. You'll never see her again. She is way out of your league. She barely even noticed you. I keep repeating this over and over in my head as I drive home. As I turn onto my street I notice a black van parked a few yards down the street from my apartment complex. "That's kinda odd, I don't remember anyone who lives here having a car like that." I murmur as I walk into the courtyard of the apartment complex that I call home. I'm lucky enough to have been able to get a ground floor apartment on a comic book store salary. And, bonus, Logan lives in the apartment right next door. Which means he's always over at my house, playing my video games and drinking my root beer. It's a blessing...and a curse. But I love the guy. He's the closet thing I have to family in this whole world.

I stop in front of my door and jingle around with my keys to find the key to my apartment. When I find it, I look up and notice that the door is unlocked and slightly ajar. It couldn't have been Logan because he always closes and locks the door back up when he leaves (that was the requirement if he was going to have a key), and besides Logan has been at the comic book store with me all day; we had overlapping shifts.

I slowly and quietly walk in and set my keys on the side table by the door and throw my jacket on the couch.

"Hello?" I ask. "Is anyone here?" After a few seconds of silence, I shrug and walk towards the kitchen. I thought I locked the door on my way out this morning, but I was in a rush and so I must have forgotten.

I open up the microwave and put my leftover Chinese food in to heat it up. I grab a root beer out of the fridge and as I close the door I look up and drop my bottle of root beer on the floor and shriek...like a girl. There's a man standing in the doorway to the kitchen who was NOT there just a minute ago. He is dressed in dark jeans and a black leather jacket. I'm not sure what to do and we both just stand there, looking at each other for a minute, until...he says something.

"Are you Brian Hendrickson?"