Girl Master of Disguises (Lesbian Story, GirlxGirl)

Chapter Thirty-One - A New Lead

"Anything else about the big shot CEO coming to Seattle?" Laina asks Buggy as she surfs through the internet. Buggy found a couple of new videos of reporters talking about the case, and is currently watching them all.

     After watching the last one, Buggy measures with her thumb and index finger to 'a little'. "Just that she's currently on a plane," she says. "She mentioned something about not wanting to hurt her company by not doing anything."

     "Wow." Laina rolls her eyes. She picks up a long-handled spoon and stirs the mixture in a tall cup in front of Buggy. "She sounds so caring for Malik," she snarks.

     Shutting off the tablet to keep it from glitching ( . . . again), Buggy thanks her partner as she's handed a cup. She pulls a long drink, not realizing how thirsty she was. "Business is business," she says.

     "You sound like someone trying to explain why he's cheating on his wife with his hot secretary," the girl comments. A nearby man looks up sharply from his phone, practically glaring at Laina. She ignores him, which in Buggy's opinion is probably for the best. "If I was a CEO, I'd probably be a hell of a better one than . . ."

     "Bailey Jones," Buggy finishes.

     Laina snaps her fingers. "Yeah, her. Thanks for covering me." 

     The conversation is put on hold as a regular gives her order to the girl. Buggy watches as Laina expertly puts everything together with graceful movements in a cramped station. I guess being lithe pays off, she thinks. The woman thanks Laina with a huge smile before paying for her order and leaving the place.

     Laina taps her fingers on the counter. "Wanna bet on when Blond Beard and Dean will put the plan in motion?" she asks. She's speaking so quietly, Buggy has had to lean over to hear her better.

     "Nah, I'm good," Buggy responds.

     "Think it's pathetic to bet on someone's potential deadline or something?"

     Shaking her head, she says, "I'd just lose a lot of money."

     The girl laughs. "That's a good answer," she says. She gestures to the cup. "Drink the rest of it. I worked hard on it, and I expect some praise on how delicious it is."

     Buggy can't help but half-smile at the complaint. "All you did was push some buttons," she says. She drinks the coffee anyway. The girl's right about how good it tastes.

     "For your sake, I'm going to ignore that." Laina takes the top cup from a stack and makes yet another drink. As she's mixing the ingredients, she says, "We still need to keep an eye on the guys. The guy that did the searching for the news won't be able to help us right now, and we can't wait for him to help."

     "Okay . . ." Buggy has no idea where she's going with this. "What do you want me to do about it?" she asks as the girl puts a lid over the drink and takes a sip.

     Laina smiles sweetly, causing Buggy to shake her head. "I'm not going to risk them seeing me again," she says. "I could get trapped and risk Malik's life."

     "Hmm, that's interesting," Laina says, putting on a thinking face in exaggeration. "You couldn't possibly change into another outfit."

     Buggy glances down at her outfit. "I like this one," she says. "I look good for once."

     "I know, that's why I should pick out your outfits from now on." Laina doesn't bother to hide her inflating ego.

     Buggy stops. She realizes that she and Laina are almost at the end of the mission (hopefully it ends with Malik not dying). She hasn't really thought about what's going to happen after the mission's complete. Then again, all the sarcasm and the tracking have been distracting her the whole time Buggy's been here in Seattle. 

     Is she really going to go back to New York and continue with university and James and avoiding phone calls from her family? Is she really going to go back to planning on catching bad guys solo? Is she really thinking about this right now when she should be going over the details she and Laina know?

     "Hey." She looks up at the girl, who's now looking a little concerned. "If you don't want me to do that, just say so." 

     "What?" Buggy asks. "Oh. No, I was thinking."

     "Um, alright then." Laina brushes off the awkward moment as she makes more orders from the just-arrived customers. As soon as she's finished with the last one, another barista enters the counter, tapping her on the shoulder. With a 'yay!', Laina goes inside the room the other person just came from. Buggy patiently waits for her partner to come out, apron-less and wearing a smile.

     Leaving a couple of dollars with the new barista, Buggy stands up and walks with Laina out of the cafe. If she's not mistaken, the weather's warmed up. She pushes her sleeves up to her elbows, feeling better as her arms are cooling a little. "What else can we do until time comes?" Buggy asks Laina.

     The girl pulls out her phone. She glances up from time to time to keep herself from slamming into poles as she looks for something. She finally hands it over to Buggy, where the screen is full of notes formatted into bullet points. "Read the last couple of bullet points," she instructs. "They're the newer ones."

     What Buggy's looking at is full of the details of the case. Names (well, nicknames anyway) of the criminals, places they've been, what Laina and Buggy have found out, all of it organized and neat. Buggy slides down to the very bottom, where the last two bullet points are in pink:

     · BB and D checked out of hotel 12/19

     · Checked into Loose Leaf Motel half-hour later

     "So," Laina starts, taking the phone back. "What do you think?"

     "You like pink over black?" Buggy offers.

     "Um, well, yeah, but that's not what I'm getting at." 

     "Oh. Then what?"

     Laina seems happier than a corgi on stilts as she responds with, "We can break into their room and see what the hell's on their minds about Malik." After walking a couple of yards in silence, she then adds, "And who knows? We might find the model in the room as well."

     "Even I think finding him's too far-fetched," Buggy says. "But I assume from your excitement, there's a different reason why you're, well, excited?"

     "What? I'm offended by the fact I couldn't get into their previous room!" Laina defends. "With Loose Leaf, I can use my skills to get in and out like that!" She snaps her fingers for 'like that'. "What do you think? Should we go there right now?"

     "I doubt waiting would be any better," Buggy says. 

     "Great!" Laina plays with her phone again, this time for directions. "Want me to send you the directions as well?" she asks. She presses a button immediately. "Too late, you have the map whether you want it or not."

     Sure enough, Buggy's phone beeps. "Why'd you ask?" she says, not bothering to get it.

     "Something you should know," Laina says. "Always expect some weirdness, even if you don't want to see it, hear it, or experience it."

     Buggy adds, "In other words, remember what I've been through at my childhood home."

     Laina snorts. "I want to meet your family now."

     Buggy purses her lips. "I might consider the possibility, but after we go to the motel room."