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Chapter 4.

The next morning came faster than expected. Today; the sky was grey with no sunlight out there. I found it rather absurd for me to wake up at an hour like this. 7:13 a.m. My eyes were heavy again and I could feel them trying to close. The ponderosity of my head felt heavier each day. I knew that my resistance of fighting to not to fall asleep again was somehow - fiascos. I reached for my phone that was on my night table. I searched my contacts for the name of the person that I was to call when I needed something. I pressed Call and waited for an answer.
Half an hour later, Diego was seated on a chair by the kitchen counter.
"So what is it that you needed, Cameron?" Diego asked with a worried look on his face.
I poured some coffee inside my black cup.
"Want some, mate?" I asked him.
"Nah, thanks. I've had a morning shot."
"You had champagne at seven in the morning?" I asked.
He narrowed his eyes.
"It was tea, Cameron." Diego replied.
I shrugged and joined him by taking a seat myself. My eyes met Diego's and he gave me a questioned look that said 'Well?'
"I need you to get on contact with this lad." I said as I handed him a piece of paper that I had wrote down minutes before Diego came over.
"Giles? You're not saying-"
"I am. Now find out where he is for me." I took a sip from my coffee after I finished.
"But, Cameron, you know this chap doesn't work for free." Diego reminded me. Dr. Giles was someone who spent eighteen hours gambling, six hours were also divided of his time, considering the first three at his clinic and the remaining three doing exactly nothing but trying to work out at his own mansion but ending up sipping scotch and dipping Irish nachos into American-diner mustard. He mostly gets the Blackjack and the Baccarat on a good stash, so I advised him one day to leave his job as a doctor and start gambling buisness and that didn't leave us on very chummy, placid terms.
"I know. That's why I kept Vanessa." I told him.
"So you led her on?" Diego asked.
"I wouldn't call it like that. I'm actually quite fond of her." I said.
"How much do you need from her?"
"As much as she can offer."
"And then you'll ditch her like you did to the rest?"
I didn't answer him to this. For I didn't acknowledge what I needed from Vanessa and all I could feel when I'm around her is that same bloody butterfly inside of me. And it would made me rather cheesy and platitudinous to admit that I might be falling in - No. I'm never to fall in that little bloody void. I hated love as much as I hated hatred. Knowing, whirling inside my parents' mistakes and deluging in for so long made me put my defences up. And even - I'm just saying even if I did fall for Vanessa,  I wouldn't want anyone to know. I want to keep her mine. My verminous secret. For my reputation was far more important than a silly love story. I just remained silent and so did Diego. We left it at that.

Bethany checked me from head to toes again and again.
"What?" I snapped.
"So he kissed you?" She asked.
I rolled my eyes.
"Bethany would you please stop dwelling upon him? Whatever there is to be and whatever did happen is between me and him." She glared at me. Then went back to reading her book. It was a calm Wednesday afternoon. We had settled at her place after school. I checked my phone. Cameron had missed five calls from me. I couldn't seem to understand why on earth he's missing school. This was the year that mattered most. And the only two dumb excuses he came up with were 'I lost track of time.' And 'Sorry, I've been sleeping.' Well this was too ridiculous to accept. Bethany readjusted her eyeglasses for the fourth time now. She was reading a book called Lolita. She caught me looking and then closed her book.
"It's fun." She said.
"No,thanks." I immediately snapped for I knew what it held next. She would keep telling me the very little details and then she would ask whether I wanted to borrow or not. I was not a bookworm.
"Your loss." She said as she shrugged her shoulders and went back to reading. To save myself the ennui mood, I stood up; holding my bag and adjusting my hair in the Victorian styled mirror.
"I'm gonna go now. I'll see you tomorrow." I said.
"Be safe." Bethany murmured, plunging into the pages of her book. I opened the door, went down the hall and out of the house. Fetched my car keys, I went inside, turned the ignition on and drove to Rocking Alley. If there was one place that I might find Cameron at, then hanging around that St. Hill person was the place. I arrived at Diego's bar. Slowly, I pushed the door open and stepped inside. I coughed as, again, the smell crept inside my nosetrills. It was almost foggy inside that you could barely see a soul. I searched every table hoping to find Cameron sitting there but I didn't. I sat on the stools and buried my face between my hands.
"What can I get for you sweet pie?" A voice called out for me. I raised my head up and I saw Diego. He gave me a welcoming smile.
"Vanessa, eh? What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Looking for.. I don't know." I replied. I realized that I hadn't even known why I was still sitting on those stools instead of just getting out and driving away from the drunken club.
Diego laughed.
"Once Cameron introduces you to something and you can never let go of it. Whatever it is, I'm glad you're here. Diego's at your service." He said.
"Speaking of Cameron, have you seen him around?" I asked. His expression changed to caught guilty. He didn't reply.
"Diego?" I went on.
"Well I hate to say this, but your boy's enmeshed," He finally said.
"With what?" I asked, taken aback.
"Well - er- some old buisness. Deals gone wrong-"
"Deals? Don't tell me - drug deals-"
"No, no. Jesus, no. Cameron is clean. No dust over his record. No it's more like..". He stopped short.
"Some deals with some racers gone wrong. You know all those silly bets over 'I'll win this race.' Or something like ' My ride is better than yours.' You know, these kind of stuff." He finished.
I let out a sigh of relief.
"Well can I help with anything?" I asked, hopefully. I felt this desire to help Cameron out so bad like it ate me away.
"Well, er-" Diego hesitated. I got his point.
"How much?" I told him.
"You're a sweet girl, Vanessa,"
"Thank you. But come on, I really want to help him out."
"Eighty would do for now." He said, a slight shadow of shame passing over him. I opened my bag and reached for my wallet. Before I took the money out I hesitated as if something was pulling back. Something that didn't fit. But then I shook it all away and handed it over to Diego.
"I hope it'll be enough." I told him.
"For now, yes, that'll help him a lot." Diego assured me. I opened my mouth to say something but a sound of breaking glass silenced me. I turned around. Some woman dropped her whiskey glass and it shattered.
"It's alright everyone. Just a tiny accident," Diego said out loud, putting everyone back to calmness and back to their card games and hot gossips.
He moved out of the bar stand and took off his jacket.
"Hold this for me would you?" He said handing it to me. I grabbed it and sat down and watched as he rolled his sleeves up and helped Joey, the cleaning lady, pick the glass up and shove it into a black garbage bag. He returned to me. I was handing him the jacket back when the liner of the right pocket got caught in my bag chain - that I hang as a charm - and tore apart. Some change fell down along with his car keys.
"I'm sorry-" I said as I hastily bent down to pick them up.
"It's okay. I'll get that stitched up right away. We got the best tailors in town eh?" He ended it with a laugh.
I picked up some change and then my eyes landed on a piece of paper. Diego was picking up the rest while I managed to read 'Ence- something that I didn't understand - lethargic'; and a Giles someone. Before I tried reading the words again, Diego snatched it away from my finger tips.
"What's that?" I asked, spontaneously.
"Nah, just some buisness for Cameron-" he stopped and looked at me. Without any notice; just stuffed the paper piece inside his shirt's pocket and stood up. I must've imagined it or something but there was - fear in his eyes.
"Thank you, for the help. Let us see you around again would you, Vanessa?" Diego said.
"Sure. Thank you again for telling me about Cameron's trouble," I told him.
"I'm glad you understand, Vanessa. You're one pure heart." He said. Diego was glad that I understood but - did I?