The Missing Linck

• FOUR •

I let out a gasp, unable to contain it. Upon seeing my reaction, Reid laughs and Quen smiles a bit.

"What? Do you say that to everyone?" I ask, my voice filled with confusion and a tad of hysteria.

"No, Tasha, it's okay, don't get freaked out or anything." Quen tells me.

Reid says, "She gets this a lot..."

"So you mean she has a generic face?" I ask dumbly.

"No, it's 'cause I play a character in a tv show called 'The Missing Link'. It's kinda like a mix of mystery, thriller and horror." Quen says matter-of-factly.

"Oh right!" I remember watching her on tv yesterday.

"I might even seem more familiar because my character has my same name, Quenna."

"Plus, you might feel she's more familiar to you seeing that she looks kinda like what you would see in the mirror," Reid says.

"Agreed." Quen says.

He's right- we have the same blonde locks, the same bluish-green eyes and the same face shape and details. Heck, we're even more or less the same height.

"Guess I found my celeb doppelgänger!" I say excitedly.

We high-five as Reid rolls his eyes. I'm then offered a tour of the bungalow by Quen, which I'm glad for. As we walk around the huge house, I can't help marvelling at it. The vintage charm is left only to the exterior, though, as nearly everything inside is the latest modern version. 

"Wow, your house is so- erm, I don't know how to describe it..."

"That's okay!" Quen says.

"Boy, you and your brother sure say 'it's okay' and 'that's okay' a lot!" I blurt out.

Quen's face drops, and some weird expression crosses he face before she knits it back together.

"So, you hungry?" she asks me.

I nod in response, not trusting my voice not to yell "I'M SO SORRY IF I INSULTED YOU, BUT DON'T TAKE IT TO HEART 'CAUSE I LOVE YOUR BROTHER!". Imagine the consequences of that...

"Let's go?" she says, looking at me quizzically. I mean, she might as well have a big question mark on her face. Oh, I zoned out again.

"Sure!" I pipe up at the thought of food, being quite hungry. I follow Quen down to the kitchen.

When she starts chopping some vegetables, I offer to help her. She refuses and gestures me to sit on the counter while she dices a potato on the other counter.

"What do you do here, Tasha?"

"Well, I ought to find a job sooner or later, which I might after say a couple days' relaxation."

"What kind of job are you looking for? I could help you if I know more about what you wanna do."

"I'm not that certain, but I'd like to do something to do with planning and/or maybe accounting? Nah, planning."

"Planning?"

"Parties, weddings, get-togethers, you know, all that jazz..."

"Oh, okay, now I get it."

"Yeah, I love that sort of backdrop kind of jobs."

Quen laughs and drops the chopped vegetables into the pan on the lit stove.

"My vocabulary is weird af." I say.

"I agree!" she says, and we both start laughing again.

"What are my girls laughing about?" Reid says, making me blush. He called me his girl! I pretend to drop my watch to the ground and bend to pick it up while the flush of blood in my cheeks fades out.

When I rise up again, I see a look of mischievous joy pass between Reid and Quen. Wonder what's with that.

When they notice me staring, they wiggle their eyebrows. Oh boy, they're upto something!

"We were just-" Reid's interrupted by the doorbell. He checks the time on his watch.

Frowning, he turns to Quen and says, "Weren't they supposed to be home later?"

"I thought so too." Quen says, visibly paler.

"Okay, I'll get the door, and you go hide." Reid tells Quen, who nods and runs out.

"Hide?" I query.

"Um, long story for another day. For now, just don't mention anything about Quen. In fact, pretend she doesn't even exist," Reid hurriedly says and messes up his hair to seem like he was busy. He grabs an apron from a cupboard and quickly ties it on.

He splatters the apron with some tomato sauce and some of the ginger-garlic paste on the counter all the while telling me, "Okay, I brought you home since you wanted to see. I showed you around the house and then we got hungry. So, I started cooking. Right?"

I nod, mimicking a parrot. I may not understand what's going on, but I'm not about to sabotage my relationship with the only people I've befriended in Crole so far (other than my family of course).

Washing his hands and wiping them on his apron, he gestures me to follow him and I do.

Pausing behind the door, he takes a deep breath and opens the door to my parents.

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And there's the next chapter!

In case you're wondering where the heck the scary stuff is, you're gonna have to wait for some time, but, don't worry, it's nearly here...

Keep me smiling with your theories!

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