Hidden in Shadow

Chapter 2

Knock Knock

"Who is it?" A voice sang from behind the door.

"The pizza guy." I replied and heard the door lock clutter open. She strolled back to bed and sat near her laptop. She held her stomach and looked at me with anguish. "You could have actually brought a pizza u know..I'm starving."

"Serves you right for missing dinner." I closed the door and sat on the other side of the bed grabbing the laptop from in front of her. "Hey!"

"Hey." I shot her a wink and she rolled her eyes. "Gimme my laptop."

"No." Lucky her; the screen lock was on. A mischievous smile stretched across my face. "The door was locked and you were on your laptop doing what?"

"Uh." She let out a breath. "I was changing. I forgot the door was locked and if you give me my laptop I will happily show you what I was doing." She raised her brow and took it from my hands.

I snuck down at the keyboard to get a glimpse of the password but she pushed me away right at that moment. The screen opened to My Pictures, from there she opened a folder named Turkey 2013. "I was editing the photos."

She stretched out and put the laptop on the downside of the bed. Her white tank top slipped up a tad where I caught sight of a dark scar in the shape of a creasent an inch above her pubic bone. I took my eyes off it immediately knowing that if Serenity saw me staring she'd go back in to her shell. I felt a nudge on my leg from Serenitys feet. She had laid down belly first on the bed so I followed. "I'm starting it.."

Within a second a slideshow of her pictures from Turkey began, and with every picture, came a story to follow it. There was one in particular, a close up of Ellis and Serenity, their resemblance was  striking and they looked like actual siblings. "These pictures are amazing."

"Thanks." She smiled and added on. "Ellis got me a Cannon Eos."

"So thats why." I winked. The pictures took me to where she had spent 8 months away and I could understand why she didn't feel like coming back. "I get why it took you so long now."

There was a hint of gloom in my words and I suppose she picked up on that. "I'm sorry, I just needed to be away from...everything."

She rolled over so that she was on her back looking up at me. "Well it's good that it's over." My smile was reluctant but my words weren't.

I heard an unsatisfactory 'yeah' from her. "You still hungry?"

She nodded.

"C'mon we'll go grab a bite." Her face lit up like a 5 year-old's would.

I headed for the door as she picked up her black turtle neck sweater and slipped it over herself. Everyone was here when Serenity arrived and occupied her till the end of the day.  but right now the house was quiet. Dawn was asleep on the account of school, Ryan would have been too and Hudson was probably crashing at Cara's place. I grabbed my keys and wallet from the counter top and we snuck out the house.

The winter wind greeted us with a cold heart. Instant shivers were sent up my spine. The car offered a warmer and much more cozy environment. "Music?" She started picking through radio stations.

"Anything late night party-ish." I said as I turned on to the street.

"I am a wild one tame me now, running with wolves, I'm on the prowl."

"Noooo!" She whinned. "Its over.."

"Oh well." I shrugged trying to hold in a laugh. "You tried."

I heard something vibrate that made me realize I had forgot my phone at Serenitys place. "You getting a call?"

Serenitys face turned expressionless as she stared at the screen. "Something up?" I asked as the phone still buzzed.

She shook her head and lifted the phone up to her ear. "Hello?...Yeah, no it's fine....Umm sure. I'll get back to you thanks...You too bye."

"Boyfriend?" I teased.

"Uh, no." She rolled her eyes. "umm I ordered a macro lens for the camera. The shipment is late so yeah." She fell quiet after that.

"Valentinos?" I asked her. "They have the best pizza."

"Sure." She smiled reassuringly.

Valentinos was open 24/7 and it was never empty. They had the largest pizza anyone could ask for. The owner, Mr. Valentio, came to me for a small scale extension of the resturaunt and invited me over to the pizzaria where I had my first and it was definately love at first bite.

We hopped out of the car and entered the warm pizzaria where the lush smell of bread filled the air making me salivate at the very thought of the pizza being made. The interior was rustic and made of uncovered bricks. The yellow lights hanging from the ceiling gave an even more homey look to the already comfortable environment. "Yum.." Serenity closed her eyes and took in a whiff of air.

The crowd was moderate so we were able to find a good table near the window. Serenity forced me to  play a game of tic tac toe using the layer of condensation on the glass after we gave in our order for a large super cheesy. In between moves Serenity spoke. "Everyones been asking me about Turkey you know, but what happened here while I was gone?"

I made a cross on the top right space. "Nothing much, Kingsfort is gonna open soon, Elaih asked a lot about you, I haven't seen much of Chase but Cara is always there because of Hudson."

"So both of them are going strong?" She asked curiously.

The final cross I made gave me a win. "Yeah and I win!"

"Just between you and me I really didn't think they'd last." She said smirking a bit.

"Just between you and me.." I leaned across the table closer to her. "I didn't want them to."

She gave out a small laugh and I continued. "They're like two peas in a pod, they're so much like the other and well it gets kinda annoying simply knowing that you have two Hudsons to deal with."

"Pizzas here!" Serenity yelped. "Keep talking i'll listen." She said taking the first bite.

"Not fair." I grunted.

"Hows Nan?" The stringy cheesy made the pizza very messy to eat.

"You know she's," I shrugged my shoulders. "She's hanging on. I keep her updated and I'm pretty sure she'll visit soon."

"What about you?"

"What about me what?"

"Are you gonna go back? Home?"

I gave a long pause. "I'm not sure yet. Eat up! You talk too much."

-------------------------------------------------

"I'm so full." Serenity groaned sinking in to her car seat.

"Well I never asked you to eat like a wild dog." She instantly punched my arm.

"Ouch." I teased.

She gawked a brow and closed her eyes. It was half past midnight and the streets were shady and relatively desserted. "Xavier?"

"Yeah."

"I need your help. I'm procrastinating here. I'll have to go to the office sooner or later and I don't know the first thing about managing things." I could tell she was deeply concerned. Ryan had been taking care of things whilst she was gone but Serenity needed to step up sooner or later.

She continued. "And what if I make the wrong person chairman? They'll hate me.." Her voice faded to a whisper.

"Hey that is not going to happen." I consoled her. "I'm here so don't worry, I'll walk you through things and no one is going to hate you."

"You don't know that for sure!" She gave me an awful look.

"How about we start right now? No more procrastinating." I saw her calm a bit. "Sounds like a plan. Lets go to your place."

"Sure."