Little Miss Gotham

Chapter Twenty Seven

The next day, Joker and I had a nice little breakfast before he went to carry out his next heist and I met Kayla at Starbucks. She had returned from Harvard for winter break and of course I felt guilty about not talking to her for a while.
I wore thick black leggings and brown riding boots with a olive green parka from Burberry over my sweater. Gotham was a cold place during the winter time and gloomy as well but regardless of the circumstances, I enjoyed the festive decorations we tried to display.
When I entered the crowded Starbucks corner, I saw her sitting by a window seat. Her blonde hair was in a bun and new dark circles were still visible even with her make up. She wore a beige knit sweater and her coat and scarf were on her chair. I smiled and when I got closer, she finally noticed me. Nothing was more fulfilling than embracing your best friend after such a long time.

"I already placed in our orders. I hope you still like your peppermint mocha." Kayla smiled. I nodded and laughed.  "Of course. You know me too well." When her name was called she grabbed our drinks and I sipped the tasty, warm, liquid right away.

"So you'll be coming back to Harvard with me this January, right?" Kayla asked. I nodded.
"I'll be coming back for med school. I know we won't have the same classes and you're graduating this year  but I heard my mom will make arrangements for us to share a dorm for your last semester." In that moment we both expressed our eager thoughts on how we'd make our dorm.
"I already have a Pinterest dedicated to what we can do." she laughed. I laughed as well. Pinterest was our best friend.

"So what have you been up to these past few months?" Kayla asked.
I took a deep breath and tried to improvise.
"Well I've been working at a few different locations. My mom's been paying me for doing stupid jobs like organizing and filing for her. But I'm getting a decent paycheck from this one bar that I work at. It's a really fun and nice place." I explained. Kayla frowned but had a teasing motive with it. She nudges my hand and I was almost confused.
"What about Eric?"
Oh that poor boy.
Instead of sighing I put on a smile.
"We've been taking it slow. But he's going to find another job near Harvard and possibly move out there when I leave."

"Oh my God, Sophia! That's so cute! Do you think you two will make it? When I graduate you can live in an apartment with him and still go to the med school."

While she glorified my fake relationship, I couldn't even think that far. I could only think as far as the Christmas tree lighting in a few days and even that had no solid plans. I could heard Princess now in the back of my head whispering all the things that I could do that evening if I would just choose her.

I shook her off my thoughts and hurried to reply.

"Of course. Eric is amazing and it honestly just feels like we were made for each other." I lied, flashing a very convincing smile.

Kayla and I finished our Starbucks and we agreed on doing a little Christmas shopping while we were in town. Together, we spent hours catching up while we picked out gifts and splurged on ourselves. She did most of the taking because I had very little to say and much to hide. But I got some insight into Harvard's medical school from what she's heard.

Finally by the early afternoon, I suggested we returned to my home.
We went through the doors and to my surprise, my parents and Luke bringing out the Christmas tree stuff. I smiled to see my brother. Between sports and school and my schedule, I only saw him at dinner time or when I'd occasionally pick him up from school.

"Oh, Kayla! Welcome home!" my mother said. She ran over and hugged her and I waved to my dad and brother while carrying plenty of bags.
"Wow, you're home for once." I laughed at Luke.
"Yeah his coach cancelled practice today." My father said. He was wearing a suit as if he had just come back from work. That was surprising too.

"What's everybody doing home so early? I thought we wouldn't set up the tree until winter break?" I asked.
"Well Olivia won't be home until the morning of Christmas Eve so we agreed to video call her while we set up the tree." Luke replied. I smiled sadly and looked back at my mother who walked over with Kayla. This all seemed so surreal. Have you ever had one of those moments that seemed like everything was falling into place but you couldn't exactly understand why?
It was the feeling I had right now and I wanted to enjoy it while I can.

"Let's go put these in my room." I said to Kayla.
We walked back to my room that had almost looked perfectly untouched.
"I guess just throw them in my closet." I said, placing the bags on my bed while I went to reach for my phone charger. But it didn't occur to me that my closet held my secret wardrobe and in a split second I shot up and turned around.

"Wait!" I quickly said, the tension in my body reaching it's full potential.

But the shiny fabrics that were so thin and little in coverage were running through her fingers already and I couldn't see if she was admiring them or putting the pieces together.

"You're a stripper?" Kayla gasped. My chest loosened and I could breathe. I sighed and gave her a look.
"No, of course not." I said, walking over to shut my closet. "They were gifts."
Kayla didn't reply and I was worried for a second. I looked at her deep thinking expression.

"I feel like I've seen those outfits before." she said.
"I doubt it." I shrugged. "Let's go back out there."

Kayla wasn't stupid. I knew she had her suspicions and my blood was pulsing with the fear of her being the third person to know. I couldn't afford that to happen. But I hurried her out of the room and tried to return to the normal setting.

"I need to check my phone real quick." I said to my family. I sped back to my bed where my phone sat and I had a text from Joker.

"Pumpkin, I wanna see you tonight." I read. But I couldn't.

"Might have to lay low for the next two days." I replied. I sat there abs waited anxiously for three minutes. My worries and doubts overflowed and I was bouncing my knee non stop as the voice of my other half lingered.

"I got a few presents for ya."

I was so tempted to go. I wanted to see him and have another night where we didn't sleep. But that couldn't happen. I needed the next day to relax and the day after that for the Christmas tree lighting.

"I'll see you the morning of the tree lighting. Sorry pumpkin. Love ya."

I sighed and left my phone. When I returned to the living room where my Christmas tree was being put up, I felt like something was missing. My nerves were begging me to go to Joker. I wanted to be with him and feel him and just drink hot chocolate and lay in bed with him. I also wanted to go out to the club he owned and try to make up for the other night.

But that would have to wait another day.

To make up for this filler chapter, I made two updates at once so you can go ahead and get to the next exciting part.
There's gonna be a possible death and someone going to Arkham (: