Sparks To A Flame

|47| Let's Roll

Jaden

This morning, I decided to hang out in the kitchen with Maria while Nicki was getting ready. I was helping her make our breakfast for the morning... Well, not really helping. Just tasting everything she made, Maria did all of the cooking.

We were just having small conversations about anything that popped in our heads and I learned quite a few interesting things about her. She understands English more than I'd thought, she just doesn't speak it much.

"How do you say, 'I like your shoes' in french?" I asked, smiling at her Uggs.

"Ah... J'aime vos chaussures."

I smiled at her and took a bite out of one of the bagels, "That sounds sexy in French. If I didn't know what you just said, I would've thought you were flirting with me."

She giggled as she added toppings to one of the French pancakes she had made. She calls them crepes.

I grabbed a handful of grapes and stuffed them in my mouth, "Okay, how do you say 'I love you' in french?"

She grinned, "Ooh... Je t'aime." she winked.

"That's it? Je t'aime..." I repeated to myself, liking the sound and simplicity of it.

She held up a potato, "Comment dites-vous la pomme de terre en Anglais?"

I chuckled, "Potato?"

She giggled, "Botito?"

I laughed. Her accent is fun to listen to. "No, Potato. With a 'P'."

"Ah, okay! Potito." she nodded.

I laughed again, "No, listen... Po- ta- to. You gotta get the 'A' in there."

"Poteto."

"Potaaaato."

She laughed, "Potaaato"

"Yeah, like that!" I chuckled.

"What are you two doing?" Nicole asked, looking at us like we were from a different planet.

She wore blue jeans and a dark green Jacket today. It was cute, I guess, but I missed seeing her in cropped tops, tanks, or form-fitting t-shirts. I knew she wouldn't be wearing those for a while.

"We were just teaching each other how to speak each other's language," I answered her question.

She walked into the kitchen and went to the fridge to grab a glass of apple juice and I noticed my notebook in her other hand, "Really? Is that why you two were sounding like mating geese?"

I laughed but she only shook her head as I said, "Don't hate on us. You're just jealous."

She rolled her eyes, "Of what? I already know French."

I smirked, "Je t'aime... What does that mean."

"It means, 'I love you'." she scoffed.

"Good. Now tell me that... You know, that you love me." I smiled, taking her hand and lacing my fingers with hers.

"I'd love it if we can stop wasting time and get to work. Which reminds me, " She held up the notebook to me, "Is this your work?"

I smiled at the page she showed me. It was a sketch I've developed from the information I've gotten from my last meeting at headquarters. "It is." I proudly answered as I took it out of her hands. "And it's really important so, if you don't mind, I'd love it if you not crease the page like that."

She smirked, impressed, "Who is it?"

"He's a well-known European tattoo artist, goes by the nickname of Buff Theo. He's no stranger to the circus freaks and we've uncovered a new phone call between the two making arrangements. They plan on meeting somewhere secretive which raised our suspicion." I gestured towards the sketch, "We've never seen him in person and his shop's been closed for a while but our undercover spies spoke with some locals who live near his shop and gave us enough info for me to come up with this."

"Let's hope it's accurate." She smiled.

"I highly think it is... Gotta love me now, huh?" I bounced my eyebrows and she shook her head.

"Let's go." She began to lead the way.

I sighed, "Oh, come on... At least say it once."

She looked away, clearly bothered by me.

"At least smile for me." I pouted, squeezing her cheeks. "Pwease..." I kissed her squished lips.

She moved her face back, chuckling, "Get off of me, you jackass."

I grinned, happy that I got her to smile, "That's all I wanted to see. Now we can get going."

She grabbed the plastic bag with our freshly packed food inside, shaking her head at me, "You're sitting in the back seat today." she headed out the front door.

"Wait, what? Nicki!" I began to jog out after her but then I quickly turned back around to quickly say, "Bye, Maria." and give her a quick hug before heading back out.

"Au revoir!" she called as I left.

Nicki was already in the car, waiting for me. I laughed and got in the passenger side, "You must be crazy if you thought I was actually going to sit in the back seat. I can't see your sexiness from back there."

She smirked as she started the car and got on the road towards headquarters, "Who put you in a good mood today?"

I grabbed the hand she wasn't using to steer and kissed it, "I'm just happy to have you back. And hopefully, my good mood is enough to make you smile too..." I nudged her with my elbow.

She looked at me then turned her eyes back to the road, expressionless. I don't know how she always does that.

I chuckled, "Come on, Nicki. I know you're going to be serious at work all day. Just crack a smile for me. I like being the only one who gets to see it, don't hide it from me now."

She couldn't help but curl her lips up into a small smile, "I know what you're trying to do... And I appreciate it but I have too much to worry about right now. Once Simon comes back home, you'll be able to see me in a better mood then."

I nodded, "We will find him. No doubt about that. I'll show you exactly what I mean when we get to headquarters."
She looked at me with an eyebrow slightly raised before turning the car to find a parking spot nearest to the entrance of headquarters. As she got down from the car, she told me, "First thing's first, we need to work with group 3 and-"

"Done."

She paused, "What?"

"I said it's done, I already took care of them. We can move on to group 4." I leaned on the car cockily.

"Okay... Did you already set up a meeting that day?"

I nodded.

She scratched her head, "Oh, well I guess we could start with the new group. I'll get them started on training with the coaches and we can meet with them on updates after."

I smiled, "Got it. To make this process faster though, we should meet with group 5 while 4 is training then we can rotate. Kill two birds with one stone, you know?"

She smirked, "Good thinking... You take 4, I take 5?"

"Sounds good, you should be able to see our new pieces of evidence in the meeting room. I'll see you in a few hours." I grabbed my bag out of the car and handed Nicole hers before giving her a quick fist bump before heading right inside to get to work.