Trust Me

Chapter 5

He pulled up to the apartment building with a sigh.  After quickly running through his mental checklist—music off, headlights off, car locked—he went inside and grabbed the key that was hidden under the stairs.  The key chain rattled more than he wanted it to, but that was quickly fixed by stuffing the obnoxiously jingly piece of metal into his jacket pocket and whipping himself onto the steps without being seen.

With it being so late, he had to be quiet so he didn’t wake anyone else up.  That was the agreement when he was told where the key was placed.  As long as no one knew he was there, he could be trusted with the hiding spot.  The second someone caught him there, though, he would no longer be allowed to have the key, and would need a trustworthy escort to allow him inside.

By the time he reached the top floor, he felt more and more on edge.  As quiet as he thought he had been, that didn’t mean he hadn’t accidentally made too much sound.  There was that sneeze on the second floor, and that stair he tripped over on the fourth.  The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs that led to the top floor where he stood had his heart pounding.

Quickly, he jammed the key into the lock and opened the door, leaving the mysterious footsteps behind him.  He was safely separated by the door. 

She sat at the kitchen table, sipping from a bright orange mug.  A newspaper was splayed out on the table to keep her busy while she waited.  A dark stain consumed the corner of the paper, most likely from a spill of the contents of the mug.  Soft music played in the background.

He strolled into the kitchen where she looked up at him.  Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her dark brown suede boots propped up on the chair adjacent to her. 

“What took you so long?” she growled.  She set her mug down on the table with enough force that some more of the contents splashed out onto the newspaper.  Taking no notice, she narrowed her eyes into a glare. 

“Excuse me for having to make a pit stop.  Unlike you, I actually have plans on Thursday nights,” he replied, taking a seat across from her.  He propped his feet up on the wooden table and leaned back in the chair, nearly touching the wall. 

“You’re excused.  Would you like some tea?” she offered, reaching for the bright blue mug that sat on the counter.  In a moment, the mug was filled from the teapot sitting beside it, and it slid across the table to his hands.  He took a sip and allowed the warmth to fill him.

“So, why’d you call me here tonight?” he questioned, leaning back in the chair again. 

She folded the newspaper and cast it to the side, exposing the dark wood of the table they sat at.  The moment was filled with silence as her green eyes bore into him.  He simply stared back with a cool expression on his face, and finally, she broke the silence.

“Tell me exactly where you were tonight,” she requested, sipping from her mug again.

“I don’t see how that’s considered any of your business.  You lost my trust a long time ago,” he pointed out.

“You are not going to kill everything I’ve been working for just because you decided to strut in the second you saw a cute girl!” she exclaimed, her face growing red with rage. 

A door opened on the other side of the apartment, allowing two people to step out.  He recognized both of them at once, though he hadn’t seen either in a long, long time.  At first he wasn’t sure if they really were the same people, but no one had the same blonde hair and green eyes as the boy.  She had changed up her look recently, going from bleach-blonde to black, making her skin and ice eyes even paler than usual.