Air Brushed

Running on Hope

Chapter 14: Running on Hope

I watch as Prints takes a seat at the other end of the café, settling down in a booth and looking over the menu. I have to make it look like I don't know Liam, otherwise this might seem suspicious. Prints might ask questions and may end up like Tats, with similar knowledge of my background that I prefer he doesn't possess.

While I don't know the tattooed man's motives, I know for sure that he has SOME leverage around Tommo, but also that Prints won't be able to keep his mouth closed in front of the leader like Tats. He doesn't have the strength of will.

Taking in a deep breath, I walk a few steps forward to close the distance between us.

There is an empty seat to his right and I slide into it, spinning around so that I can lean my arms on the counter. Liam has been scrolling through something on his phone since the moment we entered, so he offhandedly turns toward me, "Oh sorry, that seat's taken-"

"Hey stranger," I tease, feeling the smile creep onto my face.

Liam's eyes immediately flick up, "Brooklyn!"

My teeth take my bottom lip between them, fighting the urge to get up and give him a hug. Instead, I settle with grabbing his hand underneath the safety of the counter top. Prints can't see that from where he is sitting, though out of the corner of my eyes, I can tell he is watching us over the top of his menu.

"So what's this case that's oh-so important?" I ask, letting go of his hand after we share a mutually given gentle squeeze.

"It's actually grand larceny," Liam sets his phone down, gesturing for me to take one of the plastic covered menus. "But I can't tell you much more than that."

"Always with the secrets," I shake my head, amused. "Do you know what you're getting?"

"Classic ham sandwich."

I wrinkle my nose, swiveling back and forth on the stool, "How boring."

Liam laughs, "Well I am a rather boring guy."

"I beg to differ," I reply as my eyes scan over the descriptions and prices. However, I'm not reading. The words could be written in Chinese and I wouldn't have noticed. Instead, my mind is racing, trying to maintain a casual appearance while the self destruct button had just been pushed inside. "You just have boring tendencies."

"Is that so?" his tone comes off as humorously astonished.

"Well you get home, spend an hour exercising, eat a banana and an apple, and then watch TV for a couple hours and eat..." I trail off, realizing that everything I am saying is exactly accurate and might freak him out. Clearing my throat, I try to make it a little bit better, "and probably exercise some more and then do paper work for like five hours before you go to bed."

Only the second to last part is completely untrue. Liam DOES do paperwork, but only about an hour's worth.

I shrug, still feeling like I had messed up too badly for recovery, but my mouth simply keeps speaking for me, "I mean, it could be a banana and an orange, but really."

"That's actually pretty accurate. How do you know all that?" his words worry me, but the smile on his face makes me relax a bit.

I can feel the blush creep onto my face.

To distract myself, my eyes find something that looks edible and I put the menu down, trying to buy time by asking the waitress for water. However, the time when I know there is no putting off the answer any longer comes much too quickly, "Well... remember that time I helped you carry in your groceries?"