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The Next Morning
I wake up in the motel room. I glance around to find that I'm still alone. I run a hand through my hair. I can't believe him. He invited me here and he doesn't even show up? I look at the time to see that it's 10:30. He should be heading to the pool soon. If he doesn't ditch work as well. My shift doesn't start until 12, so I decide that I'll go confront him. I slip my shoes on and pick up the motel room phone to call Steve. I've got to get there somehow.
"Do you mind waiting for me?" I ask Steve as he drops me off at the pool. "So you can drive me to work?" "Yeah, of course." Says Steve. "Thanks," I smile. "See you in a bit." I check my watch. It's 10:55. When I look up, I see Billy walk into the pool house. I take a deep breath before following him. I follow him into the way back of the pool house. His back is facing me. "Billy?" He doesn't turn around. I scoff. "So you can't even look at me after ditching me last night?" Billy's shoulders tense up. He then turns around. His face looks... not right. He has sweat all over, on his face, in his hair. What the hell happened? "I can't talk about this right now." He says, avoiding my eyes. He tries to move past me, but I stop him. "Billy, what happened to you?" I try to look him in the eyes. "You... you don't look okay." He looks away. "I'm fine, Whitley." "Bullshit. Tell me what happened." I pull his face down so he looks at me. When his eyes meet mine, he looks sad, hurt. His breathing turns heavy. And for a second I think that he's going to tell me. But then, in only a split second, his eyes turn cold and his expression emotionless. "I have to work." He pushes past me, leaving me with no explanation. Something's not right.
To get my mind off of everything, I join Steve and Dustin to look for clues to crack the Russian code after my shift at The Gap. "Do you see anything?" Dustin asks Steve as the three of us crouch behind a bunch of bushes. Steve looks around with the binoculars. "I guess I don't totally know what I'm looking for." "Evil Russians," says Dustin. "Yeah. Exactly. I don't know what an evil Russian looks like." Steve scoffs. I shrug. "Tall, blonde, not smiling." Dustin laughs. "I think you just described your boyfriend." I press my lips together as I'm suddenly reminded of everything. "Uh, dude... maybe don't bring him up. He's a sensitive subject right now." Steve glances at me. Dustin frowns. "Why?" Then his eyes widen. "Did you two break up?" "No, Dustin!" I groan. "Can we just not talk about him?" "Fine." Steve hands Dustin the binoculars so he can have a turn. Dustin looks around for a few moments before stopping on a person. "Target acquired!" "What? Where?" I ask, snatching the binoculars from him. "Ten o'clock, Sam Goodies." Dustin says. I follow his directions and spot the person. "Shit!" I say, and pass the binoculars to Steve. "Holy shit. He even has a duffel bag." Says Steve. The three of us share a glance. "Evil Russian." The three of us follow the man who is now going up the escalator. "Sorry!" I say as the three of us push through groups of people to follow him. "Slow down, Steve!" I say when we follow the man too close. "But we're losing him." "We're getting too close," says Dustin right as Steve accidentally plows into a guy. "Watch it, dickwad!" The guy yells at Steve. The suspected Russian turned around suspiciously. Steve quickly pulls me against the wall as Dustin pretends to be on the phone. "Hello... yes, I am fine... how are you?" Dustin pretends. The man frowns but turns around, continuing to walk ahead. Steve pulls Dustin and I to continue to follow along with him. The three of us hide behind a display and peek our heads out as the suspect walks into the Jazzercise studio. I frown. What would an evil Russian be doing in a room full of middle aged women? "Alright, everyone, listen up!" The suspect says to the women. "I just have one question for you." He slips his sunglasses off and opens the duffel bag. "Who... is ready to sweat?" The women cheer and jump up as he starts to play music from a boom box. "Okay, let's start it nice and easy now." He and the women swing their hips around collectively. "Yeah, yeah ladies, let's warm it up! Bring it down to your hips, and start feeling that buuurn." I glance to look at Steve and Dustin who are too busy staring at the women's butts. I slap them both in the arm to get their attention. "Creeps," I mutter.
"Yo, Robin, you're not going to believe who Dustin and Whitley thought was a Russian." Steve says as the three of us arrive back at Scoops. "You did too!" Dustin and I say in unison. Robin slips right past us, running out of the shop. The three of us turn around in confusion. I frown. "The hell?" Robin jumps up on a bench and starts to look around for something frantically. "Robin!" Steve says as we walk over to her. "What are you doing?" "I cracked it," she grins. "Cracked what?" She jumps down from the bench. "I cracked the code."
At the end of Steve and Robin's shift, the four of us find ourselves on the roof of the mall in the pouring rain trying to scope out the Russians. "Look for Imperial Panda and Kaufman's shoes!" Robin tells Dustin who's wearing the binoculars. A man in a yellow poncho whistles as he unloads boxes from the loading dock. "They're with that whistling guy, ten o'clock!" Says Dustin. "What do you thinks in there?" I ask. "Guns, bombs," Dustin lists. "Chemical weapons," Robin adds. "Whatever it is, they're armed to the teeth!" Steve raises his eyebrows. "Great! That's great." One of the guards presses a button and a door opens to what looks to be a secret room. "Hey! What's in there?" Robin points. "It's just more boxes!" Dustin says, still looking through the binoculars. "Let me check it out." Steve reaches for the binoculars. "No, I'm still looking." "Let me see it!" "Hang on!" Dustin pulls the binoculars away too fast. They accidentally hit against the metal part of the roof, making a loud clanging noise. "Shit!" The four of us duck down as the guards look up, fully alert. One of the guard starts shouting in Russian. "We gotta go," Steve says. We quickly make an exit through the door. "Well, I think we found your Russians," Robin says when we make it out safely.
