Agent 003: Body Guard Official

Chapter 7: Another Party?

"Thank you, Aubrey." Mrs. Langston said, smiling gratefully.
"It was my pleasure." I said, politely. I turned to leave their house, when she stopped me.
"Where are you going?" She asked, confused.
"Um... Home?" I said, just as confused as she was.
"You're staying here at night." Mrs. Langston told me. That was NOT explained in the paperwork I filled out! Okay, so maybe it was. I didn't want to read ALL of it! Too much work.
"Oh... I don't have a bag..." I said.
"No big deal. You can go head home and pack one quick." She said, smiling and pointing outside. I slowly nodded and exited the house.
I'm supposed to SLEEP there?! Where? Okay, dumb question. They have plenty of rooms. But won't that be awkward with Mason?
Conscience: you're fine, Aubrey.
Me: no, I am most certainly NOT fine!
Conscience: Calm down. You're probably not sleeping close to Mason. Just relax.
Me: what if I die?!?!
Conscience: stop being an idiot Aubrey.
Me: sorry.
Conscience: ...
Me: ...
Conscience: ...
***
"This will be your room." Mason said, leading me into a bedroom. It had a large, queen size bed with a television, a bathroom, and a desk. The doors and desk were all dark brown. The bed was white, and the floors were wood. The television was black, but the stand that held it up was dark brown. I looked towards the end of the room, and saw that there was a large, sliding glass door.
"Is that a...?" I started.
"Yes, you have a balcony." Mason said with a smile. A smile immediately erupted on my face. I ran out onto my balcony. That's right. MY balcony. The view was amazing! I could see the entire city! New York was an amazing place to live, and from way up here, the view was breathtaking.
"Oh my... This is... Just... Ah!" I couldn't even speak. It literally took my breath away.
"You like?" Mason asked, with a smirk.
"I like!" I exclaimed.
"Good. If you need anything, I'm right down the hall." He said, leaving the room. Wait, he's sleeping RIGHT DOWN THE HALL?! Uh uh. Mama don't think so.
I followed him out into the hall and watched as he disappeared. His room was RIGHT. NEXT. TO. MINE. Not "down the hall". Ugh. Could this get any worse?
I stomped back into my room, and plopped down onto the bed. It was surprisingly much more comfortable than my own bed. I scrambled into the bathroom and took a quick shower. It was soothing, and when I was finished, I felt completely relaxed. It felt like all of my worries had washed down the drain with the water.
I didn't feel like blow drying my hair, so I just quickly brushed through it and threw on some pajamas. I crawled under the plain white covers and slowly drifted off to sleep.
***the next morning***
There was knocking. A LOT of knocking. I groaned and pulled the pillow further over my face. Ahh. Much better. I drifted back into my comfortable dream state. Suddenly, I felt someone grab my shoulder. I sprang into action. I leaped up out of the bed and grabbed my attacker's arm. I pulled it behind his back, and pinned him up against the wall.
"Aubrey!" Oh crap. That's not an attacker.
"Sorry. Sorry!" I apologized over and over again. I released my hold on Mason's arm and allowed him off of the wall.
"Do you always do that?" He asked, flexing his hand to return circulation.
"Maybe..." I said, defensively. He just shook his head.
"Remind me to never let my grandma wake you up then." He said, as he left the room. "Oh, and one more thing. It's time for breakfast." He said, popping his head back through the door.
I ran a hand through my brown hair and sat back down on the bed. I glanced over at the clock which said it was seven. That's too early. I sighed, realizing I had to get up. I stood up once again and stretched. I walked towards my suitcase that was sitting on the floor and opened it. I looked through the contents, and found a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt. The t-shirt was pink, with a black, sparkly heart in the center of it. The jean shorts were white washed, so they were a lighter color. I stripped out of my pajamas and slipped on the outfit. I looked in the mirror, and realized my hair looked horrible. I scurried into the bathroom and brushed through it. I knew I needed to do SOMETHING with it, so I added a braid on the right side. I pinned it back with a bobby pin. There. Much better.
I left my room and quickly walked downstairs. It smelled like pancakes, and when I entered the kitchen, I saw Mason making some delicious-looking strawberry pancakes.
"Good morning!" Mrs. Langston said in a sing-song voice.
"Morning." I said, yawning in the process.
"Here." Mason said, handing me a plate of pancakes. I muttered a thank you under my breath and sat down at the table. I finished the pancakes and then washed my plate in the sink.
"What's the plan for today?" I asked.
"Well I'm staying home." Mrs. Langston said.
"And I'm going to a party at my friend's." Mason said, quietly.
"Ooh! Bring Aubrey with!" Mrs. Langston said, smiling.
"Uh..." Mason said, trailing off.
"I'll stay home with you tonight, Mrs. Langston." I said, sensing Mason didn't want me to come with him. I didn't really want to go either.
"No, that's alright. I need to do some cleaning anyways." She said, motioning towards her absolutely spotless house. I realized she wasn't going to let me stay, so I sighed.
"Alright." I said, giving in.
"Mason, I need you to go to the store please. I need some more fruit for my fruit salad I will be making tonight. You can bring it over to Ricky's." She said. He nodded and grabbed the keys off of the counter.
"You can go with if you'd like." Mrs. Langston said. I shook my head.
"No thank you. I would much rather help you with your cleaning." I told her. She nodded and smiled, gratefully. Mason walked out the front door and I heard the Camaro's engine.
"I need to do some gardening. Would you mind helping?" She asked me, walking towards the back door.
"Sure." I replied, following her. When I entered their backyard, I was amazed. It was huge, with a fountain in the center, and four different gardens. They also had a really nice in-ground pool. Mrs. Langston caught me staring in awe at her ginormous backyard, and she smiled.
"It's nice, isn't it?" Mrs. Langston asked, looking around.
"Oh, yes. Definitely." I said, smiling reassuringly. She smiled back, and then walked over to one of the many gardens.
"I'll take care of this one, and you do the next one, okay?" She said.
"Alright." I replied, walking towards the other garden. It was full if all sorta of flowers, all lined up in neat rows. I looked around, trying to figure out what she wanted me to do with the garden. I guessed she wanted me to pull the weeds, so I did.
"Great work!" Mrs. Langston said, admiring the flowers.
"Thank you." I said, politely.
"You should go inside and wash up. It's almost time for you to go with Mason." She said.
"Huh?" I said, confused. We started around 10:00... What time is it now?
"It's already 3:30." Mrs. Langston said, reading my mind.
"Oh okay." I said. I dusted my hands off, and then entered the house. I walked up to my room and closed the door behind me. The time flew by.
I looked in the mirror, and saw that my clothes were covered in dirt. BLACK dirt. I sighed, and stripped out of my dirty clothes, and rummaged through my suitcase for another outfit. I found another pair of darker jean shorts, but knew they would be too short when it pulled them out. I searched through my bag for another pair, but there wasn't one. I decided to slip on the shorts, and realized they weren't as bad as I had first thought. I then looked for a t-shirt. I found one that was loose and showed a little bit of my stomach, but not very much. I decided it would look fine.
I brushed through my hair and quickly straightened it, because it had gotten a little messed up during the day. I checked one more time in the mirror, and decided I was ready.
I walked downstairs, to find Mason leaning up against the counter. He immediately stood up straight when I walked down. "Wow, you look great!" He complimented. I blushed.
"Whatever." I said, nonchalantly.
"Let's head out." Mason said, after a moment of silence. He grabbed the keys and led me out to the car. I slid inside, and he did the same. The Camaro was really loud, so when he started it up, I jumped a little. It took about twenty minutes, but we finally arrived. We spent the time chatting and listening to the radio. I found out he had cousins. I didn't know how many, but by the sounds of it, he had a lot.
"My cousins Jack and Emilee are much younger than we are." He had said. "Jack is seven and Emilee is five."
"Wow." I replied.
"Then there's my other cousins, Danny and Ryder. Danny is eighteen and Ryder is twenty. I get along with them really well." He said, as he smiled. How we got on this topic? I had no idea. It almost felt like we were bonding, though. He was telling me about his family, friends, and past experiences... It was... Nice.
We were now parked in front of a house. It wasn't as large as Mr. And Mrs. Langston's house, but it wasn't small either. It had many cars parked around it, with the garage door wide open. I sensed a little danger, in the fact that it sounded really busy in there, and I could lose Mason.
"Are you gonna get out?" Mason asked, opening my door for me. I hadn't realized that I had been sitting there, because I was deep in thought. I got out of the car, and Mason shut the door after me. He led the way up to the front door. I expected him to knock, but he just walked right in. I awkwardly followed behind, suddenly feeling unwelcome.
"Mason!"
"Hey may-may!"
"Yo Mason!"
"Great to see ya, Mace!"
Their greetings were so weird. He must have A LOT of nicknames.
"Oh, who's this?" A guy asked, walking over to me.
"This is Aubrey." Mason said. "She's my... Uh... She's... Um..."
"I'm just a friend." I interrupted. I could tell he didn't know WHAT to call me.
"I see... So she's single?" The guy asked, looking over at me. I blushed a little at the comment and looked at the ground.
"Uh..." Mason said, trailing off. I looked over at him and saw that his hands were in tight fists and his jaw was clenched tightly shut.
"Who are you?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"My name's Ricky." He said, leaning up against the wall.
"Oh... So this is your house?" I asked.
"Yeah. Here, I'll show you around." He said, smiling. I nodded and followed him out of the entry way. He led me into the kitchen, and I saw a group of three people. They were eating snacks off of a tray, and it was mainly crackers and cheese.
"So then, I took 'em out. I went back into the game, even AFTER breaking my wrist!" A guy said, leaning up against the counter.
"So as you can see, this is the kitchen." Ricky said, motioning to the snacks. "And this is Alex, Maia, and Jess."
"Hi!" The girl named Maia said. She had straight, black hair, and big green eyes. She also had a very sweet smile on her face.
"Hey." The girl named Jess said. She was wearing a tight, green t-shirt, a pair of black skinny jeans, and a gray beanie. She had curly blonde hair with a black streak on the right side. She had a nose piercing too, with a tiny diamond stud. She wasn't really smiling, but she seemed nice enough.
Alex was the only one who didn't respond. He was a taller guy, who had a very athletic build. His blonde hair was styled so it was spiked in the front, and his brown eyes were looking at me. It made me uncomfortable. He was wearing a letter jacket that was navy blue and white.
"Alex, Maia, Jess, this is Aubrey." Ricky introduced.
"AS I WAS SAYING, there was only a few minutes left to go in the game. I had the ball. I faked right, and then ran left. My wrist was KILLING me, but I ignored it." Alex said, going on with his story. Ricky motioned for me to follow him upstairs.
The stairs were carpeted with soft, brown carpeting. When we reached the top, I saw that there were three rooms.
"This is the bathroom." Ricky said, pointing into one room. "This is my parents' bedroom." He pointed into a room across the hall. "And this is my room." He walked into the last room in the upstairs area. I slowly followed him.
"Nice place." I said, trying to keep the conversation going.
"Thanks." He said, as he sat down on his bed. I walked over and sat next to him. "So are you new here?"
"Uh... You could say that..." I said, not really knowing how to respond.
"Ah. I see." Ricky said.
"Yeah. Thanks for having me over and not kicking me out." I said, laughing. He laughed too.
"No problem." He replied. "So... Are you and Mason a thing?" His question took me off guard.
"Uh... No." I said, shaking my head.
"So... I can do... This?" Ricky asked. Before I could ask him what "this" was, he was leaning in to kiss me.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Oh gosh.
"M-mason. I didn't see you there." Ricky said, his face turning red.
"It's a good thing I was. Come on, Aubrey. We're leaving." Mason said. Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Whoa.
"Why?" I asked him, confused.
"You... You WANTED to kiss him?" Mason asked me.
"What?! No!" I replied. "But you should still hang out with your friends."
"Come on." Mason said, firmly. I slowly got up and followed him out he door. He walked down the stairs, and slipped his shoes on. I copied what he was doing, and followed him out to the car. He didn't say a word when he started it. We drove for a little while, until I decided to speak up.
"Mason, what's wrong?" I asked, quietly.
"Ricky does that with every girl he meets." Mason said, an angry look forming on his face.
"Okay... But why does it matter?" I asked.
"Because I... I..." He trailed off.
"You what?" I urged, trying to get him to explain.
"Nothing." Mason said, sighing. We stayed silent for a few more minutes.
"It's not like I liked him." I told Mason, shrugging.
"I just didn't want you to be "just another girl", you know?" Mason said. I blushed a little and nodded. We stayed quiet the rest of the drive home, but it was comfortable silence.
When we pulled into the driveway, Mason got out and opened my door for me. I thanked him, and followed him inside. "Grandma! I'm home!" Mason called. His voice echoed off of the walls. There was no reply.
"Mrs. Langston?" I called. Still no answer. Mason had a worried expression on his face. We entered the kitchen, and found a note sitting on the counter. Mason snatched it up before I could even get a glimpse. Suddenly, a tear fell down his cheek. "What happened?" I asked, worriedly.
"She's gone. They took her."
(A/n: helloooooooo! Hope you like this chapter! Vote. Follow. Comment. Share. READ!)