Seventeen- Lucille?
"How on earth are you taking a mint-flavored ice cream? Are you some kind of frost queen?"
Chloe eyed Amir who was staring at her with perplexity as she enjoyed the bowl in her hand. "It is not as bad as you are making it sound."
"Just let me stick with my chocolate can," he said as Chloe extended her tub to him, offering him a spoon of the creamy stuff.
"So," she licked some cream off her spoon, "why does this guy crave ice cream a lot? We are transporting ice cream enough for twenty kids." Her eyes flickered to the huge box seated right next to the driver's seat, strapped securely.
"Sebastian just has this craze for ice cream because he never got any when he was little. So he makes up for it by taking a lot now that he is all grown up."
"Did his mother deprive him of ice cream or what?"
"Something like that."
"That sucks."
"Hmm, speaking of something that sucks..." Chloe groaned inwardly as she could feel a dirty joke coming. "How is it that someone like you, who is so intelligent, is working as a maid?"
Her arms fell weak. Not only did she not see that coming, she never thought that she would be asked such a question, so she had no direct response prepared. But, she definitely was going to work her way around it.
"Uh... things have never been so..." she made a whoosh sound with her mouth as she processed her lie. "Things have just been so difficult and since I needed a huge paying job, working as a maid for some rich folks didn't sound so terrible. And... here I am."
Chloe hoped within her that her story was believable, 'cause even she wouldn't buy it at first if she were in Amir's shoes.
"Difficult huh?" Amir looked out the window as he seemed to process her words. After some seconds, while still looking out the window, he said, "I don't know how difficult things might get for you, but just know that you have a friend right here always willing to help in whatever way I can."
"We are friends?"
His head instantly turned in her direction. "Of course we are!" he exclaimed with a touch of unbelief on his face. "Look at us, we are taking ice cream in an Uber. What else could scream friendship if not this?"
Chloe chuckled. Amir wasn't 't so bad to be with after all. "I guess we are friends then," she said as she scooped the last of her cream.
"Guess? Babe, we are friends. I already stamped that in my head." He made a dramatic arrow towards his forehead. "Oh, we are here."
They did not make a stop at a house as Chloe thought. Instead, they were both holding a handle of the ice-cream box while their eyes took in the black van that stood alone at the side of the road like a cast-out.
"Don't tell me ice-cream man lives in a van, " Chloe finally said as Amir motioned, requested her to start walking.
"Nah. That's his office."
"But..." Chloe looked around and further the van. "He is surrounded by nothing but trees."
"Well, at least we know where he goes to answer nature's call."
"Yeah, after getting high on ice cream."
Amir chuckled at Chloe's response.
Soon, they were facing the double doors of the van's rear and Amir was about to announce their arrival when the doors swung open.
The shocked look on Chloe's face did not escape the two men. Sebastian, the ice-cream loving man was the bodyguard that found her suspicious.
"Chloe," Amir placed a hand on her shoulder as he peered at her with a look of worry. "Honey, I get that you two have met. But, why do you look so shocked?"
"Well. .." Chloe shook her head to erase the look on her face. She gulped before she continued. "I did not picture him to be the guy you were talking about. He doesn't even look like someone who likes to drink juice. He looks like hard whiskey is his type of thing."
"Oh please, I love juice." Sebastian snatched the box from their hands and went into the van. "Come in when you please," he said as he walked away.
"Sweet. Did you get more stuff?" Amir asked the built man who was already digging into his first bowl to Chloe's amusement. The van had nothing but computers living in it, well apart from a peculiar type of long bench that was attached to both sides of the van.
"Well, something like that. I am assuming you are here because of the accusations," Sebastian said, getting down to business.
Amir's face turned serious. As he took a seat next to Sebastian, he sighed, and Chloe could tell the issue bothered him more than he showed. " I am trying to figure out things myself," he said, his hands running through his thighs. "I really need to prove my innocence and clear my name from this mess once and for all. So, I was hoping you would be able to help me with some professional investigation."
Chloe who had been standing found herself sitting as the atmosphere had undoubtedly become more intense.
Sebastian set aside his bowl and asked Amir, "Do you have anything so far?"
Shaking his head in the negative, Amir's eyes squinted as though he were trying to recall something he might have missed. "I don't. The only thing is that I think I am being framed."
"Hmm. Do you have any idea who might be framing ?"
"I have no idea at all. Come on," his hands spread into the chill air. ", you have been working for us for a while. If I had an enemy you would know."
Sebastian nodded as his hand scratched through his little beard which Chloe could tell would be gotten rid of as soon as he has assess to a better restroom. "Well, he started. ", I have had the club under surveillance for the past few days, but I have gotten nothing."
Chloe's eyes bored into the laptops that showed sections of club NAG, nothing special caught her fancy. But her eyes fell on room 006, her interest was aroused. Seated in a vase on a drawer was a rose that she couldn't take her eyes off. There was something technical about it and something suspicious about its setup.
Chloe's eyes went to the surveillance of room 005 and she confirmed her feeling.
Seeing how the preceding room lacked that flowery touch, the rose was definitely suspicious.
"How about we drive closer to the club and observe things from there?"
"That is a good idea," Amir replied Sebastian.
"Nice. You are driving."
"Why?" Amir didn't appear to like Sebastian decision.
"I need to finish these lovely delicacies."
Amir eyed him as he got up to move to the front. "You are so weird sometimes," he said.
Chloe was not patient enough to notice Sebastian's response. All that occupied her mind even as the van got set into motion, was the flower and the connections she could make to it.
~
"So... " Amir jumped beside Chloe, snapping her out of her thoughts that shuffled between the past and present. "How are things between you and Nathaniel?"
Chloe's eyes narrowed as her lips tried to betray her and bring up a smile. "What do you mean?"
His eyes shifted to the laptops which they both had to keep their eyes on to check for odd occurrences while Sebastian went to observe things inside the club. "You think it is not noticeable that you guys have kick-started the chemistry between you."
"There is no chemistry between us."
"Two dates with Nathaniel and you expect me to believe you don't feel anything yet?" Amir looked her way again, one of his full brows raised at her.
She shrugged, hoping within her that she was not dropping hints that she was beginning to feel a kind of stir at the thought of his friend and his handsome face. "I don't think I do."
"I call bullshit."
"Uh?"
"You like him. I have noticed how different you are around him. You may think you are doing a good job at hiding it, but even when you look at him, it is just so obvious that you feel something."
"Uh. .." Words failed Chloe. Amir had just talked as though she were heels in love with Nathaniel.
Besides, there is no way she had been looking at him like he said, she always made sure to not look in Nathaniel's direction, especially during dinner.
"Chloe," Amir slung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer to his warmth and manly scent. "I do not know if you are trying to run away from something, but don't let a chase that can take a break stop you from having a minute of happiness."
"Uh... I will... uh, consider your words," she said as she slowly pulled away from his hold. With her mind finding a new but not so strange thing to ponder on, she found her eyes feasting on the sectioned views in front of them.
That was when her eyes caught something. Or rather someone.
Shifting forward, Chloe tapped Amir and gestured to the screen. Together, they watched as the figure dressed in all black blended with the night and made his way to the club through the back door. Clearly, it wasn't the person's first time there.
At that stage, the thing on Chloe's and Amir's mind was the person's identity.
And as though pushed by some natural force that wished to expose the darkly dressed intruder, the person made eye contact with a camera, and Chloe's hands pulled away from her chin as Amir whispered into the air, "Lucille?"