3 We're both Great Actors

She never met my eyes again, she only shook her head slightly.

But I continued my incessant staring at her until she finally caved and gave in.

"I need the money from this job, alright", she admitted reluctantly, "and we won't get the second installment of our fee until after the job is done".

I stared at her, my eyes narrowing in confusion.

"I need the money Blake", she sighed, "my dad's situation has gotten a lot worse. And between tuition, rent, groceries; I'm basically taking care of myself. Mom wanted me to drop out of school and move back home but, I couldn't. I want to make something out of myself. I can't just give up".

My expression remained stoic as words escaped me. How could she not have told me any of this before? I thought we were best friends and... best friends are supposed to tell each other everything, right? All their problems?

Though now that I knew, I wasn't quite sure what I should say.

Neither of us met each other's gaze again. I slumped further into my seat as I tried to understand how I had failed to notice that my best friend had been struggling financially.

There wasn't much to consider though, because once I had processed what she had just said there was no doubt that my next move would be to help out my best friend however I could.

Reaching over towards her I placed a comforting hand on her knee and squeezed slightly, it did earn me a small smile though before I asked, "What do you want me to do?".

Her gaze snapped up to mine immediately, only, I was already staring at her thus allowing me to see that familiar zest returning to her eyes that had appeared drained and hopeless a minute ago.

"All I want is for us to finish this job", she said hopefully peering into my eyes.

I nodded but was caught off guard as she pulled me into a warm hug and if we're still talking about unexpected physical contact; my face must've turned beet red when she kissed my cheek because I had definitely not seen that coming.

"Thank you", she whispered, I could only imagine how awkward my face must've looked.

So, I cleared my throat in hopes of eviscerating some of the awkwardness. "Yeah, yeah", I drawled out, "just don't get all emotional on me we have a job to do".

She laughed shaking her head slightly, "Good, because the show is about to wrap up now, you should go backstage. Finish this".

I nodded, getting up but turned back to face her, "What about my mom though".

She smirked and just like that I knew my best friend was back, "I'll take care of your overbearing mother. You just finish the job and don't worry about it".

*******

"Where are you taking me?", She said between giggles.

"Somewhere that we can be alone", I replied, trying to seem mysterious, and by the sinful smirk that she aimed at me, I think it'd be safe to assume it was working.

Two doors ahead I spotted the small sign that read 'Storage room' and I opened the door bringing Selena with me.

Inside was larger than I'd expected, it was practically the size of my closet back home. Only, the clothes in here were aligned immaculately into place.

After giving the bright room a partial inspection I turned to Selena again who was leaning against the door staring at me suggestively. I subtly glanced at my watch which read 11:28 p.m. it was time to get this show on the road.

I just needed to keep this up for two more minutes.

"So", Selena pushed her body off the door, walking towards me seductively, "what now?".

I smirked at her, "Now this".

Our lips met in a lustful kiss. Oddly enough that's the moment my mind chose to think about Alana and what she had told me. I've already known that I was a crappy friend but I should've at least caught on to some of it from earlier.

Selena's teeth nipping at my bottom lip brought me back to the present. I opened without thinking, allowing her tongue full access to my mouth. It wasn't the same as earlier. None of the feelings from before was there. Sure there was the lust between us because obviously Selena was hot as hell, I mean, she was a supermodel for Christ's sake. There was just no passion there. And even though I was kind of turned on, kissing Selena was just about as intimate as kissing a banana. Sure we were both physically attracted to each other but that's as far as our similarity extended. There was just no real chemistry.

Though, I guess that that's the point. We're not supposed to develop feelings for the targets. That would contradict the entire purpose of what we're trying to do.

My lips traveled to Selena's neck, leaving kisses in their wake. Her eyes fluttered shut as she tilted her head to the left allowing me better access. It allowed for the perfect opportunity for me to glance at my watch.

11:32 p.m.

He's two minutes late. What the hell where the hell was-

The door bursts open and from over her shoulder I could see Timo Sagal's entire figure grounded in the open doorway. Apparently I was the only one who noticed his presence because Selena was still continuing her assault on my lips.

And it was moments like this that I was glad I took drama class in high school.

Breaking away from the kiss I eyed the guy at the door all the while trying not to seem impassive.

"Dude do you mind?", I tried sounding annoyed.

"Selena?", Sagal's expression was priceless when she flipped her head around to stare at the intruder. Then their eyes met.

"Tommy baby!", she screeched, her eyes now completely trained on the open door. Unfortunately though, her back was now turned to me so I couldn't exactly see her facial expression at the time. I was just standing there while they both stared at each other in disbelief. So, I thought I should say something.

"What the hell!", My voice was full of rage, or so I tried to make it seem, "what is going on Selena?".

Neither of them spares me a glance. Just so you know I might as well have been practically invisible at this point.

"Who the hell is this?", Sagal seethed, "and why the hell did you have your tongue down his throat!".

Selena was a blubbering mess now. "Baby- baby i-its not want it l- looks like".

"I can't believe this", Sagal basically shouted running a hand through his short brown hair, "you know what Selena, we're done! you can go ahead and continue playing tonsil hockey with your boy toy".

Btw she didn't.

Instead she rushed out of the room so fast, basically sprinting after an enraged Sagal who had stomped of at such speed that I momentarily considered the possibility that her father could've been Barry Allen.

I peeked my head through the door looking down the hall where the two had stopped and were currently exchanging a few choice words. I walked a little closer to hear their argument more clearly. I couldn't wait to tell Alana about this.

"It's not what it looked like Timo I swear", Selena pleaded. I scoffed.

Sagal scoffed. I predicted that. "Selena we are so done. Over. I don't want to hear your lies I am breaking up with you".

"Baby no you don't understand", she jumped unto his back as he turned to walk away.

Okay, what the hell!

It's the first I'm seeing that one.

I didn't notice Alana approaching until she was flanking my right side.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

Sagal totally walked in on us", I replied the amusement clear on my voice.

"Well, I for one am glad that we're done with that Selena chick", she revealed "and wipe that look off your face".

My smile only widened, "What look? This is just my face".

*******

"Nice party", I commented as I walked into Sagal's office a few minutes later.

He laughed easily with a genuine smile, unlike the first day that he had approached me about this job.

"Well", he gestured for me to sit on his office couch closing the door behind us, "there's nothing like throwing successful show".

Somehow I didn't think he meant the fashion show. But rather the show we both put on ourselves regarding a certain heartbroken model.

"I guess", I answered sitting down, "now about concluding our little business agreement".

Sagal sat at the chair beside his desk then pointed to something at the side of the couch where I was sitting.

"It's all there", he said casually.

Taking up the small black backpack I unzipped it and looked inside. Trust but verify.

"Like I said before", Sagal got up from his seat, "it's all there".

I nodded smiling in satisfaction. "I must say Mr. Sagal that was some good acting you put on tonight. I almost believed you were heartbroken".

He laughed as if disagreeing with me, "No, you were the better actor Blake. Exceptional, if anything, I guess you could say that we're both great actors".

He walked towards the door and I closed the small backpack and got up before slinging it over my shoulders.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you Mr. Bennett", he outstretched a hand which I shook, "hope to never see you again".

I laughed at that. "At least not when it regards ending your relationship".

"Ah", he nodded slightly, "in that case see you around".

He opened the door for me and I left walking back through the complex hallways, finally finding my way back to the first room I had been in when I'd arrived here earlier.

Alana was standing alone leaning against one of the many concrete pillars, her long brown hair hiding her face from my view.

"Hey", I touched her on the shoulder.

She faced me immediately, the eager look in her eyes more obvious now, "Well... how did it go?"

I patted the bag on my back and wiggled both eyebrows at her to which she responds by laughing. I glanced over her shoulder for a second but was brought back to her face when she mentioned my mother.

"What did you say?", I asked.

"Your mom wouldn't stop texting about what time you'd be home. So I texted back pretending I was you. They really wanted to see you so I panicked and I told her you were sleeping over at my place because of a late study session and I ended up telling them where you left the spare key over the door frame and they're gonna spend the night in the spare bedroom in your dorm room", she blurted out in one breath.

My response was instantaneous, "What!?", a few people at the bar turned to look at me and I lowered my voice, "why would you tell my parents about the spare key? And most importantly, why did you tell her I'm sleeping over at your place? Couldn't you have said I was at the library or something".

She gave me a flat stare, "I'm sorry alright, I didn't know what to do. I mean it's not exactly a lie though. Now that your parents are sleeping over at your dorm your gonna have to sleep over at my place. Or they'll know my excuse was a lie".

I facepalmed, "It's moments like this that I regret agreeing to have an off-campus dorm room. At least if I was on campus my parents couldn't show up out of the blue whenever they felt like it, only to stress me out more".

"Well it's done", Alana said, "and we should get going, it's already past midnight".

My eyes glanced over her shoulders again and a mischievous smirk found its way to the corner of my mouth. Alana followed my gaze then literally groaned while rolling her eyes when her gaze landed on Natasha.

I took off the backpack and handed it to her, "Twenty grand it's all there", I said my eyes never leaving Natasha's who was staring at me from the other side of the room.

"We have to go Blake, we don't have time for this", Alana argued.

"It's cool just take the money with you", I said absentmindedly, "besides, I wasn't planning on going home tonight anyway".

Natasha left the company she was with and began walking towards me, I met her halfway across the room.

She tilted her head observing me through hooded eyes. "Hey, you", she smiled teasingly.

I returned her smile, "Hey indeed".

When I looked around to find Alana she was long gone.