Why did the bunny cross the road?

Becca's POV

I stare across the street as I idly stir my drink with my straw. I watch people scrambling to get to their destination with their umbrellas in hand, their thoughts posing mysteries to me that may be more fascinating than my actual point of focus.

As they move by in a blur I immediately return to my original point of focus which is the raindrops racing across the glass window of the café I'm currently in. just as I'm about to start betting against myself on which raindrop crosses the finish line first, I'm interrupted by James who must have gotten tired of being ignored and decided to risk my anger by pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Earth to Becca, planning a day to signify our friendship is kind of hard if I'm the only one doing it" he says annoyed that I'm not taking this whole thing nearly as seriously as he is.

"I'm sorry James. You have my full attention now so tell me again about the guest list" I say apologetically in an attempt to appease him but apparently all I did was make it worse because his frown deepens

"I told you about the guest list 30 minutes ago. Which means you haven't heard a word I've said since then" he says angrily

"I'm sorry James I've just been distracted" I say as I place my hand over his and that seems to work because he lights up immediately.

"Okay you're forgiven but don't let it happen again" he warns sternly before he continues listing his plans and sure enough I soon space out as my mind returns to the raindrops. Once again James interrupts me just as my raindrop is about to win.

"I supported your decision to not talk to him at first but now this is a whole new level of fucked up" he says angrily

"I'm fine, he totally doesn't bother me at all. I've just been a little tired that's all" I say as I try to lie to him but if you've been best friends for 9 years then there's no way that you don't get caught.

"Bullshit, ever since he stopped talking to you two weeks ago you've been totally miserable" James says angrily at the fact that I even attempted to lie to him in the first place.

"I'm not miserable" I reply while looking down into my cup even though I had actually wanted to tell James that it has been 2 weeks,3 days,10 hours and 23 minutes since the last time I saw Nathan and yes I'm totally miserable that after he acted all sweet and perfect he fucking bailed on me.

"So I'm just supposed to believe that wearing your fluffy bunny slippers to work was a conscious choice" he says sarcastically and I look down at my feet and sure enough I'm wearing pink fluffy bunny slippers.

"It's a fashion statement" I say as I refuse to nudge and admit that as much as I hate his smug face, I miss Nathan. I miss the way I felt special every time he checked me out. I miss the power I felt when I saw him look at me like a tall drink of water in the desert. I miss his musky masculine strength and worst of all I miss those piercing blue eyes.

"just stop punishing yourself and go see him" James pleads with me and as I look at him I come to the realization that if I can't talk to James about this then who exactly can I talk to, so with a deep breath I ready myself and once my mouth opens it becomes easier to talk about my fears.

"But what if he doesn't want to see me?" I answer timidly as I finally let James see my vulnerabilities.

"Now why would he not want to see you?" James says as he laughs at how ridiculous I'm being

"what if he no longer finds me interesting and has decided that he no longer wants me?" I ask genuinely which causes James to stop laughing as he carefully scrutinizes me.

"Are you falling in love with him?" James asks and the truth is I don't still know whether I want him or not but that's something I can't tell James so I lie.

"You know how important my marriage to Nathan is to the company and I just don't want to be the reason that it falls through" I say and technically I didn't lie because that is an actual genuine fear of mine.

"Now that's absolute bullshit. If the deal falls through then it's going to be the fault of that fuckboy Nathan and besides if it's the money that you're really worried about then I can always marry you" he says as I burst into laughter at the prospect of marrying James.

"What's so funny?" he asks seriously as he watches me with a puzzled look on his face

"The prospect of us getting married" I manage to reply through my laughter.

"And why is that funny?" he asks and I stop laughing as I see how serious he is about this.

"Might I remind you that you're gay and I wouldn't want anyone repressing their sexual orientation for me. Parents all around the world already force their children to repress their sexual preferences and be something that they're not, and I'd feel bad if anyone had to change who they are at the core of their souls because of me" I say with a smile as I place my hand over his, hoping that he understands that I'd never try to hurt him for my own selfish reasons.

"It's not about sex, it's about the money. If you guys really need money that badly then why don't you marry me?" he asks

"Well it's not just that. When frank died so did his network and frank's smuggling network was the reason we were able to stay above ground for so long especially since after grandmother restricted our business to just stealing and fencing art. So we need a new network that only the Romanos can provide" I reply and my answer seems to satisfy him as he just smiles and goes right back to planning the friendship day party.

I sit in silence for a while as he continues rambling on about his plans and I go back to watching the raindrops on the glass.

My focus is suddenly shifted when I spot a man eating hotdogs outside with a very familiar paper bag in his hand so with a quick "I'll see you later" muttered to James, I walk out just as the rain dies down, and walk right up to the man with the hot dog

"Excuse me sir, where did you get that hot dog?" I ask and he turns around and looks me up and down before shoving me away and saying

"Leave me alone you filthy hobo" and then he goes right back to eating his dog. I turn to the giant in the suit who has been shadowing me since I left the café, and I signal him to intervene.

Willis immediately steps forward and grabs the hand 'hotdog man' used to shove me and twists his pinky backwards until it cracks.

"Now let's try this again. Where did you get that hotdog and you better answer correctly because you still have 206 to 210 bones that my big friend would love to snap in two" I say to hotdog man who gives us directions after which Willis forces him to give the nearest homeless person we could find, a hundred bucks and then we let him go.

We turn the corner and just as 'hotdog man' had told us, standing there in all its glory in front of my office is Joe's food truck.

I wait in line just like Nathan and I did the last time we had some of Joe's hot dogs. I eventually get to the front after a long waiting period.

"Two of the best hotdogs in new York with extra ketchup and mustard" I say which causes Joe to look up as his eyes widen in surprise.

"Well hello there Becca" he says with a smile

"Hello to you too Joe" I say with a smile too but I seem to have done something to Joe cause his eyes immediately shrink in suspicion.

"Is he here?" Joe asks in a whisper

"Is who here?" I reply curiously

"Nathan of course. That damn bastard came to visit a week ago, climbed into the truck and ate all my hotdogs before stumbling out and telling me to put it on his tab. Why do you think I moved my truck here" Joe replies in an angry whisper

"Nathan isn't here Joe. But why would you think that Nathan couldn't catch you here?" I ask curiously because it can't be a coincidence that he came to rest right in front of my office building.

"Isaac told me that Nathan was avoiding this place and that's why he hasn't gone to work in the past few days" he says, and although Isaac's involvement makes me angry, my worry for Nathan is much greater so I thank Joe and buy a box of 12 hot dogs to give to Nathan since I now have an excuse to go to his place.

As I walk away Joe suddenly says "Becca, you are aware that you're wearing fluffy pink bunny slippers right?"

"It's a fashion statement" I reply before climbing into the car that I had Willis fetch while I waited for the hotdogs.

We pull up in front of his building and I walk in but when I get to the elevator I quickly remember that I don't know the code but before I can dejectedly go back home to eat all the hotdogs alone, the doorman who is just coming out of the staff's lounge stops me.

Apparently I'm on the permanent guest list so Bobby swipes his keycard and 2 minutes later the elevator doors open and I step into Nathan's apartment.

I'm about to call out to him when I hear giggling coming from the kitchen so I walk there hoping to surprise him but instead I find him in his boxer briefs making omelettes while a giggly redhead with nothing but a towel on her body clings onto Nathan from behind.

In shock I drop the hotdogs and they miraculously fall onto the table without any of them rolling away.

The sound seems to alert them to my presence as they both turn around but it's too late because I've already pulled out the gun that I had tucked into the waistband of my jeans and it's now trained on Nathan's stupid face.

"give me one reason why I shouldn't kill your cheating ass and you better make it good cause I've been known to be a little trigger happy" I say as my gun stays trained on the space between his eyes.