Guns and Roses

27: Preparation

Today was Friday and I am to go undercover in the club of Silver Bullet. The only thing new that happened was Jay and Quinn started dating. Quinn brought Jay to a race last night and asked her out there. Everyone is coupled up now, except for Victor, Mireya, Erica, and Bri. But, I have a hinting feeling that Rome has a thing for Bri.

"Earth to Gaia," Kiara said as she waved a hand in front of my face.

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at her. "Huh?"

"You okay, mia bella," asked Luca as he placed a hand on my waist.

I nodded and looked over at him. "Just going over everything in my head." I turned back and stared at the cafeteria table again in thought. We had an inside girl where I'm taking her spot for the next two nights. She goes by the nickname Cotton because her hair was a cotton candy pastel blue. She always loved her pastel hair and I guess it stuck in the family. Sam will be putting on a wig for me to copy her hair. Cotton and I looked similar with blue eyes, a similar tan, and the same height. Our body shapes were similar also, but I have a slightly bigger ass than her. The really noticeable things were my fuller lips and nose. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I sighed in agitation. "What?"

"Lunch is over," Luca said.

"Oh."

"Come on." He took my hand and pulled me up. He led me out with everyone else towards the parking lot. He leaned against his car and pulled me into his body. Everyone else gathered around and chatted.

Sam's voice caught my attention. "Cotton is coming around eight. She says her shift starts at nine until three in the morning. So, we have about a little over seven hours until you need to be ready." She looked at me as she said that. I nodded under Luca's chin.

"Let's go. We have a lot of work to do," said Han.

:::

I sat in a chair as Sam contoured my nose to be slimmer like Cotton's. I haven't seen Cotton since she moved away from New York two years ago. She was a good friend of Marco's. He seemed to see her like a little sister, since she was a year younger, and I saw her like an older one. Marco didn't approve of what she chose to do as a living and they got into a huge argument, pushing her to leave earlier than scheduled. She knew of our family and is still under our protection even if she left. She was family even if she didn't take part in it.

Sam smeared on lip gloss and leaned back. "Close your eyes." I did and she sprayed Morphe setting mist. It smelt amazing and worked perfectly. "Okay! Let's put on your hair." Bri already finished braiding it and they both placed the hair on. It looked natural with brown roots and the rest a light pastel blue. It was curly like my natural hair and as long as it was too.

The front doorbell rang and Ami ran down the stairs yelling, "I got it!" We all laughed and got up to meet Cotton downstairs. "I wanted to answer the door," we heard Ami pout.

"I wished you did instead of this doofus," I heard Cotton say. She was probably talking about Marco. We reached the bottom and Cotton squealed. "Ana!" She ran over to me and pulled me into a big hug. "I missed you so much."

"Me, too," I replied into her neck. We pulled away and looked at each other. Her hair was in a messy bun and she was dressed down in yoga pants with a white tank top. I noticed she had more freckles from the sun since I last saw her.

"My, you have grown so much." She squeezed my cheeks.

"Hey! What about us," pouted Jay. Cotton laughed and pulled them into a group hug.

She turned back to me and said, "Damn, Ana, you look just like me. Nice job, Sam." She high-fived Sam and they laughed. "Okay," she said as she pulled out some cloth from her bag. "This is your uniform for tonight. Fridays we wear all black. Don't worry, it's new, just for you."

I looked down at it and back at her. "That's it?"

"Mhm. Girls usually get dressed there so just wear whatever for now." I nodded. "Now, all you need is to sound like me."

I cleared my throat and thought of her voice. I've been practicing all week, so hopefully, I can pull it off. "Like this," I said in Cotton's voice.

She gasped and squeaked. "You sound just like me!"

"The guys are here," Sam informed us as she looked at her phone.

I looked at Cotton and said, "I want to try something. When," I pulled out my phone and showed her a picture of Luca, "This guy comes in, just wave and say 'Hi, baby' to see if he knows. I want to see if we can fool him." I was dressed pretty similar to her, too, since I wore a white tank top and yoga pants. She pulled out her hair tie and ruffled her hair to lay like mine. The guys walked in and Luca paused at the sight of us.

"Hi, baby," Cotton and I said at the same time while waving at him.

"Shit," laughed the other guys.

Luca's eyes analyzed both of us. He walked towards us slowly. I notice him walking a little closer to Cotton. Boy better choose right. I mean, yeah, we look the same but he should know me, my body. He's seen it naked plenty of times before. At the last minute, he turned towards me and wrapped me up in his arms. "Hi, mia bella." He kissed my forehead and hugged me.

"Aww, you guys are so cute," gushed Cotton.

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his lips. "Hello, όμορφος," I said in my natural accent. He smiled down at me and pulled me closer.

"Okay, you need to leave soon," Han said. I looked over at her and nodded. Cotton gave me the things that she usually brought with her and her car keys.

"Good luck, Ana," Cotton said as I took her keys.