May's Workshop Stories

Liar, liar, pants on fire

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Yeah, in this situation, you are not allowed to ask that question."

"You shouldn't be here," Jake dared to say.

"I shouldn't be here? What about you?" I said, utterly annoyed about having no idea what was going on.

"I know what I am doing," Jake said shortly.

"Really? And what might that be?" I asked, determined to finally get some answers from him.

"Listen, it's not safe here. You need to go. I'll explain everything later," Jake said.

"No, you will explain now!" I exclaim stubbornly. "And if it's so dangerous, what are you doing here?"

Jake turned towards me, looking me in the eyes for the first time since discovering that I had followed him when he snuck out of the house yet again. It seemed like he could see my anger that sliced at him like laser beams because he sighed deeply and shifted uncomfortably.

"Fine, I can see there is no way to go past your stubbornness," he said, annoyed. "I was hoping to find a better way, a better time to tell you, but I guess this will have to do."

Upon hearing those words, I wondered if I really wanted to know the truth. Our lives were almost perfect when one excluded Jake's night escapades. Did I really want to destroy that picture-perfect life with my curiosity?

Even before he said anything, I knew that the answer was yes. I was ready to risk anything to learn what was going on as it wasn't in my nature to just accept things. I needed to understand them, to know what I was up against.

"I am a spy," he said calmly.

"You are what?" I asked as that was the last thing that I expected him to say.

I thought he might say that he had a secret wife, a secret boyfriend even, but definitely not that he was a spy. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I'd never considered spies were real people. In my mind, they only existed in books and movies. They weren't real.

"You must be kidding," I said at a loss for words.

"Unfortunately, not," he said, looking around in a hurry. "And I am about to meet with some dangerous people, and I don't want them to know about you."

My mouth was hanging open, and I could not quite remember which muscles I should use to close them. I was too stunned to think.

"Well, that's just great! What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Jake muttered through his teeth as two sleek black cars glided into the warehouse.

When armed goons started coming out of them, I was terrified of what could happen next. Still, I did my best to keep my stone-faced expression as most people couldn't see it for what it was, petrifying fear.

"Whoa, who's the hot chick?" one of the guys said, ogling me like a creep.

"Back off, she is my partner," Jake said, scooting closer to me. "She is a trained assassin. You don't want to mess with her."

"Babe, you can assassinate me any time," the guy said without heeding Jake's words. "In bed."

As he said that, the other men started snickering like badly-written villains of a spy novel as the rude guy with an ugly scar across his face started approaching me. He was doing so slowly, circling around me like a predator preparing to jump his prey.

"No, thank you," I said, swatting away his hand in one fluid motion then grabbing him by the wrist and twisting the hand to his back.

That forced him to fall on his knees or risk having his arm broken.

"That's much better, kneel before your betters," I said as haughtily as I could. "Does anyone else want to try me?"

As I asked that, I could feel myself really getting into the role. It felt good, natural. Exciting even.

And they said I was a bad actress. If professor Avalon could see me, he would have eaten his words that I would never become an actress. Not only was I acting, but I was combining two of my skills: acting and martial arts training. Improvisation at its best.

"Let go!" the guy under my feet whimpered.

"What do we say?" I asked like a teacher scolding a child.

"Please," he said with uncertainty.

I let him go immediately and stepped back to Jake in case anyone else decided to test me as I wasn't sure how many of those cool moves I still had in me.

"I didn't know you could do that," Jake whispered in my ear, sounding impressed.

"There are many things you don't know about me," I whispered back, although it wasn't entirely true.

"I can see that. I guess we were both hiding a few things," Jake murmured in my ear. "If we get out of this alive, we should be honest with each other."

"Deal," I said, trying to make my voice sound steady.

However, his insinuation that we might not survive the night had goosebumps crawling all over my skin.

"Shall we, gentlemen," Jake said, gesturing towards his pickup that was filled with crates of different sizes and shapes.

I didn't consider them gentlemen, and I was impressed by Jake's acting skills as I was sure he didn't either.

"Everything seems to be in order," the man in charge said.

"Alright then, where is my payment?" Jake asked.

"Why would we pay you when we can get both the merchandise and the money," he said, pointing a gun at Jake.

Without too much thought, I kicked the gun out of the man's hand, allowing for enough time for Jake to pull out his gun.

Seconds later, I was behind a car without knowing how I got there, and everyone seemed to be shooting at us.

"I am guessing that didn't go according to plan," I say out of breath.

"Not really, but I think we'll survive," he said, firing at the thugs. "We just need to hold out for a few more minutes until my backup arrives."

"Great, more lying little agents," I say bitterly.

"No, I called the cops the moment I saw you following me. I couldn't postpone the meeting, but I wanted to do everything in my power to keep you safe," he said, turning to me with honesty written in his eyes.

As sirens started to blare around us, he pulled me into a nearby forest for protection. That was when I kissed him with a promise that whatever happened, we were in this together, and we ran deeper into the woods looking for a place to hide.