When in Italy

Chapter 13

On the way down stairs, I stopped in my room and grabbed enough of money my dad had given me to cover Kyle and myself. I walked into the living room and Kyle and Lina were standing near the door. 

"Ready?" she smiled at me.

 I returned the smile and nodded. Kyle opened the door for us and we walked out, him staying close behind. 

"So, I know this is formal but how formal? Like a business party full of CEO's, or prom?" I asked Lina as we walked down the street. 

"Either or, really. I'd go with the business type thing, it'll be easier to find something like that," She opened the door to a store and we filed in. 

"Kyle the suits are in the corner over there," she pointed to her left, "We'll be on the other side of the store." 

Kyle looked around. This place was huge. At first he didn't look so sure about it, like he didn't want us to separate. But then he met my eyes again for the first time and I quickly looked away. 

"Okay, it shouldn't take me too long," he muttered. 

I watched him walk away, and I sighed once I couldn't see him anymore. 

"What's going on with you two?" Lina questioned as we walked over to the dresses. 

"We just had some work disagreements is all. Nothing out of the normal," I replied. 

We started going through a rack, Lina was on the other side when she spoke up. 

"Must be hard to have to work with someone like that," she said. 

"What?" I looked up at her. 

"I mean, working with someone that you're friends with is hard. Just like school. You know you wanna work with your best friend but you know how things go when the two of you have to make a tough decision," she explained. 

I pondered on what she said for a few seconds. 

"You're absolutely right," I muttered. 

Kyle and I didn't have a choice as to whether we worked together or not. It's almost like our destiny was predetermined at birth. When my parents found out that Kyle's were having a kid around close to the same time, that was it. There's no way we couldn't have been assigned to each other. 

"How about this one? I think you'd look good in it," Lina said.

 Snapping out of my thoughts I looked up at the dress she was holding up. It was a dark purple two piece with a long pencil skirt bottom and a tank top style top. 

"Or do you not like that your midriff is showing?" she asked. 

"No I love it. It's only like two inches of skin anyway. Let me find something for you," I started to actually focus on the clothes.

 "Oh, I have some things at home. Most of our town events are formal. Let's get you some jewelry!" She smiled. 

She hurried over to me, handed me the dress, the grabbed my free hand. I guess she didn't get to do things like this very often. Then again, neither did I. She pulled me over to the counter full of necklaces and we stared down at them. 

"I'm done," Kyle came up behind and we both jumped. 

"Sorry," he said. 

"Kyle which necklace do you like?" Lina stepped aside making room for him. 

He reluctantly took the space and stared down at them. He pointed to one and I immediately recognized it. 

"I've seen your mom wear that. It's beautiful," I said quietly. 

"Your mom gave it to her." 

I looked up at him with my mouth almost hanging open then looked back down at it. I smiled to myself. Obviously I had to get it. Lina called over the man behind the counter and he boxed the necklace up for us. We paid for everything, then headed back to the apartment. 

I sat in my room on my laptop for the rest of the day. One, to avoid Kyle, and two... Nathan. Something about him just made me question this whole case. At first I thought it was Stockholm Syndrome the way he didn't want to leave. But that couldn't have been it. He didn't show any signs. People with Stockholm Syndrome become defensive, they try to prove their captor's innocence, say that they loved them or some shit like that. But Nathan... He said that he'd love to go home, but he didn't say why he was so bound to that mansion. 

I went through all the files Kyle and I had found, rereading them twenty times over. I couldn't find anything different. The picture of the girl came up and I stared at it. She was really pretty, maybe that's why. Maybe they had some sort of connection and she was the one with Stockholm. That would explain why Nathan wanted to go home, but couldn't. 

"Alex," Kyle knocked on my door. 

I snapped my head up from my computer causing my glasses to fall off. 

"Yeah?" I replied. 

The door opened and Kyle stood in front of me, his face looked cleaner, I could smell whatever shampoo he had used, and his suit was clung tightly to his body. 

"Well you look very nice," I smiled up at him.

 Still no emotion. This boy was so goddamn complicated. 

"We're leaving in fifteen minutes," Was his response. 

I looked at the time on my laptop. Six thirty. 

"Shit. I still have to shower and get dressed," I seethed. 

I threw my laptop on my bed and scrambled up. I grabbed the dress and started digging through my suitcase, looking for my makeup. 

"That's what you've been doing this whole time?" Kyle's voice stayed quiet. 

I looked back at him. He had taken a few steps into my room and picked my laptop up. He knew everything our files said, what he didn't know was what my notes said. 

"It makes sense right? When I talked to Nathan, he showed no signs of Stockholm. He definitely wasn't the one holding himself there, I know that much. The theory about the girl would have to be proven of course but... I have no idea where she is." 

Kyle kept reading my notes before he looked at me. 

"Good job," he muttered before looking back at the screen. 

I smiled to myself. As much as he annoyed me, I loved getting his approval. Especially since he knew what he was doing when it came to this stuff. 

"Mind if I add some things?" he sat down on the bed. 

"No, just save it when you're done!" I bolted out the room and into the bathroom. 

That was progress right?

A/N

aw, alex and her spy talk is so cute isn't it?? I was gonna have kyle get over himself and not be so upset in this chapter but then i thought "what's the fun in that?" so it's just going slowly as you can see when he looks at alex's notes. I'm so freaking excited to right about this party thing they're going to, I have so many ideas! KEEP READING, MAKE SOME APPLE PIE AND EAT EVERY PUMPKIN FLAVORED THING YOU CAN FIND. LOVE YOU BABES WITH ALL MY BEATING HEART