Girl Master of Disguises (Lesbian Story, GirlxGirl)

Chapter Twenty-Five - Lecture Fun Time

Buggy tries to compose herself. "Um, what are you talking about?" she asks. "I told you I'm at my parents'--"

     "Bullshit!" James interrupts. "Your mom and dad came up to New York to visit you. And guess who had to tell them you weren't there?" Before Buggy can answer, he adds, "That's right. Me!"

     "You could have called me when they arrived," Buggy says quietly. Just because she's the only one in the alley doesn't mean she can't be overheard. She tries to say, "Look, I have something to do, and I can't stay on the phone right now."

     "Excuse me, no. You're not getting out of this conversation," James says. "It's bad enough I have to keep your mom from calling the cops every two minutes. Hell, I don't even know if you're still in New York. Are you?"

     She glances out of the alley to see that the guys are nowhere to be seen. Great. Just what she needs right now. Now annoyed, Buggy sighs. "No, I'm not," she says. "Is that a good enough answer for you?" She starts slowly walking back to the cafe. There's not much point in locating Blond Beard and Dean now.

     "Of course not! Where are you then? And I swear to God if you're lying this time, I'll do something drastic!" When James starts his rant or is aggressively asking questions, he'll work himself up to the point it takes at least three hours for him to calm down. Two if he ends up watching Shrek: The Musical on Netflix. For the umpteenth time.

     Now that she's in an odd situation, Buggy's contemplating between "I'm on a mission to recover the model" and "I'm in Seattle, where you think Mistress of Disguises happens to be right now". Sadly, neither of the answers would prevent James to ask even more questions. 

     Buggy settles for, "I'm on a much-needed vacation." That's as close to the truth as she can get.

     "That's not telling me where you are," James jabs. "That's telling me why you're gone."

     "If I wanted to be talked to like a child, I'd request to talk to Dad," Buggy groans. "But seriously, I have some things that need to be done where I am, so do you mind if--"

     She's interrupted again. Someone's talking in the background, which Buggy assumes is her mom. James talks to the person, but Buggy can't hear what he's saying to Mrs. Gills. Finally, James starts speaking to her again. "Your mom wants to talk to you."

     "Why am I not surprised?" Buggy grumbles as noises are heard on the other line. Her mom's put the phone next to her ear, thanking James. 

     "Angel, your father and I have been worried about you!" Mrs. Gills says, motherly concern coated in her voice. "We came up here because you haven't contacted us back after last time, and we couldn't find you in the university or your apartment." And for some reason, she adds, "You really need to tidy up your place once in a while."

     Buggy's almost at the cafe. She keeps an eye out around her, just in case the criminals happen to come back in the area. Opening the doors, she heads inside the much warmer place. "I know it's a habit for you to worry about your kids, but I'm eighteen, Mom," she says into the phone, noticing a man has taken her table while she was gone. "I can do more than take care of myself."

     "Well, I know that," Mrs. Gills responds. "But you never know what's going to happen. There are a lot of bad people out there, ready to kidnap whoever they want."

     Buggy resists the urge to snicker at her mom's statement. Well, thank God I took up a second life tracking the bad guys down, she thinks. She looks up to see Laina, giving her a disapproved look. The barista points at the tablet and drink Buggy left when she was following the kidnappers. She holds up a finger to Laina. 

     "Are you still there?" Mrs. Gills inquires. 

     "Um, yeah. Just thinking," Buggy responds. "Was I the only reason you came up to New York?" 

     Laina raises an eyebrow, obvious to Buggy that she could hear her side of the conversation. She mouths, "Who is it?" Buggy answers, also mouthing, "My mom." Laina's mouth makes an 'o', and proceeds to keep working as if nothing happened.

     "--and your sister Bailey wanted to see a musical playing in Broadway, so your father and I figured the three of us--four, if you were here--could go and see it." Mrs. Gills keeps rattling on about a couple of things before adding, "Oh, and Angel? The next time you leave the state, please tell us before."

     A little embarrassed now that Buggy feels ten again, she mutters, "Yeah, fine. Gotta go. Bye." She hangs up and grins sheepishly at Laina, who got closer to Buggy in the last minute of the conversation. "Um, so that was James and then my mom."

     "Do I want to know who James is?" the barista asks. "And don't leave your things next time." She pushes the cup towards Buggy.

     Buggy takes it and downs the rest of the now-lukewarm coffee. "Sorry," she says. "And James is a friend from uni."

     "Friend?" Laina asks. She lowers her voice and adds, "Or 'friend'?"

     Buggy's shocked to the point she almost spit out her drink. "Ugh! God no!" she curses. "What's going on with James and me is the definition of platonic male-female friendship. God, what a horrible image." The corner of Laina's mouth curls up as Buggy quickly get to the news on the tablet to distract herself from any more of the images.

     "And you are the reason mind bleach needs to be invented," Laina says, still trying not to laugh. Buggy simply glares. "So, did you have any luck with Blond Beard and Dean?"

     Buggy shakes her head. "I was so close to getting the bug back when James phoned. I pressed 'call' to shut it up, and I ended up getting Lecture Fun Time from both James and my mom."

     "Lecture Fun Time? That's what you call those conversations?"

     "I was young when I named them," Buggy says dramatically. "And I was stupid."

     "Judging from what you've been up to lately, I'd say you're still young." Laina has to dodge to keep Buggy from smacking her arm. "Okay, you didn't get the bug from them. At least they don't know it's yours, right?"

     Buggy doesn't say anything. 

     "Right?" the girl repeats.

     "I don't know if they do. All I know is they have it, and they have it because they want it." A customer bumps into Buggy and doesn't apologize. He heads to the cream-and-sugar station without a second look at Buggy.

     Just in case, Buggy moves where other people are not likely to be in her way. "And why they want it? I don't know that answer."

     Laina curls a finger around her chin and puts on a thinking face. Buggy might have to admit to herself it's a nice pose. (Although that's the only thing she'll say about it.) "Maybe they think they can somehow get the conversation recorded out of the bug?" she suggests.

     "If they think that's how bugs work, then they're not that bright," Buggy says. "I have it recorded on my phone, though. It's a possibility they'd want to see any indication on the bug that it once belonged to me." 

     "What good would that do?" the girl asks. "Say they find some fingerprints on the bug, and they believe it's yours. How the hell would they be able to confirm the match?"

     She has a good point, Buggy thinks. She hadn't been noticed by Blond Beard and Dean up until when they broke into her hotel room. Buggy was so distracted by the bad feeling, finding the note, and moving her stuff to Laina's as fast as she could that she didn't inspect her things properly as soon as she was at Laina's place. Maybe they took something she wouldn't miss...

     "Are you still on earth?" Laina waves a hand in front of Buggy's face.

     Buggy snaps to the present. "Yeah," she says. "You mind giving me the keys to your place?"

     Laina smirks. "We're not in that stage yet, hon," she teases.

     Rolling her eyes, Buggy says, "I thought I was supposed to be the one here doing stupid things."