Underneath The Perfection

Chapter 19

“Someone’s nervous.” I drop my hands from fumbling around and roll my eyes.

“No I’m not.” I snort.

“Come on. It’s not that different from all the other times we’ve hung out.” He places his hand in my lap and gives it a reassuring squeeze.

“We don’t hang out together.”

“Right.” He nodded, but I notice the small smirk playing on his lips from the corner of my eye. I lean my head against the cool glass of the window and stare out at the dark night zooming past me. It’s insane how dark it already is even though it’s not even half past eight yet. October felt as if it had been two days ago, I can’t believe Christmas is around the corner.

“Okay we’re here.” Riley says about ten minutes later, as we pull into a dimly lit parking lot. I’m met with the cold November air as I get out, and wrap my scarf and coat tighter around my body. Eerily, I look around, trying to figure out where we are. Darkness surrounded the empty parking lot.

“Are you going to kill me?” I ask jokingly, but feeling a little concerned nonetheless.

Riley laughs, jogging around the back of the car to me, and casually throwing his arm over my shoulder. “Why? Are you scared?” I didn’t need to look at him to know that cocky smirk was on his lips.

“I could take you.” I bite my lip and confidently look up into his eyes.

“Of course you could.” I roll my eyes in response, even though I tried to come off confident, we both knew who’d own whom if it came down to it. And it certainly wouldn’t look good for me.

We stop in front of the entrance to the building, a big metal, rather spooky looking, door. “Okay, listen.” Riley says, taking my hands and turning me to face him. “I know this isn’t the usual kind of date you’d imagine. But you asked me something. And this is my answer.”

He bangs his fist three times against the door, the noise echoing through the empty parking lot. A moment later the door opens and a guy dressed in black appears.

“Yo, sup man. Everyone’s waiting for you. You ready?” they great each other with some sort of man shake, and Riley gives him a short reply before we head in. The hallway reminds me of the one at the club, paint crumbling from the walls and the thick smell of smoke and something else I can’t put my finger on.

“What is this?” I ask, as we walk through a maze of hallways. I pray that I don’t have to make a sudden escape, because I probably wouldn’t be able to remember how to get out, even if I tried.

“You’ll see.” He smirks at me, but I notice the slightly nervous look in his eyes. I grab his hand and squeeze it, surprising him but he doesn’t let go. We round another corner before stopping in front of a door with “hook” scribbled on with black sharpie.

 “I know this might change things a bit, but give me a chance.” He smiles slightly, a pleading look in his eyes, before banging his fist against the door. A second later a giant like guy steps out, completely dressed in black. They slap each other’s hands and pull in for a type of hug, before Riley starts talking to him in what I assume to be Italian.

“Em this is Ray. He’s gonna accompany you and I’ll see you in a bit okay? I gotta do something.” He slaps Rays back before slipping into the room Ray came out of a few minutes prior.

“Come on.” He orders, his voice gruff, as he leads me further down the hallway. As I’m lead further into the depths of the building, which appears to be amazingly bigger on the inside than it appears to be from the outside, I can faintly hear cheering, getting louder the further we go down the hallway.