Jellyfish

6. Things Change

Looking back, there are a lot of things I regret, but none more than the day I met Mowen as they call themselves- or Zhong Mae and Owen Greeves respectively. It was a Tuesday, November sixth to be exact and I remembered the exact time when they knocked on the door. It was seven thirty, and no one else was home. That morning, Blair had run off with Eddy to wherever he went every day. Since the others had to work, the house was left to me and I'd used the time to do absolutely nothing aside from casually texting Miles. We were talking about Greek mythology because he'd started a book based around gods and just couldn't stop talking about it. I was happy to humor him. It wasn't like I had anything else to do aside from ruining my brain with television. I had just checked the time, seven thirty on the dot, when I heard a knock at the door.

At first, I was fully prepared to turn the TV off and pretend I wasn't home. Nobody came knocking for good reasons in a neighborhood like this and if it was anyone asking about payments, I definitely couldn't answer because only Diego and Eddy were supposed to live here. It didn't take long to realize, however, that the person at the door would not be going away until they were answered. A second knock came, then a third until finally I sighed and heaved myself from the couch with very little desire to do so. The knocking stopped when I got within five feet of the door and in its place, I heard a conversation between two complete strangers.

"Maybe they're not home," the first one suggested. It seemed to be a boy, though probably a young one. "Should we try again later?"

The voice that followed was much deeper than the first, possibly older. "I don't know. They said someone would be here."

My suspicion that they were children was proven correct as I pulled open the door though both were at least taller than myself. The shorter blonde jumped to attention with a loud squeak as the door opened. Beside him, a much taller, ginger boy stared down at me in surprise. It was quite obvious I was not the one they were looking for and the two exchanged a look that clearly said shit, what do we do? I wasn't going to be the first to speak- they were the ones breaking down my door- so I crossed my arms and waited as the pair mentally argued. Finally, the blonde one turned to me with a bright smile and stuck out a hand.

"Hi, I'm Mae, this is my partn- boyf- uh this is Owen. We were looking for," he paused and looked down at a sticky note in his hand, "Diego Cruz-Diaz. Is he here?" Wide, hopeful eyes turned on me, a common ploy for innocence.

"No." I narrowed my eyes wondering why in the world this weird couple wanted Diego and how they knew where we lived. "Matter of fact, I think you have the wrong house."

The smaller one seemed intimidated by my coldness, but Owen didn't care at all. He just slung an arm around Mae's shoulders and took over. "Nah, pretty sure this is right. He works for King ent. right? We were supposed to come get him for the presentation thing."

I vaguely recalled Diego mentioning his presentation during breakfast. One of his jobs was with an advertising company, King ent., and he'd been preparing to present a new pitch for weeks. For this reason, I was worried that they'd come to get him, and he was still at his other job. "He's really not here guys. I can call him and let him know that he needs to go."

"No, we have to bring him," Mae was quick to object. Seeing the weird look I gave him, he quickly explained. "I have an intern job with them, and I keep screwing up, but Mrs. King says she'll give me three more strikes. I have to bring him myself please tell me where he is."

Somehow, I believed he was a screw up intern, definitely once they both presented authentic badges from the company. Diego had taught us all how to spot a fake, just in case since he did work for a higher-class company. Still, I didn't know either one of them at the time and I was very hesitant about leading them to Diego. I stood in the doorway debating for far longer than polite, but that hardly mattered. On the one hand, if the kids were somehow lying and were up to no good, I didn't want to give them information. On the other hand, Diego was supposed to be home now, and I'd feel like royal shit if he missed that presentation because of me. In the end, I conceded to giving them his work address and praying to God I wouldn't regret doing it.