When he woke up the next morning, he was on cloud nine. Maybe he was a little hung over, but it didn't change how good he felt. It was half past ten and he hadn't been able to get Lorelei off his mind since the moment he closed the Uber's car door for her.
He got out of bed, his head pounding from dehydration, and sluggishly went straight to the kitchen in only his boxers to take a swig out of the orange juice jug in the fridge. He sighed in relief after the liquid quenched the desert that was his throat. He grabbed a glass from the adjacent cabinet and poured himself an actual cup of juice.
He walked leisurely back into his room and picked up his phone in his free hand, only one missed text. And it wasn't from the person he had hoped for. He opened the messages he'd send Lorelei last night and sent her an address for the restaurant with the time as seven. Nothing else. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't act too desperate.
Instead, he opened the new message from Code Breaker.
I'm hurt that you didn't
tell me how it went.
He rolled his eyes. He looked at the timestamp and scowled.
How many mornings in a
row are you going to
disturb my precious sleep?
The bubbles immediately popped up to show she was typing out a response.
It's not my fault you're
getting sloppy.
Yeah yeah. I need
breakfast. Wanna join?
Great cuz I'm starving.
Cauli-Brains. 20 minutes.
He typed a quick 'Cool' response before heading to the bathroom for his morning pee and doing his usual routine to start his day.
___________________________
Cauli-Brains was a little vegan restaurant Eliza couldn't get enough of. Anytime she got to pick, this was the place. Zed liked it too. Their slogan was 'Veggies are the best brain food.' It was catchy.
His friends were both there waiting when he walked in. Bonzo waved vigorously at him in greeting.
"I couldn't leave him out." Eliza told him plainly as he sat down in the booth beside his hug-loving friend. Of course he received a big side hug as soon as he was seated, not that Zed was complaining.
"I wouldn't expect you to." Zed agreed, smiling over at his burly buddy.
They chatted lightly, with Bonzo just chuckling and nodding along in silence as usual, until their waitress brought their drinks and took their orders.
"Ok, so spill! How'd ya do it? I didn't see anything on the news this morning. Did ya dump her off somewhere they just haven't found yet?" Eliza prodded in a whisper, to not alert anyone who may be close enough to hear. Zed scratched the back of his head in an almost uncomfortable manner.
"Uh, no. I, um, didn't complete the mission." He told them in a small voice, even avoiding eye contact.
"Oh, well you got her to like you right?" She offered in support. Zed kinda shrugged with a head tilt.
"I think so? We were making out behind the club last night." He confirmed questionably.
"That's a good signal that she definitely likes you. Did you ask her out tonight?" Eliza continued to pry.
"Well yeah! I texted her again this morning." He answered.
"You can take her out after dinner! No biggie!" She chimed encouragingly. Zed pouted.
YOU ARE READING
In Cold Blood
Fanfiction"Make no mistakes," they told her. "Leave no trace. Get in and get out and get it over with." Death was inevitable, all she was doing was speeding up the process. "You must restore the justice this world so cruelly disregarded," they had told him. "...
