Alix & Valerie

by Ingrid Diaz

  “Actually, I was just visiting your brother.”

  My eyes snapped to her, as she knew they would. If my gaze could kill, she would’ve been dead a while ago.

  “I’m afraid he’s losing faith in you,” Chris continued, rising to her feet. Her arrangement of necklaces and bracelets clanked against each other. “Can’t say I blame him. Even if you are Super Girl, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money.”

  “I will get you the money.”

  “Your persistence is admirable, Val,” she responded, walking over to me. “Frankly, if he were my brother I would’ve just let me kill him.” She shrugged. “But I do want my money back.”

  I fought the urge to get away from her. “You’ll get it.”

  She studied me for a long while, her brown eyes burning into mine, trying to find any ounce of untruth. Convinced there was none, she nodded and returned to the couch. “I trust I will. Now. What did your little contact on the inside have to say?”

  “She said Alix needed a couple of weeks.”

  Chris snorted. “That’s ridiculous. This is taking too long. Put a gun to her head, get the money, hand it over and your brother goes free. I’m tired of watching you parade around with that little bitch—” she emphasized the word for my benefit, “—like you’re a couple of high school lovebirds. If you’re just wasting my time, Valerie, let me know now.”

  “I’m not wasting your time,” I said slowly. “Let me do it my way and you’ll get your money. But I need more time.”

  Chris shook her head and stood once again. “You’re not the one calling the shots around here. It’s your brother’s life on the line here, or have you forgotten that little detail?”

  I closed my eyes. “I’ll get you more,” I found myself saying, feeling desperate. “I’ll double it if you just let me do it my way.”

  She drew in a long breath. I could almost hear the cash register in her head processing the information. “How do you plan to pull this off?”

  “Trust me,” I said. “A million and a half, in exchange for more time.”

  A short pause, then, “How much time?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  Chris nodded. “Tell you what. I’ll give you a month. If you still need more time after that, it goes up to three million.” She started toward the door. “See you in a month,” she announced, before slamming the door shut behind her.

  Chapter 3

  I spent the next two weeks—when I wasn’t working, that is—trying to come up with some way of getting Alix to talk to me. I couldn’t just disappear from her life and then show up at her doorstep saying, “Hi honey, I’m home,” and expect her to welcome me into her open arms. She’d most likely smack the living daylights out of me and then slam the door in my face.

  So I considered all of my options, again, for the millionth time, and kept arriving at the same conclusion: Alix couldn’t know. Jessica couldn’t know. I couldn’t involve any more people in this mess . . . I just couldn’t risk it.

  Two weeks came and went and I still hadn’t figured out what to do. So, on a Tuesday, two weeks later, I’d decided to spend the day drawing. I skipped my classes at the university and stayed in my apartment all day long.

  Still in my pajamas, I set up my easel in the living room and stared at the blank canvas for a long time, trying to find inspiration. Once I thought of Alix, it didn’t take long for my hand to start moving over the white surface, tracing lines and molding them into shapes. Time eluded me as I sketched the outlines of her face . . . her body. Night fell and I hadn’t moved from the spot I’d claimed that morning. I was wishing that the drawing would come to life, somehow, and put me out of my misery. My heart was breaking and I couldn’t piece it back together, no matter which way I turned, which road I chose.

  Then, there was a knock at the door.

  At first, I decided to ignore it. It was probably one of the neighbors asking for a cup of sugar or something like that. Then I stopped to wonder when a neighbor had ever stopped by my apartment. There were only two people who ever came by. And only one of them ever knocked. My gaze darted from the drawing to the door, wondering if I was being too hopeful. I decided there was only one way to find out. Piece of charcoal in hand, I walked to the door and opened it slowly. The first thing I noticed was her eyes, green and sparkling as always. The second thing I noticed was the feather in her hand, and I swallowed, taking a step backward.

  Alix walked into the apartment and closed the door behind her, looking around as though expecting someone to pop out of a corner or something. Then her eyes met mine and she aimed the dreaded feather in my direction.

  “I’m here to announce that I’m mad at you,” she said. “And I’m ready to throw this at you if you don’t tell me what’s going on with you.”

  She was so beautiful. I doubt that she knew it, but she was. I loved the way her short hair fell forward, strands covering her eyes at times. My gaze drifted over her, as it always did. Baggy clothing concealing the beautiful body beneath. She was dressed in black as usual. Black Airwalks, black jeans and a black Aerosmith tee shirt I’d never seen on her before. Too cute. It was then I remembered that she’d said something about being mad at me. “I think you’re being a bit harsh with the feather. Perhaps you’d like to continue this conversation in the elevator?”

  She took a step forward and waved the feather around menacingly. “Not funny,” she replied. It was then that she noticed the easel and the canvas and seemed momentarily distracted. “What’s that?”

  Trying not to blush, I said something really clever and intelligent. Something along the lines of, “Umm . . .”

  Feather and anger forgotten, she walked to my drawing and stood before it, studying it intently. “Is that me?” she asked softly, not taking her eyes away from it.

  I took a second to decide which answer would get me in less trouble. I cocked my head to the side and scratched the back of my head as I looked at the drawing. It was pretty obvious that it was her, so I couldn’t very well deny it, even if I’d wanted to. So, “Yeah,” I said, coming up behind her, wishing I was brave enough to touch her. Perhaps I would’ve been, had she not been holding that evil feather. As it happened, though, I was too frightened of what she’d do with it if I dared cross the line. I cleared my throat as I always did when I was nervous and asked, “Do you like it?”

  She turned around to face me, her body so close to mine I could feel the heat she radiated. She was kind enough to put the feather down on the coffee table before answering. “I love it,” she said, her gaze not quite meeting mine. “Guess you didn’t need me to pose for you after all.”

  I ventured a grin as I stared down at her beautiful face. “No, but it would’ve been a lot more fun to draw.” I saw the sadness in her eyes, and my heart shattered all over again. I couldn’t bear to look at her any longer. What could I say to her that would make everything all right? Jade was right, I was going to lose her either way if I didn’t tell her the truth. But would I lose her anyway? How much could I say before I said too much? “What made you come over?” I asked her softly.

  She took a step away from me and then sighed, biting her lip in a way I’d seen her do a million times before. “I’ve been thinking a lot about us. Actually, that’s all I’ve been doing.” She pushed her hair back with her hands and let out a long breath. “I was writing this story and when I started it, I meant for it to be about Jessica, you know? And then, somehow, it ended up being about you. And somewhere along the line, I realized that I don’t know how to let you go.” She smacked her forehead. “Oh God, now I’m quoting Sarah McLachlan.” She smacked my shoulder. “Do you see what you’ve done to me?”

  I rubbed my shoulder, though she hadn’t really hurt me. I couldn’t help the small grin that crossed my lips.

  “Anyway,” she continued, “I thought I’d come by and give you one more chance. Besides, I wanted to exercise my right to be mad at you.” She crossed her arms and looked at me expect
antly. “So feel free to grovel any time starting now.”

  Grovel? She stumped me, truly. I stared at her, dumbfounded, and blinked a few times. I finally came to the realization that too much was resting on my shoulders to blow it all away simply because I was too blind and stupid not to trust the one person who was starting to mean more than the air to me.

  Her eyes pleaded sadly, and I could feel my resolve breaking. I looked all around the living room for a moment, my eyes narrowing. My apartment was probably bugged for all I knew. I was probably being paranoid, but I couldn’t take the chance. Not when Alix’s life was at stake. Besides, I hadn’t yet decided how much to tell her. “Let’s go for a walk.”

  “Where to?” she asked, looking confused.

  “Just to get some air,” I replied.

  “Okay.” She nodded in my direction. “You’re going dressed like that?”

  I half-smiled, a bit sheepishly, as I recalled that I was dressed in less than suitable attire for any activity that wasn’t sleeping. “Let me get changed.”

  She nodded and took a seat on the couch. “You might wanna try a shower, too. But that’s just a suggestion.”

  I would’ve grinned but I was suddenly too overcome with nervousness to do anything but secretly panic. Was I really going to tell her? I wondered as I headed toward the bathroom. I decided to take the shower after all, if only to prolong the situation while I came up with what exactly I was going to say. Cause quite frankly, I hadn’t the slightest idea.

  Chapter 4

  You know how in movies every scene seems to have appropriate background music that works to depict how the characters are feeling without them having to say anything? Well, picture this. We were walking side by side, down the practically deserted beach. Meanwhile, the theme song to The Twilight Zone kept echoing in my brain over and over again. All around me, the crashing of the waves seemed to say, “Tell her.” The wind, too. I thought I was going insane.

  The night was humid with the promise of rain. A look at the dark sky confirmed that indeed a storm was approaching. Perhaps walking down the beach hadn’t been the most intelligent of ideas, but it had seemed like an appropriate locale for revelations. The waves were getting restless and the wind was starting to blow colder, but it hadn’t yet begun to rain, so we kept on walking. If it started to pour, we could easily make it to shelter.

  I made a point of staring down at the sand, pretending to concentrate on the crunching noises my boots were making as they made their marks, leaving behind the traces of my existence. Beside me, Alix walked with her hands in her pockets. I wished that I hadn’t allowed things get so serious between us. I’d lost track of everything. I’d jeopardized everything and I wasn’t entirely sure that I could make things right again.

  Yet, the fact remained that I needed Alix’s help and I was running out of time to do anything but tell her the truth. Regardless of the consequences.

  Surprisingly, it was Alix who spoke first. “Would it make it easier on you if I told you a secret too?” she asked, not looking at me. She sounded like she usually did, cheerful, but I could detect something else in her tone that I couldn’t quite identify.

  My eyebrows shot upward. “I guess it depends on the secret,” I responded, wondering what anyone like her could possibly have to hide.

  “Well, I’ll measure the shock factor of whatever it is you need to tell me, and then I’ll reveal myself accordingly.”

  I doubted she could possibly say anything that would measure up to my dirty dish of secrets. “So, I’ve got to go first regardless?”

  She glanced at me, and I caught the sparkle in her eyes as she said, “You did tell me that you liked having something to look forward to.”

  I smiled briefly. “Indeed I did.” My gaze wandered off to the ocean for a moment as I decided what to say. Did I tell her about Jessica first? How much about that did she know? Probably nothing. Or did I start with my brother? Which way would make me seem like less of an asshole?

  Neither.

  Sighing, I turned my attention to Alix. “Let’s sit down,” I suggested and proceeded to plop down on the sand. It was rather moist but I didn’t particularly care one way or the other. Alix was a bit more hesitant, but then dropped down beside me anyway.

  “If I get struck by lightning,” she began, “I’m going to do inhumane things to you with that feather. Just a warning.”

  Glancing at the sky, I saw no signs of lightning. Not yet anyway. “What do you think I’m going to tell you?”

  She shrugged and played absently with a handful of sand. “We can go back to your apartment and play pictionary until I guess. Or even charades, I’m good at that.” She caught my gaze. “I’m not sure, Valerie. But I’d wish you’d hurry up and tell me ’cause the suspense is kind of killing me here. You can trust me, you know? I am the queen of keeping secrets.”

  “Oh?”

  Alix nodded, paused as though recalling something, and shook her head. “Yeah.” The next thing she said almost to herself, but I heard her anyway. “I think Jessica’s alone are enough to land me that title.”

  It made me wonder how many of Jessica’s secrets she actually knew. All of them? If so, perhaps it wouldn’t be so difficult to explain everything. But would Jessica really tell her? I doubted she even knew herself.

  “Jessica has secrets?” I wondered, hoping to sound casual.

  She snorted at that. “Yeah. Probably one for every dollar in her bank account.”

  “And you know them all?”

  Instantly, her gaze darted to mine. “What does this have to do with anything?”

  If she only knew. I paused, wondering how blunt I should be, then deciding to just go for it. Like a band-aid. The faster the better. “Do you know about her parents?”

  Alix frowned, staring at me. “What do you mean? That they died?”

  I studied her for a moment, searching her eyes for a sign that she knew more than she was letting on. I doubted that she knew. If she knew, that meant that Jessica knew and her parents wouldn’t have told her before they died. Would they? I decided to press forward. “No not exactly. Do you know anything else?”

  “Why are you asking me about Jessica’s parents?”

  “Which ones?” I asked, under my breath. I didn’t intend for her to hear me but she had somehow.

  There was silence. Then, “What are you talking about?”

  “Huh?”

  She was watching me intently now. “What did you mean ‘which ones’?”

  Shit. How did I explain this?

  “Are you a reporter?”

  A reporter? I would’ve laughed had she not sounded so serious. “No. Not even close.”

  Alix was biting her lip again. She was watching me with a look that bordered on confusion and something else. Fear perhaps? I didn’t want her to be afraid of me. “Valerie, I’m two seconds from kicking you in the face and running for my life, so you better start talking now.”

  I ran a hand through my hair, swallowing hard. “Okay. Uh, once upon a time, in a mansion by the sea—”

  “What?”

  Perhaps that wasn’t the best approach in these circumstances. I decided to just explain the easy part first. Maybe we’d actually get somewhere that way. “Remember when you asked me if I had any siblings and I said no?”

  “Right . . .”

  “Well, I lied.” I looked at her to see her reaction, she appeared to be waiting for more, so I continued. “I have a younger brother named Aaron. He’s eighteen, and sort of a computer geek. Anyway, he was involved with these people—”

  “What kind of people?”

  I hesitated. “Drug people.” Before she had a chance to react, I continued. “He was in charge of keeping all their information on the computer. Client information and money and so on. Well, he started stealing from them. Little bits at a time, so it wouldn’t be noticeable, except that it was. He’d stolen seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars by the time he got caught.” I shook my head, fee
ling stupid for my brother. “Their leader, which you briefly met the other night, owed me a favor, which is why Aaron had gotten the job with her in the first place, and why she hadn’t immediately killed him. She contacted me, told me what he’d done, and I rushed over to see if I could talk him into telling me where the money was. If he gave them the money back, they’d let him go. He’d have to leave the state but at least he’d be alive. Well, he wouldn’t tell me. I suspect it’s long gone by now. Well, needless to say, Chris was furious when I came back and said he wouldn’t tell me. She was ready to kill him right there in front of me, but I asked her to give me a chance to get her the money. She said no. I told her I’d double it and she relented.” I looked at her then.

  Alix was staring down at the sand. “So you were using me to get to Jessica so you could get the money for your brother?”

  She made it sound so . . . simple. I didn’t know what to say.

  “I’ll get you the money from Jessica,” Alix announced, though her voice was distant and cold. She wouldn’t even look at me. “You could’ve just asked from the beginning. You didn’t have to go through all the trouble of pretending you were interested in me.”

  I parted my lips to respond but nothing came out. How could she think that? Then I sighed. How could she not. “Alix,” I started, attempting to get her to meet my gaze. She wouldn’t. I kept thinking that letting her go was for the best. She was better off without me. I should just get the money, get my brother, and forget all about this and her . . . but one look into her eyes and I knew it was easier thought than done. “I wasn’t pretending.”

  She shook her head, looking anywhere but at me. “Sorry if I have a hard time believing that.” She looked up at the sky then back down at the sand. “It’s gonna rain. We should get out of here.”

  Mutely, I nodded. I got up, then reached out to help her, but she was already on her feet and walking away from me. “Alix,” I called.

  She didn’t turn.

  Running a hand through my hair in frustration I looked around as though expecting the palm trees or the waves to have the answers I needed. Sighing, I started to run after her. I caught up soon after and fell in step beside her. She still wouldn’t look at me. And then it started to drizzle. “If I told you there was more, what would you say?”