Last Time: Do you want your best sleuth-."
"Only."
"Right, only sleuth to die of starvation in the middle of the planning period?"
"I guess not. Do you really want some?" she clutched her back of goodies reluctantly. Mina eyed it like she hadn't eaten in days. Maybe just a few. What is it exactly?" Her eyes sparkled in anticipation.
"
Can't Stop the Music
Chapter 16
Serena felt incredibly stupid.
She had just spent the last 10 minutes of her life tying to wiggle at least one of her toes. Her thoughts were centered on one topic instead of her usual scatterbrained thoughts.
"Just move!"
Looking more than slightly perturbed, Serena blew another errant strand of hair away from her line of vision. Her self motivation techniques seemed oddly similar to a movie she saw once. What was the name of it again?
Kill Phil?
Kill Will?
Nevermind that.
Andrew had disappeared a little over an hour ago to buy Serena some more groceries. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she flopped back against her ratty, old couch. It was weird not having Lita around to keep her company. In fact, the girl hadn't seen the brunette since she sent her out for those silly Fig Newtons!
A cold sense of dread entered the pit of her stomach.
Lita wasn't the type to just go off and not tell anyone where she was going. Well, there was that one time she excused herself to the bathroom when they were out at lunch. When she had not returned Serena had gotten worried. It turned out the only person who needed worrying was the poor old woman she was trying to shake down for a piece of her Fig Newton.
Her giggles filled the empty room and died slowly.
This could only mean that Lita was not only up to no good, but that some poor unsuspecting person's life was in danger!
The thought didn't unsettle her as much as it usually did. She could only find herself hoping that this time no one would press charges against her poor overzealous friend. Her slightly nervous silence was only broken by the loud rumble that came from beneath her bright pink camisole.
Wherever Lita was…
Where the hell is Andrew with my food?"
Today was going to be the day.
She had strayed from ladders, avoided all black cats, and had even put on her lucky sports-bra from her high school volleyball years. All that was left was for the subject of her problems to make his appearance. As minute by minute passed her hopes deflated little by little.
Aside from the occasional pedestrian walking down the street it had been dull.
Very dull.
Duller than sin.
A loud crackling sound was heard scaring Mina out of her thoughts. She scrambled over the dozens of empty Starbucks latté containers and ripped open her tiny glove compartment.
"Base to Miss Muffet do you copy?"
The crackling died down enough for her to reply with a witty remark.
"Huh? Who the hell is this?" She blinked at the small walkie-talkie in her hand." I don't know anyone named Base!"
If the voice on the other line had the time she probably would've ran away screaming bloody murder. "It's Lita you wanker!" She let out a heavy sigh.
Mina huffed at being offended in her own car and squeezed the contraption in her hand. "Well why didn't you say that in the first place? Gosh, you act like I'm psycho or something!" Her slender hand vainly flicked a stray piece of blonde hair that had snaked its way over her shoulder.
Under her breath Lita let out a small whimper and died a little on the inside.
"Don't you mean psy…you know what…never mind." Lita just stared a hole into her talkie. "Why do I even bother to attempt intelligent conversations with you? It's like trying to teach a rock to recite poetry. Has the target been sighted?"
Mina had drowned out most of Lita's rant with a little song she had heard on the radio this morning. Her attention snapped back to the voice coming out of the speaker.
"Hm? Oh yeah, him. I seriously think he's going to need food soon. Ian hasn't shown up in a while for a nice chat with me."
The frustrated brunette went from angry to just plain confused.
"Ian? What does he have to do with anything?" She had a feeling she was walking into a topic she really didn't want to know anything about.
Meanwhile the blonde's smile turned gushy. "Oh he's the pizza guy. He used to stop by what's his name's place all the time by that was a good two weeks ago!
…I miss him…"
Silence reigned as Lita took in this new bit of information.
So the sneak had been ordering take-out had he? Must of gotten sick of pizza day in and day out. Then the realization of the rest of Mina's confession slowly sunk in.
"You let people see you staking out his house? Are you trying to get us arrested?"
Her breathing became unstable as she struggled to untangle her hands from her hair. Mina had shrunken back against the side of her car.
"Was that bad?"
Lita had to struggle to keep her anger in check.
It was only one person, but that one person could ruin everything! All her well laid plans would go to waste if Mina's crush caught on to them.
"We're fine, Mina. Just make sure no one else sees you outside his place ok? Promise me you'll stay out of sight! Promise me, Mina!" Her voice shook with desperation.
"Um…Lita?"
Her blue eyes followed a very haggard looking man out of a building.
"Mina, you have to promise! There's no telling how bad things could be if the plan went wrong. The target must not know we are watching him. As soon as he leaves his cave I should be the first to know got it?"
The man disappeared around the corner before Lita was even half-way through the lecture. Mina wondered how far he would before she got some words in.
"That's all well and good Lita, but we have a problem."
Lita rolled her eyes at Mina's lack of conviction.
"What's wrong now? Out of latte already?"
This time it was Mina's turn to roll her eyes.
"No, nothing like that. I was just wondering what we should do if the target escapes our sights. Just in case..you know the deal.
Lita nodded her head and realized she couldn't be seen. "Well, if that happened we'd have to into a state of panic. There's no telling where that man could go in such a state."
Mina's complexion paled with each word out of Lita's mouth.
"A s-state of pa-anic you say. Well, than perhaps we should do something productive besides sitting here?" Her voice was slightly higher than usual to Lita, but maybe it was just the static.
"Why would you say that?"
"Oh no reason in particular, but he did leave at least 12 minutes ago." The female's throat constricted as she plastered herself to the window to avoid Lita's wrath. Even when they were miles apart the tiny toy radiated some angry vibes.
"He WHAT!"