Illusion

ana barton

This is an original story that’s based on a dream I had some time ago.

ALL CHARACTERS, NAMES, and EVENTS are fictional in nature or may be based on personal friends and occurrences in my life. Any resemblance to real life is purely coincidental.

Rated PG-13 for language and content.

Chapter 16: Outside In

-o-o-o-

“Is it okay to say that I don’t like her?” she asked somewhat hesitantly.

“It’s okay. I don’t like her either,” he replied. “Makes me wonder what I ever saw in her in the first place.”

“She’s pretty.”

“In a perfectly controlled way, yeah,” he agreed. “But not the point; besides, you’re prettier.”

She smiled and briefly touched her forehead to his shoulder. “Thank you, even if you’re a bit biased.”

“Am not.”

The man bit back a grin at the whispered conversation he was sure no one was supposed to hear but he was hearing all the same. He was seated behind them in the theater after all and couldn’t really help overhearing.

He sat back when the couple’s blonde companion leaned over from the woman’s side. “Could you two keep it down?” he hissed. “Some people actually want to see what they gave their last free Saturday for.”

The couple he was watching turned to their friend and through the faint light, he saw them both sport disbelieving expressions.

“Shut up,” the blonde groused.

The woman stifled a giggle and placed her hand on his arm. “Anything for you, Davie,” she said teasingly. “All you have to do is ask, Davie.”

“Stop flirting with my girlfriend, Davie.”

He heaved a long suffering sigh. “Shut up, Jamesie.”

-o-o-o-

Maya was furious. That good-for-nothing, ball-kicking asshole just ruined her perfect night to affect a reconciliation with James! Was it enough that he practically stole her away from the group and bored her with his nonsensical rhetoric? Of course not! The bastard had to seat them as far away as possible from James but he was clever enough that they weren’t so far that they weren’t part of the whole group outing.

And it was worse after the play. Marge had arranged for them to have dinner together – admittedly at a fast food restaurant but as it had been Jayson’s favorite place, she merely grinned and bore it as any self-respecting lady would – as celebration for the boy’s successful debut. It was all well and good that they would eat together as Maya saw this as an opportunity to have a word with James, but the blonde idiot replaced the asshole as her bodyguard.

What was it with these two?! They were friends before; why are they setting out to ruin her life now? Why were they in this tag team effort to separate her from James? Didn’t they know that that stupid girlfriend of his was just plain unsuitable for someone like James? Didn’t they know that she was the one and only choice for James to be with? Didn’t they know the agony they inflicted on her when she couldn’t do anything about every brazen move that hussy made on her man?

“Maya? Is everything alright?”

She forced a smile on her face; it certainly wouldn’t do for anyone to see a frown mar her face, especially her current companion. “Tita?”

Mildred sighed then delicately sipped at her tea. “Darling, are you alright? You seem a bit preoccupied.”

She looked down demurely. “Just lost in thought, Tita,” she replied. “About how I’d like to fry those two traitors in hot boiling animal fat,” she finished the thought to herself. She and Mildred were meeting for brunch today, ostensibly to catch up, at one of the newer chic cafés in town.

“I don’t blame you,” Mildred was saying. “That night could have gone a bit better, don’t you think so?”

“The play was wonderful, Tita,” she said but she smiled self-deprecatingly. “It was such a shame that Russell chose such distant seats for us.”

“Yes, that…” Mildred huffed. “It was perfectly dreadful and uncouth of Russell to do that.” Never let it be said that the woman was one to quibble with words when she wanted to.

“Oh, it was alright I suppose… It has been a long since I last had any contact with any of them,” Maya sighed. “I would have loved to have talked with James, though.”

“I certainly would have loved that too, sweetheart, but…”

Both women shared a look and a slight smile.

“There’ll be other days, Maya,” she promised.

“Tita…”

“Don’t worry about that. Come to think of it, why don’t you join us for dinner one night? When are you free? I’m sure James would love to see you.”

“I would love to, Tita. Thank you.” Maya hid a triumphant grin behind her tea cup.

“Nonsense, darling; just tell me when you’re free and I’ll set it up.”

-o-o-o-

It was dark in the room. The sounds inside indicated some very active nocturnal animals going about their activities. A keening wail quickly silenced followed by a loud groan, and then there was silence. The crickets outside looked at each other for a moment before they resumed their nightly chorus without having to battle with the earlier sounds.

A few minutes later, a sliver of light appeared on the garage and a disheveled looking girl came out the door, though not before being thoroughly kissed and mauled by the man inside. He removed his hand from inside her short skirt and patted her on the cheek fondly before closing the door on her. The girl sighed happily and skipped off down the driveway and out to the streets, the lamplight catching the insignia of the local high school on her jacket.

Miko brushed his hair back and jogged back up to his bedroom above the garage of the house. He was still living with his parents yes, but at the same time being afforded precious privacy that he wouldn’t have gotten if was still inside the house.

As it was, his bedroom doubled as a recording and practice studio for his band. Instruments were on one side of the room, along with the mixing board, amplifiers, and computers, while his bed and closet were squished onto one side. It was to his bed that Miko looked at first critically after flicking on the lights – it was rumpled, slightly damp, and there was a splotch of blood among his sheets.

“Hot damn,” he exclaimed. “She’s certainly not like any virgin I’ve had.”

Almost involuntarily, his eyes fell on a picture of him and Tin, hanging crookedly on the wall. It had been taken on the early days of their relationship, when she was still his, when the totality of her being belonged to him. Tin was so beautiful; she had that glowing innocence accentuated by her innate trusting nature. She stood by him when he didn’t even believe in himself, and she helped him pick himself up from despair, enabling the words and melodies flow from his heart.

Tin had been, was, and remained to this day, his everything.

He was a monumental idiot for letting her go and for what? A meaningless understanding that dissolved into nothing almost as soon as Tin was out of his life. The promised deal didn’t come through and the band broke up. If it hadn’t been for the dedicated efforts of their keyboard player, they wouldn’t have been able to piece the band back together with new members and to get enough gigs to be called a band.

Things were starting to shape up into a semblance of what was normal for the band, and all he needed now was to have Tin by his side again. Things were always better with her and life just seemed brighter somehow.

Miko pulled the sheets off, throwing them to a dark corner of the room absent-mindedly with the rest of his laundry, before dropping onto the bed with a sigh. Tin had blown him off when he tried to talk to her before; heck, she didn’t show up when he told her to meet with him so they could talk about their relationship. But that was cool – he expected a bit of resistance from her – and completely understandable, considering the way they broke things off, rather the way he broke things off.

He wasn’t disheartened in the least. In fact, he was encouraged that Tin was still thinking about him to be able to blow him off. He still had a chance to get her back before her friends could further turn her away from him – why they didn’t like him, he didn’t know – and before anyone could take her from him. All he really needed to do now was to explain things to her and she’d be back in his arms in no time.

Miko smiled. “You’ll come back to me, Tin,” he said to himself. “You always do.”

-o-o-o-

The freshman watched fascinated as two senior members of the organizations started to go at it. Leah guessed they were being polite about the disagreement but they were disagreeing all the same in clipped, very polite, tones – at least one of them was.

She had to admit that it was beyond mesmerizing watching David go after a point that he believed in and have someone oppose him. Besides, he was quite cute. How often do you get someone like him in all his blonde godliness grace you with his presence every single day of the school week? And sometimes on weekends too, if she was lucky.

“We can’t have another activity on that day,” David pointed out civilly. “We already have a commitment and we can’t reschedule that.”

Then again Russell was a very persuasive guy and really cool too. It wasn’t only that he was an athlete – in the injured list this year coz of his busted arm care of an accident with a drunk driver but as far as she was concerned it only added to his appeal – nor was it just only that he had to have the most endearing smile in the whole school, which he directed at her in no less than three times today, and it was just morning.

“But David,” he said with something close to a whine in his voice. “Why do we have to attend that execom whatchamacallit thing—”

“Team building seminar with the other YFC execoms in the metro area,” James interjected helpfully as he passed them.

Both men glared at him before going back to glaring at each other.

“Try not to kill each other, okay?” he called out then waved at them briefly. “Bye.”

Did she mention that James was another hottie that she loved watching, especially when he’s walking off like he is right now? “God, what a nice ass…” He embodied everything a girl could ever want in a guy, plus something decidedly dark and dangerous. He was handsome, tall, had a nice enough smile (when he did smile), and he drove this really cool car. Too bad though, that according to the rumor mill, he had a pregnant girlfriend that he was successfully hiding from his family.

No doubt his two close friends knew about it but neither was willing to squeal on them, which was admirable.

“—yeah that thing,” Russell continued, “when we could go to this really cool party?”

“A party?! You want us to blow off the other execoms for a party?!”

She sighed dreamily. Gee, even when he’s livid, David’s still hot.

“It’s a shindig for some kids at a halfway house,” he replied easily. “I heard there’s cake and ice cream.”

Leah sighed again. Russell was really nice and noble. He wanted to attend a party for the kids from a halfway house rather than go to a probably boring team building seminar.

“Russell!”

“What? I’m sure there’s some other food there too… maybe some of those caramel puffs you love so much.”

David closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Does James know?”

“Hey!” he pouted. “You heard what he said: I’m The Main Man this semester and he’s only in a supervisory role.”

“I know that,” he said accompanied with a pointed glare. “Have you told him?”

Russell grinned unrepentantly. “Nope. Figured I’d have you tell him after I convince you to agree to it.”

“Good morning.”

Leah smiled as she glanced behind her. “Ate Tin. What’s up?”

Tin grinned ruefully as she sifted through the books laid out on the bench. “I forgot my History book somewhere here and I need it for class later; I haven’t finished the required reading yet.”

Leah winced, looking at the mess of books littered on and around the bench. “Ouch.”

“Oh yeah,” Tin sighed. “Where did I…”

“Oh c’mon David,” Russell cajoled. “Don’t be like that.”

“Like what?! You agreed to something without consulting any of the execom?! Without consulting me?!”

Tin glanced up at them. “What’s wrong with them?”

“Gee David, I didn’t know you wanted to know my schedule that badly. I could always forward it to your palm pilot.”

“Russell!”

“Scheduling conflicts,” Leah replied, dividing her attention between Tin and the bickering duo.

“I didn’t exactly agree…” Russell hedged. “More like I told her I’d see her there—”

“There had to be a girl involved!” David sighed aggrievedly.

He shrugged. “So I thought why not involve you guys in such a worthwhile cause?”

“The least you could have done was tell me earlier,” David sighed.

“I’m telling you now.”

Tin shook her head. “Ah well… Ah-hah! Found you!” she crowed delightedly as she grabbed her book from beneath a huge Trigonometry book.

The bell rang just then and Leah and the rest of the freshmen stood up; they had class. “See yah, Ate Tin.”

“Bye Leah. Have fun.”

She rolled her eyes dramatically. “If it were only possible in the most boring English class in history.”

Tin chuckled as she waved them off, already reading her History book. The last thing Leah heard before she and the rest of her class were too far away from the hang out was Russell pleading for Tin’s assistance in persuading David to side with him in his quest to get out of the execom exercise.

-o-o-o-

Mildred wasn’t a night owl. Even when she was younger and staying up late at bars had been the thing to do on weekends, she always ended the partying at a decent hour. She had to take care of her skin, after all, and everyone knew that late nights resulted in frightful skin the next day.

But she was forcing herself awake tonight because she wanted to have a talk with her son. As far as she knew, James came home at an absurdly late hour. No doubt after having been with that woman of his; didn’t she know that James has classes to get ready for? He had his own life to live separate from whatever they have, and that woman should respect that.

Mildred gave the cold cup of coffee in front of her a look of disgust, gripping her silk robe over her nightgown closer to her. She wasn’t even a coffee drinker but she’d t drunk half a cup in the hopes that it would aid her in keeping awake. It did, but she hadn’t finished the caffeine drink.

Finally, she heard the sound she had been waiting for since she started her vigil. Joseph had advised against her course of action, but he was especially tired tonight that he’d only given her a glare when she’d told him; he was sleeping soundly now and couldn’t interrupt.

The main door opened quietly and she was off the chair in the living room in a flash and beaming a smile at her son. His clothes looked rumpled but that was all she could visibly see to indicate anything. “James.”

He looked askance at her as he closed the door. “Mother,” he greeted politely.

“You’re home late,” she remarked, careful not to sound too accusing.

James nodded. “I drove Anna to work.”

“Have you had dinner yet?” she asked, moving towards the kitchen. “I’m sure there’s something…”

“Mother.”

Mildred stopped and turned to look at him. He hadn’t moved from the door and was just looking at her with that damned stare that he learned from his father, the kind that bored into your soul and forced you to give up your secrets.

“What’s this about?”

Luckily for her, she’d had enough practice with Joseph over the years for that stare to be ineffective so she just smiled. “Can’t I just wait up for you to welcome you home?”

He snorted. “You don’t stay up late, Mother, for whatever reason.”

“Well I did this time,” she told him firmly. “And I have good reason to. I want to talk to you.”

“And this couldn’t have waited for morning?”

“I barely see you in the morning, James,” she reproached gently. “And you look exhausted. Are you getting enough sleep?”

“Could you just get to the point?” he asked aggrievedly. “As you pointed out, I am exhausted and I need to rest.”

“The point.” Mildred swept back to her chair and gestured for him to take the couch. She only continued speaking when he’d sat down.

“The point, my dear, is that you’re running yourself to the ground. You leave the house very early and you come home late. I don’t remember the last time I’d seen you at the dinner table. Admittedly, it is your last semester,” she conceded, “but this is just too much James.”

“Are you done?”

“I don’t think this relationship with… Anna is for your best interests,” she said delicately.

“Why? Because I don’t come home early enough?”

She inclined her head. “Is she aware that you have a heavier load this last semester? The least she can do is to let you go home to rest and attend to your academics rather than demand you spend time with her.”

“Anna doesn’t insist that of me,” he replied. “If anything, I make those demands of her.”

That gave Mildred pause but she was a woman on a mission and she would not be deterred.

“Nevertheless, you have your academic standing to maintain. Does she understand that?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Why won’t she understand? Anna graduated from the same school.”

She didn’t know that. “Then she knows how this being your last semester is important?”

“She knows and she’s been very accommodating of me.”

She snorted disbelievingly. “I sincerely doubt that.”

“If you’d give her a chance,” James snapped. “Maybe you wouldn’t doubt her.”

“That wasn’t the point.”

“I thought the point was that you didn’t like her!” he exclaimed.

“It doesn’t matter if I like her or not,” she told him dismissively. “What matters is that I’d like to see my son home at a reasonable time every now and then. Will that be too much to ask?”

He made a face as he stood up. He gave her another look before going up the stairs to his room.

Mildred waited until she’d heard his door close before letting loose a triumphant smile. She knew her son well enough to know that he was considering her words and would most likely than not, heed them. She wouldn’t be surprised if some night in the next few weeks he’d be home in time for dinner.

And maybe after that, she can work on convincing him to listen to her and get back together with Maya.

-o-o-o-

Brian didn’t often indulge in daydreaming, especially during the workday, but he was still human after all. Just because he was in charge of the office division didn’t mean that he was to forego his own personal interests. And one of his interests, it so happened, practically dictated that he be allowed to daydream every once in a while, or until his Muse decided to up and leave him yet again, leaving a half finished manuscript. Again.

But She was kind to him this time around and he could envision everything She was dictating. Words and scenes were flowing through his mind as he stared at the wall of his office. It wasn’t often that She’d grace him with this much of Her presence but he’d take what he can when he can, so Brian the writer continued to stare and daydream.

Fro all intents and purposes he really should be writing all these ideas down, just to make sure that he didn’t forget anything but that wasn’t how he operated. He liked to finish up a story in his head – every single blessed detail and dialogue of it – before putting pen to paper, or typing into a word document, as it were these days. For someone who professed to be “old school” in such things he wasn’t averse to using technological advances.

He smirked. “Especially when I can hardly write legibly these days,” he muttered softly.

The flow of ideas was ebbing and he blinked, finally seeing the wall he had been so fascinated with minutes ago. In point of fact, he adored that wall as he often treated it as a screen from which he could watch his characters come to life, if only in his mind’s eyes’ projector film.

“Ahem.”

Brian jumped but was quick enough to recover and hide the reaction behind a cool smile. He swiveled around in his chair and greeted the interloper politely. “Yes? What can I do for you?”

His secretary hid an amused smile even if her eyes were twinkling knowingly. “Your one o’clock is here, Mr. Quiambao.”

“Oh. Okay. Show them in.”

“It’s a her, sir,” she said in an undertone, “from the Vice President of Finance’s office, to talk about an article regarding their office.”

He was so not going to blush; he had more control than that. “Okay then. Show her in, Mrs. Diaz.” So what if he’d forgotten? It was no big deal; everyone forgot something.

She smirked. “Yes sir.” After a few moments, his appointment was shown in. “Can I get you anything, sir?”

“No thank you, Mrs. Diaz,” Brian smiled. “We’ll be fine. Thank you.”

Another knowing smirk and she was gone back to her desk. She exchanged a look with the newbie in the office, Faye, whose work station was near her desk.

“He does that sometimes,” she told her with a grin. Mrs. Diaz didn’t want to give the newbie any ideas that their boss was anything but perfectly competent at the job. It certainly wouldn’t do for his reputation to be called into question by some upstart who’d gotten in by virtue of her personal connections rather than merit.

Faye grinned. “Understandable. I often need a moment to reprogram my brain so I could finish my section.”

“Just as long as the moments don’t become too long, eh?”

“Of course not,” she replied, still grinning good-naturedly. “That’d take too long.”

It must be something in the water or something, Mrs. Diaz thought. No one could be this chirpy, this alive just after lunch break. Most of the other occupants of the office were comatose already or halfway there, even though some were plodding along steadily at their work stations, she observed in satisfaction.

Ah well, seeing as she was chirpy and apparently in the mood to chat, why not indulge and get to know the newcomer.

Mrs. Diaz pulled her chair closer to Faye’s work station. “Are you working on anything urgent?”

“Not really,” she shrugged. “I just have to proof-read a couple of articles before putting them down. No big deal.”

“It just occurred to me that you’ve been here, what, two weeks? And I still don’t know you.” Mrs. Diaz chuckled self-deprecatingly. “And to think that we’re practically neighbors… shameful, that is.”

“Oh that’s alright, Mrs. Diaz,” Faye replied. “We’ve both been busy the past few weeks.”

She smiled. A new person, a new life story, a new hobby… who said working with the tech-y geek-y Net people would be boring? This was the most fun she’d had since she was assigned upstairs.

-o-o-o-

She didn’t know how many times she was going to do this, and frankly, Tin was tiring of the whole process. For that matter, she didn’t know how much more her parents were going to take before they take out a restraining order against him. Much as she would like his stalkerish behavior stopped, she didn’t want that for Miko; it just seemed so… extreme a reaction and suddenly unfair to him.

“I’m hanging up now,” she said. “Goodbye Miko.”

Huffing in exasperation and disgust mixed with pity, Tin threw her phone onto her bed and stared unenthusiastically at her work load for one of her painting classes. Miko sure knew when to call her so she would be most inconvenienced. She had to finish these plates for a showing that her class was putting up at the end of the semester and she had a lot of work to do. But his unexpected phone call had effectively killed off the creative streak she was having and her work was at a standstill once again.

Sighing once more, she reached for her cell phone and dialed a more familiar and more welcome number.

“Hello?”

“‘Te Faye!” she grinned. “Are you doing anything today?”

Faye hesitated at the somewhat desperate tone of her voice. “Erh, not really. It’s a Saturday and I don’t have work until Monday, unlike some people,” she finished the last in a taunting voice, knowing her flat mate would hear her.

“Shut up Faye!” Anna called out aggrievedly.

Tin chuckled. “I was wondering if you two’d like to meet for lunch? I need a break and there’s this new restaurant I want to try, Railey’s, and I heard their steaks are to die for.”

“Sure,” Faye agreed readily. “Anna? You game for lunch? I hear Tin’s buying!”

“I said nothing of the sort!” she protested hotly. “Besides, aren’t you two the ones with salaries? You two should treat me to lunch.”

“James is dropping by…” Anna trailed off.

“So call him and tell him you’re going out to lunch with us,” Faye said impatiently.

“You are so ignoring me, aren’t you?” Tin remarked.

“Honestly,” Faye continued, well into her rant and ignoring Tin on the other line, “it’s not like you’re attached at the hip that you have to spend each and every free moment with each other. I mean, he knows you have friends you’d like to hang with, right? And it’s not like he’s lacking friends too, you know.”

Tin could hear Anna grumbling in the background through the speaker phone about bossy friends but at least it sounded like she was moving about so that meant she was going with.

“You go, ‘Te Faye!”

“What’s gotten into you,” Anna asked peevishly.

“My mom,” Faye replied. “She gives me the same speech every other month so I thought I’d share it with you, since for all intents and purposes, you need that talk more than I do coz you’re the one attached at the hip with your boyfriend, while yours truly is happily single.”

“James and I are not attached at the hip!”

“Really? So when was the last time you spent close to four hours away from each other, not counting your work and his classes?”

“…That’s not exactly a fair question.”

“Told you.”

“We have totally different and opposite schedules!”

“Told you so.”

“It makes sense that we spend as much time together as we can!”

“Told you so.”

“Faye!”

“So Tin, we’ll see you at the restaurant? Railey’s right?”

Tin grinned as she got ready. “Yup. Bring your wallets ‘nee-chans; I’m starving.”

She was still grinning when she hailed a cab to get to the restaurant, not noticing the dark green car that followed her.

-o-o-o-

David rolled his shoulders tiredly as he drove to the designated meeting place. He’d just finished with the latest errand his mother had him run, on top of all the other numerous small things he’d done all over the place just this morning, and he was already tired from the week before.

And it had already been a hellish week. There were back to back exams coupled with a few papers here and there and his responsibilities to the YFC too, all serving to keep him busy as a bee. All he really wanted to do was to fall into bed and not get up until Monday but then Russell had to call and “persuade” him to a late lunch with him and James, just like the good old days.

“And James agreed?” he had asked somewhat incredulously. From what he knew, today was one of Anna’s rest days and the couple usually spent it together.

It wasn’t difficult to imagine Russell give a nonchalant shrug. “Not exactly… but he said he’d meet us there,” he had finished brightly.

David just chuckled and agreed to meet at the restaurant Russell swore had the best barbeque he’d ever tasted. It would be nice to touch base with his best friends, and after all, what was the worst that could happen? It had been a long time since the three of them had spent time together.

He arrived in plenty of time but was surprised to see Anna and Faye with James and Russell, waiting by the Expedition in the parking lot. He parked his car at the opposite lane and got out, heading straight for his friends.

“Hey guys,” he smiled, puzzled but still happy to see them. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“David,” Anna greeted him with a smile from inside the car, seated as she was with James leaning back against her, her arms draped around his shoulders and their hands loosely clasped.

“Russell conned you too?” James asked drolly.

Russell took immediate offense. “Hey! I didn’t con anyone! You agreed because you knew your girlfriend was going to be here in the first place!”

Faye looked pointedly at the couple’s joined hands. “Attached at the hip,” she coughed none too discreetly.

Anna stuck her tongue out at her.

James ignored them and looked at David. “Russell conned you,” he stated. “You look like you’re ready to crash, David.”

“Yeah well, I’m the designated errand boy today. So… what’re we waiting out here for anyway?” he asked, also ignoring the bantering going on before him. Though, come to think of it, if Anna and Faye were here, it really wasn’t too far off for him to hazard a guess as to the reason they were waiting. “Is Tin coming?”

Russell tilted his head towards the restaurant. “She’s already in there.”

“Why’re we out here for?” David frowned. He could see that the restaurant wasn’t overly full and a few tables were vacant. He didn’t understand why they were all standing outside in the heat when they could be inside, at a table, and already having lunch.

“We’re pretty sure the guy she’s talking with is Miko,” Faye explained. “We thought we’d give them some time to hash it out before we went in for lunch. I certainly didn’t expect to see him anywhere near her today.”

“Tin said he’s been quite persistent about contacting her,” David remarked absently, his attention now focused on Tin and the guy she was conversing with.

“Was that why she stayed with us before?” Anna asked curiously.

Faye nodded. “Yup.”

“Oh.”

“So we wait?” David looked at everyone questioningly.

Russell lifted a shoulder agreeably. “We wait.”

It was with some trepidation that David agreed to wait; he had a bad feeling in his gut and he’d learned long before to always listen to his instinct. Half his attention went to chatting with his friends and the other half went to conscientiously keeping an eye out on the situation inside. If the others were giving Miko the benefit of the doubt, he was of another mind on the matter, considering the way he had hurt Tin in the past.

“What the hell does he think he’s doing?” he suddenly exclaimed.

His question surprised the group and they simultaneously looked over to where David was glaring, in time to witness Miko grab Tin by her upper arms and give her a shake or two while speaking to her.

“What the hell?!”

“Is he nuts?!”

Tin was obviously in distress and David immediately started over to their location in a fast jog with Russell. They could see Tin struggling from Miko’s tight hold on her arms and he seemed oblivious to her pleas for him to release her and to the stares they were eliciting from the other patrons of the restaurant.

“I don’t think you understand Tin,” they heard Miko ground out with another shake. “I’ve already been way too patient waiting for you to get to your senses! You’ve had your fun and now it’s time for you to open your eyes and come back to the reality that we’re good together and that’s the way it’s going to be!”

Russell immediately stepped in with a bright smile and his hand in a conciliatory stance. “Hey there! I’m going to have to be a busybody here but the lady has asked you repeatedly to let her go, so why don’t you do just that, eh buddy?”

Miko looked him over with a sneer, pointedly eyeing his left arm in a cast. “Mind your own business, goofball,” he retorted. “My girlfriend and I are talking.”

“It’s my business if you’re disrespecting my friend like that,” Russell replied, his easy demeanor now replaced with a firm and commanding personality. “Why don’t you let the lady go and step back?”

“And why don’t you fuck the hell off?” Miko then turned to Tin with a scornful expression and another shake. “Is this the best you can do? Is this what your much lauded college degree has gotten you? Getting a stranger to stand up for a bimbo like you?”

Tin gasped in hurt and surprise, as did most of who had overheard him, but no one was more surprised than Miko when David came at him. David had seen red the second the words were out of Miko’s mouth. He stepped forward and neatly punched Miko right in the face, his fist making satisfying contact with the other’s nose.

-o-o-o-

01 June 2005

Author’s Notes: Visit Illusion at http : www . illusion-the-story . tk ; it’s the official site of the story now, and in there you will find artwork and whatnot, all pertaining to the Illusion Universe.

The late arrival of this chapter can be blamed on David. When I finally got the ball rolling for the chapter, and that took a bit of time as well, I very happily let go and just wrote. Until I got to the last scene and David and Miko practically disappeared on me. I took to reading and re-reading any of the scenes with David in the hopes that he might re-appear but no, he decided he wanted a sabbatical. If it wasn’t him, I don’t think I’d be as forgiving but it’s David so…

Finally, when we had some power interruption, he deigned to grace me with his presence so out came the good old notebook and pen. David was kind enough to give me some particulars and even some tidbits for the next chapter so here it is.

It’ll need some more work but at least I have the working outline ready and waiting.

ana J