Chapter Three "Evening the score"
Finishing her lunch that had consisted of the turkey sandwich and fresh cut slices of apple the young woman stretched. As she heard her cell phone going off on the couch she walked over to pick it up. Reading her received text she groaned and texted her friend Jenny back a little peeved that she was canceling on her once again. Tossing her phone to the side she got up and went over to her canvas she had been working on which was hiding behind one that was completed. Tossing her gaze in the direction of the stool where her picture had been placed she arched an eyebrow and knelt down looking for it.
"Where's my picture." She asked herself.
It had only taken A.J fifteen minutes to make it to his car, that had been hidden in a small parking lot behind a mom and pop shop on the east side. His disguise still in effect, looked too many who had no clue, that he was simply a young man coming from a work out with sweaty clothes lugging down the black duffle he was carrying.
Once A.J reached the car he got inside and locked the doors. He pushed his hair back before grabbing his black white banded fedora from the backseat applying it on the top of his head in a smooth fashion. He tossed the bag filled with cash in its place and started the Silver Cadillac cts, which had been a new model, fresh interior with a new car smell still lingering.
He adjusted his mirror catching sight of his blue eyes. What a day this had turned out to be. He grabbed his phone looking at all the miss calls. Before he could finish browsing down the list, he was cut off by an incoming call.
Pressing talk he eased himself in his seat.
"Yeah?"
"Ivy League, where the hell have you been?"
It was Gordon.
"I've been calling and calling mate, what happened?"
A.J sighed. First because of the nick name the older man seemed to address him by. Once he had mentioned that he was a Princeton grad, the rest was out the window and his accomplishment had been made almost into a spectacle. It had been hard for the crew to believe that someone from a top school like Princeton would even consider a kind of career in robbing banks. The second reason for the sigh came in having to take the time to explain the new situation that was at hand.
"We got a problem G" he stated.
His frantic outward appearance had seemed to melt as if it had all been an act, and quiet out of character he was before making it to his vehicle. He seemed more relaxed and calm in his comfort zone, but there was still a hint of stress in his expression on closer inspection.
"Here it is in less than ten seconds, Cops were on my ass, I had to ditch um, so I took hideout by climbing in this window, to my luck the owner came home, some woman…"
"Did she call the man on you?"
"I gave her some story about an ex girlfriend who sent some gangsters after me, she bought it" A.J frowned as the next words followed. "But not after taking my picture"
"What! She has your photo?"
"Yeah, not only that, but my name and number to" A.J threw a look to the clock.
"Shit!" Gordon's voice blurted out.
"Yeah that's the same thing I said"
"Alright, well continue with plan, meet us at Rahway's place. When you get here will figure something out"
"Okay, later G" AJ closed the phone hanging up the call.
Taking a deep breath he went for his glove compartment and from it took a cigarette from a half pack of Camels. Lighting it quickly he inhaled the smoke holding it in his lungs and releasing. As the nicotine relieved him he pushed in his CD, Al green's greatest hits.
Pulling off into traffic, "still in love with you" began playing.
The young woman ran a hand through her light brown hair and stood up after looking everywhere. Storming over to her couch she grabbed her phone and then to the counter grabbing the piece of paper. Dialing the number she waited for A.J to pick up the phone.
Coming to a red light after driving for only five minutes AJ looked down to find his phone was vibrating again.
He picked it up and looked to see a number he didn't recognize, he clicked talk and went to speak but before he could get a word out all her herd was "Did you take my picture?"
He questioned for a moment who it could be on the other end screaming at him, until the words "Picture" gave the voice away. It was the woman whose home he had entered without permission.
He glared at the phone before placing it back to his ear. "Picture, no I didn't take it, what do you mean, you still got my picture" he went on to say.
Then for a moment he thought about what she was asking. He looked up making sure the light was still red and reached over for the duffle bag. Scrambling through it, he soon reveled, a slightly crumbled piece of paper with a drawing freshly sketched on it.
He sighed, pressing on the gas as the light went green.
He sped off. "Yeah I have it, I must have grabbed it on accident..."
She scoffed and shook her head at his aggravated tone on the other end of the line. Sure he broke into her house got off Scott free and yet he was aggravated. Hearing him say he had it made her breathe in relief, she was still angry but was just glad he had at least had it and it didn't get lost somewhere. Switching the phone to her other ear to rest between it and her shoulder she reached up and pulled her hair into a bun.
"Well you broke in and stole my work for tonight so I guess I'm taking you up on that dinner."
Walking over she plopped down on the couch and arched an eyebrow hearing Al green. She sat back and made herself comfortable, hearing the song playing she started to believe his story a little more.
"So are you still mourning the loss of a relationship that literally almost got you killed?" She was trying to be sincere but couldn't help but be a little smug about the situation.
A.J took another drag of his cigarette, his window partially cracked to allow the smoke to flow outwards and as he drove. The song brought about a sort of calm in him. He had come to find that it had been the best type of music to listen to after a heist.
"Don't you know that I'm still in love with you…" the background singers came in and the insterment solo broke before the song continued with Al. "When I look into your eyes…."
"Look I'm sorry for being a bitch it's just, I believed you when you said you didn't take anything and then my picture goes missing." She shook her head knowing she was babbling when really she had just wanted to make this a call, to bitch him out almost, but she couldn't. "Just give it back, if you keep your promise of taking me out, I'll give you the Polaroid."
A.J's brow rose when he heard the offer to exchange the drawing for the picture she had taken of him. It came somewhere between the song reaching an end point. He contemplated for a minute, the sketch truly had to mean something to her, otherwise why go through all the trouble of getting it back? He picked it up and looked over it again. It had been a work of art, very detailed and thought out with some sort of story behind it. The young woman was really an artist in her own right.
Either way the proposition seemed legit, it would be a chance for him to get the picture she had, which was all he really wanted.
Biting her lip she looked over at her semi started canvas, it still needed work but she couldn't do anything without her sketch. Since the young woman hadn't heard him but could still hear the music playing she assumed he didn't hang up on her.
"Are you still there?"
A.J glanced over at the cell phone that had long ago been put on speaker phone and placed on the passenger seat. He had heard every word she said but chose to listen more to the music then her gripping at him. He looked at the clock. It was still pretty early for dinner, just a little past lunch.
He hadn't taken the drawing on purpose so he was somewhat annoyed that she was still accusing him of stealing it. He couldn't stand when people didn't believe him, especially on things that were true, but he had lied to her after all, so perhaps he deserved it, the bitching. Still the stubborn little boy inside chose to ignore it, he felt much more at ease believing she was wrong for yelling and not believing him then he would have been to admit to himself that he was the person to place blame upon.
Love and happiness was the next track to play. Finishing up his cigarette he reached behind his back for the gun and placed it in the glove compartment.
"Yeah I'm still here" He turned down the music after pulling into a drive way parking behind a black range rover. He sighed remembering she had asked about the relationship that hadn't ever existed. He figured until he was all the way out of the fucked situation, it be best to play along.
"It all honesty, it's probably better that it ended you know" He flicked the remains of the cigarette out the window and turned off the car.
"Why would someone want to be in a relationship if they might get killed, there are some things I'll miss about her, not much though" He looked up to the sky shaking his head with an eye roll at how lame he must have been sounding. There was not one ex girlfriend he found himself ever really "missing".
"But, since I have something you want now, I guess an exchange of photos at dinner seems like the best thing to do, that way we can part ways on fair terms" With a grin he grabbed the duffle and looked out the front window to see Jake approaching the car. He grabbed the phone pressing off the speaker and placing it to his ear with his free hand.
"I have some things I have to finish up, but I'll pick you up at 7:30, you can chose the place we eat at"
It had just accrued to him that he didn't know who he was talking to.
"What's your name anyway, I forgot to ask…"
Listening to him and the hurried tone he was admitting to her she couldn't help but laugh a little. "Fine, I'm sure you remember where I live." She rubbed her lips together and looked at the clock on the wall deciding she had a few errands to run before he came over.
"Tell you what scan the picture. If you can read chicken scratch of a signature then you'll know my name" She smirked.
"See you at 7:30, A.J"
A.J let off a quick grin when he heard a click on the other end. As he shook his head pressing end on his own phone he grabbed the picture turning it around to find the cursive barley readable on the back, far bottom corner. He mouthed her name aloud. "Meesha…."
To Be Continued...
NOTE: So that's what I got so far pertaining to this story, give me some feed back and let me know if you want to find out how this ends for A.J...
