Note: Sorry this took so long, blame League swim meets. And my idiot best friend Nick. For the record, this is Alex/ OC. So, if you don't dig it, don't read it. Savvy?

"I live for meeting with men in suits. I love them because I know they had a really boring week and I walk in there with my orange velvet leggings and drop popcorn in my cleavage and then fish it out and eat it. I like that. I know I'm entertaining them, and I know that they know."- Madonna

Chapter Two

Ok, so we messed up a little bit. You see, when Chloe and I dragged Coy into the police station, Alex fell asleep. But that's ok, because I saw on Grey's Anatomy once that you can let concussion victim's sleep, but you have to wake them up every two hours. Armed with this totally creditable information, we dragged Alex into my house. We actually managed to get him on my sofa this time, although after we put him on it I tripped over my coffee table leg and fell backward, knocking into an end table and causing a paperweight to fall on me, and therefore giving me a black eye.

That is why I'm currently looking for ice; apparently my family lacks the ability to freeze water.

"I swear, there is no ice in my house! Is it that hard to pour water into a little plastic tray?" I asked absentmindedly to Chloe, who was sitting behind me at my kitchen table, as I ransacked my overstocked freezer.

"Uh, that's actually our fault. Remember last week when we went on that snow cone making kick?" Chloe, giving me her classic 'duh' look. I then had a flashback involving loud music, cherry flavoring, my snow cone maker from the third grade, a banana, orange sherbet, a game of Clue, flying ice cubes, and taking my brother to the emergency room. "Oh, yeah! Crap. Well, we should have filled the tray when we got back with Ryan from the emergency room. I'm so happy that they were able to remove that nail from his finger!" I said cheerily, as I grabbed a bag of frozen peas from the freezer, and held them on my black eye.

"Shit, I just thought of something? What are we going to tell your Dad when he sees your black eye?" Asked Chloe, as she got up from her seat, and headed into the living room where Alex lay to turn on the stereo. I then shouted to her in response, "The truth. This is me were talking about here, Chlo. He'll probably just laugh anyways." It was true, I wasn't the most…graceful person known to man. At all. My fifth grade teacher said I could trip over the cord of a cordless phone.

I then heard loud punk music blare from the living room. Chloe is a bit of a punk lover. She likes those bands that are so indie, people who hear them kill the band afterwards so nobody else can hear them. She's not…emo. She just likes the music. Oh and of course converse, straightened hair and eyeliner.

But really, she's perfectly normal.

I personally prefer the classics. Billy Joel is so my go to man. That and random songs I hear in movies and on the radio.

"What is this…crap?" I asked, as my noise wrinkled in disgust, and Chloe walked back into the room. Ok, so I'm very disrespectful when it comes to music?
So sue me! It actually drives Chloe up the wall, because she's willing to suffer through my music but I won't suffer through hers.

Hum, funny thing is; I don't care!

"It's Motion City Soundtrack."

"There's a movie called Motion City?" I asked, in all seriousness. Chloe just sighed and rubbed her temples. Then, the side door located in the kitchen we were standing in opened.

"Hey, Ryan," I said, as my elder brother walked into our house. Ryan, as I said before, is only a year older than me. I was an accident child. Thank god for crappy condoms. But, anyways, Ryan takes after my Mother. Responsible, predictable, and organized. I, on the other hand, take after my Father. Wild, crazy, and absentminded. But, somehow, Ryan and I ended up being best friends. Maybe it's because until my parents divorced when I was thirteen, we lived toward the end of our city, with nobody around for miles. So, if we wanted to hang out with a friend from school, we had to go through a lot of trouble to do so.

Of course, we still scream, wrestle, argue, and dye each other's hair blue.

Ryan is freakishly tall, dark brown haired like me, brown eyed (Unlike my green one's), and skinny like a pole. He focus's on academic's, unlike me, who considers swimming to be life. Oddly enough, Ryan adores alcohol. I always tease him that he's going to be an alcoholic.

"Hey, Esme. What's with the peas?" Asked Ryan, using his nickname for me, as he gestured to the pea's I was holding over my eye.

"Tripped over the coffee table, gave myself a black eye. The norm," I replied, as I brought the peas away from my eye.

"Hello, Ryan," purred Chloe, as she leaned forward on the table, in order to reveal her cleavage.

Did I mention Chloe wants Ryan? I mean, she wants him. Like she wants him naked covered in honey on her doorstep. To put it more simply, Chloe has had a crush on Ryan since the first grade. Then, when we were in the seventh grade or so, it turned into sexual tension, with a crush.

I always tell Chloe she should give up on Ryan, but she says she never gives up.

And they say determination is a good quality…

"Hey, Chloe. How is it going?" Ryan asked absentmindedly, as he dropped his book bag on the floor and walked over to the fridge. It was Sunday, and Ryan worked at the library on Sunday's.

Chloe smoothed her blonde hair back, and focused her gaze firmly on my brother's behind. To most people, this would be obscenely disturbing.

But, after so many freaking years, I was used to it.

Now, just for the record, that does not, by any means, mean I enjoy it.

"Oh, the usual. Stopping world hunger, creating world peace, and finding the cure for AIDS," Said Chloe, as Ryan turned around and she offered him a perfectly white smile.

Ryan simply smiled back, oblivious to Chloe's dirty thoughts, and walked into the living room.

"I think that was a 'you're hot' smile," Chloe whispered to me, as soon as Ryan walked into the other room. I glared at her, because I knew darn well that Ryan did not have the hots for Chloe. We then heard Ryan's footstep's stop, and then come back towards us. A moment later he stood in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Chloe… you know when you said you spent today stopping world hunger and creating world peace?" Asked Ryan, as he looked slightly shell shocked.

Chloe twirled a strand of golden hair around her finger, and smiled.

Oh god, I'm going to vomit…

"Yeah," She giggled out. Ryan then looked over his shoulder into the living room, and then back at us. "You managed to forget the part where a strange guy ends up on our sofa."
HOLY SHIT!
How did we manage to forget about Alex?
Chloe and I exchanged wide eyed glances, and that was all it took for Ryan to start into a lecture.

"I knew this bounty hunting thing was stupid! It's dangerous, it's hazardous, it's silly, and it leads to the two of you bringing home strange men."

"Strange hot men," Chloe interjected, receiving a glare from Ryan that I could tell turned her on.

"Whatever! This is stupid; you two could be killed with this bounty hunter crap! I don't know what Emerson is thinking-"

"Emerson is a cheap bastard, except for the fact that he is whipped by Shelly," I pointed out. Emerson is our cousin who owns a bond agency, and Shelly is his wife. Shelly is twenty, Emerson is twenty four, and he is totally whipped. Other than that, he is extremely greedy.

Kind of like Mr. Crabs on Sponge bob!

"Well, that's true. I still don't like it though," admitted Ryan, as he looked at us both lovingly.

Awwww, bonding moment! Get the cameras!

"Ryan, were fine! See, perfectly fine," I said, as I did a little spin to show how fine I was, "What we do is our business. Were seventeen years old. Not seven. We drink, Chloe smokes-"

"Try pot one time," Chloe mumbled angrily, at my accusation.

"-We are big girls, Ryan. Now, Alex is not a stranger he is a friend," I lied smoothly, as Chloe shot me a look. Ryan raised one eyebrow, being the skeptic he is.

"Friend?"

"Yep. He's… an old friend of Chloe's. OLD friend. They went to preschool together. He gave her his juice box, and they were bff's forever. But then he moved to England. And now he's back, but when we picked him up from the airport, Chloe hugged him so hard he fell over and we knocked him out. But he's ok!"

Did I mention I am an amazing liar?

Ryan, though, still wasn't sure. He knew me too well.

"Seriously? Why did none of you feel the need to tell me he was coming? Then what's his middle name?" Ryan inquired, with a smug look on his face. I love my brother, but, after all, he is a know it all.

I was going to respond with something simple like Peter, or Gregory, but Chloe beat me to it.

"Odysseus!" Chloe shouted in response.

Now, like I said, I am an amazing liar. Chloe? Not so much. No, she couldn't pick a normal name like Alexander, or William. She picks the name of a fricken Greek hero who had the power of Athena on his side! Figures, she has a geniuses IQ, but she can't lie.

"Like the Greek hero?" Asked Ryan, his smug look instantly taken over by a questioning one.

"Yep. He had odd parents. They were born in the seventies, I blame the drugs. It's fitting though, because he's so hot," replied Chloe, as she fake fanned herself. I clenched my fists, and mentally formulated a plan to get Ryan out of here.

"Ry, why don't you go up to your room, and we'll deal with Alex. You can meet him later," I said. Ryan simply raised his eyebrows, and I knew he was hesitant to do so.

"Dude, Chloe has known him forever. He's not going to rape us. Let them properly reunite. Besides, if he goes after us, I'll grab the ugly brown lamp and knock him out, while Chloe talks him to death," I replied, as Chloe promptly glared at me after that last bit. But, she was happy a moment later when Ryan listened to me for once. Ryan looked at me, then Chloe, and then said, "Ok, I'll leave you guys alone. But if I hear any screams, animal noises, thumps, sexual noises, or moaning, I WILL come running down those stairs, with dad's shotgun. Do I make myself clear?"

Like puppets on strings, Chloe and I nodded. Ryan seemed satisfied, did the I'm-watching- you, motion with his fingers to his eyes, then back to us, then went into the living room and up the stairs.

I then laid into Chloe.

"Odysseus? Seriously? SERIOUSLY? Of all the names in the world, you pick Odysseus?" I half shouted, trying to be quiet enough not to warrant the shotgun. Chloe shrugged in response, and then said, "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Yeah, so did the time we tried fixing that broken ice-cream machine with a wad of gum, but that didn't pan out either did it?"

Chloe was going to retort with a smartass comment, but then the figure on the couch stirred. Chloe and I dashed over to the sofa, from our spot on the other side of the room, and looked down at the now shifting Alex Rider.

"Shoulder we do something, Esmeralda?"

"Like what? Poke him with a stick?" I suggested, as Alex rolled over onto his side, and we bent down close to his face. Silence was Chloe's response. Was she actually considering that?

But, then, Alex's eyes popped open, and his head went back into the pillows in a fit of surprise.

Maybe we were a wee bit close.

"Sorry!" Mumbled Chloe, as we stood up straight and Alex rubbed his head.

"Where am I?" Was his first question, as he studied the surroundings of my living room.

"1209 Cherry Blossom Circle. Or, Esmeralda Casey Fisher's house," Chloe said, with a bit of a warming smile.

Wow, her knowledge of my address didn't make her sound stalker-ish at all!

He blinked several times, and looked cautiously at us, seeming ready to jump us at any moment.

"Who are you?" He asked, looked up and down both of us.

"First of all, stop checking us out. It is clear I have the better ass," Said Chloe. I then contradicted her. Remember kids, when there is a strange hot British man on your sofa, the most important thing is who has the better ass!

"No way, I do. I swim. I so have the better ass, you academic challenge bitch!" I said in indignity, as I placed my hands on my hips. I saw Alex's shoulders relax as our banter started.

He was obviously realizing we weren't a threat.

"Why haven't you asked my name?" Alex asked suspiciously. Chloe, being the truthful girl she is, answered before I could.

"Oh, that's easy! You're Alex Rider. Esmeralda went through your pockets. Oh! That's Esmeralda Fisher, by the way. And I'm Chloe Coleplay."

I then smacked my forehead against my palm. Alex looked scared, and, frankly, I couldn't blame him.

"Well, that's…good," Alex replied awkwardly, obviously never having met a dynamic dup like us. I must admit, we can be…overbearing at times.

"I know. So why were you at Mathew Coy's house?" I asked bluntly, getting right to the point. I then saw Alex tense up again. Hum, if I was a physiologist, this would mean something. But I'm not. So, to me, it just looked plain sexy.

"Why were you?" He fired back at us, and Chloe, being the ever honest person she is, replied, "Were bounty hunters."

Alex raised one eyebrow, and looked to me. He obviously though I was the more sane one. Should that make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

"In America, when someone gets arrested for a small crime, they can pay some money and get out of jail. But they have to go to court at a later date. If they miss their court date, they send bounty hunters, us, after them to bring them to jail. Coy is in jail as we speak," I explained clearly. I'm pretty sure I saw Alex flinched when I said Coy was in jail. But, once again, I am not a physiologist.

"So, what exactly happened to me?" Alex asked. I'm not sure if he was trying to keep from answering my original question, or if he really wanted to know. I'd imagine if I was in his place, I would want to know how I ended up on some crazy girls' sofa too.

Chloe and I then explained everything that happened to Alex between then and now, leaving the part about Ryan out, and the other times we hit his head on various objects.

Alex looked more terrified than a six year old watching Saw and The Ring in a four hour time period. I seriously thought he was going to pee his pants. Is our normal really that weird? Then again, what is normal…?

Before Alex could change the subject yet again, I restated my original question, "Anyways, why exactly were you at the Coy house."

Alex hesitated, and then said, "He's my uncle." Chloe and I instantly exchanged looks. Coy had no relatives. None. Zip. Not even crazy in-laws or sixth cousins.

"So why did you have a fake gun?" Chloe asked, as she crossed her arms over her chest and did a little don't-mess-with-me bob of the head. Chloe's words obviously reminded Alex of the fake weapon, because his eyes went wide and he felt his pocket for it. Upon seeing his reaction, I shouted one single word that would only we would get the meaning of.

"HUDDLE!" I shouted slightly loudly, as not to alert Ryan. Chloe and I then spun around, huddled, and began whispering to each other. Huddles were something we started when we were thirteen, and wanted to have privet conversations in public places. Usually people were so shocked by it that didn't even try to listen in.

"He's lying. Hot British boy is lying!" Whispered Chloe, like it was the worst thing in the world.

"Chloe, get over it! I'm thinking we interrogate him?" I asked, wondering how we were going to do this.

"I'm thinking duct tape and a dining room chair?" I nodded, but then remembered Ryan.

"That should work. I'll get the stuff, you lock Ryan in the bathroom. Ok?" I said, ready to break the huddle, but then Chloe grabbed my arm.

"How do I get him in the bathroom?" Asked Chloe. I shrugged, for once; Ryan was not going to be my problem.

"I don't know! Hump him, lie to him, whatever. Just do it! Break?"

"Break."

This can only end badly.