Hey so chapter 3 is done! Yay! This chapter might be kinda boring it's just a filler but still read it.
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS SO IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS MOVIE THEN READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Chapter 3: Cardboard Walls
"Okay we're here," Andre said mostly to Eames who was complaining at the back of the group.
"About bloody time!" Eames yelled. "So where's the elevator in this place?"
"There's no elevator here Eames," Ariadne said. "We have to climb the stairs."
"We just walked ten bloody miles and you're telling me we have to climb stairs?" Eames screamed.
"We only walked one mile and we only have to climb six flights of stairs." Andre explained. "We are the ones who do this every night," Andre gestured to Ariadne, Jake, and himself.
"Just ignore Eames. He complains all the time," Arthur informed the group.
"Whatever. Who rooms with whom?" Josh demanded eagerly. Arthur sensed that Josh was hoping that he and Ariadne would get a place to themselves. Arthur's shoulders tensed at the thought.
"Well that's for Ari to decide. Who do you want to stay with you?" Andre asked staring daggers at the three men.
"I don't know Josh and the only one I really feel okay with is Arthur," Ariadne mumbled looking at her feet. Arthur smirked. Besides being kissed this was the best thing to happen to him in awhile.
"That's fine so Josh and Eames will have to fight for my spare room then," Andre chuckled as he started to climb the stairs. Ariadne ran up to him and whispered something in his ear that made him laugh. As they came to the sixth floor there were a group of kids kicking what look like a half eaten soccer ball in front of a door. Ariadne smirked and ran towards them.
"Hi Miss Ari!" The children shouted excitedly.
"Hey guys." She smiled and looked around the circle of boys. "You didn't take Griz out tonight did you?"
"No we got the key from mamma but he wouldn't go with us." The smallest boy informed her.
"We think he is waiting for you." The tallest boy said.
Ariadne smiled. "He's very loyal. It doesn't surprise me he wouldn't leave. Do you want me to-"Just as she was speaking a middle-aged woman that was short and plump with gray frizzy hair fixed into a messy bun ran to the children and started to yell at them in Italian. The children spoke back to her gesturing towards Ariadne. The old woman smiled warmly at her and pulled Ariadne into a hug.
"Ariadne, darling how Allen and Hesher?" She asked as she held Ariadne out at arms length.
"Hesher is in Georgia and Allen is…um well…"
"Its okay baby. You don't have to discuss it now." She looked at Arthur and the rest of the men. She pulled Andre into a hug and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and the old woman looked worried. She quickly shook the worry away gestured her children inside the apartment and finally seemed to give Arthur, Josh, and Eames her full attention.
"Who are ya'll?" She asked interest suddenly replacing her worry.
"This is Arthur, Eames, and Josh." Ariadne explained. "They are old friends of mine. They needed a place to stay so Eames and Josh are staying with Andre and Arthur is staying with me." The old woman eyed Arthur skeptically. Her intense gaze was starting to scare Arthur a little. She finally looked away from him and shook their hands.
"I am Selena." She said she looked back at Arthur. She hesitated before she shook his hand. "Its good to meet you." She walked towards her apartment and gave Ariadne and Andre one last glance. Then Selena was gone.
"She is kinda creepy at times but we love her." Ariadne explained as she walk up the last few steps and pulled out a key. She gave Andre a kiss on the cheek, hugged Eames. And Shook Josh's hand.
"Goodnight ya'll." She said then looked at Josh. "It was nice to meet you." Then looked at Andre "Dre tomorrow I'm going to Ling's."
"That's cool. Good night babe."
Andre walked inside with Eames and Josh in tow. Josh gave Arthur one last glare before closing the door with a slam.
"Gees." Ariadne looked at the door. "What crawled up his ass?" Ariadne said as she turned her attention to her red apartment door. "Hey you aren't scared of dogs are you?" She turned to Arthur holding her now unlocked door shut. Arthur could hear the claws of a dog sliding across the floor getting closer and closer to the closed door.
"No."
"Good," She opened her door and a huge German Shepard ran towards her. After tackling her to the ground with a few licks he got off of her and gave Arthur his full attention. Arthur was about to reach out to pet the dog but he started to growl and stand protectively in front of Ariadne.
"Whoa," was all Arthur could think of to say. What could he do? The dog was huge blocking the door and the only thing Arthur could do was stand still hoping that Ariadne would stop smirking and tell the dog to calm down.
"Bear he is good," Ariadne moved toward Arthur and gave him a hug. The dog stop growling and sat down in front of Arthur. "Bear, ping." Ariadne pointed to the inside of her apartment and the dog trotted inside and jumped on the couch.
"He is very protective," Ariadne explained as she nodded for Arthur to come in.
"The walls are made of cardboard but its home." Ariadne said with a smirk.
"It's nice." Arthur truly liked the apartment. Unlike the other doors Ariadne's was painted a bright red instead of a wood chipped black. He walked into a tiny living room. The couch was red and leather and was occupied by Bear at the moment. There was a wall separating the kitchen and the living room. The door was taken out of the frame and was replaced with wooden beads of all different colors. There was a fireplace with a flat screen TV mounted over it. Beside that was a hallway most likely leading to her bedroom and bathroom. On the coffee table was a photo album and a stack of three DVDs. Arthur expected them to be chick flicks but instead the was 'Patriot', 'Saving Private Ryan', and one movie that was under them that looked as of she was trying to hide it '500 Days of Summer'. Arthur smirked and politely asked Ariadne if he could use her bathroom to freshen up. As he walked down the hall he was observing the photos hanging perfectly straight. One was of her in a boxing ring with her fist connecting with her opponent's badly bruised face. Arthur smirked as he moved to the second photo which was Ariadne, Andre, Jake, and a girl who was unfamiliar to Arthur's eyes. The picture looked to be about a year old. Ariadne was on Andre's shoulders and the other girl was on Jake's. he noticed that Ariadne had a six pack. He smiled to himself wondering if she still had one. The next photo was her and Andre hugging, Ariadne had a scarf over her head where her hair should be. Then he remembered Jake said she survived cancer this might be one of the pictures. He shuddered thinking what it would be like to have cancer. The next picture was Ariadne, Andre, Jake, and the same girl in the picture before. In a blue graduation gown and cap. The next picture was of Ariadne and Andre in combat boots, a camouflage hat, shirt, and pants. He couldn't see Ariadne in uniform, but in this photo she looked so natural. It was hot. He smiled and the last picture was of Ariadne in a wheelchair with all her friends surrounding her. He didn't like her in a wheelchair. He didn't like knowing people as amazing as her could be hurt.
"Like what you see," Ariadne was staring at the picture as well.
"Yes…. I mean no I um….."
"Its fine there just photos." She gestured to the one of her in a wheel chair. "I know you probably don't believe me but that was the second time I cheated death." She said with a nervous laugh.
"Really why where you in a wheel chair?"
"I tripped over a rifle and broke me ankle."
"Oh" Arthur didn't buy it Ariadne isn't anywhere near stupid enough to trip over a gun, but Arthur didn't want to push the matter.
"So Ariadne do I take the couch?"
"Oh no. I don't want anyone to go through the pain of sleeping on that couch." She pointed to the room behind her. "Do you mind if you and I share?" Arthur was taken aback by her forwardness, but he didn't want to hurt her feelings.
"That's fine."
"Okay then I guess I'll-"she was cut off bye the sound of Eames and Josh fighting over Andre's guest room. They both laughed.
"How does Andre put up with it?"
"Knowing Andre he is probably on video chat with his boyfriend or asleep."
"So what did you do after we completed inception?"
"Well I finished college, moved out here because Selena was holding my, Andre's, and Jake's apartment until we were ready to leave."
"I mean job wise."
"Well I did a few extraction jobs nothing to hard and had a feeling someone was following me so I left. I mean leaving Paris was always the plan, but I didn't want to take any risks so we left early." She explained.
"Oh. Why didn't you tell me what you were planning on doing? If there was someone following you I could've helped." Arthur asked a little too harshly.
Ariadne laughed. "Not with the person I thought it was."
"Who did you think it was?"
"I don't want to talk about it. It's not a story I am ready to relive."
"Oh okay so do want the bathroom or can I use it?"
"You can have it I'm going to change in my room. Just don't look through the beads okay." She joked.
"Okay I'll be out in a second."
"Okay." Ariadne walked into her room. Arthur wanted to know who was following her. She could be in danger. It could be some of Fischer's men. Maybe he found out about the teams inception, or it could be COBOL. That would be worse. So much worse. Arthur washed his face and put on his sweat pants. Arthur didn't like wearing a shirt to sleep because he gets too hot at night. He knew it was unprofessional, but hey he was spending the night at a former coworker's house. You can't really get more unprofessional than that. When he got back to Ariadne's room he was about to knock but Ariadne's beautiful singing voice. "Sing to me my angel of music." The Phantom of the Opera. That was Arthur's favorite play. "I've always loved that song."
"I grew up with it." Ariadne said as she turned around. She was in an old button up shirt that was splattered with paint. Arthur smirked. He wanted to know why she had that shirt. He could just picture Andre spilling paint on himself. As if she was reading his mind she responded to his unspoken question. "Andre spilled paint on himself when we were painting this room."
"How did you know that,"
"Know what?"
"What I was thinking."
"I don't know. I just took a guess," she smiled. "I guess you could say I'm a mind reader." Arthur laughed. A real laugh. He can't remember the last time he laughed this much. It must have been with his family. After his Father found out what Arthur did for a living he disowned him. Little did Arthur know Ariadne's childhood was worse. Way worse.