Chapter Seven "Fables over food"

"I'm still a little surprised that you were able to figure out my name, I mean that writing was barely readable"

He nodded, after catching what she meant.

"Ha, it wasn't too much of a mystery babe, I'm a smart guy, I catch on pretty quick" He gave her a wink.

Uncovering it hadn't been as difficult as Meesha seemed to think. Maybe it would have been for some other guy, but because of A.J's background and the type of profession he was now in, it was rather simple.

A moment of silence passed between them.

"Hmm smart guy huh?" She looked at him a little more and nodded looking as if she was thinking about it.

"So, how smart, like doctor smart or Scholar smart?" She took the last few sips of her cappuccino finishing it.

A.J didn't know which applied, a doctor or scholar.

"I graduated from Princeton head of my class" He seemed to say, thus letting her make her own judgment on his intelligence.

He had already lied about where he was from so he figured it wouldn't kill him to throw a little bit of truth into it. Naturally the lies would soon outweigh what had been true anyway. He wouldn't place his schooling at Princeton to be his most greatest of accomplishments, but he figured it wasn't the worse thing to sort of brag about.

"So you mentioned you were Irish and Russian, which is which?"

"My mother is Irish and my father is Russian, I only met him once." She shrugged. "What about you?"

A.J prepared himself to answer but by that time Nikki had come back with the food and began sitting it on the table, A.J's glass was half gone. The big busted woman had in some way read his mind when he watched her place a whole new glass in front of him.

"Hope everything taste good, let me know if you need anything else guys okay?"

Meesha grinned. "Thanks nick looks super delicious"

A.J was amazed to find just how big the Pizza actually was. Then again he was in the NYC and everything seemed to be big there.

Grabbing a slice and taking a big bite, he savored the flavor for a moment allowing his taste buds to go into over drive.

"Damn, this is some good pizza" He looked over at both women, then back to his slice for an even bigger bite.

Meesha laughed a little as her food was placed down in front of her with Nikki leaving soon after.

Breathing in the heavenly aroma she picked up her fork and knife, cut up her chicken and then took a bite. She was very much accustomed to the great taste the service provided, having ordering the exact same thing every visit. She looked over at A.J still very interested to hear a little bit about his background.

"So back to you…"

A.J thought about her question after taking two more bites, apparently he hadn't gotten out of answering it.

"Well my grandmother on my mother's side is from Albania, as for my dad, his grandfather's father was supposedly rumored to be in the Italian mafia, of course it was just a story I heard growing up as a kid back home, I'm not even sure it's true" He chuckled to himself thinking back on his childhood that had been nothing like what he was describing.

Meesha didn't comment, she didn't even look down at her plate while she was eating. She was just mesmerized more or less and in catching on to this, A.J continued.

"It was fun back in those days. I remember how my cousins and I would always play like we were mafia boys. The girls around our neighbor hood dug it"

He grabbed his drink and took a sip.

"But I do know that my grandfather, my dad's dad was half Sicilian, which would probably explain the big appetite" He said referring to his large order of food which was only the result of him practically starving the whole day.

He grabbed another piece and took a bite. "You can have some if you want, there's no way in hell I can eat this all on my own"

It was true, he may just finish half being that he hadn't eaten all day sure, but a whole Pizza wasn't going to happen. He figured he could just as well take the un-eaten portion home and pop it in the microwave when he wanted a quick eat late at night which was the norm since it took him a few hours to actually fall asleep.

"You sure do have an interesting history behind you and Princeton, wow I thought I was lucky to get into NYU's Art department but that's impressive." She smiled looking at him.

A.J sighed at the mention of Princeton, but still kept up his façade.

"Thanks, honestly it was my father's ideal the whole school thing, so I applied and got in, he wants me to take over his business, but I'm on the fence about it, I'm not really the sit behind a desk business suit wearing type-"

He caught himself and realized what he had been doing for the past 15teen minutes. He was saying way too much. He wasn't supposed to be trying to get to know this woman, and now he had exposed more information then she needed to know about him. He finished his drink and after his third slice decided not to eat another.

"Damn, you and I won't get a long I put on my business casual every day and love being a boring stiff."

A.J chuckled. "So I see you got jokes"

She waved her hands. "I'm only playing around"

"So what do you do now?" Meesha asked after she decided to take him up on his offer of having a slice of the pizza. Taking a bite she smiled at the flavor. "I Love pizza with everything on it so good" She mumbled more to herself.

"What do I do now?" A.J looked at the table trying to come up with a job that sounded realistic. Then he remembered the guitar player on the street that they passed by.

"I'm uh, struggling artist"

He smiled at his lie, which hadn't been a lie entirely. He did have mad fingers on the piano, but it was naturally just a hobby.

"Uh well, before looking to pursue more types of careers for my talents, I was doing jobs with a friend of mine, but he was the best friend of the ex I told you about, and when things went rocky with her, he sort of dropped me" AJ shrugged.

"I guess his loyalty was with her"

He sat and thought about the artist thing and got a mental picture of his car. There was no way a Struggling artist would have a car as nice as he did. He gave her a big smile hoping she didn't put two and two together. He figured it was going to be interesting when she saw him pull out the big wad of cash to pay for the dinner, he couldn't wait on what type of excuse would arise in his defense of being partially loaded.

"Really, what kind of art?" Meesha asked with another bite. "I'm not struggling with my dad paying my bills but it's hard getting my work known, so I can understand with the job situation." She shrugged and looked at him.

"I play the piano, the most gigs I've got for that is clubs" That was true of the Ivy League grad. He did take time out to at least express his talent every now and then. They were mostly small clubs with an old school feel. His piano playing complimented more of the blues era then anything, it was soft and subtle music.

"And with your art work, you just have to get the right type of person to take notice of it, you're in a good place, the big city of opportunity, its filled with artsy people dreaming for a shot, so with that brings scouts looking for that type of raw talent, you're good, and I'm not just saying that to ass kiss either"

In that light he had been honest, the nameless sketch was still heavy on his brain, making him crave to know the story behind it's invention.

Meesha gave off a small chuckle. "People just can't appreciate good art anymore, guess that's why parents have to step in, you know what I mean right?"

She gestured to him and he caught on to what she was implying, probably thinking that his rich father was the one who had bought and was paying the note on his car every month. So he played along.

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean…" Putting his head down a little he rubbed his forehead. For some reason it was getting harder to sit there and lie to her face. "Keep it together A.J, damn what the hell is wrong with you focus!" He mentally kicked himself and forced another smile. It seemed the truth telling serum wasn't working in his favor. On the contrary it was working more against him then anything. He pushed his drink to the side almost cursing it secretly for putting him in a fucked up position of trying to think hard about what he would say next. Finally he sat back and placed his hands over his stomach.

"Well I'm not eating anymore, in a minute I'll be too tired to move" He said grabbing his fedora.

Meesha laughed a little and shook her head before taking another bite of her chicken.

"So, do you have any brothers or sisters?" It was time to direct the attention off of him just a little bit.

Meesha looked down at her plate and bit her lip. "I have a half-brother from my father, apparently he liked getting around, and that only adds to the other four kids."

Meesha gave him a sly smirk before taking a drink of her beer. Nodding her head she wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"Two others from my Adopted father, he's in the Russian Bratva if you know what that is."

"Soviet Union, organized crime, brotherhood, I've heard of it"

Suddenly A.J lowered his head with a smile.

"Interesting to know that your pops is a bad ass Russian boss, guess I'll have to be super nice to you so you don't call him on me…." He joked, but now he could only wonder if that's who was waiting for him back at the loft.

Laughing she shook her head. "If you're not good you'll have to deal with me forget my father honey." "He's a, what is it called a Kryshas or something, not a boss." She smiled and finished off the rest of her chicken.

A.J was giving the ol' hardy har har type of laugh, but her father being a boss or not being a boss had nothing to do with the point. After knowing that he was a Krysha's was bad enough, the main issue that was beginning to surface was who could be waiting for him back at her loft which still was the unanswered question. He was walking into the situation blind, perhaps she wasn't as honest as she seemed, if A.J could pull off a persona that was at least believable for the time being, he was certain that she could be just as crafty with a lie or two of her own. What if she had been a spy or even worse an assassin out for blood, the possibilities were certainly endless.

"So what about you A.J?"

"Seven of us total, real big family" Another lie that came quickily.

They sat there chatting for about an hour, as A.J told more and more lies. He had been smart to do without the liquor and because of its absence the fables he had thought up had flowed a lot easier. Sitting up with a quick stretch and a sigh he was satisfied, the dinner had now come to an end and he was that much closer to getting his photo. Meesha had long ago finished her first beer and had about two more before it was all said and done.

"Think your friend will bring me back a carryout box for the rest of this?"

Once Nikki brought the two boxes over A.J had begun to fill his up with the remains of pizza slices he hadn't finished. Because of the size of the slices the box was paced, but he managed to make it work, he was crafty in ways that called for creativity.

"You have to go up to the front to pay…"

AJ looked at Meesha and gave a quick nod grabbing his box of food. He was expecting the bill to come to him for some reason. Never the less he stood up and made his way over to the front counter as another woman came to the desk and gave him a friendly smile.

"Yes sir, how can I help you?"

"Just paying out ma'am" He looked up at the elder woman with a grin.

"Okay, table three?" She walked over to the cash register and printed the bill. "Here you go…"

AJ looked at the ticket, placed his box on the counter and pulled out his wallet that held all his money. He gave the ticket and the cash back to her.

"Keep the change…"

After she counted the amount she gave him a weird look.

"Uh sir, are you sure you don't want anything back?" She asked noticing how much money he had given her all together.

AJ gave her a nod as an indication that he had not made a mistake on the amount. He only ever paid with cash and he never had any change. Coins annoyed him so therefore he didn't accepted them no matter how much money was supposed to be returned to him, any way he could spare an extra forty.

"Well alright, you all have a good night then" She said still in disbelief as Meesha glanced over A.J's shoulder. After grabbing his carryout box, the two of them turned and walked out the doors and A.J slipped his wallet back into his pocket.

Laughing a little to a joke that nobody seemed to be in on but her, Meesha linked her arm with A.J's and started walking with him back in the direction of her loft.

"Nikki's going to love you for that kickass tip."

A.J cracked a smirk and pulled out the only thing that could top off a night that for the most part was going in his favor.

A cigarette.