Okay guys, SCHOOL IS OVER!! YES! Finals were a nightmare, and that's why I had not updated in forever. But, it's over for the summer, so I shall have more free time to finish this story!
Anyways, sorry for the wait. I'd hate me if I took so long, but I refuse to stop writing this! I have grand plans towards the end, plus, there's Book of Secrets that I should get started on when it comes out on DVD. I just have to get to the end of this one first…anyways…
No time to waste! On to the Gala!
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Just pretend it's just another night…totally normal. Riley kept telling himself that as he drove the van towards the National Archives. He tried not to think about the impending plan, but it was either that, or thinking about Mary going on a date with Mr. Perfect. Yet again, why should I care? He decided that it was just best to get stressed out over the heist.
Ben remained silent throughout the drive, the computer nerd noticed. Usually when Ben didn't say anything, it meant something was bothering him. Maybe this whole thing is a mistake…Of course, he always thought this whole idea was beyond belief, but there they were, about to commit a serious crime.
He stopped the van across from the building as was planned, and could already feel his mouth going dry. Ben was already out of the car, and Riley took that as the sign to get in the back of the van and start setting everything up. He did so, and opened the door once more. He had to make sure that his friend was absolutely up for this, because after he left the van, everything was to go in motion.
"Ben," he started, completely serious. "Are you sure that we should do th-"
But, Ben decided it was best to shut the door before his friend could finish his statement.
Jerk…
"Well, I guess that's a 'yes' then," he muttered. He put his head piece on, and right as he turned it on, Ben's voice crackled through.
"Riley, can you hear me?"
"Unfortunately yeah," he bit out. Yeah, it was rude, but Ben did slam the door on him while he was talking. Alright, on with the show. He kept an ear on what his friend was doing, but he was also waiting for Mary to check in.
She's probably too into Lyon, or Brian, or whatever his name is. Riley then spent the next couple of moments thinking about the possibilities of a fist being brought into contact with a face.
Unlimited possibilities…
"Riley."
He wouldn't be so tough, then, would he?
"Riley Poole…"
And, then I wouldn't have to sit here and think about her going OUT with him!
"RILEY!"
"What?!" the computer nerd yelled back into the microphone. The fact that whoever interrupted his thoughts greatly upset him.
"Look who's finally paying attention." It was Mary, and she sounded pretty annoyed…or maybe it had to do with who she was trying to get in contact with. Just remember, she told herself as she entered the building with Ryan who was smiling and waving to everyone else. Forget that he's a jerk and be professional…Be professional Mary.
Riley frowned at the voice. "No," he said lazily. "I just didn't think you would bother to show up."
Making sure that Ryan was still busy greeting people, the brunette then whispered, "Yeah…because tonight doesn't matter to me at all."
The computer nerd rolled his eyes. "Or, just not your first priority."
Mary saw Ryan coming back towards her, so she smiled and waved at him. She then said through clenched teeth, though still smiling. "I'm not paying attention to you anymore, you insignificant nerd- Ryan, hi!" The brunette quickly changed tones when the handsome man was by her side.
"I really appreciate you being my date tonight," he said, offering her his arm.
The younger Gates blushed and took his arm. She was definitely not used to having men pay attention to her. Ever since she was born, it had always been the men in her family around her, but then there was Riley…which really didn't mean anything to her at the moment. In fact, other than Riley, Ryan was the only other guy to interact with her who was not a relative.
She smiled. "Well, I appreciate you asking me." Okay, so she went with him under convenience for the Gala, but still, Mary could have been stuck in the van with Riley the whole night. The thought made her shudder. There definitely would have been violence.
"I should have brought tissues for this romance movie," she heard the voice in her ear scoff.
"Shut up," the brunette muttered. I don't know if I can deal with him in my head for tonight…
"Excuse me?" Ryan asked while turning towards her with a raised eyebrow.
Crap…
"Oh!" Mary laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. "Nothing. I-I was just talking to myself…" She then had trouble keeping her smile on because of a certain someone laughing their butt off in her ear.
He's dead.
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"Riley…why are you laughing?" Ben asked as he entered the bathroom. I must have missed something…
The young man just sighed in content and leaned back. "I'm just enjoying the simple pleasures in life, Ben."
The older Gates looked skeptically in the mirror and rolled his eyes.
"Don't torture her too much tonight," Ben sighed as he straightened his bow tie. "Because, I don't want to hear death threats in my ear the entire time I'm stealing an important historical document." The last thing he needed was to hear Mary and Riley yelling at each other over idiotic reasons.
"I'm not torturing her," Riley said innocently.
"Yes, you are," another voice muttered into the conversation. But, that was the only thing she could really say at that moment because Ryan was introducing her to all of his colleagues.
Yeah, well you're torturing me. The young man was about to say that out loud, but once he thought about it…it really sounded weird…
He just decided to try ignoring the woman, in his thoughts and in person. So, he relied on his best friend to take care of that.
Riley guessed that Ben was in a bathroom from the echo he heard on his friend's side, so he smiled sarcastically. "So…how do you look…?"
Well, the older man had to admit to himself, he looked pretty good for just walking in a custodian uniform. "Not bad," he said, straightening his suit one last time and smoothed a stray hair back. Not that I'm trying to impress Dr. Chase……I hope she gives me my campaign button back…
The computer nerd chuckled into the microphone. "Mazeltov."
Ben started making his way towards the door, very pleased with himself, but before he walked out, he got an idea.
"You know," he stated before he pushed the door open, smirking a little. "You should really be asking Mary how she looks tonight."
And with that, he left the bathroom, feeling triumphant.
Unfortunately for Riley, however, his plan of trying not to think about Mary was foiled. Now, he couldn't stop thinking of how she looked that night.
I hate you Ben…
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Mary really did not know if she could fit any more people into her brain to remember. Ryan definitely knows a LOT of people. That's what the two had been doing for the past fifteen minutes, and the brunette was actually starting to prefer bickering with Riley over meeting twenty more people that she would never meet again.
"We should have set up an interview booth," Mary joked around with Ryan as they walked through the crowd of people in the main room. "I've never met so many people in my life!"
The charming man on her arm laughed lightly. "Sorry, but I always feel the need to show off beautiful women." He always was the charmer. "Especially when they actually talk to me."
Mary snorted. She now remembered back to when she dated Ryan; he was always polite, charming, and extremely humble towards her. She did like him, of course, but something inside of her always kept her from belonging to only him.
In her mind, she always had a feeling that it was supposed to be someone else who would take her heart.
The brunette snapped out of her reverie, however, when she heard a familiar voice.
"Wow…what a line," Riley said sarcastically into the microphone. The computer nerd wondered how long he would have to listen to Ryan oogle over her. It was starting to bother him…
Mary scoffed out loud, forgetting Ryan was still standing by her.
"Something wrong…?" her date asked, giving her a strange look.
If she did not care about making more of a fool of herself at that moment she would have just screamed out in frustration, hoping the man on the other end of the line would die from the pitch. But no…what she said next would have to do for her revenge at that moment.
"Sorry," Mary said through almost clenched teeth. "I thought I heard someone say something completely idiotic."
"Sticks and stones," Riley said on the other line, sounding very happy that he embarrassed the brunette yet again. Of course, that statement brought the young woman's blood to the point of boiling.
Ryan stood there for a moment, trying to find the appropriate thing to say to his date, who had been acting like she was about to kill someone throughout the even so far.
"Oh…" happened to be the brilliant answer that he had come up with.
At that moment, Mary stopped picturing ways of killing a certain computer nerd with a mallet and turned towards her neglected date. I am such a jerk sometimes…She sighed, feeling extremely guilty about ignoring Ryan so far. "I'm sorry, Ryan. I am definitely not being the best date am I?"
With that said, the handsome blonde put his charming smile back on. "I wouldn't say that. It's more like you're the most interesting date so far."
Wow…how cheesy… It was funny that Riley and Mary thought that at the same time.
And, having no idea how to answer to such cheesiness, she simply put on a fake smile. But, that was okay with Ryan, who did not know it was fake. He simply continued to smile.
His attention was then diverted to his right. He turned back to Mary with another smile, only this time it was apologetic.
"I know you're tired of me introducing me to people, so is it alright if I leave you for a minute?"
Mary looked to where his attention was diverted and noticed a beautiful red-head giggling with five other men. Any other day, she would have felt hurt and neglected, but since this whole date was a fake out anyway, she let it slide with glee. Thank the Lord.
So, before he changed his mind, she quickly ushered him away saying it was okay over and over again.
"Are you sure?" he asked with uncertainty one more time, though he was still looking at the bombshell across the room.
The brunette rolled her eyes. "Yes. I am sure." And then he was gone.
Mary sighed and trudged over to the wall. Maybe now she could find some peace and quiet-
"Run him off did you?"
That tipped the iceberg for the young woman, who had been hassled by Riley Poole non-stop through out the night. So, she said absolutely nothing.
But, even if she stayed quiet, it did not mean that she refrained from marching out of the building towards the van, where Riley sat unexpectedly, with a murderous gaze upon her features.
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Okay…there she is…Ben thought as he looked into the main room. Dr. Chase was currently standing by herself just looking around He would have walked in earlier, but the bit with Riley and Mary was quite distracting, so he ended up leaning against a wall listening with an unbelieving look on his face. He wouldn't dare say anything; those two needed to figure out their problems with each other themselves. Of course, with Ben figuring out that Riley was jealous of Mary's date, the older Gates had a clue as to what their problems were…
But, when Mary mysteriously stopped talking –which he still was worried about, but he figured that she went out for some fresh air- Ben put the task at hand in his mind.
So, taking his chance, he made his way through the crowd towards Abigail Chase. Who looked quite nice in her dress. Ben couldn't help but notice it.
When he noticed a waiter carrying around champagne, he shook his head out of his thoughts and grabbed two glasses. One of them would come quite in handy that night.
He walked up silently behind the blonde woman and moved in front of her, holding out a glass.
"For you," he said as calmly as he could muster. Dr. Chase did indeed look beautiful.
"Oh, Mr. Brown," she took the glass in surprise. I did not expect him to be here.
Ben nodded politely. "Dr. Chase."
"What are you doing here?" The beautiful doctor winced a little after she asked that. She meant for the question to be a little more polite, especially since he gave her that wonderful gift earlier that day.
Flashback:
'Work, work, and more work,' Abigail Chase thought to herself as she was filling out endless paper work. For the past few days, that was all she did because it kept needing to be done. In fact the only time she was not filling out paper work was when those three people came with their ludicrous claim of the Declaration of Independence planning to be stolen.
The blonde snorted at the memory. 'It was entertaining, though.' She shook her head in amusement and went back to work.
A few more minutes went by until she heard a soft nock at her door.
Glad to have a break from giving her signature for the hundredth time, she said, "Come in." And, her secretary Sara popped her head in, giving her a strange smile.
Abigail raised an eyebrow. "What…?" she asked cautiously.
Still giving the same smile, she walked up to the desk with a small red box in her hand. "This just came for you." She then placed it front of her on the desk.
The doctor would have been more excited, except she had already received a gift from her co-worker, Stan that day. 'Of all the people to be persistent, why couldn't it just be someone else?'
"I hope it's not from Stan."
Abigail reluctantly picked the box up with a sigh, and took the note lying on top of it. She opened the miniature envelope and prepared herself for some ridiculous poem written inside.
Her indifferent eyes, however, changed to surprise when she saw that someone else had given her the gift.
"For the woman who has everything else," she began, looking up at Sara, who still had that goofy smile upon her features, "Thanks for listening, Paul Brown."
Dr. Chase had not expected this; not at all. But, she had to admit, she did not mind that Mr. Brown had sent her something. Despite his ludicrous claims, he was an interesting man.
She opened the small red box, still eyeing the note in front of her. She immediately brought her eyes, however, when she saw what lay at the top…
The campaign button that would complete her collection.
End of Flashback:
After remembering that, a ghost of a smile appeared on her features as she took a sip of champagne.
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I wonder what happened to Mary… Riley Poole thought as double-checked the system on his laptop. There would be no room for mistakes that night. But, back to his thoughts, why did Mary suddenly go silent. She couldn't be that mad…right?
The young man did not mean to act the way he did, but whenever he heard her and Ryan laugh or sound happy, it just ticked him off! Which meant only one thing…
I'm crazy.
Okay, maybe two things.
Riley probably would have figured out that he was indeed jealous if he had more time, but Ben catching up with Dr. Chase interrupted his thoughts.
"What are you doing here?" the computer heard in his ear piece. Ah, there's Dr. Chase, the young man thought with a mischievous smile growing on his lips. He thought it was high time for Ben Gates to receive some pay back.
"Is that that hot girl?" he asked innocently. He almost gave an evil laugh when he heard his friend clear his throat uncomfortably. Of course, the computer nerd should not have said that, because Mary, who was still stomping her way to the van, heard that remark and it strangely made her unhappier.
"How does she look?"
Shut up, Riley, Ben pleaded in his head. Dr. Chase looked at him, still expecting an answer to her question. He laughed, although with a tinge of nerves. "I made a last minute donation. A pretty big one."
He saw Abigail's features brighten up with that comment. "Well, on that subject," she began. "Thank you for your wonderful gift!"
"Oh, you did get it?" The older Gates almost wanted to sigh in relief. It was imperative that she got that campaign button. Plus, if she never did get it that meant that he lost it. He never wanted to give it to her in the first place. But, her smile was slowly changing his mind.
She nodded in response, still looking happy. "I really couldn't accept something like that normally, but…" she laughed. "I really want it."
Strangely, he wasn't that upset about it. "Well, you needed it."
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Great. Riley thought sarcastically. Another romance blooming over the microphone. "Come on, Romeo," he muttered, annoyed. "Get out of there." Yeah, Ben was obviously too into the conversation (or Dr. Chase) at the moment to really care what he said. But, a new voice entered into the picture. A male voice that did not sound happy that Ben was chatting with the beautiful doctor.
Ah, a love triangle appears, he thought, amused. "Who's the stiff?" the computer nerd wondered aloud. A noise caught the young man's attention, though. It sounded like someone was making their way to the van.
Oh crap. He quickly put his laptop away, in case it was security, but just as he did the side door slid open. It revealed the stranger to be not a stranger at all, but a very angry looking Mary Gates…
"Wh-" he began, shocked that she was there in front of him.
"What is your problem?" the red-faced brunette asked in a dangerous voice.
Oh…that. Riley had now figured out that Mary was indeed angry over his behavior that night. But, even if she did have a right to be mad at him, the young man was not going to let her scare him.
"Shouldn't you be inside?" He asked, pretending not to hear her first question. He picked his laptop back up.
"I would love to go back inside and do my part of the job," she hissed, squeezing the open door, fearing she would strangle the computer nerd in front of her. "But, somebody has a problem with me doing that!"
Riley snorted, and put his laptop down again, albeit rougher that time. "No," he snapped, stepping out of the van to face her. "You just can't face the fact that you shouldn't be out with whatever-his-name-is, instead of doing your job!"
"How dare you!" she hissed, wanting to slap the guy badly, but decided to hold her ground. "You know that my 'date' with Ryan wasn't for real!" She could not believe that the young man before her thought she was putting another man before her brother and the plan.
The young man knew Mary was right. But, fear of her finding out about his jealousy –yes, he eventually figured it out- clouded his judgment. So, he just gave up on the argument completely.
The brunette saw him break off eye contact and turn back towards the van. Oh no he doesn't. "Why do you care so much anyway?"
"Just go back inside," the young man said under his breath, though he didn't want her to go away. Definitely not.
That hurt the young woman. He would rather let her walk away than actually try to fix the problem. She sighed in disappointment, tired of Riley being a child. "Fine, don't say anything." Mary turned on her heel, crossed her arms from the chilly breeze, and began to walk off.
But, someone grabbing her arm turned her around again to face a very conflicted looking Riley. The brunette's blue eyes widened at his proximity, and started to feel very uncomfortable.
"Riley, wha-"
"I was jealous," the young man said quickly and suddenly, catching the already caught off guard woman off guard more.
He was what? She stared at Riley, not sure if she heard him right. But, the grip on her arm was starting to make her heat up, even though the weather said different, so she slid out of the computer nerd's grasp. She stepped away, backing up towards the side of the van, making sure there was no invasion of personal space involved.
"I'm sorry, what?" Mary asked Riley. The young man actually looked disappointed that she stepped away from him.
He surprisingly took another step forward, but his head was facing the ground.
"I said I was jealous," Riley said softly, earning confused stare from the brunette, "of you going out with Ryan tonight."
The young woman, not liking that he came closer, took another step back. But, she was still in the state of confusion. It always did take her while to figure the male population out. Plus, things that happened in the past always made more sense than the present.
Completely oblivious to the young man's true meaning, she just stared at him in confusion. "But, why would you be jealous of me?"
Riley shot his head up, and gave her the strangest look. But, when still had no idea what he really meant, he just sighed out in frustration. He took another step forward towards the brunette, who was running out of room before she reached the side of the van.
"In the name of everything that is holy, Mary!" he almost shouted in exasperation, making the woman jump a little. "I'm not jealous of you, I'm jealous of Ryan!" The computer savvy individual could not stand it every time the she laughed with the handsome, rich man. Even when Ryan's name was mentioned, it made his fists clench.
Taking another step back, the young woman finally reached the side of the van, not being able to move any further. It was starting to disconcert her as to how Riley kept moving towards her. But, when he explained himself further, her thoughts moved from the bespectacled man's increasing proximity to his revelation. But, if he was jealous of Ryan…wait…it was finally beginning to dawn on the brunette.
Any other moment, Riley Poole would have laughed at Mary's denseness, but during the awkward silence as the young woman slowly figured his meaning out, he saw what Ben was talking about earlier.
She does look nice tonight. And right then, the young man figured out that he was actually attracted to Mary Gates, the woman whom he had fought with for what seemed like centuries. He took another step closer to get a better look at her.
Her blue dress fit her perfectly, and her hair, which was probably once up, was now completely down. Probably from her rabid hunt for me, he mused. Riley was actually starting to like the fact that she left her date with Ryan to hunt for him. He looked down at her feet which displayed blue converse on each foot. The young man wrinkled his nose. She obviously did not go to events like those often.
But still, he found himself attracted to her just the way Mary Gates was. Confused expression and all.
Riley's revelation caused him to grin and take a braver step forward. And, when it finally dawned upon the brunette's features, the look in which she produced almost made the young man laugh out loud.
"You were jealous?!" Mary asked, shocked. She shot her head up, and almost gasped when she saw that Riley was standing right in front of her. Why is he grinning…? It made her feel very uncomfortable. Since when did Riley Poole want to invade her personal space? She tried to move back more, but the van behind her halted her goal. So, the brunette stuck with rambling, hoping her unnecessary chatting would get him to back off. She laughed nervously. "What are you talking about? You don't like me. Yup, you wished Ben sisterless every day since you met me, plus you always want me out of your sight-"
"Well, you are very annoying when you talk too much," Riley muttered. "Sisterless" isn't a real word anyway.
Mary insisted on talking more, though. But, this time she stepped up, almost making the young man lose his bearing from her closeness. She poked him roughly in the chest, looking angry again. "Wait a minute! I came out here to yell at you! Even if you were jealous that still does not excuse you from treating me the way you did earlier today!"
Riley cocked an eyebrow, and took a step forward, making the brunette back up towards the van again.
"Well, if you weren't hanging all over Donald Trump, things would have been different," he said in an annoyed tone. He may have realized that he was attracted to Mary, but that did not mean that what she said did not make him angry.
The young woman dropped her mouth open. "You're only saying that because you are jealous!"
Riley leaned in, making the woman press herself against the van, having no where else to go. "I know," he said in a quiet tone with a sly grin.
"Well…okay," she breathed. She felt herself start to heat up again. It confused her greatly with this great turn around from Riley, and the fact she never got that flushed from being close to Ryan physically. And, after a moment, when he still didn't move away from her face, she couldn't take it anymore.
"Wh-why are you standing so close to me?" Then she started to ask herself why her legs could barely hold her up anymore. Why do they feel like jelly? This was Riley that was causing her to react so, the biggest nerd in the world was making her go weak at the knees! This is not normal!
The computer nerd blushed when Mary asked that, and he opened his mouth to speak, but…
But, Ben, the infamous interrupter…interrupted…
"If you guys haven't forgot about me, I kind of need help with the password," Ben said, obviously annoyed, yet coy at the same time. Though those two could have picked a better time to have their little revelation conversation, it still entertained Ben greatly as he made it to the Preservation Room. Towards the end of their chat, however, the elder Gates didn't know if he could take the awkwardness anymore. Rely on Mary not knowing what to do, he thought amused with his younger sisters reaction.
"Ben!" Mary said quickly and high-pitched. She slid away from Riley as fast as she could, still flushed beyond belief. He could probably hear every word, she thought, embarrassed that her brother heard that meant-to-be private moment. But, in order to keep her sanity, she used Ben as her distraction. "Did the solvent on Dr. Chase's hands appear on the panel?"
Keep it together…keep it together.
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Okay, half-way through the Gala! Alright! Just stick with me folks, and I promise I'll make it as exciting as possible. And, since I don't have school this summer, I can update faster instead of all of the professors taking control of my free-time.
Anyways, I hope you liked the moments I put in this chapter. I was giggling like a crazy person when I wrote that Riley/Mary scene. I think my parents are worried for my sanity, but oh well.
I believe I'll finish the Gala in the next chapter. And, it won't be as long of a wait, I promise. Anyways, if you get tired of waiting for the next chapter, might I recommend Another Clue. It's a Riley/OC story, and it's one of the best ones I have read. Most of you guys have probably read it, but oh well, it's still very good.
Anyways, PLEASE review! Even though I don't deserve it with the long wait on this chapter, but they make me happy.