"Look dear, we're near your brother's house… I'd better get off here and continue on foot." Ella told Minkus who looked at her with a frown.
"You're so stubborn, Ella." He said before sighing, "Let's stop here, Freddie." He told his driver who stopped not far from the house. They both got out of the car together and Minkus looked around him with a scowl.
"Minkus… Please don't be upset. I'm seriously not ready." Ella explained as she took hold of his hand. "I have to tell Kayli about our relationship first… Imagine if she found out from someone else? All of the trust between us will be destroyed. I don't want her to feel like I'm abandoning her like her father did."
"You're right…" Minkus said with a sigh as he looked at the ground before looking back up at her. "I never thought about that. Cait will be pretty upset too if she found out from someone else."
"See… It's the same thing for you as well." She stepped closer to him and wrapped an arm around his neck. "Let's feel whatever we feel for each other but our first priority must be our children." Minkus nodded as his arm went around her waist.
"Of course… That's my opinion too."
"I know too well how great of a father you are. Don't let our feelings cloud our minds and rationality…. Please." She said with a hopeful smile and he smiled back at her.
"Okay… As you like, love. I won't bring up this subject again, I promise." Ella's smile widened and she gave him a hug.
"I love you." She said once she pulled away before leaning in again and giving him a peck on the lips.
"I love you too, Ella." He said back with a smile and they both started heading towards the house after Ella took her hand out of his. The servant led them into the living room and they both sat down, each one on a separate couch. Not even two minutes later, Joseph and Cathy made their way into the living room.
"Ella, how was your flight?" Cathy asked after greeting them. She sat down with Ella on the couch while Joseph sat down on the other one with his brother.
"It was pretty good, Cath. I pumped into Minkus at the door as well." Ella said and Minkus' gaze turned uncomfortable slightly. "Such a coincidence."
"You didn't have a program for today or what, Minkus?" Joseph asked.
"I did but um… It was cancelled last minute. The kids are in Miami and I didn't really feel like going into an empty house." He explained with slight nervousness.
"Oh, I finally see some feelings in your eyes, Minkus. You seem like you're in love." Cathy said making the two uncomfortable as Minkus looked at Ella who avoided his eyes at all costs.
"Oh, it's a sign for caducity, Cathy." Joseph joked and Ella giggled out loud.
"Caducity?!" He exclaimed. "What is that?"
"The Minkus that I know, stopped aging after turning thirty." Cathy said with a giggle.
"My queen." He said as he bowed and held her hand before planting a kiss on it.
"Oh love." Cathy said.
"He's the same Minkus every time." Joseph said and they all smiled before talking and joking for some time.
*GMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMW*
"Okay… Um, let me talk your heels off so that I can see your ankle well." Ian said as he sat down beside her and lifted her leg up onto his lap after taking the shoe off. Caitlyn looked at him with a soft smile on her lips forgetting that she was supposed to be in pain. "I'm guessing it doesn't hurt as much now, does it?" Ian said as he looked at her face.
"How can it not hurt? It hurts so bad, I can't even stand on it."
"I wonder if we're supposed to go to the hospital… It sounds serious." Ian said with a worried expression on his face.
"No!" Caitlyn exclaimed in panic. "I mean… Weren't we going to put ice on it? That will probably heal it."
"Excuse me?" Ian called to the waiter who was passing by. "Can we have some ice, please? Preferably in bag and not in a cub as well." The waiter nodded and went to get it and Ian went back to checking her ankle. He touched it and Caitlyn winced in fake pain.
Minutes and hours passed and now it was night time. Maya and josh were walking together in one of local streets of Miami as they got to know each other more. Halfway through their day together, they decided to just ditch the party and spend the day their own way.
"Oh… Can we take a look at that?" Maya pointed at a guy who had a table with jewels set up on it. Josh nodded and led her towards it. Maya looked at the bracelets before pointing at a certain one. "How much is this one?"
"Fifty dollars." The guy answered and Maya scoffed.
"That's expensive for a simple bracelet like this one." She argued with the guy for a few seconds before Josh turned around, having gave them their back a while before, and handed the guy fifty dollar.
"We'll take it." He said with a smile.
"No… Josh-"
"What would we lose? It's a small gift, Maya." Josh said as he smiled at her.
"Even if… I can't accept it."
"Please accept it." Josh said before taking her wrist and clipping the bracelet around it, not waiting for her response. It was a simple bracelet that had very small stars connected to each other going all around it and forming the bracelet itself. "It suits you really well."
"Thank you so much." Maya said softly.
"Oh what a coincidence? How are you?" She heard a very familiar voice say from beside them and she turned to see a lady hugging a girl that looked like she was her age. Maya saw how her hand sneaked into the girl's bag and took her wallet as she hugged her and then she remembered where she'd heard the voice before.
"That's the lady who stole me and Riley's money the other night." Maya said with an angry look on her face.
"Are you sure?" Josh asked and it was like Maya didn't even hear him.
"Oh, you THIEF!" Maya exclaimed angrily as she made her way to the lady.
"How dare you call me a thief?!" The lady exclaimed in anger as well. "Who are you?"
"Aren't you ashamed of stealing people's wallets?!" Maya told her angrily as she snatched the girl's wallet from the hand that was hidden behind her back. "You stole me and my friend's money from around my neck and now you stole this girl's wallet."
"How dare you call me a thief?! I didn't steal anything…. She dropped this!" The lady yelled.
"Because of you, I didn't even have five cents! Give me my wallet back!"
"I don't have your wallet! Who the hell are you?" By now a crowd had formed around them but Maya didn't care or even notice.
"You have the guts to deny it! I saw her stealing this from your bag with my own eyes when she was hugging you." She told the girl as she handed her the wallet back. "Isn't this yours?"
"Yes! Yes, that's mine!" The girl looked through the wallet frantically checking that nothing was lost. The lady started to turn around to run but Josh was quick in taking hold of her arm. A policeman made his way towards the noise.
"Sir, this lady is a thief. She stole my…. Girlfriend's wallet before." Josh said and Maya flushed at the word girlfriend.
"She stole my wallet as well! I wouldn't have known if it wasn't for this girl here."
"Not true! I swear it a calumny, sir!" The lady exclaimed as she tried to get out of Josh's hold but she found her arm being taken by the policeman.
"You can say that at the police station. You're coming with me." He told the lady as he dragged her with him. "You two can come too so you could file a serious complaint."
"Shall we go, Maya?" Josh asked and Maya nodded, still flustered. They headed behind the policeman.
*GMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMW*
Ian pressed around on Caitlyn's ankle very lightly after removing the ice that they've kept there for a few hours now. That only brought Caitlyn actual pain because of the coolness of the ice.
"It probably doesn't hurt that much now, right?" Ian asked.
"Yeah, It doesn't… I mean the ice really did help."
"It must've numbed the area."
"Yeah… Thank you." Caitlyn said with a smile that Ian returned.
"Cait?" A voice said from behind their tented seats and they looked up to see Farkle and Kayli. Farkle noticed the leg that was on Ian's lap as he got into the private tented seats with them and sat down. Caitlyn took her leg down as Kayli sat beside them while Farkle sat opposite from them. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah… I just twisted my ankle slightly."
"Are you sure that you just twisted it? That's it's not fractured or broken?" Farkle asked worriedly
"She wouldn't have taken the pain if it were something of that sort." Ian answered for her.
"Caitlyn… Are you okay?" Kayli asked and Caitlyn turned to her with a small smile.
"Kayli… how are you?"
"How am I? We're still looking for the all mighty Lucas Friar to show up until now… So I'd say not so great." Kayli answered with a blank face.
"You still didn't find him?" Ian wondered.
"Nope… It's like he got swallowed by the ground." Farkle said with sigh.
"Oh… Your girlfriend disappeared as well." Caitlyn asked and Farkle gulped as he looked at his sister. He was hoping to not be asked about her whereabouts.
"I hope she's not with Lucas… again." Kayli said in somewhat of a warning.
"She doesn't feel too good so she resting in her room." Farkle hoped that they won't ask to go up and check on her.
"Are you sure? Don't let me see her in tomorrow's headlines again, then." Kayli said in a warning tone once again.
"I hope…" Farkle mumbled to himself. "We tired you out as well, Ian."
"Nothing of that sort happened, Farkle." He looked at Caitlyn who grinned at him. "Cait is just like a sister to me too." At that her smile dropped and she looked away from him.
Farkle tried calling Lucas once again and went straight to voicemail just like every single time that he's tried calling.
"There isn't a place that we haven't look at, Mr. Farkle. We looked inside the hotel and the areas around it as well but we didn't find him." The receptionist from earlier told him as he finally found their table. Farkle nodded and the guy went back to his work.
"I'm starting to really get worried now." Farkle said as he looked at them noticing the worried expression on Kayli's face as well.
"What are we gonna do? Are we gonna wait without doing anything?" Caitlyn asked.
"I think we should call the police." Ian suggested.
"But what if there is nothing serious? Lucas doesn't disappear from the newspaper for days anyways… It won't do any good if another adventure happens and the media knows about it." Kayli said. "We're not just normal people."
"She's right…. If we look at Lucas' irresponsible acts, then there's a huge possibility that this isn't that serious." Ian said and Farkle sighed as he thought about what he should do. Then He decided that the best thing to do right now is to at least tell his father. He excused himself and walked away from their earshot and dialed his father.
"Hey, son." Minkus answered as he stopped eating.
"Dad… I need to talk to you about something important." Minkus looked at the people around the table and excused himself out of dining room and into the living room, away from their earshot as well.
"I'm listening…"
"Lucas is missing." Farkle stated.
"Missing?" Minkus asked in a whisper as he looked around him to ensure that no one was coming. "Since when?"
"He's been missing for about four hours. I looked for him everywhere but I couldn't find him. I don't know what I'm supposed to do… Do I call the police?" Minkus gave him a small scoff before answering.
"Son, we're talking about Lucas here. God knows what he's doing. He'll show up by tomorrow morning, don't worry."
"But it's different this time, dad. I mean… his disappearance isn't rational or normal at all."
"How is it different, Farkle? Be honest with me, son." Farkle sighed before telling his father everything that has happened since this morning, keeping out the parts about Riley. "Well if the situation is really like your telling me… then yeah his disappearance is not normal or rational but when it has to with Lucas, I don't know how right it is too look at it from the rational side. For that reason, let's wait until tomorrow morning before we do anything about it. I'll be on the first plane to Miami anyways."
"Okay, dad…" Farkle said with a sigh.
"I don't think that it's anything serious, Farkle. Don't worry yourself too much, son. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"
"Don't tell my uncle anything… Okay, dad?"
"Okay… How's your sister? You're together, aren't you?"
"Yeah…"
"Go to sleep okay? Don't worry yourselves…"
"Okay… Goodnight, dad." He said and hanged up after his father wished him the same.
Minkus went back to the table after planting a smile on his face so that they don't suspect anything.
"Everything okay, brother?"
"Yeah, he just want to ask me when I plan on going to Miami." He said and they both went back to eating. Cathy kept eying the delicious looking croissants that Topanga made them for dinner. No matter how much she wanted to have one, she couldn't as she knew she needed to lose weight because she was sure that she gained some ever since she couldn't fit in those dress really well. She looked at Ella who was eating her food comfortably while Cathy ate salad.
"Ella… did you lose weight?" She asked and Minkus looked at Ella's form discreetly.
"Did I? I didn't notice at all." Ella answered as she looked at Joseph and Minkus.
"Please tell me what you do to lose weight…"
"No, dear, I don't do anything. I have had too much work to do lately that I can't even breathe before being pushed into another meeting. I don't even have time to exercise."
"You have a meeting with us tomorrow as well, don't you?" Joseph asked.
"Yeah."
"Oh how wonderful! You're working together?" Cathy said with a smile and Ella nodded as she chewed on the food in her mouth.
"Can you pass me the black pepper, honey?" Joseph asked and Cathy passed it to him.
"We're going to buy the bathroom products such as soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash and such things for our hotel in Miami from Ella's company." Minkus explained with a grin.
"That's wonderful!" Cathy said excitedly, "Joseph, I was wondering if we could go on holiday to Miami before the opening ceremony? Please.."
"That would be great…. Besides, I changed Minkus' Yacht for him and I wasn't able to show it him." Joseph said as he looked at his brother. Ella turned her head to the side to look at him with narrowed eyes.
"I'm honestly curious towards the Yacht that you chose, brother." Joseph smiled at him and they all went back to eating with small conversations. They finished their food and went into the dining room where the servants served them coffee and tea. They stayed together chatting for an hour or so.
"I'm gonna excuse myself now, Cath." Ella said as she placed her tea cup on the coffee table in front of them. Minkus looked at her before glancing at his watch.
"We couldn't talk to you properly, dear." Cathy complained.
"I feel tired… Seems like jet lag got to me this time." She explained with a nervous laugh. "But we'll definitely meet… I'll be here for a few days anyways."
"Ella… Are you sure you don't want to stay here with us?" Cathy asked and Minkus glanced back at Ella.
"Thank you, dear…. But I won't be staying in a strange place… I booked a room in your hotel in LA." Ella answered her with a smile.
"Oh yeah? Let me call them so that they could take extra care of you." Joseph told her with a smile as he moved to get his phone from the table.
"No need for that at all." She said and Joseph opened his mouth to answer when Minkus suddenly spoke up.
"I'll get going as well…. I'll give Ella a ride on my way home." He said as he stood up.
"I don't want to bother you." Ella said as she stood up as well.
"Oh, It's okay." He said and Cathy looked between the two with a suspicious smile on her face as she and Joseph stood up. "oh and just so you know, I'm heading to Miami tomorrow, brother…. I want to spend a few days with the Farkle and Caitlyn as well as Lucas."
"There's no problems concerning our troublemaker Lucas, right?" Joseph asked worriedly.
"No, brother…" Minkus reassured him with a nervous smile.
"Shall we go too, Joseph?" Cathy asked and Ella's eyes went to Minkus' in slight panic.
"Going tomorrow will be hard but we'll see about that nonetheless."
"Shall we go then?" Minkus said and Ella nodded.
"Ella… Call me tomorrow whenever you're free so that we can sit and talk about the kid's situation, alright?" Ella nodded and with that, her and Minkus left the house together.
During their car ride, he told her about his phone call with Farkle.
"Who knows how Kayli is doing right now… By the way I'm coming with you to Miami tomorrow."
"Really?"
"Yeah… and I'm sorry about tonight… I don't how such a thing came out of my mouth but now I have to stay at the hotel." Ella said apologetically and he pulled her to him and she laid her head on his chest.
"I'm okay with it because you'll be with me tomorrow… That's enough for me." He said as he placed a kiss on her head.
*GMGMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMWGMW*
"At least she'll spend some time in jail…" Josh said as they made their way out of the police station.
"She deserves it." Maya stated.
"You got so mad at her though."
"I lost myself back then… All I could feel was anger… because of that lady we spent the night on beach chairs and I couldn't even have money to get back to the hotel."
"Well now she'll hopefully learn not to steal anything from anyone." Josh said and Maya nodded. Their hands brushed as they walked next to each other and with a blush, Josh made his move and wrapped his hand around hers, lacing their fingers together.
Maya looked at their hands in surprise before a blush took place on her face. Josh looked at her and smiled so she smiled back as they walked together, holding hands and in silence.
How about we go see Kayli? Yeah let's go.
Kayli made her way into her room and threw her clutch angrily on her bed. "Look at the situation you're in Kayli." She said to herself as a few tears fell down her face and she sat down on her bed as well. "He must be with someone…. I'm sure that he's with that girl from the newspaper. You're such an idiot, Kayli… Idiot!" She hit the bed as more tears fell down her face.
"Of course he wouldn't introduce me to her and on top of that he disappeared from the entire hotel. How did I not think of this happening before?" she huffed before deciding to change into her PJs and try to distract herself.
Lucas made his way out of the room with two cups of tea in his hands to warm their bodies up a little bit. He placed one on the dining room that riley was sitting on and she looked up at him, having not felt his presence. He sat down next to her as she wrapped her hands around the warm cup and brought it to her lips. Lucas looked at his watch and it read ten in the evening. He looked at Riley who was obviously trying to avoid his gaze… in anger or embarrassment, he didn't know.
"Please excuse me, Riley…" He said as he looked at the table awkwardly and she looked at him in surprise. "Believe me, I didn't see anything and I wouldn't have came in if I knew that you'd already started undressing."
"In my opinion, let's close this subject and not talk about it…"
"Okay then…" Lucas said with a sigh and looked around them. "Farkle must be so worried about me now… I can't even imagine how Kayli is by now. She must be Furious."
"I'm responsible for all of that…" Riley said in a soft, guilty voice and Lucas looked at her once again, "You're in this disaster because of me… I'm sorry." Lucas smiled slightly.
"Well, at least it's a good thing that you realize that." Riley's guilty look turned into a glare and he looked back at the table. "I'm the one who asked you for this favor so I think we could both share responsibility for this." He said in a soft voice as he looked at her with a smile.
"What are we gonna do now then?" Riley asked as she looked around them at the pitch black ocean around them.
"We'll wait here until the morning and then we'll see what we're gonna do depending on what happens in the morning."
"What will happen when the ship's owners return?"
"We're not thieves… We'll explain it to them and I'm sure that they'll understand us and forgive us."
"I hope so."
"C'mon… Let's go down and rest for a bit." He said before getting up and Riley nodded and followed suit. They both headed down to the room. "We'll sleep here together." He pointed at the L-shaped couch type thingy.
"Together?" Riley asked with narrowed eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh what else?"
"If you don't like that then you can go sleep outside and I'll sleep here."
"Why do I sleep outside? You sleep outside."
"You're the one who doesn't want to sleep with me." Lucas said with a huff. Oh boy that came out way worse than I meant for it. He thought to himself, thanking god that Riley didn't understand it the wrong way. "I mean… Didn't you say a few minutes ago that everything happens because of you?"
"And didn't you also say that we'll share the responsibility?"
"Then let me sleep here," He pointed at the horizontal part of the L-shape, "And you sleep there." Then at the vertical one.
"So we'll sleep together and like that as well? Impossible."
"Alright then, as you like." Lucas said before laying down on the couch after adjusting the little pillow that was there. "It's so comfortable." Riley huffed before heading towards the stairs that lead upstairs. "Okay… Come back." Lucas told her with a sigh and she turned to him with a smile as he stood back up.
"Thank you… You're so nice." She said as she looked up at him, having taken her heels off when she changed. Lucas just nodded with a tight smile before making his way up the stairs. Riley laid down on the couch thingy and settled herself as Lucas laid down on the one outside and looked up at the sky. Soon enough, they both fell asleep.
Riley didn't even turn once in her sleep while Lucas slept peacefully for two hours before he started to feel so cold. He wrapped his arms around himself in his sleep to try and keep himself warm and that worked for a bit before he started feeling even colder.
He tossed and turned to find warmth before failing. He sat up and rubbed his arm that had seemingly went numb from the cold.
"Look at the situation I'm in!" He mumbled to himself as he rubbed his arm to get it warm. He huffed before getting up and heading down and Laying down with Riley. "Hmm… Much warmer." He whispered to himself so that he doesn't disturb her. The last thought he had as he fell back to sleep was that she looked really peaceful while sleeping.
After that, neither budged until the sun finally came out. Not only the sun though… The owners of the ship made their way towards it in a small boat before getting into the ship with bags of supplies with them. The captain put them on the dining table and turned towards the cut cable.
"Avez-vous acheté le câble?" The captain asked his apprentice. (Did you buy the cable?) "Le câble pour le récepteur?" (The cable for the receiver?)
"Oui, le capitaine." The apprentice answered him as he took it out from the bag. (Yes, Captain.)
"Attacher soigneusement cette fois de sorte qu'il fonctionne." The captain told him. (Attach it carefully this time so that it works.)
"D'accord." (Okay.)
Downstairs, the sunlight finally disturbed Lucas so he opened his eyes and was met by a beautiful view. He looked at Riley's sleeping face as he blinked a few times so that he sees clearly before he propped his head slightly and looked at her some more as a smile took place on his face. Once again the only thought that came to his mind was how peaceful she looked while she was sleeping. She almost looked like an angel.
She stirred slightly and opened her eyes to stare right into Lucas' green ones and she jumped in surprise, sitting up.
"What's happening?" She exclaimed loudly, bringing the attention of the captain and the apprentice as well, that someone was in the bought with them. The captain motioned for the guy to stay silent.
"Vous avez entendu trop?" (Did you hear that too?) The captain asked and the guy nodded. The captain took out a gun that he had hidden under the wheel and headed towards the door. He opened it and pointed the gun towards them as he went down the stairs. "Levez les bras au-dessus de votre tête." (Raise your arms above your head.) They both didn't understand him but when he motioned towards the air with his gun, they raised their arms out of fear. "Qui êtes-vous?" (Who are you?)
"You got this wrong… We're not thieves or high jacking this ship… We're peaceful... Can you speak English? Spanish? Arabic?" Lucas said not understanding anything other than the gun pointed at them and he had a feeling that the guy didn't understand him either, because he looked at the other guy in confusion and he just shrugged and shook his head. "They don't understand English… Look how dumb they're looking at us." He told Riley who looked back at them in panic.
"The fuel to our boat ran out... Then the ocean pulled us like that…" She talked in signs hoping that they'd understand, but the guy only pointed the gun at her this time. "And we found ourselves here… We're peaceful, I swear!" She held up the piece sign.
"They can't speak English… What are you doing?" Lucas asked her in confusion.
"They'll understand from my signs or facial expressions!" She exclaimed as she brought her hands down. "Stop sticking your nose in everything I do! God, how annoying."
"Alright… Do as you wish. I'm taking my freaking nose out of your business." Lucas snapped at her. The guy motioned for them to raise their hands once again before motioning towards the stairs.
"I think he wants us to go upstairs." Riley said and they both got up. He pointed the gun to their backs at the apprentice took hold of their arms and led them upstairs before making them sit down on two chairs with their back to each other, and tied them up to the chairs with their hands behind their backs.
And that's when they knew that they were doomed.
Is there anything worse awaiting them?
Hmm.. somewhat of a boring chapter, eh? It was mostly about Everyone but our two main characters.
I want to thank you for your understanding of what I said last chapter, it means a lot to me know that you understand where I'm coming from. As for the swearing, I personally don't mind when characters curse in stories or on TV but because someone said that they preferred no cursing, I will try and make it minimum.
For this chapter, The language that the Captain spoke in is French in case you didn't know... I used a translator online so I'm pretty sure that the translation isn't 100% accurate so just go with the English translation that I wrote between the brackets.
If you didn't enjoy this chapter, then let me tell you... You're going to be SO happy with the next one, especially the ending, if it does end how I plan for it to end if not, then it'll happen in the chapter after it. Next chapter will have a few satisfying moments between Rucas that will make you Rucas shippers so happy. It will also have a nice heart to heart (kind of) conversation about their past and we'll see a different side of Lucas every now and then.
Without giving anything more away, I promise next chapter will be really good.
Alright, question time; Where are you from? If you're from The US, then tell me what state and if you're from outside of the US then also tell me where you're from. Also, What is your first language? Mine is Arabic.
Anyways, Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought of this chapter, even if you didn't enjoy it that much.
Until next time,
Haneenxx