I'm sorry for the delay… I've had some problems with this chapter, but My Beta ‚Lorem Ipsum', (special thanks to her), helped me with it.
So… this "nothing… everything" was from Kingdom of Heaven with Orlando Bloom, at least in the German translation is it like this…. It's my favourite line…
daisyduke80, :) Thanks for the review.
Miss Fenway, Like always a double-Thanks to you =).. Yeah Poor Riley…
rOck-bUtterfly91, Ach, deine Reviews sind immer so süß =) They make me smile =) I'm so glad that you liked my story so far. Perhaps Sophi and Riley will meet again…
Thuraya Known, Lol… I know, that there are questions unanswered, but I promise, they will be answered. Thanks for your Review.Elyy2k, Wow… I'm speechless. And that doesn't happen very often. That was great to listen. Thanks so much.
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Riley's Perspective:
I had a phone number in my right jeans pocket and a guarantee to see Sophia again. The World Wide Web was world wide. I could do my work everywhere. And translators were able to translate anywhere. And we both had enough money to spend a few weekends together.
On the way to Las Vegas I repeated the story of the first time I met Ben to Abi. She should know things that a 'stranger' knew. I was happy that she didn't ask any questions about my life before that day. It was something I really didn't want to talk about.
Now I was looking out of the window and was amazed at the sight. "Oh wow! This is so great! Ben, Ben look! The statue of liberty in Las Vegas!"
Why did I even wonder why Ben calls me 'Kid'. I didn't behave like a thirty-two year old man. I heard Ben and Abi chuckle in the front.
"Yea, Kid, it IS great." Ben laughed. Okay, make fun of me, it doesn't really matter.
"So, what are we going to do?" Abi asked.
"Guys! Please let's go to a casino, I don't want to watch a show. No fake Elvis! Just casinos and food!" The pair laughed at my excitement.
I myself had to laugh at the image of Abi in one of the casinos playing poker. I imagined the mean-declaration lady totally dominating one of those silly games. This was going to be fun.
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After a short search for a motel we finally entered a casino, Ben and I wore expensive tuxedos and Abi looked brilliant in her dress. Really beautiful. I got the feeling that Ben was really proud to have this woman at his side.
"Are you Ben Gates?" a young woman asked Ben, as we barely had even crossed the room. Oh excellent, somebody recognized the famous treasure hunter, great.
"Let's go, Ben will find us." Abi smiled. She locked her arm with mine and led us to the first table. Poker, cool!
"C'mon, let's throw money out of the window!" I joked, and helped Abi gentlemanlike to sit down and took a seat myself.
"Tolle Vorstellung, wir haben ja genug!", she said to herself. I glared at her. She would eventually drive me crazy, if she kept speaking in German.
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Ben joined us eventually and it turned out all three of us were good poker players.
But then…
"You three, we're under the suspicion that cheating may be going on here!" One of the cops stated harshly and pointed at Abi, Ben and me.
"What?" I asked with a fake laugh.
"Would you please come with us gentlemen, lady?" On of the cops made a step in my direction.
"No way!" I said and turned to Ben, who tried to lead me to the cops with a hand on one of my shoulders. "Ben, they can't do this! Just because we're lucky it doesn't mean that we're cheating!"
"Sir," The tallest cop shouted. Ugh, everybody was looking at us.
"Riley! Don't be stupid, move!" Ben whispered and squeezed my shoulder tight.
"No! These jokers have no right to arrest us." I shouted at Ben, not understanding why wasn't on my side. "I really don't see a reason for anyone getting into trouble." I turned around and tried to get out, but I was held back by an angry Ben.
"Riley." He warned giving me a glance.
"Sir would you please follow me, so we can get this straightened out?" The policeman asked, a mean gaze on me.
"Yes." Ben answered. "We on, Riley."
"Oh Ben, shut up, it's not like you care about the law anyway. You kidnapped the president, so don't act like a good citizen." Crap. I looked at Ben, an 'I- didn't want to say that' look on my face. He was… mad.
"You kidnapped who?" The policeman repeated, startled. All the people around where staring at us and begun to whisper. Oops, I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.
"Sir, I think you had better come with me."
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CRACK
The door of the cell shut.
Crap!
Now we found ourselves in a little grey cell with a few benches in a little police station in Las Vegas. I was really happy we three were alone in here. And the officer was really lucky that he was on the other side of the bars, because at the moment Ben was more terrifying than every Mitch or Ian.
Though his body language was calm his face was really furious. His eyes were burning with anger and his lips were only a thin line. I realized that his fists were clenched and though I knew that this guy, my big brother, would never hurt me I crossed the room so that I was as far as possible away from him.
So I sat down on one bench in the back of the room, Abi took a seat on the opposite side of the room, so that she was able to face me. But she leaned her head against the wall, her legs hugged to her chest and her eyes closed.
She looked kind of funny with her beautiful dress in this dark cell. Ben and I were still in our tuxedos, too.
Oh, I felt so guilty at the sight of Ben who was now standing at Abi's side and glared at me.
I looked down at my right wrist, unable to hold Ben's gaze. I noticed that the strong officer, who was insulted by me, left an angry bruise on my right wrist. It hurt. But Ben's gaze hurt way more than that.
"Ben, I…" I tried to apologize.
"Oh shut up! Just shut up Poole!" I had to swallow hard and felt tears in the corners of my eyes. He really just called me Poole!
"Ben! Don't!" I heard Abi's surprised voice.
"No! Let me finish!" Than he addressed me again: "Have you finally lost your mind? What have I done to you that you would tell somebody that I kidnapped the president. I thought were my friend." That hurt.
"Ben…" I tried again to apologize again, but this just made him angrier. I've ruined his name again. At least it wasn't killing the president, but kidnapping him, that was a progress.
"You know, I think I only asked you to join us to get rid of my bad conscience or something. To finally pay you back, I have never paid you for your work. Maybe your work is worth more then you."
I squeezed my eyes shut, clenched my fists and let out a trembling breath. 'Please stop talking! Please' I thought. I wasn't able to say anything.
"BEN!" Abi interrupted in with a firm voice.
"BE QUIET ABIGAIL! This is between Riley and me!"
The silence was only interrupted by a little sob I let out. Oh god, I was so pathetic. I realized that everything about our talk in Colorado was forgotten.
"No this is…" But she wasn't able to finish her sentence, because Ben started again.
"When we get back to Washington DC. I'll pay you for your work. And than I won't have to think about you and whining anymore! You were fantastic as a hacker but you failed as a friend…"
"Ben! Shut up! Blödmann! Trottel! So was zu seinem besten Freund zu sagen! You jerk!" Abi shouted. I didn't care what she was saying, all the words of Ben were worse than hard slaps in my face.
I sat on the bench, and curled up and against the wall, my face buried in my knees and my hands in my hair. I struggled for breath and felt tears all over my face. I just lost my friend, my best friend, my big brother.
"Riley!" Abi's voice was trembling, too. Suddenly Abi was next to me and pulled me in a tight embrace and begun to stroke my hair. "Shhh! I promise that he didn't mean anything! C'mon Riley." I wanted to believe her, but Ben never said something he didn't mean.
I heard a movement from Ben's direction and for a brief moment I thought he would come to us, to talk to me, but he seemed to just lie down on the bench.
"Ri?" Abi tried again and kissed the top of my head but continued to caress my hair. "Would you please just return the hug sweetheart?" She asked gently. I knew she just wanted to uncurl me, so that I could take a deeper breath, but right now this was exactly what I needed at the moment. A hug to know, that somebody actually cared about me.
So I hugged her and buried my face in her shoulder. She laid her head on the top of my head and rubbed comforting circles in my back. I even felt a gentle kiss on my hair.
Now and then I felt Abi glare at Ben, over my shoulder. Every time she did I felt a shiver down my spin. I didn't dare look at him after my tears finally died down.
"Take a nap, we all will talk tomorrow!" Abi said with a sad smile and placed a kiss on my cheek then she stood up and laid down on one of the other benches in the cell.
I turned around, so I would face the wall when I laid down.
This was the worst day of this stupid trip! I loved the idea of seeing Las Vegas, finally! Now I hated Las Vegas. I hated the whole trip; all this terrible fights with Ben wouldn't have happened if I had stayed at home.
And at the very end I had lost my friend.
I just was on this trip, because Ben felt he needed to pay me back. Not because he wanted me there.
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Please Review :) And again sorry, that it was so late.