Chapter 2
R
„No!", my mom almost screamed at me through the phone, „I will not let you go to Finland. End of discussion."
I opened my mouth, ready to fire my next argument at her, but before any sound got out, the click followed by a continuous beep sound filled the horn. Enerved, I slammed the horn back onto the cupcake. The icing had worn down already from the many times it had held the horn. Walking to the refrigerator to look for ingredients for new icing, a song filled my apartment. The monotonic melody got me dancing while holding the door of the fridge open.
The longer I was searching, the blurrier the contents of the fridge became. I was trying to concentrate, but it was like I was being sucked out of my apartment. I rubbed my eyes and when I opened them again, I found myself in a dark room, the music - or rather, sound - being annoyingly loud. I groaned and hit a couple of times on my phone until it stopped making a sound. I pulled the covers from my body and sat up, letting my feet dangle a couple of inches above the ground. After doing a big stretch, I stood up and walked to my closet to pick out the clothes I was going to wear this morning when I would be in the gym, and the clothes for the rest of the day.
Going up the last few treads of the stairs leading out of the metro, I took a big gulp of air. It's one of my least favourite, but most practical, things in New York. I walked the last few blocks to work and when I entered the building, the digital clock with red digits told me it was thirteen minutes and eight seconds past seven am. Going down the stairs, I put my bag in the dressing room and walked towards the gym. I put on my headphones and connected them to my phone. I had grown to like working out more and more, but without music, it still sucked.
Monday morning was my favorite work-out moment. I got to have the whole gym to myself because there was no one else who got up this early on a Monday. Expecting the gym to be waiting for me all empty, I pushed open the door and went inside, but stopped abruptly when I noticed I wasn't alone. Standing completely still, my messy bun on my head - which I save specifically for Monday mornings -, Katy Perry blasting through my headphones and my eyes big, I was staring at her.
She was doing a set of pull-ups in a way that I could only dream of doing for the time being. The only coverage she had on her back was the straps of her black sports bra. Seeing all the muscles move when she pulled herself up made me stay rooted on the spot. Mesmerized by her strong body.
When she finished her set of pull-ups, she wiped her hands on her jogging and turned around. Seeing me standing there, she jumped. Her hand on her heart, she said: „God, Rachel, you scared me."
Putting off my headphones, I apologized: „Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I was quite surprised to see someone else here. Normally, I'm always alone on Mondays."
Monica's arms had moved around her stomach by now. While she was listening to me talking, she inched closer to her stuff. „Ah, usually, I'm here earlier, but I overslept today", Monica answered while grabbing her t-shirt, „I'm done anyway, so you can still have the gym for yourself if you want", she said while turning around and pulling the t-shirt over her head. It wasn't an oversized t-shirt, but it was big enough to hide her figure.
I was still trying to work out at what time she actually woke up on Mondays if she had overslept today and it was not even eight in the morning right now, when Monica had gathered all her stuff and came in my direction.
„Could you spot me for a set of pull-ups, please?", the question was out before I had thought about it. I knew that I was horrible at this, but after having seen her perfect form, it made me want to work on it.
„Uhm, yeah, sure", Monica said, dropping her bag next to the door. Realizing I still had my stuff in my hands, I put it down next to hers and followed her towards the bar.
„How many sets and repetitions are you going to do?", she asked.
„I was thinking three sets of five", I answered, „I'm still working on them and it's still a heavy exercise for me", I admitted.
„That's okay. It took me sometime too to be able to get the proper form", Monica smiled.
Feeling encouraged by her words, I jumped and grabbed the bar. The first one, I got up on my own. After, I was struggling more and more and the help from Monica was my saving.
After two sets, my body was starting to get hot, so I took off the shirt I had on. I was wearing a deep purple sports bra, my favourite one, underneath. When I turned back to Monica to do my last set, her eyes didn't meet mine. Instead, they were glued to my stomach. It was just briefly because her eyes had already flicked back to my face by the time I had figured out what she was looking at.
„One more set, right?", she asked.
„Yes, the last one", I walked back towards the bar.
As soon as my hands made contact with the bar, I felt two warm hands making contact with my skin. When I had my t-shirt on, I hadn't really noticed Monica's hands, but now, it was all I could focus on. Her grip on my back and ribs was firm, yet soft. After I had completed the fifth one, her hands dropped from my back and two cold patches of skin were all that was left from her touch.
„Is there something else you want me to spot you for?", Monica asked, breaking my thoughts.
„No, that was all. Thank you", I said, smiling at her.
„Okay, then I will see you when you're done", she smiled back. She turned around to grab her stuff and my eyes kept following her. Just before the door closed, she turned around and looked at me, „Have a good session", she said and then she was gone.
M
After having quickly showered, I went upstairs to my office. I got in a good hour of work before the shy knock of Rachel on the door pulled me out of my concentration.
„Sorry for bothering you", she started, „But I was wondering at what time I'm expected here for the briefing."
„At nine, I will get the folder with all the information, „I checked the tiny clock on the right corner of my computer screen, „So in eighteen minutes exactly."
„Okay, I will be on time", she said and she started to close the door again.
„Wait, where are you going?", I asked confused.
„To my desk", she said.
I gestured in front of me, „It's here, isn't it?"
She looked at the desk I was gesturing at, „Oh, I thought about going to my assigned desk in order not to bother you", she said.
„Do you like your 'assigned' desk?", I asked, putting air quotes around the assigned.
„It's alright", she shrugged.
„I know it says my name on the door, but - if you want to - you can have this desk to be your new 'assigned' desk", I proposed.
„Oh, I don't know", sounding unsure, I saw her glancing at the desk again.
„You don't bother me", I said and when she smiled I knew I had said the right thing.
„Okay, if you're sure", she said, the smile still on her face.
„Of course. I will ask for a bigger and more convenient desk than this one", I said and when she was about to protest I added, „It wasn't a question."
„Thank you", she finally said in a tiny voice.
I smiled and looked back at my computer. I heard her closing the door behind her and her footsteps stepping towards her desk. I glanced at her one more time and then went back to responding to the mail that was still open in front of me. I didn't know why, but somehow I felt better when she was working here too. It could get lonely to work alone in your office every day, but she normally liked it better than working in the same space as other people.
With Rachel it was different, though. I didn't know why, but it felt comfortable.
The red dot that suddenly appeared next to received had me sit up straighter. This was going to be the mail for her next mission. She clicked on received and the mail she was writing disappeared from the screen.
Five most effective ways to keep your kitchen clean
The headline would normally excite her, but now it was just disappointing. When she looked at her clock there were still four minutes left. Sighing, she clicked on concepts and reopened the half-written mail.
It was three minutes past nine when she finally got the mail. She had told herself to wait until five minutes past nine before sending an email asking where the mail was.
She gave in her special code for being able to have access to the mail.
The slight annoyance she was feeling at the tardiness faded almost instantly when she saw where they would be going.
„Have you ever been to Europe?"
Rachel looked up, „No, why?"
„Me neither. I guess it will be a first for the both of us", I said, smiling.
„Our mission is in Europe?", she asked a shy smile on her lips.
„Italy to be exact", I beamed, „Or, to be exacter, Firenze."
„Where in Italy is this?"
„In the north, in between Milan and Rome", I answered, „Why don't you come here? Then we can go through the mail together", I proposed.
When we both sat next to each other we went over the mail alinea per alinea. It just contained the bare minimum of details that were needed to give us a first impression, but still vague enough for anyone else not to know what it was about. As always, the more detailed information would be given on location in person.
„So, if I understand correctly, I will come to Italy too, but I won't do a lot?", Rachel asked, a hint of disappointment in her voice.
„Kind of, but you will still do quite a lot. You will be able to attend all the meetings with the Italian authorities, you'll be able to have a voice there - you won't just have to listen - and little by little you'll be able to do more and more", I said.
„And we'll be there for more than six months, right?"
„It says here they estimated the mission to take between 6 and 12 months, but it wouldn't be the first time that it takes longer than the maximum time says", I said with a shrug.
„And I'll be able to continue my formation there too?", she asked. She had been following an intense formation the past few weeks to get on the right level for being a special agent since she hadn't followed any formation for this job. Luckily for her, I had a really high function in the company and after some compromises, I managed to get them to let me keep Rachel. She was superb at shooting. Compared to my first weeks, she would have been a star student in my class. She still had seven more weeks to complete, but we would leave in two weeks.
„I'm sure they will adapt it to be able to fit it into our schedule. You will probably have some Zoom meetings and some of your physical courses will be with me I guess. But we'll see", I said, waving her concern away.
„Okay", Rachel seemed to be temporarily satisfied with my answer, „So where exactly is Firenze again?", she asked.
I opened a new tab and went to Google Maps. I scrolled with the computer mouse to make it smaller and moved the map from the States to Europe. I zoomed in on Italy and before I could lean back to give her space to look at the screen, she had leaned forward towards the screen. Her hair was just a few inches away from my face and I caught a whiff of coconut. I was planning to move backwards, I swear, but something made me feel stuck. It was quite nice to have her so close to me in some way. I didn't know why, because most of the time, I don't like people invading my personal space.
„Whoa, it looks so pretty", her voice made my vision snap from the back of her head to the screen. She had pulled up pictures by now and was slowly going through them, taking in the sunbathed buildings and the cobbled streets.
„Yeah, I always wanted to go to Italy one day, but in my head, it was for a vacation, not for work", I said, laughing slightly.
„Yeah", Rachel laughed too, „But I guess we can take at least one day off work to wander around the city a bit, can't we?", she asked and she turned her head around. Her eyes were sparkling a bit and her face was in an excited smile. Upon noticing how close I was, she leaned a bit back.
„I don't know. In my whole life, I've never managed to take a day off work while being on a mission", I shrugged.
„Really? How many missions have you done so far?"
„Uhm", I looked up and started counting on my fingers, „This will be my seventh one", I said holding up six fingers.
„At what age did you start?", she asked with big eyes.
„At the age of twenty-two, I had my first one. But it wasn't as big as this one", I said.
„So how old are you now then?", Rachel asked, then heard the question she just asked and quickly added, „I mean, you don't have to answer this if you don't want to."
„I'm thirty", I said, wincing slightly at the number. Even though it was already November, eight months since she had turned thirty, it still bothered her that her twenties were over now. She would never be in her twenties ever again.
„Really? Me too", Rachel said surprised, „What year?"
„1993, like you", I smiled. I was surprised when I saw her date of birth written on her CV. I would have sworn she was younger than me.
„Oh, we're age buddies!", Rachel exclaimed happily, one hand in the air waiting for a high five. I shook my head and chuckled, but returned her high-five with a smile I couldn't manage to get off my face. I couldn't help it, but her presence made me a happier person.
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