"Adele? Who was that?"

"Who was what?" she smiles back at me, looking almost too innocent.

I squint my face and look around her. No one.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom."

"Uhh, what are doing back so early?" she asks with the smile still spread on her face.

"No reason." I push past her and open the bathroom door.

No one was there. I walk past to our bedroom and walk inside. I grab the closet handle and brace myself. I pull on the door and hear that gasp again. I turned the handle and a man stumbled out the door.

"Adele who the heck is in our closet?"

The man dashed out room and picked up Adele around her hips. She giggled and kissed his face. I stood there in awe of all the events.

"Adele?!?"

"We're done Cameron. Keep the house!"

The man carried her out the door and she laughed the whole time. Anger fummed from my face and I stormed out of the house. I called a taxi to take me back to the hotel.

I came in the back room and Jackie was still there, but more caught up with the work.

"Mr. Mendoza," she grins when I come in.

"Glad to see your back."

"My girlfriend broke up with me," I blurt out.

She grinned even more and wrapped her arms around my neck. She trailed kisses on my neck as I cried from the hurt.

"Stop," I said, "just- stop."

"Still have feelings?"

"Of course I do, my girlfriend just freakin broke up with me."

"Woah there, don't have to be so aggressive."

That's it. I was done. Done with stealing, done with girls, and honestly, just done with life.

"Bye sweetheart," I kiss her forehead.

"I love you," she cries.

"I love you too."

I give her a strong hug before I run out the door. My beautiful Adele. The black cab is waiting for me, and I fall into the cushiony seat.

"Where to, sir?"

"The Hilton Hotel on Gallard Street."

"Yes sir. That will be 5 dollars and 15 cents."

I hand him a $5 and $1.

"Keep the change."

I grin knowing that I will gain that 85 cents back, but over a million times more. I gaze out the window, foggy blue sky with no clouds in sight. Building are at my expanse, each one a different height. I rest my head onto my hand, and my eyes quickly drift to sleep.

"We have arrived sir."

My eyes slowly open, and i quickly wipe the drool from my mouth. I gather my bag and open the silver latch.

"Thanks," I mumble and make my way inside.

"Cameron Mendoza," I hear someone whisper. I turn to the voice.

Her viberant brown hair is cut sharply just below her chin, rough freckles line her nose and her green-yellow eyes appear beautiful under her long lashes. With a thousand gold piercing lines on her ears, you would think she could start a gold mine. Her tan skin glows against the slim white dress she is wearing.

"And who might you be?"

"Jackie Fickle. A pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Mendoza."

"You as well," I say with a grin on my lips.

We walk to the back room, ready for business.

"So, Mr. Mendoza, do you have all the details for the heist?"

"I sure do," I say with a smile still on my face.

"Great," she sighs. Her hands press against the table and she leans forward.

"Let's get to business then."

I chuckle and open my bag.

"Here is all the info I have been for this bank heist. We should get just under a million dollars if it goes all to plan."

"Great work," she says gazing into my eyes.

I glance up at her, and she doesn't loose eye contact. A hair falls from behind her ear and I reach out and put it back. She looks down.

"You know Mr. Mendoza, that I have a boyfriend, right?"

"And I have a girlfriend. But she would never know."

She glances back up to me and seems impressed.

"Alright Mr. Mendoza, you win."

I smirk up at her and lean in. The touch is so brief and light that I almost think I am in a dream. Our lips part and I run around to her side of the table. I wrap my arm around her waist and she digs her nails into my hair. I pull her in tight and lean down to kiss her again.

She releases first and looks back to the work waiting for us at the table. We dive into which is the best plan, and who should do what job. She interrupts.

"You are one heck of a kisser, Mendoza."

"Ah, so we've gotten ride of the Mr, I see."

"How about you teach me some of your tricks?"

"I thought it was a one and done."

"It doesn't have to be."

"But let's just leave it as that, alright?" I croon to her.

The rest of the meeting she doesn't listen to what I say and keeps her eyes on me.

"Ms. Fickle, if it seems that I am a distraction then I could find someone else for your job."

"Mhm."

I leave the room with all my stuff and call for a cab. It hits me that I might have hurt Adele.

"Adele?" I call.

"Cameron?! What are you doing here?"

"I.. I.."

Adele runs into my view and I hear a gasp that does not belong to her voice...

---To be continued---

(only if you guys want me to do a second part lol)

Berry took off and left. Ravi stayed rooted where he was. They had decided to bring everyone back here, while Ravi kept watch.

"I can't believe it just disappears." He mutters under his breath.

Soon enough, everyone was with him. Berry, E, Sage, Rae, Anabella, Skye, and Cannibal.

"What happened again?" Cannibal asked.

"Fluffy and Rylee were lured into that cliff face, and when Shadow, Berry, and I came, I stayed behind while they went up to it. The sound that lured came out and the cave opened up again. This time a large hand had come out and Berry managed to get away but Shadow couldn't." Ravi explained.

"Oh, right that makes sense. How are we going to get them back?" Cannibal and everyone else wondered.

Ravi tried to position himself in an intimidating way. "First, we need bait."

Everyone turns to Anabella.

"What are you all looking at me for?" She asked.

"Okay, Anabella, I want you to stand in front of that cliff face over there and just wait." Ravi pointed to it with a claw.

Grumbling, she went over to it and just stood.

Ravi went on explaining. "And when it opens, we all rush in."

As soon as he said that, the cave opened. The large hand reached out to Anabella. Everyone else quickly rushed down and went into the cave. Anabella allowed the hand to take her and walked in the rest of the way by herself.

The cave was huge. The hand belonged to a very large dragon that lay in the center of the cave.

"Hi..." The dragon boomed. "Welcome to my cave."

Ravi, Anabella, E, Berry, Sage, Rae, Skye, and Cannibal stared at him in shock.

"Who are you?" Cannibal asked.

"I'm Jerry." The dragon replied cheerfully. "I'm the happy dragon."

"The fucking happy dragon?" Cannibal laughed. "And who names their kid Jerry?"

Jerry narrows his eyes. "Say that again and I'll end you."

Something in his gaze made Cannibal gulp.

"Now what brings you all here?" Jerry asked.

"We want our friends back," Ravi growled.

Jerry glanced at Fluffy, Rylee, and Shadow. "These friends? But they're my friends. I've been telling them jokes too." He laughed, turning back to the group.

Rylee raised her voice. "They're terrible jokes!"

Ravi glances at her then back to Jerry. "I assume she's correct?"

"Completely correct!" Fluffy shouts.

"I agree with them!" Shadow joins his voice.

Ravi sneers at Jerry, who glares at his three captures.

"How dare you insult my jokes." He sniffs.

Rylee sticks her tongue out at him. "Too bad."

Jerry roars and spits out flames. "You shall pay!"

Ravi and the other dragons rise into the sky and fly around Jerry's head to make him dizzy. Fortunately, it only takes a few minutes before Jerry falls over and stops spitting the flames.

"You...all...are...too...fast..." He takes a lot of deep breaths. "Take...your...friends...back...now..."

Ravi smiles and rushes to Rylee's cage. He carefully blows flames to burn the cage, but not her, just enough so she can escape. E does this for Fluffy, and Berry for Shadow. All the dragons, reunited with Fluffy and Rylee and Shadow, fly from the cave and leave Jerry lying in the center of his cave. Alone.

Ravi skids to a stop in the middle of the camp. He gasped in breaths.

Everyone came out to meet him. Skye, Rae, Sage, Cannibal, Berry, and Anabella.

"What's wrong?"

"Where are Rylee and Fluffy?"

Ravi raised his head. "They're gone. Something drew them in. I couldn't get a good look at it. It made them go into a cave...then it disappeared somehow..."

Shadow slipped from his tent and stood in the middle of the crowd. Everyone turned to him.

"Could you try to describe this 'cave' a little better?" Shadow asked Ravi.

Ravi looked him in the eyes fiercely. "No, I can't."

Shadow narrowed his eyes but didn't ask anything else. "Berry, with me. The rest of you stay here. Ravi, you come too."

Shadow and Berry got into positions at the edge of the mountain and took off. Ravi grumbled before following behind them.

"Show us the way." Shadow told Ravi.

Ravi glanced back at him before flying to the front. He swiftly flew back to the cliff face and the disappeared cave.

"Here." He pointed a wing at it.

Shadow and Berry flew closer. Ravi watched them. Suddenly, they scrambled away and covered their ears. A loud piercing sound reached Ravi's small ears. He quickly gasped and covered them. The cave opened up and something came out. Shadow saw it and lifted his wings to fly. Berry did the same and made it to Ravi's side. The thing, however, got Shadow before he could fly away and dragged him into the cave.

"Don't come-" Shadow's shout was cut short as the cave closed and disappeared again.

Ravi and Berry glance at each other.

"Don't come back..." Berry whispered. "But we have to save them!"

"I know, I know." Ravi slowly paced around then stopped before looking straight at Berry. "It looks like we have to disobey some orders."

A lonely man on a lonely night was missing his girlfriend and couldn’t get over the breakup. So he went to sleep and when he woke up he decided he wanted coffee he went to the local coffee shop and bought himself a nice spiced latte. He then on his way out he bumped in to a girl and spilt his coffee all over him and her, he felt embarrassed, but the girl thought he was handsome so she said”it’s okay let’s go buy some new ones” and he started chuckling and said “okay” they than got each others numbers and met the next day and then the next day and the next day until the got married for 2 years and then decided they wanted kids, so they had them. While him and his kids and wife were looking at old pictures, they found this one picture of him in it and his old sister, his wife said”hey how do we have pictures together?!” And he said “what that’s you?!?” And then they both looked at each other and said “we’re siblings” and then both split up. The sister took the kids and the brother took nothing but a bullet to the brain.

“Hold the elevator!”

Juggling a cardboard drink holder full of soft drinks and a big bag of fast food, Lori made a halfhearted try to hit the hold elevator button. First day of family vacation and she was already exhausted. Jaime thrusted a hand through the closing door. He bustled into the elevator with a rolling suitcase, a messenger bag, and a large pink stuffed bunny.

Making room, Lori moved over. She sniffed. The elevator stirred to life, rising. The man smelled of cedar wood. Lori on the other hand reeked of French fries. He had a nice profile, she thought, with dark brown hair tumbled from the wind. If he was hers she give a hat a skull cap. Lori pictured herself on tippy toes putting her imagined hat on his head as he held her waist.

“Cold night, isn’t it,” Jaime said.

“Yes, just awful.”

Jaime punched in his floor. She’s hot he thought, like really beautiful without trying . Quickly his eyes roamed down her ripeness. Then Jaime realized he was being a perv and punched his floor button again. He watched his sneakers intensely. The elevator trembled.

“I’ve never liked elevators. What do they call them … sky coffins. I always imagine plummeting down down down,” Lori said without knowing why. “Yet they kind of thrill me.”

She didn’t talk to strangers. She hated chit chat and polite pleasantries, preferring the inside of her own head. Something made her want to talk to this man not small talk real talk sharing. Lori had agreed to go out for food just to have a little quiet. She’d driven slowly dreading returning to her noisy hotel room. Now she wanted words, his words. The elevator whirred beneath their feet. They looked at one another.

“Elevators rarely fall. They have two kinds of brakes holding the cars,” Jaime said as something inside him shifted. “No but I get it. Elevators are weird places.”

“You mean like Dressed to Kill weird,” Lori said playfully.

Her smile melted him.

“Like an in between space. Where you are moving but not moving. Going up or going down,” he said. “Not really anywhere—I don’t know what I’m saying.”

“No don’t do that. Don’t get in your head and doubt yourself. I understand. It is a space where anything could happen,” she replied.

Ding. The elevator stopped on Jaime’s floor. The doors opened to a hallway of patterned carpet and rows of closed hotel doors. They saw each other. The elevator dinged as the doors began to close. Jaime shook the possibilities for his head and stepped out. His family was waiting for him. He started to walk. Lori watched his nape, the set of his shoulders, the way his back moved, as he walked away. Stopping, Jaime turned to look back at Lori. The elevator slid its doors closed.

I’ve learned one thing since I landed at my grandmothers house. She’s not dying of lung cancer. I swear that the reason Mom asked me to pay her a visit was because she was dying. In fact I remember her exact words. “Emery . . .” Mom lets my name slide into silence of my bedroom, “Dad . . . His mom.” Mom pauses, taking a small, short breath, “Your grandmother. Kate—Katie. She’s . . . Dying.” Mom’s eyes meet mine. She’s everything but calm. Her shoulders are raised, her eyes are squinted. Her lips are pressed together in a small line. I grab my wrist, twisting the bracelet around. The black beads snap together as Mom reaches her hand out. “Em,” she whispers, “I think you should . . .” Don’t say it! I think, snapping the beads once more. “Visit her,” Mom finishes. I can tell from her relaxed shoulders, and wide open eyes that she’s relieved it’s all over. I shake my head, “Mom,” I say, “I don’t want to.”

I smile meekly at my grandma who’s sitting across the living room, in an old, wooden rocking chair. She rocks back and forth her arms crossed tightly across her chest. I take in a much needed breath, “So . . .” I pause hoping she’ll take the opportunity to jump in. To my disappointment she just stares blankly back at me.

Since I arrived she’s spoken two words to me. “Cole Dawson.” Her right hand was shaking at her side as she took me in. I could tell she thought I looked like him. Her son, my father. Mom tells me everyday that I remind her so much of Dad. And from the one memory I have of him, I agree. He was funny, kind, a little hard on the eyes, and most importantly he was shy. Like crazy shy. Mom always joked that it was a miracle she got him down on one knee.

I could always imagine him on the day he asked Mom to marry him. Cherry red, mumbling, sweating. Dropping the ring in the grass field that Mom had told me about. To my surprise, I was wrong. Dad was in the moment. He wasn’t shaking, or freaking out. He loved Mom, and that gave him the confidence he needed, to take a risk. He knew she loved him, he didn’t understand why, but he knew. And he sure knew that the girl standing in front of him was the girl he was meant to be with forever. If only forever wasn’t severed by his death.

“Tell me why?” My grandmother’s booming voice echos through the small house. “Why are you here?” “Uh . . . Well my mother said that you were dying and she wanted me to pay you a visit?” I say the last word like a question. I hope it shows her that I’m just as confused as her. She shakes her head, “I’m not dying.” Way to point out the obvious. I nod, “I can see that.” “So,” she lifts a hand motioning for me to leave, “Get on then. No reason to take my precious time away from me.”

And that was that. I grabbed my suitcase, flung my bag over my shoulder and walked out that door like it was the first day of school. I wish I had Peter here to help me with this mess. He’s so good at sorting things out. At least I think he is. Maybe I’m wrong. Just like I was wrong that my grandmother was dying. How many other things am I wrong about?

it wasn’t supposed to happen like this

there wasn’t supposed to be sparks, we weren’t supposed to kiss—

because she had a girlfriend, i had a partner

but the urge to give in got stronger and stronger

before i even knew it she was in my head my hands were in her hair and she was in my bed

tangled in the sheets knowing it was wrong but god, i hadn’t felt like that for so, so long

she stumbled out of bed the next morning

looking like a woman half-crazed and i knew how she felt my stomach was roiling—

i felt sick, insane

hungry for power thirsting for her desperate for love i’d never get from another

she was so different and maybe that’s why

it happened like it did why there were sparks,

why we kissed—

Impossible love Why now Meeting above But how?

Both love others Hearts torn Give another Fickle forlorn

Part ways Not more together Long for those days Retreating never

“So, a man can’t hit a woman, but a woman can hit a man?” Naksh scoffed at Ivan’s recollection with a grimace. “Bullshit.”

“My wife, she would’ve smacked you for that.” Ivan exhaled a faint huff of a dry chuckle. His eyes were glued to the floor.

Seeing him like this made Naksh want to go on a tangent about her, but he bit back his tongue. They’ve been talking late into the night by now for what felt like hours, so he wanted to focus on what mattered most—where to go from here.

“Will you leave her then? I’ll treat you better,” Naksh boldly declared as he shot up from his chair with passion.

For Ivan, it felt unnatural to be treated right. He knew deep down that it shouldn’t be normal for his wife to do things, like touch his body even when he asked her not to. But no man on television ever complained about that before, so why should he? That’s what he told himself.

And yet, the promise of being treated better took Ivan’s breath away in all the right ways.

After a long hesitation, Ivan pried his gaze from the ground to the man before him. He entertained the idea. “And your fiancé?”

“I told you it was an arranged—“

“Not that,” Ivan interrupted Naksh softly. “Your fiancé. What am I supposed to do when my wife finds her, and tells her what you’re doing?”

“She knows. She approves.” Naksh shrugged nonchalantly, his tone and indicator for how lenient his fiancé was. It was normal to him.

“And if my wife finds your parents?” Ivan asked in a hushed voice. He sank into his seat a bit as he braced for an answer.

But, there wasn’t one. At least not immediately. Yet Naksh only found himself pausing for three noticeable seconds before waving his hands in a fervently dismissive manner. “It’s fine, it doesn’t matter,” He sputtered.

“But—“ Ivan began, and he continued speaking, but he couldn’t even hear his own quiet sentence as Naksh spoke firmly over him.

“We’re going to make it work. Trust me. You trust me, right?” Naksh grinned confidently.

“Of course,” Ivan said without reluctance.

Finally hearing certainty in Ivan’s voice, Naksh smiled. He let out a hearty laugh and yelled a boisterous “woo!” that would’ve made passersby assume he was celebrating another Lakers win. A holler so loud that a distant dog began barking.

Ivan only sank further into his seat as he flushed with sheepishness, but he couldn’t help but smile fondly at the pure joy in Naksh’s voice.

“Can I kiss you?” Naksh asked with a giddy grin, yet a gentle voice.

“I’d like that,” Ivan answered bashfully, yet eagerly rose from his seat so they could make out.

For some reason, a relationship so complicated still felt so simple for them. It was just so easy to love each other, and that’s all there was to it.