Blank Sheet

Chapter 6

Sitting at my usual spot with my lap top open and typing away, I waited on Jimmy. Mot and Connie were dancing around the streets of Carnival and having a blast, Mot throwing tons of beads to all the pretty girls while Connie took in the sights and smells. It was fun for them. I mean it was fun to write them having fun. Checking the clock on my computer, I sighed and waited for Jimmy to show. It was nearly noon and still no signs of him.

I was making me antsy, waiting like that. Finishing off my tea, I got another before going back to my screen and writing more.

Mot waved his hands around catching all the beads that he could while Connie looked for a place to hide. The thieves were hot on their trail and there was no telling what would happen if they were found. Death? Torture? Who knew what the three men had in store for them. All she wanted was to get back home and take a nice long nap on the couch with golf on the TV.

That raised another question. Was she going to move in with Mot like he had asked of her or decline? It was still nagging at her while she looked around for a way out of this mess that they had some how gotten themselves into. According to Mot, they’d ‘be just fine and dandy.’ Of course it was hard to convince her of that with three blood thirsty thieves after them because they were convinced that the odd pair had a precious gem of theirs.

Cracking my fingers a bit, I looked at the time and then around the restaurant citing that Jimmy still hadn’t shone up. Where the hell was he? Seriously, I was starting to worry that I had been stood up, but then I had to think about it. After only knowing him a short while I knew that he would show, even if it wasn’t on time.

‘Aw! Well why don’t you look at that? She’s already able to sniff him out,’ Mot would crack before settling himself into a seat next to me. ‘Just wait honey buns, you’ll be jumping fences and running around semi crowded areas like your life depended on it for the smallest of things and you’ll be loving every minute of it.’

‘Would you mind please leaving me to my work? Aren’t you suppose to be catching beads or something? I thought Connie had a handle on you?’ I would sigh as I sip my tea.

‘Sorry, he got away from me, I was trying to find a place to hide from those guys. . . Right there!’ Connie yelped, moving my attention to a rushed Jimmy jumping over the fence.

“No time to explain, grab stuff and run,” he huffed. Of course I just sat there as I saved my document out of habit when someone comes over to me.

“What?” I asked giving him a weird look as I took my time putting up my lap top and putting it in my case.

“Like I said, I’ll explain later, right now just run,” he breathed as he looked at me with pure seriousness. That was actually more frightening than the four men than I saw next.

“There they are!” One in aviators yelled pointing at us.

“Jimmy!” I cried as we jumped over the fence, my bag slung over my head as he grabbed my hand and we ran. “What the hell is going on!?” I cried as we sprinted down the street with the four men in hot pursuit.

“I’ll explain when we give them the slip,” Jimmy grunted as he pulled me along, whinding up and down random streets, making me dizzy.

“Jesus Christ what did you get me into!?” I huffed as we stopped next to a black SUV before Jimmy unlocked it and motioned for me to hop in. Slamming my door shut as I got in the front passenger seat, we sped off.

“Ok, um. . .” Jimmy said trying to catch his breath and speed at the same time while avoiding traffic and pedestrians. “So I owe some people money. . . A LOT of money and they came to collect a little early this time,” he chuckled nervously.

‘My kind of guy! I think I know him, oh wait, I do! ME!’ Mot cackled in the back of my head.

“Why do you owe them money Jimmy?” I seethed, grabbing at my seat belt as we took a turn WAY too sharp for my own liking.

“Well I made a bet on a football game and I lost,” he said trying to shrug it off. ]

“How much?” I yelped grabbing onto the door as we took another harsh turn.

“Uh. . .” He let that one syllable hang in the air as it sank with my stomach.

“How much?” I asked again starting to feel a bit nauseous.

“Half a million?” He squeaked out as we stopped at a red light. I felt the color drain from my face.

“You mean you owe them half a million for a fucking football game!?” I screamed as he floored it as soon as the light went green.

“Yeah,” Jimmy nodded.

“I oughta kick your ass!” I yelled. “How stupid could you be!? Then you drag me into it!”

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t thinking! I was drunk and it seemed like the kicker would really miss the shot! He always does!” Jimmy cried as we sped past luxury houses now.

“Take me back to my place Jimmy! I don’t want to have anything to do with this or you!” I huffed glaring through the windshield.

“Well see. . .” He paused as we turned into a fairly decent house. Small compared to the others around it, but still nice.

“See what?” I asked, acid leaked through my lips.

“They know you and I are well. . . Kind of an item and they know where you live so they would go after you too,” he said slowly as he killed the engine.

“How do they know where I live Jimmy?” I asked slowly and forcefully.

“They followed us the other night, that’s why I left after you fell asleep. I didn’t want them to go after me while you were with me.” A noble gesture, yes, but it still dragged me into a mess I would rather have stayed out of.

‘So. . . I suggest not murdering him,’ Connie reminded me.

“What are you going to do about it now?” I asked as we sat there for a moment.

“It’ll take me a bit to get the money, but I can get it. Maybe a week at the most. So you’ll pretty much have to go into hiding with me.”

“Go into hiding?”

‘Just like me and Mot! Oh Al! You have your own adventure too!’ Connie would giggle.

‘Remember to wear protection! Like. . . A knife or a gun or something,’ Mot would ponder.

“Yeah, but just for a little while. Till things cool down you know?” He said as he opened up his door and jumped out, leaving me fuming and sitting there alone.

“Where do we go!? If they know where I live, they know where you live and they probably know your hideouts too!” I yelled, jumping out, not one to be ignored if angry.

“I have a place! A friend’s letting me take his beach house while I get the money transferred. I just have to grab some clothes and then we can go,” he said leaving the front door open for me.

‘You do need to spice up your life a bit. I mean a car chase with loan sharks and a hot guy that just so happens to be my long lost not identical twin,’ Mot rambled as I shook my head trying to ignore that tiny little voice in my head.

“What are you doing now?” I huffed as I did a quick spin and took in Jimmy’s house. Not too shabby for his line of work actually. I was picture gothic bats and spires and girls all over the place. It looked just like a neat, spacious beach house really.

“Getting some clothes and stuff,” he said coming back down the stairs with a small over night bag in his hand. His long legs made the trip fast before he grabbed my hand and dragged me back out to the SUV.

“What about me? What am I suppose to where? These clothes over and over till you get your mess cleaned up?” I grunted as I got back in the vehicle. I was just happy that I had grabbed my lap top chords so I could at least hook it up to a outlet to let it charge. AT LEAST I had that much.

“I’ll let you borrow some clothes,” he put that confident grin back on as he started the car and we sped off to God knows where now. Putting my precious piece of technology down in the floor board under my legs, I strapped myself in and held on as we managed to break the sound barrier. It at least felt like it. I mean I’ve seen a few movies and heard stories about bets made between people and them going afoul, but seriously. This is real life! Not the movies where Scarface is gonna show up and blow you away with a tommy gun.

I at least hope so.

‘You thought you just dreamt all the stuff up that happened to us?’ Mot chuckled. Shacking my head furiously, I tried to get that nagger out of my head. ‘Well wake up and smell the coffee chica! Cause let me tell you something. You may think you have an exciting life, with all the razzle dazzle of writing adventures about places that you’ve only dreamed of going, but let me tell you something. You are so scared of actually going out and doing something that you have even hid behind a pen name. Now how adventurous is that? That you hide behind a fake name and go to a big sunny city and sit around writing about stuff. That’s all you will ever do. Write about it. Why not experience it?’ Squeezing my eyes shut and grumbling under my breath about the voices that should shut up, I heard Jimmy cackle.

“Did you hear anything of what I just said?” He asked as I finally realized that we were near the beach again, only less crowded.

“I was trying to focus on not strangling you and keeping the money from those guys,” I sighed. “What did you say?”

“I asked if you were alright,” he repeated. I felt the great urge to bang my head against the window in frustration, but pushed it aside.

“I’ve basically been kidnapped by a drummer who owes the wrong people money and I might have to go into the witness protection program. You tell me,” I glared at him as he looked back over at me with that same grin. “Stop that! How can you smile at a time like this!?” I swatted at him.

“Because it’s what I do. I smile through thick and thin and bullets and car chases!” He cackled. Maybe I could drown him.

“Well it’s annoying.”

“You need to lighten up. At least they’re not trying to shoot at us,” he pointed out. Rolling my eyes, I turned my head as we got on the freeway to look out the window.

“Ah!” There was the guy with aviators grinning and waving at us. “They’re right beside us!” I cried pointing, like that would actually do something. There was a man next to him with piercing on his face and dark hair hanging in his eyes. This was not suppose to be part of this vacation.

“Shit,” Jimmy hissed as he shifted and changed lanes, putting one between us and the men. This is too wild! Part of me, the Mot part, was shaking with excitement at the actuality that I was in a car chase. The other part of me, the Connie part, was terrified that we were gonna crash or something and die! “Where are they now?” He asked as I peeked out from behind my hands. I looked to the side and didn’t see them.

“I don’t see them,” I said trying to look in the side view mirror. Settling back down a bit, I still kept an eye out for the other car. “Hopefully we lost them.”

“Really,” he sighed as we changed lanes again.

“So where exactly are we going?” I asked, a bit calmer than before.

“A buddies place just on the north side of town. He’s just got it, so it’s only partially furnished and no one really knows about it. So we should be safe there,” he explained as he exited off and into a nice area still by the beach.

“What would they do with you if they caught you?” I asked as we slowed down to the actual speed limit. No cars following us that I could see, but that didn’t mean we were in the clear.

“Hell if I know. I’ve seen enough movies though to rather not be caught,” he laughed as we turned down another street and pulled up to a small house that had a one car garage. Hitting a button, Jimmy drove the SUV into the now open garage before hitting the button again to close the door. He killed the engine before he hopped out of the SUV. Taking this as my cue to follow, I stepped out picked up my laptop case and followed him inside. It was about the same as Jimmy’s actual house, only smaller.

“Home sweet home,” I sighed. This was going to be fun, I could just tell. Finding the living room, or what seemed to be the living room, I set my laptop down and plugged it in to let it charge before going to find Jimmy. The whole place and empty and silent. It creeped me out really, it meant I didn’t know where he was and at any moment he could-

“Gottcha!”

“Ah!” I screamed as he grabbed me around the middle. “Jimmy! Stop! Doing! That!” I yelled at him, hitting him with each word.

“Ow! That one actually hurt,” he chuckled as he flinched away.

“This isn’t funny Jimmy! I mean you could get us killed!” I yelled hitting him again.

“Hey! We’re alright aren’t we?” He asked catching my flailing hands. I just stared at him hard. “We’ll be fine, I promise,” Jimmy said softly actually pulling me to him and wrapping his long arms around me. “I’ll be here to protect you.”

“My knight in shining armor,” I huffed, but let him hug me.

“Damn straight. I might even get a white horse and everything too,” he chuckled.

“That poor horse,” I snorted as I pulled out of the hug, but still leaned against him slightly.

“Come on, you hungry?” He asked as he wrapped an arm around me and pulled me along to the kitchen.

“Not really,” I said as my stomach decided to disagree and speak up. “Ok maybe a little.”

“My buddy said he’d left us some food in the fridge if we wanted it,” Jimmy said as he opened the fridge and there were several boxes of pizzas along with beer and sandwich meet and even more beer.

“At least we won’t have to worry about being sober for the rest of the week,” I grumbled going to the couch to sit. This was just making my head spin with all that was happening. In just the span of three days I was thrust into this weird little story that was Jimmy. . . Hell I didn’t even know his last name! I just know his name is Jimmy! If that’s even his real name. What did I get myself into? How did I let myself be talked into this?

‘Stop beating yourself up over this, ok? It’s just life being life! Jesus! Do you know how many people would love to have the thrill and excitement that you’re experiencing now? How they wish that they could just up and leave their mundane lives and live an adventure that they could only dream about?’ Mot pestered again.

‘Running from loan sharks, a hot guy that actually seems interested in you more than friends, hiding out. I can’t think of anything more adventurous than this!’ Connie added.

‘Maybe because you two aren’t real and I can make you better if you get shot or stabbed or something. You can’t just write that away in real life!’ I pointed out as I got my laptop back out and turned it on to see if I could start working again, but as I waited for the screen to go to my desktop, I just put it back up. Too mad and too worried to really put anything to good use, I just let it be. The silence besides the microwave turning on meant my muses were pissed as well at me and Jimmy was getting food.

Looking at my watch I saw that it was late afternoon now and soon to be evening. Whoa, that time just flew right by. Staring at a blank spot on the wall where the TV should be, letting my mind go to places where I was drinking a pina colada by the beach in Hawaii, I didn’t even notice Jimmy standing there staring at me with a grin on his face with two plates of pizza and two beers in his hands. “I love this episode,” he chuckled finally bringing me out of my thoughts as he set the plate in my lap with the beer at my feet. “So how mad are you at me?”

“I’m not mad at you,” I sighed popping the top off my beer.

“Fine then, aggravated.”

“I’m not aggravated.”

“Then what are you?”

“Pissed.”

“Ok, how pissed are you at me?”

“Very.”

“How much is very? Cause ‘very’ could mean very different things to very many people.”

“You just like pissing me off don’t you?”

“Yep!” I sighed rolling my eyes as I took a bite of pizza. We sat there in the quiet for a bit before Jimmy just couldn’t stand it any longer and went to turn on the stereo. Apparently they couldn’t get a TV in here, but a stereo is doable. Must be the work of men. Some screamo/head banger song came on that I didn’t recognize or even understand. “Wanna play ‘truth or dare‘?” The question caught me off guard and the fact that it was even asked made me whip my head around and look at Jimmy the loon he was.

“Excuse me? ‘Truth or dare‘?” I asked to make sure it wasn’t the stereo playing tricks with my hearing.

“Yeah ‘truth or dare‘. So we can get to know each other and our boundaries and undies and whatnot,” Jimmy chirped as he sat back down next to me on the couch.

‘He said undies! You have to do it now!’ Mot demanded.

‘You will get to know him better,’ Connie pushed. Going against my better judgment, I grumbled and nodded.

“Ok, let’s play ‘truth or dare’ then.” God please help me.

*******

Cause I'm a retard, I keep forgetting to put little notes of happiness down here. :S Anywho, wow, 29 readers and 9 subscribers. . . but only 3 comments? Come on guys! You can do better than that! Even a simple 'hell yeah' is appriceated! Good thing I don't run on comments alone otherwise this thing wouldn't get done! ^_^

Any who, the next chapter should be up tomorrow some time. I've kind of changed it up to a chapter a day instead of 3 short chapter to 1 long ass one, so hopefully this works for you guys!

LATER!