Undercover

The door opened to a young man approximately in his early twenties like Erica, he had dark brown hair, brown eyes and a slight five o’clock shadow. He was very handsome.

“Hello, Miss…” he sang, “You must be Sophia, am I right?” She nodded grasping her new name.

“I’m Joseph, but you can call me Joe.” he winked. She blushed a bit as he grabbed her luggage. “Oh, you don’t have to, I can lift it.”

“No, it’s my pleasure.” He smiled, “I hear an accent…”

She turned a little pink, “Don’t worry, it’s cute. Where are you from?”

“Liverpool” she answered.

“I’ve been there once or twice, it’s really nice there.” Joe started up the stairs, “Follow me if you want to see your headquarters.”

Erica laughed and followed behind carrying her purse. The stairs led to a long hallway with many doors and arches. Finally all the way to the end and on the right, Joe opened the burgundy wooden door to a gorgeous bedroom. The bed had pillars with deep red and beige drapery, cherry hard wood floors, armoire, desk, and a beautiful bay window with a seat built into it. The room resembled royalty, like it was fit for a queen.

“Will this do?” Joe asked. Bloody hell, bloody hell, bloody hell… “Yes, it’s bloody safe.”
He looked at me confused. “Safe, as in awesome, cool, amazing…etc.” he nodded his head in understanding to the new British term.

“So I assume you like it then?” Joe concluded and Erica nodded. “Great!”

“Joseph!” A woman’s voice called up to him, “I’m home.”

He looked at Erica, “Let’s go downstairs and I’ll introduce you to the family.”

Suddenly she became nervous, this meant more explaining and more lies she had to elaborate on.

“After dinner you can come back up here if you like to start unpacking.” He added as they made their way downstairs and into the kitchen.

“Hey mom…” Joe walked into the room and kissed his mom on the cheek. Her eyes diverted over to the archway of the kitchen where Erica was standing, shyly.

“Joseph, you didn’t tell me she arrived!” she quickly went over to Erica and hugged her, “Welcome to our home! You must be Sophia!”

“It’s quite nice to meet you Ma’am.” She responded politely.

“Please, its Denise sweetie.” she corrected Erica.

“Did you let Elvis back in the house, Joseph?” Denise asked him.

“Well, I was going to…” he started with his explanation, “But then the doorbell rang, so he’s still outside.”

“Sophia, do you like dogs?” She asked.

“Yes, I had a Shih-Tzu back in my England flat…”

“Let me rephrase that, do you like big dogs?” Denise chuckled.

“Yes, I love animals. They’re so safe!”

Denise looked at her questionably, “Some animals aren’t safe, sweetie.”

Joe chimed in, “No mom, in England safe means awesome or cool.” She nodded her head in understanding, “That’s interesting how meanings change depending where you grow up.”

“Joseph please let Elvis in the house.”

Joe walked over to the sliding door leading to the patio, “Elvis! Come on buddy!” A very large golden retriever runs into the house wagging his tail, jumping on Joe and kissing his face. After the love fest Elvis spotted Erica and almost tackled her to the ground to greet her.

“Okay, she had enough buddy.” Joe said rescuing her from the attention of the pup.

“Okay, well your father will be home soon with your brothers, why don’t you give Sophia a tour of the house?” Denise suggested to Joe.

“Brothers?” Sophia repeated under her breath, not meaning for anyone to hear her.

“Yep, I have three.” Joe responded as she followed him around the house, “Kevin is the eldest, Nick is a couple of years younger than me and Frankie is the youngest out of the four of us.”

“I’ll try to remember that…”

“Don’t worry, you’ll meet them at dinner later along with my father.” He added.