Clarity

Two weeks went by and Stella was finding that the three girls, Angelique, Sasha, and Hana were quite a handful. Still, she grew to love them all the same and found amusement in watching as they navigated their ways through their high school days. It was all fun and flirting right now, but she kept a vigilant eye out for anyone who might want to hurt her friends. Aside from them, she made sure to keep Cody in the loop since that was all she had to talk about these days.

Speaking of Cody, Stella rubbed the lime green towel against her head as she stepped out of the bathroom and reached for her phone.

Meet me at Migelo's in an hour. I need to talk to you.

The corner of her mouth twitched into a confused frown, but she immediately tapped out a reply in return.

Sure.

Stella noted the time of the text and quickened her pace. The message was sent about a half hour ago, so she was left with little time to get ready. She skipped drying her hair and instead whipped it into a loose braid trailing over her shoulder. It was only a quick trip, so she only pulled on a pair of old jeans and an oversized sweater. Looping a red scarf a couple times around her neck and over her shoulders, she wiggled into her boots and left the house.

Arriving five minutes late, she hopped off and parked her aged blue bicycle against the street lamp in front of the quaint coffee shop. Stella hurried inside, welcomed by a burst of warmth in her face and the greetings of the baristas behind the counter. She smiled and returned a small wave before picking out Cody's head from across the room.

"Ok, what's up?" She asked, sliding into the open seat beside him.

Cody looked up at her from atop his glasses, a troubled tension in his jaw as he closed the book in his hands and began to shift in his seat. Stella's dark eyes narrowed in suspicion, but she said nothing and waited for him to speak.

"I'm transferring," he said.

Her eyebrows disappeared behind her fringe.

"What?"

"St. October accepted my application a couple days ago," Cody explained. "I start this coming Monday."

Stella was silent as she stared that the Junior boy from across the small round table. Of all the things she expected, she never thought this would be the reason he had to talk to her. She was so stunned that she didn't know how to react. Cody was her best friend. They'd spent practically all their time together last year and now he was leaving her.

"Don't look like I'm leaving you all alone, Stell," he said, recognizing the subtle indications on her face. "You aren't alone anymore."

"I know that, but still," she pouted at him and leaned forward, propping her elbows on the table. "I'm used to your company. What am I going to do?"

"You'll be fine, I know it," Cody assured her. "You still have Sam and he's been there for you longer than I have."

"Sam is different, you know that." Stella mumbled, visibly upset.

"I'll just be a little more than an hour away. Just a bus ride, right?"

"Right…" she echoed, trying to cope with the sudden change looming on her horizon.

* * *

"Idiot." Stella muttered to herself as she pulled her scarf over her mouth and crossed her arms over her chest.

Her bicycle was propped up on a thick cluster of bushes that grew around the perimeter of the gazebo. She was sitting on the only section of the railing that she felt was sturdy enough to still support her weight. The autumn wind was chilly at this hour of the night, but she was far too distressed to be bothered by it. Stella was just fine sitting in the shadows of the forgotten pavilion, waiting.

Shortly after leaving Cody at Migelo's, Stella sent out a haphazard text to a number she typed out from a mere memory.

A silhouette eventually came away from the inky darkness of the unlit park and she watched with bated breath in case it wasn't who she was expecting. But it was no one but Alex who climbed up the few steps and crossed the weakening wood floor to stand in her proximity at the far end of the gazebo.

Stella was glad that it was dark; he couldn't see her sulking.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "You seem down."

"Nothing," she said quickly. "I'm fine."

Alex was shifting around, probably to light up a cigarette as he always did. She could feel his eyes on her, even if they could barely see their hands in front of their faces.

"You're unusually mild," he pointed out. "And you finally demanded my presence after two weeks. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me."

"I'm not mild," Stella mumbled, though she couldn't find the conviction to back her words.

After all this time, was she still that easy to read?

She sighed, rubbing her hands over her face as she leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees. Stella would have to be a little stronger than this if she was going to be diving into the mystery that was Alexander Hunt.

"I need a new best friend."

She got the sense that Alex was giving her a funny look, but she only saw him staring at her when he lit the end of the white stick of tobacco. They were both plunged back into the darkness when he was done and the familiar smell of his brand filled her nose.

"I wasn't expecting that," he said.

"What were you expecting?"

He shrugged and let a long silence lapse. Of course.

"Ok, sure," Alex finally said. "I'll be your friend."

"Just a friend," Stella emphasized. "You won't expect anything more."

"I won't expect anything," he clarified. "But I'm not going to say that I won't try."

Stella shook her head, knowing that this was probably the best she'd be able to get out of him. She would just have to be especially cautious and alert. She wouldn't even pretend to know what she was truly getting herself into at this point.

"So then you're coming with me tonight," he practically told her with the way he phrased the question.

"… Sure," she acquiesced after a moment's hesitation. "Where are we going?"

Alex shrugged again and Stella barely resisted the urge to shake the man. She liked to think of herself as a patient girl, but this was just getting ridiculous. Though she would admit that the whole enigmatic approach ultimately worked for him. Stella jumped down from the railing, brushing the splinters off her behind as she stepped up to him.

"If we're going to be friends, you're going to have to stop that shrugging," Stella demanded. "I'm serious. Tell me who you are."

"Alexander Hunt," he said. "I work for Kingsley Meade. I do a bit of everything, but I'm mainly leading in distribution."

"You're telling me that you're an associate of the Meade family," she muttered. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"Jonathan and I go way back," Alex replied, as if assuring her. "I'm pretty sure I'm a little more than just an associate."

"Oh, so you and the successor are on good terms," Stella nodded, understanding evident. "You're smarter than you seem."

Alex fixed her with a look and if she didn't know any better, she'd say that he took offense to that observation. Instead, he turned things around on her.

"You know about the Meades. That's unexpected."

"I know enough," she said, intentionally vague. "No, I happened to learn a bit fairly recently. I'm pretty sure you'd know Vincent."

"Monteleone?" He obviously held a good level of contempt for the man mentioned.

Stella bobbed her head, curbing the urge to smile as she crossed her arms over her chest. She was a receptacle of sorts for all kinds of information, useless or not. She knew that Vincent Monteleone was not well liked by anyone in East Harbor City, but men of power were never really fond of other men in power to begin with.

"You're not one of his, are you?"

"What if I am?"

A heavy silence bared down on them. The girl knew that this could backfire on her, but she was much too curious for her own good. She simply had to know if he'd be worth all the trouble he was bound of bring into her life. In her mind, she had done her part in giving him a chance and now it was his turn to give her hers.

"I don't care if you are," he finally admitted. "But I hope you know what you're doing."

Stella smiled.

"Don't worry. I'm not," she confirmed. "So where are we going tonight?"

"Just visiting some people," Alex replied. "A place called Capital."

He started off and she followed, going straight for her bicycle in the bushes. Alex stopped when he saw her pulling it out from the foliage and Stella looked over when she realized he was holding himself back from saying anything.

There was a long pause before she said, "What?"

"You're not riding that thing, are you?"

"No, Alex, I'm just taking it for a walk," she retorted. "I can't ride it?"

"Do you ever want to see it again?"

"Really? Someone is going to steal a high school girl's bike?"

Alex shrugged and Stella slapped a hand over her face. Damn the man and his ambiguity.

"Fine, I'll just drop it off at home then," she said, swinging her leg over the saddle. "I'd better make it home alive, Alex. I have plans tomorrow."

He gave her a sly smirk and she pedaled slowly beside him in a meandering line.