An Undercover Spy

Honesty

    “Knock knock!”

    Avery rolled her eyes as she heard the sarcastic and very familiar voice from outside her room. 

    She was putting on her winter hat as she heard Ezra’s voice. 

    She could swear his voice was one of the most annoying to her, yet she couldn’t disagree how deep and soothing it was. 

    Annoyed by his plan, she took a longer time, preparing her sac and brushing her hair for the last time. 

    She hummed her song loudly, making him hear her. She loved singing and would write down a song every time she got a break. She also knew how to play the piano. It was so unlike her personality, she kept it a secret talent. Only her mother knew about it. Ashley used to give her piano classes before she died. 

    At fourteen, she made a cyber friend and met with her when she became fifteen. She was Jessica. She made her meet her boyfriend who was Cole and he taught her the piano. That was how they met. 

    As she was humming, the door flew open and entered a frustrated looking Ezra. 

    “I have been waiting here and yo-“he stopped talking as his eyes found her. He stared her up and down with raised eyebrows. “And you are smoking”he winked as he jumped on her bed. 

    “No actually, I don’t have my cigarettes with me now”she said in her sarcastic tone. 

    “Where did you get your top from?”he asked as he stood up and walked to her. He took the bottom of her shirt and started rubbing it as if it was the softest thing on the planet. Avery sucked in her breath at how close they were. She wanted to look him in the eyes. She knew he was waiting for that, he was already staring. 

    She took his hands off of her and stood away, pulling her shirt down. “Why? Do you want to buy one like it? I got it as a gift, I would ask my friend where she bought it from. She also bought me some other gifts from another store, if you would like.”

    She winked at him, making sure he got the meaning. He opened his mouth and chuckled in disbelief. 

    “Stop being sarcastic now let’s go. Anyways, I’m sure my father would accept you as my personal assistant soon. I really want you to work with me. Father is always disappointed in me even if someday I will even be more successful than him. I just need a personal assistant in my age to understand me. None of the old ones understand what I mean”he said. 

    “Wait. So you want me to be your pa?”

    “Umm yes?”

    “No! I can’t”Avery shook her head nervously. Her job was to spy on James, not to work with his son. Her father would kill her for being so dumb and would accuse her of having affairs with him. He would go even more far saying that she wanted to tell them the truth because she had fell in love with Ezra. 

    She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again. She masked her face with that arrogant look she was sk and crossed her arms. 

    “I only work with professionals”she smirked. 

    He looked taken aback for a second before glaring at her. “Anyways, I already have a personal assistant. Jess and I have the same one.”

    “So you were tricking me!” Avery yelled as she followed him outside. 

    “No, I just wanted to know if you were like his old assistants. They used to go after me. I’m glad you care about work. And for your information, I’m a pro even more than my father.”

    “Where are we even going today?”She inquired, changing the subject. 

    “I’m going to take you to our place. We don’t live there but it’s where we go for safety. There were times when paparazzi attacked the house because of some problems so we had to go there. It’s a secret house.”

    “Oh okay. Just like the ones some people use for...hidden stuff?”

    As she was asking, she quickly bit her lips, regretting her words. Back in San Diego, they had a house for secret stuff. The organization had very strict rules about who enters that place. A few people knew about it. 

    “Hidden stuff?”

    He stooped walking and looked at her in confusion. She stopped too and smiled nervously at him. “I don’t know, I just spit some words. Anyways, let’s hurry. We only have two hours.”

    They walked all the way to his car and got in. The ride was rather silent with both of them trying to hide the fact that they were big staring at each other on the rearview mirror. 

    Avery’s mind was elsewhere. She was thinking about how she will go back to her father. Will she have good or bad news? Will she be sent to jail? Or will she die? Everything was unclear to her. Her mission seemed unusual. She knew something was missing. James Lueders seemed like a normal arrogant and selfish businessman. That was all she could see. She usually spotted bas people immediately. But she couldn’t with this one. Anyways, looks can be deceiving. 

    She stared back at Ezra. He was focused on the road as he was driving fast to make the trip faster. His father said to return back on eleven. It was already ten minutes after nine. She was actually happy she was away from James. He reminded her too much of her father and she couldn’t stand the feeling. It was almost as if they were twins. 

    She wanted, no she needed some time with someone else. Ezra wasn’t the nicest he was just as arrogant as his father but he was a bit funnier to be around. 

    “Actually getting out from that home is a bit calmer. Thank you.”

    He glanced towards her and then looked back at the road. “I hate it too.”

    Avery gasped silently as she gazed at the man curiously. Who hated their home? Shouldn’t is be the place where you feel safe and comfortable? Was it because they weren’t a close family? She probably would have felt the same if she was in his shoes. 

    “Why? It’s big, awesome and- Does it have a pool?” She asked. He chuckled and nodded. “Then it’s perfect. Also the rooms are comfy, I mean, mine is”she shrugged while remembering her old room. It was bigger and way much cooler. Avery couldn’t describe how much she loved it. 

    “Yours is. Maybe because is has a warm touch to it. I love how you decorated it.”

    “Thank you. I tried making it like my old room. I wanted to feel comfier.”

    “I understand. I tried doing that too, sadly it didn’t work”he said as he seemed to be tightening his hold on the wheel. She noticed his knuckles turned white. 

    “Do what?”

    She laid back her head on the seat and waited for her answer. She moved the seatbelt around a bit, finding a better position to sit.

    He stayed silent for a while. She wondered if he was going to answer or ignore her. She was waiting, preparing her reaction. When he spoke. 

    “Make something in my life comfortable. Put it in the way I like and want.”

    He sounded angry and Avery couldn’t help but be confused. What was he talking about? Was it that his father controlled everything in his life? Probably. 

    “Why? I mean why wasn’t anything your way?”she mustered up the courage to ask. 

    This time, he didn’t answer, ending the conversation. Avery decided to close the conversation too and turned her head to the window, still thinking about his words. 

    She wondered what was it like to be James’ son or daughter. Ezra probably had to be the perfect child and the pride of the family. He was the oldest child after all. He had probably spent all his life following rules and doing things the way his father liked. He even dressed like old men much to Avery’s dismay. His clothes made him look older than he actually was. 

    “I was thinking of taking you shopping after we go to that building. I know you have to take me to important places but your sense of style sucks.”

    She said bluntly to him as a matter of fact. She wasn’t used to not saying her word. She was blunt and honest and proud of it. Honesty was the most thing she cared about it. Honesty was a word expressed in so many meanings. Trust, loyalty and real. She was all of those. She would never be friends with a person who lies. On the other hand, all her missions included lying, but she preferred using the word acting or even faking. 

    “I really don’t want a top like yours! Did you believe your joke?”

    He yelled in disbelief, making Avery laugh at his funny face. His features were scrunched up in confusion and shock. 

    “No! But I feel like you dress up way older than your age. You need to look fresh. You have to dress up man!”she punched him on the shoulder, surprising both of them. She was acting like a dude trying to help his friend to hit on a girl. 

    “I’m down”he nodded”but only in one condition. If you agree on my picking clothes for you too.”

    He winked as his smirk was showing how much fun he was having. 

    “Deal”she smirked back, excited to go already. 

    “I feel like you’ll pick something nice. If you can pull off such different kind of clothes in one outfit, then you’ll nail it.”

    “It must feels nice”she snickered. 

    He laughed at her and shook his head. “You’re going to change your mind, malady.”

****

    They both walked inside with their sleeves covering their mouth and hands. Dusts filled the hallways and rooms. Avery was surprised why there were that much dust. Did they never come here? Why didn’t they at least some people to clean it? 

    “You know, a hiding place should be even better than the actual house but you Lueders’ are too weird”she scrolled as she felt dust falling on her as she opened a door. Good thing she was wearing a cap. 

    It wasn’t like an old dusty house. It was so luxurious and rich looking. It was just the dirt, dust and spiders’ webs that made it horrible. It wasn’t as big as their house. Four rooms and two bathrooms. 

    Avery didn’t say a word and just listened as Ezra was telling what every room was for. After probably ten minutes, they headed outside and drove to the mall. They still had an hour and a half to shop for both of them. 

They exchanged numbers, asked what the other’s size was and each one went into a different aisle to save time. Avery was looking through the mens’ while he was in the womens’.      

Avery found the only option was to go through her friend Adrian’s photos. They weren’t close but they knew each other well from college. Adrian Romano was a famous actor who was popular for his sudden appearance in the family. It was known that there was only one child and it was Ronald when another guy appeared.      

Avery saw Ronald as the kinder one but she was closer to his brother even though she had a crush on Ronald. But it was years ago and now she just sees him as a friend. She was so far the only person who could see advantages in Adrian that his brother didn’t have.      

She had some of his photos from when he was in San Diego for a shoot and she started following his style and vying something similar. She picked similar stuff but the whole outfit looked completely different than his.      

She smirked as she had quite good three different types of clothes.      

One outfit was a grey suit for work paired with black shoes. She picked a red tie to match it. The other one was a long served black tanned shirt that she paired with dark blue jeans. The third one was the most one she liked. It was an almond green shirt with random black lines. She paired it with fitness black shorts and choose a sporty black shoes to match.      

She smiled at how stylish she was and walked to the cashier with an excited look in her face.      

She paid and room the bags and walked outside. They had planned to meet at a perfume store where they would pick the other a bottle they like.      

She smelled several until her picky attitude was satisfied. She waited a little bit and frowned when she realized he was taking longer than he should.      

She started whistling and walking around, near the store, still waiting for him. After five minutes, she went to the ladies restroom to redo her hair because it was going to fall down on her shoulders after she had removed the cap.      

As she was looking in the mirror, she felt a weird feeling. What if something happened to him? Maybe he even left and was doing all of this because he didn’t like her.      

Avery frowned in worry and walked out, deciding to walk to the story he should be in right now. As she was walking to the other side and had passed by an empty corridor, her legs stopped and she stared in shock at the scene in front of her.      

He was there having fun with a girl and making her think he was actually choosing her clothes?!    

She felt mad that she even thought a guy like him would even notice her or give a care about her. She walked towards him with anger in her face as she glared at him. He got away from that random blonde and stared at Avery in shock.      

Calmly, she shrugged and said. “You know, I was actually thinking that an arrogant guy like you doesn’t deserve these. I just realized that I’m right. I will give them to my guy best friend to wear them and tell me what he thinks of his new clothes. He does a have. Abetter body that will fit those clothes perfectly. Thanks for not wasting my time.”    

She smiled as coldly as she could and turned her back and walked away.      

As she was walking with the bags, she stopped and turned her hair again but this time to the woman.      

“Next time pick a hotter guy” she winked with a smirk and strolled away down the escalator.      

‘What an i***t am I to trust him. Believe me, Ezra Lueders, as long as I’m here, you’ll regret being the person you are.’    

She gritted under her teeth quietly and released a deep breath.