Elementary Virtue: The Prophecy (24 page)

Elliott read her silence likely as unwillingness to tell him what was going on. He touched her arm; "You know you can tell me if something is troubling you. I won’t tell anyone, not even Shana.”
He smiled disarmingly. Shana was his wife, and she thought it was really sweet that he noticed she was feeling bad and even offered his help.
However, she didn’t feel like telling him about her problems, certainly not where her increased aggressive potential came from. Honestly, she felt such rage within against the Vultures and everything that had remotely to do with Italy. Well, that was probably pretty narrow-minded. In fact, it was just about Sicily, but who was sure those assholes had not spread around the whole country. Gregory's mother had been murdered in the north. This meant nothing else than, that they also acted in the north. So, all of Italy was rotten to its core. A small bomb, and the matter would be scratched. Except that Gregory would die too, and with him all the other innocent Italians. Damn she had it in her to become a terrorist, pretty scary. All these thoughts went through her mind, while Elliott was still staring at her, waiting for an answer. He cleared his throat and Leyla’s thoughts popped back into reality.
"No, it’s ok, you don’t have to worry. I'm just a little upset because my boyfriend broke up with me." She decided to tell him at least half the truth, so he would leave her in peace. He nodded sympathetically; "Now I understand your fierce commitment, and I’d like to advise you to keep it up until Saturday, and not let your anger turn into discouragement, because we need precisely this motivation of anger to win the tournament on Saturday against the- - Crazy Boonzaayers-. Our last victory against this club's been years, and you could help us to win this time." He patted her arm benevolent and they left the dojo together.
Ana waited for her in the changing room already dressed and impatient. "Where have you been that long? Saul is waiting outside for us."
Leyla shrugged; "Elliott wanted to know why I was in such a combative mood. Then go and enjoy a few undisturbed moments with him, finally today is your last evening. We can meet directly at - The Crowd - later on. I'll be coming soon."
Originally, Leyla had intended to tell Ana about her misery, but actually she didn’t want to spoil her last day in Toronto and burden her with her problems. Ana should spend a great evening with Saul and her friends at the Crowd, to keep up her time in Canada in good memory. "So why were you in such a combative mood then? Did something happen? Has somebody made you mad?” Ana looked critically.
"No, I just happen to have some excess energy," Leyla put on a cheesy smile.
"Don’t worry, everything is cool. I'll meet you later at the Crowd ok? "Ana grinned, the more time she was able to spend alone with Saul, the better.

The Crowd was already packed when Leyla showed up. She seemed to be the last to come. All of them were hanging around at the bar. She first discovered Brooklyn and Mila. "Hey girls, how is it going?" Mila moaned, "All right, I guess, but tonight I’ll stick with ice water, I don’t want to puke on Ana’s last evening." Brooklyn looked perfect as ever, as incredible as it was after such a night. She pointed to Ana and Saul, who stood leaning tightly entwined against the wall together. "Actually, I think that these two wouldn’t even notice if a bomb exploded. Thus, it is questionable whether they realize at all, that this is supposes to be Ana's farewell party. Maybe we better rented them a hotel room, with candles and rose petals scattered around the room." "Brooklyn," Leyla frowned, "maybe you shouldn’t get ahead of yourself jumping to conclusions." Brooklyn sighed, "I know, but I'm just a hopeless romantic and you have to admit that these two don’t look as if they’d take great notice of their surroundings." Where she was right, she was right, Leyla thought to herself.

Mila stared meanwhile intently to the entrance. "What's wrong with you Mila? You're so quiet, you are not usually this way. Do you still have a hangover?" Mila didn’t seem to listen, and Brooklyn answered instead, "Shane hasn’t come yet, although Aiden said he would show up, he will stay for some days in Toronto. Didn’t he text you?" Leyla shook her head. Shane didn’t seem to be as communicative as he once had been, she felt a slight sting. All her friendships with guys were going down the drain recently, like so many other things in her life. That damned domino effect really got to her. Brooklyn continued, "He will stay at Aiden’s place again, that’s why our girl Mila here is staring as fascinated to the entrance." Mila spun around, hearing her name, "What's wrong?" Leyla could barely suppress a smile, "Nothing, just continue staring at the entrance. Let me know when Shane is here I want to have a word with him. This jerk doesn’t even call me anymore when he comes to town. Considered we were once best friends! Those were the good old days - tempi passati -, as they say in Italy." Mila didn’t answer, surprisingly enough, as usually she was first in line to give some snide comment. Leyla didn’t get it, what the hell was going on? The love marry-go-round was spinning fast and one by one jumped off lately. In the end she would stand alone and abandoned. She shook off the emerging sadness and turned to Brooklyn, "Where's Aiden?" "Oh, he and the boys, especially James are creating some kind of cheer rap, sort of a battle song to unite the Akandos fighting the Vultures and they want so show their support this way. They will send Gregory a video message. Once the rap is ready, we all must go over to them for a Group selfie." She grabbed her bag, taking out a Selfie stick, "You did give Aiden Gregory's number, right?" "I had no choice, if Aiden wants something, he can be very persuasive," Leyla said and her eyes roamed around and then she froze. She nudged Brooklyn, "where did you say Aiden, James and the rest of the gang were?" Brooklyn looked up alarmed. There was slight panic in Leyla’s voice. "In the back of the Crowd, why are you asking?" The music was so loud that she couldn’t understand her own words, the DJ was going through his Goa Rave phase. Leyla hated this kind of music. She screamed in Brooklyn's ear, "Gabe and Angel are on the other side of the bar. Damn what are they up to? That's our meeting place, right?" Brooklyn looked up and discovered the two of them sitting seemingly uninterested at the bar, but their eyes wandered inconspicuously through the crowd. You're right, we meet here, but we can hardly forbid them to come here. What the hell are they doing here, that truly is a legitimate question to ask." They both stared at the other side of the bar and Leyla exclaimed a surprised, "What the -" When she saw how Gabe leaned towards Angel and kissed her. Brooklyn and Leyla couldn’t help staring with wide eyes. That wasn’t what they expected them to do in here. They looked over again to make sure that they hadn’t been mistaken. But it wasn’t the case, although at first it looked as if Angel would bitch slap him, but then she grabbed him on the collar kissing him back. The two didn’t let go, remaining glued to each other. Sure enough, they didn’t observe their surroundings any longer. Leyla nudged Mila who reluctantly loosened her eyes from the entrance, "What the hell?"
"Quite," Leyla said jerking her head toward the other side of the bar. Mila's eyes followed her move and her expression changed, "Is that -?" "Exactly Gabe and Angel, you’ve got it," Leyla finished Mila's sentence, "I can’t believe it." Mila shook her head, "Not enough that the two idiots hang out at our Club, no, they are doing saliva-city. Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing wrong. Everybody drools around, but I always get away empty-handed."

"God, Mila, is that your only problem that you are unable to exchange saliva with someone." Leyla huffed exasperated when someone hugged her from behind and kissed her on the cheek. The scent of Issey Miake aftershave filled the air that could be none other than Shane, "Hey Leyla, what's up? Sorry, I couldn’t reach you, I really wanted to stay at your place as I'm staying a few days in the city, but Aiden volunteered. Hey Mila, Brooklyn everything all right?" Shane was in a good mood, his eyes roamed around to find his buddies. Mila braced her elbow on the bar and looked at him with a transfigured look on her face, as if the seventh wonder had appeared out of nowhere in front of her. He didn’t seem to notice, "Where's Aiden anyway?" Before Leyla or Brooklyn could enlighten him, Mila pushed him hard, "You've got some nerve, dude to show up, without telling Leyla. She's really pissed, right?" She looked at Leyla searching for applause. Leyla was too stunned to react. What was Mila up to? Shane stood in front of them visible unsure what he should do. Mila sighed looking around, "Such a shame, there are no hot guys in this place tonight," she glimpsed at Shane, who was still standing beside her and looking baffled. "Aiden is in the back, they rhyme a rap. Tell him that Angel and Gabe are making out at the bar. "He stood there for a moment still looking puzzled as Mila pushed him again saying," What are you waiting for, get lost." Shane sighed, "Alice, you are as charming as ever, see you girls." He pushed through the crowd toward the back. Leyla watched him leave.

"Have you completely lost your mind Mila?" Mila had placed her arms on the bar and was banging repeatedly her head on the counter. "Stop it, you lunatic," Leyla tugged at Mila's arm and Brooklyn placed herself with a stern look on her face in front of her. "Leyla's right, we'll have to extend a helping hand, it can’t go on like that. You're never gonna get close to Shane behaving this way. All you do is playing him into the arms of another, fussing around like some crazy woman. Why did you say that there were no hot guys in here?" Mila looked unhappy after Shane, who was talking to a blond, busty waitress. Mila banged her fist on the counter and the glasses clinked dangerously. The bartender gave her a hard look. She raised both hands apologetically, "I'm so stupid, every time I talk to him he just makes me so angry, and I don't even know why then, once he is gone, I can’t think about anything else than him. Damn, what’s wrong with me?” Leyla and Brooklyn both put an arm around her. "You're in love, these feelings are totally normal," Brooklyn said. "I'm not in love. No, I don’t even like this sarcastic devil, but everything about him just turns me incredibly on, even though he isn’t my type and I don’t like him at all. Today, he smelled so nice, I could have licked his face."

Leyla patted her arm, "No, you definitely shouldn’t lick his face, believe me. This is not good. Guys don’t like that. Besides, you are not a dog," Mila sighed. "At the same time, I have this mad desire to clobber him," Leyla laughed. "That he annoys you is nothing special, I felt the same way about Gregory some time and could have hit him in his smug face at times. He could be such a provocative asshole "Mila looked at her with big eyes, "My God then I'm really in love, but what do I do now, I mean, that he gets it?" Brooklyn chimed in, "First, you might try to be a little nicer to him and don’t tell him to get lost." Mila nodded contritely, "You are certainly right."
"Hey guys Shane and your problems in all honor Mila, but our snogging Vultures have hit it." Leyla pointed to the spot where Gabe and Angel had been sitting at the bar earlier. Mila and Brooklyn looked up alarmed. In fact, Gabe and Angel had vanished. Brooklyn got up, "come on girls we have to tell Aiden."

Aiden stood together with the Akando guys and Shane in the back of the Crowd and listened to James, who attempted to rhyme a battle rap song to unite the Akandos and all of their sympathizers who wanted to rush to Gregory’s aid. Here in the back the music was barely audible, but the beat was perfect for James and his rap attempts. He bobbed up and down like a wild man touching the floor with the tip of his Vans giving away the rhythm flicking steady. "We’ll do this Eminem song changing it a bit ok guys?" Aiden looked skeptically, "But if it sounds lame, I’m not doing it. Finally, I have a reputation to lose. Who knows in who’s hands the video falls and it could end up on YouTube or some other platform." No one listened to him, seemed this scenario didn’t scare them off, quite the contrary as some of them already saw themselves performing their rap at the MTV VMA's. So, Aiden's objection got lost in general bawling. "May we have your attention please," James got it going and Shane created a beat that was quite catchy. Who would have thought that Shane had it in him to do some beat boxing?

"Hey yo Gregory, we can't leave you homie,

By your side till the end, yeah believe it homie."

Aiden shook his head, if Gregory hadn’t lost it so far, he certainly would, hearing those rap rhymes.

"The black vultures are far too strong.

We are not gonna let you get caught, no harm,

The Akandos fighting, following you in the battle,

The toughest gang in the whole earth, will make you rattle"

He turned away quickly. Just cut and run!

"Hear the shit we came from the shadow,

So Gregory, we are coming, no matter what"

Ana and Saul watched the three girls as they passed by and followed them. They listened to James for a while and had to admit that his rap didn’t sound so bad after all and if they sent it to Vine, You Tube or any other platform it could possibly hit the charts under given circumstances. But, it was not supposed to by a hit, but a Cheer Rap to give Gregory courage and let him know that the Akandos were standing behind him. He would understand that they couldn’t be retained and supported him under all circumstances, no matter what the consequences. They stood behind him. Their origin demanded absolute loyalty to the Savior. Their future depended on it. Brooklyn went to Aiden pulling him down to her, "Did Shane tell you about Gabe and Angel?" He nodded and she continued, "They have disappeared." Aiden looked at her, «Well, then I think we should do the same." He raised his arms to indicate James he had something to say. "People let’s get the hell out of here and meet at my place" Brooklyn admired once again Aiden's authority, no one was asking questions, and no one questioned his authority. All of them reached for their jackets and left the Crowd one after another. All of a sudden, it became very clear to her, there was no doubt about it Aiden was a natural leader. It was of utmost importance that Gregory had someone like Aiden at his side, someone who was able to lead and hold them together. She was incredibly proud of him, even if these properties didn’t make their relationship necessarily easier, she loved him all the more for his loyalty and his strength. She put her hand in his. He looked at her and smiled. There were moments in life when everything made sense and everything was exactly as it should be, moments when time should stand still. This was one of those moments for Brooklyn, when she felt Aiden's hand and followed him outside. Aiden's small apartment was packed. Ana and Saul had retreated into the tiny kitchen trying to make some coffee.

Saul grinned, "The guys are pretty good, the rap rhyme is not bad, but James is not exactly gifted in terms of raping and that screws it a bit."

"You could do the rap part and lend your voice to them in the video message, which would be great," Ana said. She was really in a high-spirited mood and wished that this night would never end. Tomorrow she would get back in her boring hometown and possible never see Saul again in her life. So, basically her life would be over by tomorrow, but she didn’t want to think about it tonight. He laughed, "Yes, that is not such a bad idea."
"What isn’t a bad idea?" Aiden came stumbling into the kitchen. The living room was so crowded that he had fled to the kitchen. Ana told him about her idea and Aiden was thrilled. "How do you get ahead with the lyrics?" Saul asked. "Quite well, I think Shane has got some hidden Poetry Slam talents. I think they are on it soon. At least I hope so, otherwise my landlord will throw me out probably, as even my very tolerant neighbor Evan hammered against the wall five minutes ago.” Saul grinned, "Well, let's hope that the cops don’t show up, I can do without a picture of me in the local press."

Aiden nodded, "Aspiring pop star arrested for night time disturbance, I can see the headlines in front of me," he made his way back into the living room, "you're right, we definitely don’t need any presence of the cops. The guys can give me the final version and you’ll do whatever it takes."

The case was settled with a handshake and then Aiden was gone. Ana and Saul remained in the kitchen, and it was already midnight, so the farewell got relentlessly closer any minute. Ana was in search for coffee filters. She opened all the cupboards, but Aiden didn’t seem to take his house holding issues that seriously. Eventually, she found the filters in the refrigerator, where she honestly wouldn’t have suspected them, next to a pink nail polishes that sure belonged the Brooklyn. Anyway, she couldn’t imagine Aiden to wear pink nail polish. She smiled to herself finding sugar and a coffee can in the fridge. Aiden had a strange storage system. She wondered where he kept his clothes, in the oven, perhaps. "What's so amusing, beautiful?" Saul stroked her hair back kissing her neck, and she shivered.