I leapt up from bed. Today's the day I see Pax, Danton, and any other old friends I happen to stumble across. I quickly got ready and jumped into my truck, which I saved up for and bought myself. I drove, concentrating solely on the road as I drove to Pax's house. When I arrived, I just sat there for a minute before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door. He opened it almost immediately.
"You were childhood best friends with Missouri Romaro, correct?" I got straight to the point.
"Yeah, but she died years ago," he answered, glaring.
"Did I die?" I looked down at myself. "Nope, I don't think so. I had a few close calls though. Nice to see you again, Pax. Sorry it took so long." He pulled me into a hug.
"Come on in, Missy. I'm assuming your siblings gave you my address, correct?"
"Yeah. I gotta warn you, I can't stay too long. I have more reunions scheduled for today. Apparently, a lot of people thought I was dead. Weird, huh?"
"You practically disappeared from the face of the Earth and your siblings told everyone about the letter, what do you expect? People to just calmly look at you and be like 'oh, hey?'" He questioned.
I blinked. "Pretty much, yeah."
"You're insufferable," he muttered.
"You're using big words now, congrats! The last time I saw you, you only used words like annoying, maybe not even that! You earn a cookie!" I threw a piece of a cookie at him that I had brought for the car in case I got hungry. He caught it and glared at me.
"Bully."
"Brat."
"Loser."
"Lunatic."
"Idiot."
"Imbecile."
"Dork."
"Doofus."
"Jerk."
"Jock."
"Weirdo."
"Wacko."
"Nerd."
"Naething."
"...Alright, are we done?"
"Yup."
"Good. It nice to see our old modus operandi is still up and running," he said.
I raised an eyebrow. "And you call me the nerd."
"You used the word naething! What does that even mean, anyways?"
"It's the Scottish variant for nothing," I informed him.
"...Why didn't you just say nothing?"
"I don't know, it's more fun. The word's cool to pronounce," I explained myself.
"Whatever. Do you want anything?"
"Do you have Nutella? I can use it as a peace offering to keep the people I'm meeting up with next from tanning my hide."
He slid a fresh jar across the counter. "Help yourself. Consider it an I'm-glad-you're-alive present."
My jaw dropped open. I held the jar up to my chest dramatically. "I will never forget this: Paxton Gregory just voluntarily gave me his Nutella! Let this day go down in history!" I shouted.
He shook his head at me. "I seriously forget why I ever became friends with you in the first place."
"That one's easy. I bribed you with skittles." I'm not even kidding.
"Oh, yeah. I choked on them and had to go to the ER and you went with me and kept screaming about how you almost made me 'died.'" He snickered.
"I was barely 1!" I defended. I have a freakishly good memory and actually remember a lot. He must still have a really good memory as well.
"It's still hilarious. That made nearly dying worth it, I swear!"
"Oh, shut it, Paxton." I narrowed my eyes at him. He raised his arms in surrender.
"It's good to have you back, Missy-poo," he cooed. I smacked him on the arm lightly.
"Paxton, who's there?" a girl called out as she came around a corner. She has pale blonde hair and bright green eyes. She smiled kindly at me.
"Juliet, this is Missy. She was my childhood best friend. Apparently, she isn't dead. Isn't that great? Missy, Juliet has been my girlfriend since freshman year." Pax looked at Juliet with unabashed love in his eyes.
"It's really nice to meet you. You're really pretty, way above Pax's league," I teased.
"It's nice to meet you too. I've heard a lot of stories about you. It's absolutely wonderful that you're still alive. I'm sure we'll be quick friends."
"Seriously Pax, how'd you get so lucky?"
"He's quite the charmer," Juliet answered.
"That I don't believe for a second. He's Pax, he's shoved my head into a sandbox before and nearly killed me numerous times. Then again, I haven't seen him since we were four and I kind of started it. He could've changed since then. Maybe," I admitted. We all chatted for hours and exchanged phone numbers before I began driving again, though I already had Pax's number. Juliet was right, we became fast friends.
A while later, I arrived at Danton's office building. I walked up to his door. I used the old key I still had and waltzed right in unopposed since he had a separate building than his other workers, he has no meetings in his actual office for safety reasons, and his personal workers stay mainly in their offices. If you use a key, no one stops you. Danton was sitting at his desk. He raised an eyebrow at me. I sat right down on the chair across from him, tossing my key onto the desk and placing the Nutella beside it. He snorted in amusement, but that was before he picked up the key. His brow furrowed and he studied me carefully. I sat back, totally relaxed even though I knew he was trying to figure out if it was really me or just an impostor he should murder. Literally. Danton's a gang leader. He's never been caught though. People from all over are terrified of him.
"Tell me something only I and Roma would know," he demanded. Roma is what I went by back then.
"'I'm Missouri. Are you a superhero?' You laughed and said, 'No, I'm Danton. Where are your family?' I replied with, 'They told me to run. Mommy and Daddy are mean to us. Shh, it's a secret.' Need I say more, because I can if you still aren't sure it's me. By the way, thanks for telling my family I'm dead. I left a note on your windowsill saying I was going to try and track down my siblings since I figured they were all separated from my parents by then. I got caught by social services before I could do that."
"Come here, you." He threw his arms wide open. I jumped directly over his desk and landed on his lap. He wrapped me into a tight hug. This is one of the times where I can't picture him as a gang leader. He can be so sweet sometimes, especially around me. I'm his little girl. I'm going to be in charge of the gang when he retires, which is why I don't want to go to college. Until then, we are partners. That's been the plan all along. He taught me practically everything I needed to know I've never been against it. He only murders unjust people, usually murderers themselves. "You're still going to be my partner, right?" he interrogated as if he had read my thoughts.
"Of course. It might be a while though. I need to talk to my foster parents and convince them to relinquish custody to my siblings. Then I have to convince them to move here without telling them the real reason I want to move here. It's not a super long drive, but I'd like to be here in case of emergency," I explained my situation.
"Just tell them the truth, they're your family. I don't care," Danton advised.
"If I tell them, they will refuse to move. Danton, I just reunited with them yesterday after years and years of no contact. They still view me as a baby incapable of making even the simplest of decisions. Danton, this would be me leading a gang, or at least assisting in doing so. In their eyes, that's one of the worst things possible. They would think I'm throwing my life away," I argued.
"I didn't think about that. Dang it, why do you have to be a minor? Tell them you got a really good job offer in helping me fix up other companies since that's my cover already and we do that once in a while. I need my right hand man, or in this case, woman. I can get you hooked up. I can give you the property next to mine, the one that I bought that is automatically yours when you turn 18 for free. My personal property is large enough that we could do what is needed without your siblings seeing," he suggested.
"There'll probably be more than just my siblings there. I moved in next to some old friends of mine that are over 18 and would beg to live with me on their hands and knees. I can't refuse them when they do that. They're practically family."
"There are at least 50 bedrooms in that mansion of yours. Just don't go over that. Oh, you already have maids, butlers, chauffeurs, limos, etc. They have a private house of their own. Nothing but the best for my Roma. It has a security system in place, with the same passcode as my house, which I'm sure you remember. It's also fully furnished, but you can switch it out for whatever you please." Danton puffed his chest out proudly.
"You spoil me, but thank you. I remember the passcode. I should be able to convince them to move once they have custody of me just by saying please. Showing them the mansion will most certainly help." I snorted. I've been in my mansion several times, people would kill to live there.
"It's settled then, time for reunions. You might want to save that Nutella for Gale. He's kinda going to be furious. He took your 'death' pretty hard, and he's Gale. He's one of the toughest people I know. He can kill without blinking even if we remind him that they have a family and all that sentimental stuff. Yet if we so much as said your name, he'd punch us and run off to train," Danton warned me. Gale is 18 now. He has cropped black hair and luminescent blue eyes. He was my best friend here. We did everything together, which explains why he took my 'death' so hard.
"Better save the Nutella then. Don't let him kill me please. I'm too young to die!" I said dramatically, sprawling across his lap. Of course, seconds later the devil himself walks in and sits down, raising a brow in question. I immediately pulled myself up and scooted the Nutella towards him. He picked it up and checked the label.
"This is expired," Gale said slowly. I jumped up, yanked out my phone, and quickly dialed Pax, leaving the room.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Paxton Gregory I am so angry with you! You gave me expired Nutella to use as a peace offering! If I get murdered I am so blaming you!"
"It was expired?" He guffawed.
"Yes, it was! Now I'm going to be chased around the building with a butter knife that we be stabbed into my eye repeatedly!"
"That was scarily specific. I promise to attend your funeral." He hung up.
"Jerk," I muttered as I put my phone away, walking straight into a chest. Of course, it's my favorite person: Glaring Gale.
"I am so unbelievably disappointed in you, Missouri," he sighed. I stared down at my shoes guiltily. "Danton told me about the note, but you should've said goodbye face to face. That was something incredibly cowardly to do. I'm also royally ticked off, but that's a given. I thought you were dead for years when you weren't. You didn't bother to contact me or even Danton. We all suffered while you just skipped along happily. Remember that promise we made all of those years ago? We are family forever, and you never abandon family, especially when they need you the most. Does that mean nothing to you?"
"I did not skip along happily like some girl in a cheesy movie. I suffered too, ok? I got taken by social services and went from foster family to foster family. The only reason I didn't go insane was that I was lucky enough to go to the same homes as a few friends of mine until they got adopted. I was slowly being tortured, but I hid it from the world. I told myself I'd reunite with everyone one day, even if it took me years and years. I had only intended to be gone a month tops. I knew my siblings would do anything to make me happy and gladly move. I just reunited with them last night! They don't even have custody of me yet! Do not point fingers at me! This is not my fault!" I argued, jabbing him in the chest. "I was a kid and I didn't think things through! Yeah, it was dumb. I should've thought things through and we wouldn't be having this conversation right now! I regretted not saying goodbye the second I left! The point is, I'm alive, I'm here, and I'm going to move here if it's the last thing I do. Ok?"
Suddenly, he snatched me up into a hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my chin on his shoulder. I stood on his feet, though I was on my tiptoes. "It's good to see you, Roma."
"I missed you too," I replied. He snorted and I'm pretty sure he rolled his eyes. Of course, my phone chose that moment to ring. I backed away from Gale and leaned against the wall.
"Yes?"
"Hey baby girl." It's Thorne.
"Hey Thorny. Why're you calling, brother dearest?" I asked.
"Paxton called me and said we need to schedule your funeral. What was that about?"
"He gave me expired Nutella as a peace offering and I told him I'm going to get chased around the building by a guy with a butter knife and that he'll stab that knife into my eye several times," I explained. Gale snorted again and I sent him a glare to shush him.
"That's oddly specific. I'm taking the fact that you answered your phone as a sign that you're ok, right?"
"Thorne, I told you that as long as I'm with Danton, I'm safe. I was just lectured by one of my best friends. His name's Gale. Do you need to talk to him to make sure he won't kill me?"
"Yes." I rolled my eyes, but put the phone on speaker.
"There, you're on speaker. Talk away."
"I'm not going to murder Roma," Gale said.
"Roma?" Thorne questioned.
"It's what I used to go by when I lived with Danton. I don't care what people call me now."
"Oh. So you're not holding a butter knife?"
"Nope, I'm holding Roma's hand," Gale replied. I glared at him, knowing that he was trying to provoke my brother.
"You guys aren't dating, are you?" Thorne growled out. Gale opened his mouth to reply, but I yanked my shiv out of my boot and pointed it at him with a warning look.
"He's just trying to provoke you, Thorne. We aren't dating."
"Put your shiv away, Roma," Gale ordered with a smirk.
"You have a shiv?" Thorne yelled.
I scowled at Gale. "Of course I have a shiv, I used to live on the streets. Don't worry Thorny, I know how to use it properly."
"My baby girl has a shiv," he mumbled.
"I am not a baby," I snarled.
"Yes, you are."
"By the way, I want you guys to have custody of me. I'm sure my foster parents will say yes. Oh, and I also have a job. And a mansion. Danton bought the mansion for me when I was five as a birthday present. He's gonna pay for everything. He also wants me to be his partner in his company that renovates businesses."
"Sure."
"Awesome, thanks Thorny! I need to ask Bo, Igor, and AJ if they want to come too. I'm pretty sure Pax and Juliet are fine where they are. The mansion has like 50 bedrooms," I answered.
"Holy cow!"
"I know, right? Listen, I have to go. I'm probably going to spend the night at either Danton or Gale's house. Gale's pointing at himself so his house it is. Do me a favor and tell my foster parents for me. I love you!"
"Love you too, baby girl." He hung up so I couldn't yell at him. I shoved my phone into my pocket and slid my shiv back into my boot.
"My siblings still see me as a baby, which is why they can't find out what I really do," I explained.
"Who are Bo, Igor, AJ, and Juliet? I already know who Pax is," Gale interrogated.
"The guys are my other best friends. Juliet is Pax's girlfriend. They are so in love it would be nauseating if I wasn't happy for them. They're like the perfect match. Pax is the one who gave me the Nutella," I answered.
"How long do you think it'll take until you move?"
"A month at the most, but I'll definitely visit frequently. The drive is only an hour and a half. It'll only take so long because of the legal stuff. We can move before the house is sold since we aren't paying for the mansion," I predicted.
"Ok. Ready for some more reunions?" he asked. I groaned, but nodded.
I spent the rest of the day reuniting with old friends. I saw Carpenter, which is Gale's dad. Gale looks exactly like his old man. Carpenter was one of my favorite adults there, so it was awesome to see him. Of course, I teased him and several others about how I'm going to be their boss and they're older than me. I was almost punched once for that by a newer person who I hadn't met before, but Gale being Gale stepped in front of me and nearly broke that guy's wrist. He also was appointed as my bodyguard, which I nearly threw a fit at. Danton wasn't hearing it though. Even he has a bodyguard or two, and most people wouldn't dare to so much as look him in the eyes. We decided Gale is going to move into my mansion and out of Carpenter's so he can keep a closer eye on me. At night, Gale and I went to his dad's mansion and played video games. Now it is time for bed.
"Night, Gale," I whispered after he had turned off the lights. We are sharing his bed since it is king sized and we've done the same thing when we had sleepovers in the past.
"Goodnight, Roma. I love you," he replied. He meant it in the friend way, of course.
"Love you too, Galey-poo," I teased.
"Shut it," he grumbled. I patted him on the cheek before rolling over, my back facing him. I drifted off, Gale's smell on his pillow causing me to dream about the past.
****
Dream: 12 Years Ago: Age Five-
"Ready or not, here I come!" Gale yelled. I grinned from my hiding spot in the bathroom cabinet. He won't be able to find me here.
A few minutes passed before he entered the bathroom. I held my breath, not wanting to be found. Then the worst thing possible happened.
I sneezed.
"Gotcha!" Gale shouted as he opened the drawer.
"No fair!" I pouted, crossing my arms.
"Come on out, Roma," he said.
"No!" I argued.
"Roma," he whined.
"No, Galey!" I used the nickname that he claims he hates.
"Don't call me that!" he snapped.
"Galey, Galey, Galey!" I chanted.
"Poppa, Roma won't get out of the cabinet!" Gale screamed.
"Tattle tale!" I accused.
"Am not!"
"Are to!"
"Am not!"
"Are to!"
"Am not!
"Roma, Gale, stop it!" Carpenter ordered. We both quieted, but glared at each other. "Roma, can you please get out of the cabinet?" I frowned, but climbed out. "Gale, be nice to Roma or Danton will be mad at you and keep you from seeing her again."
"No!" we both protested at the thought of being separated. It's happened before and we were both miserable.
"Behave," he warned before leaving. Gale and I were silent for a second.
"Do you want to watch a movie?" he suggested.
"Sure." He turned on the TV and selected a random action movie. We curled up on the couch, my head in his lap and him playing with my hair.
"Roma," he said halfway through the movie. I turned so I was facing towards him. "Can you promise me that we'll always be there for each other?"
"I promise."
ns 15.158.61.17da2
