"What is it about you that attracts trouble, Amani!?" Becca shot angrily at Amani as soon as she entered the interrogation room Amani was kept.
Amani looked at her friend and she nearly covered her head in shame. Becca was right about her being the ultimate trouble magnet. She was always the one getting both of them in trouble ever since they were in kindergarten and Becca was the one who was always there to cover up for her or get punished alongside her
"I turned my back on you for just a minute and you ended up getting arrested!... Really?" Becca glared at her friend, striking the pose of an angry mom standing with her hands on her waist.
Amani has no defense for herself and no words to retort back. The two friends looked at each other for some seconds, Becca's eyes were angry while Amani's were pleading before Becca's facial expression suddenly changed.
It was now obvious from the way her lips were puckered shut that she was trying so hard to hold in her laughter for a little while longer until she couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.
"Come here you!..." She said, holding out her arms towards Amani.
Amani stood up from where she was sitting and rushed into her friend's outstretched arms, hugging each other tightly "For a moment there I thought you were angry with me for real and..."
"Just for a moment?... Are you sure I didn't remind you of Miss Spencer, your nightmare in junior high?" Becca asked and laughed
"Uhh... No, you didn't!" Amani said and shook her head from side to side. "Well, maybe just a bit... But you can never look as mean as Miss Spencer no matter how hard you try."
"Yeah right..." Becca rolled her eyes upward at Amani and they both laughed.
"Come, my trouble magnet friend. Tell me, how did you manage to get arrested barely..." Becca consulted with her wristwatch "three hours after you left home for your interview... Oh my God! The interview! It's way past your appointment time. What if they contacted the boss?..."
"It's fine Bec! I already called to apologize. We agreed on the same time, tomorrow.
"Oh, that's good then..." Becca breathed a sigh of relief "So tell me what happened? How did you get your ass arrested?" Becca dragged a chair nearer to where Amani was sitting and they sat facing each other.
"I saved a puppy... Omg, Bec! You should see him, he's the cutest fluffy ball I've ever seen." Amani said with an exciting expression on her face.
"Really!?... Becca's eyes darted around the room "Where is it now?..." She asked excitedly too and then her face fell... "The owner took him away?"
"No... They took him to the vet and to get fed"
"Great!... He's ours now right!?"
"Yup... Guess so." Amani answered happily
"That's great! So let's hear the rest of your arrest story then."
"Yeah, so I saved Fluffy ball, and the next I know, I'm being arrested for misdemeanor and reckless endangerment."
"Reckless endangerment?..." Becca's grey eyes widened. Her eyes run all over Amani "Are you hurt anywhere? What about the other people?..."
"No I'm not hurt but according to the arresting officer, when I suddenly parked and dashed out of my car to save the dog, a bigshot that was driving opposite me suddenly slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting me. He got injured and his property, a laptop worth about four hundred thousand dollars, was broken.
"What!?... There's a laptop that is that expensive!?... Who would spend such a ridiculous amount on an ordinary laptop!?"
"I know, right!?... And I know I was indeed reckless, but this cute puppy was trying to cross to the other side of a major road. He wouldn't have survived if I hadn't rushed to save him. He would have been crushed under some unknown motorist's wheels... Gosh!"
"Wow... I don't even want to think about that! Thank goodness the poor baby is okay!"
"So who is the big shot? Do you know him yet?"
"No! We'll find out more about him or her when the officer comes back"
"The officer!..." Becca sighed dramatically. "Are you by any chance talking about that hunk of a man... You know, blond hair, tall, muscular..." She then placed her elbow on the table and her cheek rested on her palm as she stared goo-goo eyed into space."
"That hunk of a man!..." Amani's eyes widened with shock when she realized who her friend was referring to as the hunk. She lightly slapped Becca at the back of her head. "Oi, stop right there! Don't be getting ideas about this one!" Amani snapped.
Becca's history with men was not what Amani wanted to happen with a cop. Amani knew Becca always goes putty any time she sees a good-looking man and could move heaven and heart to be with him. The problem is after about two dates together, she would claim she has fallen in love with him but quickly fall out of love soon after, the longest time was after a month.
"And why couldn't I get ideas about him?... Or do you have a design on him already?" She asked with a wink towards Amani.
"No, I don't!... Just that considering your history of falling in and out of love within a space of one week?... You can't do that with a cop Bec... Look at the man, he's good-looking, yes but he's a psychopath!
"Really?..." Becca rolled her eyes upward at Amani, indicating she knew her friend was exaggerating.
"Yes really! A psychopath is someone who is callous, unemotional, and morally depraved!... The man placed me under arrest cos I saved a puppy, I mean..." she left the rest of her words unsaid and shrugged instead.
"What if you fall in love... and then fall out soon after... and he gets angry... And then comes to the condo with his big gun and pow!..." She fashioned her hand like she was holding a gun and directed it at Becca
"Yeah, yeah, yeah... I get it!... You sure have a wild sense of imagination"
"I'm just saying but if you still wish to go ahead with him then no problem..." Amani shrugged innocently.
She might have exaggerated a little bit about the gun, but not about the cop being a psychopath. In her opinion, if he could arrest her without blinking an eye just because she saved a puppy then the apple couldn't have fallen too far away from the tree
"Just forget about it... Anyways I brought a lawyer friend along with me and they know each other... Seems they met in court or something like that..."
"How much per hour is he charging?" Amani asked with a sinking feeling in her heart. After a full body makeover, clothes and accessories shopping, groceries, and other necessities... The rest of the twenty thousand dollars she collected from the boss might not take her till the next pay if she should add a lawyer's charges.
"Don't sweat it, my friend. It's Just dinner... I invited him over to the condo for dinner tomorrow evening."
"Ohh... He must have been handsome then..." Amani teased with a smile
"You bet he is..."
"I wonder how long this one is going to take this time?...."
"Oh, it's ending right now!..." Becca's lawyer friend angrily said in the room next to where Amani was being held.
Unknown to the girls, the room Amani thought was an office was actually an interrogation room and the large tightly shut window was a two-way mirror - a panel of glass that can be seen through from one side and is a mirror on the other which enables police officers to observe interrogations.
While Nicholas and Becca's lawyer friend was discussing Amani's case on the other side of the room, it was easy for them to ignore the girls who were also discussing the same. But when the ladies' conversation drifted off from the case to Becca calling Nicholas a hunk, the men couldn't help but perk up their ears and eavesdropped on the women's conversation
Nicholas the said hunk tried as much as possible to keep the smile from his face in order not to embarrass his fellow man, while Becca's lawyer friend's handsome face was marred with an ugly scowl
Then Amani called Nicholas a psychopath with a full definition of callous, unemotional, and morally depraved.
Nicholas was shocked. ''Did she just call him a psychopath!? Him that successfully convince Leonardo not to sue her?" He thought and smiled to himself. He achieved a win, win situation for both of them. She, to stay out of court and him to punish her without involving the law. Does that then make him a psychopath? He asked himself
The two men couldn't pretend they weren't listening in anymore. The conversation was about them anyways so nobody would accuse them of eavesdropping even if they were caught.
They moved closer to the glass and watched the girls talk on and on about them.