"Hey, Jake, how's it going?"
"Not bad, man, not bad at all," I said as I gave Mason, the owner of the gas station I went to every time I wanted a soda, the cash to pay for my drink "How's life treatin' ya?"
"Pretty good, I heard about Derek's proposal idea, need any help?"
"Mate, all I know is that I'm supposed to take Johnny somewhere, so I'm not the best person to ask."
"I'll call Derek later and ask him then, I heard about Alex by the way, you gonna tell me or am I gonna have to tickle it out of you?"
"You try and tickle me and I will mount your head on a pike," I said and pointed at him threateningly, he laughed it off and waved goodbye as I left, I waved to his boyfriend, got in my pickup and drove off. 'Where to next...where to...' I thought, trying to think of what to do to pass the time, it had been a while since I had the time to be by myself for once. I got on the road and decided to go to the Alamo, walk around a little bit and admire the building. So I got on the I-10 and put a CD in to listen to something on my way there, singing along to the lyrics and occasionally sticking my head out the window because no-one could tell me otherwise.
I pulled into the Alamo Plaza and parked across the street from the Alamo itself, there weren't a ton of people outside so it was peaceful and quiet. 'Alamo first, ice cream second' I thought to myself as I walked towards the entrance, it was nice to be able to remember the times I had been here with family and old friends, it was peaceful and calm, I liked it. I got inside and walked through the church and into the main courtyard, I passed a big cannon and remembered when I was a kid, my dad took me to the Alamo and I had never been, so when I saw the cannons I had the glorious idea of climbing on top of them, I still have a picture of it to this day. Passing through the courtyard I walked towards the center where there was a big tree, I had always been tempted to climb to the top of it, but there was either too many people or something else happened that got in the way...so I started climbing. I got about halfway up and sat down on one of the branches and admired the view, it was nice and quiet, and the view was spectacular, so much so that I could see the people riding in horse-drawn carriages. 'I wonder if they can see me' I thought climbing down, I walked back inside the church, and saw that there was no-one inside, so I did what I always wanted to do.
"FUCK!" I yelled, hearing the echo I started giggling like a twelve-year-old and continued admiring the building.
After walking around the Alamo for an hour or two, I left the area and walked towards the plaza, there were restaurants and game places everywhere, I didn't like it but didn't care enough to do anything about it. I walked over to a restaurant I knew had good food, Speak of the devil, and sat down in the back.
"Hey, Jake!" One of the servers, Lilly, walked over and brought a diet cola with her.
"What's up, Lils? How ya doin'?" I said and took the drink from her hand, she was a nice person and I had been here enough that she knew what I liked to drink without me having to ask.
"Pretty good, Michael is getting back from his trip tomorrow and I'm really excited to see him."
"Him? Or his dick? Wink wink," I said and received a slap to the face, I deserved it but I had no regrets.
"...Both, but don't tell Michael that."
"I make no promises," I said and we laughed, I told her what I wanted to eat and she took my order back to the kitchen before grabbing a chair and sitting across from me.
"I heard about Alex, Jakey."
"Lucifer's balls, does everyone?" She laughed at that, stuck her tongue out at me, and denied my suspicions.
"No, just a handful of people, Me, Mason, Jade, Nicki, and of course, Johnny."
"I'm never gonna hear the end of this shit."
"What's wrong? You might have found your mate and you're acting as if you got diagnosed with cancer."
"I'm happy, I just hate the mocking, mate, it's like how you hate that you and Michael can't go anywhere without people going 'Awwwww' whenever he kisses you," I said and finished my drink, she offered to refill it before continuing but I got up and did it myself.
"I guess that makes sense, just try not to push her away, that'll lead to more problems and trust me, it doesn't work," She said, she had tried to push Michael away because she didn't trust a lot of people after having some extremely shitty relationships in the past, but Michael didn't give up, and eventually it paid off. They went out at some point or another and now are one of the strongest couples I've seen, even without the mate bond.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep that in mind. Michael being away because of work sucks, I assume?"
"Yeah, I hate it, but it's given me time to make sure I haven't gone soft. A couple of douchebags tried flirting with me last night and after a couple of unwanted advancements, I broke their hands."
"Sounds like you're just as much a fighter as you were back in Florida," I said, and handed her a drink from the fountain, sitting across from her again.
"Yeah, so I hear that Derek is going to propose to JJ soon, you know anything about that?"
"All I know is that I'm supposed to lead Johnny somewhere blindfolded, where Derek will 'Sweep him off his feet' or some shit like that."
"Do you see yourself ever getting married?"
"At some point, maybe, it depends on whether or not my mate is willing to be part of a criminal underground."
"You mean Alex?" She said and winked at me, I tried to ignore the blush that was probably coming across my face, but it didn't work out too well.
"Shut up."
"You're blushing~" She taunted and I laughed because I could make it so much worse for her if Michael was here.
"I'll get you back, ya know. One of these days you will rue the day you made me blush!"
"Mhmm, okay blushy."
"ORDER UP!" The cook yelled from the kitchen, and Lilly stood up and got my food.
"Thanks, anyway, Derek's planning on proposing after the heist is done with, so if you want to I'll call you when I find out if Derek is having a public proposal, and if not, we'll figure something out."
"Alright, thanks, I hope it goes well for them," She said, getting up to go get a drink, I started eating my burger, the thing was as big as my entire head "And I thought that Alex was the animal in your mateship," Lilly said, and I proceeded to flip her the bird. She laughed and sat across from me, and we continued talking about life and the heist for about thirty minutes. After I finished my burger I gave her the money for it, said my goodbyes, and left the restaurant back into the plaza. I heard my phone ringing so I picked it up and saw that Jade was calling me.
"What's up?"
"Where are you?"
"It seems we're having this sort of discussion a lot, I'm at Alamo Plaza, why?"
"No-one knew where you were, some of us started getting anxious."
"Did you by any chance ask Jack where I was?"
"...No...No we did not."
"Nice going genius, I'll be home when I feel like it, meaning an hour or two, talk later," I said and hung up, putting my phone on silent and walking back into the middle of the Plaza, there was almost no-one here, so I started walking in the middle of the road. I never understood it, but I had always had some weird fascination with walking through the streets at night, it was relaxing, and fun.
"You know, if you wanted to sneak up on me, the Plaza is one of the worst places to do it at," I said out loud, turning around to see Dylan and Mark approaching me.
"We weren't trying to sneak, we were trying to get closer to you to talk."
"And why, on earth, would that be?" I said, smirking at them if there was one thing I knew how to do, it was pissing off people in power.
"Alex, something's different ever since she met you, we want to know why."
"I'm clueless, I don't know how she's acting different so I don't know why she's acting differently," I said, and they looked like they didn't like my answer, not that I cared, I just would rather not going home with more scars on my body.
"She's been watching you, maybe if you open your eyes, you'd find out why." They said before turning around, shifting, and running off.
"Yeah, that was helpful."