I completely missed his joke, even though it had me bursting with laughter. We soon reached the exit doors of the school. Luckily, no one was there to bother us. Streams of students were rushing by, and we joined them. I exhaled the chilly air and looked ahead. A splendid sports car was parked in front of the school. Leaning against it was a guy I couldn't examine closely because he was far away. I also spotted Mort's sister heading straight for that very car. They hugged, and the guy, like a gentleman, helped her into the car.
'Come on, what are you waiting for?' Grace nervously urged. We walked to the parking lot, filled with cars and stylish motorcycles. Mort approached one of them and turned off the alarm. I almost choked on saliva just thinking about how much it could cost. A black sporty motorcycle with red stripes.
'Here.' He handed me a black helmet. Then he lifted the seat and retrieved another helmet from there. The brunette was doing everything pretty quickly. The guy sat down and gestured for me to get on. I did so without hesitation.
A rush of excitement and fear surged through me. Mort started the motorcycle, and it roared to life. At first, I wanted to grab him by the jacket, but then I realized it would look odd from the side. I gripped the rear edge of the motorcycle firmly.
'Where are we going?' Mort asked as the motorcycle stopped at a red light. And he's asking me this just now, when we're already far away from the school? It became clear that I would never understand his logic.
'After classes, I was supposed to stop by the store.' I cautiously replied. Grace revved the motorcycle's engine and turned it. He pulled up to a store I was familiar with, a supermarket, to be exact. The brunette frowned, probably thinking that it was just a building of no great significance to him.
'Don't you know what this is?' I asked.
'You think I'm that dumb?' The mafia son retorted and added, 'It's a store, that's what!'
We entered. For me, it was a regular supermarket with groceries. But for Mort, it was like a treasure trove. He stayed close to me and looked around.
'Relax, no one is going to shoot you here... probably.'
'Haha, thanks, that was very helpful,' Grace snorted and pouted. I pulled him over to the carts. Today, I had to make a delicious dinner, so I needed to buy a lot.
'Here, you're just an ordinary person, an ordinary person,' I repeated.
'An ordinary person,' he echoed and then protested, 'Hey! I'm not an ordinary person, I'm the son of the mafia, the Morty mafia among others!' People started looking at us due to the brunette's outbursts.
'You could say that even louder.' I smirked. We started walking from one aisle to another. Mort kept picking up random things. From children's juices to candy bars and wafers. I felt much older and more experienced.
And then, Mort dashed to one of the sections. I followed him like a capricious little child. He approached a couple of girls and started choosing gummy candies. There were many varieties: shark-shaped gummies, raspberry-flavored ones, blueberry, grape, frog-shaped, or even egg or heart-shaped ones. It seemed like the guy had fallen in love with these sweets. I muttered something to myself.
'Julian, do you have my phone?' the brunette asked, grabbing three packs at once. I nodded. 'Great, then I'll pay for this.' Enthralled by these sweets, the brunette didn't even notice how the girls were looking at us and whispering.
Suddenly, a little girl, around 4 or 5 years old, approached Grace. She politely tugged at his leg. I was terrified, hoping Mort wouldn't get angry. But Grace crouched down to the girl, leaned towards her, and she whispered something to him. He nodded. What surprised me the most was that for the next few minutes, the guy lifted the little girl up, leaving his treats, and started choosing for her. The girls were amazed.
'Is this one or this one?' the mafia son was asking. The little girl reached for one of the bags.
'Oh, where were you?' her mother exclaimed, rushing over to the section. Grace put the girl down and patted her head. 'Sorry, she's just a bit impatient.'
'It's alright, everyone loves sweets,' the brunette winked at the girl, then bent down and took his purchases.
'You handled that so nobly,' I praised, when the woman walked away.
'Just that this little one reminded me so much of little Daisy. Only my sister got it into her head that she can get whatever she wants no matter what.' I smiled, and at that moment, two girls approached us, eyeing us closely. I felt uncomfortable.
'You're the actor from the spy movie, right?' the blonde exclaimed.
'Who? Me? No, you must be mistaken,' the brunette grinned.
'No, I know perfectly well! I loved your acting. Can we take a photo with you? In return, I can show you where even tastier jelly candies are.' Mort's eyes lit up at those words. He nodded to me and walked away with the blonde to the candy section. I was left with her brunette friend.
'I've seen you around before, just couldn't gather the courage to approach.' I gave a short chuckle and tossed a bag of various salads into the cart.
'Are you studying around here?'
'Yeah,' I replied nonchalantly. For some reason, I wasn't interested in this girl with almost pink-colored hair. Lisa and Karen would have said it's absurd because the color barely matched her black hair. Not that I had anything against girls with dyed hair, but she just didn't interest me.
'Where? At the first?'
'No, I'm at the business school.'
'Really? The one from Owliw?'
'What do you mean?' I raised an eyebrow.
'You see, you guys are known as Owls here, because the school's director is Mr. Owl. Plus, you're just rich kids. They say it's the cream of the crop over there.'
'Pfft... you could say that.'
'By the way, do you have a girlfriend?'
'No.'
'Then can I have your number?' I wasn't keen on giving my number to anyone. Relationships weren't something I was interested in right now.
'Julian, I found what I wanted.' Grace's appearance saved me just in time. His face was slightly nervous. I could read that he wanted to get away with the blonde as soon as possible.
'Great,' I said.
'Didn't you forget we're going to my parents today?'
'What?' I was dumbfounded.
'Didn't you remember? We're supposed to visit my parents. They don't know we're together.'
I almost fainted on the spot. The girls gaped at us, and I almost did the same.
'You... you... you...' the blonde couldn't even get the words out.
'Yes. Let's go. See you.' Mort smiled.