The trip to L.A was somewhat peaceful. No, it was disturbingly peaceful.
Jake kept to himself, Emily never asked what was wrong. When she stylishly did, he would only ignore her.
Finally, they were down from the plane and with their small luggages, dragged it towards the airport entrance.
Jake was looking everywhere until his brows dropped. "Hmm, where is he?"
"Who?" Emily asked.
He turned to face her. "He's supposed to take us to the hotel we'll be staying."
"Oh," Emily said, disappointedly. "What do we do now? Will you call him--"
"--I've been doing that since forever now. He's not picking up." Jake said. He had a tinge of frustration in his eyes.
"It's cool. We'll just locate the hotel ourselves. Come on, what's the address?"
Jake's face was blank.
"Jake? What's the address?"
"I dunno!" He flared out. Now, he seemed worried. "The company said he would cover everything! They'd paid him to cover everything, Emily."
"Okay, okay...it's fine, Jake. Let's just haul taxi for now. We'll sort ourselves out. We're adults!"
Jake sighed. "Fine."
Lucky for them, when they got outside of the hotel, they found a long list of taxis.
Jake chose one of them and after checking for one of the best hotels in L.A, he showed the address to the driver.
The driver was a short man in really oversized coat. He was dark skinned with pretty eyes Emily somehow found pretty.
"Hola boss. I can take you anywhere you would want to go to. Ja lo." The man said, cheeringly.
Emily began to wonder whether he was Spanish or Indian or African...damn it, who was he?
They got into the car and his driving was pretty sweet.
"I am Collins." The man said.
Emily's curiously took the best of her. "Mr. Collins, are you Spanish or Indian?"
The man's grin was wide. "I am anything you want me to be."
At a point, his accent sounded like an African American's. Now, it was changing, and pretty often.
"Okay..." Emily said.
Jake was looking out the window. He was worried for some reason...damn it, why wasn't he opening up to her!
"What is it, Jake? What aren't you telling me?"
There was a tightness on Jake's face. He wasn't ready to break it with a smile. Or with a blink even.
Finally, his face was softening now. "Well, it's just that..."
"But my mother is from Nigeria." The driver's voice covered Jake's.
Emily frowned, then faked a smile to the man, hoping it would shut him up.
"Good." She said.
Jake returned his gaze to her. "A lot has been happening and ..."
"But she was not born in Nigeria." Collins said again.
This time, Emily's frown could not be replaced by her anger. "Thank you, Collins."
Jake frowned as well, waiting so their dear driver would not cut him off again. After a long while enough, he continued.
"I just thought that--"
"But she married a man from there." Collins was saying again.
"Damn it, Mr. Collins! Please, I just ..." Emily stopped, knowing she might have come out a bit rude. "Sorry, it's just that..."
"You want to have a quiet conversation with your husband, I get you." Collins said.
Emily was glad for his understanding. "Thanks." She resumed her focus to Jake, raising a brow at him.
"Okay, the truth is that--"
"I remember when I first got married to the love of my life." The driver said again and now, Emily's fingers was a ball of fist.
"This man won't let us have this conversation." Jake said. "We'll talk once we get to our hotel safely--"
Abruptly, the car vhoomed into a halt. Everyone was shocked at the sudden stop.
"What happened!" Emily frowned.
"The tyre. It must have bursted." The driver said so casually that it made Emily even more furious.
"We could have died or something! Why aren't you more careful!" Emily cried out.
"Sorry, ma'am." Collins said. "We didn't die, at least."
"No Collins, it means that you should be more careful!" Jake flared out.
Everyone was out of the car now.
"What will you so now?" Emily asked.
Collins stood up straight, his chest puffing out. "I, Collins, am going to fix the tyres. I am a professional mechanic. As I am also a professional therapist...and I tell you all not to worry. Tell me your life's problem, I am a good listener."
Emily and Jake exchanged surprising gazes. Then Emily said. "Fix the car already, Collins."
"Yes ma'am, I will now. I just need to--" his phone rang and he picked it up after excusing himself.
"That man is a lunatic," Emily said.
"True that." Jake agreed.
"Arghhh!" A loud noise was heard from Collins.
"Damnit! Why is he so annoyingly loud!" Jake said.
Emily agreed with him as they made silent muttering.
The driver came back to their midst and crossed his hands behind him.
Emily frowned. "What?"
"Uh... there's been a emergency." Collins said.
"What emergency??" She asked him again.
"I gotta go." Said Collins. "And you need to leave this place for the nearest fuel station."
Jake groaned and Emily sighed.
He began packing his stuff and was getting ready to leave. "Wait, what are you still doing here?"
"What do you mean?" Emily asked.
"If you don't leave now, some people are coming for you." Collins replied. "They're going to kill you guys because that's what they do."