Chapter Nineteen
Max
I was looking forward to a day out with Madison. I thought of joking around with her and calling it a date, but I wasn’t sure how she would react to that. We still hadn’t spoken about what had happened the other night, but I was sure it was on her mind as much as it was on mine. It was probably a lot more intense for her considering she still had all her memories intact. For me, it was different; I had been thinking about sleeping with her since the day I saw her sitting on that hospital bed.
“Okay, are you ready for a day out?” she asked.
“Are you ready for the best pastrami sandwich of your life?” I said.
She giggled. “You’re very confident that you’re going to find one.”
“I am indeed. I will not rest until I find one.”
“Well, you better look quickly because we can’t be out too long. The chief will kill us. He’s probably not going to rest until he gets that call from us.”
I sighed. “Yeah. I know. It’s really frustrating, though. I mean, we could’ve handled this whole thing together. It’s what we do. Like you said, we are a great team. I sometimes wonder if we wouldn’t have done a better job than the chief at finding him. I know I don’t remember what he looks like, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find him. We almost got him once before, so I don’t see why we can’t get him again.”
“I know. But we’ve just got to view this as a holiday,” she said and then laughed. “Wow, I can’t believe I just said that. Usually, all I want to do is work. I think this last year really took it out on me. I actually didn’t realize I was so tense until now.”
I raised my eyebrows at her. I got the feeling that there was still a lot that she wasn’t telling me. I wasn’t sure if she was just trying to make me feel better, or because she just didn’t want to think about it herself. “Was it that bad?” I asked.
“It wasn’t bad. But it was exhausting. And every time you went out there, I would worry.”
“Really? You worried about me?” I said and smiled at her. I added in a wink for good measure, and she groaned.
She chuckled. “Only because I thought you couldn’t handle yourself of course.”
“Of course. I mean, it’s not because you cared for me or anything.”
“No, not at all.”
We chuckled to each other and made our way out. The town was brimming with people, which was good because it made it easier to blend in. I was pleased to see that the safe house was in a popular area and not somewhere too remote. Although, you couldn’t tell from the outside of the house. I had no idea how the chief had put something like this together, but I was impressed. I wondered how many more things he had up his sleeve.
We walked up and down the road, poking our heads into different cafes to see what sandwiches they had on offer. I found a few that offered pastrami, but I wanted to make sure it was the right one. I knew it immediately when I saw it. The small little café looked like it had been taken right from the heart of Italy. It was small, and the smell of coffee drifted through the air as we walked past. I found myself immediately drawn to it.
“This is the one,” I said.
“It is? But you don’t even know if they have the right sandwich.”
“I just know,” I said and pulled her inside.
Madison giggled and followed me in. We found a table in the corner, which gave us a great vantage point of both the inside of the café and the outside. That way we could see if anything suspicious was happening. The waiter came over and I asked her if she had any pastrami and cheese sandwiches on offer. It was only when the words came out of my mouth that I realized what a chance I was taking. We probably shouldn’t have sat down without first asking what was on the menu. The waiter, a tiny woman with a smile so big it was impossible not to smile along with her, nodded her head.
“You’re in luck. We do, and they’re one of our most popular items on the menu. And today’s special is a sandwich of your choice with a free coffee. Shall I get you both one?” she asked.
“Yes please,” I said. Then, as she walked away, I looked at Madison and grinned. “I told you so. I just knew that this place would have.”
“You’ve got a nose for these things,” she said. “A pastrami nose.”
“It’s good to get out,” I said.
“Oh yeah? Are you bored with me already?”
I grinned. “Yeah. Horribly bored. You’re simply not providing me with enough entertainment.”
“Oh, you’re just a sore loser because I won at Scrabble. You’ve always hated losing to me. Actually, you’ve always hated losing to anyone.”
“Am I really that bad?”
She chuckled. “Yeah. But it’s okay. So am I. If you had been the one to beat me, I would be the one groaning about it. We just can’t help ourselves. It’s in our DNA.”
“I’m surprised the chief thought to put us on the same team, then.”
“Oh, I’m not. I mean, we work harder than anyone else just to prove a point. I think we’re the best team in that regard.”
“That’s true, actually. Hey, I think we need a team name. Unless we have one and I’ve just forgotten?” I said.
Just then, the waitress came by with our coffees and sandwiches, and I groaned in pleasure. I hadn’t had good coffee like that in a long time. I knew it was good just by looking at it. And the sandwich was even better. I picked up the coffee, took a sip, and closed my eyes.
“Oh man, I knew this was a good idea.”
“This was so worth going out for,” Madison said.
“So, team name. How about Team Pastrami?”
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously? That’s the worse team name in the world. The pastrami sandwich is good, but it’s not a team name. How about Team Microwave? No, scratch that. That’s stupid. Team Madix. Yes, Team Madix. Both our names.”
“What about team Maxson? I prefer that one.”
“Ha! You just want your name first. No, that’s not going to work. Okay, Team Coffee?”
“No, if we can’t have pastrami, we can’t have coffee.”
“Team Coma?”
I groaned. “That’s the worst one so far.”
“Team Scrabble.”
“Nope.
“Team Madison is the best?”
I laughed. “Definitely not. Team Maverick?”
“Hmm, maybe.”
“What? Are you serious? But that’s my nickname. Are you finally admitting that I’m the better teammate?”
“I’m doing no such thing. But, I have to admit that I like the nickname. Team Maverick. Or The Mavericks?”
“Let’s go with Team Maverick,” I said and beamed at her. “The best team in the world.”
After our café date, we made our way to the nearest shop to buy our ingredients for our cocktails, and then we quickly made our way back to the safe house. Once we were inside, we called the chief to let him know that we were there. He still seemed slightly annoyed that we had gone out, but he didn’t say anything. I could hear it in his tone, and he asked me not to go out again for a while. “Space out your visits,” he said, and I promised him that we would.
“Now, are you ready to get your cocktail game on?”
Madison grinned. “Teammate against teammate. Let’s do it.”
We took out all the drinks, juices, and fruit and laid them all out in the kitchen, and then cornered off different sides of the room to make our creation. I had no idea what I was doing. I had never been much of a cocktail drinker in the first place, and I had never actually made one myself. Madison swore that she was a pro, but I got the impression that she was lying. I heard her mumbling to herself throughout the entire process, and swearing every few minutes.
“Having trouble there?” I asked her sweetly.
“No trouble at all. Everything is going well. Best cocktail in the world,” she said unconvincingly, and I chuckled to myself.
“All right, I’m finished!” I said.
“Already? Okay, I need ten minutes. Take your two glasses to the table and wait for me.”
I took the glasses over to the table and waited for her to arrive. I quickly took a sip and grimaced. It was more alcohol than anything else, but I had no idea how to make it any different. I was sure I had put in plenty juice. When Madison came back, I groaned at the sight of her cocktails.
“Curly straws and a sparkler? That’s not fair.”
She giggled while we waited for the sparkles to fizz out, and then we eagerly gave each other a cocktail to try.
“I have no idea how we’re going to judge these. We need a third party.”
“How about we just be honest with each other?” she suggested.
“Extra points for your presentation, that’s for sure. Okay, let’s try mine first,” I said and watched as she took a sip.
“Hey, this is good,” she said.
“What? Are you serious? I thought it was awful.”
“Really. Nah, I like it. Ooh, I’m worried now. Okay, let’s try mine.”
I was almost certain that she was just trying to make me feel better, as my cocktail wasn’t good at all. But when I tried hers I almost spat it out.
“Delicious,” I lied.
Madison burst out laughing. “Oh man, yours is so much better.”
“They’re both disgusting,” I said.
“Yeah. What are we going to do?”
“Drink them anyway?” I suggested.
She chuckled. “Let’s drink yours first. By the end of it, we might think my one is better.”
“Good plan.”
We went to the living room with our cocktails and sat on the floor with our backs against the sofa. I’m not sure why we decided to sit on the floor, but it just felt right. As if we were having a little cocktail picnic.
“Today’s been good,” I said. I took a sip of the drink and pulled a face.
Madison started laughing. She had to put her drink down because she was laughing so hard.
“What’s so funny?”
“Your face. These drinks. They’re disgusting.”
“I thought you said mine was nice.”
“Only in comparison to mine. But they’re really both revolting. Let’s be honest.”
I took a sip. “Well, we can’t be good at everything, you know.”
She sighed. “This isn’t right.”
“What do you mean?”
“Team Maverick is supposed to be brilliant. We cannot simply admit defeat and say that we can’t be good at everything. We need to become good at it. I say we perfect our cocktail making skills over the course of our stay. Surely anything is better than this. I mean, we can only get better.”
“Either that or our tastes buds are going to get so numb from these drinks that we won’t be able to define good from bad. We’ll probably just assume that we’re good even when we’re not.”
“Well, that’s fine too. It’s a win-win situation.”
It took us a surpassingly short amount of time to make our way through the first cocktail, and when I reached for the second one and took a sip, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I suddenly enjoyed it. In fact, I could barely taste the alcohol that had been so prominent the first time I had tried it.
“Hey, you were right. This tastes good now,” I said.
Madison took a sip and grinned. “Yeah, this is delicious. Maybe we’re not so bad after all. I say this was a hush success.”
“A what success?” I asked and laughed.
“Huge,” she corrected herself.
“You said hush. Madi, are you drunk?”
“Me? Drunk? Never. I can handle my drink better than anyone. I’m tough!” she declared.
“Oh yeah? Exactly how tough are you? Tough enough to go out and beat the bad guys?” I asked.
“Tough enough to beat you in an arm wrestle.”
“Oh yeah?” I said and put my drink down. I got up onto my knees and put my elbow on the table. “You call yourself tough? Then prove it to me.”
Our hands touched, and I felt a bolt of electricity run through me. We tried to wrestle, but neither of us could do it because we were laughing so hard. Clearly, she wasn’t the only one that was feeling drunk. We tried one more time and fell to the ground. We lay there crying with laughter. I looked at her and saw that she was looking at me. I scooted closer to her, and put my lips against hers. She tasted sweet, like fruit juice and alcohol.
“Delicious,” I said, and I was glad that she didn’t pull away.