Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
Erin stopped at the empty hall of the P.R.A. headquarters as she turned to Carmen “I know everything.” She said flatly.
Carmen looked guiltily to the floor “Is this about my date with Luke tonight? I’m sorry, I know we should have considered your feelings but Luke said that you didn’t mind. Considering your history, I felt he should know you by now eventhough he lost his memory and all…” she rambled on while Erin searched her face carefully.
“You don’t know.” She concluded.
“Huh? Don’t know what? You know Erin, I hope you don’t take this personally but I’m confused by what your actions and words. I know we got off of the wrong foot and I always thought it was because of Brad…I mean Luke. It’s so weird, I still call him that.” Carmen laughed. She noticed Erin looking away “Erin? Are you okay?”
Shaking out of the daze, she smiled “I’m fine. I'm sorry for the third degree, it's just Luke is...special to me. I want to protect him."
"I understand!" Carmen nodded "I don't want to come between you two." she said earnestly.
Erin knew she was being honest "You're not. Have a great time tonight.”
Carmen grinned like a school girl with a crush “I must commend you. If my ex-fiancé was dating another girl, I would go crazy. But you’re so calm and understanding. I feel bad for even going.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m sure you’ve been waiting for a long time for him to ask you out.” Erin smiled warmly, from her ramblings she realized Carmen liked Brad a lot, maybe Ah Gam was trying to sidetrack her to believing that Carmen was on his team?
“If he ever regains his memory and chooses you, I will step aside.” Carmen vowed.
Erin nodded “Thank you, that’s gracious of you.” Patting her on the arm as she gently nudged her towards the exit “You should go get ready.”
“Okay! I’ll see you around.” There was a skip in her steps as Erin watched with a smile.
Her eyes suddenly moved to the copy room “You can come out now.”
Darren appeared with a smile “I could have sworn I was hiding well.”
“Your big feet ratted you out.” Erin nodded to his feet poking out “So? Any comments for me?”
“That was very nice what you said.” Wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he walked outside to meet with Mia “I hate to sound like Mia, but you’ve changed. Tremendously, he would be proud to see you like this.”
“Minus the sudden rampage to kill Devin?” Erin added with a laugh.
He laughed, “I thought you were going to confront Carmen and beat her up or something. But you handled it quite well.”
“I was going to. But looking at her, I realized she’s just an innocent victim. For her sake, I wish she never finds out about Luke. For Luke’s sake, I hope he won’t slip.” Erin stopped and nodded Mia who was waving from the limo.
“How about dinner with us tonight?” Darren offered.
She shook her head “I want to be alone.” He looked worried as she smiled “I’m okay, I promise.”
“Okay. We’ll see you later. Call us with any leads.” He waved before the driver escorted him into the limo.
Erin took a taxi to the cemetery. It seemed like years since she’s come to visit him. His grave was dusty and a single white rose sat over the cemented floor in front of the stone “Hi you.” She greeted “Looks like you had a visitor.” Kneeling against the cold ground was painful on the knees but she didn’t care “Your brother is quite a character.” Shaking her head as she told him the story about how he and Carmen came to meet “You know I trust my gut for everything, you taught me that. I just pray that she is who I think she is. Its such a shame that you didn’t get to see her again…she liked you a lot. Just like most of the girls that’s had the pleasure of crossing your path. I feel most lucky because you actually loved me.” The tears slowly came as she sat there silently.
“Is he worth it?” a male voice spoke up from behind. She froze in her place as his steps grew closer “Crying over his grave every chance you get. I find that quite pathetic. A pretty girl like yourself should be with a guy with power and lots of money.” Ah Gam knelt down as he grazed his fingers over the white rose “He never liked flowers but I figure it was a nice gesture.”
In a sudden angry moment, she took the flower and whipped it over her left shoulder “He hates white.” Her eyes daring as she turned to him.
He wore sunglasses despite the gray sky above “Our offer still stands.” He said when she began to walk away.
“I don’t take offers from the devil.” Erin spat harshly.
“Well then I have no choice.” Pulling out a gun as he pointed to her from a few feet away “Go ahead and run? Better yet, yell…no one can hear you. Even if they could, one shot will take your life.”
She stood motionless and slowly turned to face him “You won’t kill me. You want something from me, don’t you?”
Ah Gam retrieved his gun with a laugh, nodding towards Brad’s grave “You sure know how to choose em, buddy.”
“What do you want?” Erin got straight to the point.
“I guess you heard about the Time Square attack?” he smiled when her eyes widened “I take it that’s a yes? Anyways, you should know it’s a trick from Hung Gor. He’s planning to have you guys go there and blow up the place killing the team.”
“Why should I believe you?” Erin snapped, “You weren’t exactly honest this morning.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, are you still upset about this morning? I was only testing your skills, if it wasn’t for that guy…Anyways, it’s too late to explain.” He waved a nonchalant hand as if it was no big deal.
Erin frowned “Why are you telling me this?”
Sighing as he pointed the gun at Brad’s grave “Because of him! He saved my life one time and I promised that I would repay him back. Too bad he died too fast, so helping you would be the same.” He stuff the gun in it’s pocket as he started for the stairs “Something to think about!!” he called behind him.
Shaking her head as she felt torn between her suspicions and gut “Should I trust him?” she asked the sky, hoping for an answer from Brad.
*************
They were seated a window booth, overlooking the city. The day was a little foggy but it cleared up by nightfall. Carmen rested her chin on her palm as she stared at the night lights, “I love this place. I love this city.” She said dreamily.
“Where were you before?” he asked with special interest.
“New York.” She answered, “It’s a little like Hong Kong, but still it’s missing…What’s the word…”
“Culture.” He finished.
“Yes.” She nodded with a smile “I had a talk with Erin this morning.”
Luke began stumbling around his fork and knife “Oh really? What about?”
“You.” She said shortly.
He laughed nervously “Me? Little ole me? What’s there to say? I’m just a boring little person with a memory lapse.” He added slowly.
Carmen sighed, “She’s still in love with Brad.”
“Well, of course!” Luke blurted out but quickly caught his tongue when he realized she was talking about him “I mean…no, if she was still in love with me, she wouldn’t be okay with us…” he pointed to the space between them.
She laughed “Why are you so jittery. I’m just messing with you. She is still in love with Brad, the guy before the memory lapse.”
Luke cleared his throat uneasily “How about you? Which one do you like better?”
“Honestly?” she questioned with raised brows. He replied with a nod “Hmm, to be honest, I liked Brad before. He was mysterious, cool and man can he fight. But Luke is sensitive, funny and so sweet. He kinda grows on you.” Carmen noticed his apparent smile “Too bad I can’t have both.”
Luke lowered his head as he muttered, “It’s impossible.”
“Excuse me?” she looked up while raising her glass of wine to take a sip.
“Nothing.” He shook his head “I was just thinking…did you have a crush on me in college?” he wanted to know more about her past.
Carmen smiled “Yes, it was obvious...but you wouldn't know." he shrugged and she quickly realized “Right, you were so involved in beating Ah Gam, like you even bothered to notice me.”
“Ah Gam?” Luke was confused but remembered he was the guy in the picture “Oh, the guy in the picture. I was meaning to ask you, it said we were best friends, all three of us. Was that true?”
“To a certain extent, yes.” She replied honestly.
“What does that suppose to mean?” Luke questioned.
Carmen shrugged her slender shoulders lightly “We were very competitive with each other. We’d take the same classes and have this friendly competition to be the number one student with the highest grade. Whether it was history, English, sports or martial arts. You were always the best, beating us by a lot of points. After the second loss, I gave up but maybe guys work differently. It made Ah Gam strive even harder, I swore he beat you pretty bad at the game of pool. You seem fine with the loss but he took it straight to his head.” Sighing sadly as she shook her head.
“Have you seen him lately?” Luke asked.
“He’s back? Last time I heard, he was going up to Beijing to find work as a martial arts teacher. I haven’t seen him in years.” Carmen tilted her head strangely “Did you see him?”
“I wouldn’t recognize him even if I did.” Luke reminded her.
“Right…I keep forgetting.” Carmen laughed “Anyways, I remembered that he was always so squirmy when I talked to him about my feelings for you. I’d figure he wasn't into that love stuff.”
“Maybe he liked you?” Luke suggested as he sipped his wine.
She placed the glass on the table and wrinkled her brows “You know what? I think you’re right. That would explain all the competition stuff…I use to cheer you during a martial arts competition but when he came up, I would chat with you. Wow…you just solved a mystery.”
“I did?” Luke asked with a grin “I did.” He nodded proudly.
“You’re so cute.” She laughed.
He smiled, showing off his dimpled cheek “Cute is good.”
She sat back in her seat and looked at him at a different angle “I like this Brad…I mean Luke. Gosh, it’s going to take a while for me to get use to it.” She laughed at herself.
He smiled weakly “Yeah…” Luke got home that night feeling his heavy conscience on his shoulder. His roommates were all up, watching TV and eating fresh homemade cheesecake. Doug sat at the corner of the couch with crossed arms while Jenna tempted him with a slice as she ate it messily.
Erin laughed with a shaking head “You are horrible.” She noticed Luke walking in “Hey, how was your date?”
Jenna looked up and quickly forgot about Doug “Oh, you made home in one piece. I thought maybe a building would fall on you or you’d get hit by a car or something.” She said casually.
“Don’t be so hard on the guy. I’m sure his conscience is killing him.” Ryan noticed the devastation on Luke’s face.
Luke slumped onto the couch next to Jenna “What am I going to do? She likes me, I mean my brother. She had this huge crush on him back in college and now she said she likes the new ‘Brad’.” He mimicked “I like her a lot…but it’s going to hurt her when she finds out that Brad is really dead and I’m just his stupid twin brother with the same face!!” he slapped himself roughly.
Jenna was sympathetic as she pressed her lips together thoughtfully. She got up and walked into the kitchen, when she returned with a plate of a slice “I was going to give Doug the last piece of cheesecake but you can have it.” She handed it to Luke.
He took it and smiled weakly while Doug widened his eyes “Thanks. I needed this.” He took a bite and quickly spat it out “What’s that sour taste??”
“Strawberries?” Jenna turned to Erin strangely and quickly snapped her head back and gasped, “You’re allergic to strawberries!”
“You tried to murder me!” Luke pointed as he placed the dish on the coffee table.
Jenna backed into Ryan as she giggled, “I’m sorry…I forgot…” Luke narrowed his eyes as he sprung on her, tickling her in the weak spot by the ribs.
Erin shook her head with a laugh as she prepared to get up when her eyes did a double take on Doug “Ahem!” she cleared her throat making Luke and Jenna stop as they turned in time to see Doug stuffing the entire left over piece into his mouth.
“Hey!!” Jenna pointed while Doug sat back with a satisfied grin, his cheeks puffy as he chomped away slowly “I hope you choke on it!!” she cursed.