Valley of the Dolls

(xxix) The Pogue Effect

"That's because we haven't eaten in days," Blair complained with a roll of her eyes, sounding almost whiny. They looked at her almost in amusement. "What? Sarah and I died and came back to life. We deserve a burger."

"No posh salad?" John B teased, earning an elbow in the gut. He laughed it off, pretending as though it hadn't hurt him. "We gotta get some food," he agreed, steering them towards the outdoor dining area of a lavish restaurant. "Follow my lead."

Blair snorted. "Because that always ends well."

As they passed by a man and a woman conversing with a waiter at their table, John B had clumsily bumped into him, making him spill the beverages on his tray all over the couple. Enraged, the man in the striped blue suit jumped from his seat, the need for confrontation burning in his dark eyes. "You idiot!" he exclaimed, spinning around to face John B.

"I'm so sorry," the Routledge boy apologized profusely, still gripping onto the bright red tanks.

The man shrugged his jacket off as Sarah gasped. "Oh my God. Your shoes!" she pointed out, attempting to distract the woman. Blair had watched the scene from a couple steps behind, scanning the table as fast as she could, planting on her face a look of pity as the man added: "This is a 1,700$ jacket!" He balled it up and waved it in front of John B's face, angry. In truth, Blair would be too. She cringed and looked at John B, who shot her a grimace.

"A hundred percent on me. I'm sorry, I bumped into him," John B took full accountability as Sarah continued conversing with the woman.

She seemed nice enough, telling her and Blair that it was fine as they approached the table and continued apologizing. Then, with a swift movement, Sarah grabbed the stack of bills they had kept on the table for the tab and subtly shoved it in Blair's back pocket.

"You're saying you're gonna pay for it?" the insufferable man continued.

"Do we look like we have that kind of money on us, sir?" Blair snapped, irritated. His eyes immediately widened and settled on her, cursing all the words he probably wouldn't be allowed to say to anyone else.

The waiter told them he'd talk to the manager about it. John B wrapped an arm around Blair's shoulders and glared at the man. "No need for name-calling, sir," Sarah shook her head, then walked off with her sister and boyfriend.

Once they were far enough the God-awful man wouldn't hear them, John B glanced between the sisters curiously. "Did you get it?"

"What are you talking about?" Sarah feigned ignorance.

He looked at her almost scandalously, like he was afraid that, for a second, she actually hadn't grabbed the money. Until Blair pulled the stack from her pocket and waved it in front of his face victoriously. "You mean this?"

"I'll sugar mama you," Sarah said. Blair remembered her sister telling her that she had made the same comment back in Chapel Hill, on that summer night when they had kissed for the first time. She found it amusing, truly. Sarah hooked her arm through her sister's as John B sighed in relief.

"I was hoping you'd say that," he smiled.

They then proceeded to satiate their stomachs with gas station hot dog, which John B had went inside to buy whilst Sarah and Blair were filling up the previously empty gas tanks. They talked about how hungry they were how many hot dogs they could eat in a second, laughing like schoolgirls behind the dispenser.

That is until they caught sight of the couple from the restaurant across the street, and Blair quickly pulled Sarah down who groaned as she did so. They hid, hoping the pair wouldn't see them from afar, for they probably had noticed the missing money and were looking for perpetuators that had stolen it. And it wasn't like they were so unrecognizable; they looked like they were straight out of a madhouse.