Hell's Kitchen: The Truth Behind the Papa Louie Universe

Chapter Sixteen

"So, how have you guys been?" Orion asked.

It was New Year's Eve, late New Year's Eve, too, and they– Akari and Allan and Olivia– had finally managed their way up to Powder Point and to Orion's. Doom Brûlée was performing a concert in about an hour, located in the most thrilling party location Powder Point had to offer, the ballroom at the local high school.

Apparently, it was fairly nice, and it better have been. Cornelius Central was certainly the most extravagant and expensive-looking high school Akari'd ever driven past. It was pretty new, too, and hadn't even existed when she was in school. Plus, what kind of high school had a ballroom?

She still didn't really get why it wasn't at the amusement park, though. Wasn't that better suited?

"Eh, good," Allan answered for the three of them, and they settled down in the living room. It was awkwardly tense– Orion and Drakson were clearly in the middle of getting ready for their performance, and along with the whole barely-knowing-them thing? Plus, she assumed Drakson was taking a shower, what with the sound of rushing water, which was loud and distracting. And Akari wasn't certain whether Orion was still busy, and was trying to small-talk his way into escaping them. All in all, she was nervous, though that could have been normal.

Honestly, it could even be the after-effects of today's Closer. She'd worked a shift and they'd immediately hopped into the car to get to Orion's. It wasn't as if she had a lot of time to decompress.

"Drive?" Orion asked, nodding to the already-dark sky outside the window.

"Typical." Allan sighed. He had driven the whole way, and it was dark nearly the whole time. Akari'd offered, but he'd shot her down, given she'd worked all day, and Olivia... couldn't really drive. Not well, on highways, at least, and not in the dark. But Allan didn't like the dark either, and Akari could tell how anxious he'd been the whole time.

"At least it's not snowy."

Akari widened her eyes in agreement, and Orion laughed.

"Did your boss flip out on you for missing? The other day? Like you worried?" He said it jokingly, to Allan, but his tone confused Akari. If he was seriously asking, why was he phrasing it like that? And if he wasn't, well, surely he did know that Papa Louie was as formidable as he was pathetic. He'd been— was?— engaged to Carlo Romano, for crying out loud. Surely he was just trying his best to keep things light.

"Oh, you know, passive-aggressive as hell."

"Yeah," Akari added, "Did he do anything we could objectively say was punishment? Maybe not, but, you know."

"Mhm, gross."

"Excited to see you perform dude," Allan changed the subject, nudging him in the shoulder. There was a brief lull in noise as the water of the shower turned off, but it didn't last long, replaced by the noisiest hairdryer Akari had ever heard.

"Yeah! I'm nervous as hell, to be honest, the party's like, terribly planned and our manager has been like— oh, fuck, speak of the devil—" A text chime played over his phone, and his expression changed quickly to surprise.

"Shit!" Orion gazed at his phone, typing rapidly, "Drax! Get out here!"

Drakson shouted from the other room, but Akari couldn't make out what he said over the sound of the hairdryer. Orion raised his voice.

"Janana says they canceled– get out here!" Canceled?

"You're kidding me." Drakson rushed into the room, his hair still very much damp.

"Nope– 'they said they no longer wish for the party to be held...' uh... no, just, they straight up canceled it–-"

"Did they tell her why?" Drakson looked anxiously at the screen over Orion's shoulder.