They Said/We Said

The Food Court

The Food Court

"You really should be kinder to the people who handle your food, Dear," Corey warned.

Clara's arms were crossed over her chest. "It's an open kitchen, Corey. What are they going to do with the whole mall watching?"

Corey flinched at the use of his name with that tone of voice. It meant that Clara was really pissed off.

"When I order a fruit smoothie, the bare minimum is that it be ripe fruit. If I wanted bitter, I'd have ordered pomegranate."

"That girl was practically in tears," he pleaded. When she shot him a venomous look, Corey sighed. "The Snake Woman strikes again."

"I won't be held responsible for other people's actions," Clara practically snapped. "I'm not paying for a remake simply because her boss is too cheap to buy the proper ingredients in the first place and if she'd rather eat the cost than tell him off and find a better job, that's her business."

Corey rolled his eyes. "Well, you're not wrong. But I still feel sorry for the poor girl."

Clara stuck her nose in the air. "Thank you for acknowledging that much at least." She turned to say something else to him when her expression suddenly hardened again. "Oh God, it's those two."

Turning his head as well, Corey snorted. "The love birds."

"Two bodies and one pea brain between them," Corey could practically hear the eye roll in her voice.

He was about to suggest they leave and avoid the drama when a brilliant idea came to him suddenly. A wicked smile lifted the corner's of Corey's lips.

"What?" Clara raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"I have an idea," Corey practically sang.

. . . . .

Hannah was nibbling at her chicken breast salad and Sebastian was eating a black bean burger with non-dairy cheese at the aesthetically pleasing, if impractically shaped round food court tables that were just big enough for two, but awkward to push together if you were with a group of three or more.

"Oh look, Dear, they're trying to make up for their bad food choices on the weekends," the evil voice of Corey said from behind Sebastian's back.

"Yeah. All those pesticides, artificial chemicals and carbs aren't going to be flushed out by one healthy meal. Look at their skin and hair- you can tell it's full of bad stuff," the equally evil voice of Clara piped in.

"Ignore them," Hanna hissed.

She made a point of raising a forkful of food to her mouth and chomping it as if to say, 'I am doing a performative interpretation of what I will do to your face if you don't shut the f up.'

Sebastian couldn't abide doing nothing.

"You bitches got nothing better to do other than pester real human beings while they're eating? There's a sale at the Cher's, maybe you can get matching granny nighties there."

"Like you would know from fashion," Corey sneered, looking Sebastian up and down with a gleam in his eye.

Sebastian slowly got up, realizing he was holding his biodegradable cup of water almost too hard in his hand, the contents nearly spilling out. He looked from it to Corey.

Corey, recognizing the situation, took a step back.

. . . . .

"Hey, you guys, we don't want any trouble here," a round man in a beige shirt and brown pants- eerily similar in color to Sebastian's outfit- and his similarly dressed sidekick, this one thin and pimply-faced, said, both holding walkie-talkies at the ready as if it would save them from a bitch fight.