Eliona's War 2: Veiled Healer

Chapter 19

"Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it." Seth carefully held a heavy tray in both hands—it was loaded with three meals and three drinks—and turned to push open the door with a shoulder. He met Tripp's questioning look with a small smile.

The man's concern was understandable, considering how clumsy Seth had been the past few days. But today, everything seemed to slide neatly into place. His coordination returned to normal and not once had he tripped over his own feet or knocked anything over. He was quite proud of that, actually.

"Okay," Tripp waved him on. "Table in the corner."

"Right." Seth pushed through the door, turning neatly on his toes, and headed for the table in question. It was the largest booth in the diner, able to seat six comfortably, though he'd sometimes seen no less than ten teens crammed into it. Today, however, there were only three.

As he approached, he could see that they were around his own age. All young men, one with thick black glasses, another with ginger hair and freckles, and a third with blond hair poking out from beneath the hood of his hoodie.

The one wearing glasses scowled at his two friends. "I told you, it wasn't my fault."

"Yeah? Then who was the one who kept getting caught in the mud?" The blonde one leaned forward over the table, brows raised.

"Hey! At least I wasn't constantly stabbed by bones, unlike some people!"

The blonde scoffed. "Gimme a break. Those are hard to dodge."

Seth stopped by their table, carefully shuffling the tray to one arm.

"Your order," he said, feeling a bit awkward for interrupting. He lifted the first plate, a corn beef hash that looked and smelled quite delicious.

"Awesome! That's one's mine!" Without any hesitation, the guy with freckles half stood, leaning across his friend to grab the plate from Seth's hands. "Thanks!"

That startled Seth and he nearly tipped the tray over. He stabilized it with his free hand, silently breathing in relief. He didn't want to ruin his record of zero accidents for the day.

The other two plates were Jake's burger special, so it was easy enough to set them down before the other two. He got a thanks from Glasses guy, while the blonde one ignored him to carry on the conversation.

"Y'know, the creepiest thing about that whole place is the fog. It's everywhere."

"Nah, the fog is cool," disagreed Freckles. "The worst thing is the Uncle Bob boss. That's the creepiest thing in the whole game."

Huh? Seth stilled, a class of coke in his free hand. They can't be talking about—

"Oh, that one's mine." Freckles leaned across the table again and snatched the coke from Seth's hand. He didn't seem to notice the scowl thrown his way by Blondie.

Seth blinked. "Ah. And the juice?"

"Mine," said Glasses quietly. He received the drink with another thanks.

After handing over the third drink, Seth left, but not without giving the group a considering look. They hadn't been talking about what he thought they were talking about, were they? Curiosity stirring, he made a mental note to check back with them in a few minutes. Maybe he could overhear some more of their conversation and find out for sure.

That idea made him a bit nervous, though. What if they caught him eavesdropping? Well, he was helping Tripp serve tables today. It was kind of was part of the job of making sure everyone had everything they needed.