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'Oh please, Douxie isn't much competition'
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It was getting dark as the group and I walked through the street to our chosen restaurant. Claire and I had been trying to keep conversation going to make the walk less awkward and I think we succeeded (for the most part).
"Mary texted me like 'we're back together!' Like can you believe that girl!" Darci explains with wide eyes.
"Tight jeans hank? Again?" Claire asks as she walks next to Darci and I at the front as the boys all walked behind us.
"I thought she was over him?" I ask with raised eyebrows as Darci dramatically shrugs her shoulders.
"Who even knows with that girl!" Darci laughs before we finally make it to the restaurant.
"A beautiful night" Toby suddenly says as he pulls out a chair dramatically for Darci. "Just like my beautiful girl"
"Toby" Darci laughs as they both start to giggle in their seats.
I share a look with Claire as we both secretly gag.
"Here you are Claire" Todd says with a charming smile as he pulls out a chair for the girl.
"Oh. Thanks" Claire says awkwardly as she takes a seat, pushing herself in as Todd had forgotten and had already taken a seat.
I smile in amusement as I go to take my seat, instead falling to the ground roughly as I look behind me to find Jim had pulled out my chair.
"Seriously?" I groan as I go to stand up but Jim had already grabbed my arms and hauled me up nervously.
"Oh-oh uh sorry!" Jim says as he awkwardly sits me in my chair as I give Claire a look.
I continue to sit far away from the table, expecting Jim to push me in as I turn to him with a raised eyebrow.
"Wow, thanks Jim" I laugh with a forced smile as I scooch my own chair closer to the table like Claire.
"I-oh Merlin! Sorry" Jim cringes as he quickly opens a menu and hides his face behind it.
The silence after made me want to curl in a ball and cry so I awkwardly open the menu after clearing my throat before I look to Toby.
"So, any recommendations Toby?" I ask as the boys eyes light up at the question.
"Well, I heard the duck confit is stellar. I think I'll get that" Toby says with a nod.
"Same! O-M-G, when I went to Paris with the fam, the duck was amazing" Darci explains as her and Toby lean closer towards eachother.
"Ah, Paree! Zee city of love" Toby smirks as he leans closer to Darci with a smirk. "Tell me more?"
"Paris sounds so nice" Claire comments with a smile. "I've only been to Mexico to visit my abuelita"
"Hey, I've been of Mexico too" Todd comments as he smiles at the thought of the place. "The sights are beautiful there, aren't they?"
"Oh totally! I miss it there" Claire says as they smile at eachother before Claire awkwardly looks away and sends me an alarmed look to keep talking.
"Mexico and Paris sound great. Sadly, my mums the one who travels a lot while I stay at home all the time" I say with a shrug as Claire nods her head for me to keep talking. "Although I have been to Spain once"
"has estado en españa?" Jim asks in Spanish before groaning suddenly as Toby not so subtly kicks his leg under the table. "I-I mean uh, your hair looks nice"
"It looks the same as usual" I comment as I touch my hair confused.
"Yes! So it always looks nice" Jim says with an awkward smile before ducking his head behind the menu again, missing the smile that forms on my face.
Another silence erupted around the table after that as we all awkwardly stare at our menus before Darci suddenly clears her throat.
"Ahem. So, Claire, you saw the first Danger House, right?" Darci asks as Claire just shakes her head.
"I haven't" Claire says as Darci gasps before looking towards me.
"Y/n, please tell me you've seen it" Darci begs as I just shake my head at the girl.
"OMG, where do I even start!" Darci says before she starts to talk about the lore of the first movie, Todd joining in the conversation here and there as he's seen it as well.
I was actually enjoying the conversation before the voice of our waiter got my attention. I look up to find Douxie with a notepad and a pen in his hand, a friendly smile on his face.
"Gentlemen, ladies, what can I get for you today?" Douxie, our waiter, asks before he finally catches my eyes as his eyes do a double take on me.
"Oh, Y/n, been awhile. How've you been?" Douxie asks as a smile appears on my face, too distracted to hear the scoff coming from Jim.
"Oh, pretty good, being the manager of Claire and Darci's band is very tiring though" I laugh as Douxie looks towards Claire and Darci.
"You've been rehearsing for the Battle of the Bands I'm assuming?" Douxie asks as Claire and Darci excitedly nod their heads.
"Yep! Feeling pretty good about our chances" Claire smirks as Darci and I chuckle.
"Don't fraternise with the competition guys" Darci laughs as I playfully roll my eyes.
"Oh please, Douxie isn't much competition" I smirk as Douxie dramatically gasps.
"How dare you, you've gotten mean since we last talked" Douxie laughs as I smile with a shrug of my shoulders, not seeing the glare on Jim's face as he watches our conversation.
"Okay, level with me" Darci says seriously as she looks towards the menu. "The duck confit, are duck feet really that good?"
I grimace at the thought of eating duck feet as I look to the menu to see where it is, only to find all the words blurring together. I quickly look up from the menu before looking back down to it to find the words still all blurred, but my vision isn't blurry for anything else.
I quickly rub my eyes and focus back on the conversation, assuming that I'm just tired after my weird...dream...last night.
I then jump as Jim abruptly stands up and hands Douxie the menu with a mean glare on his face.
"Steaks all around. Thank you, Deuce" Jim grumbles before he sits back down.
"An excellent choice" Douxie says, not paying any mind to Jim's rude behaviour. "Now, how would you like your steak prepared?"
"Well done" I say with a smile.
"Well done" Jim grumbles with narrowed eyes at Douxie.
"Well done?" Toby asks Darci as the girl nods with a happy smile.
"Yeah, what's he's having" Darci smiles.
"How do you want it Claire?" Todd asks with a charming smile.
Suddenly Claire lashed out with a growl at Douxie, her voice sounding unlike her own as we all jump.
"Raw! Dripping with blood!" Claire growls before gasping and covering her mouth.
An awkward silence follows Claire's words as the girl looks down at her plate in embarrassment.
"That sounds delicious Claire!" I quickly say as I look to Douxie with a large fake smile. "I'll also have that..."
I catch Claire's eyes as she gives me a thankful look as I just slightly nod my head.
"As the lady's wish" Douxie mumbles with a stunned face as he quickly writes it down. "Six steaks...two raw dripping with blood..."
I watch Douxie walk away with a grimace as he probably thinks there's something mentally wrong with us.
He probably thinks we're cannibals or something.
Claire then quickly stands up from her seat with a worried look on her face as she looks to Darci and I.
"Uh, guys...bathroom?" Claire mumbles in a constricted voice as Darci and I quickly nod our heads and stand up from our seats to follow the girl.
We don't make it very far before Darci and I stop short at a small clunk. We turn to find Toby collapsed on the table with a pained look on his face.
"TP! Are you okay? What happened?" Darci asks worriedly as she rushes to Toby's side. "Claire, Y/n, go on without me"
We nod our heads and make our way to the bathroom, but I stop short as my phone suddenly goes off.
"Umm, I'll be right with you Claire" I say with a sorry look on my face as the girl just nods and rushes to the bathroom.
I sigh and quickly press accept to the call, not even taking notice of the unknown number.
"Hello?" I mumble into the phone as I quickly find an empty broom cupboard in the restaurant.
I listen closely as all I hear is static coming from the other end of the phone call. My annoyance rises as I start to hear low breathing coming from the phone call.
"Is this a prank call?" I ask as I lift my hand up and rub it around the wall as I attempt to find the light switch.
When I finally feel the light switch, I switch it on before letting out a loud scream as I look at a mirror that wasn't in the room before.
I was looking at a dark version of myself again, the black ooze dripping down my eyes and nose with a deranged smile spread across my face.
The person on the phone call suddenly hangs up on me as I feel a spark come from my phone as I yelp and drop it to the floor.
I quickly look back to the mirror to find the dark me gone and instead just normal me looking back at myself.
I breathe heavily as I attempt to lower my heart rate as I bend down and reach for my phone off the ground.
A sudden pain starts to appear in my chest as I grunt. I left my bag at the table that has my Panadol in it, I just need to go get it.
I quickly leave the broom cupboard and make my way back to the table to find Todd, Toby and Jim back where I left them. I notice Darci isn't there which means she must've caught up with Claire.
"Hey, you alright?" Jim asks me worriedly as he notices the panicked look on my face.
"Fine" I mumble as I continue to breath quite heavily.
I quickly reach into my bag and grab some Panadol, swallowing it quickly without the water.
"Ooo, you could've borrowed my water you know?" Toby grimaces, aways hating the thought of swallowing pills without water.
"I'm fine, but thanks Toby" I mumble as I quickly sit down in my seat.
"You look a bit freaked out, you sure your alright?" Jim asks as I just nod my head at the boy, a small smile appearing on my face as I look at him.
"I'm fine Jim, thanks though" I say as I reach my hand out and grab onto his, giving it a small squeeze before letting go.
It was then that I saw Claire and Darci returning from the bathroom, both of them taking their seats at the table.
"So, um, did we miss anything?" Darci asks as she shuffles in her seat nervously.
"No" Todd says blankly as he swirls his straw around in his glass.
"So, what did you talk about in the bathroom? Did you talk about us? Are we still good?" Toby asks nervously as I cant help but roll my eyes, immediately regretting it as I start to get another headache.
"Yeah, wait, what? I was gone for, like, negative two seconds" Darci explains with a confused look on her face.
"Felt longer...felt a lot longer" Toby nervously laughs.
"Are you feeling better Claire?" I ask the girl, a confused look on my face as she stares at Jim with a creepy smirk on her face.
"I feel like a whole new girl" Claire smirks in Jim's direction, the boy nervously shuffling his chair closer to mine.
We all watch stunned as Claire reaches her hand out and grabs for a knife, swishing it through the air like she wants to stab Jim before pulling back.
It was almost like she was having a battle within herself?
I gasp and shuffle back in my seat as the knife goes flying out of her hands, twirling around in the air before landing right next to Todd's hand as the boy yells out.
"Oops! Butterfingers" Claire smirks with a devilish giggle.
"Are you sure your feeling alright? Your voice sounds...weird" I say nervously.
Claire then starts to obnoxiously cough and clear her throat before looking at me with a creepy grin on her face.
"Oh, I think my cold has returned. But not to worry" Claire chuckles as she continues to smirk at Jim.
"Not to worry..." Jim nervously laughs before he leans towards me. "Is Claire acting weird?"
"Your only just noticing?" I mumble back as the boy helplessly shrugs his shoulders. "Maybe she's just nervous about the date, I mean Todd does seem to be quite a...character"
We both then look towards Todd who seems to be picking out a piece of food from his teeth while looking at his reflection in the glass.
"Yeah...probably that" Jim nods before our conversation is cut off by Douxie coming back with food.
"Here we are. Six steaks, rare" Douxie says before looking to Claire with a friendly smile. "But I'd love to hear your band sometime"
"Be gone, servant" Claire says blankly as she holds out a hand to shoo him away.
"Claire" I hiss with wide eyes.
I'm usually the rude one out of the two of us, why is she taking my job!
"Oh" Douxie says with wide eyes. "My apologises"
"Well you heard her, and can you refill my glass of water while your at it" Todd asks as he shoves his glass into Douxies hands.
Douxie stands there stunned for a few seconds before he inevitably leaves.
"So, um...should we eat?" Darci asks in a nervous tone.
"Yes, let's do that" I agree as I quickly grab my fork and knife.
I go to cut my steak before jumping back as Claire lets out an animalistic growl as she dives head first into the steak, eating it all before I can even blink.
It was silent before the clattering of a bone falling onto Claire's plate, leaving an awkward silence in the group as we all stare at the girl complexed.
This night just keeps getting weirder.
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Authors note:
Sorry if Todd didn't seem like he has much of a personality, it's only because he doesn't. He's just there for plot purposes lmfao
No idea where I'm going with the plot but I'm assuming I'll figure it out along the way
Also I don't know if there will be another chapter before Christmas, so merry Christmas to everyone! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you enjoy your holidays x
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!