Chapter Three – A Night On The Town
The newcomer was a tall redhead, who glanced back at Taylor after the waiter had left.
"Do you mind if we sit here?" He inquired, to which Taylor, who was staring with wide eyes, bit her lip to suppress her excitement.
"...n-no, of course, be my guest." Taylor smiled nervously as the two men sat at the table with them.
Of course she recognized them, Edward Nigma and Jonathan Crane, how could she not? Katrina and her only talked about them all the time.
They followed their escapades with the police and knew all about them.
Kindred spirits, Taylor might say.
"So, who might you lovely ladies be?" Edward inquired, his eyes taking in the stunning beauty in green and her rather depressed looking friend, who hadn't even looked up at them.
"My name is Taylor Dundes, and this is my best friend, Katrina Irving." Taylor introduced, her cheeks flushing though her voice was overcome with excitement. Katrina waved a hand tiredly, not bothering to look up at the newcomers.
The waiter returned, placing the whiskey down in front of Katrina, who began to drink greedily, and then the champagne in front of Taylor.
The other two drinks were placed in front of Edward and Jonathan, who took the champagne and whiskey respectively. Taylor couldn't help but become a bit giddy when she realized that her and the Riddler enjoyed the same drink.
She knew Katrina would be flustered if she would only pay attention! One would think that she'd be able to see the men, but, they had sat down on her left, so that was a no go.
Taylor was about to attempt to get Katrina to look up, when Edward spoke up once more.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you both, we're-"
"Edward Nigma and Jonathan Crane, yes we know." Taylor beamed, while Katrina choked slightly on her whiskey, looking up with a hand pressed to her chest, seeing the boys for the first time.
Taylor couldn't help but laugh at her, earning a glare.
"Sorry, Katrina, I was just waiting for you to stop brooding and look up, but, I got your attention anyways." Taylor snickered, watching her friend's cheeks heat up slightly, before she winced and rubbed her head.
Concern flashed across Taylor's face but she pushed it away, knowing very well that if Katrina wanted her help she would tell her.
"So what brings you two lovely ladies to Shaugnessy's?" Edward inquired, taking a sip of his champagne as Taylor flushed at the compliment. Edward, of course, noticed this, and felt a small smirk cross his lips.
"Well, Katrina decided that I had been spending too much time playing... uh," Taylor blushed and fiddled with a piece of her hair. "Playing video games, and s-said we should get out of the house."
"You mean my video game?" The Riddler raised an eyebrow, and Taylor's eyes widened.
"I... h-how did you know?" Taylor questioned, looking over at Katrina who was watching quietly over the rim of her glass of whiskey.
"When you hacked into my site it alerted me and gave me permissions to your computer camera to see who had been intelligent enough to do it. I must give you credit, my site is pretty impossible to hack into."
Taylor and Katrina stared at Edward with wide eyes. Jonathan was watching tentatively, knowing that telling these girls that information probably wouldn't end well.
"So... y-you were the reason my webcam was always on?" Taylor inquired, to which Edward smirked.
"Yes, of course, as I said-"
Edward was cut off as Katrina pushed her chair back, standing up and splashing her half glass of whiskey into Edward's face. Taylor let out a yelp of surprise as both she and Jonathan moved out of the splash zone.
"Filthy pervert." The brunette snarled, pushing her glasses up her face. Jonathan stared at her, noticing the scar that ran across her left pupil.
"Katrina!" Taylor exclaimed, watching as her friend stormed off. The Master of Fear couldn't help but watch as she stormed off. She was stunning, brunette curls cascading down her back. The tight backless black dress that reached her mid thighs.
"Jonathan," Edward's voice snapped Jonathan out of his trance and he turned to look at the whiskey covered riddle master. "What did I do?"
"Let me take a wild guess," Jonathan leaned back on his chair. "You admitted to two young women that you had been watching them over a webcam for a number of weeks. But that probably has no relation to why you're covered in whiskey."
Taylor giggled at Jonathan's words before pushing her chair back and darting after her friend.
"Hey, wait!" Edward called after her, moving to stand up, though Jonathan placed a hand on his shoulder and held him in his seat.
"I'd really advise against it, Edward. I feel like that's the kind of girl who'd punch you in the face."
"I don't care," Edward pushed his hand away and stood up, heading for the door. "I want to talk to Taylor and that other girl dragged her off. This was not how the plan was supposed to go!"
Jonathan sighed in annoyance and stood up, following after his persistent friend while he silently formulated a plan in his head.
When they exited through the back entrance after the girls, they found them bickering.
"Katrina, relax, no harm has been done!"
"You're just saying that because he complimented you! He also watched us change clothes this morning! It's disgusting!"
"I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose, we just happened to change in front of the camera!"
"She's right, we didn't watch on purpose," Edward tried to calm the brunette's anger. "We were merely watching Taylor play the maze when you started undressing."
"Stay out of this." Katrina snarled, eyes ablaze with anger.
Let me out, let me hurt the filthy pervert, he's going to corrupt Taylor, he's going to take her away from you, the voice babbled in Katrina's head, causing her to wince, but she kept her gaze locked on the two men.
Edward moved to approach them, but, Jonathan held him back.
"Let me handle her." Jonathan muttered quietly, and Edward frowned but stood still, allowing Jonathan to walk around Edward and past Taylor, approaching Katrina.
The brunette eyed him warily, but she seemed to relax as he approached her, gently placing a hand on her arm in what appeared to be a comforting way. The two redheads knew this was going to work when Katrina's cheeks flushed ever so slightly.
"I must apologize for my friend," Jonathan began, peering over his glasses at her, blue meeting blue. "He is very intelligent, he just often doesn't know when to stop."
Katrina swallowed nervously, looking over at Edward and Taylor. The two couldn't hear what Jonathan was mumbling to Katrina, but, they were praying that it soothed the girl's anger.
"He really doesn't mean any harm. I think he was just a little smitten with your friend. Perhaps you'd be able to give him another chance?"
The dark haired girl was quiet for a minute, before she slowly nodded her head.
"Alright, I suppose. If he hurts Taylor, it will be the last thing he does." Katrina threatened, and Jonathan nodded his head in understanding before watching the girl approach her friend, eyes watching Edward uneasily.
"I think we'd best be on our way..." Taylor trailed off, looking at her friend who nodded and turned, eager to leave.
Jonathan and Edward nodded, beginning to walk down the alley to leave. When Jonathan passed Katrina, he stopped to speak quietly to her.
"Perhaps we could get coffee sometime?"
The blush and smile gave Jonathan his answer, and the two men left without another word.
Once they were gone, Katrina looked at the ground, realizing that she should probably be a bit ashamed of her actions. Taylor ignored this and linked her arm with her friend, before dragging her down the alley in the direction of their home.
The walk was quiet, mainly because Katrina was still mulling over her actions and Taylor was trying not to limp that badly. Despite the silence, they were both unaware that they were being followed.
"Honestly Edward," Jonathan whispered harshly to his friend. "Don't you think we've caused them enough trouble? I just only convinced her to give you another chance, you're going to blow it."
"Shut up, Jonathan, I know what I'm doing. Why is she limping?" Edward inquired, glancing back at Jonathan who shook his head in annoyance.
"Aren't you the infamous Edward Nigma? Don't you already know everything?"
Edward normally would have gotten angry at his friend's words, but he was distracted by the two girls entering a small, somewhat run down house in the Narrows, which had been quite a walk. Edward frowned and stopped walking, watching the house.
"There. You know where they live. Now can we go home, please?" Jonathan requested moodily, and Edward groaned before nodding his head.
The two men turned to leave, not knowing that Katrina was watching them through the curtain.
Shaking her head, she gritted her teeth and turned away from the attic window, looking over at Taylor who had her right leg propped up on a box she had pulled over to place beside the bed.
"You really should have worn your brace. Or at least brought your cane with you." Katrina scolded, shaking her head as Taylor rolled her eyes and pulled off her dress, changing into a night shirt.
"I'm fine, Katrina. You know I hate wearing that thing. Besides it wasn't that bad this morning."
Katrina gave her friend a 'whatever you say' sort of look, before changing into her nightwear and climbing into bed beside her friend. Before she settled down, she peeked out the window above the bed once more.
She had a bad feeling that things were going to start changing... and she wasn't sure if it was going to be a good change.