Assistance Required

Dinner

TW homophobia, cursing, arguing, anxiety, transphobia

Sat Feb 6

(A/N before we begin, I couldn't really break this chapter up, so this is going to be a long one. Enjoy!)

The car ride to the restaurant was silent. No one was really sure what to say. What could they say? They walked into the restaurant together and looked for Logan. They noticed someone stand up and start walking towards them and recognized Logan.

"Hey!" Patton said.

"Uh- hi. So... I just found out they're also meeting a client here. They still want to talk to meet you, they just want to talk to their uh... friend as well. It's kind of complicated." Logan shifted nervously on his feet while he spoke and was constantly readjusting his clothing. "And um... uh... it turns out... that um... my parents know Hannah's."

Everyone stood in silence. Virgil really hoped he heard Logan wrong. He really hoped this was some kind of twisted joke or nightmare or something else. Everyone, especially Patton, was nervous enough about this, but to add Hannah? Whoever was in charge of their fate was an asshole.

Logan led them to the table and his parents stood up to greet them. Logan's mother was a short skinny woman with black hair held tightly in a neat bun. She wore a professional gray pencil skirt with a jacket over a button-up shirt. That with the look on her face made her seem quite intimidating. Logan's father was taller than Virgil with thinning dark hair. He was dressed a little more casual with slacks and a button-up shirt, but then Virgil noticed the jacket on the back of his chair. He too seemed quite intimidating. It was no wonder Logan felt he had no choice in his life.

"Hello, you must be Logan's friends," the man said as he reached out a hand, "I'm Richard and this is my wife, Jilpa."

"A pleasure to meet you," Thomas said calmly.

"Come, take a seat," Jilpa gestured to the empty chairs, "I hope you don't mind, these are the Reichard's. They're clients of ours and we've become good friends with them. They're going to join us for dinner."

"No, we don't mind," Patton said as he sat down.

"Do you often eat out with your clients?" Janus asked.

"Only on occasion. However, as Jilpa said, the Reichard's have become close friends of ours. We realized their daughter goes to your school and thought it'd be interesting to invite them."

Hannah smiled smugly from across the table and waved to them.

"I don't think I've met all of you yet, but I do enjoy meeting new faces."

"Oh, have you met before?" Richard asked.

"Logan and I were in the same class last semester. We did our midterm project together. I had seen his friends briefly during that time and I had a brief chat with one at another time. I don't quite remember who though."

The others looked at each other confused, but Virgil remembered that night. He had let his anger get the better of him. He shouldn't have engaged her. He should have walked away. Why did he even talk to her? She could ruin Logan's whole life with just one word. The worst part was that she knew how much power she had. He wished he could wipe that smug grin off her face. It was eating him alive.

"Hi!" Virgil jumped at the cheery voice that broke him from his thoughts. "My name is Alice and I'll be your server today! Can I start you off with some drinks?"

"You okay?" Roman asked quietly while everyone ordered their drinks.

"Yeah, I was just in my head. I'm fine."