Isobel Asks The Internet

V - The Restaurant

I was lured into a trap by people I thought were my friends. Should I get revenge on them somehow?

Hey everyone!

So, the other day I got a text from my friend Brindie. She'd been a little cold with me ever since our friend Mavis died in a tragic accident at her pool party, and I hadn't really heard much from her since I had worked so hard to arrange the funeral. The text read:

"Hey Isobel hun, hope ur doing OK! Sorry I've been a bit quiet lately, I've been SO busy. Anyway I know we haven't really had a chance to talk since Mavis died but I was wondering if you wanted to get dinner with me and Deb? You can bring Heini too. Let me know and we can set a date so we can all catch up x".

I was SO shocked to get a text like this from Brindie after all that had happened. From the way they treated me at the funeral, it was clear that her and Debra blamed me for the death of Mavis. However, this text message made it seem like she wanted to clear the air and move past what had happened. I figured that this would remove some of the drama from my life, so I replied:

"Hey Brindie hun, hope ur doing OK! Me and Heini are THERE. Let's do Monday?"

Me and Heini let Brindie pick out the restaurant, because it was important for some people to think that they were making a tangible contribution. She chose an Italian place which was just on the outskirts of town, so we drove there. I tried to invite Nigella (who is SO kind and sweet, but also really aggressive and dangerous) along for the meal for protection should anything happen but she was teaching a water aerobics class that evening; Heini and I would have to fend for ourselves.

We walked in and Brindie and Debra were already at the table looking at the menus. They weren't even speaking to each other before we arrived which I thought was SO weird. Maybe Brindie also blamed Debra for the death of Mavis?

When the server came to take our orders I got SO suspicious. Brindie ordered the potato croquettes, which were the cheapest thing on the menu, however she is on a low-carb diet so I was SHOCKED that she would order this. Then Debra ordered the risotto with bread sauce, which was unbelievable; Debra ALWAYS gets ravioli. Despite my intuition telling me that something was gravely wrong, I decided to take it on good faith that they were making alternative dietary choices. I ordered the boiled crab with a side of carrot sticks and a dry martini. 

While we waited for our food to come we made conversation and I tried to make it seem like everything was fine so nobody got suspicious. While we were talking, Debra said "If only Mavis were here, she loved this restaurant", and Brindie nodded in agreement and replied "she always got the clam pancakes". I thought that it was deeply inappropriate to bring up Mavis when we were supposed to be moving on from the past, rather than desperately clinging on to it like sad freaks, but I let these remarks slide.

Our food came out and the waitress who was carrying the plates looked vaguely familiar, however she had long, curly blonde hair and I told myself that I didn't know anyone who had that hairstyle (except for Heini). As she got closer and I realised who it was I almost fell face-first into the table out of shock.

It was RHONDA.

I tried to stay calm. If Rhonda was at work then she couldn't do anything violent (like what happened at the book club meeting) otherwise she would get FIRED. However, I looked at Brindie and Debra and they had menacing looks on their faces, and I KNEW that this wasn't right. Furthermore, Rhonda was wearing a name-badge that said "Emma" (which isn't her name). It suddenly dawned on me that Rhonda did not work at this restaurant, and was wearng a blonde, curly wig so she could disguise herself as Emma. I didn't know where she got the name badge from; I assumed that Emma (whoever that is) was lying in a ditch somewhere given how dangerous Rhonda's behaviour had been up until this point. 

Heini and I got to our feet as quickly as we could (we were wearing heels) and I grabbed ALL of the cutlery that was on the table and threw it right at Rhonda's face, before telling Heini to run. We ran through the restaurant and through a door that we THOUGHT was the exit but actually turned out to be the kitchens. All of the chefs turned around and were like "wtf" but then we saw our friend Mallory who smiled and came over to us! She was like "hey guys!!!" and was about to let us try some of the dessert (pumpkin spice cheesecake) she was making. Before we could taste the cheesecake, Rhonda BURST through the door followed by Brindie and Debra.

This one chef wearing a stained apron stormed over to her and was like "Emma where the FUCK have you been and DO NOT let customers in here it is unhygienic this is SO unlike you". At this point I interrupted and told everyone that it wasn't the Emma that they all knew and worked with, but Rhonda in disguise. I RIPPED off her blonde wig, and everyone gasped SO loud. They were shocked. Mallory was like "omg it's that rude girl from the funeral".

This made Rhonda SO mad so she charged at Mallory, but Mallory is trained in self-defense so she tripped Rhonda who slammed on to the hard floor. Brindie and Debra looked so intimidated by the rest of the chefs so they just left. Mallory then turned to me and Heini and asked us what that was all about, and I had to explain to her that we had just been callously betrayed by Brindie and Debra because they blame us for the death of Mavis.

The servers at the restaurant packed all of the food into boxes for us so we could enjoy it in the safety of our own homes. We also phoned the police because it turned out that Emma hadn't turned up for her shift at the restaurant that day and it turns out that she's missing (omfg). 

What should we do about Brindie and Debra? Should we get revenge on them some how to teach them a lesson? How do we avoid being attacked by Rhonda?