Just From the Books

Flaming Arrival, 3

The cheering coming from the distance stopped the singer on stage who looked stunned for a minute but squealed right after and got off the stage to go towards the cheering. It got louder till a familiar ball of fire came in holding a silver trophy, a crowd followed. “Guess who got top three again!” He held up the trophy proudly for everyone to see making more cheering explode. “That’s Firey, right?” She asked BH from across the table. “The one and only! It’s your first day here and you already get to eat at the most popular-” “And expensive,” Tree added and BH continued “-restaurant here and get to meet Firey! Oooh, your names are similar! How cool!” Leafy laughed awkwardly as BH’s excited aura filled the diner. “Hello again! Two waters and a wine bottle right?” The waiter came back and spoke with excitement. Tree nodded and the waiter set everything up and left after pouring Leafy’s glass.

She looked at it and grabbed the glass but took her hand back, unknowing what to do. “Have you ever drank wine before?” Tree said, giving a side eye. “No, that's why I ordered it, to try it.” She crossed her arms until looking over and saw Firey standing on the stage with a mic as mostly the whole restaurant surrounded him. “Of course second place can’t beat first but hey, you won’t see me complaining! Gotta admit though, the challenges were twice as hard and the competitors worked even harder, but, second place is still one of the best and the best are for the ones who are meant for it.” Everyone cheered besides Leafy, that last part sounded, icky, to her. “As a celebration I'm paying for everyone's meals! Go overboard for all I care as long as you enjoy yourselves!” If you were outside the cheering from inside would burst your eardrums.

She covered her ears and once the huge bang of cheering was over she was hearing a tight whistle. “I need a drink…” She reached and grabbed the glass, completely forgetting that it was wine and took a long sip. A strong flavor of grape juice filled her throat but she didn’t mind it and kept drinking. “Leafy!” Tree yelled quietly, grabbing the glass out of her hand. She felt dazed but was still intact. “Sorry.” The girl muttered and looked up at Tree. He let out a sigh and rested the glass on the table. “Let’s just wait for Saw to come back so we can order our food.” They faced away from each other. “Father like daughter.” BH joked while laughing to himself. Tree looked back at Leafy who still faced away from him. “Sorry for yelling at you.” Leafy looked back at him and smiled till tackling him with a hug. He pushed her desperately but gave in and let her hug him with almost all force. Biscuit hopped off his head making it more bearable but Biscuit did end up drinking out of his water. “Alright, you had your time.” She finally got off and at just the right time the waiter, aka Saw, came back. Have you decided on a dish or do you need more time?” Turns out BH was the only one who actually read the menu, “I'll just have a classic Gelatin’s Style Steak.” She wrote that down, “What about you two?” Tree thought for a moment before replying, “Surprise me.” Saw also wrote that down, “And what about you?” “What Black Hole is getting, I suppose.” She wrote the last order down and left with a smile. They sat there in silence, maybe the people cheering would be a good thing right now.

Biscuit finished off the water and flopped on his side on the table. “Awe~!” Leafy cooed, reaching her hand and started rubbing his tummy, “For a cat it's strange for him to like belly rubs.” Tree mentioned while watching the phenomenon. “I guess he’s different from most cats.” Biscuit purred happily and quickly fell asleep on the table. Leafy’s heart warmed up as she stared at the peaceful sleeping cat and seemed to be so distracted that BH and Tree couldn’t help but notice. “Welp, we’re not getting the cat off the table anytime soon.” Tree complained. “And that’s bad because?” “We won’t have room to put the food!” BH let out a chuckle as Tree pouted his ass off and Leafy just sat there watching Biscuit as if she was hypnotized. After a long wait their food came out and they ate. When leaving after getting their bill covered from Firey the sun was down. “Well then, assuming you don’t have a home, I suppose you can live with me since Black Hole doesn’t have another bedroom. Also because the radiation will surely give you a huge headache when you’re asleep.” They went their separate ways with Leafy and Biscuit, who was on his head again when they got their meals, following Tree.