[NEW] Eeveelution Café

[B2] Chapter 8: Slice Of Success (1)

"Waitwaitwait...so everybody's just pressuring these two? Especially Bonfire?"
That same evening dinner, Lavender and Willow had told the rest about their theory of the reasoning behind the mass-purchases.
"Well, there hasn't been any losses of stocks or profit," Volt pointed out. "Me and Bonfire did a quick overview."
"Don't we have the files of everything?" Willow blinked, making eye contact with a suddenly-embarrassed Lavender. "Oh. Uh...yeah, I get it...um..."
"Wait, so why would they do all of that? And why do they think that'll work anyway?" Dewdrop questioned.
Lavender and Willow weren't able to give a response that sounded reasonable, so they stayed silent. Cinnamon, wondering what they were talking about, nudged Melody and hoped that she would tell her something. The Sylveon, howveer, extended a ribbon and placed it gently on Cinnamon's head, completely ignoring the Eevee's visible and obvious confusion.
"Well, it's just a theory that me and Willow came up with, nothing else." the Espeon finally said before getting up with her empty plate. "Probably doesn't make sense anyways."
"Lav-" Volt stared at his now partially-gloomy girlfriend as she dragged herself upstairs.
"Simp." Dewdrop coughed jokingly, trying to loosen up the mood, but Volt didn't even bother looking at his little sister.
Disappointed, the Vaporeon went quiet again, taking another bite from her food. Volt was still looking at the staircase, even if Lavender had already went into her room upstairs.
"Dude, just talk to her later." Moonshade put his paw on Volt's shoulder with a sigh. "She doesn't hold grudges against you or anyone here."
Although Volt didn't reply to the Umbreon, he turned around and continued eating quietly. The entire table was awkward, but this time no one bothered to break the weird silence.

"Who's there?" Lavender was staring at the light that was attached on the ceiling, her vision blurred on the bulb.
"Ven, it's me." Volt, her boyfriend, stood outside of her door, still worried because of the situation from before.
Lavender looked down and towards the door, but she didn't know what to say at the moment. However, Volt thought that she was still mad about before.
"Look, Vennie, I'm really sorry about what happened a while ago."
"Come in." Lavender managed to force the two words out, but they came out in a sarcastic and annoyed tone. Shoot.
Volt, still a bit afraid of what's going to happen next, gently pushed open the door. Lavender sat up straight before moving backwards and leaning against the wall, trying to make her eyes as bright and "forgiving" as possible. The Jolteon, still unsure, stopped after taking a few steps and stood where he was.
"Since when'd you give me a new nickname?" the Espeon asked, trying to sound as chill as possible.
"Uh...thought it sounded cute. Like you." Volt blushed a little.
The Espeon blinked, her brain not processing what he said fast enough. "Huh?"
"You're cute." he looked away, his face almost as red as Bonfire.
"What?" Lavender burst out laughing. "That's so random!"
"Wait...that was cringe..." Volt was too embarrassed to look at his girlfriend. "My bad..."
Lavender calmed down a little. "Eh, we're both cringe, so it's perfectly fine! Why do you think I'm mad at you?"
The atmosphere instantly became tense. Volt's blush and embarrassment faded in the blink of an eye, and Lavender was looking dead into his amethyst eyes.
"Ahaha...you're pretty quick with changing topics, eh?" the Jolteon started pacing around her room, trying to figure out what she was implying (she's not implying anything other than the actual meaning).
Lavender didn't respond, and Volt was at a loss for words from panic.
"Uuhh..."
"It's fine," the Espeon looked away, realizing that she was messing things up. "Don't worry, I was just wondering."
"No, Ven, don't worry about it...I uh..."
"Nono, Volt, you don't have to answer it." Lavender meant to reassure him, but Volt took it as sarcasm under the pressure.
"No!...Uhm...I don't know, okay? I thought my little sister offended you because you left right after she questioned your theory." Volt managed to get the right words out.
Lavender was silent for a few seconds. "Seriously?"
I'mcookedI'mcookedI'mcooked-
"Volt, you know I'm not like that, I'm pretty open for criticism." Lavender sighed. "Trust me, you can't mess up with me that much. Did Moon tell you that I'm really strict?"
"Eh, maybe just...I uh..."
The Espeon frowned a little. "It's fine, just tell me."
"Yeah..." Volt sat down next to Lavender and put his paw on hers. "Maybe I'm just as delusional as you after all."
"HEYY!"

"You know, something has been off for them." 
"Took you this long to realize?"
"Well, c'mon, you agreed to this. This is just a mere advantage for us. Like always."
"Are they sided with Fortune Teller?" 
"Yeah, sadly. Everyone knows that Tyche is Gladiator's sister, so they'd always be a target no matter what."
"Everyone? I thought you conducted background research on them."
"Yeah, I even got that report out."
"Then you'd know that they wouldn't be a part of the 'everyone' you're talking about! Are you okay in the head?"
"..."
"Oh my days...did you get them to write it for you instead?"
"Yes...look, I'm sorry."
"Like I said, we're business rivals. If we have a bad relationship with the Mayor, we'd naturally drag everyone that will do us harm down with us. Dirty trick."
"So, are we changing plans?"
"...What do you think?"
"Well...I know that one of the employees are trying to get them promoted online...just like us...how original..."
"Psh, marketing online is a common universal strategy, everyone knows that."
"Uh-huh, so now what?"
"We're going to let them bask in the suspicious conditions before we rain down chaos."
"Aaand...what's the chaos again?"
"Take a walk outside. And take a look at the café while you do."
"Ugh, do I really? Can you at least come along?"
"Why are you so clingy? Just a quick spin around the building, order anything to your liking and come back."
"Can you at least come alonggg?"
"No."
"Pleaseeee?"
"Nuh-uh."
"Pleaseeeeee??"
"I said n-"
"Pleaseeeeeeeee???"
"You know what, fine, I'll go with you. I hate that whiny voice of yours."
"Yayay!"
"And I hate when you say something stupid like that."
"Oh."
"And that dumb look of yours."
"Well...ha...um...I'm glad that you feel so strongly about it!"
"Uh-huh."
"Uh-huh! Let's goo~!"
"The things I do for you..."
"With!"
"Whatever."

"Yeah, we're definitely worrying about the wrong things. Notice how we've been increasing in profit by every hour? We'd have enough to pay off everything if the rate steadies next week!"
A week later, Lavender and Willow were reading over some printed out files after dinner. Both pairs of eyes lit up like the decoration stars of a children's play as they scanned each and every word.
"This is amazing." Moonshade leaned back on the couch a little while he stared into space. 
"Why do I sense a hint of disappointment?" Lavender suddenly turned to her brother, her voice hardening with her look.
"No, I'm not disappointed. Just tired of doing basically nothing every day and watching you guys at least be able to do something to help out." Moonshade answered blankly, not even turning to look at his sister.
"Seriously? Is that an actual excuse?" the Espeon scoffed. "Whatever. I'm going to go sleep."
Volt's eyes widened after hearing the last phrase, remembering what had happened the last time Lavender went upstairs upset. "Hey, Ven-" 
"Volt, can you come with?" 
"Wha-"
"Oooh!" Dewdrop grinned with Melody, the Sylveon's smile coming off as more forced and awkward. Volt acknowledged that and followed his girlfriend upstairs quietly.
"Well, they just abandoned us. Great." Snowbelle shifted next to Willow. 
"They're in love, obviously they'd ditch us for each other in a heartbeat." Bonfire shrugged. 
Dewdrop held back a laugh. "Imagine if they broke up somehow."
The room went quiet. Melody whacked the Vaporeon as she realized what she had just said. 
"Nonono, that's not what I mean. Like, they're so lovey-dovey that I find it hard for them to even think about breaking up in the first place. Like-"
"We know, it's fine." 
Dewdrop sighed. "Okay...whew! So...now what?"
"What do you mean 'now what'?" Bonfire narrowed his eyes. 
"Well...uh...like what Lavender said before ditching us," Willow coughed. "We can pay off everything owed and even be able to pay off all the fees used to buy this."
"Great, but this seems a little...fishy." Melody raised an eyebrow with some hints of objection. 
"Fishy how? This is AMAZING!" Dewdrop put a paw on her best friend's shoulder. "Don't you see? We're finally blowing up in this town! Mr. Gladiator sure did us a big favor!"
"Mm..hm..." the Sylveon's suspicion lowered. "Well...uh...anything else that needs to be announced?"
Willow rummaged through the files and shook her head after a quick minute. "Not really. I'm gonna go upstairs now."
"Same," Snowbelle got up along with her sister. "I'm tired."
"Okay, bye-bye!" Melody cheered as they went up the stairs. "Now what?"
"Bonnie, play some Netflix." Dewdrop pointed at the remote on the table and grinned at the Flareon.
"No." Bonfire turned away with a huff. "You do it yourself."
"Heyy! Why not we watch some romance shows?" Dewdrop reached over and swiped the remote with both silliness and sarcasm. 
Bonfire's face lit up with an evil smile. "Hah, delusional."
"WOW!"
Melody leaned back on the couch, trying to relax the weird nervous parts of her body. Something's definitely off today.