Undefined - The Zephyr Book 1 ? (completed)(#Wattys2016)

Chapter 26 - Cello

26 - Cello

There's one half of the dining dome that's much more cheerful than the other. No wonder. The cheerful ones are those eating real food.

Damn them, my stomach protests. For a moment both Syianne and I are glued to the spot, then grudgingly we make our way to the less lively Zribble line, accompanied by Fellin.

"Seriously," he grumbles, "I mean, the smell is just so, urgh... I feel irritated. They should make separate dining rooms!"

Syianne and I groan in agreement.

"By the way, we're all Plunging together," he tells us cheerfully.

"Then let's all have a huge celebration meal afterwards," I suggest, as if the promise of a meal that's a week away will do me any good.

"Oh!" Fellin claps his hands together, looking bright again "Let's eat at that new seafood place near Breggy's. It's not expensive and I heard it's really good!"

Syianne and I exchange glances; we don't know anything about Rockdem. "Sounds great," I say.

"I like seafood," Syianne offers.

We each take Zribble and water and find an empty table, fantasising about real food as we crunch away.

Kaitha lands across from Syianne and me with a tray of real food — spaghetti and meatballs with tomato sauce and lots of cheese sprinkled on top and a nice big apple for dessert. The three of us halt our crunching to glare at her.

She looks over at us holding the fork lightly between her fingers. "Oh Zribble," she says with a nostalgic smile. "That's the worst week in the year for me." She nods knowingly and dives into her food.

"That's it," Fellin says, "I disown you, you're not my cousin and I don't know you for the rest of today."

"Nom nom nom." Kaitha says gleefully in reply.

I push six Zribble balls into my mouth at once and press my elbows into the table as I concentrate hard on chewing.

Two hands land on my head, fingers twining into my hair, and I feel a familiar tingle pass from the hands into my skull. The hands roll gently down from my head to my shoulders, "So many friends, so quickly," says Risa Medrick's voice somewhere above me.

I nearly choke on the Zribble, but manage to push it down my throat; it sits like a rock somewhere on the way to my stomach. I bang my fist against my chest to make it go down. "You know me," I say while gasping for air, "everyone's favourite guy."

Her fingers press into the muscles of my shoulders — it feels nice. "Don't forget, tonight at eight, Therton Plaza, I'll be waiting for you." She pats my head one last time and walks away before I can reply,

I take a huge sip of water to wash down the Zribble and notice Fellin and Kaitha staring at me wide-eyed. "What have you got tonight at eight with Medrick?" Kaitha asks.

I blink at them and consider lying, I want to lie, but I falter.

"They have a date, obviously," Syianne says quite naturally. I guess I was a bit presumptuous to have thought she'd actually have a problem with me dating anyone.

"You mean, you're fine with that?" Kaitha seems to find this hard to believe.

Syianne looks bewildered. "She's a little bit older than Cello but we're talking about Risa Medrick. I think she's amazing." I find myself nodding at her words — Syianne is really being sincere. But why do I feel so relieved? Why did I feel guilty about this date to begin with?