A Fiend as a Friend

Chapter 8

Before we got to the dining, my stomach had already started to rumble. The aroma was killing. I had to do everything within my power not to salivate.

Scott opened the door with his free hand. Our hands were still intertwined. He allowed me to step in first. I nodded. He was such a gentleman. I looked at the table and noticed that every other person were already sitted. Mike was typing something on his phone furiously, Thomas had his earphones plugged on and his head was bobbing front and back in rhythm to the music he was listening to. Collins was receiving a call and huh...well, Michael was staring at me and then, his gaze went down to my hand that was held tightly by Scott. I blushed and looked away shyly. Did he like me? Oh my gauuud!

No, I was crazy. How could I think that he liked me? Scott and I walked towards the table and sat. Then, after a while, he let go of my hand. Scott was sitting by my right and Thomas by my left. Good. I had the opportunity to deal with Thomas for directing me wrongly.

Collins hung up and cleared his throat causing everyone to sit up. I didn't miss Mike's glare when I looked at him. I just sneered at him and looked away.

"This is our first lunch with Felicity. I hope we all tolerate ourselves. Once again, you're welcome to the Rainbow music band, Miss Adams."

I nodded and smiled. Somehow, Mike fell within my field of vision and his look wasn't too good. He was scowling and it was directed at me.

Two minutes later, the door opened and a woman came in. She had a plump figure and she looked really pretty with her hair tied in a chignon.

"Bon appetite", she said sweetly. Then,  after what seemed like forever, she looked at me and smiled. " I guess you're Felicity."

"Y-yes, ma'am." I needed to do something about my stuttering. It was getting out of hand.

"Hope you enjoy your stay here and one day, maybe you'll assist me with cooking."

Unfortunately for me, I was drinking water at that moment. The water came out of my mouth in sprays. I coughed and coughed. When I saw Mike smirking at me, I coughed harder.

"This is the second time, Felicity. Are you okay?" Scott asked me, patting my back gently.

I nodded. The water from my mouth had landed all over Michael. I was just so stupid. It was all over his face too and just when I expected him to scream at me, he brought out his tongue and licked the water of his lips, winking at me as he did so.

I covered my mouth with my hands and this time, I really coughed, like serious coughing. He licked the liquid that obviously had my spit in it!!

"Felicity, are you okay?" Bailey said, rushing to my side.

I closed my eyes and got my coughing in control. Once that was done, I opened my eyes and nodded, smiling weakly at her. "I think something got stuck in my throat."

"Oh. You got me worried. I'll leave you guys now to eat. Michael, don't you need to change your clothes?"

I looked at him. His shirt was wet, not dripping wet though. "It's okay, Bailey. It makes me feel better. Isn't that weird?" he said, his eyes never leaving mine.

I swallowed hard and looked down. What was wrong with this guy? I heard the door open and then close. I looked up and noticed that Bailey had left.

Collins smiled at me and I smiled back. "Let's say a little prayer." We all bowed our heads and after about two minutes, we raised up our heads to eat. I watched as they all dug into their food hungrily. I sighed and looked at all the food on the table. I didn't know what to eat honestly. Everything looked appetizing and if I took little of everything, they would think I was a greedy little lady.

I sighed and looked down. Scott nudged me and somehow, I found my eyes darting to Michael. I just wanted to see his reaction, you know, Scott was nudging me in the ribs. As expected, he was staring at me, his cheeks as red as a tomato.

I quickly looked away. He was making me feel out of my mind. Scott nudged me again. "Did you hear what I just said, Felicity?"

"Huh? You said something?"

"Yeah. Why aren't you eating?" he whispered. Although, that was so unnecessary since everyone was looking at me. I smiled at them and took some Swiss rolls from the food in the table and put them on my plate. Scott poured chocolate cream on the rolls. "They taste better with chocolate."

I nodded and jumped when Michael dropped his spoon noisily on his plate. He was glaring at Scott. "Can't you guys be a little bit discreet? We are at the table for crying out loud.

Scott dropped his spoon too and frowned. "Discreet with what?"

"Must we all know that you two are dating or something?"

I gasped. What was he talking about? "We aren't dating, Michael."

Scott stared at Michael for a while. Maybe he had figured out that Michael kind of liked me. Or did he not like me? Maybe I was remembering him of his former girlfriend or someone close to him. Yeah, that was more reasonable.

Scott laughed and put an arm around me, drawing me close. "Yes. We are dating. What are you gonna do about it?" Then, he turned to me and used his thumb to rub my cheek. "Why did you lie about the fact that we're dating, baby?"

My eyes widened and I tried to say something,but all that came out of my mouth were insensible stutterings.

Collins hit the table hard. "What are you guys doing? Scott, are you really dating her? "

"No!"I shouted.

"Then what is all this? Scott, keep your jokes for later. Michael, just calm down already. Your face is as red as blood. What the heck is even wrong with you? You hardly notice anybody."

Michael just continued eating, his eyes never leaving his plate. I shrugged Scott's hand off my shoulders and started eating my rolls. I wasn't even sure I could taste anything. I just put them in my mouth, chewed and swallowed. All I wanted was to get out of here.

*****
After the meal, I followed Scott to the practice room. Mike said we had to prepare for the concert the next day.

When we got to the room, I sat down beside Thomas. Mike excused himself to receive a call and Scott just played with his fingers--wierd.

I looked at Thomas and then, I remembered what he did to me. "Hey you."

He turned to look at me, a confused look on his face. "What?"

"You misguided me. The blue line led to a dead end!" I whisper shouted.

"Sorry, did I say blue line?  I meant to say red line. Oh, I'm sorry. You must be pissed, right?"

"I'm beyond pissed, Thomas. How could you make such mistake?"

"I wouldn't do that, ever", he said with contrition.

I wanted to say something, but I stopped when I noticed Mike enter the room. I just rolled my eyes at Thomas and looked away.

"That's so cute. How can you roll her eyes so beautifully?"

I turned to look at Thomas. What was wrong with him too? "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm really okay." He didn't sound like he was joking. In fact, he sounded amused.

Mike cleared his throat causing me to look at him. "Little elf, what are you up to?"

"Little elf? " Scott said, looking at Mike with a confused face.

"None of your business", Mike said hastily. "Now answer my question, little elf."

I just stared at Mike unable to say a word. At first, it was Michael and then, Scott continued. Just now, Thomas joined the group. Why was I having the feeling that Mike had joined too?

******
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