Once Upon A Dream

Chapter 8 - Desperate

Ch. 8 

"And where are you going?" Blain managed, though it was muffled from the sandwich he was stuffing in.

Dante mentally cursed. He knew Blain wasn't a fan of his plan, and he wasn't in the mood to argue with Blain. He was going to see Kate today, after all! 

"Out," Dante said. 

Blain chewed and swallowed what was in his mouth. "Yeah, I got that part. I mean, where are you going out to and with who?" 

"Kate and her friends-" 

"You mean her friend," Blain cut in bitterly. 

"Yes, she was the one who invited me," Dante said quietly. 

"But, she's not the one you're going for," Blain scoffed. "Well, I hope your genius plan doesn't backfire. I have you back-always do, but if this just goes down hill, I'm so not passing the chance to say 'I told you so'." 

"It won't go wrong, okay?" Dante promised. "What could possibly go wrong?" 

"One, everything," Blain replied. "Two, everything. Three, you are practically going out with her best friend, you moron! You have spelled 'desperate' right across your forehead at this point!" 

"Are you done?" Dante inquired. 

"Go have fun, you stupid devil," Blain muttered, and Dante left to try and do just that. 

~ 

Mandy, Tara, Brad, and I were at the Café for our daily meet up, but Lea was late. And it put all of us off. She hadn't called or text-ed why. 

"Where's Lea?" I asked. 

Tara shrugged as she sipped her soda. She was taking it the best, freaking out the least among the four of us. 

"She's never late," remarked Mandy. "I hope everything is okay." 

"I'm calling her if she doesn't show, call, text, Snap Chap, Tweet, breath, or whatever in five minutes," muttered Brad worriedly. I patted his arm reassuringly. 

"I'm sure she's all right," said Tara. "It is Lea after all." That comment made all of us smile. 

"No kidding," murmured Mandy. 

The door's bells jingled, interrupting our conversation, and Brad jumped to his feet. As he did so, though, his thigh hit the corner of the table, and he doubled over. 

"Brad!" I gasped, grabbing his arm. "You okay? Are you hurt?" 

"Just...surprised." He straightened up, looking straight. I was the last one to follow his gaze to Lea...and Dante as they ordered drinks. 

"Hm, no kidding," I whispered in agreement to Brad as Dante took his water and Lea, her Coke. 

"Move over," Brad muttered to me, and I scooted. We all moved further over to make room for Dante and Lea.

When we were all settled, I studied Lea and her new friend, possible date. Dante didn't look uncomfortable, but I got the feeling he wasn't used to being with us. He kept shifting and fidgeting. Lea seemed oblivious to it, which wasn't like her. She was keener than I was. 

"Dante, I know you know Kate"-Brad shot me a glance, and I ignored him-"but this is Mandy, Tara, and Brad." 

"So, Dante, how do you know Lea-and Kate?" Brad asked, and I nudged him to warn him. 

"Uh, the theater Kate works at," Dante answered softly. 

"How come we haven't seen you around?" asked Tara then she teased, "Do we need to visit Katie here more often or something?" 

"You guys had left," Lea cut in quickly. 

"Leftovers," I added, and Tara, Brad, and Mandy seemed to understand then. 

"You leftovers always have the most fun!" Brad exclaimed. "I need to ditch class some time!" 

"So, do you work at the theater too?" asked Mandy. 

"Yeah, I do different repair jobs and help with props," Dante explained. 

"Ah," Mandy grunted before finishing off her soda. 

The questions didn't stop there for poor Dante. Tara, Mandy, and Brad had become animals hungry for answers. Lea and I did the best we could to lift the weight for Dante so he wouldn't end up torn to pieces in the end. Slowly, though, to my surprise, Dante warmed up to the crazy trio, and the answers came much more easily to him. 

"No, I just live in an apartment with a friend," said Dante. "No college, but I did inherit some money from...my dad." 

"Then why do you do repair jobs?" wondered Brad. I was positive he thought of those as harsh, dirty jobs, something he wasn't very interested in. 

"To make my own money," Dante said. "I do various jobs, repairing at the theater is the one I have right now. It's satisfying for me to be doing something while making my own way. It gets rid of boredom." 

"This is random, but what about your name?" Tara asked. "Mandy and I have somewhat unusual names, but we've heard them before. I have never heard Dante before!" 

"Yeah, I'm Italian," Dante expounded. "It's not too common there either. I moved to the U.S. when I was young." 

"It's official. We have to bring you along when we go to the amusement park next week," Brad stated. 

"What?" asked Lea. 

"Amusement park?" I repeated. "Next week?"

"Yeah, Brad, since when?" Tara asked.

"Since now!" Brad answered in a 'duh' tone. "We're all going-no excuses! Next Sunday, okay? We'll meet here about..."

"Eight thirty," decided Tara. "And we're going to Disneyland!" 

"Yes!" agreed Brad in a high-pitched tone. 

"I'm free," Mandy said eagerly. 

"Me too!" Lea said, and looked between Dante and I. 

I had to think a moment, see if I was free. "All right," I finally decided. "I'm going." 

"What about?" Lea asked Dante. 

Dante looked down at Lea a moment, paused, and then glanced over at me. "Yeah, I can make it." 

Lea clapped excitedly. 

"Yay!" Mandy squealed. 

"Nice job, Brad," I told him, giving him a playfully hard nudge so his other side hit Dante, who simply grinned. 

* COMMENT, pleeaaase, anything! Just another picture of Kate to the right ->> *