Once Upon a Diner

I'm Not Friends With Any Robbers

We had no idea where Ben thought he was taking us, but it couldn't be any worse than Camilla's party. Luckily I had Paige and her unfiltered bluntness to do all the talking for me.

"So Diner Boy, where are we going?" she asked. And now he knew I talked about him.

"Diner Boy? Gee, I knew not all of us could be Superman but I didn't think my hero name would be that bad," He glanced at me through the rear-view and I looked away. "We're going back to my place"

"What do you mean we're going back to your place? No offense but I don't have many reasons to trust you." Paige said.

"What about the fact that I got you out of that party before the Birthday Monster came to get you? If I wanted to hurt someone at that party I would've picked someone a lot drunker than you two." That seemed to shut Paige up and we rode the rest of the way in silence. It turned out that Ben lived on the other side of town and on one of the more priveleged streets at that.

"Welcome to the house of Neal. Make yourself at comfortable and I'll be right back" he said, then walked up the stairs.

"What do we do now?" asked Paige. We looked around and realized tha we didn't know how to navigate the house.

"I don't know, maybe we should wait for Ben to get back. I don't really feel like getting lost in a stanger's house after the night I've had." I answered.

"Oh, it wasn't that bad. You escaped the wrath of Camilla and the night is still young." I decided not to tell Paige about what had happened in the kitchen before she got there. As we stood there in silence, waiting for Ben to get back, it got more and more eery as the minutes ticked on. There we barely any lights on in the entrance where we had stationed ourselves near the staircase. The seconds ticked on and still Ben had not returned. I had thought of going upstairs to find him when we heard something. A loud, thump coming from above us. And then:

"Didn't think you would be back so soon" shouted a voice from nowhere. I jumped back in surprise and Paige let out a squeak that shook the walls. What the hell is going on? I was beginning to think he was actually going to hurt us. The thumping got louder and I realized it was coming through the wood in the hard floors. I froze in fear, knowing that I had nowhere to go. A figure appeared in the darkness and we moved back quickly, the walls digging into our backs. Then, a sudden light came bursting through, momentarily blinding us.

"Ben, are you there?" the voice was more familiar now. Then Darell walked in. Paige screamed again and I was stunned silent. I forgot he had a brother.

"Oh god" he said shocked "Oh god, oh god, oh god. I'm sorry, please don't hurt me. I'm not worth the guilt."

I realized now that I saw he wasn't a threat it was now my job to explain. Unfortunately Darell didn't recognize me as much as I did him.

"My brother's gonna be home soon," he went on, sweating and starting to hyperventilate.

"Darell calm down" I said telling the same thing to myself.

"You know each other?" said Paige, who I forgot was standing there but was still cowering in a corner.

"No!" said Darell

"Yes we do"

"I'm not friends with any robbers"

"Robbers?" Paige had summoned some courage. "You little asshole, I've never stolen anything in my life."

"Then what the hell are you people doing here?"

"What's going on here?"

All three of us looked up in surprise to see Ben walking down the stairs. We had all forgotten him in the midst of our argument. Darell went into explanation mode immediately.