And Then, There Was Fire.

eleven.

There was an awkward silence at the table besides everyone's utensils clinging as they got ready to eat. Lauren tucked the left side of her hair behind her ear while eating a plate of fries, looking towards Trey as he sipped water from his straw.

"You good?" She asked him quietly. He just nodded, pulling his phone out to occupy himself.

"You know her or something?" Devahn asked Trey as he dug into his food.

He shook his head while frowning the corners of his mouth. "Never seen her before."

The vibe at the table changed, partly due to everyone eating. Trey continued remaining quiet, his hand in Lauren's lap as his fingertips rested on the side of her inner thigh, waiting for the water to help bring him down to sobriety.

Lauren's next words made him forget what he was even upset about, feeling as if it was Christmas morning for an eager child. He thought he heard her whisper wrong, his eyes narrowed as he leaned back into her for her to repeat herself. "What was that?"

She swallowed the rest of her chewed fry, leaning back into his ear as her head now faced the back of their booth. "Do you still want me to come back to your place?" She asked, referring to the playful, seductive whispers that he begged in her ear when they first arrived at the diner.

"Kind of question is that?" He asked with a smirk, letting her know that was a for-sure yes. It was clear to Trey that she was still pretty drunk, although she tried her best to cover it.

"Can just stay up all night and watch Walking Dead from season 1." She joked about a previous conversation the week prior about binging Walking Dead together, indirectly implying that, that was all they would be doing. "Cause you know, no hands." She smirked before placing another fry in her mouth.

"No hands, my ass."

"Those were your words!" Her whisper turned into a laugh that was audible to the table, causing his husky chuckle to let her know he was back to having a good time.

Sophia then dropped her fork on her plate, reading a text in her phone from someone she's been seeing from campus that conveniently showed up in D.C. for the night. "Guys," Sophia began as she stuffed one last bite in her mouth and quickly sipping out of her straw. "it's been fun. See ya'll at the house tomorrow." She smiled while getting up from the booth and leaving quickly, heading outside towards a black Lexus that pulled into the parking lot near the glass window facing their table.

"Oh, I know that hoe didn't just leave without even attempting to leave some money for her shit." Sarai finally said, causing the table to laugh.

In due time, everyone's plates were cleaned off and the rowdiness seemed to have disappeared. They were a good forty-five-minute drive from town and didn't want to wait any longer to start heading back. Now all that has been on Trey's mind, was how to get Lauren back to his house, conveniently, without any judgement from the others.

"Ay," Devahn grabbed Trey's attention from across the table, leaned back in his side of the booth with his hands placed on his hard, but full, abdomen. "I'm gonna ride back with her to her spot, bro. I don't trust her ass driving right now." He said, referring to Sarai who was still visibly drunk, yet this was also his excuse to leave with her rather heading back home in Trey's car.

"It's cool, I still gotta backtrack and drop this nigga off." Trey said while kicking a sleeping Marlon under the table. He jerked his head up as his eyes were still closed, caving his eye brows inward at the insult before leaning his head against the wall drunkenly.