Any Given Afternoon #01: Dine and Dash

 

Despair hung in the air between Wess and Aurora. Wess’s head rested in his hands, a thousand thoughts rushing through his mind as he tried to reel in just one he could understand. Aurora stared into the distance, mind nearly empty as the only surviving neurons tried to rationalize how someone could fuck breadsticks up that badly.

Teeter-Totter was the latest restaurant of undefined theme in Chestfield. It was also the lowest rated restaurant in Chestfield, debuting with a half-star rating and managing to go even lower.

With infamy came the desire to experience it firsthand, if not just for being able to be the one telling the story. Aurora was a proud masochist, seeking out the worst of the worst when it came to movies, music, fashion, and more. Wess claimed to be dragged along by Aurora into these awful ordeals the same way he claimed Aurora forced him to do most everything. Of course, they wouldn’t be best friends if Wess didn’t enjoy the suffering.

Finally, Wess managed to come up with a coherent thought.

“I’m not paying for this,” he said, silent and defeated.

“Hey, I’m not shelling out for it either,” Aurora snapped. Wess bit his lip, knowing what Aurora would say next. “So it’s agreed. We have to find a way out of here without paying.”

“We can’t just not pay, even if they smothered my salad in milk.”

Aurora rolled her eyes and leaned over the table. “Listen, Wess. You can’t let your ‘morals’ get in the way of doing what is right. If we pay, that’s another day’s rent for them. Do you really want more people to fall victim to them? Should others really have to pay twenty smackers to experience hot sauce-covered ice cream when they could just lick their radiator at home for free? It’s our duty to get out of here without shelling out.” She paused. “I’m gonna fake a heart attack.”

Wess’s face slipped deeper into his palm. “You always go right to the heart attack.”

“Fine. Let me tip my wheelchair over and we can act like we need to go to the ER.”

“Let’s just pay them, Aurora.”

“Hell no. Besides, I didn’t bring my wallet to school today.”

That was true. The only reason they were here to begin with was because Bantam-- everyone knew it was Bantam-- had a geometry test today and so wrote a bomb threat on the men’s room wall. Rather than waste their afternoon huddled on the cold football field, they decided to check out the restaurant since it was nearby.

Remembering this, both briefly wished they were being blown up instead.

Then Wess remembered something else.

“Well I didn’t bring my wallet either,” he said.

Aurora grinned. “Ah, so we’ve been destined to dash from the start.”

Wess rolled his eyes. “Just fall over, already.”