"How polite," I smirked at Xander, looping my arm through his as we entered inside the restaurant. "Letting Daniels open the door for a lady first, quite frankly, I'm shocked."
"I know...I'm amazing, thoughtful and kind. Glad you finally noticed." Xander smirked, wiping the smirk off my face.
I shook my head. "Amazingly weird and thoughtful as in you'll let the girl give her panties to you and kind because you'll give them back once you're done with them. Right?"
He faced me, arching an eyebrow. "Wrong."
"Wrong?" I narrowed my eyes at him.
He leaned in. "Yeah, wrong. I wouldn't give them back. Once it comes within my grasp, it's mine forever."
"Then what, you keep them hidden like they're buried treasure?" I asked, furrowing my brow.
Xander cringed. "No, I throw them out. Jesus Marisa, don't you know anything about hygiene?"
My jaw dropped and before I could retaliate, the hostess spoke.
"We're here for Mr. Franklin?" Xander told her. She nodded right away, grinning, clearly mesmerized by him. She was blonde and about my height, and wore a colourful kimono with 'Serenity Gardens' engraved over her left breast.
"Right away," she said breathily, stumbling a little as she turned to lead the way down a dark hallway.
"Um....where the hell are we going?" I asked as Xander pulled us down the hallway, which seemed to be getting darker as we went deeper.
"Why are all the lights off?" I whispered.
From what I could see, he was leaning his head down. "That's because this is one of those restaurants where you eat in the dark."
My jaw dropped. "No shit!" I gasped a little too loudly. I covered my mouth and whispered. "Sorry."
"It's okay, just because we eat in the dark, doesn't mean we have to be quiet. Kind of reminds me of different circumstances, same actions though." Xander smirked. I could practically see the suggestiveness, even if I couldn't see him.
"Hey, how about a rule, no nasty talk when we're about to eat, okay?" I suggested.
"That will be not a problem," Xander assured. "We'll be so busy eating, we probably won't even have a chance to talk."
"Who wouldn't have a conversation at a restaurant? There's going to be a lot of time to fill as they prepare our food, we're going to be talking. Aren't we meeting someone, Mr. Franklin? If this is a business meeting, why did you need to bring me along?" I asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Xander smirked, or I thought he was by the slight giggle coming from his side.
I bumped my shoulder into his. "Listen jerk off, there better not be any funny business! I'm telling you, any repeats of that weekend, and you're dog meat."
"I swear on my life, there will be no repeats of that weekend, even though it was a great weekend, but not to worry, this meeting is all about me and Mr. Franklin." Xander explained.
"Who the fuck is this guy anyways?" I asked.
"He's the chief of new property development in my father's company." Xander explained.
"Shit! He's not a client, he's your co-worker." I told him, already feeling wary of the situation we were about to walk into. "I swear to God, Xander.... I better not wake up tomorrow screaming."
Xander chuckled. "Oh Marisa, how I love your dirty talk, not to fret, my dear, from now on, any time you find yourself waking up screaming, it's going to be because of one very good...extremely good...reason."
"I'm afraid to ask." I shivered.
"Well, I'm guessing, you already know what I mean. But fret not, best friends don't blow each other, unfortunately." Xander assured, chuckling.
"You are one horny dude," I told him, shaking my head.
"Yeah, and proud of it!" Xander laughed.
I bumped my shoulder into him again. "Hey! That's my line!"
"Great minds think alike, similar catch phrases and all. We do what we want, when we want. We really are a match made in heaven. I'm a genius for turning our supposed arrangement into an actual reality. Trust in uncle Xander, always." Xander chuckled.
"Trust in you? Fuck that shit, I still have shit I want to do before I die!" I hissed.
All of a sudden a red light from above dimmed on and off for a few seconds. Our hostess stopped and turned facing us. I could see a little of her thanks to the light.
Where the fuck are we eating dinner? I thought as her haunted face smiled. "Your room sir, Mr. Franklin is already seated inside. Please follow the railing inside, a server should be in shortly to take your order."
She hits something on the wall and some sort of hydraulics noise over takes our ears. The hostess walked away and from what I could see, the door slid open like an elevator would. A small amount of steam came flying out, smelling like strawberries. I grabbed Xander's shoulder, giving him a deathly glare underneath the flickering red light.
"What the fuck is this?" I hissed quietly, squeezing him tightly. I could see his pearly white teeth sparkle with a hint of redness.
That smile.
No... that evil grin. What the fuck was he up to? And what did I just step into?
Fuck my life!
He caressed my hand as I kept it in a tight grip over his shoulder. "Not to worry, we're here for dinner, nothing will happen to you, nothing except a great meal." he assured.
"I pray that you're telling the truth, but I'm about to walk into a black hole blind. You tell me not to worry and to just trust you. I'm finding it a little hard to." I hissed, eying the darkness we were about to step into, apprehensively.
Xander picked my hand easily off his shoulder and held it tightly in his grasp. Shit, he was strong. I tried jerking it back, but my force was no match for his. "Let go of my fucking hand."
"No, now shut it...bestie." Xander said sternly. "Let's go, my guest is waiting and it's rude to make a guest wait, don't you think?"
"He's not my guest." I told him.
"He is though, because you, me, we're one now. My problems are your problems, just like your problem when you went to jail became my problem and I got you out, didn't I?" Xander stated.
"You're going to bring that up for the rest of my life. You're going to hold it over my head as many times as possible. It's never going to stop." I said bitterly to him.
"Pretty much, now come on!" He tugged my hand forward, forcing me to follow behind him into the dark hole.
"Eugene, you there?" Xander called as soon as we stepped though the doorway. A rush of hydraulics over takes our ears again and the door slid closed right after I was out of the way.
I was talking inches. My skirt was nearly ripped off.
I shook it off and held on to the railing on the wall and slowly followed behind Xander.
A low and nasally voice called out from below. "I'm here Alexander,"
"I'm terribly sorry I'm late, I was waiting for my companion to finish getting ready. You know women." Xander laughed.
Eugene chuckled back. "I do, my Celeste takes ages to get ready, I'd be lucky to make it fifteen minutes past the initial arrival time."
"Eugene, I'd like to introduce my companion for the evening, Marisa Gellys." Xander introduced, squeezing my hand.
"Hello there Ms. Gellys." Eugene called out.
I cleared my throat. "Hi, nice to meet you, even if I can't see you. Call me Marisa."
Eugene bursts out laughing. "She's something Alexander."
"That she is," Xander chuckled back. "Shall we sit?"
"Please do," Eugene said. "Be careful, it's a steep climb down."
A steep climb down?
"Not to worry, I've been here before, don't you remember." Xander reminded as he let go of my hand. I felt his body lower down.
"Of course, you found this place, stating nothing but amazing things about this experience. I'm your guest as always." Eugene said.
Amazing things....Where the fuck have I heard that before? Those words made me nervous all of a sudden.
"Marisa, grab my shoulders and take a step down." Xander ordered just below me. I couldn't see a thing.
"I can't see anything." I exclaimed, finding his shoulders. I stepped one foot out and nothing was there. "What's down there?"
"It's a bench." Xander informed. "But it's steep. So be careful."
I held onto his shoulders for support as I stepped off the ledge and my foot hits the bench awkwardly. "What the hell is this place? It's bad enough that we have to eat in the dark, but why they gotta make it difficult to find your seat too?"
Eugene bursts out laughing again. "She's hilarious Alexander!"
Xander chuckled back. "I know! She's my trusted little sidekick."
"Hold on to that one, before someone else snatches her up!" Eugene stated, making me feel weird. Something about his tone of voice made me uneasy, like something a predator would say.
The sliding door abruptly opened, a glimmer of red light flashed before what looked to be a woman sashaying inside.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for choosing Serenity Gardens for your evening's pleasure. My name is Makino, I'll be taking your order this evening, have you had sufficient time to make your minds on which meal plan you'd like for this evening?" Makino asked, in a small raspy voice, loud enough to hear if everything remained quiet.
I nudged Xander. "I don't know what to order, I can't see a menu." I whispered.
"Don't worry, I'll order for you." Xander whispered back. "I'm ordering for Eugene too."
"But you don't know what I like, I'm a picky eater." I whispered, annoyed. I don't like people picking my food. I had a hard enough time choosing my own meals. "I don't like onions, eggplant or squid, you got that?"
"I got it." Xander whispered. "Makino, thank you for having us, my two guests, this is their first time here and I will be ordering for them."
"Very good sir." Makino purred. "Three orders for this evening, seats one, two and three, four is absent, correct?"
"Yes, that's right. Seat one and two, we will be having the white plate special, seat three will have the blue plate special." Xander said.
What the hell?
How did he know what to order? And what the fuck was in the white and blue plate special?
"Very good sir, your white plate appetizers will arrive shortly, please prepare yourselves accordingly." Makino said, shuffling her way out. She stopped just outside the threshold, turning to face us with the red light flickering behind her. "Thank you again for choosing Serenity Gardens, have a very pleasant evening."
The sliding door shuts and I nudged Xander hard in the shoulder. "How come I don't get an appetizer, she said the white plate appetizers were going to arrive shortly, how come I don't get an appetizer for the blue plate special? And what the fuck is in the blue plate special?"
Eugene bursts out laughing again. "She doesn't know Alexander?"
"Know what?" I screeched. "What did you do?"
"Nothing," Xander laughed. "You won't like the appetizer we are going to get for the white plate special, trust me."
"I wish I could, but you guys get to eat first, and I have to wait till you finish eating and then they'll bring out the main courses. I'm starving." I exclaimed, dramatically.
"Oh don't you worry, we'll be quick with our appetizers, very quick." Xander assured.
"Yes, Marisa, I'm very hungry, I'll be sure to finish quickly, just for you." Eugene assured as well.
"Thank you. I am starving." I told them. "But you didn't tell me what's in the blue plate, and what's in the white plate?"
"It's a surprise, I'm sure you will love it." Xander explained, making me feel wary again. What was going on here?
"I see," I said, not sure what else to say. This was one fucked up restaurant. I was sure they charged a fortune too.
I was getting weird vibes sitting here.
All of a sudden the sound of hydraulics overtook our ears. "What's going on?" I yelled towards Xander.
"Our appetizers are coming." he yelled back.
"How, the door didn't slide open, no one's come in with food?" I yelled over the loud hydraulic sound.
"It's all electronic here Marisa, our meal will be arriving via technology in the form of a lift from the underground where they prepare everything." Xander explained.
"No shit?" My jaw dropped. "Fucking crazy!"
"I love this girl!" Eugene laughed. "She's special."
"That she is my friend," Xander exclaimed breathily. "Now enough about that, are you ready Eugene, just like I explained before?"