Double Life - Book 1 of the Vaiya Series

by Vaiya Books

  “Yeah, it’s a blazing inferno.” He chuckled. “Let’s get outta here.”

  As they all headed over to the restaurant in a group chatting with each other, Jimmy trailed behind them like a wet ghost. Faint, his eyes jittery, his face a concoction of pained anger and sickly shame, Jimmy was completely out of place, like a ragged orphan dining with three princesses, or a lone priest conversing with a band of thieves. Ian pitied him, but nothing could be done.

  Reaching the stained glass doors, Ian pulled one open and courteously held it open for the girls. As the three of them walked inside, Tianna and Amanda snickering, Hazel gazing at him with subdued admiration, Ian went in after them, followed by Eddy and then Jimmy.

  As they waited to be seated, the place being packed with dozens of people, Ian gazed at the enchanting scenery around him: knights in polished armor stood up tall and dignified on both sides of them, and paintings of dragons, kings, and peasants, filled the place as did wall murals of fierce lions, majestic eagles, steel-cloaked swordsmen, and green-clad archers.

  The entrancing music from the live flutists, harpists, and violinists only enhanced the atmosphere’s mystique, as did the waiters and waitresses, who were all dressed in medieval apparel, and the taper candles, which shed their flickering light inside the building and were the sole source of light in the restaurant’s dining room. This place was just as amazing as Jimmy had said it would be.

  Captivated, Ian continued beholding the rest of the room, wanting to get the full experience. Jimmy though, was as silent and somber as a tombstone. His eyes quivered, his arms trembled, and he took a few deep breaths--this would be a long night for him, and to think, this was his favorite restaurant. Ian felt more than a little guilty.

  As they waited for a table for two minutes while Amanda chatted with them about her new blog site called Gardening Mania, a hostess finally came up to them, dressed in a long red dress with white frills at the end of the sleeves, and asked them how many were in the party. When Amanda told her six, she led them to two large booths that seated three people each, which, fortunately, were open from both sides--otherwise, it would have been a real nuisance.

  While the hostess hurried away, her chestnut brown leather shoes almost noiseless against the dark cherry wood floor, the girls sat on one booth while the guys took the other.

  As Amanda rambled on excitedly to Tianna and Hazel about the latest episode of Curb Appeal, a show on HGTV, a brown-haired waitress asked them if they were all taking the buffet, and they said they were. Then, she asked them what they’d like to drink. Everyone said water except for Eddy, who, wanting to be different, asked for a Dr. Pepper.

  A graceful smile formed on her face, making her appear even more noble in her crimson dress embroidered with gold designs with cream-colored frill on her long sleeves. “Have I met you before?” she asked with some hesitation, after writing down all their drinks and orders on a small notepad.

  “Yeah, maybe,” Eddy replied, seeming to enjoy the extra attention. “You remind me of one of my girl cousins.”

  “I’d certainly not hope to remind you of one of your boy cousins,” she said, her rosy smile causing Eddy to blush slightly, a rare occurrence for him. Then, seeing another four people being seated at another table in her area, she bowed once, and said, “I’m sorry I’m so busy; I’ll talk to you later,” before leaving to help three teenage guys and their dad with their food and drinks.

  When she was safely out of the area, Amanda turned and stared at Eddy, a gossiping glint in her bemused eyes, a deep grin on her face. “What was that all about, Eddy?” she asked, ready to burst out into laughter. Tianna and Hazel looked similarly amused.

  Eddy grinned like a man who’d just been asked to dance with the prettiest girl in the room. “I’m not sure. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen her before in my life.”

  Amanda lowered her eyebrows, unconvinced. “Then why’d she appear to recognize you?” She pulled out a pink mirror from her small purple purse, decorated with Disney character stickers, and straightened out her long wavy black hair, while continuing to gaze at him, still chuckling to herself.

  Eddy just smirked. “Isn’t it obvious,” he began, “she clearly wants a higher tip.”

  “Yeah, that makes perfect sense,” Amanda said sarcastically. “That explains why she only paid attention to you, and not to her other five paying customers.”

  “You just wait,” said Eddy, nodding his head in deep assurance. “I’m sure she’ll even the score out by the end of the night.”

  “And if she doesn’t?”

  “What can I say then,” said Eddy with a shrug, smiling narcissistically. “I’m good-looking. What girl wouldn’t want to talk to me?”

  As Amanda broke into laughter, covering up her face with her hands as if embarrassed at his words, Ian smacked Eddy on the shoulder, while the other two girls looked mildly disgusted by his conceitedness. Jimmy, whose face appeared to be succumbing to attrition, seemed to lighten up a little upon hearing this, but it wasn’t enough to undo the damage already done. Still, no one paid him much attention; Eddy had claimed it all.

  Tianna in particular, wouldn’t let his action escape without comment. Delicately picking up a large blue plate, holding it in her hands as if it were expensive china, she shook her head at him in mild displeasure: “Now that was arrogant.”

  But her words reflected off him, having little effect. “Yeah, I think that’s a safe assumption,” Eddy said with a smile, as he scooted off the booth and grabbed a wood plate from a large stack near Tianna, the others soon following suit. “Still, you’ve gotta admit it’s pretty close to the truth.”

  Tianna just rolled her eyes at him seemingly trying to forget his words, as she then glided over to the meat section, where she stuffed her plate with pulled pork, rotisserie chicken, Shadowcrest’s famous barbeque chicken, and a Delmonico steak, before dumping barbeque sauce on everything until the meat wasn’t even visible. Then she pulled out two seasoning bottles from her purse, one looking like Cajun powder, the other a type of crushed herb, and sprinkled them on all of the meat, ignoring the weird looks Ian and Eddy gave her.

  Once they’d all filled up their first plate, they sat down around the booths again, Hazel eyeing the large fudge brownie on Jimmy’s plate next to three chicken legs drenched in salt and pepper, a few carrot sticks, a piece of wheat bread smothered in butter, and two juicy orange slices. It was an unusual selection for a first plate and it warranted a question. Besides, Jimmy had been very quiet, and it was time for him to join in the fray.

  “Already moving onto dessert, are we?” Hazel asked, a colorful smile on her face.

  Avoiding her eyes, he blushed while mumbling, “I like having a bit of everything,” before neatly picking up one of his carrot sticks and nibbling on it.

  That should have been it right there, but Hazel wasn’t done with him. “You’re Ian’s friend, right?”

  “Yeah,” he murmured, as he sipped down his cold glass of ice water, eyes focused intently on his drink, ignoring Hazel like she were Medusa and would turn him into stone if he so much as glanced at her.

  Yet in spite of his blatant disregard for her, Hazel persisted, as if trying to break him out of his comfort zone. “So what’s your name?” she asked, interest still resonating in her voice.

  “Jimmy,” he murmured painfully, biting his lip and gazing down at the silverware next to his plate. Likely, he was very irritated by the question, as it hinted that she only knew him by his unflattering nicknames and had no clue what his real name was.

  If her expressions meant anything, the surprise in her eyes showed that she truly hadn’t known his name before. “Cool,” she said lightheartedly, as if trying to be positive. “I have a second cousin named Jimmy. Nice to meet you.” Hazel stretched out her hand across the table, but Jimmy just ignored it, his face reddening. From his nervous disposition, his hands were most likely cold and clammy, so it only made sense that he wouldn’t shake her hand. />
  Hazel didn’t seem to realize this though. “Um … ok.” She immediately retracted her hand. “You really are shy, aren’t you?”

  Jimmy, who’d likely only stutter and stammer if he replied to her, chose to answer the question by staring at his napkin.

  Seeing his timidness, she just shook her at him and scolded him playfully: “We can’t have this, man. You’re too handsome to be bashful. How will you ever get a girlfriend … get married?”

  Like two expertly thrown daggers, these words embedded themselves in his chest, causing him to undergo what could have been construed as torture. Squeezing his hands underneath the table, his eyes nearly shut, he crossed his legs, which were trembling violently, as he took many short, rapid breaths. Fortunately, the scene didn’t last that long, and within ten seconds, he’d composed himself fairly well, and, except for an expression of foolishness written across his face, he looked just as he had before the incident--which really wasn’t saying much.

  Watching this sort of event wasn’t exactly conducive to conversation, so it was with welcome relief that Tianna broke the tension, using a flash of purple lightning, which had illuminated the darkening sky, as an icebreaker. “This better not mean another storm is coming,” she said, her eyes looking briefly out of the window, before refocusing on the juicy medium-rare Delmonico steak she was cutting into. “I don’t think I can handle another.”

  Eddy looked up at her in mild amusement, though quite possibly he was still chuckling from seeing Jimmy’s reaction to Hazel’s words. “It does seem like we’ve been having a lot of storms recently.”

  “Yeah,” added Hazel, keeping an eye on Jimmy whose now neutral face showed that this rather mundane topic was doing wonders for him. “And it’s calling for thunderstorms the next seven days as well.”

  A faint cloud of depression and fear slipped over Tianna. The bad news animated her. “That’s ridiculous,” she shouted, as a middle-aged couple adjacent from them stared at her critically and then muttered to each other, causing her to lower her voice again. “What kind of weather pattern is this?”

  As none of them really knew much about meteorology, the question stood there for a while, before succumbing to its death as the waitress returned, her chestnut brown eyes smiling, her words eerily similar to what they’d just been talking about, almost as if she’d been listening to their conversation: “Nice weather we’ve been having recently,” she said jokingly, while casually refilling Jimmy’s glass of water which had long ago been drained of all but ice.

  “Yeah, if you like storms,” said Eddy offhandedly, not even concealing his sarcastic smirk. “You sound like my cousin Blake now. He’s obsessed with them. He says the lightning’s so cool, and the thunder’s music to his ears.”

  The waitress stifled a laugh. “I suppose I do remind you of one of your boy cousins then,” she began wryly, as she collected the dirty plates and stacked them on her arm. “And how old is he?”

  “Twenty,” he replied, with more than a chuckle. “Yet he’s just like a child when the thunder starts rolling.”

  Amanda, Hazel, and Tianna exchanged amused glances with each other. Eddy sure had a way with words.

  Apparently, the waitress thought so too. It took her a few seconds to stop laughing so that she could indirectly ask for his name. “You’re amusing...”

  “Eddy,” he said, answering her, still retaining the same famous smile on his face as he observed her gold-trimmed name tag. “Nice to meet you, Kali.”

  “No fair,” she murmured, losing a lot of her dignity, as she covered her metal name tag with one hand, though it was far too late by now. “I wanted you to ask for my name the old-fashioned way.”

  A dry smile immediately crossed his face. “Seeing as how you’re in such an establishment … that comes as no surprise.”

  As nearly everyone at the table burst out laughing except for Jimmy, Amanda kicked Eddy lightly, as if proving her point about the waitress liking him. Not saying a word, the waitress, Kali, glared at him amusingly, but within a few moments, she’d given in and had started laughing as well.

  Amanda wouldn’t let this moment pass. Stealthily pulling out her cell phone, she snapped a quick picture of the waitress hovering close to Eddy, laughter in their eyes. If this picture weren’t on Facebook by tomorrow morning with the caption, Eddy’s medieval girlfriend, Amanda had probably gotten terribly sick.

  As soon as she’d taken the picture though, she hurriedly switched her cell phone focus to a knight statue, just as the waitress looked her way. Apparently, seeing nothing further of interest, Kali, still a pleasant smile on her lightly tanned face, left after leaving them with a warm, “Let me know if you need anything.”

  When she disappeared from view, Amanda stared at Eddy and grinned deeply. “I’m sure she likes you now,” she said in a teasing manner, as she deftly slid her cell phone into her purple purse.

  “Yeah, no surprise there,” said Eddy casually, as he squirted a huge pile of ketchup onto his plate near his barbecued curly fries. Then his face suddenly grew serious, as he looked at Amanda. “So, you plan on putting that pic on Facebook?”

  “Of course,” she replied, almost offended by the notion that she wouldn’t.

  “I’d suggest otherwise,” he said, in a less than humorous tone.

  “And why’s that?” asked Amanda, clearly confused from the way she stared at him. It was not like Eddy to be so offended over something so trivial.

  “Because I know she’d hate to have her picture on there,” said Eddy, sparing a glance at the waitress, seemingly not caring about the implications of this for himself. “Besides, it’s not fair, cuz she didn’t even see you take it.”

  As Amanda sat there baffled, Hazel appearing to be in deep thought, Tianna spoke up. “That’s awfully nice of you, Eddy. Usually you only think about yourself.”

  “Hey, that’s not true,” he shot back.

  “Ok, sorry,” she said. “But it just didn’t sound like you.”

  “So, you’re saying it was weird?” he asked, looking completely unoffended.

  “Definitely,” she replied, a half-formed smile on her face, as if she got a kick out of calling him strange.

  But Eddy just grinned, not a bit affected by her words. “Yeah, and so what?” he asked, with a cutting smirk, as he nudged Ian with his elbow. “At least I’m in good company.”

  Ian, who’d been quietly eating his banana pudding, coughed as Eddy’s nudge forced him to swallow faster than what was good for him, as he too quickly realized the implication of Eddy’s words. Since, no one was talking, he assumed that the focus had switched to him--and, unfortunately, it had.

  “That incident at the party was just a one time deal,” said Ian impassively, after he felt at least eight eyes bearing down on him. His unemotional tone reflected none of his inward concern. “Besides that I’ve been consistently normal.”

  The words didn’t even sound true coming out of his mouth, but apparently, Eddy realized that Ian wanted to get this topic over with, so he let the point drop. Either that or he just didn’t want the girls to see them get into an argument. Maybe a bit of both.

  Still, this didn’t mean that Eddy was done questioning him, for his focus was still sharply directed at him. “So, Ian, what’s on your mind?” he asked, after a lengthy pause. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

  Ian’s heart raced with annoyance. This sort of question was acceptable on a one-to-one basis, but in front of three girls, it was downright rude. Wiping some vanilla wafer crumbs off his chin with a red napkin, as the girls turned his way as if he were about to share a juicy secret, he replied, “Oh, you know, just the usual.” Apparently, Eddy didn’t want the girls to see this empathetic side of him so he was throwing off the attention by asking questions. It seemed to be working.

  “And that would be?” Eddy asked bluntly.

  Could he tell them that Hazel’s words about the news forecasting lightning for the next seven days unnerved him; that he fel
t bad for inviting the girls, as Jimmy looked thoroughly miserable; or that he could already picture himself being tortured by Master Thargon or freezing to death in a barren tundra? No way. So he killed the question. “I can’t say.”

  “You and your secrets,” said Eddy in mild frustration, though in reality it appeared as if he hadn’t expected Ian to say much differently, especially out in public.

  Feeling entirely relieved that Eddy was finished with the unpleasant topic, Ian, who’d been listening attentively to the ever increasing claps of thunder with a heart of fear--though he’d been pretending to be interested in the girl’s discussion about favorite Disney movies--finished his banana pudding and then drizzled some spicy barbecue sauce onto his Cajun-seasoned pork chop, before plunging his steak knife into it. It wouldn’t cut.

  Frustrated, he sliced into it vigorously, sawing back and forth impatiently. For fifteen dollars, he’d expected much better buffet food than this. Sure, it looked and smelled sumptuous, yet none of that mattered if he couldn’t even eat it. It might as well be plastic food or a lump of charcoal.

  As Eddy gave him a dry look which mocked his losing battle against the four-inch slab of meat, Ian drew forth all his strength and gave it another go.

  Yet, as he did so, the pork chop slid off his plate like it was greased with oil and landed right on his lap, covering his shirt and jeans with blotches of thick barbecue sauce. Unfortunately, this did not go unnoticed, not for even a moment.

  Amanda instantly covered her mouth in shock; Tianna stared at him with sorrow in her eyes; Eddy burst out laughing; Jimmy remained emotionless, while Hazel just shook her head at Ian in pity.

  “Better clean yourself off,” said Hazel matter-of-factly. “There’s a restroom in the back.”

  “Thanks, Hazel.” As the cheerful fiddle song ended, the musicians took up a haunting, foreboding melody the conductor announced as the Tower of the Guardians. Somehow, it fit Ian’s emotions all too perfectly. Disgusted with himself for being such a slob in front of the girls, Ian brutally skewered the pork chop with his fork and plopped it back onto his plate, before wiping off his yellow shirt and blue jeans with a couple napkins to try to get most of the sauce off them.