"He bloody what?!" Again Rex explained the Walkman. "But, but… Right, but how did Oscar get his hands on it?"
"Jack must have lost it at some point I guess"
"Jack…" Gwen went to say something, but seemed to change her mind halfway through, and just sighed instead. "Am I the only one who can't focus, Rex?"
Rex looked straight into her eyes, "I can't even think…"he perched on Gwen's desk, and rubbed his temples. He was tired, confused… "Fancy going on a date with Oscar?"
"What?!" Gwen suddenly snapped to life.
"The guy is a typical shy nerd, if you asked him out he'd tell you everything, his entire life, every secret, just in shock of an actual person asking him out,"
"Rex, don't be stupid!"
"Why, tell me one reason why that wouldn't work?"
"Well… and… oh, fuck it, I'll try and find some contact information on the poor sod," Gwen span in her chair and started to type on her computer, wishing that her dating days were behind her.
And Rex was right, Oscar didn't even seem to question how Gwen got his number, she didn't explicitly say it was a romantic date either, just it would be nice to chat… but it seemed to be enough for Oscar to barely manage to stumble out a date and time, a nice and posh romantic restaurant… at Hal's house.
Although Gwen had taken the time to absorb every detail of the house from the night before, tonight it seemed totally different. There was barely any floodlighting, and instead of having the front of the house bathed in a heavenly golden glow, the house seemed to be illuminated like a teenager holding a torch under their chin. Every rough pore of the house seemed exaggerated, causing it to look almost like the house was in a state of disrepair. There was no uptight bell boy coming to escort her, instead what looked like a retired security guard from a crappy nightclub stood by her car door, waiting for Gwen to open it. When she did, the guard whispered into his sleeve, and wondered off. She stood, bemused and lost with it all, until a tiny figure appeared through the massive doors.
"Gwen!" He shouted, waving his hand in the air. It was Oscar, still looking like a ruffled mess, his hair blowing and tangling in the breeze. "Come in!" He beckoned her in, before disappearing into the house.
Gwen laughed to herself incredulously, before following him in. The insides of the house seemed to be in an even further state of broken as the windows that Jack's helpers had burst through last night were boarded up, the floor was dirty with the tracks of army boots, and miscellaneous pieces of jewellery and watches left by the scattered guests.
"Sorry for the mess! Hal didn't really feel like it, well, he doesn't clean anyway, but he fired all the staff that do, well all the staff really apart from a few, like that security guard, and that's because I hired him this morning." He gestured around the room, rubbing his hands together nervously somehow at the same time, "to cut a long story short, you know exactly what I mean, don't you?" He asked nervously, realising he was rambling.
"Hal not take it well?"
He chuckled nervously again, in a wordless response. "Here, follow me," Oscar started to walk towards the corner of the room, where an ornate door was positioned. It laid slightly ajar, and Gwen could just about make out a small table, with some 2 long candles stood in the centre. The rest of the closed off room seeming dark in comparison.
"Listen, Oscar," Gwen tried to reach out to the man, but he was already bounding towards the door, disappearing through the crack of it. She sighed, this man, this very nice and lovely man, was going to be played.