Chapter 8
In the evening at the warehouse, Nick had offered the team to stay there and have all dinner together. Along with his brother, they turned on the grill to prepare fish and meat for their teammates that decided to stay. Robbie and Marcela were the only ones to have left due to other issues. Xander stood back with the team as well and sat at the table as well with Don, Claire, and Ayesha. Currently, the four had shared on their plate a filet of a fish, that Claire claimed to have caught by herself on the sea and had left the grill a couple of minutes ago.
"Never ate a deathfish before. It really does taste unique," Commented Xander making Don nod.
"I heard there is a myth, that there is a fruit, they call the fruit of life, you can get from a specific flower if you grow it with patience and when you cook it together with this fish, you can obtain youth from it. Had anyone read that story once?" Questioned Don making the trio shake their heads.
"I heard it's hard to cook and it only takes the greatest chefs to make it good," Stated Claire. "I think it had something to do with both having an opposite flavor or it being a mixture that's not quite decent for each other,"
"Not decent in like the pizza Hawaii one?" Questioned Xander making Don snort.
"Please don't talk about pizza with ananas ever again. I had dated once a woman, who liked that. I tasted it myself to let her know, what I really thought about it. It's not that bad, but it just doesn't fit. I can't accept that," Don said making Ayesha chuckle.
"Where did you get the fish? You don't find them in our waters," Asked the raven-haired woman, and Claire pointed at the path, which led to the cemetery.
"They're only there at the pond of the cemetery," Commented Claire. "One reportage about the fish got me curious and I went there for a few times at night to try to catch it,"
"Are they hard to catch?" Questioned Xander making Claire shrug her shoulders.
"It's hard to tell. What makes it more challenging is, that it happens at night, and the vision isn't that good. If you happen to have as a bait angel fish meat, you might have it easier," The redhead explained making Xander nod.
"Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you, Ayesha and I saw this girl you like at the streets and she told us to greet you," Mentioned Xander making Claire tilt her head unsure about, who she meant.
"He means, that we saw River McIrish. He had almost hit her," Mentioned Ayesha making Don chuckle.
"Hey, she was on the sidewalk first when I spotted her," Complained Xander then Ayesha raised her hand to continue the plot.
"We had stopped, then I spoke to him about something and she happened to step on the road assuming we were standing," Mentioned Ayesha. "The fault goes on us two,"
"Oh, she recognized you because of the van, right?" Questioned Claire making Ayesha nod. "Thank you, greet her back from me, if you happen to see her again by coincidence. Otherwise, I may visit her, when I have time,"
"Sure," Responded Ayesha, then watched Xander cough and look down at the table making the others curious afterward he returned and took his glass of water to drink.
"WhoaI wasn't expecting to find a big splinter," Commented Xander surprised making Claire nod.
"Some parts resemble the cod's body," Stated Claire making Xander nod.
"By the way, just curious. How long do you know that girl there from school? Arent you two like 20 years away from each other?"
"It's a little sad story. For her, mostly," Claire began as she put her cutlery down to explain the story. "It was around 8 years ago, maybe 9. She was still a child and I was living in Sunset Valley for a couple of weeks only. I had been at the beach fishing late into the night and I happen to hear screaming. I had gotten a little worried and analyzed the surroundings and spotted a little girl running in my direction with a scarred face. I dropped my rod and asked the girl if she was alright. She tried to explain more or less, what was going on. From what I could understand on that part was, her mother and her ran away from home because they have been victims of domestic violence by the father. I informed the police afterward and came to look for the mother along with the girl. We had found her, and she confessed to having seen her husband fall down the cliff. I offered the two to come to my house, while we waited for the police. The police had to search through the town for the man, cause he seemed to have vanished from that cliff. He didn't come so far and was found by the other end of the beach near the Wolff manor, dead," Commented Claire. "According to autopsies, he suffocated on his own vomit,"
"Vomit….wait, wasn't he an alcoholic? I heard something like that years ago,"
"Yeah he was one," Commented Claire. "Seeing, that both women had been left in shock I offered them my phone number so they could talk whenever they needed. We became all friends with the time and Fiona would drop River once in a while at my house when she had to leave for work. River and I had been together for so long, that she practically was like my daughter. Despite the past, she turned into a friendly girl with a heart to spread kindness all over the place. She sometimes visits the pediatric hospital to paint or play with them,"
"That's cute," Commented Ayesha making Don nod.
"Does she get paid for that?" Questioned Xander watching Claire shake her head. "Kind of a waste of time,"
"There are people out there, that don't mind. Entertaining children at a hospital doesn't sound that hard," Mentioned Ayesha making Xander nod. "See how the actor Johnny Sims entertains random hospitals as a pirate,"
"Talking about pirates. I once dates back about a year ago two Latinas, that were from Barnacle Bay, that one island founded by pirates. The oldest sister was named Nina and she had once a job at the pediatric hospital. This story is awkward. I dated her for like three months and I visited her a few times at the work,"
"Okay, go on" Spoke Xander making Bert chuckle at the grill.
"Is it the story you two wrapped each other up in a restroom?" Questioned Bert making Don nod.
"Yeah. One short ride in the cabin and to our misfortune, her boss happened to be near and caught us," Responded Don. "Nina lost her job. I was forbidden to get in there, she left me on that day…."
"And days later he was banging on the door of her twin sister," Added Bert making Xander drop his chin.
"Yeah and man, compared to her sister, she was a beast!" Chanted Don. "She was a head shorter than me, but you had to see her in the bedroom. That's when the party got really started,"
"She topped?" Questioned Xander curious, while Ayesha covered her forehead from their inappropriate conversation.
"Yes, and sometimes she had made at the salon those duo-colored french nails and when she would claw on you…rawr!" Hissed Don followed by Claire pushing her beanie down to overhear the odd conversation.
"What happened afterward?" Questioned Xander. "Weren't you able to keep up with her?" The group began to laugh at Xander's ask, while Don felt a little embarrassed.
"Of c…course not!" Responded Don. "We happened to have a lot in common. But despite that, we had a lot of arguments about various things. Things that didn't even matter. Someday I found a woman named Luisa, got my hands on her, days later I got my ass kicked and I left for a while to clean my mind,"
"The Calientes sound like the Frio brothers. I had dated one of them and things didn't go well and I ended up staying pregnant with his child," Claire mentioned. "So far he's not aware of our daughter's existence. I'm thinking about at least telling him, that she exists. She obviously looks just like him. Soon or later he or others might question her father's origins and see Jared is the dad,"
"Jared Frio?" Questioned Xander curious making Claire nod. "I think he's dating another girl now,"
"Yes, Madison my roommate," Mentioned Ayesha upon recognizing the man's name.
"Weird to know, when an ex is dating someone else," Commented Bert bringing the plate with fish to the table.
"Yes, this reminds me, I heard from Robbie, Dina grabbed herself at the bar she's employed at a military guy who is also one of the jet fighters of Sunset Valley. We all know chicks dig pilots, mostly from the army,"
"Women like guys with a steady hand," Commented Bert with a wink, making Xander chuckle. "And more hair," Bert joked passing his hand over the newbie's head.
"Wanna know the real story, why my head is shaved? I think you will like it," Questioned Xander making Don and Ayesha curious.
"I assumed that this was your kind of hairstyle, but if there's a story behind it, I'd be curious to hear about it," Stated Ayesha while Don nodded.
"My bet is he lost a challenge and had to shave his head," Pointed Don out making Xander laugh.
"I wish it was that way, but it wasn't. You guys know the annual Springbreak in Santa Monica, California?" Asked the brunette making the team nod, afterward, Nick sat on the other side of the table between Xander and Don.
"Oh you've been there?" Questioned Nick curious. "I've heard a lot about it from other students back when I was at the school,"
"You know it's a big party and many students from all over the USA go there to have fun, go for a swim, get drunk etc. I went there with three friends and we had the greatest blast of our lives,"
"And why did your head get shaved? Were you drunk?" Questioned Claire.
"Yes, to be exact. We all were filled up too much. Funny thing, my friend Tamara woke up on a roof, while I woke up down near the pier. Our buddy Hank funnily woke up in the middle of a barrier at the highway and a truck driver woke him up. I had my head already shaved at that point and when looking for my friends throughout the day I heard from a few other guys, that were with us, that I and one of his friends played truth and dare with another crowd of students and a nerd had been dared to shave my head. Apparently, the person was scared to do that, that I apparently took guide of the razor device on my own,"
The crowd laughed at the story, then Ayesha remembered to question him something out of curiosity.
"Did your parents question you anything about it? Or did you lie about, what happened?"
"I made up an excuse, that I wanted a new hairstyle but the barber didn't do that well and I let him cut the rest. Sometime later I got this cool hat from the sports store and I've been wearing it since that issue,"
"Didn't anyone tell you, that you looked like a doofus with that head?" Questioned Bert making Xander nod.
"Well my dad, but I felt like I looked better this way. I got used to it at some point well. My hair grows quite slow and I usually trim it back to the short size,"
"One thing about this, you remind me of that boy from Holly's class with the head covered similar to you," Claire stated.
"Perhaps he had the same story as Xander," Joked Bert making the group chuckle.
"This we don't know yet. We know he's the principal's nephew and befriended with Nick's daughter. However I've been thinking about, what else should we do, if the boy doesn't show any interest in me on the said night and moves somewhere else?" Questioned the raven-haired woman, making Nick ponder about her thoughts.
"That's a good question. You cannot force him into something, cause this would raise suspects and make things worse. He had to follow someone he knows and listens to us, more or less. I'm not sure, Holly could be that person…..actually….she could do that…."
"Really sir?" Questioned Ayesha unsure. "She has always been against anything we do,"
"Asking her to be together with him and keep him away from us isn't the end of the world for her. At least the part of the two being together. I'm sure this will be accepted by her. That I'm certain!" Stated the Spaniard confidently.