It was a cuban pizza place, seemingly vintage and all three of them sat round the table, in a corner, having lunch together with cuban music playing in the background. Darcy took off his overcoat, not feeling the need of it in the warmed up pizza place. Charles took a mouthful bite of the pizza and galanced at Darcy. He was dressed in red shirt and black pants, underneath the overcoat. It was the red that caught his eye. He raised an eyebrow, chewing his pizza, still glancing at Darcy.
When Darcy sat down to cut into a slice of pizza, Colonel leaned in and muttered looking at Darcy, "The night was too good, man!"
"Yeah" Charles mumbled with his mouth full of pizza, still chewing and already halfway through.
"But I got news ya'll!" Colonel said
The waiter chipped in with three coffee cups of cappucino on a tray and placed it on the table.
"You getting married?" Charles spoke dryly.
"It's about George. Kinda about Elizabeth, I meant." Darcy glanced up at him, sharply, whilst still cutting into the pizza and took a bite
"The deal was. I had too much beer and I sorta didn' like the feeling. I thought I could puke, you know, some of it out. So, I was going to the restroom and I saw or I heard first, him and then, I heard someone yelling. I was under a lot of pressure, my belly, you know, so I wanted those people to kind of leave but I couldn't just barge in when two people are fighting. But then, in the mirror, I saw him. I couldn't see the second person, because he had blocked the view but it seemed like he was upset with something, with her. This all shouting and talking went on for maybe a good ten minutes."
"It was her, you're certain?" Darcy asked
"Believe it or not but you're the worst of us all. Darcy is meh too but there's no way, I'm trusting you. That evening, you thought the entire time it was a guy until she turned around and you saw. Your observation skills are like that of a sloth." Charles cut through.
"I heard it. He yelled Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth!" Colonel responded.
"What did he yell at her for?" Darcy asked, his eyebrows tensed. He took a sip from the cup and the cappucino was a bit too hot for his tongue.
"The music was screaming but they were talking about someone. Like a guy." Colonel tried to remember.
"Already?" Charles said
"Who?" Darcy asked
"Like he'd know. Pass me the ketchup." Charles said, stretching out his hand.
"I wanted to pee. So, I heard it for a bit but then I went off." Colonel said chewing the pizza like a kid.
"Seriously?" Darcy said
"What could I do? Been holding it for 20 solid minutes."
Nobody uttered a word. Silence had settled in the air.
Colonel continued, "Also, I am getting married, 13th of the next month."
Both Darcy and Charles looked at him, wide eyed, still not saying anything.
"It's the truth." Colonel said
That's when Colonel's phone buzzed and it was Maya.
"Hey baby." Colonel spoke, his voice just the same, not changing even a tad bit.
"Yeah yeah. No, that's under control." For some reason, he stood up and strolled around talking over the phone to her. Darcy could barely hear him. It seemed as if he was convincing her for something.
"You seem...strange?" Charles asked, nudging Darcy and
he added right after, leaving no room for Darcy to reply, "You wanna get married too?"
Darcy was almost about to choke on his drink.
"You're good at reading minds." He spoke, settling down his cup, sarcastically.
"I know. I know."
"Who's that?" A man, who had been starting intently at Darcy and thereafter, got up and headed in their direction. Charles turned around to have a look at who was Darcy pointing at.
A man, seemingly younger than both Darcy and Colonel, even Charles who was the youngest of them all.
"Hello Alejandro." Charles stood up, like a bolt, and took the man in a hug, patting him at the back loudly.
"You must be Darcy." Alejandro stretched out his hand and Darcy shook it.
"Yeah." Darcy said.
"This is the real Poldrick." Charles spoke
"Oh, the real trickster." Darcy said
"No no no no no, he is real. LEGIT. He is a fortune teller."
This was when Colonel came back with a huge loaf of bread, chewing on it.
"This is Alejandro." Charles introduced him again and just when he was about to shake hands with Colonel, his phone buzzed again and this time it was Lydia.
"Don't take it." Charles said.
"My bad, I'll be back, like the flash." Colonel didn't stand though, presumably lazy to get up again and just sat there while he picked up the call.
"Hey Lydia! Everything cool?" His demeanor changed in a second, from lazy to awake, a bit taken aback. He talked to her till he had finished chewing the entire bread.
"Okay, I'll tell him. Bye." Colonel said at last.
He put the phone down and Darcy presumed the "him" in the phrasing was most certainly him. He wondered what could she talk to Colonel about regarding him.
"Darcy, it was Lydia." Colonel said
"I saw." Darcy shot back
"We all did." Charles said.
"She wants you to go over to her house this weekend, evening."
"That's tomorrow. I hope you're not taking me. And why didn't she call Darcy? Why being such a..." Charles searched for a word, "muttonhead?"
"It's you alone, that's invited." Colonel said
"Anything special?" Darcy felt a rush of an unpleasant feeling up his back.
"The thing is. My wife. I meant, my soon to be wife demanded for a full-blown Indian wedding and she wanted to add the cocktail party as a bonus ceremony. In there, couples are gotta dance and drink and uh... you know the deal. It's ...it's a lot. So, Lydia wanted to know. About it. And because you are her boyfriend."
"I AM NOT. You believe her?" Darcy said with an assured tone infused with annoyance.
"Yeah but she has decided to go in there with you. To the ceremony, the..."
"Yeah yeah, we heard it. But what if he doesn't want to? Who is she? Catwoman?" Charles said, chewing aggressively.
Colonel said, "It's on you, Darcy."
"I've got barely any interest in her or in anyone..." Darcy spoke
"Elizabeth is coming. Tomorrow. For the dance rehearsal." Colonel said
"Also, there's some event coming round the corner. It's next week. And she wants to attend it with you." Colonel continued
"DAMN! The girl's demanding." Charles said
"Fine. I'll go." Darcy said
"Mr. Darcy..., I know I shouldn't be pitching in. But it's my duty to talk about how I feel whenever I sense something." It was Alejandro. For a while, he got invisible around those three and his voice almost made Darcy jump and everyone turned to him.
"Whoever these uh...people are. I know none of them. But I do feel that you should not go. That's the feeling I got. I guess, the feeling, it was quite gruesome. Something no one would want to go through. If your do go down this route, and if you do go to this um... Lydia's house. It will turn grey."
He snatched their attention like a monkey on a rope. None of them could fight what he had to say. But it couldn't be trusted fully either. At least, not to Darcy or Colonel.
"I don't quite know everything yet. I might know if I go into it a bit deeper. But that's all I can feel for now. It's not right, it doesn't feel right is the only thing that keeps repeating."
"Is he another Podrick?" Darcy asked Charles
"No, I told you. He. is."
"Legit, I heard it. Has he ever predicted anything that turned out to be true?"
"He told me about Maya." Colonel got in the conversation.
Darcy turned to him and then looked at Alejandro. He felt oddly uncomfortable now. Even more off when he thought about tomorrow evening, going to her house, to Lydia. Maybe he was right..maybe he wasn't. However, the question was, what would this guy, Alejandro, achieve by lying? Why would he lie? It didn't make sense. So, was it the truth?
Should he skip on tomorrow? On the one and only opportunity to see Elizabeth again? NO...he couldn't. How could he? He was dying to see her again, to touch that delicate hand again. What's the worst that could happen? Nothing would be more worse for Darcy than not being able to see her.
Darcy didn't flinch, didn't let any gust of doubt or worry change his mind even for a split second. Wherever Elizabeth was, he was bound to be. And nothing could and would ever change that. Not even the biggest fortune tellers. The worst nightmares. And in that moment, Darcy's determination seemed a bit too lofty and scary for anyone. It was unfathomable and that's why it was scary, as if not even god himself could stop him.
"Lydia? Is this about her?" Charles asked Alejandro, when no one seemed to say anything.
Alejandro paused for a bit, as if trying to remember something, "Maybe. That is unaware to me. I told you what I knew."
"Then, why would you annoy someone with your half baked story?" Darcy snapped at him
"Hey hey... Darcy, he is trying to be nice to you. He is helping you." Charles said.
"I didn't ask for it." Darcy said
"Something is going bad. Like turning rotten or venomous right now." It was at this point that Alejandro closed his eyes, trying to sense something, going deeper, as if he didn't hear what Darcy said to him.
"What?" Charles said
"Things are changing. You'll see soon, Darcy." Alejandro finished speaking and looked at Darcy.
"See what?" Darcy said impatiently
"The state you are in, it's rare. I have not come across, anyone in my entire life who is in love the way you are. I know you are deeply submerged in someone. I know you will not listen to me. You will do to soothe the fierce emotions burning within your very being, but there'll be an obstacle between you and your love. The kind which will overpower you. Even if it's for just tomorrow."
"Do you practise to talk like this?" Darcy said
"What do you mean?" Alejandro asked
"Nothing. He is kinda funny you know." Charles said to Alejandro, trying to shrug it off.
"No, I'm curious. Why do you talk in circles?" Darcy said sharply
Before Alejandro could reply, Darcy said, "And Charles, what did you tell him? What about me?"
"Darcy, you're being a pain in the ass. I told him nothing!" Charles defended himself
"Hey, you're acting different. Like a weirdo." Colonel said, who had been watching Darcy for the last ten minutes silently.
"And you're being a douche. To Alejandro." Charles said
"Fine. I'll leave." Darcy said
"Darcy! You're not going anywhere. Apologise to Alejandro." Colonel said
"Exactly." Charles said
"I'm not the one predicting nightmares. And talking philosophically." Darcy said, "but I don't care about his apology."
"And he's not apologizing to you. You will." Charles said like he was his mom
"I apologise, I shouldn't have said this. All of it. Even if it was something I sensed." Alejandro said and continued, "and I knew it would aggravate you but I had to say what I had received. It would be selfish and cowardly of me to shut my mouth even if it meant putting myself in trouble."
"Darcy, I'll accompany you if it's bothering you." Charles said
"Charles, you cannot. It's gonna be Elizabeth and George and Lydia and Darcy." Colonel said
"George?" Darcy asked
"Yeah, the dance rehearsal. You need a partner. So, you and Lydia and George with Elizabeth." Colonel said
"Freaking hell" Charles said
"I think this was what Alejandro was sensing all this time." Darcy said
It was all a mystery as to what could it be about that Alejandro had been warning against. Darcy's head was starting to feel heavy and there wasn't even any alcohol in his system. Maybe it was time to let go of everything he had heard. He knew he would go. Nothing could change that. Not even Darcy's own brain.