~Friendships And Baptisms~

Dolores' car pulled up in front of an Italian diner they found using the Google map after driving for ten minutes. Adelina was settled in the passenger seat with her feet propped up on the dashboard. Since she said she always felt comfortable doing it, Dolores let her since they weren't travelling out of town. That could get them both in big trouble.

With a fake flourish, Dolores held open the door for Adelina as she stepped out, displaying a mock bow in response. The doorman couldn't help the grin that spread out on his face as he watched the girls in amusement.

Before they decided to come, Adelina had insisted on staying back to study at home, but Dolores, for reasons that seemed to make no sense to Adelina, used the adage 'all work and no play makes Jill a bore.' Nothing could convince her otherwise; Dolores had lost her mind. Never did Adelina dream that her best friend would ditch after school study and assignment for fun time in an eatery.

"Come on, stop staring at me like that." Dolores nudged Adelina who wouldn't stop gaping with her jaws kissing the floor for the umpteenth time.

She closed her mouth in response. "You don't get it yet, do you? You are literally a book worm, that is, you eat up books but right now, I don't see you throwing a dramatic fit about wanting to go home to study today." She paused to see if Dolores understood what she was getting at but the poor girl shook her head helplessly.

Dolores avoided going in between a couple holding hands before giving her reply. "I want to give my brain the nicest treat it deserves by making it rest for some time. Right after this, we are going home with fresh rejuvenated heads. You'll thank me after this."

The greater percentage of the eatery's visitors were young people who looked to be between the age group of fourteen and sixteen while the others looked like young adults in senior high school or college, then older men and women.

After roaming about for a space to sit, Dolores and Adelina finally settled on a table in a corner of the eatery which was private as it only had two seats and most importantly, could give them a clear view of their car and the things going on outside the transparent walls. In a few seconds, a red haired waitress stopped by their table with two menus in her hands.

"Welcome to L'Aquila, make a pick from these and when you decide, I'll be right here to take your order."

"Thank you." Dolores found the lady's accent endearing, so she smiled at her. She turned to Adelina after the waitress sashayed back to wherever she had come. "I'm thinking we should order some crab soup. I'm craving some of those." She skimmed through the menu book she was holding.

"Let's order something else. You know nothing beats a good old traditional Italian meal. Spaghetti squash soup and sausage, how does that sound?" Adelina replied with a cocked eyebrow in a tease.

"That delivers a good blow to your taste buds, I guess. We'll just take that then." Dolores finalized before motioning to the waitress.

After the waitress had gone to prepare their meals, the two girls leaned forward in their seats in a conspiratory action to pass away time by pointing out specific things and people just for the sheer fun of it. Dolores looked at the table a few feet away from where they sat whose occupants were laughing away with reckless abandon.

Feeling curious, she turned to her best friend who was staring at her phone. "Hey, Adelina. What do you think those guys are talking about?"

She gave a confused look. "I think they're talking about you minding your business?"

"Is that what they're talking about? Minding my-- oh, I get it now." Her eyes widened in the realization of what Adelina meant.

For a few minutes, they didn't say a word to each other because Adelina was glued to her phone and she, on the other hand, had nothing interesting to say to distract her.

The door swished open and a couple who looked to be around their mid twenties walked in with an arm around each other. It reminded Dolores of college relationships; the type she knew she couldn't afford because of her extreme clumsiness and how socially awkward she was everytime she was at a social gathering. Socializing had never been her thing and no matter how much she tried to force herself, it ended in a complete disaster.

"Hey, Lina. What about you and Grayson?"

"Grayson who?" Adelina asked with her face contorted in confusion.

"Oh my word, Lina! You guys stopped going out together? But you promised." Dolores slapped her arm hard.

Adelina quickly retracted her body from leaning on the table to avoid more slaps. "We just wanted to take things slow. He's even more of a gentle man than I thought."

Dolores let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I was scared you had given the poor boy a heartbreak al--" The noise level coming from across the room increased, distracting her.

It was coming from the table where the group of teenagers sat. "What is going on there?" She asked to no one in particular with thoughts of Grayson and Adelina discarded.

Her focus was on the table of the young teenagers who appeared to be calling out someone from amidst them. She tried to make out the words they were saying but they were all speaking at the same time. It was rowdy.

However, what she could make out was a blonde in the middle sitting with a smirk on her face as she directed her gaze to another girl in front of her. Her lips moved and Dolores read the words 'Bloody liar'. The one she was speaking to stood up with her arms raised probably in a bid to explain herself in defense. Dolores saw the blonde flick her head to the side and a bowl of soup appeared from nowhere,  toppling over the girl's head and soaking her black jacket. The bowl then clattered to the floor.

That seemed to get the attention of most people in the eatery. The assaulted was frozen in place for a few seconds before she grabbed her purse and stormed away in tears and anger. An older man approached the table, speaking to the rest of them for a few seconds before walking away.

The scenario reminded Dolores of her own situation with bullies and her heart clenched painfully. She got up, taking hurried steps towards the door to see if she could still meet up the girl before she got out and into a taxi.

"Hey, where are you going?"

She heard Adelina's question but she didn't want to waste time answering. They could talk after she got back from speaking to the offended girl. She looked again and saw that the girl was almost at the door. She quickened her pace then caught up with her. Impulsively, she reached out to grab her arm.

"Don't touch me." As the girl swung around, she whipped her head causing some drops of soup to fly all over the place from her hair. Instead of brown, her hair was now the color of mahogany wood as the soup dripped onto her outfit. The white top she wore underneath the black jacket was stained with soup and clinging to her skin. Her eyes burned with fury, shame and betrayal.

Dolores figured it was one of those junior high school friendships that ended in a big fail. They most times didn't end up well because as soon as they move to a higher class, one of them starts to give an entirely different vibe to the other person. It was hectic.

She reached out to touch the girl again. "Calm down. I saw what happened and--" What did she even want to say to the girl at this point to make her calm? The anger radiating off the girl was enough to make her back down but she didn't want to.

"There's something called personal space and you're crossing that line. Besides, whatever happened is none of your fucking business."

She opened her mouth but the girl beat her to it. "Do you know me? Have you met me before? No! So stay the hell away from me. It's what you all do while pretending to have the person's interests at heart then you proceed to rip their hearts right out of their chests when they least suspect it." She spoke every word with bitter hate laced in her tone.

To Dolores, it sounded like the exact thing that happened between her and the other kids at the table. It was a pretty messed up thing to do.

The aggravated girl yanked her hands right out of her grip then stormed out of the eatery through the glass doors. Dolores felt torn apart for how broken the poor girl was with the mean treatments she had gotten from the people she once called friends.

A few people brushed past her as she stood in the aisle and she recognized only one of them. It was the blonde who had authorized the soup baptism they had performed on the girl. She turned back to her seat to find Adelina with a shocked expression on her face.

"Whoever did that to her must be a sick psychopath. Why did you have to pour soup on a person? Why not water or nothing at all?" Her hands tightened to a fist in anger. She looked like she was ready to go meet them and talk with her fists.

Dolores was grateful for the divert when the waitress stepped out with their order. "We deeply apologize for the delay."

"It's fine. Thank you." She waved the waitress away absentmindedly.

~~~{•}~~~

I think daily updates is working for me and since I'm working hard at finishing the book on time, why not?

Hands up if you agree that some people are born jerks *raises hand*
I'm glad we're on the same team.
Don't forget to vote on this chapter if it was your favorite.

~~Tequila~~