"Shoppers. Breakfast is being served in the food court. Please calmly and respectfully make your way there when you are ready."

All of us sitting in the lobby tilted our heads to look up at the ceiling when the announcement came on. After it was over, we all lowered our chins and exchanged relieved glances as the soft electronic shopping music came back on.

I was sitting across from Elliot, who was in much better spirits.

"Guess we should get going," she said as she started to put away her bedroll. "You know, despite the fact that there's a rotting corpse just down the lane, I worked up quite the appetite in my trauma-induced sleep."

I could tell by the dryness in Elliot's tone that she was only cracking jokes to cover her fear and uncertainty about this whole thing. I'm sure reducing her old rival to a corpse was a way for her to distance herself from the horror of it all.

Deciding the most kind thing would be to change the subject, I asked her which restaurant at the food court she hoped would be up and running.

"Grape Grill or Hungry Boy would be my pick, but honestly, any of them are fine. Just let me eat."

We got up together to drop off our bedrolls in a growing stack inside an empty fountain. One of the mall cops was managing the process, making sure the piles were neat and that people were being civil.

As I added to the stack, I told Elliot that I had a hunch the Grape Grill would be open. Then I asked, "Elliot, do you know the family who runs Belaire Botanicals?"

She told me what she knew, which wasn't much since their product line was in a different category than hers. She said that what she knew of the owners was all positive.

"And you know the Belaires are the ones who provide and maintain all of the live plants in the mall."

This was something I actually didn't know until now. Sure, Ocean Park had a lot of ostentatious fake jungle decorations. Such as the three-story white palmetto statues looming over us at the moment, but there were also lots of troughs and low-rising walls filled with living plants. Not many malls were so good at keeping their live displays in such good shape.

"I ran into the owners' son, Hector, on the way back from the restrooms this morning. He was running the shop last night. I wonder if he's here alone."

Elliot made a sympathetic sound. "Poor kid." She sighed. "I guess it's not the worst thing seeing as how he was practically raised in this mall. Belaire Botanicals is one of the oldest shops. But the other retailers are already trying to call the shots and your friend could easily get overwhelmed by that."

Knowing what I did about Hector, I doubted he would be intimidated by a group of clueless adults. Still, I saw the truth in her words. Because the retailers that were the loudest and negotiated the hardest with the security guards always seemed to travel together. The majority of them were made up of middle aged women with a couple of men thrown in there. Elliot had made it clear to me on a number of occasions that she wasn't a fan of that crowd. And it was no secret that none of the managers who ran the rec spaces in Player Nexus had anything to do with this group either.

When we showed up to the food court, we found that the line to the Grape Grill wrapped around the whole room. There were stanchion belts probably borrowed from the movie theater to help keep the lines organized.

Elliot and I took our spot at the very end without any complaints. Bewildered, bored, and sleepy expressions spanned across the faces of the rest of the mall goers. I spotted a couple of Elliot's other models and waved at them. The line went slow, but the glimpses of trays that I saw leaving the Grape Grill hut seemed worth the wait.

Checkered paper trays filled with cheesy potato wedges floated along with each passerby. Tucked beside the potatoes were fresh fruit cups and securely wrapped breakfast burritos. The customers who had gotten their food shared blissful demeanors as they found their seats on the teal-upholstered dining stools peppered throughout the canteen.

When we reached the section of the line where we could grab a tray, I eagerly grabbed a faded pink one before passing it back to Elliot. The one under that was orange and a bit cracked, but I didn't care. In about fifteen minutes, there was going to be free, tasty food all over it.

I was in the middle of wondering if grape sodas were going to be a part of the limited breakfast menu when a Grape Grill employee suddenly approached us.

"Aqua Moore?"

I broke out of my reverie. "Hi. I'm Aqua."

The employee lifted up the elastic band that kept us in line. "Can you follow me please? Your friend can come too."

Hoping this little interruption wouldn't put us at the back of the line, I exchanged glances with Elliot before ducking and following the employee. He led us to a table that was far away from the rest. We were partially hidden by a cluster of life-sized urns, bursting with an arrangement of bird-of-paradise and hot pink aglaonemas.

The chairs at this little dining spot had the same teal leather upholstery, but they came with backs and armrests.

"You can have a seat. Your food will be out shortly." the waiter said right before he left.

Glad we were mostly hidden by the urns, Elliot and I tentatively took our seats.

"Any reason we might be getting special treatment?" Elliot asked me.

I shrugged. Weirder things had happened to me that morning. Whatever was coming next couldn't be too bad.

"Morning ladies!"

Bobby's cheerful whisper rang out between the pink fronds. He set down two trays before us. They were loaded with the cheesy potato wedges and fruit cups I had been seeing all morning. The big difference was the burritos replaced with breakfast burgers. My mouth watered at the sight of the fried egg dripping out from under the sesame bun.

"Straight off the griddle and just for you."

Elliot made a sound of awe. "Amazing! Thank you!" Then she looked up at Bobby and noted, "where's yours?"

"Already ate. Dig in."

He sat across from us, looking a bit tired even as he smiled. I assumed he was up at the crack of dawn cooking for all of these people.

"Bobby, this is..." I sighed in gratitude. "You didn't have to do this."

Elliot was occupied with taking her first bite, but Bobby lowered his voice as he folded his arms and braced himself on the surface of the table. "I didn't have to bring your purse back to you this morning, but I'm a gentleman like that."

I really wanted to interrogate him about that kiss joke from his letter, but held my tongue with Elliot sitting right there. Bobby seemed to read my mind, arching one of his eyebrows in quiet challenge.

I didn't push it. Instead, I thanked him and took a bite out of my burger. It was delicious.

"Damn. I forgot your drinks." Bobby groaned, hammering his closed fist against his forehead.

"Hey," I said, lowering my burger. "Are you doing all right? Did you get any sleep last night?"

Bobby stopped beating his skull and looked at me with wide eyes. I don't think he was expecting me to pick up on his exhaustion.

Glancing carefully at Elliot, he replied, "Last night was a shit show and a hot meal is one of the few things that keep people's minds off of that stuff. Don't worry about me, Aqua. I'll be fine."

That didn't really answer my question, but once again, I didn't want to push it. I was hoping Bobby could shed some light on his friend, Hector. But this clearly wasn't a good time to bring it up. By working the canteen, Bobby seemed to have given himself a purpose under these stressful conditions. I didn't want to upset that balance.

"Be right back," he said, shooting to his feet. "Elliot, what's your drink of choice?"

"Coffee and a water will be fine. Thanks, Bobby."

Bobby clapped and snapped his fingers. "No prob." Then he looked at me. "Grape Cola for you, right Aqua?"

It didn't seem fair that Bobby was doing all of this for me with bags under his eyes. Still, I nodded and smiled.

"You know me so well."

He winked right before taking off.

"Remind me to never come here without you," Elliot muttered in between bites. I tried to blow off the encounter as nothing special, but the truth was, Bobby had made me feel special. And he was right. The hot meal was taking my mind off of the horrible situation we were in.

I enjoyed a few seconds of burger-filled bliss before my denim shorts started buzzing. I looked up at Elliot to gauge whether her device was going off too. Judging by the way she had broken her chewing, I assumed the answer was no.

I was careful to extract the pager from my pocket without her noticing. Once I silenced the buzzer, I looked down at my lap and read the message.

[ m o v e _ h e r ]

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