Contempt

“Wait, what happened?” Charlotte said with her mouth wide open.

I readjusted myself so that I was leaning over our restaurant table. I pursed my lips recollecting my thoughts before I began to speak again, “Well, it was the day you left for work and I didn’t go to my shift,”

“Jeez, this story is from that long ago?”

“That was only four days ago.”

She took a moment to think and looked back to me.

“Either way,” I began, “I was feeling lonely and really depressed that day, so I decided to invite Kyo over. We had some nice conversation for a while and shared a few drinks. It felt nice to have a day to myself. After our conversation ended, things got a little,” I paused to think of the right word to describe what happened. I still wasn’t quite sure what it was.

“Steamy? Hot? Spicy?” Charlotte added in for me

“Yeah, after things got a little… steamy, May ended up waling in on us in the living room and throwing a bit fit. I don’t know what it was over really, it wasn’t that bad. We were fully dressed and we have known her for ages. I never really liked her that much because she was so nosey and always in my business, but I never had the heart to tell her. I figured it wouldn’t be a bad thing to keep her around, she was a good friend when we were younger.”

“What did she say when she walked in on you two? Was it anything specific?”

“No, just that she deserved better and I was being a bad friend. She never flaunted guys in front of us or ignored our calls – the usual things.”

“She never had any guys to flaunt in front of us, they all realized she was crazy within half a second of meeting her.”

We both shared a laugh, partially because it was gossip and partially because it was true. She really was nuts, I just wish we had seen the signs of it earlier. They got so much worse as she aged, and I’m scared to see what they’ll turn into in the coming years. I almost feel bad for bringing all of the Dir en grey guys into this, but it is also partially their fault for staying with us. In their busy schedule they always found the time to call us or go out for a quick bite to eat together. It was sweet, Charlotte was my only close friend I have ever had for a long time. But I’m not complaining, I could have found more people like May out there who will stab you when you are sleeping for not answering the door. I can barely handle one, I wouldn’t know what to do with more.

“Hold on,” Charlotte muttered, breaking my train of thought, “How did she get in the house? I locked the door and I am sure you did too after Kyo came.”

I rolled my eyes and spat out my reply, “She claims she had a key, but Lord knows where she got it from. I don’t remember ever giving her anything. Let alone a key to our new apartment. We just moved here to get our restaurant up and running.”

She knitted her eyebrows in concern, but left the table in a fluid motion. “I know it’s a slow night here, but I still need to wait tables for a few more minutes. I’ll take this guy since you worked on it last time.”

“Alright, thanks Char.” I forgot anyone was in here. If I had known, I probably would have been talking quieter. It was a Wednesday night and there were only a few people eating here. Every few minutes or so we would walk a few hundred feet to check on the customers and then return to our gossip. If our business we have together fails, I don’t know if I could work without Charlotte. I’m not sure if I could do anything without her, actually.

The bell on our restaurant’s front door jingled repeatedly as a big party of people came through. I dreaded getting up to seat them, the last thing I wanted to do was work right now. I sighed and neared my way towards the door, only to be greeted by a frail and feminine figure, Shinya. He quietly nodded his head and smiled.

The rest of his group followed behind, Toshiya, Die, Kyo and Kaoru. They all gave me waves and hugs before walking over to Charlotte to greet her too – while she was still serving the other customer.

She fumbled with her paper and pen while trying to write down an order for dessert and hug five people at the same time.

We all made our way to the table Charlotte and I resided at earlier. It was a lonely table in the corner of the restaurant, one anyone hardly ever sat at.

“What are all you guys doing here?” I asked, still standing and waiting for everyone to get situated so I could sit down as well.

“Well, we hadn’t been here in a long while, and we thought it’d be nice to pay you girls a visit while you worked. Our job is hard enough and we can’t imagine what it’s like to have a real job.” Kaoru laughed at his remark as he walked by me.

“Isn’t this the same table you left Toshiya at drunk on his birthday?” Charlotte asked, quickly surveying the restaurant

Kaoru and Shinya looked at each other and quietly chuckled while Toshiya sunk in his seat in shame.

As I moved to finally sit down, I noticed there was a misplaced fork beneath the table. “Ew, who knows how long this gross thing has been down here?” I said to myself as I bent to fetch the astray utensil.

As my crop top lifted from my back, I felt a finger run up it, tracing a line. I shot up, partially hitting my head on the table.

“Audrey,” Die began, “What’s this thing going up your back?

I rubbed my head and looked at Die confused for a few seconds. “Oh,” I sighed, “Are you talking about the white line near my spine?”

He nodded his head as the rest of the members leaned in to see what was going on.

“I can’t believe I’ve never noticed it before” Kaoru said, examining me. I moved awkwardly to try to shift everyone’s focus away from me.

“I’ve had it ever since I was a teenager. I got it through some sort of crazy accident. You know, just being stupid.”

“It must have been serious, it looks pretty deep” Shinya gawked

I nervously shifted from one foot to the other. “I’m going to go check on the other guest really quick to see if he is doing alright and make sure his order was placed.” I glared to Charlotte before leaving. I would use any excuse to get out of there, I hate talking about myself.

Everyone at the table looked around and gravitated towards Charlotte in my absence

“What kind of crazy accident could have caused a scar that serious?” Die asked while resting the side of his shoulder on Charlotte’s

“She really doesn’t like to talk about it,” her eyes roamed the group and made sure whatever she said stayed within the invisible barricades around the table, “but it’s actually from May.”

“The psycho friend who walked in on Audrey and I making out?” Kyo asked, finally contributing to conversation

The focus momentarily moved to Kyo. “Wait, what happened?” Toshiya asked with a disgusted look on his face

Charlotte waved her hands in the air, “That’s not the point right now. You two can say whatever you want about it later. The real point is that May is a childhood friend of ours. We used to hang out ever since we were in grade school. I wasn’t there when it happened, but from Audrey’s word, apparently May had some sort of breakdown and Audrey was pushed into a barbed wire fence. May beat her up a little bit and her back got destroyed from the spikes. She came home with a bloody nose and bandages all over her torso. She refused to go to the hospital, she insisted nothing was wrong. I was lucky enough to get that story out of her. Who knows what else happened, she can be so modest sometimes.”

Shinya’s eyebrows rose in horror, “How could anyone do that to her? She is so sweet.”

“I’ve never been able to figure it out myself, but Audrey has always kept her around. I don’t know why she hasn’t fought back.”

“If she doesn’t do something soon I’m going to beat the shit out of May for her.” Kyo snarled

Charlottes opened her eyes as wide as they could go, “No!” She yelled, “You can’t let her know I told you any of this. She will be so mad and probably kill me instead of May.”

I tapped my pen on my finger as I returned to the table, hoping the topic was dropped. I’d rather talk about anything than me – maybe even politics.

As soon as I returned, Die got up and gave me a big hug. I was horribly confused, but I didn’t know what else to do so I hugged him back.

“Thank you, Die” I stuttered, “It’s nice to see you too.”

Everyone looked at me and flashed me a shaky smile. They all looked like they were hiding something; except for Kyo, he was picking at his fingernails. “Charlotte, what the hell happened?” I anxiously inquired. “Please don’t tell me-”

She looked at me and gave a nervous grin while shrugging her shoulders. “You know I like to keep conversation interesting. And it was the hot topic of the moment…”

I rolled my eyes and pulled up a chair at the end of the table to sit for another wonderful evening thanks to Charlotte.