CHAPTER XVII

On Saturday night, Josh is staring at the room dully. Supposedly, right now he is scouting the Succubus to catch Miss Wilde red-handed. Although he is actually unsure what the woman is hiding, maybe something uninteresting, just looking for a date like Aidan said. At least, if he went out with Aidan, they could do something else that would be interesting for both of them. Meanwhile, Aidan is probably having fun with the members of his drama club. In fact, Josh had hoped that Aidan would be bored with the club's activities and chose to be with him.

Bored, Josh comes out of the room and goes down to the kitchen.

"Uncle! Don't you have something worth eating? ”Josh shouts, staring at the refrigerator, which contains only few cans of coke, milk with an open cardboard box, and some canned tuna. Not even frozen pizza's there.

"Dunno!" replies his uncle from the hall.

Josh replies irritably. "I'm going to Big G!" he exclaims as he walks out of the kitchen door.

"What did you say?" Uncle Zac looks into the kitchen to confirm Josh's words, but the young man had disappeared from the kitchen. From the window, Uncle Zac can see the image of Josh picking up a bicycle and pedaling out of the yard.

While passing the Succubus to The Cook, Josh tries to see the situation inside. The succubus looks quiet because it is still 20:00 in the evening, only few visitors are seen. After making sure that what he is looking for is not there, he continues to The Cook. Unlike Succubus, The Cook is full of visitors. On a Saturday night like this, more travelers cross the Mountain Side.

Josh enters The Cook and immediately looks for an empty spot. His eyes falls on the figure of a petite girl who is talking privately with a young man he knows very well. Josh stares at them through the door, but someone who is about to enter deliberately urges him not to block the way. Seeing the two people alone without the rest of the drama club members, Josh's appetite fades, giving way to anger.

Is that what's called drama club familiarity, just the two of you? Where are the others? Did Aidan choose to sit alone with a girl rather than go scouting the Succubus with him? Is this the time when a girl gets between them and smashes everything? In fact, Aidan dares to take the girl to The Cook, their favorite place, a place that the teenagers on the Mountain Side are unlikely to go to. Josh rushes out of The Cook by slamming the door, making people sitting nearby frown in confusion.

***

Amber sticks her head out so she can see more clearly toward the door. Apparently, she kind of sees Josh coming out of The Cook earlier. However, there is no way that young man could be here. Even so, that tall body figure couldn't be wrong. D’oh, does she now recognize all the tall boys as Josh?

"What’s wrong?" asks Aidan, turning his head to what Amber sees.

"No, I think I saw someone earlier, it seems like I was wrong." Amber turns on the cellphone screen, there is no message from Patty. "Why haven't Patty and the others here yet? In fact, it's already late. This afternoon after practice, I clearly asked her to come at half past eight."

"Is she always like this, being late?"

"Nope. Even if she is, she wouldn’t be this late. Why aren't the others here yet?"

"You told the other members we met at half past eight too, right?"

"I did. I asked Patty to tell the others. Ah, there they are." Amber waves at Patty who just walked in, followed by the drama club members behind her.

“Sorry, sorry, I had something to do. So, I couldn’t come right away,” Patty says, while taking a seat next to Amber.

Several club members throw a look at Patty in confusion. What’s with the apology? They do come on time, as they were told. Noah, who is standing closest to Patty, is about to ask her, but Patty gives him a fierce look. Amber looks suspiciously at her friend's behavior, she must have deliberately arrived late and dragged all the club members.

***