Chapter 61

Lightweights were individuals that got drunk very easily. A sip or two could get them tipsy. A whole glass rendered them piss drunk.

Mary and Owen were the complete opposite spectrum. When they drank, they drank a lot only because the buzz they received was minimal. In thirty minutes, two bottles were already finished. A third bottle was to come. 

"Ha! Trust me, he thinks he's a mastermind but he's the furthest thing from. Better to call him a dumbass carried by gangsters," Mary said, swirling the remnants of her whiskey in her glass.

"Said dumbass got you deported."

"I call it a stylish escape."

"He got you though," he teased 

"That was only because of Lola! That chick had me travel to fucking San Sebastián to help her with her company. If I hadn't gone there, my people would have been able to warn me in time."

"Help?" he repeated, concerned. "Lola? What happened?"

"Something, something, company was losing customers to a new competitor and investors were about to lay off the employees, including a friend."

This was news to him. "What did you do?"

Mary leaned back and sneaked a glance over her shoulder. Eyes returning, she replied, "I bought the company. Duh."

The waiter came by and put down the bottle. Meanwhile, Mary kept her eyes discreetly over her shoulder. Owen filled up the goblet and his with the bottle and promptly drank. "What's up?"

Mary didn't respond, so Owen followed her gaze. A well-dressed couple sitting at the table in front of him—or for Mary, directly behind. They were both dressed impeccably, with the blond man sporting a tailored suit and the woman adorned in an elegant red gown. A guest ran over for a selfie with the dark-haired man.

"I love your channel," said the guest, jogging shortly after the selfie.

Ah. They must have been WuTubers. Mary didn't say anything and simply watched. Owen did the same. "I don't recognize them," Owen muttered. Neither did Mary who finally looked back.

"Same. Let's just drink."

Mary took the goblet and drank. Then, smirking, she leaned over and had Owen drink it without him touching it. As the drink left his lips, he sighed.

The sense of satisfaction was abruptly ended by a nosy clearing of the throat.

"Ahem, excuse me." It was the presumed WuTuber woman, her body turned toward them, her expression flat. Her make-up was heavy and dolled up. Long eyelashes, faux freckles, winged eyeliner, and a septum piercing. "We were hoping you could keep it down. We're trying to record a video of our food."

"We weren't loud," Mary said. "But sure, we'll keep quiet."

The female WuTuber smiled. She ran a hand down her black hair, specifically smoothing out the dyed strands of green. "No, you were definitely being loud."

Mary looked back and met her gaze head-on. "Excuse me?"

"You were being loud," came the voice of the male WuTuber. His voice was deep and projected across the table clearly. His blonde hair was wavy like a surfer boy's. "Sorry."

"Our bad," Owen interjected. "We'll try and keep quiet."

Mary looked pissed. If Owen hadn't been holding her hand, she probably would have slapped the shit of the WuTuber chick. He sighed once the couple began recording their video again. They looked eerily familiar to him, both of them.

'Isabella would know,' he thought. 'But I'm not her so let's just drink.'

He offered the goblet to Mary who drank the whole thing and gestured for a refill. He obliged. 

Mary put her arms on the table and said, "You ever think about how fucking stupid streaming is?"

"Huh?"

"You go online, make yourself look like a hooligan, all for the sake of having money thrown at you. It's no different than a monkey in a zoo." Pause. "Actually, you could say that for singing and dancing too. When you think about it, it's really damn goofy."

"Sorry," interjected the black-haired woman behind Mary. "Just a liiiittle quieter. Thank you."

At this point, Owen and Mary shared a confused look. She wasn't even loud that time.

"Talk about sensitive," Mary muttered.

"I know right. Maybe a puff of weed would help."

They listened to their neighbours finalize the video and discuss posting it on Insta. Their names were Emily and Kenward. 

"A couple of Es," Owen joked.

Mary snorted. Since the video was done, her volume resumed to normal. "Oh, by the way…" She took a thick pen-shaped object out from her handbag. "We should try this."

"E-cigarettes, huh?" It was what Mary bought at the gas station.

"The cool kids term is vaping."

"You're acting like we're not young..."

"Point is: want to try it out?"

Owen didn't think twice about it. "Hell yeah."

Way back in the day, he and Mary used to go out and do cigarettes and weed. Typical teenager activities that they put behind them. However, that didn't mean they couldn't indulge every once in a while. 

"Excuse me," said Emily, turning over to them in concern, "vaping isn't allowed."

Mary looked back at her and frowned. "Okay."

"Just saying," Emily said. "It's bad for your health."

"Right." Mary went back to Owen, irritated. The only reason she wasn't snarkily starting an argument was because Owen was shaking his head and holding her hand. "Anyway…just letting you know, vape has a lot of flavours. Hundreds, I think."

"I've read stuff on it. It's way more addicting than weed or cigs," Owen said. "Imagine if this existed when we were young…man."

Back when Owen was on the streets doing gang shit, he saw some people do vaping. Not a lot though. At the time, he thought it was a fad. But in the past two years, vaping exploded in popularity. 

"My crippling addiction would have been chronic. Like seriously, they have fucking liquid gold and gummy bear." Mary's beautiful smile fell the moment someone else butted in.

"Um, that's—"

"I don't give a shit." Mary snapped toward the girly voice. "I'm trying to have a conversation here. Can't you keep quiet for five seconds? Christ." Huffing, Mary put the vape away and sipped on the goblet again. Her cheeks were beginning to redden. She was almost drunk. Almost. 

"Dude." The deep-voiced WuTuber, Kenward, glared at her, then Owen. "Tell your girl to chill."

"I can speak for myself, thank you very much." Mary sneered. "What, do you think your deep voice makes the ladies shudder and the guys piss themselves? You're a chronic chainsmoker, relax with that tough guy shit."

The other tables were beginning to catch wind of the argument. So far, Mary had been quiet but thick with malice. The WuTubers were equally uncomfortable as they were irritated.

"Hey, waitress," Mary called over. Not knowing what was going on, the waitress came. "Get a pack of cigarettes for that guy over there. He looks like he needs it."

More pissed off than Mr. Deep Voice was his girlfriend. She turned her chair around, halfway facing Mary. "What's your problem?" she hissed.

"What? I'm being generous. Don't tell me you don't spoil your boyfriend? Gosh, a stranger outdoing the lover." Mary laughed and pulled back to their table, back turned to her and smiling at Owen. "You hear that? I bet the boyfriend pays for her make-up, gifts, and clothes, and then gaslights him into doing all the housework too. What a leech."

"Emily—"

Mary must have really struck a nerve because Kenward was actually reaching out in concern. Too late. Emily got up from her seat, marched up to the waitress, and pointed right at the dark-haired demon.

"These people have been bothering us," Emily explained, stopping only to glare at Mary. "You heard her, didn't you? We were having a great time when she randomly started hurling insults at us!"

Mary calmly sipped on her drink. "Pussy."

Silence echoed throughout the establishment.