Page 28 of Marked by the Demigod

Aimes deliberately eats one of her fried pickles, the back of her neck feeling like whoever it is is staring a hole into her. "Sure, it's good for you." She risks a glance behind her, doesn't see anyone. "Besides, it could be fun. You like the hanging out?"

Trixie nods, staring down at her food. "Yeah, he's interesting. Has other friends, so it wouldn't be just me. That's...that's good, right?"

Sometimes the depth of Trixie's lack of experience floors Aimes. "Yeah, that's good, that means you won't get sick of each other." She takes a bite again, struck with the sudden thought about how she has no clue if Jake has any friends.

She scowls into her pickles, then forcibly relaxes her face, one muscle at a time, in time to see Trixie raise an eyebrow.

"Hey Aimes," she dips her voice down, "there's this guy staring..."

Of course. "Great." She picks at her pickles. "Remember how I mentioned this?"

Trixie doesn't stop staring over her shoulder. "Aimes ---" She reaches out and grips her wrist and --

A flurry of motion, and someone's hands slam on the table, and they both jump.

His face, too close to Aimes, jolts closer. "What did you do?" The man snarls. His skin is pasty, too white, too uneven, like he had a childhood with bad acne.

Aimes scoots back in the booth, and the man stands up straight, face full of fury.

There's a moment of shocked silence, when nobody moves, and Trixie's hand is tight over her wrist. The waitress stares at them from behind the bar, her order pad clutched to her chest, eyes wide. From behind the kitchen, the dishwasher comes out, keeping an obvious eye on the situation.

The man's eyes flicker back and forth between Aimes and Trixie, eyes moving too fast, as if he’s high out of his mind.

Trixie clears her throat, and Aimes jumps again. "I think, sir, I think you got the wrong table." Her voice wavers with a hint of confusion.

The man stares her down, and she shrinks a bit in the booth. "Do you know who she is?" He demands. Even his voice is rough.

Sir," Aimes starts, heart pounding in the back of her throat, "Whatever you're thinking, you're probably wrong, it's..." She looks at Trixie, whose face is ashen, "it's a misunderstanding."

The man just stands there, his face angry, for a few seconds too long. "A misunderstanding." He says, flat, like she’s the biggest bullshitter ever.

Trixie's hand tightens around her wrist, but Aimes ignores it, instead deliberately making eye contact with the man. "I can call Katya --"

And he punches her in the face.

Later, she will reflect that it was probably hilarious looking to outsiders, but in the moment it just fucking hurts. Her head snaps back, her nose crunching. Trixie screams and grabs her beer and throws it in the man's face.

He sputters, and the dishwasher vaults over the bar, grabbing the man by the arms and holding them down.

Blood starting to leak down her lip, Aimes tilts her head back. "Oh my god." Her lip goes numb, puffy. "Oh my god."

The dishwasher scuffles, and he and the man disappear outside. The waitress rushes to the table with extra napkins, which Aimes clutches to her nose.

Trixie twists her head to face her, her eyes so wide she can see the whites all around. "Aimes, Aimes, oh my god."

Aimes nods, feeling her hands start to shake. "Um."

* * *

Somewhere in the mess,the waitress calls the police, and they sit Aimes and Trixie down in the back and ask a shit ton of questions. A nurse dabs at Aimes's nose and declares it somehow not broken, though her lip is split open.

Trixie's shaking harder than Aimes, and everything feels so surreal, so awful, and there's blood all over Aimes's shirt and the waitress comps their meal and gives them both gift cards and Aimes isn't sure she breathes during any of it.

After a few minutes of annoying questions, Katya breezes in, barely giving Aimes a glance as she does, but giving the police a quick clean smile. "Hello, Officer Daniel," she says, extending her hand for a shake.

The officer writing stuff down sighs, somehow relieved. "This one of your guys?"

"Fraid so, Officer. May I," she gestures to Aimes and Trixie, and the officer nods.

---