Sports Bro's First Date Ends

Meanwhile, Scarlet was moving on to the next phase of the plan, quickly bringing cleaning supplies that were “conveniently” nearby and tidying up the mess. Claire, on the other hand, was not remaining idle during the process, berating Scarlet and cursing her out with language that even Scarlet was somewhat impressed by. After the mess was clean, she apologized and began to walk away and bring another drink when Claire suddenly grabbed her arm, crushing it in her surprisingly strong grip.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Claire’s voice was like ice, sharp and cold. Scarlet pretended to look scared and anxious, but on the inside, she was unimpressed. This girl thought she was scary, but she hadn’t lived in the back alleys like Scarlet had, and nothing she could say or do would ever compare to those horrors. However, she had a job to do, so with a small and scared voice, she replied, “I’m going to go grab another drink for your friend before he comes back?”

She purposely ended her response with an inflection to subconsciously trigger a subtle challenge to the authority that Claire thought she had. Claire fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Immediately, she was yanked again by the arm still in Claire’s clutches, and she gave a soft cry in pain. Claire smirked at the sound and, with another yank, sent Scarlet further into the corner, her waist hitting the table behind her. With all the light now behind Claire, her face was bathed in shadow, lending her a more intimidating presence. Inwardly, Scarlet was not impressed with the dramatics, but outwardly she huddled in on herself to appear cowed and threatened. Claire’s smirk grew even wider, and she sneered at Scarlet before beginning a rant even Scarlet wasn’t ready for.

“You think you are all that? I bet you didn’t think I knew you did it on purpose. Did you have fun touching my boyfriend and getting him all worked up? Was that your strategy? Create an “accidental” event like some female lead from an online novel and begin a dreamy romance with them? Because it’s not happening, sweetheart. I have been chasing after him for years, and I am finally about to meet his family as a candidate for marriage! I finally pushed out that stupid Vanessa b****, and I am not going to deal with you too! I will be the lady of the family and all that it entails, no one else!”

Scarlet was both impressed and disappointed. Impressed in that she was proud she had managed to expose her true colors in such a short time, but also disappointed because that meant that her fun was coming to an end and she would need to end the date to report back to Sports Bro who was still hiding in the bathroom. With a sigh, she slowly straightened herself up and looked Claire right in the eye before calmly explaining, “Miss, I don’t know why you are ranting at me about doing this on purpose, it was an accident and I am sorry, but please stop yelling at me. I will give you the meal on the house, but please let me return back to work, I have other customers I need to serve.”

Claire, outraged by being dismissed by someone she thought of as beneath her, immediately grabbed her mixed drink and poured it not on Scarlet as she was expecting, but on herself! Scarlet watched with wide eyes as the red liquid dripped down her hair and onto her expensive outfit and the floor below. Claire immediately began wailing, and Scarlet, not wanting to miss this chance, immediately asked, “Miss, why would you do that!?” She grabbed more napkins and began trying to pat her down and clean her up while giving a subtle hand sign to Bea, who was watching everything go down in amusement from right outside the men’s bathroom door. Bea wasted no time in knocking hard on the door where she heard a quiet shout of surprise from Sports Bro. Laughing quietly to herself, Bea quickly made her escape to another darkened part of the restaurant so she could continue watching the show from afar. 

Sports Bro, finally allowed to leave the restroom, came back into the restaurant to find Claire covered in her drink wailing, Scarlet trying to dry her while avoiding her swinging arms, and patrons looking over and murmuring to each other. He quickly walked over and asked what was going on. Without hesitation, Claire immediately began telling Sports Bro that the server had poured this on her when she had been asking her to apologize when he came out and that she had been rude and condescending. With red eyes and loud wails, Claire clung to Sports Bro, looking every bit the pathetic victim. Sports Bro gingerly patted his back, realizing that his top was now also covered in drink and internally happy he wore clothes he wasn’t very fond of, like Scarlet had suggested. He glanced at Scarlet, hoping for some indication as to what should happen next. 

Scarlet was watching Claire with eyes narrowed and arms crossed, obviously displeased with something. Looking down where her gaze had wandered, he saw that there was a drink splashed all over the floor, creating quite a mess. Looking back up, he saw Scarlet watching him with her usual even gaze and, with a point of her chin, saw her gesture to the door. Clearly, she had gotten what she wanted from Claire and also wanted her out - now. Catching her drift, Sports Bro responded with a ‘sorry,’ threw some cash on the table for he ruined drinks, and quickly left the establishment. Later that evening, after he had dropped off Claire, he was stepping out of the bathroom, clean and comfortable, finally that he saw a text from Scarlet. Quickly opening his phone, he clicked on the notification and simply saw a text with a reminder for the date and time of his date with Vanessa. 

Slightly unsettled by the lack of commentary about today, he sent his acknowledgment and agreed that the second date was on. Receiving a simple thumbs up in response, he placed the phone down and once again reflected on whether this was a good idea or not. Claire had made a fuss the entire way home and demanded that they go back to get the girl fired, but he had simply responded that he wanted to let her get cleaned up before anything else. She hadn’t seemed to realize it yet, but her makeup was all messed up, and he didn’t think she would be happy to be seen like that. Sure enough, she finally had taken a second to glance at herself and had shrieked, demanding he speed up so she could get herself back in shape. Shaking his head, he decided it was best to simply stop thinking about this for now and, with that, went to bed.