BRAIDED BROOD

Chapter 4

“My new grandma and my mom are the same age,” Huxley complained to his friends at the club. “At this rate, I might get myself a baby uncle.”

“That’ll make one seriously complicated family tree.” His friend laughed.

“Does he look down on me?” Huxley asked, staring at his drink. “He doesn’t seem to care about what I think. Hey, I shouldn’t just sit still and do nothing, right?”

What are you going to do then?

“The ceremony is tomorrow.” Another friend chimed in.

Huxley’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “All right, let’s shake up grandpa’s wedding. Let’s do it. Come here.” He walked toward the VIP entrance and pointed at the general doors. “I will take the first girl who walks through those doors to the wedding.”

“I really want to analyze your brain,” his friend chuckled. “What kind of thoughts do you have in there? I’m sure that girls who come here won’t be such easy catches, though.”

Huxley spoke softly to his friend. “I don’t care. It’ll be more fun if she’s a psycho.”

The club was still buzzing; people were dancing and walking here and there, but Huxley and his friends were waiting patiently, their eyes glued to the entrance.

Finally, the doors swung open.

It was Emily.

She was drenched, wearing a soaked raincoat, and carrying several pizza boxes. She shook the water off her coat, looking exhausted. “Your pizza delivery is here!” She shouted over the music.

Huxley's friends erupted into hysterical laughter. Huxley just stared, his jaw dropping. The man who ordered the pizza raised his hand to signal Emily. “That's weird. Are you sure you have come to the right place?” he asked.

“What? You ordered five pizzas,” Emily snapped.

“No, I'm talking about this.” He pointed to the ‘Special Request’ section on the receipt: SEND YOUR PRETTIEST DELIVERY GIRL.”

“Special requests are for things like: “The elevator is broken, so take the stairs. Or nobody is home, so leave it by the door. Those types of things are the only things you should be writing.” She answered with a fake smile.

“Says who? Is that a law or something? I asked the prettiest girl to deliver this, but some ugly girl like you showed up. Isn’t it only fair that I get to express my discontent as a customer?’

“You’ll be paying with a card, right? That’ll be $127,” she interrupted him.

“I’m too annoyed to eat. What will you do about it?” The man sneered. “Stop messing around and pay while I am still nice,” Emily warned.

“What the hell?” His partner chuckled. “Are you threatening a customer right now?” He snatched and threw the pizzas on the floor. “What now? Does that piss you off? Why are you talking back so much?” He flicked her forehead hard. “When you’re just some damn delivery vermin?”

All this while, Huxley and his friend were watching everything from a distance, and at that time, Huxley wanted to retaliate, but his friend held him back. “Hey, what are you planning to do? You’ll just end up paying hospital bills if you use your fists.”

“Who said that I would use my fists?” He muttered, pulling out his own card, but before they could realize what was happening, the ‘pizza guy’ was suddenly airborne.

Emily had delivered a brutal, fast blow to his chest. As she landed, she let out a deep breath and removed her raincoat, revealing her fierce expression. Huxley was mesmerized.

“I’ll…. pa…yyy. Please let me pay.” The pizza guy stammered. She grabbed his card forcefully and brought out her POS machine to slot it in. “Apologize for calling me delivery vermin.”

“Fine. I am sorry. I’m sorry, all right?” he replied while crawling backwards.

“There are so many delivery people in this county riding around at this hour of the night for the sake of customers. And yet, you dare to call us ‘delivery vermin’? How dare you compare us to insects?”

“All right… All right. I’ll apologize for that, too!” The man trembled.

“Stop leaving your life like this.” She sighed and turned to face the staring crowd. “I sincerely apologize for the scene.” Then, bowed as a sign of respect and took her leave.

“Do you think you’ll be able to bring her?” Huxley’s friend nudged him.

“Are you underestimating me? She’s a total thug, but damn!" Huxley grinned, shaking off his shock. " Come on. I’m a man of my word. I’m a true American man, and I honor the promises I make. I keep my word, watch me.”

He walked toward the exit, but before he could reach out to her, Emily had already snapped her helmet on, started her motorcycle, and zoomed off. He stood there, watching the red glow of her taillights, and quickly took pictures of her plate number.