Melon walked over and stopped in front of Mayex, looking down at him. "No, it's not over," she said. Her eyes moved over him slowly, the way someone counts what a night has cost them, and nothing she found was acceptable. Her fists clenched tight at her sides until her knuckles turned pale, and for a moment nobody in the room dared to breathe. Then her fingers loosened one by one and her shoulders sank a little. "You and Benny will have to make it up."
She let the silence sit before she went on. "Mayex and Benny, you're both being assigned another mission. You're going to get me information about that damn gang. Do we understand?"
Mayex and Benny looked at each other. Mayex's gaze fell to the floor almost at once, his jaw working as he thought of his friends, of how little help he had been to them. Benny didn't know what to think. She felt the same shame, though she had never wanted this mission and nobody had asked her whether she did. Still, they wore the same defeated look when they answered. "Yes, we do."
"Good. Then go. You don't need anything, do ya?"
"Don't we need more people?" Mayex asked.
"So they can do all the work again? No."
"Hey, I could join, then," Jabez said. Benny's lifelong partner stepped out with that weird smile on his face again, and the moment Benny saw him, the fear came back. She turned her face away and pulled her hands into her sleeves.
"Well, that works," Melon said. "You weren't part of their mission, so you go with them."
Jabez looked at Benny and noticed she wasn't looking at him. "Hey, Benny, come over here, Benny." She didn't move. "Hey, Benny, don't you hear me? Do I need to get louder?"
"No, but you need to take the dick out of your mouth so we can understand you," Mayex said.
"Wow, so fast at getting on someone's nerves. Don't you agree, Benny?"
"Well, you are a weirdo, so you need the weird treatment. Don't you agree?" Mayex said.
"No, i don't, but if I truly am a weirdo, why would I want to help you both?"
"Because you are a weird one."
"No, because Benny is my lifelong partner and I have to take care of her. After all, you weren't looking out for her."
A heavy silence settled over the room. None of the three showed the slightest sign that they could work together. Before they headed out, Mayex looked over at his friends, Elara, Boran and Adam. They were in bad shape, and he knew that the next time they talked, it would be awkward.
* * *
While Jerry was running away with the group, he spotted a fast food restaurant with a chicken logo, and he couldn't stop himself from veering toward it. But when he opened the door, the place was packed with customers. It would take forever until it was his turn. He shut the door again and ignored the stares.
"Fuck, I got distracted and now I have no idea where they went," he said. He looked around, feeling a little alone, and then down at his hand, disappointed.
"Goddammit, I forgot to slap that quiet girl. I'm sure it would've felt good to feel my palm connect with that face."
But as he stood there regretting it, a thought came to him. That boy, the one who had acted so smart, might be of some use to him. Life was boring when you had loving parents who bought you everything you wanted and let you do whatever you wished. Maybe this would make things interesting.