[google-font https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Abel] [center [size15 [abel After his departure Bunny rushed back to his apartment, barely making into the kitchen before he become sick. He leaned as much of his body over the sink as he could manage and gripped at the sides with so much force his hands began to feel numb. The waves of nausea passed over with each lurch of his body, violently shaking him as his stomach emptied.
The feeling of uncomfortability had set in rather quickly after he left the restaurant, and after so long in this business Bunny knew the signs well enough before it got bad and was able to get back home in time. He felt much better after getting sick, of course, but felt bad he hadn’t made it to the bathroom before it hit and even worse that he hadn’t been able to really enjoy the food. Normally if he was going to eat large quantities of food, he’d have a fasting period beforehand to prepare. Then again, he hadn’t expected such a meal when he’d gotten there.
Feeling much better he proceeded to clean the sink out and go to brush his teeth to prevent damage to his enamel before getting a glass of water and dissolving some Alka-Seltzer tablets. Taking off his boots he laid out on the couch, slowly sipping the water and medicine so as to not make himself sick again. Picking up his phone he noticed he had a new message from earlier, it was from an unknown number.
[font "courier new" [size13 [b [#00075D “Hello, this is Ira from the Magnolia House.”]]]]
Bunny stared at the phone for a second before his mind processed the message; Ira, the chef’s name was Ira. It was an unusual name, though he supposed he didn’t have much room to judge in that department. His thumb hovered over the keypad, hesitating as he suddenly realized he had not thought this through in the slightest. At the time leaving his number seemed like a straightforward way to reach the desired point of communication needed for giving a review but the chef, Ira he corrected mentally, didn’t know he was a critic so how was he meant to start a dialogue or casually bring up interviewing him? Should he just ask him questions? No, that felt weird.
Bunny let his phone drop down onto his chest while he contemplated the short-sightedness that had possessed him earlier. Ira’s message had been pretty formal to. Which wasn’t bad necessarily, just unexpected. And honestly the formality made it difficult to respond to. Bunny wasn’t good at these things; it was part of why he had such few relationships outside of work or even inside of work.
However, there was one person he could probably ask advice from. Picking his phone back up he dialed one of his oldest acquaintances and probably his only friend. Leah.
[b [#EE5FA7 “Hey Bunny-Boo, I’m glad you called, I’m having a menu tasting tonight with the staff and some friends, you should come,”]] Leah’s cheerful and natural soprano voice flittered through the phone, he could hear the sounds of the kitchen prep in the background.
[b [#60B9D6 “Okay,”]] Bunny responded, inadvertently stalling.
There was a pause, [b [#EE5FA7 “Bunny-Boo, I’d ask if you called because you missed me but we both know you don’t do that. So,”]] She drew out the word, [b [#EE5FA7 “why’d you call?”]]
[b [#60B9D6 “How do I respond to a text?”]]
Another pause, [b [#EE5FA7 “You type in the box and press send, baby.”]]
[b [#60B9D6 “Leah, I’m several years younger than you, I know how technology works,”]] Bunny said with exhaustion and exasperation in his voice.
[b [#EE5FA7 “Well, it’s you we’re talking about so I never really know,”]] He briefly heard her voice move from the phone and could hear her shouting at her staff about fish. [b [#EE5FA7 “So, I’m guessing you meant how to respond to the contents of a text?”]] Bunny hummed in affirmation. [b [#EE5FA7 “Okay, so what was the text?”]]
Bunny was loathe to give out the personal details and read the exact message out to her, Leah was big in Souver’s culinary scene she might know Ira or Ira might know her and he really didn’t want to get things messy. [b [#60B9D6 “They were introducing themselves after I left my number for them,”]] Bunny could have sworn he’d heard Leah stifling a scream as he heard the clunking sounds of her phone falling. [b [#60B9D6 “Leah?”]]
After some scuffling Leah’s voice returned, [b [#EE5FA7 “You did what? [i You] left your number? [i Willingly]?”]]
[b [#60B9D6 “I feel like I shouldn’t have to answer that, but yes, [i I] left my number, [i willingly],”]] The uncomfortable feeling he’d felt earlier when his stomach was too full was quickly returning, but this time it was appearing in his head.
[b [#EE5FA7 “Damn, who’s the guy?”]]
[b [#60B9D6 “You’re not being helpful,”]] Bunny chastised. [b [#60B9D6 “Nevermind. I’ll see you tonight.”]] Leah’s protests met only the receiver as Bunny promptly hung up on her. Whatever his response it could wait, he needed to sleep some more before going to Leah’s restaurant that night.
[pic https://i.imgur.com/gb6NAmU.png]
The tasting had gone well all things considered. All things being Leah’s near immediate interrogation of him as soon as the mint haired boy had arrived. The exuberant and lively pink haired chef demanded to be told all of the [i ‘juicy details’] of how Bunny had met the [i ‘mysterious hottie’]. Very quickly her staff, who had known Bunny for quite some time despite most being unaware of his status as a critic, joined in and began to pester him as well. They all seemed to have concocted their own ideas about who he was and the nature of Bunny’s relationships with him. Though they universally agreed he must be attractive, a fact with Bunny was unable to deny while unsure of why it would matter. Leah’s sous chef said they should have red rice to celebrate and Bunny was growing infinitely more tired by their lack of context. What exactly did they want to celebrate?
By the end of the tasting it was past 1 AM and Bunny felt like his soul was escaping him with every sigh. Leah offered to take him home, saying that with the way he was dressed he was bound to get picked up by someone, actually she said by some creep but still. He supposed that would be expected at this hour but Bunny wasn’t really worried since he didn’t see much of a problem with how he was dressed.
Unlike earlier in the day Bunny was significantly more put together, having showered and removed, most of, the body glitter and styling his hair. His soft mint locks were more tamed but still left just a little messy as a preference. His green eyes were defined with eyeliner and mascara, covering his normally pale lashes, with just a little silver glitter on his cheek bones near the outer corner of his eyes to decorate. His lips were painted with a velvety red gradient, growing richer in color the deeper in his lips it was. The black blouse he wore was more than sheer, it was transparent, decorated with small glittering stars and so large it was like a parachute on his small frame yet the sleeves fit perfectly at his slim wrists since it was custom made for the boy. Black pants were fitted to his legs so tightly they could have been painted on and paired with a heeled boot, not too unsimilar to a woman’s chunky heel boot.
For him this was hardly anything special or enticing of an outfit, it was just how he liked to dress, so he rejected her offer. Besides she needed to assist with cleaning and closing out the restaurant so they could open smoothly the next night. Giving a farewell Bunny walked for a bit, only a few trolleys ran this late at night so he’d have to go a fair distance to catch the next one but checking his phone he saw he had enough time to make it. At times like this he felt the inconvenience of not driving but after failing the test twice he wasn’t eager to try again.
He hadn’t been walking long when his neck began to prickle, it was chilly out but years of conditioning told him this wasn’t from temperature. Bunny sighed, he knew even before he lifted his phone and checked the reflection on the glass screen that it was that man.
Recently a stranger had been following him, it had been nearly two, maybe three months? He wasn’t exactly sure when it started but he noticed it about a month and a half ago. Contacting the police had been pointless since apparently following people around and making them feel uncomfortable wasn’t actually illegal. The police officer he’d spoken with had said that unless the individual did something there was nothing they could do about him. Bunny really wanted to go home but he didn’t want to go there directly if the man was following him. Despite the fact Bunny was fairly sure the man had already figured out where he lived, but on the off chance he hadn’t Bunny didn’t want to risk it. So instead of immediately heading home Bunny wandered around, at night, in the city, just [i walking]… In. Heels. He was so tired.
At some point Bunny had made it to the neighborhood that the Magnolia House was located in, he wondered if his feet had brought him there unconsciously. Thinking about the Magnolia House made him feel a bit guilty, he hadn’t responded to Ira’s message yet. He hadn’t figured out what to say, and he’d been busy napping and then getting ready and then eating with Leah and dodging all her questions that he still hadn’t even thought about what to say. The stalker had been firmly pushed out of Bunny’s thoughts as he began contemplating how to move forward with the chef.
Further down the street Bunny was shocked to see that there were dim lights on in the restaurant which was plaguing him. The front lights were off but judging by the faintness and direction of the lighting someone had kept a kitchen light on. Had they forgotten? Or was someone still there?
Bunny pulled out his phone, holding it up to the building and taking a picture of the storefront, attaching it to the text from earlier:
[font "courier new" [size13 [b [#60B9D6 “The lights are still on?”]]]] ]]]
[center [size15 [abel [i Leah [b [#EE5FA7 #EE5FA7 ]]] ]]]