Never Better: A Dark Obsession Novel by Charlotte Stein

Author:Charlotte Stein [Stein, Charlotte]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-02-13T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

She had absolutely no idea why he chose the diner for their date. The whole place looked like it had been recently condemned. Part of the tin can roof was tilting at an odd angle; she was pretty sure it leaked. The front door would not stay shut—instead it flapped in the wind like forgotten laundry.

And the inside was even worse. Every booth in the place was shedding stuff or peeling plastic, or both at the same time. The floor was sticky, the fluorescent lights bathed everything in a sickly glow, the waitress had a cigarette jutting out from between her mean lips. It was honestly hard to tell if you were supposed to dine, or die at the start of a horror movie. She was pretty sure this was where they’d filmed Diner Slasher.

But he didn’t appear to notice. In fact, he seemed almost pleased with himself.

Then, once they were in their death trap of a booth, the reason dawned on her:

He had wanted a venue that discouraged sexy feelings.

That was his purpose here, quite obviously.

And by god, he had outdone himself. She couldn’t even touch her leg against his—whatever held the table in place was in the way. And there was no way to reach across to take his hand. The table top was so filthy she feared resting her arms on it. All she could do was look and talk, but even they were restricted.

He had raised his menu the second they sat, so she couldn’t see anything but faded pictures of pies and burgers. And though the juke in the corner was playing pretty quietly, the music coming out of it sounded like pennies caught in a blender. It screeched and moaned until it was all she could hear or think about. For a minute, she just sat there, trying to work out if it was Bono singing or a robot slowly being strangled.

Only after it ended could she say anything.

And she did not hold back.

“Did you…did you bring me here because it kills sex?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. This place doesn’t kill sex.”

“Yeah, I might need more convincing than that. I mean, just listen to that music.”

“I’m trying not to, to be honest. It sounds like the juke is giving birth to our terrible robot overlords. My fillings are actually starting to weirdly vibrate.”

“Exactly. Exactly. And check out this table.”

He lowered the menu, then.

But only to look at where she was pointing.

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