Chapter 10 An Awful Date

'What went wrong?'

This question had been playing on Denver's mind for the past three days.

You might be wondering why a prideful Denver would be so bothered... Well, Ariadne has been snubbing his calls and chats ever since they returned from that date a few days ago.

Why wouldn't she? I mean... It's not everyday you get to play dress up, getting your mood all high, only for your spirits to be dashed or should I say smashed into shards by that awful experience of a date.

Awful... yea. I mean, which man allows another woman to tag along with him while taking a girl out on a date?

Okay..... she might be overreacting. He doesn't even see her that way else the demeaning behavior.

But it still hurts though. And for an eighteen year old Ariadne with lots of teenage hormones surging through her body, it's understandable for her to vent right? Right.

And she did.

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Three Days Ago;

"Oh my gosh, I'm so pissed. What a terrible day"

Ariadne stormed into her dorm room, fuming and stamping her feets on the hard floor with frustration as her face flushed with anger. She flung her bag onto her bed and paced back and forth, her chest heaving with anger.

Flopping down onto her chair, she exhaled loudly, and fixed her gaze on her roommate Connie, who was engrossed in a book. "Can you believe it, Connie?" she began, her voice reverberated around the room.

She had just returned from what should have been a romantic date with Denver, but it had turned into something entirely different. The memory of the date she had just experienced was marred by Molly's constant presence, and Ariadne couldn't contain her vexation any longer.

She stood up again and continued pacing back and forth, her fingers clenched into tight fists as she muttered under her breath.

I can't believe he let Molly tag along," she seethed, her voice dripping with irritation. "I mean, seriously, who does that on a date?"

Connie glanced up from her book, her brow furrowing in concern. "Wait! What!? What happened on your date to make you return in such a terrible mood? That's...unexpected."

Ariadne rolled her eyes, her fingers drumming impatiently on her desk. "Unexpected is an understatement. I mean, can you imagine?"

Connie's lips twitched, suppressing a smile. "Okay, okay, I get it. But maybe Denver had a reason for it? Did he explain?" Ari, are you sure he invited her intentionally?"

"Explain?" Ariadne huffed. "He just allowed her to crash our date without thinking much about it. He didn't even bother to find out if I was comfortable with the arrangement or not. It's fun, isn't it?"

Ariadne's frustration deepened. She stood there and tried to replicate the scenarios from earlier.

"We were at that cozy restaurant, enjoying a nice meal, and suddenly, there's Molly standing right there before us, grinning like the Cheshire Cat!"

"And she goes; I'm sorry to interrupt your day, I was supposed to eat here with a friend but got stood up. I was bored eating alone. If you don't mind, can I join you guys at the table?" She mimicked.

She flanked herself back on her seat and leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed. "I can't believe he doesn't understand why I'm so angry."

Connie leaned forward, her expression thoughtful. "Maybe he genuinely didn't realize how much it would affect you. And perhaps Molly didn't have ulterior motives this time."

Ariadne shot Connie a skeptical look. "You're defending Molly? Didn't you see how she stuck around him the other day at the mall? As if she is trying to force herself to permeate into his skin and become one with his flesh"

Katniss chimed in, trying to mediate the conversation. "Ariadne, we all know what happened in the mall ticked you off. But maybe this time, Molly just wanted to hang out and didn't plan anything sinister. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding."

Ariadne whirled around to face them, her eyes blazing. "Misunderstanding? No way. Molly's a scheming bitch, I could tell her out the first time I saw her standing beside Denver at the mall. And this was just another one of her ploys to ruin things for me." She paused, taking a deep breath to quell her rising anger.

"She's just acting like an overprotective girlfriend. I mean you needed to see the way she shoots deadly glares in my direction. If people's gaze can kill, I bet this friend of yours standing right now would have melted and evaporated away."

"Oh, and that smug look in her eyes. It was clearly mocking me, I could feel it"

"Talmabout 'Denver doesn't eat crawfish', 'Denver doesn't eat anything seafood either'" She snorted.

"Seriously? Was she even trying to mark territories with me for a man that doesn't even look at her twice before pulling his gaze away? Funny!" She sneered, this time loud enough that the air could hear.

"Oh fuck!.... This is ridiculous!"

Vanessa twitched her brows and chuckled, surprised to ever hear Ariadne use curse words.

Katniss leaned forward, her eyes stared gloomily over Ariadne, exuding sympathy. "I get why you're upset, Ari. But maybe you should talk to Denver about how you feel. He might not even know that you didn't want Molly there."

Ariadne flopped down onto her desk chair, burying her face in her hands. "I shouldn't have to spell it out for him, Kat. It's common sense that a date is meant for two people, not three."

Vanessa gently placed a comforting hand on Ariadne's shoulder. "You're right, it is frustrating. But sometimes guys can be clueless about these things. Maybe he genuinely thought it was okay. Those folks can be the most emotionally unintelligible species ever"

Ariadne sighed, her anger gradually giving way to a mixture of disappointment and hurt. "I just thought he should understand me better than that," she admitted, her voice tinged with vulnerability.

Ariadne nodded, her mind churning with conflicting emotions. She hated the idea of talking this out with Denver, but she also realized that her friend had a point.

"You're right, Kat. I should talk to him. I just... I don't want to come across as needy or possessive."

Katniss squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "You're not being needy. It's completely natural to want some one-on-one time with your date."

Ariadne offered a small smile, then looked around and noticed the evening sun that was casting a warm glow on the tiled floor through the dorm room. She lay in her bed and shifted her focus from her frustrations to the warm glow.

As she lay in her bed, the events of the day swirled in her mind. She kept thinking that maybe Denver had truly not understood her expectations and unease from earlier. With this thought, she shrugged and rolled herself to lie on her back instead, facing the ceiling.

Pulling her lips into a thin line, she used both her thumb and her index finger to pinch the top of her nose. She tried to convince herself that maybe allowing Molly's presence during their date hadn't been intentional on the part of Denver.

She stretched out her hand to grab her purse and pulled out her phone. Holding the phone in her hands, she saw lots of missed calls from Denver. She opened her chat with him and saw that he sent multiple texts.

Her phone was on silent mode so she didn't see the calls coming. After multiple trials of typing while contemplating whether she should respond to him or not, she decided against it. She decided to go on a short hiatus of ignoring by not responding to any of his chats or even picking his calls.

'Although he may not be guilty of indulging Molly to alienate me, he did allow her to join our date. And he didn't even ask my opinion before allowing her. It won't hurt to allow him to go frantic for a few days trying to reach me'

Minutes later, Ariadne suddenly jumped out of her bed where she lay as if pricked by something, and hissed loudly.

"Okay.... What?"

"Oh, we also went to the theme park. And she tagged along too."

"She did what!?", yelled Vanessa. She was beginning to get annoyed with the Molly girl.

Ariadne tightened her face and continued. "Yea... you needed to see the way she dragged her seat loudly to attract attention, before standing and walking out of the restaurant to the car park, swaying her hips provocatively. I admit she has a better ass than I do, but it's not the ass that counts right?"

"Right!..... Her ass ain't that great anyway, I have more hips and better curves than she does" she asserted, grabbing her ass and looking behind her to check out her own bodily physique.

Unable to control her muffled laughter any longer, Katniss slipped and fell on her butt, and continued laughing. But it took just one glare from Ariadne and she's mute immediately.

"Yeah... it sucks though," she says.

Ariadne's heart tightens and she tries to push past the lump in her throat, then blinks back the tears gathered in her eyes as she tries to make herself feel better.

"Very. Great. A lot. I can admit this"

"A whole fucking lot," Vanessa mutters.

Silence befell them for some split seconds, except for the tick rock of the clock hanging on the wall, everywhere was calm.

Drawing in a long breath, Ariadne let out a long hiss and continued.

"While at the theme park, I was supposed to board the cable car but I excused myself sometime later because I needed to use the restroom."

"I swear I was the only person in the bathroom when I got there. But after using one of the toilets and washing my hands at the sink, I turned the doorknob to step out and it was locked. Yea, like I got locked inside the bathroom... like, trapped."

"I was there for so many minutes banging on the door but nobody seemed to hear it. It was much later that a staff came and opened the door, claiming she was just passing by and was surprised to hear bangs on the bathroom door"

"I didn't read any meaning into it initially. Then I returned to the spot and saw that Molly was already in a cable car with Denver, and I had to take the next car because the doors were shutting down and the ride was about to take off. That girl planned to have me trapped in the bathroom just to share a ride with him"

Katniss rubbed the back of her hands on her forehead, thinking aloud. "Are you sure it has anything to do with her? I get it that you don't like her because she's trying to get handsy with Denver, but think about it okay? This is a heavy accusation you know. Maybe what happened was just a coincidence"

Ariadne's eyes narrowed, her fingers curling into fists. "Nah, I don't buy it. Molly's always scheming, always manipulating situations to her advantage. I felt suffocated with her around, like she was just waiting for the perfect moment to pounce."

"It was just a suspicion at first. But the smug look in her eyes when I returned from the bathroom and had to take the next ride confirmed my suspicion. She's a manipulative bitch and I will be sure to cut her cards soon. Everything about her looks screams guilty,,, like daring me to do my worst"

".....you know those 'I dare you to eat me out' kinda looks..... Urrghh, so annoying". She yelled.

Vanessa was not liking this one bit. She fisted her hands into balls while listening to her. She just wants to storm off to Denver and give him an earful for not treating her friend right.

She wanted to go and hunt down Molly, then punch her hard on the nose till blood started oozing down her nostrils.

'How dare she scheme against my friend? So what if she's rich?' She snorted, her eyes turning bloodshot.