Consumed

“No, no…” said Andrea. “It won’t take her anytime at all.”

Charlotte smiled at her despite feeling awkward at how generous the family were being.

Stephen stepped into the modestly decorated room, “Hello again,” he said to the house guests, “look who I found loitering out on the road,” he turned around and waved Joel, Michael and Lara in.

“And what are your names?” asked Andrea.

Joel did the introductions, “I’m Joel, this is Lara and this is Michael.”

“Pleased to meet you,” said Michael — remembering what Stephen had said about playing nice to his mother.

“I’m Andrea, this is Tammy… You’ve just missed my other daughter, Suzanne. She’s just popped into the kitchen to prepare the vegetables.”

“Thank you for this, this is lovely,” said Lara taking heed of Stephen’s words too.

“It’s lovely for us too,” said Andrea. “Anyway, if you’d like to take a seat — we’ll go and start getting things ready. Stephen, you can help…”

“I’ve just got in, mum, haven’t I done enough for today? It is supposed to be my day off after all! Do I not do enough during the week?”

“More hands make idle work. And spuds don’t peal themselves,” said Andrea as she pushed him towards the living room door — followed by Tammy who gave a sly wink, which didn’t go unnoticed, at Dan.

“What the fuck was that about?” asked Hayley as the living room door closed.

“You’ve either got it, or you haven’t…” teased Dan, “…And I clearly have it.”

“What the fuck is any of this about?” asked Joel. “Someone want to explain how we ended up having dinner with these guys?”

“They were very persistent,” said Charlotte.

“I thought we were going camping. Clearly I was mistaken!” Joel sat on one of the spare armchairs.

“What harm does it do?” said Michael. “We’re already late…”

“No thanks to you,” Joel butted in.

Michael ignored him, “I’m just saying we may as well make the best of a bad situation. If these people offered dinner… We should accept. Not only is it free but it saves having to stop off later on.”

“Later on? That’s if we even get there today. We need to get the van sorted and they’re out there cutting up potatoes. Clearly their idea of dinner isn’t a round of sandwiches.”

“Which makes it all the better. I, for one, am hungry… Besides, I tried to tell her not to worry about it,” Dan chipped in.

“I think we should just go,” said Hayley.

“Let’s just eat their food. Say thank you. Get a lift. We don’t have to stay for hours and hours!” said Charlotte. “It’ll be fine. It could even be quite nice.”

“I agree with Hayley, this just feels wrong!” Joel argued.

“You lot listen to yourselves? Yes they’re strangers but, at the end of the day, they’re just being kind and helping us out. What’s wrong with that?” said Charlotte.

“Let’s just see what they make, eat it… Stay long enough to be polite, and then get to the petrol station,” said Michael. “We can still get to the site in a few hours. We can make this part of the holiday. Besides… That girl looks nice… Right Dan?”

Dan grinned from ear to ear fully aware that she did look nice and that she had also been flirting with him.

Joel didn’t share his enthusiasm, “Is there anyone you wouldn’t fuck, Michael? Jesus Christ…”

“Me!” Lara pointed out. “But only because I said no, right?”

“I told you…” Michael went to defend himself but was cut off mid-sentence.

“Fine, we’ll stay for dinner… We’ll get a lift to the petrol station but after that we’re going home!” hissed Joel.

“What?” asked Dan. “Home? What about the weekend we had planned?”

“I think we should cut our losses… I mean, is anyone even still in the mood for it? I, for one, am not. I don’t want to spend any more time with him,” Joel pointed to Michael.

“For fuck sakes! I’m sorry!” said Michael — not keen on losing a friend nor his weekend away, especially as he had walked out of a job to make sure he could attend it.

“What for?” asked Joel. “Are you sorry for getting us in this position, in the first place, or are you sorry for trying to fuck Lara?”

“What? Whoa there… Have we missed something?” asked Dan.

“Wouldn’t be surprised,” said Hayley, “you’ve had your eyes fixed firmly on that slut’s breasts since she introduced herself and tried giving you a lap dance?”

“What? Oh, come on, don’t you start… I was being friendly… They were being friendly to us! What was I supposed to do?” asked Dan.

“I think we all need to just calm down a little,” said Charlotte, “let’s not forget where we are…”

They all fell silent.

“Look, I just want to eat the meal and go home. If you lot want to go on to the site, you can… I’m just not in the mood for any further little adventures this weekend,” said Joel eventually.

“Fine, if that’s what you want,” said Dan. “I think it’s a shame but I won’t twist your arm.” He addressed the rest of the group, “What about the rest of you? What do you want to do?”

“I think things have been said and done already which would make for an unpleasant weekend,” said Lara. “I agree with Joel.”