The Devil Wears Predator Skin

The feeling of dejection lingered with her all day, and even though it was not palpable, she was always aware of its existence, like walking for long hours through a very fine mist. After a while, you get used to it, but you could feel the fine dampness on your skin at all times.

Mel had been at the receiving end of Taisa’s moody quips for almost an entire shift now, and frankly, it was beginning to annoy her. Usually, they got along quite well; Mel wasn’t the most talkative person and Taisa left her alone when there wasn’t something work-related.

Taisa groaned once again as she dropped a teaspoon on the ground.

“What’s eating you?” Mel finally dared to enquire.

Taisa just huffed and placed her face in her hands. “Nothing. Just a bad day.”

The entrance bell disturbed the silence that had settled between the two girls. Xander walked in, oblivious to the tense atmosphere he intruded upon.

“Maybe this will put her in a good mood,” muttered Mel as she made herself scarce with her downtime duties. But unlike she assumed, Taisa did not perk up at his presence.

Her lack of eye contact throughout their established routine signaled to him that something was off. It wasn’t as if they were staring into each other’s eyes all the time; he really was not that keen on direct eye contact outside of work interactions. But her green eyes - framed by thick fanning lashes - were expressive enough that they didn’t need to entertain unnecessary chatter all the time. Some of the times, he would stare unabashedly at her long eyelashes, fixating as per his habits. ’How are they so long? Can lashes grow to that length on their own? Don’t women have all kinds of stuff for lashes? Maybe they’re fake? No, she rubs her eyes too hard sometimes and they don’t come off. They’re shiny as well; doesn’t the shine reflect back in her eyes?’ were some of his musings on the matter.

“Project troubles again?” His question startled Taisa slightly, and as she locked eyes with him, he knew that her nod of approval was a lie.

“How’s work? Things letting up?” She absentmindedly asked.

“The roll-out for the new client is scheduled in a week.” He took a sip from his cup.

“That’s good. Then you can enjoy working 9 to 5 like a normal person.”

“Glorifying the mundane, are we?”

“No, it’s just better than working late in the day  and having no life.” He raised an eyebrow at her statement.

“Are you implying I have no life?”

“No. I know I barely have time to do anything with a late shift and my classes. You could be Batman or throwing hookers off a bridge in the rest of your spare time – good for you if you have the energy.”

“Yes, so much happens to me outside of this.” He made a wide and dramatic gesture with his long fingers.

“Mmm, just so you know, you’re a really bad vigilante with today’s crime rates.”

“I’ll get around to that once I’m done with flinging hookers off bridges.” Her crystalline laughter made his stomach clench uncharacteristically, but he supposed it was a weird sense of pride for making her laugh so heartily.

When she stopped abruptly, another type of gut feeling kicked in, but this time it was of a more ominous nature.

The door opened brusquely and the sound of the bell was drowned out by a boisterous voice. “Yo, Tai! Have no fear, your boys are here!”

Max sighed, “How can you be so loud even at this hour…”

Taisa waved at the pair, but not before stealing a few uncertain glances from Xander. He, in turn, stayed still and pretended to be completely absorbed by the steam of his coffee.

Victor and Max made their way to the counter, not noticing Xander’s presence for the time being.

“What brings you guys here?”

Flashing a grin, Victor leaned on his elbow, “We thought we’d drop in and whisk you away for some late-night dinner. And make up for the fact that you missed Max for lunch.”

She blinked slowly and replied with a rather stiff edge, “Oh, how sweet of you. But you should’ve called beforehand. I might’ve had other plans, y’know?”

Max shifted in his seat, feeling slightly embarrassed for their intrusion. “Well, do you?”

“Uuh,no…” Xander threw her a fleeting glance when she said that, but continued to remain silent.

“Great! We can eat and then do some shots afterwards.” Victor was practically beaming at the prospect of bar hopping.

“Sorry Vic, I have my design workshops tomorrow morning and later some seminars… I don’t wanna be hungover; I really need to use all my focus for my project, ‘kay?”

“Tai, Tai, Tai… you’re getting too worked up about school stuff. You’ll be fine without one day of full concentration.”

Crooking her eyebrow, she lowered her voice to an almost inaudible mutter, “Considering my situation, I need all the days I can get.”

“Look, I think it’s cute that you’re giving it your all with this designing thing, but if it’s becoming that soul-consuming, why bother?”

Max could sense that this would not end well if he stayed on the sidelines, “Vic-”

“Well, I’m so glad you think my “design thing” is “cute”. And I find your computer science diploma simply adorable.”

“Tai, what my dear and very inarticulate friend meant was that we don’t want to see you burn yourself out. You have a tendency to do that without noticing, so we just point it out so you don’t get to the point of no return.”

Her expression softened a bit up at Max’s words, but there were clouds of uncertainty still brewing in her eyes. “Fine. Where are we eating?” she sighed theatrically.

Max smirked while Victor tried to suppress another grin. “Terry’s Tacos!”

The scraping of a chair drew the boys’ attention to Xander who was now leaving the money on the counter. It took them a few moments to register that it was actually him there; and he had been there the whole time. Victor felt a sudden surge of both mortification and annoyance at Xander’s voyeuristic intrusion.

“Heh. Small world. What’re you doing here of all places, Xander?” asked Max.

“Getting coffee.” He stated simply.

Victor eyed him suspiciously. “At this hour?”

“All-nighter, if you must know.”

He nodded curtly to Victor and Max, and while they turned back to face Taisa, he gave her a light wave before closing the door.

Victor did not waste any time jumping on Taisa with his question, “He come ‘round here often?”

“I dunno. Sometimes. I don’t keep track of all my customers.” Seeing how serious he had become in an instant, she thought that some truth through omission would be the best approach. “Why?”

“I don’t like him leering around here. Does he talk to you? Does he look at you funnily? You know, like he hasn’t eaten in days?”

“You make it sound like he’s a serial killer on the rebound or an anorexic cannibal. He doesn’t seem that bad to me.”

“He’d be the lead in “The Devil Wears Predator Skin”… Look, just stay wary around him, ‘kay?” Victor’s expression held a tinge of worry at the latter statement.

Max rolled his eyes, “Paranoid as always…”

“If we’re done with dark intrigues here, I’m gonna get my stuff and then we can go.” As she got her coat and handbag she turned towards the back door and shouted, “Mel, don’t forget to lock up! With the ALARM set up this time!”