The power goes out

While the girls entertained themselves, the sky had only continued to darken as the storm became worse. The clouds made it seem as though it is already late evening.

A tremendous bolt of lightning lit of the diner, causing thunder to shake the room and shake Lucy from her defiant stance down to the floor on her bare butt. Cassy and Kate were just as startled.

As the light from the lightning cut out, so did the light in the diner. The trio was suddenly quite aware of just how dark it had become as they sat in an almost pitch black dark edge of the restaurant.

"Damn, I hope that's just the breaker again," Kate spoke.

Cassy responded, "I certainly hope so. I can't very well walk home in this weather."

"The breakers are a bit touchy, I'll go take a look at them," Lucy volunteered.

"Thanks, Lucy," Kate replied. "I'll go look for a flashlight or something."

"I'm coming with you," Cassy spoke up again. "It's better than sitting here in the dark."

Lucy picked herself up and headed towards the back. After a couple minutes of probing around, her hands felt the basement door. She pulled the heavy door open and climbed down the steps. At the bottom, she located the breaker box quickly and started fiddling with the switches.

Kate stood up, and Cassy went to follow. But as Cassy reached down, she noticed something odd about her skirt. It felt... wet? Cassy brought her hand to her nose. Oh god, that's coffee. She moved her hand out to find her toppled cup.

"Uh... Kate, I have a bit of a problem," Cassy said worriedly.

"What's that?" Kate replied.

"I sort of spilled coffee on my skirt." Cassy felt her skirt again, "A lot of coffee."

"Then, just take it off. It's not like there's anyone here. Even if there were, they couldn't see you right now."

"W-w-what!? I can't do that..."

"Geez, what a wimp. We'll get an extra apron from the back while we are looking for a flashlight. Just hurry up already."

Cassy reluctantly stood and unclasped her skirt. She set it neatly on her chair. Before she had another moment to worry about it, she saw Kate's silhouette in the kitchen door and hurried after her.

Lucy continued to fiddle with the breakers.

"Is it this one?" She said to herself.

She flipped each one back and forth until she had flipped all of them at least twice.

"These stupid breakers! Who even knows what the problem is!" Lucy slammed the box shut.

The room lit up, and the whir of the ventilation fan returned.

"Whatever, as long as it works." Lucy climbed the stairs and returned to the kitchen. As she walked back into the main room, Kate and Cassy were nowhere to be seen.

"Weird, I thought they'd be back by now," Lucy thought as she scanned the room. It took her a moment to realize that the clothes around their table were also nowhere to be seen. Probably Kate's doing...

Lucy considered her options. If Kate took their clothes, then she was bound to be planning something. But since no one else was there, it couldn't possibly be that bad. On the other hand, she had a change of clothes in her car. A sprint through the rain could be worth a full change of clothes...