VD - After dinner

“That guy seems kind of awesome,” you tell Demi, once Jake has gone home after dinner. It was actually very fun to hang out with him. You wouldn’t have thought that a stranger could liven up your dinner so much. “Like, he seems to know a lot about food.”

“He does,” Demi tells you, supporting her belly as she sinks into an armchair. “It’s like his whole thing. He’s the best.”

“OK. Awesome. So I didn’t mess this up,” you say. “Let’s hire him. I mean, Morrigan is the mayor, so we should probably try to make it nice.”

“Right,” Demi says, putting her arm around you. ‘Right. Right. That’s not quite what I mean,” she says as she steers you back into the house. “I mean that as you contacted him and everything, you kind of automatically made yourself the uh, payee.”

“The what now?” you ask, watching the luxury car drive away.

“Like, when you ask someone like that to cater an event, like… you’re offering to pay for it,” Demi says, looking you right in the eyes. “Riley, you understand that it’s all about energy, right? You have to pay Jake.”

“Oh,” you say, not quite understanding. “Um, is he different somehow?”

“Uhh…” Demi frowns at you. “He’s a guy.”

“So?” you say, uncomprehending.

“You have to pay him.”

“Of course,” you reply. “What’s wrong?” She’s holding something back.

“I just wasn’t sure if you were into guys that aren’t like, you know… Cas and Pol. I guess you don’t have to pay him directly,” she adds after a moment.

Right. For a second, you slipped back into a normal, human way of thinking about things. Paying for things here isn’t like putting your card in the chip reader. Or… it kind of is. Demi is trying to be mindful of your comfort zone. She doesn’t want you to inadvertently commit yourself to something that you don’t want to follow through with.

“Right. Right. Sorry,” you say. Keeping track of Demon World is just so much that things slip past you.

“It’ll be fun no matter way,” she assures you. “This kind of thing always gets people talking. An intimate dinner with Jake cooking, Morrigan coming here when you and her were just rivals like a minute ago. Juicy.”

You laugh. “You demons do enjoy your juice.”

But… you’d better make a decision. It’s a minor thing, but are you going to pay Jake directly or indirectly?