As soon as he said the words, he received another slap from Tobias. "Be nice. Let me introduce her to you two. She's Mavis Ying, a friend from school, and we are having a barbeque with her so don't cause more trouble."
Mavis nodded her head and greeted them. "Hello."
Tobias smiled and looked at her. "This is Vinnie Eull," He pointed at the black-haired person before he shifted his finger to the light-haired person, " and that one is Ewan Black."
Ewan waved his hand at her and said happily, "Hello, friend. Let's have a fun barbeque time!"
Comparing the two, Ewan was cheerful and energetic while Vinnie had a cold demeanour and didn't seem to be a person to get along with easily. Mavis felt troubled over how she could interact with them without being too awkward and stiff. In fact, they looked intimidating to her. Looking at their appearances, she guessed they were older than her.
While Vinnie and Ewan were forced to clean up their mess, Mavis obediently followed Tobias and helped him with taking out the food to the garden. Since the barbeque grill and other essentials were already placed outside, there wasn't much they had to do so they started to grill the meat.
Once Vinnie and Ewan were finished, they quickly got out and took a seat at the table with grilled meat. They didn't hesitate to dig in and let Tobias and Mavis be the cooks. Even if they had wanted to help, Tobias wouldn't allow them, afraid that they would ruin the food.
"This should be enough for now. You can go ahead and eat, Mavis," Tobias said as he gave her a plate of grilled meat.
Smelling the nice scent from the meat, she couldn't help but gulp before nodding and walked to the table. Mavis noticed that Vinnie had taken the seat that was farthest away from her and didn't make it difficult for him and sat on the other side, next to Ewan. She saw that Ewan had all his focus on eating and Vinnie was ignoring her as if she didn't exist, so she only ate silently. She didn't mind since she liked to eat in peace. However, Tobias was different. He noticed the silent atmosphere in the air and took a seat next to Mavis and began to liven up the place.
"Mavis, do you mind if I ask you a question that might be uncomfortable for you? Of course, you don't have to answer it."
Mavis shook her head. "Go ahead."
Tobias hesitated but asked anyway, "Are you always alone? Every time I see you, you're always by yourself. If you like, we can hang out like this more often."
A slight cracking sound was heard, it came from Vinnie who held a cup. Tobias seemed to not have noticed it so Mavis pretended to not have heard it and responded to him.
"Yes but I don't really care, though." She paused and added, "I don't mind if we hang out. Only if you don't mind it either…"
Seeing that she was being shy, he smiled and said, "I don't mind. We can't have you fail college so let's work hard, okay?"
At his last sentence, Mavis wanted to cover her face with both of her hands and die in embarrassment but she held in. That way, it would be less embarrassing. She didn't like to study, everything was hard for her and it didn't help that she was slow in learning. Perhaps she should have picked an art major instead? However, she wasn't good at art and didn't have the passion.
Well, in the end, these things didn't matter if she was going to die. She hoped that this year, it would be the time of her death.
Tobias didn't notice her changes and happily conversed with her and Ewan, occasionally dragging Vinnie into the conversation, despite his unwillingness.
"Toby~ when will you kick out this ugly carrot named Vinnie? If he stays longer, I feel like I will be suffocated to death from just looking at him," Ewan exclaimed as he pointed at Vinnie with a barbeque skewer before he aggressively took a bite out of it.
Vinnie rolled his eyes and said, "Then suffocate. We are better off without you."
With meat still in his mouth, Ewan gasped. "Did you hear that? Did you guys hear that? Toby, he wants you to suffocate! How vicious of him to do that to you! Kick him out, we can't let him harm you!"
Vinnie clearly meant Ewan only but Ewan, as if he had hearing problems, instead changed it to Tobias without batting an eye. Mavis was speechless but she only stayed quiet and watched on the sidelines.
Tobias ignored his words, as if he was already used to it, and said, "Don't talk while eating. If you end up choking, won't you actually suffocate and die?"
That immediately shut Ewan up and obediently swallowed the food in his mouth. A smile, although small, was visible on Vinnie's face and Ewan happened to witness it. He knew Vinnie was mocking him and was ready to open his mouth to complain to Tobias. But before he could do that, Tobias got up and began to assemble the plates.
"Since we are done eating, I'll wash the dishes. Ewan, clean the grill for me and put it back to where it was. As for Vinnie… clean the table."
Knowing that Tobias had no intention to help him out, Ewan reluctantly listened to him. On the other hand, Vinnie wasn't as reluctant.
He happily nodded at Tobias and said, "Okay."
This reaction of him was a surprise to Mavis. She originally thought he was cold to people, maybe Tobias was an exception.
"Uhm, what about me?"
Tobias looked at Mavis and smiled. "You don't need to do anything. Just go inside and relax."
But Mavis quickly shook her head. "I can't do that. I want to help out."
Seeing that Mavis was adamant, he had no choice but to give her a task. "Then, please help Vinnie with cleaning the table. Ask him if you have any questions."
Mavis nodded and immediately took action. But as soon as Tobias said those words, Vinnie was no longer happy. He wanted to protest but he received a meaningful smile from Tobias and he could only back down and tolerate the woman.
He shot a glare at her before he began to also clean the table. When Tobias was out of sight, in the kitchen, Mavis heard Vinnie talking to her.
"I don't know why he brought you here today but you better not get close to him."
The 'him' he referred to was Tobias and the first time he spoke to her was to tell her to not get close to Tobias. Mavis smiled at this. She thought this Vinnie person was really good to Tobias. Such a friendship, she had never experienced it and she suddenly felt a bit envious.
But, "Oh" was all she could say. She didn't know what else to say to him.
"I don't like you," he proclaimed. "Excluding the fact that you're a female, you are a danger to Tobias."
Upon hearing that, a trace of curiosity flickered across her eyes. Mavis asked, "How am I a danger?"
Vinnie narrowed his eyes before smiling. "You… are like a box full of darkness, desolation. What kind of thoughts is running through that head of yours? No matter how well you're hiding it, you can't fully erase it."
Mavis was surprised, she didn't expect him to talk like that about her. This was the first time someone had described her as such. Somehow, she felt happy, happy that it wasn't the same as the others for once.
"If it is like what you say, then how is it dangerous to Tobias?"
Vinnie stopped smiling and coldly said, "He doesn't need your negativity, and I don't want you to spread it to him."
Out of the blue, Mavis laughed, stunning him. He didn't know why she had laughed, it was a laugh that didn't hold contempt or offence. Rather, it was genuine.
She said, "Is that so? I understand. But, I can't stay away from him just because you told me to. Though, you don't have to worry. Such a horrible thing, how can I spread it to other people? I don't dare."
Vinnie knew that she was honest but he didn't trust someone like her. However, he didn't press her anymore and only said, "One mistake and your life is over."
He threatened her and thought that she was afraid because her hands were slightly trembling, so he didn't say anything more and continued to clean the table, acting like what had happened didn't happen. What he didn't know was that Mavis wasn't trembling due to fear but excitement. His last sentence was a temptation to her. She almost blurted out that she was going to spread her negativity to Tobias as much as she could.
This Vinnie guy was actually a potential weapon used against her! Mavis really wanted to ask him to make a move, but the place and time weren't appropriate so she could only give up for now.
She concluded that Vinnie was a good person and she liked him.