[20th December]
"So, what is this about?" the three of us had moved to Johnny's living room downstairs; his family had gone out to get their weekly groceries and let me sleep in. It was the weekend, after all.
The twins exchanged uncertain glances.
"Remember when Dylan told us that he wouldn't make it to the carnival yesterday?" Silas asked. I nodded, not certain where this was progressing.
"We saw him there last night," Nick resumed.
"With Ethel."
"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows, baffled. "What were they doing there?"
"We followed them and hid behind a vacant stall a couple of meters away but they were by the carousel the entire time. They left half an hour later," Silas massaged his forehead with a sigh.
"They just talked, nothing else,"
Silence took over the room for a moment as the twins awaited my response.
"Wait, did he see you guys?"
"Obviously not, we aren't dumb."
"Oh,"
I scratched my chin and leaned on the wall in thought. Was something going on between Dylan and Ethel? This was odd. Does it have something to do with my death? They were by the carousel the whole time...no. Ethan was not involved; it was out of the question.
"Didn't Dylan say he'd come with us today?" Nick suddenly asked, fishing for his phone to check the group chat.
"I think he did, he appeared to be in a good mood. Did you make up with him already?" I hummed.
"We met in the convenience store last night...which come to think of it, kind of clashes with what the two of you saw." they exchanged glances.
"We left the store around eight or nine, by the way," I added.
"We saw him and Ethel at like ten-thirty ish. It was really dark by then."
"Should we try and get something out of him? It's not like Dylan to hang out with someone he doesn't associate with,"
"What if he does know Ethel?"
"Impossible, they've hardly exchanged glances in school, aside from yesterday," Nick shook off Silas' thought in an instant.
"Right, that shit in school yesterday was so weird. Why did Dylan get so riled up? It didn't make sense," I spoke, wandering into the kitchen to get a cup of water.
"Oh yeah, speaking of which, have you figured out what Dylan was talking about, Johnny?" Silas asked.
"Not a clue! He refused to tell me too!" I hollered from the kitchen, hoping they were able to hear me. They hummed in response.
"Anyways, what are you planning to do for the weekend?" Silas asked when I returned.
"Hm, no idea,"
"Don't we have a project to work on?" Nick reminded. I arched a brow at the two, settling my cup on the coffee table.
"I've done my part of the research. Ethan and I are going to observe the park tonight," Silas removed his denim jacket and laid it on the backseat of the couch.
"I'm thinking of bribing Jay to do my work,"
"Hey!" we laughed at Nick's jest.
"That reminds me," I promptly fled upstairs to retrieve Johnny's phone, the twins didn't question my sudden movements as they proceeded to chat.
Climbing over the bed, I stretched out my hand to grab the device resting on the nightstand. I decided to check it immediately and planted myself on the bed, scrolling through the countless notifications that popped out overnight. I arched a brow at one particular notification.
I never took Johnny to be someone interested in drawing courses.
Now that I look at the heavy stacks on plain paper on the floor and messy sketchbooks -with loose papers sticking out of it- laying on his desk again, it made a lot of sense. I had only thought they were for his assignments in the beginning.
I decided to leave the notifications as it is, in case they were significant, and headed straight to the messenger app.
Ethel replied, at three in the morning.
'hi.'
It was a simple reply, but I was exhilarated he even chose to text back, considering all the 'read' notifications on Johnny's texts. In the back of my head, I had wanted to ask him about his alleged meetup with Dylan last night but I decided against it. I felt a tad bit hurt, though. He told me he couldn't meet up in the park, after all.
'Good morning, I was going to ask how the research was coming along but I guess I fell asleep ehe :p' after I tapped on the send button, I promptly made my way back downstairs, worried the twins might question why I was taking so long.
I skipped down the stairs to see them standing up. "Leaving?"
"We decided to go get lunch. Wanna come along? You never do though," Nick chuckled, looking at me for an answer.
Why not? I might get to know them better and distinguish whether they'd be a hindrance to my mission or not.
"I'm literally still in my pajamas. Are y'all willing to wait?" I glanced at my current attire; I was in a casual shirt and loose-fitting plaid pants but it didn't feel appropriate. Not to mention, the twins came in appealing leather and denim jackets with numerous accessories adorning their necks and fingers.
"Don't take too long or you'll see this room empty when you get down. Go, go!" I make a U-turn and rushed upstairs to get dressed.
-
Sauntering into Johnny's walk-in wardrobe, I discovered how much it meant for him to dress adequately. I had only stuck to the uniform and nightwear section until now.
Whoa, he had a few designer labels as well!
Checking the tag of a glossy biker blazer that caught my eyes, I found out that it was gifted by Jay and smiled. Their friendship was somewhat endearing.
"Jeez, I can hear you screaming for me not to touch this jacket, Johnny. I'm going to wear it anyways!" I snickered and put it on, adjusting the little shoulder pads as I turned to the mirror hammered into the center wall of the wardrobe. I looked remarkable. Johnny looked remarkable. I almost thought he was more attractive than Ethan – me. No way!
I had chosen to go with the jacket and a pair of black leather pants, topped with some chain necklaces I had found when I unexpectedly exposed a hidden drawer in Johnny's wardrobe and realized he had a ton of valuable jewelry in his possession. They were totally my style. I grabbed the pair of black platform boots Johnny had on his shoe rack before racing down the stairs.
"Oh my God, are you wearing nothing under the jacket?" was the first thing Silas had asked when I wandered into the living room.
"Yeah, why?"
"It's unusual for you to even use the zips on your jackets, but you look great nonetheless," Nick smirked and said nothing else before clutching onto his jacket from the loveseat.
I felt even more at ease at his compliment and a smirk made its way to my face. "Can we leave now? The restaurant we're planning to go to is always a full house by twelve." Silas whined and rushed us, already opening the door.
"Yes, we're leaving now-"
"Wait I forgot my wallet,"
"Johnny!!"
-
"Damn, everything here is so expensive," I blurted out as I examined the restaurant's menu, biting my lower lip as I wondered if Johnny had a sufficient amount of money in his wallet. I mentally cursed myself for not checking beforehand. If my meal costs more than what he could afford, I'd sell the carat gold necklace hanging on my neck right now. I came fully prepared.
"It's your favorite place to eat at, Johnny," Nick arched a brow at me from across the round table. Oh crap.
"I don't think I like it anymore," I said the first thing that came to mind. Silas gave me an unimpressed look as he sighed exasperatingly.
"Are you serious?" He raised his voice. "We chose this restaurant when you said you'd tag along because you looked so dispirited lately and we just thought you'd feel a little better if we ate lunch here today!" Silas looked extremely annoyed as he shut the menu and pushed it aside.
"I'm sorry," I looked down in guilt. They were only being thoughtful and I was already ruining the mood. Sorry, Johnny.
Silas sighed softly. "It's fine,"
"Do you guys even like this place?" I asked as I scanned the menu again, cringing when I came across a dish named 'Divine Ox Testicles', what in the world...
"Not really. We only came because you'd always offer to pay for our meals," Nick snickered and dropped the menu to study his surroundings. In all honesty, the interior of this diner was breathtaking. They had a reason for the hefty prices.
"'til this day, we still question your tastebuds, Johnny," I shifted to glance at Silas with knitted brows. "What do you mean?"
"You always ordered that one ox testicle dish on the menu; did you actually relish it?" he shivered as Nick stifled a laugh.
C-come again?
"I like to watch my enemy crumble before my eyes," I responded with as much spite in my tone, remembering that Johnny's Chinese zodiac sign was a goat.
They bent over and burst into fits of laughter. "And that-and that seagull wine you ordered one time and forced Rikki to drink it with you-" Nick poked fun in between laughing. Seagull?!
"He was underaged too!!" Silas wheezed.
"A seagull once stole my dad's newspaper," I clutched onto the menu and attempted to bury my face behind it.
I almost cried from humiliation; the twins conversed so loudly I was sure the entire place was aware of my transmigrated body's peculiar taste in food.
-
The three of us ended up going to a family-owned diner further down the street because I forced us to leave. We were debating what we should try out in the carnival later tonight when my phone buzzed noisily on the table. Turning it on, I instantly grinned at the new notification:
'Ethel: it's almost done.'
Then another text came in.
'Ethel: what about you?'
"Johnny, who's got you smiling like a fool?" Silas snickered, wiggling his brows. I realized the twins had stopped talking to look at me when I let out a small giggle.
"Who is it? Tell us!" he pestered and gave me huge puppy eyes.
"Don't look at me like that! It's no one!" I laughed at them and quickly unlocked the phone to respond to Ethel's texts.
Johnny's password wasn't hard to guess; it was literally 1234567. His computer password was, however; it was the first letter of the boys' name, in order of the oldest to the youngest in the group. What a genius.
'The boys and I are going to the carnival tonight to get some note-taking done!'
'That's great.'
'You can tag along if you'd like.' after a few moments of pondering, I sent the text.
'I can't, sorry.'
I softly hummed in disappointment and replied with an 'it's okay.' then turned off the phone. It was an expected answer. Though, I pondered back to the twins' speculations.
"Johnny," Nick called from across the table as he nonchalantly stirred his strawberry milkshake. I faced him, the bright light from behind me illuminated his face and I almost laughed; he looked like the embodiment of the sun.
"Yeah?" I put away my phone.
"About the secret-"
"No, I still don't remember anything about it." I interrupted with a sigh, equally as frustrated that I still had no idea what it was.
"No, it's not that, I recalled something you had told me and there's a small chance it might be related to what Dylan had told you," he said, sitting up straight to look me in the eyes.
"you said you had a really confidential MP3 player," Nick added, emphasizing the word 'really'.
"I did?" I was amazed Johnny would even have something as vintage as an MP3 player.
"You were half-sober that time – you stumbled into our apartment and gulped down whatever alcohol you found in our fridge. I had to stop you before you chugged our entire stash," he let out a soft laugh as he reminisced for a moment.
"Was that why there was only one can of beer left in the fridge? I had thought some rat adapted and opened our fridge," Silas muttered, earning a snicker from the both of us.
"You also told me not to look for it, which was strange. Your words were slurred so I didn't hear the latter part," Nick rubbed his chin before taking a sip of his drink.
"When was this?" Silas suddenly asked, this information new to him as well. I started to wonder whether Johnny could listen in on our conversations.
"If I remember correctly,
it was a day before the carnival started," my eyes widened. That was the day Dylan had told Johnny about the secret! I mentally made a reminder to look for it once I go home tonight. I had a feeling we would be out until the carnival ended. I prayed that I'd hopefully remember.
"I-I did? That's weird, I don't remember anything,"
"Hm, it must've been some gibberish you always spill when you consume too much alcohol," Nick hummed.
"He does that when he's sober too, what do you mean?"
"Rude!"