After Kevin left the cemetery, his personality suddenly changed. It was like a switch flipped inside of him. He went from being sad, quiet, and serious to being chipper, and smiling. His smile was so bright that it looked fake. Though it looked fake, it was a genuine smile. No matter how sad Kevin may be deep down, it would not keep him from enjoying life. He knew that it was what his parents would want.
With his mood up again, Kevin decided to look for Ian and Emmett. He knew he would find Ian at his job, but he had no idea where Emmett was.
Kevin had been at the cemetery for a few hours so was past noon. He was hungry and knew that the lunch rush had passed. With that in mind, he went to Zoey's.
At Zoey's, Ian was making some ramen for a few more guests. Emmett and Ellie were waiting at a table for their meal. They had been waiting for the lunch rush to end before trying to get some food. They haven't been waiting for long, but more than enough time has passed since they had breakfast.
Not long after they placed their orders, Kevin walked into the restaurant. He spotted them sitting at a table and decided to join them.
Kevin Walked towards their table and said, "Sup Emmett. Hello, Ellie."
Ellie's face immediately changed to looking annoyed when she saw Kevin approach. She didn't say anything but just kept staring at him.
Emmett on the other hand got up to give Kevin a fist bump as he said, "Sup Kev." Afterward, he gestured for Kevin to take a seat at their table.
Seeing this, Ellie got more annoyed. But she knew what day it was and chose to tolerate him.
Once Kevin sat down he began to talk to Emmett. Eventually, the topic of Emmett and Zoey came up. Hearing this, Ellie perked up a bit and decided to listen in.
"So, how are things going with Zoey?" Kevin asked without a second thought.
Ellie hasn't heard anything about Emmett and Zoey since neither of them talks about it. Now that Kevin was taking such a direct approach she was going to pay very close attention to the conversation.
"What do you mean?" Emmett replied.
Kevin squinted his eyes at Emmett. Then he raised his hands barely over his shoulders and said, "I mean, you guys have been going steady for a while so I just assumed that you two were official."
Emmett took a moment to think before saying, "I guess we have been going out for a while, but we never did confirm with each other if we were official."
Ellie got annoyed hearing this and was about to say something but Kevin spoke first.
"You're telling me that you two have been going out for over a month and you have officially asked her to be your girlfriend?" Kevin asked with both shock and worry in his voice.
"Yeah," Emmett said disappointedly.
Ellie butted in at this point and ask, "what's been stopping you from asking her?"
"To be honest, nothing has. It just never crossed my mind." Emmett replied.
Kevin has had enough of this. He slammed his fist on the table and said, "Emmett, you are a fool. You have to make it official. If you don't then someone else could come in and swoop her up."
Emmett was about to say something back but Kevin stopped him and continued, "When is the next time you two are going to hang out?"
Emmett was surprised by the question but said, "We're planning to go out tomorrow since she doesn't work. The plan is to go for a walk, and afterward, she said that she was going to show me something."
Emmett was going to keep talking but before he could, Dave slammed a tray on the table which shocked everyone. He stared at Emmett with murderous eyes after hearing what he said. However, he was not going to do anything. He knew that if he did that it would upset Zoey.
Instead, he gave Emmett and Ellie their food and drinks. Then he turned to Kevin but didn't say anything.
"Hi there Dave. I thought Zoey was the waitress today." Kevin said awkwardly.
"She's out running errands so I'll be serving for now. What would you like?" Dave said. His face was now back to looking cold.
"I'll have the Ian special with my usual drink." Kevin gave his order hoping that Dave would move on.
However, Dave did not go to the kitchen. Instead, he said, "You know I'm not supposed to give you these kinds of drinks."
Kevin gave a very unimpressed look. Dave stared back at him, his face still unchanging. Emmett and Ellie were sitting there watching the standoff, not wanting to intervene.
After a moment Kevin said, "Come on Dave, at least do it for today."
Dave let out a long sigh before saying, "I'll do it since it's the first of the month, but I going to cut you off after today. You should really get yourself clean before you apply to the academy."
Kevin turned his head away from Dave and didn't say anything else. Dave wasn't going to push the subject anymore and just went back into the kitchen.
It didn't take long for Kevin's meal to be finished, but instead of Dave bringing it out it was Ian. he was holding a tray that had two bowls and two drinks. Ian sat down next to Ellie and gave Kevin his meal.
"Sup Kev," Ian said while grabbing his food.
"How's it going, Ian?" Kevin said after taking a sip from his bottled drink.
Ian ate some of his food and drank his entire drink in one go before saying, "Dave is a tuff boss to work for. He's always making me work and rarely lets me slow down. If customers slow down then I have to do other things to keep myself busy. But overall, he's a good boss and I've learned a lot from him. I'm glad that I'm working for him"
Kevin, Emmett, and Ellie were not expecting him to say that. They knew that Ian had to work hard but they thought that he would have hated working for Dave. But now here he is saying that he's enjoying working for Dave.
After that, the four of them started talking for a while. Ian had a thirty-minute lunch break so he had to eat fast if he wanted to talk with the others. He made sure to make the most of his lunch break.
As time passed and Ian's lunch break was coming to an end, Kevin said, "You know, It's been a while since we've all hung out. With Ian having a proper job and Emmett going out with Zoey, we don't have enough time to do anything anymore."
Ian, Emmett, and Ellie agreed with Kevin. They all knew that their schedules did not line up well enough for the four of them to hang out.
Kevin did have a job but his was a nighttime job. Ellie didn't do anything besides train by herself or with her dad. The two of them could hang out together, but Ellie could not stand Kevin. She wouldn't want to be around him unless Ian or Emmett was there.
The four of them wanted to hang out again so they decided to brainstorm before Ian got back to work.
"So we can't do tomorrow because Emmett is going out with Zoey. What about the following day?" Kevin asked.
"That works for me. I don't work that day." Ian replied.
"I don't have any plans with Zoey for that day so I can do that day," Emmett said.
"And I don't have anything to do that day as far as I know so it works for me," Ellie said.
With that decided, the question they had to answer now was, what are they going to do on that day? Ian was running out of time so he began to clean up. He told the others that he'd be fine with whatever they chose before he went back into the kitchen.
With Ian gone, Emmett, Ellie, and Kevin had to come up with a plan. The restaurant was almost empty and they still had some food left so they were in no rush to leave.
After a few minutes of them thinking, Emmett turned to face Kevin and said, "I know what I want to do."
"And what would that be?" Kevin asked
Emmett leaned in closer and said, "I want a rematch."
"A rematch?" Kevin asked.
"Yes. You still owe me a rematch from the last time we sparred." Emmett stood up and slam his hand on the table as he spoke.
Dave heard the slam and poked his head out of the kitchen. Emmett noticed Dave and sat down quietly.
"I guess I did beat you badly last time we sparred. But I warn you, I'm much stronger than last time." Kevin said with a smug look on his face.
Emmett smiled back at Kevin and said, "That's fine by me. I too have gotten stronger."
Ellie was quietly watching them just smile at each other for a few seconds. Then she got annoyed at the silence so she said, "I don't know what kind of relationship you two have, but what am I supposed to do while you two fight?"
Both Emmett and Kevin turned to face Ellie. They, for a brief moment, forgot about her. Emmett tried to think about something to do that could involve her but was having trouble. Kevin on the other hand thought of something quickly.
"Why don't you spar with Ian? I mean you're both coppers so it should be fairly even." Kevin threw the suggestion without a second thought.
"Kevin, you dumbass. You know Ian can't use his power so it won't be fair." Ellie retorted
"You could spar without using your power. That way it could be a fair fight." Emmett added.
"True, but I'd like to test my full strength. Plus his base strength is much higher than mine." Ellie said.
"Oh yeah, Ian hasn't told me anything. I heard that he took his test but that's about it. What is his base strength?" Kevin asked.
"His base strength is 31 but he hasn't told us what his max strength is," Emmett replied.
Kevin was surprised by this. It was rare for someone to reach 20 without help. And it was extremely rare for someone to reach 25, but over 30, that was unheard of. Especially for some so young.
"What's your base strength, Ellie," Kevin asked
"It's only 19. I wasn't able to reach 20 before I leveled up." Ellie looked frustrated as she said this.
"Well, you could test your skills on him," Emmett said.
Ellie thought about it for a moment before saying, "I guess that works but…"
Kevin jumps in and interrupted her by saying, "Then it's decided. We'll hang out in two days."
Ellie was annoyed at the fact that Kevin interrupted her but she agreed. Emmett had no arguments so he too agreed with him. With that decided, all they had to do was let Ian know.