Date Night - Magic & Mushrooms

Mondays had always been Reuben's busiest days. Every morning he'd be up at sunrise to open the shop and e had scheduled appointments for readings every Monday afternoon. Some days he wouldn't even come back into the house until after 8pm because of how busy he became during the day, even when the shop closes at 6pm. The cleanup was always worse on Mondays.

Today, however, was different. Ryder noticed that Reuben had closed the shop an hour early and was back in the house and in his room with classical music playing as the shower in their shared bathroom ran. What was he doing off of work so early? Why did he decide to close the shop early? Ryder's imagination ran wild with scenarios of what could be. But he didn't let that distract him from practicing his magic.

When the music stopped playing and Ryder heard the doors to the bathroom unlock, he instantly went into the bathroom only to smell the stench of strong cologne.

"Oh, gods," a saying the frei picked up from his guardian over the last few months. "That's repulsive," the toadstool concluded, throwing his nose into his antecubital fossa.

Ryder followed the musky scent into Reuben's bedroom, who had just finished putting on a pair of skinny jeans. "What's going on?" the frei questioned, his eyebrow raised and ribbon end twitching.

Reuben spun around and smiled. "I'm going out," the guardian stated bluntly. "Your aunt Calista is coming to watch you."

Ryder scrunched his face. He may have been young, but he wasn't a child. "I can take care of myself, you know. I do so every day you're in the shop."

"I didn't say you couldn't, but the shop is literally right next door and I could be here in a matter of seconds if something was happening. So, to save me the trouble, Calista is coming over and is just going to be here in case you need anything."

"Where are you going?" the frei questioned. Continuing to argue about being left alone at this point was futile.

"Just to dinner. I'll be back in a few hours."

Ryder's brows fell into dismay. So he was going to leave, and was getting all gussied up for a dinner? "With whom?"

"My friend, Evan."

Ryder nodded at the answer and decided to leave well enough alone. Why his guardian was getting so gussied up for a simple dinner was beyond the frei. And why he was missing out on potential clients and money was just confusing him further, especially when he knew how important Reuben's work was to him. Without further questioning, however, the frei let it be and went back to practicing his magic.

A knock came at the frei's bedroom door.

"Come in."

The door swung open and there she stood, the babysitter as promised. "So, where'd Reu go to anyway?"

Confused by the question, Ryder's brows furrowed. "He didn't tell you? He's out to dinner with a friend."

"Which friend?" she inquired.

Ryder's brows raised. Was she joking? As far as he knew, she was messing with him. Of course Reuben had told her, right? Why else was she here? "Uhh, Evan?" he stated in a questioning tone. "Why are you asking me?"

"No reason."

And with that, Calista shut the door.

Ryder was too curious to leave that be, so he got up from his bed and followed her out into the living room. There she was, furiously going at her cell phone like a madwoman, cursing under her breath.

"A-are you...alright?" the frei questioned curiously.

Calista glanced up at the raevan and then back down at her phone. She then gently pat the seat next to her on the couch.

Ryder floated over and perched himself next to her, where she proceeded to show him exactly what she was doing. "He's on a date. With him."

Ryder glanced at his babysitter's face and then back at this photo of a man. "A date? What's that? And why are you mad about it?"

Calista sighed. "A date is where you hang out with someone you like. I'm sure you've read a story or two where two people kiss, correct? Well, at the end of a date, oftentimes you get a kiss," she began, becoming more and more irritated as the sentence went on. "I knew he was going out on a date and not running errands. He should have just told me."

Ryder was puzzled. Of course he had read many stories, but that still didn't explain why she was upset with him, or why he lied about it in the first place. "Okay...and you're upset because?"

Calista rolled her eyes and a soft groan escaped her lips. "Look," she said, pointing to the man's social media relationship status. "He's in a relationship. And upon further inspection, it looks like it's with this girl...Valerie Cronk."

Ryder's brow raised once more. He didn't understand all the importance of this, nor why it mattered. He understood that the lie was probably why she was upset, but aside from that, it didn't make much sense. "He just said he's going to dinner with a friend. Why do you believe it to be a date?"

Calista could tell the frei didn't quite get it, and thus, she spoke up, "Reuben was dressed up far too fancy to run a few errands; and he wouldn't put that much effort into his appearance if it were really just a friend he was going to dinner with," she spoke, fully knowing that Ryder still didn't truly understand all of the surrounding components. "First of all, he lied to me. And he knows you never lie to Calista. She'll find that shit out and ruin your life," she paused a moment with a sigh before continuing. "And secondly, he's on a date with a man who is in a relationship with a woman." she concluded, staring with disgust at a picture of the seemingly happy couple on her device. "What the hell is he doing?" she muttered under her breath.

Ryder kept his glance between the phone and Calista's face. She never took her eyes off of the phone whilst speaking. She was fuming, and he could tell.

With narrowing eyes, Calista clicked the sleep button on her cell before dropping it on her lap and rubbing her golden eyes with a sigh.

Ryder felt as though this entire scenario could be found in many of the books he had read. A love triangle of sorts. It amused the mushroom frei to the point a crooked grin grew upon his face. Oh how he imagined these three fighting over one another like children over candy. It was fun to stir up drama, at least in his head.

Calista sat her phone on the coffee table in front of them before turning her attention to Ryder. "So what all do you know about this Evan person?"

Ryder just shrugged. "Reuben hasn't mentioned him to me. This is the first I've heard of him, honestly."

Calista looked at the front door and tapped her fingers on the back of the couch. "Want to go for a drive?"

Ryder winced. He hated going out, but when Calista said something, it wasn't like he had much of a choice.

Before he could even answer, the woman was already walking towards the front door with her car keys in hand, ready to go.

With a heavy sigh, the frei slowly floated behind his babysitter, not once even speaking.

"Where are we going?" Ryder asked, staring out the window.

The illusionist was driving rather manically, and ignored the question for a good ten seconds while she passed a couple of cars in her over-sized pickup truck. "We're going to find your guardian."

Ryder shook his head. Why did he allow this to happen? "How do you even know where he is?"

Calista quickly glanced at Ryder with a mischievous smirk. "I have my ways."

The two drove for a good twenty minutes deep into the heart of Modesto. There was one restaurant there that Reuben had always loved to go to even though he hated the city and what it represented to him. If he was going on an actual date, this was where they were most likely to be.

"Aha! There's Reuben's car," she chirped as she pulled into an open parking spot nearby. "That bastard thought he could be sly and shit," she muttered quickly to herself, yet loud enough for Ryder to hear.

Ryder just looked at the small restaurant and noticed the dim lighting. It sure didn't seem like much from the outside.

"Now we just have to catch him in the act."

"The act of wh-" the frei began before getting cut off.

"SHH! There he is!" she screamed.

Ryder jumped in slight shock. Why did she just tell him to 'shh' in such a loud tone? And even then, it wasn't as if Reuben could hear them when they were across the parking lot. But, nevertheless, she was right. Reuben was exiting the little restaurant with the same man that Calista had shown him earlier.

Calista's eyes were like daggers, if only Reuben knew the two were there, he'd definitely feel the pain of those eyes digging deep into his very soul. Ryder was almost nervous, he had known Calista's personality to be rather sporadic and even a bit crazy, but wasn't this going just a tad too far? Maybe this is exactly why Reuben wanted to keep it all a secret from her in the first place. He knew she'd react this way.

"Shouldn't we-"

The erratic behavior of his aunt was almost sickening to the poor frei. He already felt bad enough for spilling the beans to her in the first place; but now she was basically in full rampage mode for literally no reason. It wasn't even any of her business why Reuben was with this man. It wasn't either of their businesses. So why did she care so much? Ryder sighed and just stayed silent while she continued to stare at the car.

Once they pulled away from the parking lot, Calista spoke up, "Okay, now we have to follow them."

"Or maybe we should just go home."

Calista's eyes narrowed. That was not going to happen whatsoever. With that, she started up her car.

Ryder couldn't take it, she was acting as though she was cheated or something. Finally, the frei had enough. There was only one thing he could do. He used what she had taught him the week before. He completely concentrated his thoughts on wanting his skin's poisonous potency to increase. With tensions high, his skin began to lubricate, looking wet and greasy. The frei looked down at the palms of his hands and they were swollen and glistened with a strange greasy clear slime it seemed. It was his chance. He grabbed the woman's bare arm and held on tight for a few moments.

"Hey! What the hell are you doi-" was all she could get out before she instantly began to feel sick to her stomach. She yanked her arm away from the raevan's grasp and before she knew it, she was hanging her head out the truck's door, vomiting on the pavement.

Ryder's eyes widened. It worked. His skin potency really worked. Albeit maybe a bit too strong. "I-I'm so sorry! I just want to go home!"

As Calista brought up her head from staring down at her own bile, there stood the tall and lanky Alice, bent over staring her right in the face.

"Let’s go home," the figment stated in a firm tone, staring her right in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, aunt Cali! I'm so, so sorry!" Ryder cried in the background.

Calista had to take a moment to regain her composure before sitting straight back up in her chair with skin clamming up and chills setting in. "It's fine, Ryder. We're going home," she said, closing her truck's door and noticing Alice still staring at her in the driver window with the creepiest of smiles on her face.

With that, the two headed back to the house.

"We won't tell Reuben about tonight, okay? It'll be our little secret." Calista stated as she stared out the window at the street ahead, clearly still sick from the poisoning.

All Ryder did was nod his head, staring out his passenger window. Tonight wouldn't be spoken of again, that much he agreed with.