AMA - The Divorcee: Day 11

"Those rumors were true!?" Paige asks in disbelief.

"I thought she was open about that being a part of her life? The way Becca acted at Dorsia, I—" Cassie started saying, but was cut off by Paige with her reaction.

"Dorsia? The~ Dorsia? You ate there? Holy shit! I'm so jealous!" Paige reacts. You can't blame Paige for reacting that way after eating there though. "Oh, sorry for my language Mr. Craig." Paige adds in apology. You look at Stella with wide eyes, mentally asking her why she can't be more like her friend when it comes to using swears.

"No need to apologize, Paige. I should be thanking you for setting a good example for my foul mouthed daughter." You reply to Paige, taking a shot at your daughter teasingly.

"Fuck that." Stella immediately replies, goading you. The girls seem to find it funny as Cassie, Maddy, and Paige let out chuckles. You just sigh and just concede that that's not the hill you want to die on right now.

"Cue the waitress appearing out of nowhere..." Stella continues to joke.

"We have a waiter today Stella. You can relax a bit." You tell her, making her sigh in relief. You're not sure if she was doing it jokingly, or if she was actually relieved.

"Plus, I think you need to be more graphic than that. Maybe describe how much tongue Becca used when she made out with Viv." Cassie jokes.

"Oh wow, Ms. Viv likes making out with girls doesn't she?" Maddy reacts.

"She doesn't call herself an 'Evil Lesbian' for no reason." Stella reacts, making Maddy react in surprise.

"Ms. Viv is a lesbian? I thought she wanted to date Mr. Craig?" Maddy asks.

"Notice Maddy didn't react to Viv being evil?" Stella jokes under her breath so only you could hear.

"Sorry to interrupt, but you still call Mr. Craig uh... Mr. Craig? I mean, isn't he your boyfriend?" Paige asks, immediately getting Maddy to blush again and Stella even nudges you like you didn't notice Maddy's blushing.

"Oh! Sorry Paige. Forgot to introduce you. Paige, this is Maddy. She's staying with our neighbors for the summer before going to college. She's not Tanya, Jay's other girlfriend we told you about." Stella explains.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't know! It's nice to meet you Maddy." Paige tells Maddy, who was still obviously blushing. Maddy tried to play it off like she did with Becca earlier and tried to casually introduce herself to Paige as well.

"Why'd you ask what she calls him, Paige? Thought it would be kinky if one of us called him Mr. Craig during our foursome? What we actually call him is even kinkier." Stella tells Paige suggestively. You were about to react to Stella's apparent oversharing of your activities in the bedroom, but it seems Stella was rightly paranoid about the supernatural waitress for a reason.

"Hi everyone!" the waitress says from behind Stella.

"Jesus Christ." Stella flinches in surprise upon hearing the waitress' voice.

"Your food will be served in the private function room as requested by Ms. Hoffman. If you would be so kind as to follow me?" the waitress asked.

CHAPTER 119.1

What happens next?

Straight as a Noodle

"Okay, story time please. How do you guys have so much pull with Rebecca Hoffman?" Paige asks as you all sit down at one of the tables in the private function room. As the waitress led you to this area, you noticed it was the room that Celeste and Viv came out of when they were doing the media spotlight.

"I'm telling you, we don't." Stella replies.

"Yeah. We're just as surprised that she upgraded us to this room." Cassie adds.

Well, you might have an idea why Becca would try and put her best foot forward. She does have a sliver of romantic feelings for you based on what the app showed the last time you checked it. This could be a way for her to get your attention?

You mentally slap yourself.

Okay, calm down ego. You're not the most attractive man alive. Relax on the assumptions.

You have to admit though, all these women just falling for you left and right without even trying is beginning to go to your head.

"It can't just be out of the goodness of her heart though. Her reputation around the office back when I was interning there wouldn't match that." Paige tells all of you.

"She's been nothing but generous to us, Paige. Granted, we're friends with some of her friends so that might be the reason." You defend Becca.

"What's her reputation?" Maddy asks curiously.

"Ruthless." Paige answered succinctly.

"How ruthless?" Stella asks.

"I only heard this from one of the marketing guys, but the latest example I heard at the time was that she chewed out the last VP of Marketing for a pretty average campaign for one of the hotels and fired him on the spot... then blacklisted him so he can't get a letter of recommendation from HR. I think the guy she fired tried to sue, and got buried even deeper and had to move out of the country. So, yeah. Ruthless." Paige tells the four of you.

"Also hearsay." You respond, giving Becca the benefit of the doubt.

"True, but when there's smoke there's fire though." Paige half-concedes, and you concede her point too. You do remember Viv saying that Becca didn't get the position she has just because she was the boss' daughter. You assume being ruthless would be a part of that. If Viv is any indication too, how she acts at work and how she acts in her private life could be completely different.

"Maybe that's just how she is when she's at work? Mr. Craig mentioned Ms. Viv acts differently at work too, even when she's only been nice to me since last night." Maddy points out.

"You guys are definitely friends with her." Paige points out. "Most of the older management badmouth her, and says she only got her spot due to nepotism." Paige explains. "Granted, I won't deny that I get the 'old jealous bastard' vibes from most of them, so I'm actually more inclined to believe you guys than them." Paige adds before you could say that you were assuming they were just old jealous bastards anyway.

It was at this time that the door to the private room opened and it was Viv who made her way inside the room.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Chef Nguyen, I'll be your host for your lunch this afternoon." Viv introduces herself, as if you don't know who she is. Maddy's all smiles upon seeing Viv in her professional element, while Stella and Cassie are confused as to why she's acting like that; since the last time you were here, Viv was still acting like her normal flirty self.

"Hi Chef Nguyen." Maddy greets her, playing along.

"Yeah~. Hi, Chef Nguyen. Are you here to sit on Daddy's lap again?" Stella asks her teasingly; and as if on cue, the waitress walks in with the appetizers you ordered and some other extra stuff you didn't order, to serve to your table. You hear Stella say 'Ow' under her breath, and based on the look you can see from Cassie across the table from her, it looks like Cassie kicked Stella under the table to get her attention that the waitress arrived when something vaguely sexual was mentioned.

"Well, that question breaks the professional illusion. I told Becca this wouldn't work." Viv replies, a bit annoyed, and Stella laughs at Viv's struggle.

"Come on Viv, we have your back. We'll tell Becca you had a stick up your ass the entire time you were here, just like she does, and you can just act normally around us." Stella tells her. Viv seems to consider the offer, before looking at Paige.

"Hi, I don't think we've met yet. I'm Viv." Viv introduces herself to Paige.

"I'm Paige. Nice to meet you Chef Nguyen." Paige says back to Viv.

"I hope you don't see this as intrusive, but you're not a Yelper are you?" Viv asks her.

"If I was, that'd be the first thing I'd tell you wouldn't it?" Paige jokes, getting Viv to laugh.

"Unless you're vegan or do crossfit." Viv jokes back, and Paige laughs as well.

"No, Chef Nguyen. I'm not a Yelper. I trust the recommendations of my friends over recommendations of strangers over the internet." Paige answers her.

"Smart." Viv reacts to Paige's statement. "You're not going to report me on social media if I act less than professional would you?" Viv asks her.

"Uh~, depends on what you mean by 'less than professional'." Paige replies.

"~Okay then. Well, for your appetizers today, you'll have—" Viv started saying, looking to describe the dishes in front of us as the chef, before Stella cut her off.

"Jesus. It's so weird to see you act normal; and by normal, I mean abnormal for you. Just flirt with my Dad already. " Stella says with faux annoyance.

"Oh Princess, you know I like flirting with you more than Daddy." Viv jokingly replies.

"There she is." Stella announces with a smile, getting Viv to smile too.

"That's so~ unprofessional." Paige reacts, making Viv and you give a look of panic, while Stella, Cassie, and Maddy are all shocked at Paige's reaction. "I'm kidding! Sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have done sarcasm when we're not close with one another yet." Paige immediately adds upon seeing everyone's reaction. Everybody visibly relaxes upon her clarification that she was only joking.

"I'm willing to forgive you as long as you show me how good of a kisser you are." Viv says with a naughty smile, outright flirting with Paige now and already back to the flirty personality most of you are more familiar with.

"I'll be back soon with your main dishes." The waitress interjects before leaving the private room.

"Lizzie! Not a word of this to Ms. Hoffman, understood?" Viv asks with a wink to Lizzie, the waitress.

"Of course, Chef." Lindsay answers before walking out the room.

"Nope. Erasing that name from my brain. She'll forever be 'The Waitress'." Stella jokes.

You all start eating the appetizers that were served, Viv describing what they were when Maddy or Paige asks. As she wasn't around when you and the girls upped her cooking for the media spotlight with Celeste, you all take the opportunity to rain her with praises of how delicious the appetizers were. She gave some anecdotes about some recipes about how her family used to cook them for family events and that's where her love for cooking started.

"We're only at the appetizers and I'm already contemplating if we should make out or not. These are really good." Paige says as a compliment.

"You shouldn't have said that Paige." Cassie says jokingly, trying to be ominous.

"The offer stands, sweetness." Viv tells her with a wink.

"If I accept the offer, are we making out here or in private?" Paige asks Viv, with her elbow on the table and her chin resting on her knuckles, taking Viv by surprise. It was oddly reminiscent of how Viv teased Cassie the other day. Viv looks at Stella, and you don't read minds, but you're assuming she's saying 'Is this bitch for real?' since she's pointing at Paige when looking at Stella. Stella just laughs.

"Well, I fold. Bluff called. I actually don't want to make out with you while I'm at work." Viv admits, and Paige lets out a sigh of relief.

"Whew. I would've folded if you called too. I'm a raging heterosexual despite my previous attempts at experimentation." Paige admits as well.

"Raging heterosexual? So you're not even slightly a noodle?" Viv asks.

"What's a noodle?" Maddy asks.

"Somebody who's straight until they're wet." Paige answers, and all of you except for Viv let out a simultaneous "Oh~". "To answer that question, I am sadly not a noodle. Staunch supporter of LGBTQ+ rights though, so no judgment from me. I just say raging heterosexual as a joke since people use that to describe gays for some reason." Paige answers Viv.

"Maybe the waters you've swam in just haven't been hot enough?" Viv asks suggestively.

"Maybe. Care to show me what boiling waters feel like?" Paige answers, not backing down.

"I like you." Viv immediately says upon hearing Paige flirt back with her.

"It's nice to meet you, Viv. Tell Chef Nguyen I like you better." Paige says, returning Viv's wink from earlier. "As a friend of course. Like I said, raging heterosexual." Paige adds.

"Alright, I'm sold. When are you going to start dating her?" Viv asks you out of the blue, taking you by surprise; and it seemed to take Paige aback as well.

"I'm sorry. What?" Paige reacts flustered.

"What!?" Maddy couldn't help but react simultaneously with Paige.

"Yeah, Viv. What?" You ask Viv as well.

"What? I was just wondering if you had plans; cuz if you're not planning to date her, I will." Viv jokingly explains, obviously still flirting with Paige. "Also, I wanted to see if she would fake flirt with you too." Viv adds, but she has a mischievous smile on her face, reveling that she got Paige to crack a tiny bit. "She got flustered at the thought though. So I'm guessing if she's going to flirt with you, it's going to be for realsies." Viv teases both you and Paige.

"Is that something you would want, Mr. Craig? Would you like me to flirt with you?" Paige asks you naughtily, but her facial expression and demeanor was acting all innocent. She seems to have recovered from being flustered very quickly now that she knows what Viv was up to.

Your ego immediately thinks she was flirting with you for real, and thinking how awkward this is with your girlfriends and someone who's incredibly horny for you watching. Thankfully, Viv stops your assumption that Paige was being serious before it could latch on to your ego for too long.

"Damn, you're good." Viv reacts, and the impressed look on Stella and Cassie's face seem to agree with Viv's assessment.

"Thank you. I did some theater in college." Paige tells Viv.

"Junior seemed to believe it." Viv adds.

"Junior? Oh! You mean Mr. Craig?" Paige reacts with a laugh. "I think Mr. Craig's reaction of horror is justified. Probably afraid for his writing career if he gets canceled for flirting with a former student of his." Paige jokes.

CHAPTER 120.1

What happens next?

Cue the Waitress

PAIGE HALLIWELL! That's why that name was so familiar!

"Oh~! You were part of the Senior class when I subbed to teach English at Stella's High School." You say out loud in realization.

"You were a teacher before Mr. Craig? I didn't know that about you. You're wiki didn't mention—" Maddy asks in surprise, before stopping herself mid-sentence. "I mean..." Maddy tries to explain, a bit embarrassed to admit she's read your wiki page it seems. You kind of assumed she would have read your wiki anyway. She openly admits to being your fan, so that wouldn't be weird nowadays. Plus, she's never acted to know too much about you, so she doesn't come off as a stalker; which is probably what she's concerned about.

"I was just a substitute, and it was only for a quarter. Not something people would put on my Wiki page, I suppose." you explain to her with a kind smile, wanting to make sure she knows you don't find it weird. "I apologize for not recognizing you sooner, Paige. It does explain why you were conscious of swearing around me." You add, addressing Paige this time.

"I don't blame you for not wanting to remember us. We were a fucking nightmare back in high school." Paige jokes. "Sorry. Language." Paige adds with a chuckle.

"I'm sure if he saw you in our volleyball uniform he would've remembered you faster. No one could forget your big ass eating your— OW!" Stella jokes before obviously getting kicked by Cassie under the table again.

"Trying to hit me where it hurts!" Paige reacts. "I still curse this body for making it extra hard to be an athlete." Paige says half-joking in frustration.

"Are there photos of that on the internet somewhere or..." Viv jokes.

"Reign it back, Viv. You're bordering on creep town more than usual." Cassie jokes back.

"Oh, right! You were the captain of the volleyball team during Stella's freshman year. I do remember that." You say upon remembering, and also trying to get back the conversation to somewhere less perverted.

"I told you he wouldn't forget your big ass in volleyball shorts." Stella teases Paige... and there goes your attempt to get it back to a non-perverted conversation.

"Lord help me." Cassie sighs in defeat, and you can't blame her. The combination of Viv and Stella both openly perving out on Paige is a bit too much.

"Well that completely debunks your theory that he was afraid to flirt with you because you're a former student. He doesn't even remember the 'student' part, just the..." Viv points out, chuckling a bit, before Cassie cuts her off.

"Please don't finish that sentence." Cassie says, getting a laugh out of Paige.

"It's alright, Cassie. You couldn't stop Stella from retelling all the juicy details of your foursome after your practice, I think it's futile to try and prevent it when there's two of them." Paige jokes.

"Wait one goddamn minute! How come she gets to hear that story and I don't?" Viv asks in fake exasperation.

"Probably because when I retell it to you, you'll masturbate on the spot." Stella jokes.

...

"Cue the waitress." She quickly adds.

The door to the private room then opens and Stella busts out laughing upon seeing that it was indeed the waitress entering the room with your main dishes. Other than Stella who was holding in her laughter to not make the waitress feel weird, all of you were in stunned silence at Stella's fortune telling while the waitress tried to serve each of you the items you ordered.

"Um... Chef Nguyen?" the waitress says, trying to snap Viv out of her shock.

"Oh! Right." Viv says, snapping out of her trance; and begins to professionally describe what's in your orders and what taste profiles you should look out for, and a few more anecdotes about the dishes here and there. Maddy and Paige were the ones who listened intently, while you and your two girlfriends immediately started eating as you already know what the food tastes like, and it's delicious.

As the waitress leaves the room once more, Chef Nguyen immediately goes back to being Viv.

"What the hell was that?" Viv asks Stella, as the latter was eating.

"That was incredible!" Maddy says in amazement.

You, Stella, and Cassie all just laugh at your companions' reactions and in disbelief at what just happened for a good solid minute. Stella eventually goes on to tell the story of why she's been paranoid of that specific waitress since the last time you were at Viv's restaurant, making Viv recall the first time it happened when she was around; while Paige and Maddy connected the dots with the reference earlier when Stella made the exact same joke and you said you had a waiter so she could relax.

"I didn't know Lizzie was supernatural." Viv says in reaction.

"No! She's forever the waitress! Don't tell me her name!" Stella jokes.

"She's a human being, Stella. She's not Baby Yoda." Cassie retorts, but Stella just sticks her tongue out to Cassie as a response; ending up in both of them just sticking their tongues out at each other.

"I wonder if that happens to other customers too." Viv says.

"I don't think other customers talk about sex more than you guys, so it might not be as apparent." Paige jokes, and Cassie couldn't help but voice out her agreement.

"You're one to talk!" Stella reacts to Cassie's cleaning of her own hands as if she's not guilty of it sometimes too.

"I only do it because of you!" Cassie reacts.

"Maybe Paige is the one that brings it out of you guys, since you didn't seem to talk about it too much last night." Maddy observes, and Paige is shocked that Maddy turned the tables on her.

"I can think of two reasons why Paige brings it out of us." Stella jokes while gesturing to her own breasts to joke about the size of Paige's chest. The caveman in you couldn't help but glance at Paige's chest because of Stella's gesturing. You immediately glance away as you notice Maddy watching where your eyes went, before she started being conscious of her own chest.