“Yes?” he asked innocently.
“Do you have to do that right now?” Rusty asked, and Gem nodded.
“Yes,” he repeated sweetly.
Enfys, once again, tried to speak, but before Gem could jab the button on the grinder to stop her, Rusty lunged to the side, grabbed the grinder’s cord, and yanked it out of the outlet. Gem’s jaw dropped with an enraged gasp, but Rusty ignored him.
As Rusty and Enfys attempted to make small talk, Gem proceeded to turn on all the dairy steamers at once with the excuse of rinsing them so they wouldn’t get moldy—
“They’ll get fuzzy,” he said above the noise, pointing at Enfys. “Like her antennas!”
—Then he turned his attention to the blender station and made himself a smoothie for his lunch, even though Rusty had never seen him drink a smoothie before. In fact, he specifically remembered Gem saying that smoothies were gross and slimy and that only psychopaths drank them on a regular basis.
Enfys, much to Rusty’s relief, didn’t seem offended by Gem’s rudeness. In fact, she hid laughter behind a hand, seeming to find the entire show entertaining. Oliver was mortified, hiding his pink face in his palm as he peeked through his fingers. Rusty was mostly confused, and he had never been more happy to see Toni than when the Elas waltzed through the door, Enfys’s to-go bag in his hand.
Rusty took it and handed it over the counter with a whispered, “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Enfys said. “I’m having a great time.”
“Gem, what are you doing?” Toni demanded as Gem shoved agidymroot into the blender, making it squeal in protest.
“What?” Gem shouted.
“What are you doing?” Toni repeated, louder this time.
“Making my lunch,” Gem called back.
“But you don’t like smoothies,” Toni said.
“What?” Gem said.
“Oh my god,” Oliver said.
“I’m really sorry,” Rusty said.
Enfys cackled. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get out of your hair.”
The blender finally stopped—or maybe Gem had simply broken it—and Rusty said, “Take it easy, okay?”
“You too, handsome. Thanks for the food.” She offered a finger-wave to Oliver before shooting a mocking smile at Gem. “It was so great meeting you, Ges.”
Gem spoke through a forced, half-manic laugh as he poured the smoothie he’d made down the sink, “Oh my gods, words cannot express how much I hate that.”
“Bye, Rusty.” Enfys said gleefully. “I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
Before Rusty could respond, Gem was draping an arm around Rusty’s shoulders, waving several hands emphatically. “Okay, buh-bye now. Can’t wait til next time. Bye. Have a nice trip. Bye-bye. Careful in the station. The platforms are hella slippery. Would be a real shame if you fell in front of a train. M’kay, buh-bye now. Bye!”
The moment the door shut behind the Lepid, Gem rounded on Rusty, Toni, and Oliver with a huffed, “Oh my gods, what a bitch!”
“Seriously?” Rusty said.
“I thought she was nice,” Oliver said.
“I don’t know who we’re talking about,” Toni said.
“The Lepid,” the Gem said stiffly. “Apparently, she and Rusty are, like, best friends. And she’s so pretty and funny and amazing. Which is just so great, of course.”
“I don’t really know her that well,” Rusty said, but Gem didn’t appear to hear him.
