I dedicate this chapter to Danii2 and you all REALLY need to check out her book "An Elemental's Chronicle, Book 1: Found but Not Lost". This one will definitely keep you on edge as you go with Mark on his journey of weird happenings. Go, check it out! :)

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CHAPTER - 3

DINFAST

F*cker's Burgers

I stared wide eyed at the yellow illuminated name of the diner placed a few meters away from me. I was pretty sure, that my jaw touched the ground too. Why would anyone keep this as their diner's name? 'This is anything but a family diner,' I declared mentally.

As we stepped closer to the old, worn-out looking diner, which was not located in a very good part of the city, I resisted the urge to smack myself and still, have a good laugh at my dirty mind's dirty thinking. The name of the 'nice family diner' was not what I mentioned earlier.

'Who would even think of such a name?' 

'You and your dirty mind,' was the answer, which came from within me.

It was 'Becker's Burgers'. The 'B' of Becker's was not illuminated properly, just 'I' part of B was lighted up and E was not at all illuminated like the rest of the alphabets of this nice named restaurant. So, nobody could blame me for assuming what I assumed was its name.

After our little adventure with the early man, we drove around the city, laughing like maniacs, with no care in the world. All of a sudden, both of us felt hungry pangs in our stomach and she exclaimed, very excitedly, "Oh, I know the perfect place!"

Little did I know, that the place 'Becker's Burgers' looked far from perfect.

We entered the small place and I noticed that it was completely empty. I looked around as she started moving towards a table. The diner looked fairly decent from the inside. It was neat and everything at the counter looked well placed, but there was no one behind the counter as well, which made me wonder whether this place was even open or not. The interiors were all wooden, I think so, as it was all brown. I shortly followed her and sat down across her at a corner table. The table between us was very narrow and long. The chairs, red in color, were okay and not very comfortable.

Paying attention to the army of rats racing in my stomach, I quickly picked up the menu kept on the table between us. The menu that I had picked up 'quickly' was snatched from my hand even more quickly. I gave a tired look towards the snatcher, but she just shrugged and kept the menu back at its place. I gave her a questioning look, which she ignored. "Martin! Martin!" she shouted, stressing too much on Martin the second time and looking towards the counter as she called someone.

Well, that someone was obviously named Martin.

This reminds me...

"Hey!" I interrupted her.

"Hello," she replied, sarcastically. She didn't even spare me a glance as she kept looking towards the counter, tilting her head in all directions, as if Martin was hiding behind some jar or container and would pop out upon hearing her voice. Who was Martin? A rat?

I chuckled at her response. "What's your name?" I asked, feeling very careless and stupid for not having a little introduction session with her when we met. I spent half of the night with her and didn't even ask her name. Well, neither did she, but she had a nickname for me, that too a very creative one.

She looked at me for a few seconds in disbelief and her expressions changed to that of realization, which made her laugh very loudly. I could not help but join her and soon both of us were laughing at the absurdity of our situation. Once we calmed down, we looked at each other waiting for the other to start the introduction. She had a huge grin on her face and, probably, I mirrored her expressions.

She was the first to speak. "Kim. Kimberly Jones," she said, extending her right hand in front of her to shake.

I shook her hand and while doing so gave her my famous irresistible smirk. I said with a fake heavy voice, "Bond. James Bond."

She gave me an amused look and a chuckle escaped her lips. "I prefer the nickname I kept for you," she joked.

Laughing a bit, I said, "Yeah, but I couldn't resist." I gave her a sheepish look and told her my name, "Keith Warren."

We pulled our hands at the same time. "Don't ever call me Kimberly, if you want to have kids," she warned me.

I raised my eyebrows and laughed a bit. "People usually go by 'my friends call me Kim or Kimber'."

"Just Kim," she said, narrowing her eyes at me.

Nodding my head, I said, "My friends call me-"

"C**dom-man?" she offered, completing my sentence.

I let out a sarcastic laugh and said, "Sorry to disappoint your creative mind, but my friends call me Keith."

Before we could contribute more to the conversation, we heard sounds of utensils falling on the floor and we snapped our heads in the direction of the counter, from where these sounds were coming. For a moment everything went quiet and I looked at Kimberly with a questioning look; to which she replied with a shrug. A very loud thud made me look towards the counter again. The noises were coming from a door behind the counter, which I assumed, led to the kitchen.

"Don't worry. That's just Martin," she told me, probably noticing my confused expressions. Just on cue, a man came out of the kitchen door stumbling. He was probably around thirty five years of age and was not very healthy. He was nicely tanned; that's Miami effect. His sandy hair was a mess and his eyes looked tired. It was clear that he must have been sleeping and this girl, sitting in front me, disturbed his peaceful slumber.

He shook his head in disbelief when his tired, sleepy eyes landed on our table, or I should say, on the girl sitting across me. "Kim? This time? Really?" he asked, a loud yawn escaping his mouth.

"Yeah. I just can't stay away from you," she answered, giving him a dreamy look.

This made me widen my eyes in shock. Martin chuckled and said, "Don't worry. She tends to do and say the unexpected."

I looked at him when I figured out that he was talking to me. "The night is not over and I already know that," I told him, looking at him and then Kimberly, who chuckled in response.

"What did you make him do?" Martin asked with a curious smirk on his face.

"Oh! I just made him u-" she started, but I cut her off before she could humiliate me any further.

"Uhuungry, um... hungry," I said, stressing on the 'u' very loudly as I glared at her, effectively making her mouth shut.

"Um... okay," Martin said, looking confused. He turned towards Kimberly and asked, "Order?"

"Usual," she replied. He nodded and proceeded towards the kitchen to make the usual, whatever that was. I looked at Kimberly as she kept her hands on the table and leaned a bit. She asked, "So, are you new here in Miami?"

"Yeah, I am here on a holiday, or I should say, to visit my grandpa. I am going back to Hendersonville tomorrow," I told her. "Actually, today." I corrected myself looking at my wrist watch, which showed that it was already quarter to three in the morning. She smiled a bit, nodding her head. "What about you?" I asked her as I realized hardly five minutes back that I knew absolutely nothing about this girl. Though it was not something new for me. I had spent nights with girls whose names I forgot as soon as they told me and I preferred calling them as 'Babe', in order to prevent those girls from getting violent.

I wanted to know about her, more than her name.

"I was born and brought up here in Miami. I have an elder sister who is in San Francisco for further studies. My mother left us when I was three, so it has always been just my dad, Sarah and me. I'll be a senior in high school now," she finished with a slight smile on her lips. "How did you end up at the party?" she asked, looking curious as her eyebrows furrowed together.

Before I could answer, Martin came with our food and said, grinning, "Here is your dinfast." Kim and I looked at him questioningly as he kept our plates on the table. "Oh! You know, like Brunch is in middle of Breakfast and Lunch. You are having a meal in the middle of dinner and breakfast, at three in the morning, so it is called Dinfast," he tried to explain when he noticed our confused expressions. He looked like a scientist trying to prove his new theory to the world. His explanation proved futile as we both looked a lot more confused now. He sighed heavily and said, "Never mind, have your dinf... um... meal." With that, he turned towards the kitchen, walking with slumped shoulders in defeat like a scientist whose intelligence could not be understood and discovered by the common world.

Kim and I looked at each other and shrugged. We both were way too hungry to discuss about the strange word that Martin just tried to explain. I looked down at my plate which had a huge burger served on it and a coke was kept beside it. I had no idea as to what burger it was, so I decided to ask Kim about it. This particular idea was dropped by me, when I saw that Kim was already devoted to her burger like it was something heavenly.

Intrigued, I took a bite of my burger and I was pretty sure that soon I was mirroring her expressions. The chicken burger was the most amazing burger, I had ever had.

"This is the best burger in the world of burgers," I declared my thoughts, still devouring the heavenly taste of cheese and chicken on my taste buds.

"I know, right?" She grinned, her dark brown orbs lighting up in excitement.

"Hell, yeah," I said, taking another bite of God's greatest gift to non-vegetarians.

"So, as I was asking, how did you end up at the party?" she asked, picking up her coke and taking a sip of it.

"I was on a date with this girl named Claire," I replied nonchalantly. As a reward to my honest answer, I was splattered with coke mixed with her spit. She spat the contents that were in her mouth the moment I answered and it all came directly at my face. All thanks to the narrow table between us. My mouth and eyes shut tightly in reflex, as the splattered droplets covered my face. Very slowly, I opened my eyes to glare at her. Her eyes were wide open and so was her mouth as she looked at me. She looked a bit cute like that. I picked up a napkin from the side and dried my face with it, never taking my narrowed eyes off her. "I don't need a shower. I took one in the evening," I joked, making her sigh in relief and laugh a bit.

"It's not that. You said Claire?" she asked, looking extremely interested in Claire. I didn't blame her though, as Claire was one hot chick and Kim was a lesbian. I nodded in response and she looked even more excited. "Silicon valley, short, slutty, fake Claire?" she inquired.

I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion, giving her a chance to explain further, but when she didn't, I corrected her, "No, sexy Claire." I was not sure whether we were talking about the same Claire here.

She rolled her eyes and offered again, "Pinky Claire?"

This had me nodding instantly. "Yes, we are definitely talking about the same person."

Her eyes became wider and she fisted her hand in the air as a sign of victory. I looked at her with confusion all over my face, as she patted herself on the back. "Claire and I go to the same school. We both are seniors and we share a mutual hatred towards each other," she told me, grinning devilishly and putting an end to my confusion.

I nodded in understanding as she took another sip of her coke. "You should be happy to know that I sacrificed my sex-filled night with sexy Claire for a so-called fun night with you," I told her about my biggest sacrifice ever.

Next thing I knew, time was rewindedby a few minutes and I was again splattered with coke all over my face. I opened my tightly shut eyes to glare at her, again, but this time, she was trying hard to suppress her laughter. I picked up the napkin and dried my face, not breaking my eye contact with her. Once I was done, I picked up my coke and brought it in front of my face so she could see it properly. "In case you forgot, you ordered one for me too. I am not interested in drinking your spitted coke. So, no sharing please," I told her, making her burst out in laughter.

"Um... yeah... sorry," she managed to say, between her laughter.

"Yeah, right!" I chuckled, shaking my head at her.

"Right, I am not!" she exclaimed happily. "How do you know Claire?" she asked.

I eyed the coke in her hand and said, "I'll tell you, if you won't drink that thing while I am talking."

She laughed a bit. "Definitely not."

I rolled my eyes and told her, "She is my Grandpa's neighbor. I had a date with her tonight and apparently, I ditched her for you."

The moment I finished my sentence, I thanked the Gods above for giving me some presence of mind for stopping her from drinking coke this time. The look of shock on her face clearly told me that I could have been showered with coke again.

"Oh! My! God!" she exclaimed dramatically. "You are Claire's neighbor's grandson?"

"No sh*t, Sherlock," I said, deadpanned.

"You are the Keith, who is hot with a capital h?" I smirked arrogantly at her question, but my smirk was short lived, thanks to the look on Kim's face. She looked at me 'properly' with confusion, shock and disgust.

"Duh!" I glared at her.

"Oh," she said, scrunching her nose. "You sacrificed your sex-filled night with slutty Claire to hang out with me?" she asked, looking extremely shocked.

I looked at her for a moment. Yes, I sacrificed it, but do I regret it? I just shrugged in response as I had no idea that why I did this. The next thing she did was completely unexpected. She stood up and started jumping, twisting, shaking and moving her hands wildly. All I did was look at her in complete shock. "Kim?" I tried to call her, but she ignored and continued doing... that thing. "Kimberly!" I yelled, gaining her attention. She froze in a weird pose with her right hand above her head and left on her waist.

"You called me Kimberly?" she asked, narrowing her eyes towards me, but still standing in the same weird pose. She looked damn funny, but I didn't tell her that.

Deciding to ignore her, I asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Um... dancing?" she said, but it came out as a question.

Now, it was my turn to laugh. "You-call-that-da-dancing?" I asked between my laughs.

"Duh!"

"Hahahahaha. Right," I said, still laughing while she glared at me.

She rolled her eyes at me and yelled, "Martin!"

"Yeah?" He came out of the kitchen, still looking exhausted.

"Come here, old-man," she told him.

"I am not old, Kim. I am just thirty six." He chuckled, proving that he was used to this name.

"You are twice my age," she said, pulling out her phone from her baggy jeans pocket. "Click a picture of c**dom-man and me. I want to show it to Claire," she told him, handing him the phone.

I face palmed myself, when Martin started looking around his restaurant in search of some 'c**dom-man'. I tapped on his elbow and he looked at me with the same defeated scientist look. "Um... old man," I said, pointing towards him. He nodded and I continued, pointing towards myself, "C**dom-man." I grimaced as I called myself this name and realized how f*cking weird it sounded.

It took a moment for him to understand and when he did, he laughed. "I should say, I feel blessed," he said, making me frown and Kim laugh. He stood a few steps away from our table to click the picture and we leaned towards each other from across the table. I smirked towards the camera and the flash went off. Martin looked at the picture, shaking his head in amusement and handed the phone to me. I looked at the screen and a chuckle escaped my lips. In the picture, while I was smirking at the camera in order to get the 'perfect picture', Kim had her tongue stuck out towards the camera, her eyes popped out, making her look like a maniac, effectively ruining the perfect picture.

"What is this Kim? Claire won't even recognize you," I told her, laughing a bit, giving her the phone.

She looked proud when she looked at the picture. "She recognizes only this look on my face." She smirked, making me laugh and shake my head in amusement.

"Why do you even need a picture with me?" I asked, curiously. "What would you do with it?"

"Are you serious?" she asked, looking at me with big, wide eyes. Not giving me a chance to answer her, she continued, "the whole school knew that Claire was bringing some 'Hot Keith' to the party, she started broadcasting the news two days back, and when people will know that, that 'Hot Keith'-" she made a face as she said this, making me raise my eyebrows and again question her sexuality, she continued, "-ditched her for me, her life would become great." She finished with an evil laugh at the sarcasm of using the word 'great'. I half smirked at her and started eating my long-forgotten burger.

For the next few minutes we ate our burgers in silence. Once we were done, she asked, "So, how did you tell Claire that you won't be going out with her tonight?"

A grimace made its way on my face. "I didn't. I went to the bar to get her a drink; met you; we made the deal and here we are."

"You didn't tell her?" she asked in shocking voice and I shook my head in a no. "As much as I want to say that, that is so unmanly of you, I won't-" she paused and continued with a grin, "-you did that to Claire. You are great."

I rolled my eyes at her behavior, but my traitor lips gave me away by pulling themselves in a small smile. "How long do you think she waited for me near the parking lot?" I asked her.

She raised her right eyebrow and scoffed, "What makes you think that she waited for you?"

My eyebrows scrunched up together at her answer and I tried to reframe the question. "How long do you think, she waited for the drink near the parking lot?"

She nodded and replied, "Five minutes, tops." I raised my eyebrows at her answer, again and she continued, "as much as I know Claire, she found somebody else after almost five minutes of sulking and banged him." I looked at her in complete disbelief and she titled her head to the side. She smirked and asked, "Are only guys capable of doing such a thing, c**dom-man?"

Are only guys capable of doing so? Her question rang in my head for a moment, but I chose to ignore it. I let out a heavy breath and said, "I never said so."

She chuckled. "Yeah, right."

After a minute of uncomfortable silence, Martin came to our table with a bill in his hand. Just as I was about to take it from Martin's hand, Kim took it and gave a quick look at the piece of paper. She tried giving it back to Martin, 'tried' being the key word here. But, I snatched it from her hand and quickly looked at the bill amount. Soon, it was a race between Kim and me, to see who takes out the required money from their wallet fastest.

Here, I feel proud and mighty to say that it was me, who won.

I kept the money in Martin's hand, closed his fist and patted his closed fist. "Have a good night, Martin." I grinned, basking in the glory of my latest victory, which even Kim's deadly glare could not fade away. She huffed in annoyance and turned back to move towards the exit of the