﹙ TAKE A BITE ★ ﹚

HARTLEY INSISTED ON INVITING ARIA AND CHERRY TO FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT!

The pair of girls had entered with a bag full of snacks, unaware of what the atmosphere would be like. Hartley reassured that there was no harm in two more guests. Except, she didn't even show up.

Cherry and Aria settled on the blue couch at the same time Jake was coming down the stairs.

"What's in the bag?" Amy questioned, setting a popcorn bowl on her lap.

Jake was hauling out a suspiciously large trash bag. "Oh, just some stuff I'm throwing away. I'm trying to declutter my life of unnecessary things." 

"Oh, me too. And yet, you're still here."  Amy commented, laughing at her own joke.

He rolled his eyes as he opened the door, lifting the trash bag behind himself. Aria got up from the couch, following him out the front door.

She smiled politely which caused him to drop the bag. "Hi." 

"Oh, hey!" Jake coughed, clearing his throat. "Hi, Aria." 

"How are you?"

"Um, fine. And you?" 

"I'm also fine. I just wanted to apologize for being weird when I first met you."

Jake stood silently for a moment, trying not to freak out over the fact she was the one initiating conversation with him.

"No, no you weren't weird at all!" He reassured, tugging the bag over his arm.

"So we're good?" She tilted her head.

"Yeah, no. No, yeah! Yeah, I meant yes. Not no."

"What?" 

"We're good."

From the inside, his entire family was judging him through the open door.

Amy looked back at the rest of her family. "Have you guys noticed how weird Jake's been acting the past couple of days?"

"Well, no weirder than usual." Eva shrugged, gesturing to the tool beside her. "I mean, who am I to say? My son's a sledgehammer."

"Is that why that's there?" Cherry gasped in realization. "How?"

"It's impressive how bad his luck is." Amy commented.

"Look. Celia forgot her notebook." Eva pointed to the dark blue notebook on the armrest of the chair beside her.

"Is it supposed to be a diary?" Cherry questioned, tilting her head.

"Maybe. It's full of secrets." Amy tapped the plaque that literally read Secrets.

Vic took a long, informative glance at the notebook. "I don't know, it's really clever. I'm guessing secrets."

"I wish I thought of that." Colby said, from his unmoving spot on the couch.

"Not surprising." Cherry commented, picking him up by the wood handle. "Where are you talking from?"

"I'd bite you if I could." He threatened.

Amy lunged for the journal lying on the armrest, but Eva quickly snatched it out of her hands.

"We shouldn't invade her privacy." Eva said, before throwing open the book. "But also, who cares? Let's read!"

"I'm going to hell for this." Cherry whispered under her breath as Eva read the text out loud.

The first paragraph was about a granddaughter, obviously Hartley. It was a sappy poem that was immediately skipped.

"Oh, but there's something I've hidden from her. When I was young, I robbed a casino and stashed the cash in my rental house," Eva read with a gasp.

"She goes to the casino?" Vic asked.

"When was she young?" Amy questioned, her face decorated with confusion.

"That means that cash is stashed somewhere in here." Her father realized.

"We have to find it." She planned, glancing around the home.

Cherry frowned at their words. "Or could you leave it alone?"

Vic thought for a moment. "Nope. Anyway, we won't take all of it. We need to leave her some to get those hobbit feet fixed."

"I don't want to know what that means." Cherry winced.

The family came to the conclusion the money was hidden inside the wall. Cherry's suggestion to take some of the money and leave an apology note fell on deaf ears.

Aria had disappeared in favor of helping Jake throw away his unnecessary property. It was sort of cool how he was trying to be better.

Vic crafted a metal device to search for Celia's loot. He and Eva pressed the machine up against the wall and moved it around in search of the money.

Cherry was twirling the sledgehammer, complaints coming from Colby for her to stop. She did when Vic declared that he found the treasure. All that was left was something to break the wall open.

Any idea of leaving Celia's money alone left Cherry's head as she looked down at Colby. She would never want to break down someone's wall. It was incredibly ironic for a hero to steal.

Maybe that would show Colby to stop kicking the back of her seat when they were in class.

"No!" Colby called as his sledgehammer form was lifted into the air.

"I'll be a better person tomorrow," Cherry told herself as she bashed the hammer into the top of the wall.

She continued the process until she put a large gap in the wall, Colby complaining after every hit that tore down another piece. He swore he was going to get her back for this.

"Okay, that's enough! You were only supposed to break a small section," Amy reminded, grabbing her arm.

Cherry set Colby onto the couch as if she hadn't just been throwing him into the wall as hard as she could manage. She grabbed her phone, reading the hair appointment reminder.

It was clear the movie night wouldn't be happening any time soon and her friends were gone. Also, facing Celia's wrath for the destruction of her rental home wasn't something she wanted to experience.

She'd have to ask Amy how they got out of that problem the next day. She had to save her energy for patrol just in case Azrael wanted to make her life miserable just before she was about to go home.

He'd been missing for a couple of days at that point. It wasn't strange for him to disappear as he plotted bigger and better crimes. Maybe his break would allow him to plan something that wouldn't fail.

It was more like a meet-up than something that really concerned her.

They were following the same routine every time. He'd craft a plan he thought was foolproof, she'd manage to stop him, he'd soak up the humiliation and go home to try again.

As they sorted the garbage into the trash and the recycling, Aria and Jake had a long conversation about anything that came to their minds first.

"What makes you want to be a better person? Your family isn't all that into it." Aria asked.

"My family isn't into anything." Jake shrugged, throwing the last of the garbage away and dusting his hands off. "Hand sanitizer?"

Aria laughed at how prepared he was and that sound made Jake laugh. He couldn't think of anything he disliked about her.

"What's your favorite color?" She asked as she rubbed the disinfectant between her fingers.

"Blue." Jake decided, leading her back into the neighborhood.

"Mine's purple."

"Me too."

"I thought you said blue?"

"I changed my mind. Nice bracelet. Is it new?"

Aria nodded and held up her wrist to display the silver bracelet with a key charm on it. She had purchased it the previous day at the mall. It was part of a matching set she had decided to wear on her own.

Suddenly, she pulled a small box out of her pocket.

"I do!" Jake shouted as soon as he saw the item.

"You do what?" Aria tilted her head as she handed the box over to him.

"Nevermind." He said.

Jake pulled the box open to reveal a lock charm bracelet identical to the one Aria had on. Was she suggesting they match?

"Are you sure?" He looked up.

"Sharing is caring." Aria shrugged.