Chapter 12
"Wait, what's that?" Brad asked himself.
He looked off into the distance, noticing a blue building unknown to him. Large windows allowed view into the building; many people lining up at a counter. Brad looked up and saw the sign above the building in question.
"A 'Taco Bell'?" Brad read out, "Since when was one of those around here?"
He was interrupted by a sudden drip. Brad looked up to the sky, only to find no clouds. He then looked at the drainpipes, checking to see they were the source of the unusual noise.
Drip.
Brad turned and looked at what happened to be the source of the strange noise. Standing with her mouth agape, Sonata stared at the building Brad had questioned. Her eyes were glued to the building in a daze with another drop of drool appearing from her agape mouth onto the ground.
"Brad?" Sonata asked slowly, "What's a 'Taco Bell'?"
"Uh..." Brad started, "It's a fast food place that sells...well...tacos."
"For realzies?!" Sonata turned immediately to look at Brad with pleading eyes. "Please can we go?"
"I don't know..." Brad started.
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" Sonata interrupted. She began fluttering her eyes in an attempt to try to appear cute.
'That is a weapon that should not be allowed,' Brad thought. "Fine. I suppose we could do with lunch."
"Yay!" Sonata cheered, "Oh, thank you thank you thank you!"
"I'm not sure what I'm going to have though," Brad admitted, "I mean, I've never had a taco before."
Sonata gasped loudly. "You've never had a taco?!"
"I'll be honest," Brad continued, "I don't even know what one is."
Sonata stood in shock. Her mouth fell agape, her eyes wide open in shock and her arms dropped to her side.
"How do you not even know what a taco is?!" Sonata shouted.
"Ssh," Brad looked around cautiously, "We don't want to attract attention."
"But how do you not even know what a taco is?" Sonata asked quieter, "It's, like, the best food in existence."
"I thought you only liked the ones from that one place," Brad said.
"Yeah, true," Sonata agreed, "But they were sooooooooooo good."
"So, uh, what is a taco?" Brad asked, "I've only heard about them, but I don't really know what they are.
"Basically," Sonata began, "it's a wrap of a kind of corn with a range of different sorts fillings and some veggies on top. It's so simple, but soooo delicious."
"Okaaaaaaaaay," Brad simply said.
"Anyway, the tacos aren't gonna wait for us!" Sonata declared, "Let's go!" She grabbed Brad by the arm and began running, Brad being forced along with Sonata as she ran along.
"H-hey," Brad tried to get Sonata's attention, "Wait up!"
Sonata dragged Brad towards Taco Bell; Brad trying to slow down and looking at the puzzled faces of the many of the people he ran past. Sonata shoved the door open, and took a moment to embrace the smell. This gave Brad a moment to catch his breath. After doing so, he looked around the building he was dragged into. Many tables surrounded him, as well as people lining up for their food. A strong smell of something hit Brad like a bus.
'Smell's...Spanishy,' he thought, 'I guess it makes sense. Taco's are from Spain, right? Or is it Mexico?'
"Well, what are you gonna get?" Sonata asked, snapping Brad back to reality.
"Huh?" Brad responded, "Oh I dunno, something simple I suppose. What about you?"
"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," Sonata began, "It's certainly quite tough. Not sure if to go crunchy, double decker, chicken, grilled steak, tough choice."
‘She’s like a veteran taco eater,’ Brad thought. "Any recommendations for a first-timer for tacos?"
"Uhh, maybe a softer one?" Sonata offered, "It's really what you prefer. I mean, I don't mind either way if it tastes good. But I'd say start with a softer one."
"Alright," Brad agreed as they moved further forward in the queue, "Any ideas what you're gonna have yet?"
"Er, hmm, you see I don't know how crunchy they make theirs," Sonata explained, "So I might just go with the soft steak to be safe."
"Okay, what drink?" Brad asked.
"I guess I'll have a lemonade," Sonata answered as they reached the counter.
"Hi, what can I get you?" the service clerk asked. He was a young man of no more than 17 with short brown hair and a long face.
"Uh, can I get one of the soft chicken tacos with a Coke," Brad began "And a soft steak taco with a Sprite?"
"Sure," he responded simply, "That'll be £11.49."
'No me gusta,' Brad thought as he pulled out his card once more to pay for the meal. The clerk went back and got their drinks and tacos and played them on a tray with napkins and straws. Brad took the tray and walked over to an empty table by the window; Sonata following along eagerly.
"Oooh, I can't wait!" Sonata exclaimed.
"Sonata, we have the tacos, calm down," Brad said calmly.
"And?" Sonata questioned, "I can still be excited, right?"
The pair sat across from each other as Brad set down the tray. Sonata took one of the tacos and opened it up to find it was hers.
"How did you know that one was yours?" Brad asked inquisitively.
"Oh, I could just tell," Sonata responded, "You know, the smell, the stains on the wrapping, things like that."
'Yeah, I’d say she’s a taco veteran,' Brad thought, 'especially if she can do that. Oh well, I’m not one to judge; I guess I'll leave her with it.'
Brad unwrapped his own taco and looked upon the sight before him. A sizable amount of chicken was at the bottom of the wrap, topped with lettuce and cheese, and wrapped in a soft, golden wrap.
"Hmmmm," Sonata moaned.
Brad perked up at the sudden noise to see Sonata with a smile on her face, eyes closed, and a taco with a bite missing in her hand.
"This is brilliant," Sonata continued, "It's cooked just right, the steak doesn't make the taco soggy, it tastes even better then the ones back at the Faustaco!"
"The what?" Brad asked.
"Oh, the place where I used to get my tacos," Sonata told him, "It was run by this really nice woman with red hair, and she made me really happy."
'Oh universe, how I love your sense of creativity,' Brad thought with a sarcastic tone, 'Seriously.'
Brad began to eat his own taco and, to his surprise, quite enjoy it.
"Huh, I was expecting not to like this, really," Brad said.
"Soooooo, waddaya think?" Sonata asked him.
"It's actually quite nice," Brad responded, "I thought it’d be incredibly spicy, but it's not bad actually. And to be fair, it's hard to go wrong with chicken."
“Yeah, of course it hard to wrong with tacos”, Sonata responded with a mouthful.
After that, the pair ate in silence; apart from the occasional moan from Sonata who quickly devoured the innocent taco.
“Oooh,’’ she sighed, “It’s been too long since I’ve had a taco so good.”
“How come?” Brad asked, still working his way through his meal, “I would have thought you would have tacos quite a lot.”
“Well Adagio said I couldn’t have them a lot,” Sonata began, “She said it would make me fat, and it cost too much to keep getting them.”
‘So Sonata isn’t unfamiliar with money issues,’ Brad thought, ‘I guess that’s why she doesn’t mind me not forking out loads for her.’
“In fact, money was a big part of why I left.”
‘What.’ Brad thought. “Wait, why?”
Sonata sighed. “I never told you why I left yesterday, did I?”
“Well, sorta,” Brad told her, putting down the remains of his taco, “You said you got fed up of being hated by everyone, and wanted a second chance right?”
“Yeah, but that’s not the whole story,” Sonata began.
She began to reel of the events back to Brad over the day before last, telling him about Aria and Adagio, and why they were so mad at her. As Sonata began to finish, she started to sob slightly. Brad handed her a napkin; in which she blew her nose in and wiped away her tears.
“Thanks,” she quietly said, “and sorry about the outburst.”
“It’s alright,” Brad began in a soothing tone, “and I don’t know why you’re apologising. You know alright to let something out, if that hasn’t evident in the day or so then I have no idea what is.”
Sonata began to chuckle. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“And don’t worry about the money,” Brad added, “Like I say it won’t be easy. But I doubt that we will be so poor we can’t afford the occasional taco.”
“Really?” Sonata asked.
“Yeah, besides Josh works to” Brad told her.
“Oh yeah, I remember him saying yesterday,” Sonata recalled, “What does he do?”
“He works at a restaurant washing up,” Brad explained, “Josh hopes it’ll get him a job as a chef if he works there long enough.”
“And will it?” Sonata asked.
“Probably,” Brad answered, “but washing up doesn’t pay a lot unfortunately, so it’s gonna be a while before it pays off.”
“Oh, I see,” Sonata responded.
“Don’t fret, we’ll be alright,” Brad told her, “we should probably head back home.”
“Ok,” Sonata agreed, “Oh, and thanks for the food. It was amazing!”
“No problem,” Brad answered as he took the tray of rubbish to the bin, “It was nice to try something new.”
The pair deposited their rubbish and, as Brad picked up the bag of Sonata’s new wardrobe, exited into the chilly autumn streets.
“There isn’t anything else you want to do while we’re out?” Brad asked.
“Uh, not really,” Sonata answered.
“ ‘K then, let’s go,” Brad declared, and the pair started heading back. The wind started to pick up, making the duo shudder from the chill as they traversed the quiet market street.
“Ok, I know I said I like when it’s windy,” Brad began, “but not when it’s so cold.”
“Yeah,” Sonata agreed, turning to look at Brad, “It could be worse I suppose. I mean, it’s not lik-oof!”
She bounced back away from Brad, the pair looked at the offender. It was a young male, he had black hair and was slightly chubby in the face. However, Brad began to worry at his jumper; a bright yellow jumper with 3 pink butterflies on it with the word, ‘yay’ written across it.
‘Crap’ Brad thought as he started to turn pale, ‘Crap crap crap crap crap. No, I didn’t even plan what to say to a brony about Sonata yet. Or anyone for that matter!’
“Oh, so sorry,” the brony apologised, “I didn’t see you there.”
“Oh it’s alright,” Sonata responded, “I wasn’t looking where I was going anyway.”
“Huh, you sound familiar...” the brony began.
“No she doesn’t!” Brad blurted out.
“Huh?” Sonata said with a confused expression on her face.
“What are you on about?” the brony asked, “Hey wait a minute, you’re wearing a-”
“Listen, I’d love to stay and chat,” Brad interrupted, “but we really need to get going.”
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew past the 3 of them; Sonata’s hood flew down revealing her mass amount of hair.
‘Crap’ Brad thought. His mind began to panic, racing with what to do.
“I knew I recognised that voice!” the brony declared.
“Sonata, RUN!” Brad shouted as he grabbed her arm quickly and ran past the brony.
“Hey, wait!” the brony shouted, taking off after the pair.
Brad ran through the streets and under the office blocks; Sonata in hand.
‘What’s going on?!’ Sonata began to think as she was dragged around, ‘Why didn’t Brad want me to talk to that guy? He seemed nice, but...wait he knew who I was as well! So was he a fan as well?’
Sonata started trying to run as well to keep up with Brad. He noticed and let go of Sonata slowly; making note of how far away their chaser was. The pair raced through the park, many puzzled faces stared at the scene taking place in front of them. Brad struggled to keep hold of the bag of clothes, his grip on the handle loosening. They dashed between the innocent bystanders of the park, running as they tried to get out of the park.
The pair continued to run as they went out of the park, but Brad had a thought while running.
‘Crap if I go straight home he’ll know where I live,’ he thought in his dazed mind, ‘then he’ll tell everyone, the government will find out, and she’ll be taken away forever! I need to find a way to lose him now!’
He looked around the roads, when he had an idea. He turned swiftly to the left, running back around the park. Brad looked back, seeing Sonata close behind but the brony still after the pair. As the pair continued to run, Brad started to slow down and as he panted away.
‘No!’ Brad yelled in his mind, ‘Not now! I have to keep her safe; I have to save her!’
Sonata began to slow down as well; breathing heavily.
‘I...don’t know how much longer I can keep running,’ Sonata thought as her mind started to decease thinking, ‘Brad, I think we may have to...give up.’
The pair ran, but slowed down to a jog. They were visibly tired, but there chaser still ran strong. Brad saw this, pushing himself as hard as he could to keep away from the yellow-toped man after them.
‘It’s...not far,’ Brad thought, his mind close to collapse as with the rest of his body.
They ran out of the park, and into a small ally. Sonata was losing ground even further.
“No...it’s over,” Sonata panted, “I can’t-aah!”
Sonata screamed weakly as Brad pushed the pair of them into a bush. Brad laid next to Sonata, covering his mouth. She quickly noticed and followed suit. The bag of clothes above Brad had settled as well, not making any rustling either.
‘This is our only hope,’ Brad thought, ‘Please…’
Barely anything could be heard, until the rapid approach of footsteps. Sonata could see the bright yellow jumper she had feared go right past the bush the pair had hid in. She ceased breathing for a brief moment. The pair remained in silence until nothing could be heard.
“Right,” Brad whispered, “We need to go, now!”
Sonata nodded her head in response. Brad began to slowly get up and out of the bush; avoiding the various twigs that tried to poke him. He grabbed Sonata’s hand to help her up, Sonata slowly followed Brad onto her own feet. He grabbed the bag quickly as to not make as much noise. The duo crept out of the bush and back into the alley before taking off in the direction they came. They jogged slowly without speaking knowing their objective and destination; home. Brad led Sonata around the park and back onto the estate in which they began. They were clearly out of breath, slowing walking up the hill and panting like dogs; Sonata took this moment to put her hood back up.
‘Please,’ Brad thought, ‘it can’t be much further.’
Despite their slow speed, the pair made it back to see a sight for their sore eyes and bodies.
“Home,” Brad wheezed.
He slowly approached the door alongside Sonata. The pair went inside swiftly, welcoming the embrace of the warm and safe house.