Falling Asleep at the Wheel (Dahlia)

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 25, 2025

Max had nothing against the Windsors—and Lusie Windsor was Head Girl, in fact—but she hadn't had much of a desire to go to the royal ball to which it seemed that half of the magical world had been invited. She had been to a handful of more formal events at Hogwarts, but that was enough for her. Parties weren't really her style, in general, and she just couldn't see herself dressing up to the standard required for something like that. Maybe it made her boring that she would rather spend Christmas Eve with her mother, stepfather, and two younger half-siblings, but she hardly got to spend any time with them because of school.

She had had even less time with Dahlia, though, and she did feel the need to change that while she had some time away from the castle. As luck would have it, Dahlia was a Curse-Breaker like Rhys, but that also meant that it would be more difficult to get to know her. Curse-Breaking rarely aligned with any semblance of a "normal" schedule, so Max accepted Dahlia's suggestion of Christmas morning brunch without a second thought. (She actually didn't check with her mother until after the fact.) Rhys was supposed to be celebrating Christmas Day with her and her family anyway, reasoned Max, so he could always come to the Violet Hound to meet up with her and Dahlia if he showed up while they were out. Somehow, Max just couldn't picture that he would be an early bird, even on Christmas Day.

Reaching the Violet Hound ahead of the time for which she and Dahlia had planned and securing their table inside the pub so that neither of them would have to wait outside in the December cold, Max wondered if maybe she should have dressed up a bit more for the occasion—especially since it was Christmas—but she hoped that Dahlia wouldn't mind that she was in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Looking towards the entrance, she waited for any sign of her older half-sister.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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The pounding headache she had woken up with was easily in the top five of hangovers she had ever dealt with. And the months she spent in France over the past summer were full of late nights with poorly made choices. Somehow last night she managed to keep going well into the early morning, to the point that she wasn’t even sure when she fell asleep. Rhys had allowed her to crash on his couch, mostly because she still didn’t have a place to live in London, and that was exactly where she was when her phone starting dinging at nine in the morning. Even after hitting it to make it go into snooze a few times, she eventually got sick of the sharp pain it was starting to cause behind her eyes. After about twenty minutes of this, she rolled off of the couch and stumbled into the kitchen, rifling through the drawers for wherever Rhys kept his aspirin, and then forced down a glass of water with a handful of painkillers once she found them.

By the time she made it back to the couch, there was a notification on it, reminding her that she was supposed to get brunch with Max today. Loudly swearing, Dahlia contemplated sending a text to cancel, then remembered that it was Christmas Day. The dread that washed over her as she couldn’t remember where she had left the various presents for the Greyback siblings certainly didn’t help with the still raging hangover headache. Not even checking to see if Rhys was around, she immediately left his place and apparated to Diagon Alley, barely landing on her feet as she did so, and stumbled up into the rental room at the Leaky Cauldron that she typically kept her stuff at when she was only in town for a few days. It ended up being cheaper for her since she was always being shipped out to different corners of the world, the most recent being a still unknown location in Central America that she had only gotten back from the day before yesterday.

Dahlia, in her still semi-inebriated and hungover state, hadn’t even realized that she was still in the dress she had worn to the ball the night before, and continued on with her meltdown. She was supposed to meet Max soon, and still looked like she had just walked out of a bar. Thank Merlin for magic though, and she was in a semi-presentable state in a matter of a few wand swishes, though that didn’t help at all with her physical being. Only sleep, food, or more alcohol would fix that. To hold herself over until she got to the Violet Hound, and ultimately a plate of food, she popped open a bottle of whiskey that she had been holding onto, and took a decent swig from it. It would do its job while she walked, and hopefully the pub did mimosas or something so that she could at least lessen the pounding in her head until she was done for the day.

Grabbing Max’s gift, she didn’t even bother wrapping it, she shoved it into the pocket of her jacket and stumbled back down the rickety stairs of the Leaky Cauldron, waving off help from the nice landlady, before stepping out into the frigid December air. Re-adjusting from the heat and humidity of Central America to this was awful. Luckily Horizon Alley, and therefore the Violet Hound, were only a few minutes away from where she was, and she basically sprinted there to keep herself warm. The swig of whiskey helping internally as she felt the warmth coming back to her face as she ran.

“Je suis désolé,” she mumbled out to Max as she entered the pub and wandered up to the table that Max was already sitting at, completely forgetting that she didn’t know if Max even understood French. Slipping back into one of her native tongue had become a force of habit again, after spending the summer in Marseille. “Sorry…I’m not late am I?” She had no idea what time it even was, now realizing that she had left her phone back in the room as she ran her hands through her pockets. The gift was there though, and Dahlia pulled it out and placed it on the table, pushing it towards Max, “Merry Christmas…this is Savon de Marseille, soap made from my hometown. It’s gentle on the hands…” She explained, though her gaze wandered off to a waiter that was walking by, immediately trying to wave him over so that she could make an order.

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 25, 2025

Max's French was basic at best, thanks to having attended a Muggle primary school before Hogwarts, but she understood her older half-sister's apology. Dahlia definitely looked rough—rougher than Max's knowledge of French, certainly—though could have been worse, Max supposed. It did potentially explain why she had spoken in French at first and not in English, though she did apologize for a second time (in English) then and checked to make sure that she wasn't late.

She wasn't late, and Max hadn't been waiting on her for too long. It could have been a lot worse, from a time standpoint, though Dahlia looked barely "with it" at that moment. "No," Max told her verbally, just so that she wouldn't stress over it, "you're not late."

Dahlia pulled out something, set it on the table, and pushed it in her direction. "Merry Christmas…" she told her, though whatever it was wasn't actually wrapped. "This is Savon de Marseille," she clarified at the same time as Max took a look at it, "soap made from my hometown. It's gentle on the hands…”

"Thanks," Max smiled a little bit, though Dahlia's attention seemed to have wandered elsewhere already. She felt as though she might as well have been talking to a brick wall. "Happy Christmas. How was, er… Central America? Rhys didn't really say where you'd gone, so…"

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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“Central America?” She had been so distracted with trying to get the waiter’s attention that she had already forgotten that she had only just gotten back from her trip. Calling the last few months of work hectic was being nice to herself. Throughout her training it hadn’t been uncommon to finish one trip and then be immediately thrown onto a plane or given a portkey to the next one. The directives from Gringotts really didn’t care about the well-being of the cursebreakers, mostly because there seemed to be an abundance of willing recruits to take the place of any that retire or died. Thankfully there hadn’t been any of that yet (the dying), or not that she was aware of, and it was just one job after the next at the trainee pay-rate. She knew she shouldn’t complain about it since she basically had the entire summer off to relax in Marseille, but they were being relentless lately. “Uneventful? They wanted to keep me until the start of the year, but I refused and they were fine with it,” she explained quickly as the waiter finally seemed to see her desperate hand-waving and started to approach the table.

“Whatever the strongest mimosa you can serve, and the brunch platter,” Dahlia ordered. She didn’t even know what was in the meal but had quickly glimpsed the menu while walking into the place. She sunk into her seat and closed her eyes as she listened for Max to order, before continuing. “It was Peru, again, so just more of the usual with the pyramids that the non-magique haven’t ventured into yet,” she muttered quietly, even though it was unnecessary with how loud the place was. Central America, and Peru at that, was a great location to do work, but she found it boring to an extent. Her Spanish was not good at all, and her goal was always to be doing work out of Egypt because she actually knew the country better. That didn’t matter to the goblins because in their words, they had enough people in Egypt already. Which was great, but how many of them were fluent in Arabic? Probably not as many as they thought.

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 25, 2025

"Central America?" Dahlia questioned. “Uneventful? They wanted to keep me until the start of the year, but I refused and they were fine with it."

Max hadn't expected the bank to be quite so lenient, but she appreciated that they were at least willing to allow Dahlia to return so that she wouldn't miss the holidays completely.

That side of their conversation was momentarily cut short by the fact that Dahlia managed to flag down a waiter. She ordered "the strongest mimosa" that they were capable of serving, at which Max blinked a little, and also their brunch platter.

"Er… I'll have some orange juice and the eggs Benedict, please," she ordered. She didn't want or need anything massive, but it was brunch.

When Dahlia brought up having been in Peru a short time later, Max was momentarily puzzled; she had thought that Peru was in South America, though she supposed that it was entirely possible that she was either mistaken or that Dahlia had been to multiple countries while she was away. Geography wasn't really a priority at Hogwarts, to be frank, and the matter of Peru's location wasn't central to their conversation.

"Is there anywhere you'd like to go for work but haven't done?" Max wondered, since Peru didn't seem to have been very interesting to Dahlia, at least. She thought that it would be interesting to go there, not that she knew too much about it. There were Peruvian Vipertooth dragons there, though. She might not have been a dragonologist, but she knew that much.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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She really needed that drink to hurry up, even though the waiter had barely stepped away from their table. The creeping dull ache of her hangover was trying to make its place behind her eyes, making her only want to sleep more. Which she would be able to do once she got done here. Eating and drinking would buy her time to soak up whatever was left in her system, enough to make sleeping reasonably comfortable. It wasn’t like she had much to do on Christmas Day anyways. Seeing Max was one part of it, and she supposed she would potentially see the rest of her siblings over the coming days. For now, it was food, drink, and then back to the Leaky Cauldron to crash in her rented room. Even rubbing at the corner of her eyes wasn’t helping. Considering the amount of pills she popped before heading here, it was bound to be one of the most impressive hangovers she had ever dealt with.

Max asked about other locations she would one day want to go to, and Dahlia thought about it for a moment. That was tricky, especially because she mainly wanted to comb over Egypt despite how picked over it was these days. When it came to magical items, there was an abundance. Dealing with the muggle excavators and archaeologists was a little more difficult than anywhere else in the world. “Mexico and Guatemala,” she answered as the waiter returned with waters, Dahlia immediately taking a long drink from hers, ignoring the straw that was dangling over the edge. “Because they promised me Central America and then sent me to Peru.” There were certainly a lot of different, unexplored areas throughout a lot of the countries in those regions, but her disappointing skill level when it came to Spanish squashed any requests she put in with the bank. Her opinion on it was that it was most likely because she was still in training, which meant they didn’t take her preferences into account yet. Only a few more months until that would change. “Everything seems nice right now though. Especially after being stuck in France all summer.” There was only so much laying on a beach in her hometown she could do before it got old.

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 25, 2025

Though Max was slightly bothered by how much Rhys seemed to drink, it hadn't really been an issue with Dahlia. Of course, there was also the fact that she hardly knew Dahlia. They were still just beginning to get to know each other better as sisters, so Max didn't want to jump to any conclusions about her habits just because she had seemingly shown up to Christmas morning brunch having had more than enough to drink the previous evening.

Dahlia paused after her question about where in the world she'd like to travel. There was a lot to see in the world, and even something like Curse-Breaking probably didn't give a person the opportunity to see everything that was out there. As their waiter returned to them with two glasses of water, Dahlia gave her an answer. "Mexico and Guatemala," she said, though Max was surprised to hear it. She waited as Dahlia drank from the water glass that she had just been given, watching as she completely ignored her straw. "Because they promised me Central America and then sent me to Peru."

Max kept herself from laughing and then sipped at her own water through the straw. Mexico and Guatemala—and even Peru—sounded interesting, although Max wasn't in any rush to travel the world. She didn't feel the need to go from country to country constantly, and she was near enough to the end of her time at Hogwarts that she could see the end of it without getting itchy feet.

Along with her comment about Mexico and Guatemala, Dahlia mentioned that everything seemed nice to her now that she wasn't confined to remaining in France for the summer. The travel restrictions because of Hag's Fever had affected a lot of people, though at least Dahlia theoretically would have been able to go around the rest of the world while she waited for the Ministry to lift the restrictions that were put into place on travel into or out of the British Isles.

"Yeah," Max nodded. Trying to put herself in Dahlia's position of having a job that required frequent travel to parts unknown, she could see how staying put probably would have been a drag. "Did you see any dragons in Peru, at least?" she wondered, hoping that her latest adventure hadn't been too bad.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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Complaining about the travel that she was constantly able to go on sounded super entitled, and it reminded her all too well of the well-off classmates she had back at Beauxbatons. Summer homes, winter homes, maids…she had a weird pseudo-orphanage that she lived at following her mother’s murder, since she wasn’t old enough to return home to Marseilles on her own, but that was it. A suitcase of essentials and the rest was set aside in storage until she was out of school and able to pick through it and find what she wanted to keep. Very few objects were added to her bag of permanent belongings, yet she was sure they all held infinitely more sentimental value than anything the ultra-wealthy had. At the same time, she liked being able to actually take in and experience the places she was visiting. It was all fine and dandy that they kept shoving her back into Egypt because she could speak Arabic and blended with the non-magique there, but there was more out there. Peru was alright, though she hoped she would only go back when teamed up with Rhys. He was way better to work with than the Cursebreaker she had been paired up with during this past trip.

Max asked about dragons, and she shook her head to the side. “No, but some of the traps were tipped with Vipertooth poison.” The mere thought of getting that in her bloodstream made her skin crawl. Not only was it highly venomous, she didn’t want some ancient form of Dragon Pox running amok in her body. There had been warnings about the local dragon population before getting to the archaeological site they were working out of, so she was well aware of the laced traps and the giant lizards that seemingly always took interest in humans. “I did hear goats screaming at night…maybe a dragon got them?” she offered. That was also in her little dossier that had been provided to her by the bank.

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 25, 2025

There had been traps laden with Vipertooth poison, Dahlia explained, and that sounded plenty dangerous to Max even without the presence of actual dragons there in the flesh. She really didn't know how Dahlia and Rhys stood to do that kind of work when there were so many other jobs that didn't involve being in mortal peril just to see the world. It seemed that perhaps Dahlia was even luckier than usual that she had gotten out of there. "I did hear goats screaming at night…" she added. "Maybe a maybe a dragon got them?"

Max grimaced a little and wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel better because of that. If dragons were going to eat goats, they were going to eat goats, but that didn't mean that they needed to take Curse-Breakers along with them. "That's… a lovely image at Christmas brunch. Thanks," Max murmured, already trying to get that picture out of her head. She didn't consider herself particularly squeamish, but Merlin's beard…

Trying to change the subject to something somewhat less gruesome, Max thought for a moment or two after that. "So," she swallowed, "at least they probably won't send you back there soon?" She guessed—or hoped, more accurately—that they wouldn't, anyway.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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She stared blankly across the table at Max as she commented on the mental image that had obviously just been created. Right. It was Christmas. But Dahlia didn’t think there was anything wrong with saying that, as her sister had asked after all. She could have mentioned that they had actually seen one of the victims the next morning, entrails strewn across the path and charred from dragon fire, the juicier parts of the deceased animal already festering with flies and picked away by other carrion eaters. It was a sight to behold at the crack of dawn, and one of her unlucky guides had accidentally stepped into it, his ankle sinking fairly deep into the corpse. While she had found it funny at the time, the stench that lingered throughout the day as it got hotter out was unbearable, causing several of her group to be wracked with nausea until the guide finally had a chance to remove the boot and pants later on. Why none of them had simply magically cleaned him up was honestly beyond her, but they suffered nonetheless. Absolutely nothing was worse than the smell of boiling goat innards in the middle of the jungle and the insects that swarmed their group because of it.

Now that was an image that even she didn’t want to bring back up, as doing so the second she put food in her still alcohol-riddled stomach would be a one way ticket to hugging the restaurant’s toilet bowl. Or the closest potted plant. Whatever was easiest to hurl into. “I’m sorry. I forget sometimes that not everyone wants to hear the gorier details,” she apologized earnestly. It had been an abrupt and even statement from her, almost an afterthought because there hadn’t been too many interesting events on her trip. Maybe under different circumstances (or at the very least not Christmas brunch), Max would be interested. Rhys absolutely would. That was also part of his job training her though, but that was beside the point.

Max changed the subject though, which almost made Dahlia laugh. “I hope not. I don’t mind it, but Peru is out of my area of expertise. If I spoke Spanish, it would be different.” She still wanted to go to Mexico and Guatemala, though the closer she got to being a full-fledged Cursebreaker, the less likely that was to happen. Egypt and the broader Middle East was where she was most effective to the bank. The goblins weren’t stupid and knew where to send their assets where they were best utilized. Obviously Egypt meant dealing with non-magique and independent magical archaeologists that tended to be cutthroat, but she knew she could handle it. Rhys had trained her after all. “I like places that don’t have dragons,” she mused. “Cursed mummy rings and pitfalls inside collapsed crypt entrances are much more my thing.” And people could actually visualize that when she talked about her work. It functioned far better as an icebreaker than she had first thought it to be.

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 25, 2025

Dahlia apologized for not having spared her the less-than-brunch-appropriate details of her work trip. It could have been worse, but Max didn't want to listen to it incessantly, either. At the change of subject, though, Dahlia mentioned that she hoped that she wouldn't be sent back to Peru. "I don't mind it, but Peru is out of my area of expertise," she said. "If I spoke Spanish, it would be different."

Max understood completely why that would be a different story. It would make it easier, and Max didn't think that most of the places where Gringotts sent Curse-Breakers were in areas where it would be a cinch to find English speakers.

"I like places that don't have dragons," Dahlia added. "Cursed mummy rings and pitfalls inside collapsed crypt entrances are much more my thing."

Again, it made sense. Egypt had plenty of that sort of thing, Max imagined, especially mummies with cursed rings buried with them in pyramids. For someone who was interested in that, she assumed, it would be fascinating. She didn't mind that her life was sort of boring in comparison. Escaping collapsing tombs wasn't exactly on her bucket list, and she didn't mind letting Dahlia know that. "Yeah, I'm sure Egypt's nice and all, but… I'll, erm, skip the mummies," Max remarked. "Just reading about something like Inferi makes me feel weird." There was obviously an element of Healing that required dealing with death and things like that, but she wasn't really interested in pulling jewelry off corpses to see what it did.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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Merlin, she was happy that she'd never come across any Inferi before. There was protocol behind that if one did stumble upon a horde, as they were virtually impervious to most forms of magic compared to other creatures in the undead or living dead categorizations. Usually it required a lot of fire, which while underground or in small enclosures, was almost as dangerous as everything else in the tomb. Having knowledge on cursed objects and deadly creatures all while evading traps was part of the job, though Dahlia would prefer a mummy or a zombie any day over bumping into an Inferius.

"Mummy dust is pretty lucrative," Dahlia mused, leaning back in her seat as her mimosa was finally brought to her. "Merci," she said quickly to the waitress, barely giving the woman enough time to remove her hand before the champagne flute was being picked up. The tinge of sour from the orange juice hitting her dry, thirst-starved lips burned at first, yet she couldn't feel the cooling champagne hitting her tongue. This thing was mixed expertly! Now all she needed was food. "Egypt is not hospitable to women. Especially Cairo. If you go, I advise having Rhys with you, or sticking only to the areas that work for us." Meaning the magical zones. Despite being behind in technology and modernization, the magical community was so much better when it came to other things. She wouldn't want Max having a horrible trip because of a bunch of ignorant non-magique.

Another long sip of her mimosa and Dahlia was sad to see that it was already more than halfway gone. She was positive the menu had said the mimosas were bottomless, which suited her needs perfectly. "The food takes forever here," she rolled her eyes across the table at her sister. "Especially on a holiday!" Though she supposed that was exactly the reason for the food taking long. And it wasn't like they'd been waiting long either. She was just starving because she'd chosen to drink too much last night.

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 25, 2025

Hearing Dahlia describe "mummy dust" as lucrative was another indication that Max probably should have known better than to meet up with her for a meal. At least Rhys didn't talk too much about work when they were able to spend time together, though that might have been because of the alcohol. The mimosa that she'd ordered arrived right about then, though, which meant that maybe they could change the subject from Curse-Breaking to something that didn't make Max feel as though she'd rubbed sandpaper across her tongue. Max, meanwhile, got her orange juice, but she didn't touch it at first; Dahlia was discussing Egypt and how it wasn't the ideal place to go as a woman.

Max, who hadn't been considering going on holiday there—and not for the mummy dust—nodded as politely as she could, because she knew that Dahlia meant well in cautioning her.

Finally, though, the subject changed to their meal and how long their food was taking, especially on a holiday. Max had expected as much because they hadn't exactly gone for a Chinese takeaway, but she took a sip of her orange juice in the meantime. "Er, Dahlia," she grimaced after she had swallowed the juice she'd had in her mouth, "does your mimosa taste like it's gone off?"

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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Brunch, while a frequent occurrence in her life, often came following a long night. That was the intent, at least, with going to it today. Maybe not originally, but she knew she could get herself in working order with a couple of mimosas. At least it should have worked that way. Her supposedly bottomless drinks were weak, and either that was how this place did them (which as shit of them to advertise bottomless mimosas if they were going to skimp on the alcohol), or a mistake had been made. Making a big deal out of it with the waiter would only make her look like the bad guy though, so she continued to suck down her orange juice as if it was supposed to be alcoholic. It was only when Max made a face at her from across the table and asked if her own juice had gone off.

Dahlia stared into her almost empty glass, then back up at her sister. "Its weak, but nothing new with some of these places," she stated as she slammed back the rest of the orange juice. Max had a point though: if the juice 'being off' could be construed as it being normal, then yeah, it was. "Hold on," Dahlia added as she came to her realization. Reaching across the table, she picked up Max's glass of orange juice and took a sip. Yup. That was the one she wanted. "They mixed them," she explained as she kept her mouth to the glass and drank more. That was exactly what she needed right now! Raising her hand up to try and get the next waiter's attention, she finished off Max's drink as well. "We need to get this fixed." Now she wanted to talk to them. It was one thing to forget altogether, another to get the order completely wrong.

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 25, 2025

Dahlia commented that her mimosa was weak, though she didn't sound shocked by that. It could have been that the orange juice just tasted slightly different, Max thought, though it was Dahlia who realized something else. "Hold on," she instructed her. Dahlia took her glass and took a sip of her juice. "They mixed them," she explained, which also cleared up why the juice tasted so terrible. Her "juice" was the mimosa, and Dahlia's "mimosa" was the juice.

Out of instinct, Max almost asked for her juice back as Dahlia continued to drink it, but she realized that that would have been stupid of her. She didn't want the mimosa, but Dahlia did, raising her hand to grab the attention of one of the waitstaff.

"We need to get this fixed."

Max knew that it was a problem, but she downplayed it. "It's alright," she told Dahlia. "I didn't want a mimosa, obviously, but, er…" This was awkward now. And it would be even more so to explain to the waiter that Dahlia had drained both the orange juice and the mimosa, thinking that the first had been a mimosa, too.

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