Chapter Text
From her dorm bed, Pam heard a high-pitched squeal of excitement. The mouslet shot up, groggily checking her alarm: 8:06 in the morning. She peered over at the source of the squeal: her friend Colette. Clad in cozy pink pajamas, she stood at the door of their dorm clutching something in her paws like it was a rare treasure in a sunken ship.
“Whatcha got there mousefriend?” Pam smiled excitedly, she hopped off her bed and slipped into some warm slippers.
The sunlight shone through a little crack in their window leaving a golden hue in the room. It was the girls' day off so Pam had turned the alarm that would have usually woken her up for her morning classes.
“Oh Pam! Did I wake you?” Colette had an apologetic look in her eyes, but seeing her friend's energy Pam didn’t have it in her to be upset.
“Naw,” Pam lied, stretching, “but if something has you hollering this early in the morning, I can only imagine it might be worth waking up for!”
Relief briefly hit Colette and then her eyes lit up, she giggled as she handed Pam a simple pastel pink envelope with a red heart sticker on it.
“A secret admirer!” Colette finally spoke with undisguised pride.
“You don’t say,” Pam gasped, her eyes widened as she tore open the envelope, eager to take a gander at the love note her friend handed her.
The two sat at the edge of Pam’s bed, the natural light breaking through to illuminate the letter, Colette bounced as Pam read:
With curls gold like the sun/
Eyes bluer than the clear waters of Whale Island/
Would you care for the honor to dine with me/
Under the moonlight’s smile?
Pam felt warm as she held a paw to her cheek, “Coco this is so SWEET!” She shrieked.
“I know!” Colette swooned and “I bet I know where the letter is talking about”
“You do?” Pam asked. She turned the letter over and checked inside, there was no sign of an address anywhere in the letter or the envelope.
“Yep!” Colette pulled out her smartphone and quickly typed in the search bar, “The Moonlight Afterglow,” She pulled up images of a gorgeous looking restaurant with a dark cosmic atmosphere; supposedly during the the dinner the waiters dim the interior lights and let the exterior moonlight shine through leaving the diners feeling enchanted.
“This is supposed to be a pop-up restaurant that’s going to be on Whale Island for a few months starting this winter,” Colette said as she scrolled through the photos, “I think I mentioned it last time the Thea Sisters had lunch together, remember?”
“Oh yeah,” Pam nodded, “You did tell us… but I ended up asking about the menu while looking at the pictures and you ended up pouting while the rest of us had a laugh!”
“That’s the one,” Colette playfully shoved her friend and laughed, “they have a rotating menu that changes every week, and they’re super secretive about it too so you can’t take any pictures or anything, you’ll just have to go see what they’ve go- Pam are you listening!?”
Pam at that point had gotten lost in thought, “A rotating menu,” She said drooling a bit, “you could go there every week and be surprised by something new.”
Colette smiled, when matters of love were involved she could be surprisingly astute!
“The grand opening is tomorrow Saturday, I think there’s going to be a news crew and everything. Pam, this is so exciting!”
Pam snapped out of her trance, “It definitely is! You gotta fill me in on any details- Hey we gotta tell the girls!” She reached for her phone and began to call, before Colette seized her wrist, “wha?”
“You were about to call Violet… at 8 in the morning… on a Friday.” Pam wisely opted to text their group chat instead.
Pam: Morning girlies!
Pam: We have some interesting news…
Paulina: Good morning loves :)
Nicky: Mornin mouselets! Do tell :o
Colette: Meet us for brunch, you’ll want to hear this in person ;)
Paulina: Croissants?
Nicky: Freshly baked?
Pam: With a gob of melted cheese in the middle!
With the plan all set the mouselets agreed to meet at a bakery in town for brunch at 11. While they waited for their friends to get ready and Violet to wake up, Pam and Colette decided to relax a bit… Well, Pam did at least, Colette was pacing the room, mumbling sweet whispers to herself:
Who could have sent the note?
Someone she knew?
How did they get reservations at the restaurant on opening night?
And most importantly; what would she wear?
Colette’s head began to spin, she noticed Pam motioning her over.
“You’ll get a headache pacing all over the room, why don’t you sit back a spell,” Pam said sympathetically.
Nodding, Colette slowed her pace and made her way back over to her bed, the elation got to her so quickly that she realized she was still a bit sleepy.
“I’m closing my eyes for just a sec, then we can talk about it!” Colette told her friend.
“Deal” Pam agreed.
Colette meant to uphold her end of the promise, she really did, but the second her head touched the pillow she was out like a light.