BBQ Lunch [Open]

[Marty Mac (DELETED 5106)]

The smile that lit up his face seemed natural enough, but Marty suspected some part of it was as well practiced as hers. Her hand stretched out, delicate fingers gripping firmly as she shook the offered hand. “Good to meet you I’m sure, Verne.” Her eyes flickered down to food as he listed the items, fingers toying impatiently with her wallet. “Can I get a plate loaded with…A bit of everything? I’m all about supporting the cause, or at least that’s the excuse if someone tries to judge me for eating like a little piggy.” Her lips twitched into a cheeky smile, turning to the sweet looking young woman as Verne asked what she might like.

Marty listened, ready to find a place to introduce herself but the woman had left before she got the chance. Disappointed Marty shrugged, speaking to Verne instead. “She seems nice, hope it wasn’t me that scared her off. Do you all study together or something? Play… Baseball?” For some reason it didn’t seem likely, but that’s what the fundraiser was about. Idly she grabbed a few bills out, it was probably too much for the food but she didn’t mind.

She didn’t find out how much she’d overestimated the cost of food just yet for a loud crash, bang and yelp of pain sounded behind her. She turned sharply to see the woman who had just left their presence on the ground near the knocked over beer table, taking the time to glance at the man who been manning it, magazine still in hand. “Jesus, poor darlin’…. And THE BEER.” She gasped, trying to lighten the situation but genuinely concerned, she could really go for a cold one.

Undecided she shifted from one foot to the other, wanting to go and help but at what risk? She wasn’t prepared to embarrass a complete stranger, but not rushing over to help may make her seem like a jerk. Marty shrugged back at Verne, letting her features show the internal struggle as eyes flicked between the food and the girl. “And here I am, stuck in the middle with you?” She offered the joke, a song lyric to lighten the mood.

[Vladimir (DELETED 5105)]

Vladimir looked up from his magazine as the table collapsed in front of him; only one side mind you, knocking his knee in the process. His arm was outstretched, trying to save the majority of the beer before it was whisked away down the table that had turned into a fun-slide for their little money maker. His magazine was crumpled and folded, but the good in him still wanted to attend the young woman to see if she was alright, “Verne!” Arseny called to his brother, his Russian accent strong while Verne’s seemed very mild.

One of the bottles slipped between his arm and the edge of the table as they stacked up, quickly caught between the man’s thighs. A second followed, the bottom of it striking the first smack-bang on the lid, causing the glass to crack and empty its contents all over the man’s blue jeans. He pressed his chest to the edge of the table to stop anymore from falling away and adding to what had already been lost. “****,” Vladimir said to himself, low enough that no one else would hear him. “Now it looks like I’ve pissed myself.”

[Verne]

A pleasure to meet you I’m sure, were words Verne had never quite understood well, was it in fact a pleasure to meet the other person when these words were used? Or was one detaching themselves from the current realm of reality until there came a time that they could decide whether or not they had made the right assessment of character to begin with? “I’m sure that one day I’ll find that it was a pleasure to meet you too,” he teased, going with his train of thought, though the words probably confused the woman standing across the table from him.

When Marty asked for Verne to load up her plate, he was more than happy to do so and started transferring food straight from the barbecue to the plate so that they was nice and hot. Steak, eggs, sausages, bacon, and hash browns, one of each until it was getting difficult to continue. He heard a bang-crash-smash, come from across the way and looked up to see the legs of the beer table had given way on one side, enough to cause the beer to fall away from where it had been positioned. At the end of the table on the ground sat Katie Mae and struggling to contain and lessen the damage was his brother Arseny.

He smiled when Marty recited a few famous words from a song he knew well and went to his brother’s aid. He lifted the end of the fold out table up and straightened the legs before attending to Katie, who looked like she’d taken a nasty bump to the head. “You okay?” He asked the woman, one hand on her upper left arm while the other was raised in front of him in order to hold up three fingers; easy enough to count but also highly mistaken for four if she wasn’t seeing straight. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

[Katie Mae (DELETED 3987)]

Katie cursed herself for her clumsiness. She overheard the man at the table talking about all the beer that had soaked his pants making him look like he had peed himself. If she wasn’t so embarrassed she might have laughed. She closed her eyes trying not to cry only to open them as Verne was standing over her.

“How many fingers am I holding up” he asked her. Trying to focus her vision as her head began to pound she reached up where the bottle had hit her and winced at the pain. Her hand covered with blood where she had touched her fingers to the cut. “Um four?” Not wanting to admit that she two of Verne as well.

With Verne’s help she sat up. “I am so sorry Verne, I ruined everything for you. I’ll pay for the beer. I’ll drop the money by at the meeting ok? I have a case in my apartment I can go get now so you don’t run low.” She tried to stand find that she was too busy right that moment. They helped her to a chair and began to reset the table and clean the mess she had made up.

Looking at Vlad she blushed profusely. “I am so, so sorry. It’s a curse; I swear my clumsiness will be the death of me one day. It’s like someone waved a magic wand over my head when I was born. I’m a walking disaster!” she tried to joke praying the dizziness would leave so she could leave and cry all she wanted.

Katie blinked her eyes several time, her vision clearing a bit, she dabbed at the blood that had begun to run down her face with her sleeve. “Damn.” She knew she should go to the hospital and get checked out. She looked up at Verne, “I think I need to go to the ER. If you need the cases of alcohol it’s in my apartment, just let yourself in. You know your way around, you’ll find it.”

She stood, closing her eyes trying to control the wave of dizziness that hit her. She looked at Vlad and then to Verne, her voice soft with embarrassment, “I am so very sorry, I know ruined things for you Verne.” Her heart was heavy hating to disappoint him. He meant a lot to her and had wanted to make his brother feel welcome and now this.

People went back to what they were doing before she performed her floorshow. She turned to leave, “Maybe I’ll see you later.”

[Vladimir (DELETED 5105)]

Once the table was all back in order and standing on all four legs again Vlad was able to unwind his arms from the remaining beer bottles and arrange them quickly so that there wouldn’t be any more spills. He heard the shaken woman going on about replacing it and them not having enough but as he saw it, they had plenty out back he hadn’t bothered to carry in and wouldn’t until this lot was gone. “It’s your lucky day,” Arseny smiled, “We have a few more cases out back so you can keep what you have at home.”

Vladimir went to the woman’s side and picked up a cloth that someone had thrown his way for the beer. He held it against the girl’s head over the cut to slow the bleeding, knowing his brother wasn’t good with blood, whereas he was used to seeing and working with plenty of it. Everyone who had turned to see the accident now seemed to be going back to what they had been doing and Vladimir made the remaining few stragglers feel uncomfortable with a stray look. “I’ll take her to the closest hospital, I know where it is,” Vladimir explained to his brother in their native tongue. “Do you mind giving me the keys to the car?”

The man smiled wondering how this would go; Verne didn’t often share his toys, especially the car, even if Vladimir was the better driver of the two and they both knew it. Arseny’s put his arm around the woman’s thin frame and helped her to her feet out of the chair. He connected his free hand with one of Katie’s and wound it about his back so that she could clutch the side of his shirt for support. “My name is Vladimir,” he told Katie quietly, the name still not feeling quite right on his tongue, not after so many years of telling people his birth name, Arseny.

He helped Katie make for the door where someone politely opened it; hot air rushing out of the cathedral to mix with the biting cold that fought to work its way inside. When they got to the car they found that it was unlocked and Vladimir helped Katie into the passenger side, watching that she didn’t bump her head again on the way in. After shutting the door Arseny looked up to see that Verne had followed them outside and was now presenting him with the keys over the roof of the car. “Don’t worry,” Vladimir smiled as he accepted the offered keys. “I’ll take better care of her than you do.”

As he went round to the driver’s side of the vehicle and jumped him, shutting the door behind him, Vladimir thought to mention which of the two he had been talking about. “The car,” he called to his brother’s back as he watched him tread back towards the cathedral. He then turned to glance at Katie before smiling at his brother, “And the girl!” He couldn’t exactly leave her out.

[Katie Mae (DELETED 3987)]

Katie felt Vlad’s hands helping her help and out to the car. She wanted to die she was so embarrassed at what she had done. She glanced at Vladmir’s pants and groaned knowing he had to be uncomfortable and wanted to kill her. Why wouldn’t they just let her take a taxi and be done with it? She knew how picky Verne was with his car and was stunned that he’d even let Vlad drive her in it.

Her eyes met Verne’s and whispered “Thank you” to him as Vlad tucked her into the car. Katie heard the joke Vlad made rubbing her temple and shaking her head. He got into the car and she tried to smile but knew it probably looked more like she was going to puke.

“Vlad I am so sorry. If you want to stop and change clothes first to be more comfy please do. I’m fine.”

The hospital was actually a very short distance away. The car pulled up to the ER doors and Vlad, ever the gentleman helped her from the car and to go in. She thanked him profusely for his help and assured him that if she needed a ride she would call. They bid one another farewell as Katie walked up to the clerk so she could be seen. After registering Katie pulled her phone out and texted Verne.

“Again I’m so sorry I ruined your party. I didn’t bleed on your car either! Let me know how I can make it up to you.” Text was sent and as she walked back to the room there signal was lost.