Ch2: Call it Another Lonely Day
(AN) Kawaii-Samurai-Ari: *Creeps in as Aron writes* Hello there! Welcome to our second chapter to this collab of ours! Since Aron did the last Author's notes, I decided I should creep in on this one! Hehe! Enjoy a wonderous... No... Great! No... Awe-mazing story we both wrote!
He hadn't been expecting a pleasant experience, or even a bearable one. Al was not the most bearable of people to be around. To find oneself next to him for an extended period of time, like on a 10+ hour flight, was not what Lawrence expected to be a particularly enjoyable experience. So to his other shock and definite satisfaction, Alfred behaved. From takeoff to touchdown he was relatively quiet (by Alfred standards anyways) and he did not do anything that seemed especially indicative of their country of origin (aside from accent, but he could not really change that alas). As they received their baggage, Lawrence started to truly believe that they could get on with their vacation with relative comfort.
Then he noticed that his brother was opening up his luggage. He looked at Alfred, digging through it, and Lawrence's content mood visibly slipped from his face. "May I ask what you are doing?" He asked, his voice dry, direct despite his presentation of the question.
"Give me a sec," said Al "I didn't want this to get ruined on the flight, but now that we're in +Vi-anna…"
"Vienna," Lawrence interrupted, with perfect German pronunciation. "It would be at least somewhat courteous of you to correctly pronounce the name of the city you are in; a city that you should have known the name of since you decided to fly here."
"Oh lay off it Law," waved Al "It's not like we're staying here or anything- Math's gonna take us to Copenhagen." He did not look up from what Lawrence was sure was the the very important work of rummaging through his bag.
"You mean Mathias?" said Lawrence. He was the entire reason they were flying out here; Mathias had invited Alfred to come out and see him with a friend. They had been college roommates and between them they had enough money for two tickets. Alfred had intended to bring his girlfriend, but he had broken up with that Mexican about a week before the trip.
Lawrence of course wasn't all too enthralled with traveling with his half brother, but working in a bookstore did not make money to make European vacation. He also had recently found himself with copious free time, and it seemed like a good enough way to fill it until the beaches were open in the summer. But once Alfred had started to look up from his bag, Lawrence felt regret.
"Alfred F. Jones," began Lawrence, "What the fuck are you wearing!?"
It wasn't so much the World War II Era Bomber Jacket he had put on, which Lawrence did appreciate for being vintage- no, it was the American Flag Bandana that now adorned his hair, telling everyone. Hey! I'm an American!
Alfred laughed, "Don't swear in public so loud, you might embarrass us." He said, starting to walk out of the airport.
Lawrence shook his head and followed him, "You look like some kind of propaganda."
"No, I'm American," Said Al, "Propaganda is some Nazi German thing."
"We're in Austria!" deadpanned Lawrence. "Not Nazi Germany! You know the Nazis don't exist anymore, correct? And that we are not in their country of origin?"
"They speak German here," shrugged Al.
"That's beside the point, when is that roommate of yours picking us up? I'd like to get my suitcase to his apartment soon," sighed Lawrence.
"Should be soon, he may be running late, he has a long way to drive," said Alfred
"Drive? Doesn't he live in the city?" Asked Lawrence, "That would make it quite impractical to drive."
"No," said Alfred, "He lives in Denmark."
Lawrence frowned, "Then why are we in Vienna? What kind of logic says we fly to a see a Dane by going to Austria?"
"He told me he wanted us to land here, I dunno why," said Al a bit defensively.
"I intend to have a word with him when he gets here," stated Lawrence, leaning on the wall of the airport, where they would await Mathias's car. Alfred went next to him and did the same, much to Lawrence's annoyance. He gradually drifted away from his brother, not wishing the locals to think he was with him. Of course it occurred to him that many of these people were not locals- for they were at a major airport. Although it did increase the likelihood that one of them might Also be seen in Copenhagen, where Lawrence was pretty sure Mathias was from. He took a much larger step away from Alfred, but unfortunately, he noticed.
Alfred took a step closer, causing Lawrence to glare at him. "What is your reasoning for that?" he asked, not asking something like what was he doing. It was obvious what he was doing, as was the reason he supposed. But he at least had the possibility of being surprised.
"Um, cause of what you were doing? I don't know," answered Alfred.
Lawrence was about to say something when a car pulled up right in front of them. His attention turned to its driver, a tall, boisterous looking Dane, who walked out of the car with a distinct swagger. That combined with his spiky hair made him unmistakably Alfred's friend- the type grouped together it seemed.
Mathias walked over to Alfred and pulled him into a tight, affectionate hug, that Alfred embraced similarly for a second, before realizing that it was awkward. Mathias wasn't ready to let him out though. "Alfred!" He said, giving him a squeeze before letting him go and letting him breathe.
Alfred left the hug with a glare, "You're late." He said crossly.
"Nah, you're just early, for once," Mathias laughed, grinning from ear to ear.
"Our flight came in late." Lawrence sighed, "And you were late on top of that, to be factually accurate."
The Dane laughed and reached out his hand to Lawrence, "And you must be his brother?"
Lawrence took it, meeting what would have been a bone-crushing hand shake with a fierce, piercing one, one that did not deter Mathias however. "Half Brother." Lawrence answered with a frown.
"How was the flight?" Asked the still smiling Dane.
"Late." Answered Lawrence, who glanced away and saw someone else getting out of the car. "Who's that?" He asked, stepping to the side to get a better look.
Out walked a girl who looked similar to Mathias, though with a different vibe. With her unkempt, quite long hair, her distant, glazed looking eyes, her free-flowing movements, and the lit joint between her lips- she was high; at an airport.
"Oh that's Stina, my sister." Mathias grinned. "She's got clients down here and she needed a ride."
"What she do?" asked Alfred. Mathias preceded to crack up, while Stina smiled, and turned to Alfred, blowing a smoke ring.
"Your mom," Mathias said through the laughter.
"I'd imagine he meant what do you do for a living," asked Lawrence with great disdain.
"Oh you know like… sell um... pot, concert tickets, passwords to strip clubs, dongs, I occasionally have sex toys… though mainly pot, someone down here wants like, a lota kilo's of the stuff, I grow it myself so like…I'm here to deliver it."
"Oh." Said Alfred, sounding a bit surprised as Stina turned to the trunk of Mathias's car. Meanwhile, Lawrence's frown became a scowl.
"So just give me your bags and we'll throw 'em back here, then we can get back up to Copenhagen ja?" said Mathias, redirecting their attention as Stina pulled a duffle bag out of the trunk.
"Excuse me," said Lawrence, "But I flew, down to Vienna, a flight that took God knows how long, to then be subjected to a road trip. Because you had to drive your sister down to Austria to sell some weed!?"
"Oh come on, road trips are fun," waved off Alfred. "I think I know you're problem, you've always lived in a state where nothing was more than 3 hours away. You gotta expand your worldview, live for the road ya know. You're always stuck in the sa…"
"Just because I've lived in Massachusetts my whole life doesn't mean I lack some sort of cultural knowledge Mister 'I'm going to wear an American flag in Europe.' That is the true emblem of cultural immersion," Lawrence shot. "Don't you go trying to tell me how I am not as immersed in life in you while you've always hidden behind your daddy's paycheck. I'll tell you what life is, it's staying in a hostel in Austria because honestly, I'd rather not join you and your drinking buddy on a couch or wherever you think best to put me."
Alfred blinked "Um well… so you're not going to go with us?"
"I am perfectly capable of finding a bed in Vienna. " Said Lawrence, with an icy stare.
"I got everything packed, let's go guys!" shouted Mathias from the trunk, reaching down to close it. But he suddenly found it had stopped by some unknown force, and tried to slam it down again but this time felt someone push him into the road. He finally turned and saw Lawrence grab his suitcase from the trunk, looking at him with a fine scowl. "Have a nice trip." He said, starting to walk over to the bus terminals.
"Yo Law, don't freak out man it's not like we'll be riding for that… long…" Alfred said, as he watched his half-brother reenter the airport. Lawrence had done something not many could do, render Al speechless.
After a few minutes Mathias tapped him on the shoulder. "We should go," he said. "We're late enough as it is."
"Shouldn't we wait?" asked Alfred.
Mathias shrugged, "He can catch a train when he's cooled down, I mean I can cover it then, but whatever."
"Yeah." said Alfred, turning away and back towards the car, with a small sigh.
"Call him tonight," said Mathias, getting back in the car "He should be fine, now let's go."
"Yeah," said Alfred again "He can manage, always has."
"Now get in," said Mathias "We've got 800-plus kilometers to home."
"How much is that in miles?" asks Alfred.
"Det ved jeg sgu ikke," replied Mathias "It's like… 13 hours. Though I can drive it down to 10."
Alfred grinned and buckled his seatbelt, "Let's go then dude!" He said.
Mathias smiled and slammed the gas, driving them off.
Lawrence leaned against the bus podium, looking around for some kind of registry, hell he'd check his phone, there had to be a good hostel somewhere. "Good Hostel," he thought to himself, "Oxymoronic." He muttered under his breath, pacing, and bumping into someone.
"Sorry," he immediately reacted, then remembered that the person probably didn't speak English and said "Es tut mir leid… wait no, Entschuldigung?"
"Hell if I know, I don't speak German." said the girl, who puffed her joint and turned around to face him, it was Stina. "Hej." she greeted with a wave. "Shouldn't you be like… driving to Denmark with my brother?" she asked.
"You probably shouldn't smoke pot in an airport," deadpanned Lawrence.
"Whatever," she shrugged. "I don't really care, but wouldn't you?"
"No, I don't care," replied Lawrence. "I don't care to be stuck in a car with our brothers for the next 13 hours."
She nodded, and blew another smoke ring to the wind, as she looked out at the busses. "So whatcha doin' now?" she asks.
"I'll find some form or lodging, stay until I have to leave. Fly home with my brother presumably- even though he didn't get round trip tickets." Lawrence took a sardonic tone. "I'm sure he won't leave me stranded in Europe."
"That sounds boring," said Stina. "What you gonna do?"
"I'll figure it out," replied Lawrence.
The two shared a blank silence for a few moments before Lawrence pulled out his phone. Stina cleared her throat. "Before you like, figure whoever you'll be sleeping with..."
"Whoever?" He looked at her oddly.
"Whoever, wherever, whatever, it's all the same." she waved off. "Anyways, I got this like, concert ticket, some classical thing, it's tonight. I won't get this sold by then so you can have it."
"A concert ticket?" he asks, looking at her even more shocked.
Stina pulled a ticket out of one of the pockets of her coat, and read it over. "I think this is 1st row Balcony seating? Fuck I can't read German." she said, holding out the ticket for him to take. "Mosta my clients are like, Danmark or Nordic- or Nederlandene... scuse me, Netherlands. Or um... England, how do you say that in English?"
"It's the same," said Lawrence. "Now why are you giving me a concert ticket?"
"I dunno," Stina shrugged. "You're now pretty much stuck in Vienna, I guess I just like, feel bad that you have to stay here on my account."
"It's not your fault," frowned Lawrence.
"Whatever," she sighed. "Just take the apology ticket."
"Fine" said Lawrence, taking the ticket, and looking it over. He'd ask for translation when he arrived, so he could figure out where to sit. He had something nicer in his suitcase he could change into, it was probably a nicer event.
He sighed, looking back out at the busses, he was really stuck in Vienna… fucking Alfred. A bus pulled up and Stina started to walk to it.
"I gotta go sell some dope, see ya." she waved.
Law raised a hand and waved back, more focused on the distance he was staring in. As the bus pulled away, he saw the city before him. He could find a way to enjoy it. Most certainly.
He was in Europe, and he was damn well going to enjoy it.
Kawaii-Samurai-Ari: That's chapter two! I hope you enjoyed! Maybe you could follow and favorite the story! Better idea! Why don't you review? *Cute pouty face* Anyways, see you next chapter!
