"Fire In The Sky"

Next Thursday...

Silvia was so happy, she'd convinced her dad to let her red head friend Victoria work at the bar with her.

He had said, "Well the place has been gettin' more packed each night. Fine, just don't go gettin' into trouble or I'll have both your asses scrubbin' the floors for a month!" Silvia had Victoria in the back doing the dishes, Vic wasn't the best people person. The usual were there and Steven walked in, 10:00 on the dot.

He sat in his spot on the bar and Silvia walked over and asked, "Whatcha havin'?

"Leave me be!" Steven hissed as he glared at her.

Pouring him some rum and placing the glass in front of him she replied, "Sounds like it' been a tough week, wanna talk about it?"

"Talk about it? Oh what is there to talk about!" He began, "First I find a friend I had thought I'd lost then he betrays me and then last but not least my . . ." he suddenly paused and thought carefully about his next words, ". . . boss blames the failure completely on me and punishes me for it!"

"Wow, that's one bad week." Silvia said as her eyes widened.

Scowling at her he sneered, "No reeeeally?"

Sighing she responded, "Okay, so maybe that was a stupid question. How did you get punished, couldn't have been that bad."

"Couldn't have been that bad? I had to go to the rep-..I mean the hospital three times!" He exclaimed, drawing a couple glances.

Gasping a little bit Silvia stuttered, "Oh, I'm sorry. I-I didn't know what I was talking about."

"No you don't." He replied coldly, Silvia hung her head and began walking away, "But that doesn't mean I'm finished speaking to you." Silvia turned around to see a smirk on his face, and put a smile onto her own.

"Well then what do we talk about?" Silvia asked as she sat down on a stool behind the bar across from Steven.

Playing with his glass the man replied, "Since I'm a ... sensitive subject, why don't we talk about yourself."

"What about me? I'm a regular woman trying to make her way in the world, nothin' special." she scoffed, half to herself.

"Perhaps we should talk about your opinion on, oh let's say the raging Autobot-Decepticon war." he suggested as he grinned to himself, "For example what's your opinion on the Autobots?"

Pausing Silvia seemed to think for a moment then responded, "Well since I don't know them personally I can't really judge but they seem to want to protect us from the Decepticons so they can't be too bad. "

Seeming satisfied with that answer Steven asked neutrally, "And the Decepticons?"

"What's to say, they want to destroy Earth and all her inhabitants. I can't say I'm fond of that idea," she laughed as she washed a pair of cups, "but I feel I cannot judge until I have all the facts."

Then she picked up a nearby dishcloth and began drying the cups she'd just washed.

"A ... valid answer. Your wise not to judge before knowing all the facts." He complemented as he played with his glass."

Looking up at him through the spotless glass Silvia asked, "So what about you, what's your opinion on the 'Bots and 'Cons?" Before she could get her reply she heard a crash of shattering glass behind her in the kitchen. Turing around Silvia saw Victoria peep through the little opening between the kitchen and the bar. Evidently she'd pushed the glasses off while spying on Silvia's conversation.

"Aaaaah-errrrr-ummm. There's a good explanation for this." the other woman stuttered.

Turning around fully and placing her hands on her hips Silvia sighed, "Of course there is, you were eavesdropping and were clumsy. And now you're going to clean the glass up before my father gets home tomorrow. Right?"

"Right!" Victoria nodded, "But where's your new boyfriend?"

Turning back towards Steven Silvia replied, "He's a customer, not my boyfr-" but then she saw he was gone.

"Danm, how does he do that?" she puzzled.

Calling from the kitchen Vic asked, "Do what?"

Looking to Steven's now empty glass Silvia said, "He leaves without ringing the bell on the door."

"Oh that's all you're worried about? He probably slipped out in the crash of the glass is all! Unless of course you think he's an el nino!" the eccentric woman responded as the sound of glass scraping across floor screeched.

"El nino? You don't even know what that means!" Silvia huffed as she collected Steven's glass for washing.

Not even pausing before answering Vic said, "Yes I do! It means 'the ninja'!"

Silvia just shook her head and chuckled.