Me: (Pulling up Internet) Do d-do do do… lets see if ANYONE bothered to read my story. (Reads amount and jaw falls to floor) Oh…my… GOSH!
I can't believe y'all ACTUALLY reviewed! Thank you (wipes tear from eye) My reviewers get homemade brownies or a cake. Those who didn't review, you get a cookie (at least ya read it). Now, scroll this way to the disclaimer…
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Disclaimer: Me: Haha! My restraining order has expired and now I'm gonna take over TT!
The Thing: (Breaks down door, followed by Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman)
Human Torch: (Flies in through window, breaking glass and burning window frame) All right! Who's the moron who thinks she owns…(trails off when he sees me) Well Hel-lo cutie…
(I'm not really that pretty, but this is MY story OK?)
Me: (Raises eyebrow like Raven in "The Quest" (I love that part!)
(Bad flirting, me getting mad, putting him out with a fire extinguisher, then beating him with it later)
Me: (Deposits Torch's severely kicked butt into hall) I don't own TT or BK, but I do own Rhonda and Face-Ketchup, so get out and STAY OUT!
The Thing: Oh I like her.
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The King and Face-Ketchup Chp 2After describing what a K'norfka does, which is like a cross between a nanny and a bodyguard, Richard was expecting Galfore to be a grandmothery old lady. So you can imagine his surprise when Starfire squealed ecstatically and ran into the arms of a nearly 7 foot tall man who had muscles that put any person taking steroids to shame.
His hair was darker and longer than his Bumgorf's, which was what K'norfka's charges were called, and also had a very long beard. One of his eyes was blank, probably due to whatever had caused the nasty looking scar he bore running from eyebrow to cheek and gave him a perpetually stern expression
In short, a very intimidating figure.
Galfore looked affectionate and amused. Apparently he was used to his Bumgorf's antics. "I see you've learned English Koriand'r. Who was your teacher?"
Star suddenly remembered Richard. "Oh yes! You must meet my new friend!" She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to Galfore, whose stern expression had grown darker, suspicious, and protective. "I wish to introduce you to Richard. He had saved my life and is the one who reunited me with you!"
While Star recounted what had happened, Robin the ever analytical was busy asking questions inside Richard's brain. What did Galfore mean by, "I see you've learned English"? And am I supposed to be the one who taught her? How couldI? And where the hell is Tamaran? I've never heard of that country. And what about her language? I've never heard anything remotely similar to it.
And where did she get those eyes? They're gorgeous
Shut up Richard I'm being serious here.
So am I! Those peepers can't possibly be contacts.
…Peepers?
A loud rumble interrupted him, or them, rather. Star looked at her stomach and giggled. "I believe I am hungry."
And before Robin could stop him, Richard made a suggestion, "Well, since everyone's grounded, we could walk around the terminal and find a restaurant?"
Star looked elated, Galfore looked appalled. "That is a glorious suggestion Richard! Galfore please may I go? It would be a wonderful opportunity to try E-American cuisine. Please?" She gave him a puppy-dog-pout that no one could refuse, including Galfore.
"Very well," he capitulated, "But be careful."
Star hugged him again ecstatically. "Oh thank you Galfore! And do not worry, I am sure Richard can keep me out of harm's way." Galfore didn't respond to this, just looked at Richard the way girl's fathers do. Ya know, the ones that say, You had better not hurt her, because if you do, I will hunt you down!
But Richard knew how to respond to this look. He raised his two fingers to his eyebrows in a smart salute. Galfore merely raised an eyebrow in response.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT10 minutes later, Star was still busy asking him questions about things he would never give a second thought, from fluorescent lights to cell phones. Normally, if it had been anyone else asking so many questions about such simple things, Richard would've strangled them by now for their stupidity. But Star's naiveté only charmed him, oddly enough, and made him feel light and unburdened like no one else ever could. She was like a child: innocent and finding wonder in the smallest things.
While he was trying to explain what the baggage carousel was, she suddenly squealed, "Richard! Does the king of burgers truly live there?"
He looked where she was pointing and chuckled, an occurrence that had only increased since he met her, "No, a king doesn't live there Star, its where you buy food."
She nodded slowly with a look of revelation on her face, which Richard figured that she always did when something was explained to her. And, he thought with a grin, it makes her look really cute.
"Then may we eat there Richard?" Star asked, breaking his musing.
His crooked grin grew wider; after all of those fancy places they passed, she picks fast food. Not that he was complaining, though, he preferred fast food. "Sure Star."
They walked toward the restaurant, where a cardboard cutout of The King stood. Starfire stopped on sight of him.
"Richard?" she asked, confused. "If a king does not live here, why is there a monument of one?"
He glanced at the cutout and inwardly shuddered. The King gave him the creeps (A/N: As he does all of us). "The company that owns the franchise decided to make a mascot for them and a 'Burger King' is what they use." Star gave her "understand" nod, but still looked troubled. "What's wrong Star?"
"What? Oh nothing is wrong!"
He raised an eyebrow; one thing he had also learned about her: Starfire was a terrible liar.
Goaded by the look on his face, she continued, "It is just… I mean no disrespect but… this king is… creepy, as they say."
He chuckled, forever amused at her innocence. "He creeps me out too," he admitted.
"Truly?"
"He scares a lot of people. A friend of mine says he is represents the evil of all things meat."
She cocked her head like an inquisitive kitten, "Then why would they keep such a mascot, if he is such a scary figure?"
"I've wondered that myself," he agreed, "but the food is good anyway, so it doesn't really matter to people."
Encouraged, she walked unfalteringly, but her grip on his hand tightened. For some reason, Richard almost wanted to knock that cutout over, for scaring his Star like- Wait, Robin cut in,MY Star? Where did that come from?
Man this girls strong, she's crushing my hand! Still, she is holding-
STOP IT! Focus Richard, you nearly ran into a trashcan just then!
I did? The mental equivalent of a gloved hand smacking a forehead was heard.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTThere was a brunette lady who had her elbows on the counter she was behind and had a nametag that said, "Hello! I'm Rhonda!" She looked profoundly bored, that is, until she raised her brown eyes up to meet striking blue ones. Wow, she thought approvingly, and I thought this was going to be a bad day!
However, her optimism dimmed when she saw Starfire. Oh great, she's probably his girlfriend. But one can always hope.
"Hello," she said seductively, "What can I do for you?"
Starfire noticed her emphasis on the last word and an unfamiliar feeling coursed through her, like something was crawling in her stomach. Her eyes narrowed, and an unnatural frown crossed her face as she glared at Rhonda distrustfully, who was afraid but didn't show it and stood her ground, looking the Tamaranian straight in the eye with a glare of her own.
Richard however, was blissfully unaware of the fight that was going on beside him while he was looking at the menu, and said, "Yeah, I'll have double whopper with cheese and mayonnaise, medium French fries, and a large Sprite."
A little disappointed at his lack of interest, she still kept it up. "You got it," she replied, honey dripping from each word. But, the honey turned to vinegar when she turned to Star. "And you?" Then Star did something that made Rhonda briefly question her sanity. For a millisecond, her eyes seemed to…they seemed to…well…glow. Rhonda blinked and shook her head a little, and when her eyes opened that the darkened green ones weren't glowing, however, they did look vivid with jealousy.
Even if it wasn't possible, the look on her face alone was enough to get the disappointed cashier to back down. This girl obviously wasn't the type who'd take kindly to her man getting flirted with and she raised her hands in defense.
Seeing Rhonda's surrender, and mindful that Richard was right there, Starfire calmed herself down, although her response was sickeningly sweet. "I will have the same, thank you."
Richard looked at her in surprise. He had figured that since Star, ahem, looked the way she did, she would be under the belief that she was fat, even though she was farthest you could possibly be from it. Therefore she would get something like a salad with no dressing and water. Weirdly, he finally understood why Vic liked a girl with a big appetite.
But then, the lady asked whether she wanted mayonnaise or mustard, and Star's face turned a light shade of red. At first he was puzzled at her expression, but then he realized what was wrong. Starfire didn't know what mayonnaise or mustard was.
"Don't put anything on it," he said quickly, "Just give us packets of both and we'll find out what she likes." Star threw a grateful smile at him that made his heart stop, then thump wildly to make up for lost beats.
They got their orders in record time from the frustrated Rhonda and sat down at a booth that Starfire made sure was out of the fast food employee's line of sight, much to said employee's chagrin.
Richard opened a packet of ketchup and squeezed it onto his burger while Star, who had been watching him, opened a mustard, squirted some on her finger, and tasted it. Her eyes opened wide, and before Richard knew what was happening, she had sucked the whole thing down (excluding the plastic) and was starting on another.
His finger reached her mouth before the condiment did. "OK, so we've established that you like mustard, now you might wanna put it on your burger Star." Then he realized where his hand was and quickly drew it back. Starfire, who had been a little flustered at his contact as well, nodded, squirted some on the edge of the whopper, then bit into it. "So?" he asked.
Her answer was muffled by the burger, which she was eating at a fascinating speed. He smiled and held out a ketchup, "This is good too," he offered.
She eagerly grabbed and tried to open it, but this was a particularly stubborn packet. "Use your teeth," offered Richard. Holding one end with her teeth and the other with her hand, she gave a mighty tug. It worked all too well! The packet ripped in half and its contents sprayed all over the face and hands of the Tamaranian girl.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTI nearly spit out my food, but being raised by an etiquette-obsessed person like Alfred, I forced myself to swallow my bite whole and for once, I didn't have to fake coughing to cover my laughter, and even Robin was smiling. Starfire glared at me, the first time I've ever seen any anger on her face. Or ketchup.
Maybe I was crazy, or Star's spontaneity was affecting me, or maybe it was just because she looked absurdly cute with anger and ketchup on her face. Whatever the reason, I did something totally stupid and immature and fun for the first time since my parents died. I took a fry, drew it across her tomato-covered cheek, and ate it. "Mmm," I smirked, "Face-Ketchup tastes good."
Her mouth and eyes popped open, and for a second, the latter seemed to glow. Then, like a veil falling, her face turned mischievous, and a devilish gleam was in her eye. It was so different from the Star Iknow, that it was my eyes' turn to widen.
When she was angry she was gorgeous, but this… this was just cruel to my gender. Even Robin the unflappable's mouth was hanging open too. Then to make matters worse, she leaned forward and purred silkily, "Then why don't you try on some?" Lord, This was making the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up.
So star-struck (pun intended), I was unable to defend myself from the oncoming attack. In one smooth motion, Star wiped the condiment from her face, and smeared it on mine. I sputtered a bit in surprise, but was still unable to recover fast enough to stop her from taking one of her own fries, and do to me exactly what I had done to her not 2 minutes ago.
I started to stutter, something I never did as I tried to comprehend what had just happened. But after a second of careful chewing, she interrupted me, commenting, "I believe it tastes better on you."
I'm not used to being dumbstruck twice in a conversation. Heck, I'm not used to being dumbstruck at all! Much less by a girl! Normally, girls hold pretty much no power over me. But now, my mouth is so wide, she can probably see my tonsils. What was happening to me?
Deliberately misinterpreting my shock, she said innocently, "You do not believe me? Then have some for yourself." With that she swabbed another fry with Face-Ketchup and placed it into my mouth, finallysnapping me out of my trance.
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTSuddenly the hilarity of the situation was gone, and the two leaned back awkwardly, not realizing how close they had been, with red painted on both of their cheeks that wasn't tomato based.
Unable to think of anything else to do, Star took a bite of burger while Richard chewed his fry and sipped his Sprite. Both were unable to meet the others gaze. Drawing up her courage, Star decided to sneak a glance at him. Sapphire instantly raised to meet Emerald, and neither one's eye wavered.
Something was going to have to give, and that something turned out to be Richard. The burp wasn't loud, or long, but it was enough. The two teens exploded with laughter. And, to Rhonda's dismay, everything was downhill from there.
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Sorry this took so long, my relatives are visiting so I've been put to work cleanin the house. Anyway, review and I'll make you the virtual baked good of your choice. Flamer's virtual food will be burnt.
L8r
SAT:)