It took forever but it's finally here. I sincerely apologize for the wait. Thank you for the support. Please review. And I don't own Sly Cooper or a dinner table from Spain.
Sly's mouth literally fell open. "Andrew Holiday?" He asked uncertainly.
Andy laughed. "Yeah, it's me. Long time no see, Coop." Sly chuckled in a way that Roxanne recognized as forced. Memories flooded back into Sly's head. They had grown up in the orphanage together. Sometimes best friends, sometimes complete rivals. They were the classic case of street smarts versus book smarts. It would be unfair to say that each of them only had one of those types of intelligences though. Sly had mainly street smarts. He was smooth with the ladies and could persuade almost anyone to do what he wanted them to. In the classroom, he was naturally brilliant, however. He aced tests without studying and his essays seemed professional but he never did his homework. He didn't want to go to college though, so it didn't matter to him. Thinking back now, he wished he'd tried a little harder. Andy, on the other hand, was good looking and many girls thought so. He was always shy though and didn't have his first date until senior prom but when you got him to open up, he was very charming and charismatic. He loved working with kids and kids loved him back. In the class room, he excelled. He was the valedictorian and he was captain of the chess and debate teams. Despite these rather large differences, they were often compared. More often, in fact, than either would have preferred and neither of them could see the similarities.
Sly looked the man up and down. He was a gray arctic fox with green eyes and gold-framed glasses. He was tall and had a slender build, just like Sly.
"How's life been treating you? I heard you got into the law business."
Sly crossed his arms and opened his mouth to answer but he was interrupted by girlish squeels. He looked over fondly to see the two girls hugging and then walking arm and arm towards them. Sly welcomed Carmelita and put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. She blushed and Sly smiled at his lady love.
"Hola, I'm Carmelita." She said to their new guest and held out her hand. He took it and kissed the back instead of shaking. 'Thats my move.' Sly thought. Carmelita blushed and shared a glance with Roxanne that I'm sure all of my female readers understand. "The dinner will be done in a few minutes. Just make yourself at home." Carmelita scurried away and Roxanne, Andy and Sly made their way to the couch. They all sat down and started talking.
"So Sly..." Andrew said awkwardly. "How'd you meet votre amour?"
"We work together." Sly told him. He couldn't explain why but his protective and aggressive sides seemed to stir inside of him. "Rox told me you two met at the orphanage."
"Yes, we did." Andrew took Roxanne's hand in his own. "Since I'm a few months younger than you, I wasn't legally an adult until after you left. The day I was supposed to leave, Mrs. Finch offered me a job since the kids loved me so much."
"Wait, hold up. You guys know each other?" Roxanne asked. She looked at the two of them.
"Yeah, we grew up together." Sly answered her and then turned back to Andy. Roxanne nodded. "Now I can see it. No wonder each of you remind me so much of the other." She laughed softly. Sly and Andy shared awkward looks.
"Well, you know." Sly said, trying to continue on with the conversation. "You were always popular with the kids, I was always popular with the people our age." They both smiled falsely at one another, pretending to reminisce.
"Dinner is now ready." Carmelita called from the kitchen and carried some arroz rojo to the new dinner table that her brother had sent from Spain. "Ringtail, can you get the sauces? They're on the counter."
"Sure thing, beautiful." Sly got off the couch slowly. He was sore due to the vigorous ninjitsu training Carmelita was putting him through. He pranced over to the counter, picked up the sauces and, with a spin, dropped them on the table. "Ay! Careful! Those were expensive!" Carmelita barked at him. Sly widened his eyes and grabbed his tail and stuck it between his legs. Carmelita laughed and he pulled out her chair, allowing her to sit down. "Gracias." She whispered and kissed his wrist.
"De nada, mi cielo." Sly sat down in between Roxanne and Carmelita and across from Andrew. "Pasame el arroz, por favor, princesa." Sly said to Roxanne, who complied and passed him the dish.
"You've learned Spanish?" Andrew asked Sly, his eyebrow arched.
"Un pocito. A little bit, Carm's been teaching me." Sly told him with a smile. He liked that they were growing more similar as the days passed. He gently laced hands with her.
"Andy can speak French beautifully." Roxanne said, changing the subject and tearing Carm and Sly's attention away from the other. Andy looked up at Roxanne and smiled.
"Oh, say something, por favor!" Carmelita said with a smile.
"Rien que je dis ne peut être aussi beau que les dames dans cette pièce." Sly scoffed.
Carmelita and Roxanne looked at each other and giggled.
"What did you just say, bebe?" Roxanne asked him.
"Nothing I say could be as beautiful as the ladies in the room." He added a smiled for charm.
Sly watched Carmelita blush and Sly's insides began to turn. He wanted to wrestle Andy out the door and tell him to never come back.
"Anyways, shall we begin?" Carmelita said and gently grabbed Andrew's hand and lifted her and Sly's up onto the table. "Bless us, Oh Lord, for these, thy gifts, which we are about to receive. From thy bounty, through Christ our Lord, Amen." They all chanted quietly. Andy pronounced "amen" the same way Sly did. This made Carmelita and Roxanne smile at each other.
Everyone passed around the plates and sauces. Sly wasn't paying attention and spilled water on himself. "Damn." He said quietly while the Roxanne and Andy laughed. Carmelita chuckled quietly but noticed that it was very odd of him to be so clumsy. She had never seen him drop, spill, or break anything. Neither had she seen him trip, bump in to anything or hurt himself. She figured that it happens to the best of them at sometime or another. He scooted out of the chair and ran into Carmelita's room to get a spare shirt. He had extra clothing there and at Roxanne's. He walked in to hear Andrew say, "This is delicious, Carmelita." Sly watched her face light up. She looked beautiful.
"Muy bien." Roxanne said and Sly pulled out his chair and sat down. He reached down to take Carmelita's hand but it wasn't there. One was holding her water glass and the other was making animated hand gestures as she told Andrew about her family. For some reason, this made him feel very lonely. Roxanne noticed the way he chewed on the inside of his cheek. She caught his glance and raised her eye brows. He shook his head as if to say everything was fine.
Andy saw this intimate display and turned to Roxanne and tucked a piece of her short hair behind her ear. She blushed and smiled at him. "Grazie." She said softly.
"Anything for you, ma belle." They both looked at each other for a moment, captivated by the other.
"So, Andreas. What do you do?" Carmelita said, spoiling the moment. Roxanne stuck her tongue out at her and Carmelita returned the immature gesture. Andy smiled at their cuteness. Sly noticed the nickname Carmelita gave Andrew and started to chew his cheek again.
"Well, Carmelita, I help the high school orphans with their schooling and college prep. It sure would've helped if there had been people to do that when Sly and I grew up there. It was hard-" Andy started but was cut off by Carmelita. "Wait, you two grew up together?"
"Yes, madamouiselle. We were both orphans." The wheels started turning in Carmelita's head. "And you guys were friends? No wonder you two remind me so much of each other!" Both men looked at each other again and Andy jutted out his chin a little bit. This obviously was a memory of the past that meant something to Sly because he laughed. He's not too bad, Sly thought.
"Something like that, Beautiful." Sly told his girlfriend. "We butted heads every once in awhile but sometimes we were the best of friends." Andy had finished eating and leaned back in his chair a little. He grabbed an umbrella, which was a few feet away from him, and mindlessly started twirling it in his hands. "What I don't get," He said, "Is why everyone said we were so alike." Carmelita and Roxanne bit back laughter. He sneezed and Sly said, "à vos souhaits." ("Bless you," in French.) The girls burst out laughing but the boys sat there, clueless. They looked at each other and shrugged at the same time. This made matters worse for the girls. Roxanne's eyes began to water and Carmelita clutched her stomach. After a few moments, the laughter died down. "I don't get it..." Sly said, which just fueled more laughter.
"Anyways," Carmelita gasped a minute later. She waved her hand around to signal she was done. "Back to about you two growing up together. I take it you two were very alike."
"Not really." Andy said. "I was smart and he was skilled at life."
Sly smiled, "He had these really thick framed black glasses and his hair was short and spiky and he always wore polo shirts." Sly laughed. "Good times..." He mumbled.
"Well, Sly, my good friend. I think we remember what you were doing while I was studying."
"And what would that be, my buddy?" Sly was leaning back in chair, like he always did. "You were busy hitting on any girl in sight." Sly smiled. Carmelita gave him a look that said, "That better not be true!"
"Whaddya talking about, Hol?" Sly said and smiled. Andy smiled at his old nickname. The boys chuckled. Sly looked at Carmelita and she smiled. She stood up and so did Roxanne. They both patted Sly on the head as they walked by and he gave an annoyed look which caused Andy to laugh. They continued talking about their old life for a few minutes.
"Beautiful, need any help?" Sly called from the table.
"Nah, papi. I'm fine." Roxanne answered instead of Carmelita. Carmelita laughed. Roxanne looked at the raccoon and smiled. He returned the gesture before he hopped up, grabbed the remote from the couch and scurried back to his chair. He flipped on a basketball game.
"You still good at basketball, Hol?" Sly asked Andy.
"I'll always be better than you, Coop." He said competitively. "Tomorrow, my place, noon. Winner buys the beer."
"I don't drink." Sly said.
"What a coincidence," Roxanne said, appearing at the table again. "Neither does Andy." Andy rolled his eyes.
"Winner takes us all to the movies, then." Said the Arctic Fox. Sly held out his hand and Andy shook it.
Roxanne laughed and handed Sly his sundae. He leaned up and kissed her on the cheek.
"Watch it!" Andy growled but the smiled to show he was kidding.
"Merci, ma cherie." Andy said when Roxanne handed him his. She kissed him on his forehead before sitting down.
Carmelita shook her head at their immaturity before sitting down again. She opened her mouth to say something but quickly shut it when she felt Sly's hand connecting with her own. She blushed softly before saying, "Well, dig in."
They girls took a spoonful of their ice cream and the boys started stirring theirs around. Roxanne and Carmelita gave each other amused glances and they started laughing again. "What?" They asked together as they both held up a spoon with ice cream in it.
