Cleo wasn't good with confrontations, but she couldn't just let the two boys get away with it.
Sitting in a secluded booth at the back of a nearly empty Subway, she had looked up from the book she hadn't really been reading (opting to listen to the boys' strange order instead), and her eyes had fallen upon them almost immediately. Soft brown hair and devilish grins, nearly identical except in height, they'd fit the part of the mischievous pranksters perfectly. They were exactly the kind of boys you would expect trouble from.
The taller of the two had reached over the counter and nicked a yellow condiments bottle.
They'd huddled over it, blocking Cleo's view, then dropped it back over the counter and rushed to a table near the window, a booth by Cleo's.
Now, she sat with her eyes screwed shut. She had no desire to talk to them, she didn't really like talking to anyone outside Brooklyn House, but she knew the right thing to do would be to call them out on it. She took a deep breath and stood, turning to face them. "That wasn't nice, you know."
The boy's looked up grinning, not in the least bit perturbed at being caught.
"Oh, don't worry," the shorter one said, messing with his green hat.
"It's not like it'll be fatal or anything." The taller one shrugged.
"Unless Katie finally has that heart attack she's been promising us." Said the shorter one.
"But whatever you did to that bottle—" Cleo tried again.
"Won't hurt her, not really." Deciding he liked the way his hat was situated, he held out a hand. "I'm Connor."
"Cleo," Cleo reached for his hand, then hesitated.
"No shock buzzer, nothing sticky," he assured her.
"I still wouldn't shake it, though, if I were you," the other one told her. "You can't even begin to guess where those hands have been, but I know, and just let me tell you—"
"This is my dearest brother, Travis." Connor cut him off. "Might I add, his hands have been all the same places mine have."
"Oh," Cleo said, unsure what to say. "Okay… good to know. But the bottle—"
Connor's eye's trailed to her book, which she clutched in both arms at her side. "You read?" He sounded incredulous.
"Now, now, Connor," Travis chided. "Some people read for enjoyment. Cleo does seem the type, doesn't she?"
"I guess," Connor said slowly, still looking at the cover of the book.
Cleo looked down at the volume—dusty and decrepit, she'd pulled it off one of the library's many shelves that morning, looking for quick and easy read. "It's about Egyptian mummification and burial rituals." She said, thinking maybe it was an appropriate comment for the circumstances. Seeing their bewildered looks, she added, "Old Kingdom Egypt."
"Right," Connor said. "That…"
"…makes total sense." Travis finished for him.
Cleo frowned, trying to decide if they really didn't know what the Old Kingdom was or if they were just joking. She shook her head. "Really, about the bottle—"
"Hey, there she is," Connor nodded toward the counter.
The single worker had come from the back room, Travis's complicated order in hand. Short-ish brown hair pulled up in a ponytail and light green eyes, made her cute without being the conventional kind of pretty. She looked fairly nice, someone you could trust to handle food. Although Cleo could've sworn the girl had dirt on her hands. That had to be some sort of health code violation.
She glared at them. "Five foot long spicy ham with two strips of bacon, three slices of cheddar cheese, four slices of American cheese, five slices of Blue cheese, six slices of Colby Jack cheese, and jalapeños."
Travis shook his head. "You forgot the mustard! Katie, I thought better of you."
"You never said you wanted mustard." That was true, Cleo had listened in on their order. "And besides, mustard on a sandwich like this?"
"You question my taste!?" Travis really did sound insulted.
"By the gods, Katie, this isn't the time for criticism. The man is hungry! Starving, practically!" Connor said right after.
Katie sighed. "Whatever." Her hand went to the bottle of mustard.
Cleo tried to catch the Katie's eye. She shook her head. She even said, "Umm, excuse me but…" But she was too quiet. Conner heard, though, and reached to pull her into the booth, holding a finger to his lips.
As it turned out, Cleo's shy, desperate attempts to warn the girl were not necessary. Katie's hand froze then pulled back. She narrowed her eyes at Travis. "What's wrong with it? What's going to happen?"
"Nothing! I just decided I want mustard." Travis assured her.
She reached under the counter and pulled out a pair of tongs. Reaching arm's length, she lifted the bottle of mustard out of its place. She plunked it down on the counter, and when nothing happened, edged toward it.
Her hand reached out and grasped it. Lifting it, she headed over to the sandwich.
"See?" Connor said. "Nothing happened."
Then Katie tipped it over and squeezed. It exploded.
"Ah!" She gave a short, strangled scream. Wiping mustard off her face, she glared at the boys. "TRAVIS!"
"No, no, no need, Katie." Travis said around his laughter.
Connor clarified, "Cleo here has already chewed us out."
Katie turned her glare toward Cleo, then softened upon seeing the misery written on her face. Cleo shrugged in a helpless fashion. "Sorry," she said. Katie couldn't hear her over Travis and Connor's laughter, Cleo was sure, but Katie still nodded, and turned her attention back to the boys.
Still caught up in fits and bursts of laughter, they didn't notice when Katie spit in the sandwich. Wrapping it up, she walked her mustard-soaked self over and threw it on the table. "Thank you for coming to Subway, Eat Fresh, and remember: when summer comes, you'd better watch your backs."
Marching back to the counter, she picked up a rag and began cleaning.
Cleo made her way over and found another rag. "Sorry." She apologized again. "I did try and warn you, but, I mean, I was too quiet. I usually am."
"Don't worry," Katie said. "I'm used to it, that's just how the Stoll brothers have always been. Besides, I'll have my revenge." Katie grinned.
They worked to the sound of the Stoll brother's dying laughter. Then, Cleo asked. "Is that what you meant when you said that thing about summer coming and them watching their backs?"
"We go to the same summer camp," Katie explained.
"That must be tough." Cleo remarked.
"Nah, not really. I mean, they can be annoying, but it's easy enough to get back at them. The camp director doesn't really care what us campers do, as long as we don't bother him."
"Oh." Cleo nodded. "And… um, why, when they were baiting you into picking up the mustard… did I mishear or did Connor say 'by the gods'?"
"You heard right; at least, that's what I heard." Katie shrugged. "No idea what he meant by that. He's crazy, you know. They both are."
Before Cleo had a chance to say anything else, Connor's voice floated across the counter. "Cleo, you read Egyptian?"
Cleo looked over to see the Stoll brothers. Munching on the sandwich, they were leaving mustard finger prints all over the precious pages.
"What are you doing!" She shouted, horror stricken. They looked up in shock. "Do you know how old that is, how rare?" She ran and snatched the book away from them. "Countless professors would give their lives to read this book, and you go flipping through the pages like it's a picture book! Do you have no regard for the sanctity of ancient artifacts!"
"You read Egyptian?" Connor repeated.
"Yes, I can read Egyptian." Cleo confirmed, fussing over the pages. There was a chance the stains could be removed with hieroglyphs, but not here. Not in front of these oafs. She'd have to get to it before the mustard left any permanent damage, but she wasn't quite done letting out steam. "I can't believe you! You irresponsible, irksome—"
"Gods, Connor, we've unleashed her inner Katie!" Travis exclaimed.
"No, I'd say we're seeing her inner Annabeth." Connor responded.
"Don't talk about me as if I'm not here, and I don't care who I remind you of!" Cleo stamped her foot. "Do you have any idea how priceless this is? Do you know how many texts remain from the Old Kingdom? Not very many, I can tell you, and if you think you can just go around ruining them… well…"
Cleo shook her head indignantly. "Katie, get them back good, will you?"
Katie saluted her.
Cleo stormed out of the shop, holding the book gingerly.
"Eat fresh!" One of the brothers yelled after her.
Holy crap, guys, I was stunned that so many people were still interested in the story! Thank you!
And, addressing the confusion: These will be a series of connected onexshots. Meaning I'll have different onexshots about different characters, but there may be more than one part, or there will be different onexshots about the same characters, playing off the situations they were in the onexshot before. Does that make sense? If not just tell me and I'll try and explain it better.
Also, does anyone know why there is always an X between one and shot? I did it because it seems to be a tradition, but I don't really understand it.