Chapter 4
The following morning Ste arrived about half an hour before Adam so that he could check that they had everything that they needed. Luckily Adam took care of that the previous day when he went to Drive 'n' Buy and pretty much bought the entire shop despite only needing milk and butter. Suddenly Ste heard the door fly open and he saw Adam standing in the doorway grinning from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat; Ste noted that he was still holding the notebook from the previous day.
"I've got it" he said, triumphantly
Ste smirked "I know you've got it" he stated, "You took it with you"
Adam looked completely lost, Ste chuckled and took the notebook from Adam's grasp, waving it in front of his face.
"I've got an idea for this place to hopefully get more customers"
"What?" Ste was intrigued. The notebook was empty albeit a few sums scribbled down on a couple of pages. Ste's heart skipped a beat when he recognised Doug's handwriting.
"America!" Adam announced
"Yeah, America. Great place, except you need Geography lessons 'cause we're in England" Ste pointed out, sarcastically. Adam sighed and rolled his eyes
"I meant, this is supposed to be an American styled Deli, and no offence but you failed… epically. So, why don't we spruce this place up and make it really American. You know, American flags hanging up, speaking to customers in American accents, serving all of its famous cuisine-"
"- What, like burgers and fries?" Ste interrupted, saying 'fries' in a peculiar accent that sounded vaguely American.
"Well not exactly, though that is a good idea. We should do some research and figure out what exactly we should do"
"So you're saying that we're gonna have to talk to customers in an American accent for, like, ever?"
"No, what about an American week? Enough time for people to take notice of it, but not so long that the novelty of it wears off" then, noticing Ste's irritated expression Adam added, "or that you kill yourself"
Ste still looked unsure. Adam shot him a look that reminded Ste of a wounded puppy and his heart melted a bit. Adam hesitated, not knowing how Ste was going to react to his plea:
"Please? For Doug"
Ste froze momentarily, then nodded
"For Doug" he agreed.
xxx
Business was in full swing. The American week was a success and Ste had Adam to thank for that. Customers were responding well to the new idea, though not a lot had changed. Yeah, they had painted stars and stripes over the door, which Ste realised was going to be a pain in the butt to clean off, and had hung up a few American flags inside. They had changed their menu slightly as well: they agreed to serve burgers (and Ste had improved considerably at cooking them from his previous half bunt- half raw burgers he had made about two years earlier. Then again, Ste blamed the barbeque for that) as well as macaroni and cheese, apple pie, fried chicken, hot dogs and meat loaf (though until he researched it thoroughly Ste honestly thought it was just a lump of old meat). They were also speaking with American accents- well, Adam was- Ste mustered up what appeared to be an American accent, though it sounded a bit Spanish and Irish, with a hint of his own accent around the edges. You had to hear it to believe it.
Towards the end of the first day, Ste's half-sisters Leela and Tegan entered.
"Howdy" Ste greeted in his odd accent. They immediately burst out laughing hysterically. Leela made a sound similar to a pig and Tegan wiped her streaming eyes.
"Uh… hey" Tegan exhaled, holding her sides. She glanced at the menu, "We'll have a hotdog and a cheeseburger thanks bro"
Ste cleared his throat before speaking in his accent, "To stay or to-"
He didn't even get to finish his question when the girls began spluttering with laughter again. Adam came up behind him and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder
"I'll take this" he murmured in his usual accent, then switched on his flawless American twang, "Are you guys stayin' or goin'?"
"Now that's more like it!" Leela whooped, then grinned at Adam, "We'll have it to go, thanks"
"No problem" he said, then winked at them. Leela fanned herself with one hand and she and Tegan stood back away from the counter as the boys prepared their food.
xxx
"So, do you reckon he's taken?" Leela asked Tegan whilst watching Adam and Ste pass each other. She received a harsh nudge to the ribs and exclaimed in pain
"Gross! That's our half-brother you're talking about!" Tegan hissed, jokingly. Leela made a face.
"I meant mister tall-dark-and-handsome over there" Leela pointed out
"Dunno, why don't you ask?"
"Why not?' Leela shrugged and approached the counter. Ste noticed her
"What's up?" he murmured in his usual accent, Leela gasped comically
"Ste! I thought you were an American. I mean, your accent was so… good" she said, fighting back giggles. Ste glared at her
"What do you want?" Ste hissed, "Did you just come here to embarrass me?"
"Nah, but that was a bonus! Well Tegan and I wanted to check this place out and see how you were doing-"
"I meant right now" Ste interrupted
Leela grinned, "I was just wondering if Adam was seeing anyone"
This time it was Ste who had to fight back laughter
"What?" she asked, slightly offended. Ste shook his head, biting the insides of his cheeks to stop himself from grinning
"Nuffin'" he responded, shrugging
"So, do you know if he's got a girlfriend?"
"Nope. No girlfriend" Ste responded immediately. It wasn't a lie, was it? Adam probably hadn't had a girlfriend for a long time. Leela beamed
"Do you have a pen and paper?"
Ste still had the notebook and pen with some of the ideas that he and Adam had jotted down earlier on it. Leela scribbled down her name and mobile number, folded up the piece of paper and put it on the counter
"Make sure you pass it on to him"
"Oh I will" Ste grinned.
Once Leela and Tegan had left, Ste felt someone approach him
"You're terrible" he heard Adam scoff. Ste blushed
"How much of that did you hear?"
"Pretty much all of it, I was standing by the door!" he laughed, "You're such a horrible brother, you know that?"
Ste shrugged, "What's wrong with a little revenge amongst siblings?"
"Just because they laughed- and rightly so- at your awful American accent!" Adam argued
Ste looked downcast, "was it really that bad?"
Adam shrugged, "take it as a complement that I actually called it an 'American' accent because, frankly, it barely passed"
Ste nudged him playfully, then picked up the folded piece of paper and held it in front of Adam's eyes
"Well if you'd like to take my sister out on a date…?"
"Depends" began Adam, raising his eyebrows, "I wouldn't want to make things awkward between you two. You know, if you're the jealous type"
Ste held his gaze and bit his lip. He knew this was a bad idea, but he leaned in nonetheless…
Thanks for reading! I've written the next chapter (which I will upload next week sometime) and I have an idea of where I want this story to go, but I'm not quite sure whether it will work or not (at the moment I'm just improvising until I get inspired), so if anyone has any ideas for a plot, I'll happily hear (well, read) your thoughts. Please rate and review.
