The duo followed suit after the crowd, pushing their way onto the street. They were met with such a tangle of heavily accented shouting and guitar-shredding that it was almost impossible to discern what the hell was going on. Still fired up, Lucia kicked, shoved, and headbutted her way to the front of the crowd.
The unbelievably cute busker from outside the restaurant seemed to be engaged in some kind of guitar battle. A familiar blond curtain of hair masked what could only have been the former guitarist of Smugly Dismissed. He had somehow produced an amp out of thin air and had plugged into an outlet jutting out from one of the tree rings that lined the street. Lucia's breath caught in her throat and for a shining moment all she could see were his broad hands masterfully commanding his instrument; all she could hear was the infinite rain of notes. But there was something wrong with the picture; she was unpleasantly brought back down to earth by the sight of the busker yelling in a foreign tongue and shaking his fists at the guitar god. He seemed really upset, yet the guitar god stood smug and oblivious.
Lucia noticed a busboy from another restaurant standing near her. "Hey, what's going on?" she struggled to make her voice heard over the din.
The busboy turned to yell in her direction. "Well, I think that blond dude came and took that other guy's guitar and just totally started wailing on it, so the guy got all pissed!"
"That's pretty fucked up!"
The busboy nodded, too entranced to give another verbal response.
Lucia ran up to the busker. She motioned to blond guitarist. "That your guitar?"
The look of despair on the poor boy's face was devastating as he nodded. "He takes it from poor old Toki. I's just tryin' to makes a living!"
Guitar god or not, no one had the right to take an innocent kid's guitar. She stood in front of the bully until he noticed her and stopped playing and acknowledged her.
"You donts has to be intermiditateds. If you wants to speaks to mes privately, I believes thats coulds be arranged…" He raised an eyebrow in an expression that was both patronizing and inviting.
Lucia ignored this and jerked her thumb at the upset boy behind her. "My friend would like his guitar back."
The come-on look soured into one of disdain. The blond shouted to Toki, "Hey! You wants yous stupid guitars back? Takes it! Donts be sendings yous little girlyfriend to fights yous battles!" He dropped the guitar and turned to leave, but not without a parting strike. He grabbed Lucia's hand and kissed it. "Calls me if you decides to haves a reals man." With one more poisonous glance at Toki, he was gone.
Toki rushed forward but instead of going after the guitar god, he grabbed Lucia. "Oh, lady! You makes me such one happy guy evers!" He declared, lifting her off her feet.
"Uhh… It's nothing." Lucia patted his back, awkwardly trying not to melt into the embrace.
Toki released her. "Yous dat nice lady whats gives to me money befores!" His eyes widened into the cutest expression of disbelief that Lucia had ever seen. "So… yous helps Toki again? Lady, you must tells Toki yous name!"
Lucia had to fight to keep the heat in her face from getting worse. "Um, my name's Lucia."
"… Luka… Lusisa…Looskika?"
"Heh, you can call me Lu," she offered.
"Tank yous, Lu!" He beamed.
"Just glad to help… Toki, right?" Looking through the thinning crowd, Lucia found Rina heading back into the restaurant. Before she could follow her in, her phone began vibrating in her pocket. "Hullo?" she answered.
"Dood! Lu! It's Pickles!" Lucia had a bit of trouble making out his voice thanks to the loud music she heard in the background.
"Hey! What's up? You listening to the radio or something?"
"Nah, I'm at this party n'… it's kinda lame, though, whatever. Me n' some buds were gonna, yanno, catch a movie. Wanna, yanno, come?"
Lucia could hear the slur in his voice and figured that a booze-and-Pickles-filled night was just what she needed. "Awesome! I'm already downtown so I'll just meet you at the theater."
"Yeah, cool! Oh wait! Meet us at that pharmacy-place-thingy across the street so we can pick up some, yanno, refreshments!"
"Sure thing, see ya there!" Lucia laughed and hung up. She could even hear his grin over the phone. She turned to the restaurant to see if Marina was still in there, but came face to face with Toki instead. "Uh, hey, Toki."
He had packed his guitar away and stood by her, case in hand. "So… yous goings to a movie? With yous friends? Dat sounds fun… Toki hopes yous all has fun… ats da movies…" He drifted off in pathetic hopefullness.
"Um, you wanna come?"
His eyes shone on the verge of grateful tears. "Oh tanks yous so much!" He ran ahead in the complete opposite direction that they needed to go.
Lucia paused, doing a quick status check in her head. Rina's got the car; she'll be fine. I'll just catch a cab or bum a ride off Pickles. All set. "Toki, hold on!" Lucia laughed and ran after him
Marina watched through the window as her cousin ran off with the brown-haired boy, debating whether she should go after her or just leave her be. She's my best friend. Whatever's going on, I gotta at least try to talk it out with her. Leaving some money for the bill, she pushed her chair back with a loud, determined scrape and made her way out of the store. She made it a couple feet out the front door before she felt a cold, strong hand close over her mouth. Sharp nails pinched at her skin.
"Noo…" a voice rasped. "You must not interfere…"
AN: Thank you so much for your awesome reviews urging me to keep writing! As long as people read this fic, I'll update! … well, until it's done. Anyway, I love you guys! Thanks for reading!