Aster was grinning as they left the theater and it wasn't because they'd seen a comedy. No, his amusement stemmed from the wide-eyed look of awe on his companion's face.
"So, what'd ya think?"
Jack came out of his stupor almost instantly and a smile briefly spread across his pale lips before he started to babble about the film as they walked across the parking lot. Aster tried to pay attention, he really did, but the albino wasn't exactly being coherent in his praise. Jack hadn't been kidding when he'd said he hadn't seen a movie in years!
The Australian laughed lightly before holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Whoa, mate, slow down!"
Jack stopped his rant and smiled, looking a little sheepish as he said, "Sorry! I'd forgotten how much fun movies were."
Aster smiled and nodded, secretly hoping that Jack didn't want to talk about the film in detail because he hadn't actually paid that much attention to what was happening on screen. He'd spent most of the film watching Jack instead.
It hadn't been a conscious thing; he'd merely glanced over at Jack a few minutes into the film and found himself fascinated by the look of wonder on the smaller teen's face. He'd planned to look back at the screen, but watching his crush react to the movie was much more interesting than watching the movie itself. It was only when the lights came on and people started to exit the room that he'd realized that he'd spent the entire film watching Jack.
"So, what'd you think?"
Drat. Aster almost panicked before a clever idea popped into his head.
"Oh, that was definitely worth the price of admission."
Jack grinned and started to babble again when a loud roar stopped him mid-sentence. The albino glanced at his stomach before laughing and saying "Maybe I should've let Nick force feed me after all."
"No way, Nick has terrible taste in food. That loony thinks fruit cake tastes good. I'll show you a real corker of a meal!" the Australian exclaimed as they arrived at his car and he pulled his keys from his coat pocket.
"A corker of a meal, huh?" Jack asked as Aster unlocked the car and the couple hopped inside.
"Yeah."
It was only when he noticed Jack's amused grin as he went to turn on the car that Aster realized what the albino had been asking.
"Oh. Corker means good."
Jack chuckled lightly as Aster pulled out of the parking spot and then said, "What does whacker mean?"
The artistic teen glanced over at his passenger while he pulled the car to a stop at the parking lot's exit. This wasn't the conversation he'd been expecting to have after the movie, but at least he knew all the answers.
"Whacker means idiot."
Then he pulled out of the parking lot and started to head towards his favorite burger place, assuming the conversation was probably over. It wasn't.
"What about good onya?"
What was with this sudden obsession with Australian slang?
"It's a term of praise like good job or well done."
"How about rack off?"
Now Aster was laughing, but he still managed to say "I should bloody well think that one was obvious, mate."
Jack crossed his arms and stuck out his lower lip, looking remarkably like Sophie did when she was pouting. "Well, yeah, but I wanna make sure I got it right."
"Rack off means go away or get lost," Aster explained, still chuckling at his mental comparison of his crush to a toddler.
"What are some other ones?"
Aster pulled the car to a stop as the light before them changed to red and turned to stare at Jack. "Okay Frostbite, what's going on? Why are you suddenly so interested in this?"
The albino looked a little embarrassed as he replied, "Because I realized you know all of this stuff about me, but I don't really know that much about you."
Oh. That was true. Aster was a private person and didn't really go around sharing bits of information about himself. The idea of sharing those things with Jack made his heart flutter as the light changed to green and Aster refocused his gaze on the road. He didn't even glance at Jack as he muttered the words, "I'm really not that interesting."
"Come on, give me a go, mate."
Jack did his best to mimic Aster's accent on the last word, making the Australian smile.
"Your accent is terrible."
It was a lie, just something to say to keep the conversation flowing. Jack was actually able to pull off a pretty decent imitation.
"I don't care if I sound a right whacker to ya, mate, this is too much fun to stop." Jack replied, continuing to endeavor with his attempt to sound Australian.
"If you wanna sound like an Aussie, you might as well say too much of a crack instead of fun."
"Crack?" Jack looked confused and the accent was gone.
Aster flicked on his turn signal and pulled into the parking lot of a tiny diner. "That one's hard to explain. A crack is like a good time, but it's also used in other ways. Like, 'what's the crack?' or 'what's crackin'?' You yanks use it a bit, too. Ever heard of a crack shot?"
He parked the car and faced Jack once more, enjoying the confusion on his friend's face.
"Slang's not so easy to learn, is it mate?"
Jack shrugged and smiled as he said, "I guess not. We're eating here?"
Aster nodded and pulled open his door, stepping out into the chilly, night air. "Yep! This is my favorite restaurant."
The smaller teen got out of the car and followed Aster into the building. Inside, a waitress in tan slacks and a black shirt that read "Laura's Diner" guided the two to a booth at the back of the restaurant. Then she introduced herself as Amanda and handed each of them a black menu, promising to return quickly with drinks.
After she'd left, Jack looked around the room. He'd always known this place was here, but he'd never actually been inside. An old fashion soda bar surrounded the kitchen and aquamarine booths, like the one he and Aster were currently seated in, lined the walls. It was all very retro, like something from the 50's.
There weren't many people here tonight, though. The only other patrons were a lone man reading a book at the bar and an older couple sitting at a booth on the other side of the room.
Across the table, Aster had flipped open the menu and was deciding what to order. As he debated between a hamburger and the diner's always available breakfast combo, the Australian felt a piercing gaze focusing on him. He looked up into the confused, blue eyes of his crush and felt a blush begging to steal across his face.
"What?"
"This is your favorite restaurant?"
"Yes?" Aster replied, his voice taking on a steely tone and his posture hardening from relaxed to defensive as he waited for Jack to make some joke.
Instead, the albino merely said, "Interesting" and flipped open his menu, apparently considering the conversation over.
Aster wasn't okay with that.
"What's wrong with it?"
Jack's eyes flickered from the menu to Aster before returning their gaze to the plastic list of food. A smirk stole over pale lips, but all he said was "Nothing."
Aster was getting annoyed now and his posture grew even more ridged.
"You can't make a big deal about this being my favorite restaurant and then not tell me why, Frostbite."
Jack looked like he was going to reply, but then Amanda returned with two glasses of water and asked if they were ready. Jack said he was and Aster resigned himself to waiting a bit longer to finish the discussion.
An order of two hamburgers and a chocolate milkshake later, he was staring across the table at his "date," waiting for an explanation.
Jack merely grinned at him and waited for Aster to re-ask the question he was obviously itching to hear the answer to.
He didn't have to wait long.
"Okay, so why is it 'interesting' that this is my favorite restaurant?"
Jack thought about it for a second before saying, "Because it's so you."
Aster wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
"It is?"
The albino was smiling now.
"Yeah, it is. It's peaceful and quiet. I bet you like coming here because it's a good place to draw."
Aster smiled now, fighting back another blush as his posture relaxed and he sunk into his seat.
"My dad works in the building next door. When I was a kid, I used to walk over here in the summer, order a milkshake, and draw until he was done with work. Then he'd come over here, get me, and we'd walk home together."
Jack nodded, clearly pleased with how right he'd been. Then he said "mine's a rock" and Aster was lost again.
"Huh?"
Amanda was back, placing a malt glass full of thick, brown liquid in front of Jack. He thanked her and Aster accepted her offer of a water refill before returning his attention to Jack.
The pale youth took a sip of the drink and made a happy sound before continuing. "There's this rock in the woods behind the high school. It's a good place to go and think. If I liked to draw, that's probably where I'd do it."
Amanda returned and filled Aster's glass from a pitcher of water. He absentmindedly thanked her, but never turned his gaze from Jack. Once she was gone again, he ran his hand through his hair and asked, "Do you go there often?"
Jack took another sip of his shake and shrugged. "I used to, but then I started to hang out with you guys. I haven't been back there sinceā¦"
Jack trailed off and Aster knew they'd entered a memory Jack wasn't comfortable talking about. He didn't push the matter, instead moving the conversation onto a different path.
"So, how are the twins?"
Jack was happy again. He eagerly started to tell Aster all about his visit the previous weekend and how Jamie and Pippa had asked him to go skating with their friends the following one as well. "This weekend was Mrs. Bennett's birthday, though, so I figured it was best if I stayed out of the way, but I promised I'd visit next weekend."
"It seems like they're happy you're around, huh?" Aster noted with a grin. He was truly enjoying watching Jack talk about his siblings. It was nice to see his crush so fully of joy after the earlier waterworks.
Jack smile softened at the comment, looking almost a little shy. "Yeah, they really are. I never dreamed they'd actually want me to be such a big part of their lives, but Pippa is super excited to have me sitting in the front row at her next concert and Jamie's been bugging me to teach him how to ice skate. I think he's got a little crush on Pippa's friend Amber and wants to show off for her."
"You learned all this in the space of two visits?" Aster asked, eyebrows raised.
Jack grinned and shook his head. "No, they call me to talk every couple of nights. Pippa started it the day after the Christmas fair. I guess she wanted to make sure I was real and not just a dream. Normally I get roped into telling them a bedtime story, but I don't mind. The Bennets seem to be okay with it, too. I'm like a dial-a-babysitter of sorts."
"I wish I was as good with stories as you are. Sophie's started to beg me for them and I always end up telling her some well-known fairy tale."
Amanda returned again, this time with their food, and the boys began to eat. Aster held back a laugh as he watched Jack wolf down his burger hungrily. He hadn't been lying when he said the food was good.
He was just leaning down to take a bite of his own burger when Jack paused his munching and asked, "So, why Easter?"
Aster placed the burger back on its plate and looked at Jack, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Elaborate a bit, please?"
Jack set down his meal and did so. "I mean, I know why Nick is so into Chrsitmas, it's obviously a family thing, but why are you so into Easter?"
Aster grabbed his burger and took a bite, thinking as he slowly chewed. He only swallowed the bite when he was ready to reply. "That's kind-of a long story."
"I've got time," Jack replied before resuming chowing down on his own meal.
Aster took another bite, thinking. Why Easter? Now there was a question that no one had ever bothered to ask before. When his mouth was once again empty, he began. "I didn't want to move here, you know. I liked Australia."
Jack didn't say anything, he just sat there and listened as Aster talked.
"The worst part was that we moved here at the beginning of April. I went from sunny beaches and shorts to freezing cold highlands and a winter coat in the space of a day. I was certain that I wasn't gonna make any friends and that I was gonna hate this place. Then came Easter Sunday.
"They were holding an Easter egg hunt at the park and, despite the cold, my mom made me go. I just knew it was gonna be the worst time of my life. We'd only been here a week at that point and I hadn't even started school, so I didn't know anyone. I was going to be the only kid at the hunt with no friends.
"As I was waiting for the lady who was running the event to tell us we could start searching, a little girl with bright-blonde hair came up to me and said 'hi.' I ignored her at first, but she had a will of iron when it came to what she wanted and, apparently, what she wanted was me as a friend."
Aster was smiling at the memory and, across the table, Jack was grinning. He had a pretty good guess who that little girl was.
"By the end of the Easter egg hunt I was firmly cemented as her friend and was being introduced to the two boys she had been hanging out with before she met me. When I learned that she lived on the same street as me, I knew that there was no way I was gonna escape being a part of the gang. I didn't really mind, though.
"They've talked about that day before, but I've never told them that I didn't wanna be at the Easter egg hunt and they've always just assumed it was my favorite holiday even before they met me. It wasn't. Easter's my favorite because it lead me to them. I throw that hunt every year in the hope that some other lonely little ankle-biter can find his new beginning, too."
