The Two Days – Part One
It had been two days since Pidge had talked to Allura about their situation. He had not liked giving her an ultimatum; he knew how stubborn she could be. Pidge was sure he was in for a long week before she came around. He knew that he had to win this time; there would be other things he would have to comprise on in the future. On this matter though, he was not going to comprise, and she needed to understand that.
He was down in the rec room, hanging out with everyone else but Keith and Lance. He and Vince had a 3-D chess game going on, while Hunk, Daniel, and Larmina were playing poker. Larmina had improved a great deal since Hunk first started teaching her. Larmina, trying to decide what card to discard, had her train of thought interrupted by Lance storming into the room.
He looked annoyed as he came in, and looked around, saying "Where is Keith?" Hunk said "He went into town, and I don't think he'll be back until later." Lance flopped down on a chair and said "Good, then we can talk about his birthday party!"
Daniel said "Didn't he say he didn't want a party?" Lance snorted and said, "Well he is probably not going to get on now! Allura baled on me!" Everyone turned to look at Lance, and Pidge said "What do you mean?" He was very curious to see what Lance was going to say.
"I asked her several weeks ago to help me with this party." Lance said, and Larmina asked "Did she say yes?" Larmina would have been surprised if she had. Lance said "Well, she wasn't very enthusiastic about it, but why wouldn't she help?" Pidge remembered when Allie had told him about the party, and his comment about what to give Keith. Lance went on "We gave her a really nice party when it was her birthday!"
Pidge remembered that he had been on earth, when it had been Allie's birthday back before summer. Pidge had been sorry to miss the party, but she had understood. They had spent most of the night talking about what was going on with his Mother. That thought made him aware of how much he missed her right now.
Lance's tirade continued "Do you know what reason she gave me, for not helping with the party?" He looked at everyone, and said "She said that she 'couldn't in good conscience' help plan the party!" He turned to Pidge and said "Is there a religious holiday or something?" Pidge shook his head, inwardly glad that Allie had stepped down from planning the party.
Hunk said "You know, she hasn't been down here for the last couple of days." Lance thought for a moment, and then said "You're right, she hasn't eaten with us or anything. She seemed a little off when I was upstairs talking to her." Everyone was silent for a minute, and then Lance said to Pidge "You need to go talk to her!"
Larmina saw Pidge blanch at that comment, and she suddenly knew why her Aunt had not eaten with them. She had pleaded lots of work to Larmina, when she asked her, but Larmina now knew that her Aunt and Pidge had had a fight. She watched as Pidge said "Why do I have to go talk to her?" Lance sighed and said "You're her best friend! She'll tell you what is going on!" Pidge felt everyone staring at him as he said "If she doesn't want to plan the party, she doesn't want to plan the party." Larmina decided to rescue Pidge for now; if he had done something to make her Aunt unhappy, she would deal with him separately.
"I don't think you're being fair to her!" Larmina said, and went on "She is really busy! There is some big presentation that she has been working on." Pidge was grateful to Larmina for deflecting the attention off of him. He hoped she wasn't going to pry later about what was going on. He had to laugh though, at her next comment!
"Why don't you get Daniel to plan the party?" Lance looked like she had suggested jumping off a cliff. He said "Really? Daniel?" Larmina said "He has all those sisters; I bet they were always having parties!"Daniel said "Sure, I'll do it! Even better, I can get my twin sisters to help! They are between jobs, but they do like parties. What is the theme?"
Lance was looking at Daniel now, remembering the picture he had seen; he was also impressed that Daniel had thought to ask about a theme. "I was going to do a Wild West BBQ type party. Do you think they would do it?" Daniel nodded his head, and said "They would be thrilled, and the Princess has said they are welcome any time they want to come."
Lance suddenly had a thought, and said "Do you mind me asking how old they are?" Daniel replied "They turned twenty-one several months ago; the motorcycles were their big gift." He stopped, and then said "Lance, you might want to be careful with them." Lance was now looking at Daniel with wide eyes, and started to say "I would never do anything to your sisters." Daniel interrupted him and said "I have to warn you, they're really wild!"
Hunk said to Daniel "How wild is wild?" Lance was all set to continue the discussion, and then saw Larmina out of the corner of his eye. He said instead "I don't think we need to have this conversation now. Daniel, if your sisters are willing to do it, I'm fine with it." Larmina got a really annoyed look on her face. She said with exasperation in her voice "This is why I have to spy and eavesdrop; no one ever talks in front of me!" Everyone laughed at that comment, and Daniel said to her a low voice "I'll tell you later!"
Vince went to take his turn at the chess game, and he couldn't believe what he saw! He moved the piece and said to Pidge "Dude, checkmate! Wow, I never beat you!" Pidge realized that he had not paid any attention to the game, having been thinking about Allie. As everyone looked over at them, Vince asked "Are you feeling all right?" Pidge groaned inwardly, thinking about a very stubborn Princess.