"Mom, should I crimp my hair?" Elizabeth asked her mother from her spot in front of the bathroom sink.
The door was wide open and she'd been there for a good ten minutes, contemplating her outfit. The white turtle neck was cute enough and it did look simple with her jean shorts but she couldn't help but feel the whole outfit was lacking. She didn't want to be a fashion victim but she didn't look like the models in the adverts or the stars on the long since forgotten TV shows she used to watch. While she'd rolled the sleeves up and tucked the hem into her shorts, she couldn't help but feel a bit plain. Pretty enough but plain. She thought it needed something - a jacket or some accessories - but she didn't have anything. She'd been wondering if it was yet another affect of the pack. The boys were so wildly and effortlessly cool in their clothes, was she trying to fit in with them? Was she trying to one up the glamorous women that seemed to long to take her place? Or did she just have too much time on her hands?
As the Emerson matriarch poked her head in the open door, tucking her blouse in as she did, she gave a small and unconvinced "mmmm" sound.
"So that's a no?"
"I don't know sweetie" Lucy said diplomatically, "I've never been a big fan of crimped hair but what do I know? You should have seen some of the stuff I did to my hair when I was your age. Gosh, the amount of backcombing..."
She came to stand beside Elizabeth and gave her daughter a little playful nudge as she quickly ruffled her short hair, looking herself over in the mirror.
Elizabeth watched her mother preen herself with a little grin, "you changed your blouse?"
"Well, I took off my apron and smoothed myself down without realizing I had sauce on my fingers...I hope it's not an omen for the evening" Lucy sighed, rolling her eyes jokingly, "does this look OK?"
"I think you look great, Mom"
It wasn't a lie or a false compliment. Lucy looked bright and fresh and honestly a little younger than she actually was - happiness seemed to bring out her natural beauty. While she looked motherly in her skirt and blouse, it suited her and the overall effect was charming. There was no doubt why Max was so taken with her.
Lucy put her hand around Elizabeth's shoulder and the two women smiled at each other in the mirror.
"You don't need to crimp your hair, it looks so pretty down" Lucy advised warmly before giving her daughter a little kiss on her head, "I think Max will be here soon, it's almost time"
Elizabeth turned to her mother, following her lead and heading out of the bathroom, "I took away Grandpa's setting but I didn't know what you wanted to do for glasses?"
"Oh right! No, no I bought some, actually" Lucy looked happy, "I'm glad you reminded me-"
"-want me to set them?"
"No I can do it, thank you but if-"
Lucy's words were interrupted by the chiming of the bell and she gave her daughter a rueful smile, "they're his guests. Try to be nice?"
"Sure, I can do that..."
As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Lucy went towards the dining room and, steeling herself with a deep breath, Elizabeth went to the door.
As she opened it, she raised her eyebrows before catching herself and forcing a polite if somewhat small smile on her face. She had known who she would be facing when she opened the door but it had been a while since she'd seen the Frog Brothers and she supposed she'd kind of forgotten about their eccentricities.
The thing was, it was hard not to be surprised by them because they seemed to go out of their way to be surprising.
They were both stood shoulder to shoulder on the welcome mat, their shoulders pushed back and their chins raised.
It was an odd, haughty yet challenging stance for a guest about to enter a home to make but, Elizabeth reasoned, they themselves were odd.
Edgar was wearing some kind of khaki jacket over a checkered shirt, both of the sleeves rolled up and with a Rambo style band over his head, pushing his hair back a little. Alan, the brother she found marginally more palatable, was in a similar get up with a camouflage jacket.
Silently sizing them up, Elizabeth wondered if Sammy had told them it was kind of a formal dinner and that perhaps smart casual was the way to go but she remembered her mother's words.
Try to be nice.
She could do that. For her mother, she could do it.
Besides, Sammy himself probably didn't understand how big of a deal it was for Lucy.
Deciding then and there to be a good hostess, Elizabeth smiled a little wider, trying to be as gracious she knew her mother would be, "hi, guys. Sammy's not here just yet but come in.."
"Good evening, Elizabeth" Edgar intoned, inclining his head in a formal way that absolutely didn't suit him.
"Thanks for having us over" Alan continued, stepping into the house.
She moved her body sideways, hand still on the door as she let them pass her.
"Uh..yeah...it's not me but you're welcome?" she thought maybe she'd be more comfortable if they'd commented on her weight again. She'd steeled herself for their aggressive weirdness not this overly polite formality, "so uh..Sammy just had to pop out with our Grandpa but he'll be back soon..."
She had to bite down the, I hope that was on the tip of her tongue.
"That's fine..fine.." Edgar was glancing around the room.
"You can go wait up in his bedroom if you want?" she thought a good hostess wouldn't try to politely banish her guests from the living room but she just didn't know how to interact with them.
"Can we sit down here while we wait?"
"Um sure?"
The two brothers sat stiffly on the hard sofa and watched Elizabeth from her spot by the door, their necks craned awkwardly to do so.
"It's a lovely house"
"You've been here before" she reminded them looking at the two with a confused frown.
"Well.." Edgar shifted awkwardly, "yeah but it's lovely"
Lovely? The word lovely coming out of Edgar Frog's mouth? Elizabeth tilted her head and observed the two of them, "are you OK?"
"Are you OK?" both boys repeated at the same time.
"...yes?" she stared at them, unable to help herself, "guys, I gotta ask...why are you being so weird?"
"Not weird" Alan said casually but giving his brother a look.
Elizabeth recognized it, she'd shared that rueful, kind of embarrassed, 'we've been called out look' many a time with her own brothers and it was often when they'd been telling Lucy or their father a little lie.
"We're just checking, we're being polite - you're kind of pale, you know?" Edgar added, "why is that? Are you sure you're not sick?"
Truthfully, she wasn't surprised that she was pale. Mild blood loss aside, when was the last time she was out and about in the day, in the sun? Even before the rainy few days that had passed, she'd been sitting inside the house, waiting for nightfall and for her time to see Dwayne.
"Are you sick?"
Leaning uncomfortably against the open door, she shook her head at Alan's repeated question, "I'm not sick I'm just not getting out much..it's a new town, you know?"
"Not really. Sam gets out enough"
"Well he has you guys" Elizabeth rebutted, "I'm gonna go help my Mom-"
"-no, don't go!"
She paused.
"You don't want to talk with us?"
"We could hang out before Sam arrives?"
"Yeah!"
The enthusiastic tone didn't feel real and it made Elizabeth feel nothing short of uncomfortable, "actually, I really was gonna see if my Mom needed any help, she's pretty busy so..."
"You should sit with us"
They wanted her to sit with them? Elizabeth didn't know what planet she was on. The shock must have read on her face because without her having to say anything, Edgar awkwardly admitted that, "we feel like we got off on the wrong foot before..."
What on earth would make them think she wanted to hang out with them? Why the sudden change of heart?
There was getting off on the wrong foot and then there was what had happened between them. Being called fat on the morning of a family outing just wasn't OK, even if she felt better about herself since.
Truthfully, she just wasn't sure she wanted to deal with the Frog Brothers, even if they were feeling bad.
More than anything they seemed like hard work.
"Why do you feel like that?" she challenged them not unkindly but not overly forgiving, either.
Both brothers shrugged in unison and Elizabeth sighed. She wanted her mother to have a nice evening and even if they would never be friends, she guessed she could give them a chance. At the very least, there was nothing wrong with being polite acquaintances.
As she pushed the door shut with the heel of her foot, she approached one of the uncomfortable chairs. Briefly wondering if Grandpa chose his furniture in the hopes they would deter guests or callers from staying long, she sat down.
"You're sure you're not unwell?"
"Pretty sure, guys. Just naturally pale. Comes with being a homebody" she tried to keep the sigh from her voice.
Of course they'd still comment on her appearance. Perhaps she wouldn't prefer the personal comments over the forced politeness they were displaying. It was a difficult one to call.
"You don't like Santa Carla?"
"Why would you say that?" she asked, blinking at the assumption.
"Why are you a homebody?"
"Why answer a question with a question?" she replied, quick as a snap.
"It's just" Alan began, obviously trying to soften the bluntness of his brothers words, "it mustn't feel new anymore, huh? So why stay home? You don't like it or...?"
"I love it here" she told them honestly, "it's an amazing place and it definitely doesn't feel new anymore. It's got Arizona beat hands down"
"But you said you're a homebody..."
"I still like it here?" she told them, wondering why they kept circling to that point.
What did they want from her? To admit she didn't have friends yet? School hadn't started, she thought that was to be expected. Who moved to a new town during vacation and made friends right away?
An awkward silence filled the room as both brothers grunted in response.
She didn't know what to say to them, what they could possibly begin to talk about so she decided to go with the safest topic. There was only one thing they all had in common and that was Sammy.
"So uh..what do you and my brother get up to? What's there do do around here aside from the Boardwalk?"
"This and that"
God, what a hopeless conversation.
"How about you?"
"Me?" she was beginning to feel a little bit like she was being interviewed.
"You don't have friends here yet, right? You said you're always home.." this time it was Alan spoke bluntly as Edgar followed up with, "how do you spend your time? You're not with your brother"
Given who he hangs with, rightly so...she thought to herself.
"With my grandpa, mostly" she shrugged, trying to engage with them while keeping her thoughts to herself, "sometimes the library. I dunno. What are the kids like here, anyway? I'm thinking about school, you know? Like, is it gonna be all cliquey?"
She wondered if she would even bother to try and make close friends. She had the boys and a death approaching, there didn't seem to be much point. If she just had a group of people to sit with at lunch and hang out with at games and stuff, she figured it would be enough.
She smiled a little at her thoughts and wished Marko was around.
She had a feeling he'd appreciate her sudden pragmatism about it all and she wondered where it had come from. She felt so sure, so confident about her choice and her future but it surprised her how easily such blunt and decisive thoughts were popping into her head.
She guessed it really was meant to be.
Alan shrugged, clocking her smile as he replied, "I dunno. The local kids always leave over summer vacation...they're smart like that..."
"I never thought of this as a particularly affluent town" Elizabeth told them, "I'm surprised kids can leave-"
"-summer camp, relatives' houses. There're lots of places to go for cheap enough...better than staying here, right?"
She shook her head, not understanding. Santa Carla was rough, sure, but did it really warrant skipping town come vacation time? Enough tourists seemed to want to come so it couldn't be that bad in the grand scheme of things.
"Why's that?" she asked the two of them, "what's so bad about Santa Carla?"
"You haven't noticed it's got a pretty dark underbelly?"
She grinned in bemusement, "not particularly?"
Aside from the pack, she hadn't noticed anything bad about the place. It was old and tired and a little rough but she felt safe. Or maybe she only felt like that because of the pack? Maybe the thing that made Santa Carla bad was the thing that made her happy?
She shrugged at her thoughts.
It didn't matter, not right then. That was something to reflect on another night. Besides, the two boys before her were just kids - close in age to her but wildly different than she was.
They didn't have a clue about anything.
"...what do you guys know about dark underbellies? Get a lot of seedy characters looking to buy comics?" she grinned at them, her face bright at her light teasing.
The twosome gave each other a furtive look before Alan said, "...anyway, there are cliques. We've seen it, you're probably in for a hard time when school starts"
"Eh, I guess that's the new kid's burden anyway..."
She briefly thought about the various new kids that had come to her old school. Some seemed to fit right in, kind of merging into the crowd and slowly establishing their friends. Some stuck out like a sore thumb, not really fitting in at all and struggling to establish connections, clinging to the student who had been selected to show them around.
She hoped she would be the former but, if she did struggle, it comforted her to know that she had the friendship of the pack.
Whatever happened, she was going to be OK.
Edgar told her, "we're home schooled so we don't know much more than that"
"Oh you're home schooled?" she wasn't surprised to hear it but it was kind of sad they were living up to the stereotype.
"Yeah" they both replied in unison.
She was going to ask how it was but, thinking of the parents she saw passed out in their shop that one time, she decided not to, "do you guys have family to visit? You said kids leave but you're local and you stay..."
"We stay because we have our shop and our miss-"
"-responsibilities" Alan cut in, nudging Edgar once who coughed, "yeah that's what I was gonna say. We have responsibilities..you know, with our shop..."
Elizabeth nodded.
Glancing at the clock, she wondered when Sammy was going to get back because it was fast approaching dinner time and she doubted Max would be late.
She couldn't imagine how awkward it would be if everyone but Sammy was sat at the dinner table.
Would Lucy and Max expect her to chat with the Frog Brothers? She didn't know if she could go a whole dinner with them.
As the two boys fell silent, staring at her without shame, Elizabeth shrugged and pushed some hair behind her ear.
What to talk about? What to talk about?
She shrugged, "it's nice here though. I can't imagine leaving, especially not now. Santa Carla seems so alive. You're probably better staying"
"You think?"
"Of course! The Boardwalk is insane, there are beaches and the sea is warm..it's awesome"
"It's dead after summer, though. Don't think it's always exciting...not that you'd know much about it, being such a 'homebody'..."
Before she could really note the mild accusatory tone that Edgar had used, Alan continued, "the crowds and tourists leave and the locals don't use the boardwalk as much"
God they were such downers, "no?"
"Well" Alan shifted, speaking a bit fast as he corrected himself, "I mean no, they still use it but the crowd levels are way lower"
"Mmm that makes sense..."
"Why does it make sense?"
She blinked as the accusatory tone once again cropped up, "because in places like this, tourists almost always outnumber locals?" she told them, not bothering to hide the retaliatory 'duh' tone from her voice.
"Oh"
"Still, I wouldn't want to leave" she shrugged, picking at the light sweater she was wearing before stopping herself. If she got any bobbles on it, Sammy would kill her.
"Why?"
"Not like you have friends to hang with, right?"
She looked at them, wide eyed.
Alright then. So much for civilized conversation and surviving their company without Sammy's support.
Why were they circling the issue so much?
"Well no but I still like the atmosphere...that's allowed, right? I can be happy and alone?"
"Are you alone?"
Elizabeth laughed once, thinking she was being scolded. Was that what they were getting at?
She grinned, rolling her eyes, thinking she was being chastised, "no, no. OK, you got me! I'm not alone-"
Both boys sat straighter in their seats.
"-but I don't know if Sammy counts...I mean, he's my brother but OK. I guess he counts as a friend"
She considered grandpa a friend, she guessed she could lump Sammy into that category, too.
Both boys glanced at each other, their shoulders slumping as if they were disappointed.
"You really don't have anyone else here?"
Before she could give them a confused answer, the door banged open.
"I want the storm to come back, it's dark - there is literally no sun shining - and yet, I'm sweating-"
"-Sammy!" Elizabeth jumped to her feet in surprised relief, "you're back! Look who's here-are you ok?"
Staring as Sammy stood in the open doorway, she couldn't help but notice how ruffled he was. He was grasping a surprisingly bulging paper bag and to be fair to him, he did look a little sweaty. It was weird because the night was pleasantly cool after a pleasantly sunny day.
"I dressed for dinner indoors, not a hike" he told the room at large.
"Huh?"
"Grandpa dropped me off at the end of the hill! Can you believe that man?!"
Elizabeth laughed, "damn. Can I help you?"
She stepped towards him but he was already stomping towards the kitchen, though the lightness in his voice did detract from the angry effect, "nah, it's ok. Gotta put his five and a half packets of Oreo cookies away. I got us mini tartlets for dessert, they were out of anything good"
Elizabeth asked in confusion, "huh? They do half packets of Oreos?"
Sammy didn't acknowledge her, however. Instead, he nodded at his friends, "hey guys. You bring the parm?"
The two finally stood and Edgar patted the pocket of his jacket, "in here man"
"We wanted to put it into a bowl"
They both glanced at Elizabeth as Edgar told her seriously that, "presentation matters"
She grimaced.
Why didn't they ask her to take them to the kitchen? How long had they been carrying a baggy of powdered cheese?
So many questions and so many reasons not to sprinkle it over her dinner.
"Is it OK to eat? How long have you had that in there...didn't you walk here?"
Nobody answered her question and she grimaced again.
It really had been a nice, warm day.
"C'mon" Sammy said, nodding at the kitchen. His friends almost gave a military start - almost like they were responding to an order - before they made their way there. As his friends made their moves, Sammy grinned at Elizabeth and finally answered her question, "of course they don't sell half packs, don't be silly Lizzie!"
"Ohhhhhkay" she raised her eyebrows, "what's with the sudden cheer? You got sweat on the collar of your cardigan, there's no way you should be as happy as you are right now..."
Sammy shook the bag he was holding as he continued on his way to the kitchen, "Grandpa thought I could do with a walk, I thought I could use some energy to help me on my way..."
"You ate his cookies?!" she laughed, "Sammy you just started a war and this is one you're definitely going to lose"
He just grinned at her, walking into the kitchen quite smugly.
Alone in the living room she gave a little laugh and walked over to the open front door. The frog brothers had been fine - just a very different genre of weird - and Sammy had put a genuine smile on her face. She did feel a little whiplashed from her conversation with the two boys, they seemed to go back and forth talking about nothing, but she'd survived it.
The evening held promise. She thought that Lucy had nothing to worry about.
As she reached out a hand, aiming for the door knob, she turned her head and said loudly in the direction of her departed brother, "don't worry, I'll get the door!"
She jumped, spinning around as an amicable voice spoke out, "not before I can come in, I hope?"
"Ohmgod-"
She clutched at her chest as the man before here chuckled genially, "I'm sorry, I didn't meant to frighten you. I'm-"
"-Max" they spoke at the same time and Elizabeth smiled, laughing at herself, "hi, sorry I just wasn't expecting you to be..." she waved in his direction, "..right there"
He smiled warmly at her and she was struck with how similar his smile was to her mothers.
"Again, I'm sorry but I have to say I'm glad you knew who I was" he inclined his head as if ready to tell her a secret, "imagine if you'd called me David or something"
"Hah, yeah. No, no..." she beamed at her guest, running her hand through her hair as her heartbeat evened out, "my mom's really good on that front. She's pretty explicit in which one of her many gentleman callers is coming. That way, she'll never get caught out"
"Well isn't that smart?"
Elizabeth smiled widely up at Max. Already, she liked him. He was friendly and funny, his sense of humor easy and a soft kind of dry. He was wearing a suit and he looked perfectly dressed, the epitome of a man who had made an effort without going too far. Tall, handsome for his age and carrying a bouquet of flowers...she couldn't help but be taken in by him.
He looked like the kind of man who would treat Lucy right.
"And you must be Elizabeth?"
"Yeah, it's really nice to meet you-"
She was about to invite him in when Nanook, who had made himself scarce after his very long walk, growled from his spot on the staircase.
"-Nanook? Quit it!" she ordered him in an embarrassed tone, looking back at him.
Where had the dog even been? Sleeping in Sammy's room?
"Your dog?"
"No, he's Sammy's" Elizabeth said, glancing towards Max, "and he's not usually this grumpy, I'm sorry. I swear he's friendly. Do you want me to get rid of him?"
She looked back towards Nanook, wondering if she should shoo him away or encourage him to come and sniff around their guest.
"He's been 'grumpy' recently?" Max sounded intrigued and Elizabeth assumed that meant he wasn't afraid of dogs.
"Yeah but I don't know why. It's just me, I think"
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I feel like he spends his time growling at me but playing nice with everyone else" she smiled apologetically at him, hoping he didn't feel unwelcome due to the dog's growl.
"I wouldn't mind. Dogs are loyal, protective creatures. Any new, unfamiliar scent gets their heckles up. My Thorn is exactly the same way" he smiled down at her, his eyes sparkling behind his glasses, "you probably just brought a new smell into the house and he's warning you to stay away from his family before realizing that you are his family"
Elizabeth paused. She hadn't really given it a lot of thought before but hadn't Nanook growled at her whenever she'd come in late and passed by him? After she'd been with the boys, with Dwayne. That had to be it! And he never bit her or anything, he always came to realize that she was herself and not a danger.
Impressed by Max's knowledge of dogs and also kind of stunned that she didn't twig before, she nodded once, "huh, I never thought about it like that"
"Mmmm, Santa Carla is very different compared to Arizona. There's the sea air, the numerous smells of the Boardwalk and its many patrons. Lots of things going on, enough to confuse even the smartest of beasts" he knelt down a bit, his knee close to the worn welcome mat but not touching it, "come here, Nanook. It's ok. I'm a friend, see?"
Nanook came down the stairs with only the slightest hesitation, his tail wagging softly as he padded towards the door.
"I'm a welcome guest" Max told the dog, his tone friendly and a little high but firm.
He was perfectly still as Nanook sniffed around him and, when the dog trotted off, evidently satisfied and perhaps a little bored as he often was with everyone bar Sammy, Max stood once again to his full height.
"See? Dogs don't like uninvited visitors, they're protective and territorial. Even the friendliest of dogs are protective when push comes to shove"
"You like dogs?" Elizabeth asked him, still smiling. He seemed more than experienced with them.
"Love them and I hope one day you can meet mine-"
"-Thorn?"
"That's the one though he is far more pleasant than his name suggests" Max coughed once and raised the bouquet of flowers towards the entrance, "so, not that this conversation hasn't been pleasant...but may I come in?"
"Oh, yeah! Yes, of course, come in. You're more than welcome. Sorry I didn't invite you sooner"
"Not at all" Max smiled as he stepped into the house. Glancing around he gave a mild, "quite a place you've all got here!" before Lucy's voice relieved and happy rang out, "oh, you're here!"
"Lucy.."
Elizabeth shut the door, smiling to herself. When he said her mother's name, Max's voice was so warm and filled with love, it was obvious how pleased he was to see her.
"Oh, you shouldn't have! They're lovely. Gosh, they're beautiful, thank you. Really.." Lucy sounded pleasantly flustered and as Elizabeth quietly moved away from the door, she decided to make a speedy exit towards the dining room.
She wanted to give the two of them space but her mother, ever the kind and polite woman that she was, brightly exclaimed, "oh did you meet my daughter?"
With one hand holding the bouquet of flowers, she reached out and touched Elizabeth's hand, stilling her.
Max seemed pleased and impressed all at the same time. He was looking at Lucy as though he had never met a women quite like her. With a wide smile, he nodded, "I did, yes. We had a wonderful conversation about dogs"
"Nanook wanted to make sure Max was OK before letting him in" Elizabeth supplied.
"I think I passed the test"
"Well, you've got all your fingers so I'd say so"
"Glad you survived, he's a fierce beast" Lucy joked, easily engaging with their dry humor, "my son is in the dining room, dinner's ready but I should put these in water first. Max, you really shouldn't have"
The tone of her voice spoke otherwise. She was genuinely touched by the gesture and Elizabeth understood it. When was the last time her ex husband had done anything even remotely sweet?
"Well, I'll help you"
As Lucy's hand fell away from hers, Elizabeth gave Max one last smile and made her way towards the dining room. She heard movement as she left and it took all of her energy not to look back, not to get another glance at her loved up mother.
Were they smiling as they walked into the kitchen together? Did Max briefly and subtly touch Lucy's back?
Elizabeth wanted to know but she thought the two of them deserved a little bit of privacy before their not so private date.
Still, she couldn't help but smile. She'd only been around the two of them for a moment but their chemistry was absolutely palpable and it was wonderful to see.
"Hey, Sammy I met Ma-"
She froze in the doorway as Edgar, Alan and Nanook all froze.
"...are you serious?"
Taking the chance, Nanook snatched a thread of spaghetti from Alan's outstretched hand and chomped awkwardly at it.
"Aw man, we were trying to get him to shake" Sam said, sounding tiredly disappointed as he rose to his feet. He must have been sat next to the dog, trying to encourage him while his friends offered the reward.
"He did it once" Edgar said.
"Yeah it was cool"
Elizabeth glanced at the bowl of spaghetti, "tell me you didn't pick at it with your fingers?"
Sam coughed, "so Max is here?"
"Oh Jesus..." she sighed and pulled out one of the chairs, watching as the two Frog Brothers took the ones opposite her.
Eyeing the glasses her mother had purchased, Elizabeth nodded, "yeah, he's here and he's pretty cool"
She honestly wanted to sing his praises and sing them loud but decided against it given their present company. Now that she'd met Max, now that she'd seen him interacting with her mother it felt inappropriate that the Frog Brothers were attending dinner.
It didn't feel like an issue before, her distaste for them aside, but now it really felt wrong. It felt like it should be a family affair.
"Really cool, actually. So can we have a normal evening" she glanced at her brother, hoping he would take the hint and control his friends, "it means a lot to Mom"
"Don't patronize us" he replied, moving to sit next to her, "I think we know how to behave at a dinner. What's he like?"
"Pretty awesome to be honest, he's-"
As Alan wiped his fingers on the napkin before him, Edgar nudged the seat beside him with his foot. It scraped awkwardly and loudly across the floor and both Elizabeth and Sammy stared at it.
As it hit the leg of the table, shaking the glasses a little, Sammy finally spoke up. Elizabeth supposed he was regretting his comment about being patronized and was now starting to worry about his guests.
"What are you doing? Guys we gotta play it cool OK or else you're never gonna get an invite back...Liz was right, this needs to be a chill night-"
"-I'm just moving the chair" Edgar said easily, as if he wasn't making an unnecessary ruckus, "I figured your mom would prefer to sit at the head of the table next to Mark-"
"-Max-" Elizabeth corrected, guessing that Edgar had deliberately misnamed him.
"-instead of next to me"
"Oh.." Sammy shrugged, sounding a bit relieved, "you're probably right, actually. That's pretty cool of you!" he grinned at his sister, a kind of sarcastic grin that told her she was in the wrong to think so little of his friends.
"You could use your hands though" Elizabeth said as the chair finally clanged it's way to the head of the table.
She wasn't going to admit that it was actually a pretty considerate move. She was too proud for that.
"Eh, my feet did the job"
"So I guess you're next to the guest?" Sammy laughed, nudging his sister as if she'd drawn the short straw.
"Im cool with that, he's a great guest" Elizabeth told him, hoping he would like Max, too.
She was really starting to wish that his friends hadn't come for dinner, she was excited to get to know Max and excited for Lucy.
It really would have been better if it was just the four of them.
"We didn't realize it was an important dinner" Alan said to the room at large, glancing at the candles flickering on the table.
Lucy had made an amazing effort.
"Yeah, my bad" Sammy said with a shrug, "I didn't realize it was gonna be like this when I invited you. I thought it'd be more casual..." he looked at the candles and wine on the table.
"Don't worry about it" Elizabeth added instinctively, the words just flowing out of her mouth. It was weird, she didn't care for the Frog Brothers and she didn't want to be overly nice to them but she just didn't have it in her to be a total bitch, either.
She was going to have to ask Paul to teach her. She needed the ability to give no fucks and to speak her mind.
David had a point, maybe she was too nice.
"So your mother started dating, huh?"
"She was married for a long time" Sammy told them.
"So why's it important for you if it goes well?" Alan queried, looking at Elizabeth.
"Because that's our mom?" Sammy replied for her, straightening the cuff of his cardigan.
"Want her out of the house, am I right?" Edgar said to Elizabeth, wiggling his eyebrows as if the two of them were in on some kind of joke or shared knowledge.
"Huh?"
"The more she's out of the house going on dates with this dude the more time you have to do whatever you're doing with yourself, am I right?..."
"So what do you get up to?" Alan asked as his brother trailed off suggestively.
Elizabeth looked between the two boys.
This again?
How many times could she tell them she didn't have friends yet? The only reason Sammy had them as friends was because of dumb luck. If he wasn't into comics, he would never have gone into their shop and he'd be in the same situation as her, waiting for school to start.
Jesus, it was like flogging a dead horse trying to converse with them.
She opened her napkin and draped it half on her lap and half up over her loaned sweater.
"...what every teenage girl does when she finds herself home alone" she shrugged, her voice light, "engage in hard drugs and sexual deviances"
Sammy snickered, "you nerd. The day you get in on stuff like that is the day pigs fly and I grow a tail"
Elizabeth grinned at her brother, "you know, Sammy, I'm gonna get tired of reminding you that you're not as cool as you think you are"
"You're such a reject" Sammy laughed, "you're gonna have to make it worth my while if you wanna sit next to me at lunch you know when school starts"
"Hey don't abandon me. We're both the new kids, we're gonna need each other"
"I'll try but we're like oil and water, you know? Cool kids and nerds don't-" he gave a laughing yelp as she jabbed him in the side, "-ah! Ok, ok. I'll be nice! Jeeze, your elbows are sharp"
She laughed, enjoying her playful joking with Sammy. They kept different social circles and generally didn't mix in school but she thought they'd stick together in the beginning.
She smiled to herself.
It really felt like everything was clicking. Her personal life, her future, her friendship with her brother.
Things really felt like they were falling perfectly into place.
The Frog Brothers shifted in their seats and, knowing what it was like to be the third wheel and wanting to get the conversation back on track and include them, she politely asked, "is that your parm?"
Edgar nodded, "looks good, huh?"
Elizabeth shrugged, "it's kinda chunky"
"In the bowl, we mean"
"Oh, right. Yeah it's nice...better than the baggy"
"Like I said, all about presentation"
As Nanook whined and smacked his lips, Elizabeth and Sammy turned to look at him.
"He's gonna be edging for our food tonight" Sammy predicted, "I swear, if it's not Grandpa then it's the dog. Always something in this house.."
"Well duh, you guys already offered him pasta. He's got a taste for it now, of course he's going to want more"
"This Max guy? He likes dogs? Maybe I can just direct Nanook to him and keep my pasta to myself"
As Elizabeth nodded, honestly not surprised that Sammy would hoist an annoyance onto a guest so that he could relax, she grinned down at Nanook. His tail gave a little wag and while the Emerson's eyes were momentarily locked on the dog, Edgar nudged Alan and jerked his head towards Elizabeth.
Alan nodded in response and tapped his neck twice, raising his eyebrow in a suggestive way and with a seriously set mouth, Edgar nodded once too.
Both boys frowned at Elizabeth's turtleneck but when she turned to them, having finished smiling down at the dog, their faces were neutral once more.
"So what's the real deal with tonight?" Alan asked.
"It's just your mom dating, huh?" Edgar asked, "nothing more serious? Are you ready for a step dad?"
"Just dinner guys. Please be cool?"
As Sammy grimaced, Elizabeth wondered how he'd take it if it did become serious. He wasn't particularly sympathetic towards his father but he was closer to him than she was. Even when Michael had practically disowned the man, Sammy had kept his mouth shut. He'd never gone as far as to choose sides in the divorce, even though both his siblings had.
"Of course, of course..." Edgar assured, falling quiet as the door creaked open and laughter filtered in.
All four of them stared at the door and Lucy, who had been sharing a pleasant chuckle with Max, gave a surprised little, "oh..." as she blinked at her guests, "...you can talk, you know? Goodness it's like a funeral parlor in here!"
"As someone who's visited an actual funeral parlor, I can confidently say it's not" Alan told her and Sammy sucked air in through his teeth, "you know, silence might be fine..."
Both Frog Brothers shrugged in perfect unison and not for the first time, Elizabeth wondered if they practiced.
Max gave a polite chuckle but it was perfunctory rather than genuine and it spurred Lucy into action.
"Max, this is Edgar and Alan Frog, they're uh. Well, they're Sammy's friends and um, here's Sammy-"
As Sam raised his hand in a mild gesture, Max gave yet another warm and very amicable, "-nice to meet you, Sam"
"Good to meet you, too"
"And you've met Nanook?" Lucy was the tiniest bit flustered, obviously nervous but trying to keep it together in front of their audience.
Their tall guest nodded and as he pulled out the seat next to Elizabeth, he said to the room at large, "I've made his acquaintance. My, this smells absolutely wonderful!"
"Mom's a great cook" Elizabeth chimed in, scooting her seat just a little to the left and towards Sammy so that he had more room.
"I wasn't expecting such a spread, you really outdid yourself tonight. I hope it wasn't too much trouble?"
It was nice to see that Lucy had most of Max's attention.
"Oh, no, no. It was nice to cook and I'm not that great so-"
"-don't be shy, Mom" Sammy insisted and Lucy blushed, laughingly asking, "since when are you guys this complimentary?!"
"We had bologna and ketchup at our place yesterday" Edgar said as Alan nodded, "yeah this really is a great spread, Ms Emerson"
"Mmm top notch"
As the other four sat in stunned silence for a moment, Lucy coughed as she sat down. With such a sad little proclamation - though they themselves didn't seem to see it as sad - the two boys had quite effectively and seemingly unknowingly dampened what had just seconds ago been a warm and joyful - and somewhat politely frantic - little atmosphere.
As she tucked herself in closer to the table, Lucy offered them to, "eat as much as you want, OK? There's more pasta in the kitchen so don't be shy about it"
"Awesome" the two said at the same time, reaching towards the mound of buttery pasta in the dish at the center of the table.
They didn't seem to realize how sad the image they had conjured was. It was clear they were left to their own devices a lot and knowing what they had for their dinner was pretty tragic. Their parents really were uninvolved.
"Good thing we don't say grace..." Elizabeth murmured as the clicking of their cutlery and dishes filled the room.
"We don't say grace at ours, either" Alan said, filling his bowl.
"Mhmm, the devil is real but God isn-"
"-did you use fresh basil?" Sammy asked a little loudly, sniffing the air, "I can smell basil"
Back in Arizona, they'd been raised with a hard and fast rule at the dinner table: no religion and no politics.
Lucy shot her soon a grateful look as she graciously passed Max a ladle, "I did! Your Grandpa grows it, you know?"
"It really does smell great. So, how do you guys like Santa Carla?" Max asked after smiling at Lucy.
He obviously intended the question to be answered by Elizabeth or Sammy and surprisingly the Frog Brothers kept quiet.
As he took the offered ladle in one hand and scooped up Lucy's bowl with the other, he began to drizzle the thick, herby sauce over her spaghetti.
"I love it here" Elizabeth enthused.
"It's good" Sammy said much more ambivalently and apparently a bit calmer since they'd moved on to appropriate and polite waters once more.
He hated conflict in general. Playful and goofy fights were his jam but actual fights and terse conversations and difficult discussions always made him uncomfortable. Wether it was because their dad had drilled what he considered to be correct manners into his sons or because Sammy was fairly happy go lucky with everything bar his outfits, he took pains to be as neutral as he could.
"Just good?" Max queried, taking care to put three, well sized meatballs in the middle of the dish he was preparing. He smiled at Lucy as he put her bowl back before her and began serving himself.
Lucy looked as though she was going to positively explode from happiness.
"Good's not bad" Sammy said, waiting for Alan to finish serving himself with the second ladle. His bowl was close to overflowing with pasta, even more so than his two guests' bowls, "I thought it was weird at first. It smells kinda funny-"
"-that's the sea air-" Lucy and Elizabeth interrupted, the two women grinning at each other as they said the same thing.
"-but, yeah, yeah ha ha! But it's fine. It is kinda weird...I saw a girl with a pet rat the other day, that's not normal..."
"Rats are super smart" Edgar said as Alan finally passed along the ladle.
Sammy took it and shuddered, "they're gross!"
Max chuckled as he passed his now full bowl to Elizabeth and took her empty one for himself instead, "there are a lot of characters here, that's for sure"
"Thank you?" Elizabeth accepted the bowl, pleasantly surprised.
Her father had never done anything like that and with Sammy and Michael at the table it had been a kind of free for all back in Arizona. A polite free for all, with lots of 'would you please pass' and 'this is great' thrown around but still a little bit frenzied.
Max's manners were impeccable and Elizabeth smiled at Lucy as he continued easily, "I think that's what makes this town so great. It's interesting, no?"
"You're not a local?"
Max glanced at Edgar as he asked the question before looking at Sammy to check if he was good for food. Satisfied that Sammy was almost finished loading his bowl, Max finally began working on his own.
"What makes you say that?"
"Those interesting characters don't spend money on the boardwalk and they intimidate the tourists" Alan said frankly.
"Bad for business" Edgar said with a nod, "only an outsider would say they're interesting characters"
"An outsider?" Lucy laughed lightly, "gosh I'll have to tell my dad that one, he'll get a kick"
"Why?"
"Because it's Santa Carla" Elizabeth deadpanned, answering for her mother, "not some exclusive country club"
"I know what you mean" Max said graciously, "and you're right. I'm not local. Though I came here a while ago and bought my shop, I left to establish my other locations. My shop has been here longer than you've been born, I'd imagine, though we only got into videos in the last five years and I myself only came here permanently more recently"
"Why did you leave?" Sammy asked politely.
"Well, to be frank: business. It's difficult. You see, you have to claim your territory fast, especially if you want to expand and at that time, I didn't feel I was ready for a location here even though the land was too good to pass up"
"But you bought a place?" Sammy said, "without knowing what to do with it?"
"I bought it in preparation. I felt there was potential, so I purchased it, moved on and as I explored other areas, I did the same there"
Edgar nodded sagely, "as a fellow business owner, I understand"
"Are you guys business owners?" Elizabeth asked as Lucy said, "Max's stores are all very successful"
"So why'd you come back here?"
"Pardon?"
Sammy swallowed his mouth load of pasta, "sorry. Why come back here? If you got other locations, I mean. Santa Carla isn't exactly cool, it wouldn't be my first choice if I had other options"
For a second Lucy looked worried, as if she was realizing that her son didn't like Santa Carla as much as she did.
"Well, the summer traffic alone makes this a very desirable location, Sam"
Alan nodded his agreement.
"And I find this town to be very pleasant. I may not be cool, I think I've aged out of that!" Lucy chuckled and Max continued, "but there are a lot of reasons to like it here, Sammy. I don't plan on leaving"
"It's a lot less humid than Arizona" Sammy said, "and I guess the sea is kinda nice"
Lucy smiled but it faltered when Sammy said, "but grandpa did say it's the murder capital of the world-"
"-that's true!" both Frog Brothers said seriously and with excitement.
"I think it's a bit of an over exaggeration" Lucy told the boys, reaching for her glass, smiling once again when she realized that Max had already filled it with wine.
"Santa Carla's great for business" Max said, "and I haven't noticed anything overly unpleasant" he chuckled, "and trust me, I'd know! I picked over every little detail when choosing where to put my stores. There's not much that goes on around here that I don't know about!"
Edgar shook his head and said, "gotta disagree with you"
"Yeah"
"Oh?"
"Santa Carla's a dark place" Edgar insisted before nodding at Elizabeth, "right?"
"Right" she nodded seriously, "there's funnel cake and fried butter on offer, pretty grim if you ask me"
Sammy chortled alongside Max and Lucy.
"You laugh but we've been here longer than you" Edgar insisted.
"Well, I was born here" Lucy said warmly, "and I don't think it's as bad as you and my father enjoy making it out to be!"
Max gave a shrug, nodding in agreement "I made sure to keep up to date, even though I wasn't physically present and I have to agree with Lucy"
"You're outnumbered" Sammy told his friends with an easy smile, "guess we gotta accept that our opinion of Santa Carla isn't the popular one"
Lucy looked briefly concerned for a moment before finally asking, "you really don't like it here, Sammy?"
"Nah, it's growing on me" he said, oblivious to the concern he had caused his mother, "I think it's fine and Grandpa said there's a bus that goes out to the mall-"
"-you don't wanna get a car? All the kids here drive"
Elizabeth swallowed some pasta. She honestly didn't think Lucy would be able to afford a car for Sammy or herself anytime soon and she didn't want her mother to be embarrassed about it.
Before Sammy could answer Alan, she began, "you know, my math teacher back in Arizona, he said that in the not so far future we'd see a push towards um.." she frowned, trying to remember his exact words, "jeeze, something about renewable energy? Using bikes and public transport and stuff and using energy from the sun. He said-"
"-wait a second!" Sammy interrupted as Lucy and Max politely listened, "wait wait wait a second! You're talking about something Mr Maxwell said?! Mr Maxwell?! He was a dinosaur but you took that crap-uh, sorry Mother. You took that stuff to heart? About coal and pollution?"
"Well I dunno. Yeah?" Elizabeth shrugged, "he seemed to know what he was talking about..."
"But I told you what Mr Cook said about computers and technology and you snorted and pulled a face"
Elizabeth grinned, "I did not!"
"You did too"
"What did Mr Cook say, Sam?" Max asked as Edgar said, "I'm glad to be homeschooled"
"Well he said that in the future, we'll all be using computers and that for a really secure career, that's something we should all be looking at. He said the technology sector is going to boom"
"Oh?" Max said with a polite nod.
"But Lizzie here - who listened to Mr Maxwell who was such an ass...uh... such a difficult character.." Sammy shot his sister a smile that he was trying to smother, the two of them recently used to not hiding their cussing, "...she totally shot me down"
"Why's that, sweetheart?" Lucy asked.
"I'm no expert and it's been a while since I've studied" Lucy nodded in sage agreement with Max, "but the idea of coal pollution isn't new and technology does seem to be improving. Sounds like both of your teachers could be right?"
Elizabeth shook her head, "so Mr Maxwell had this really good argument about coal and stuff and like you said, it's not a new concept, right? So he said it's just gonna get worse, which I can see..."
"But technology?"
"We have fax machines" she replied, "that's instant communication. It's not going to get better than that. I just don't see it!"
Sammy scoffed, "Mr Cook said if he wasn't close to retirement, he'd retrain and look at technology and that computers are gonna be big. Like, he said he'd quit and retrain...I'd say that's a decent commitment. Dude ain't messing about, Liz.."
"Is that something you'd like to do in the future? Work in technology?"
Sammy looked at Max, "uh...I guess, yeah. Mr Cook seemed really invested in the idea...I don't know what I wanna do but I definitely want money. I know exactly what kind of clothes I want and I need a career that will match my lifestyle"
Lucy laughed, looking at her son with love and amusement.
"It's a dud, Sammy. How can you top a fax?!" Elizabeth asked, taking a bit of meatball, "you study computers and you're gonna be a typist who wears supermarket sweaters for the rest of your days"
"You know, that was actually considered quite a career in my day" Lucy told her daughter.
"Not just computers" Sammy said, "stuff like phones are gonna change, too"
Elizabeth laughed, "ok..."
Alan nodded, "I'm with your sister. It's as good as good gonna get now, dude"
Sammy shrugged, "I don't think so"
"Well, it's all very interesting anyway" Max said, "and good to see educators shaping minds and sparking discussion. When I was in school, I was being drilled with grammatical rules and arithmetic"
"How old are you?" Edgar asked, blinking.
Max chuckled and Lucy joined him, "I was the same, you know!"
"I always imagined you as having, like, a hippie, singing peaceful songs on the lawn kind of school experience, Mom"
Lucy laughed again, "ohhhh no. Santa Carla wasn't the free for all it is today. No, no, no. My teachers were strict and very much against everything you imagine my 'hippie' generation as promoting. I know you like to joke about almost being a Moonbeam or a Starchild or whatever, but that wasn't it for me"
"You weren't a hippy?"
Lucy rolled her eyes happily, "no, sugar. Not really...but I did wear some truly spectacular clothes!"
"The fashions back then" Max chortled.
"You all certainly dress better" Lucy told the foursome say around the table.
"I was reading in the library, actually" Elizabeth said, lying through her teeth. Everything she knew was thanks to the pack, "and wasn't Santa Carla kind of fancy back in the day?"
"It was" Lucy nodded, "you should talk to your grandpa about it. I think he may have photos of his great grandfather, some photos of the front. You wouldn't recognize it"
"I never thought of grandpa as having grandparents" Sammy said, blinking with a frown.
"Me too" Elizabeth agreed, "I can't imagine him being anything other than our grandpa..."
Max chuckled, turning to Lucy, "youth!"
Lucy smiled widely, "you know, kids, we're not that old! Your grandpa had a life before we came here, even!"
She and Max laughed when her comment was met with silence.
"Can't imagine it, huh?" Lucy asked.
As Sammy and Elizabeth shook their heads, struggling to imagine their grandfather as being a father, as a twenty something, as a teenager with his own father, Edgar coughed.
"Elizabeth, you don't want any parm?"
"Oh..uh..." she glanced at her pasta and grimaced a little. She had been adamant that she wasn't going to eat any but now that it was being offered, she did have a hankering for some, "a little, yeah"
"Edgar and Alan's contribution for the evening" Lucy told Max with a generous smile.
"I put it in the bowl for them" Sammy added as Elizabeth began scattering a full teaspoon over her pasta.
"Wow. My son..."
Max laughed, "another budding chef in the family?"
Elizabeth dumped some more of the grated cheese over her pasta, forgetting her previous thoughts. She offered the bowl to Max who politely rejected it with a wave of his hand and instead passed it to Sammy.
"I'd love to see Sammy cook-" Elizabeth coughed harshly, choking and struggling to take in air. She'd taken a big forkful of pasta, making sure to get some of the chunky grated cheese over the strands but, as she finished speaking, the cheese had gone straight to her throat, coating it thickly.
Worse of all: it wasn't cheese.
As the garlic, raw and potent, seemed to clog her airways, her eyes watered at the strength of it.
Lucy almost choked on her own pasta as she tried to ask, "are you ok?!" and Max pushed his chair back, giving the girl some space as Sammy slapped her back.
Taking a heaving gulp of air, coughing and wiping remnants of garlic from her lips, she shrugged off her brother's hand, "I'm fine-fine" she hacked a little, looking for her drink, "but that's garlic!"
"Garlic?!" Lucy and Sam exclaimed at the same time, the boy reaching for the bowl.
"You hate garlic, right?!" Edgar asked.
"It's raw garlic you fucking weirdo!" Elizabeth bit back, wincing at the pungency of it.
It was so strong, her throat was burning.
"How did that happen?" Sam asked as he put the bowl down, looking confused and a little hurt by his sister's distress.
"Elizabeth!" Lucy chastised at the same time, wiping her mouth with her napkin. It was the first time she'd heard her daughter really curse.
"You hate it?" Alan questioned.
Everyone was speaking at the same time and Elizabeth shook her head.
"I like garlic" she insisted, gulping down her water, "when it's cooked and I'm prepared to eat it! Jesus-Sammy can I have-"
"Oh, here!" Alan said, offering his flask, preemptively giving her the drink she was asking Sammy for, "it's mineral water, I always bring my own because-oh, sorry!"
Elizabeth yelped and pushed herself backwards and Sammy and Lucy both exclaimed in shock together.
Alan had doused Elizabeth with the water from his metallic flask, the container having slipped from his fingers.
As she jumped to her feet, her chair clanging loudly on the floor, the two guests jumped to theirs, "does it burn?!"
Amid the scraping of Sammy's chair and the clang of Lucy's cutlery as she too jumped to her feet, Elizabeth yelped, "burn?! Jesus! It's ice cold!"
"What in the name-"
"-guys?!-"
"Are you alright?"
Chaos.
"So stupid!" Alan cursed himself as Edgar carried on with, "he was always the clumsy one, you sure it's cold?"
Sammy's thin sweatshirt was clinging to her stomach in a terribly icy and uncomfortable way and, feeling embarrassed and angry, Elizabeth thought if he'd spilled it just a tad higher her bra would have shown through.
"Guys that's not cool!" Sammy yelped, looking hopelessly confused.
"We didn't do it deliberately-"
"-you didn't know you brought garlic?" Elizabeth bit out, taking the napkin Max was cautiously holding out to her.
She grimaced, tasting the garlic still.
"Oh my God" Lucy groaned, moving to dab with her own napkin at the water half covering the table.
It had been a very full flask.
"Max, I'm so-NO!"
But it was too late.
Nanook, who had been sat patiently until then, had spotted his chance for another bite of pasta. As Elizabeth dabbed at herself, as Max observed with a concerned frown, as Lucy tried to neaten the table and as the two guests protested their innocence, the dog took a leap.
"Nanook!" Sammy yelped, watching in horror as his best friend jumped onto his recently vacated seat, propped his paws on the table and began chomping at the heaving bowl of spaghetti, "get off-ah! My shirt!"
"Get him down!" Lucy begged desperately as Nanook splattered red sauce around him.
"Nanook!" Sammy tentatively grabbed for the dog's collar, trying to keep his distance from his smacking, messy mouth.
"Here doggy!" Edgar tried, patting his legs as Alan once again queried, "you're sure we didn't burn you?"
"Are you insa-"
But Elizabeth didn't get to reply.
Lucy didn't get to finish wiping at the table, Sammy didn't get to haul his dog away and Alan didn't get his answer.
Nanook, the friendly dog who was usually incredibly well behaved, was obviously having a great time and reacted to Edgar rather than Sammy. Perhaps sensing the encouragement to be indicative of more food or perhaps a belly rub, he tried to jump on the table and towards Edgar.
As his paw knocked the bowl forwards and Sammy gave one more tug on his collar, the dog instead lost his balance and scraped backwards off the table, off the chair and to the floor.
The bowl, already having been jolted once, went with him.
As it crashed to the floor, everyone froze in mute horror.
The silence lasted only a split second.
As Nanook whined and Elizabeth yelped, her legs coated in pasta sauce, Sammy shouted at Edgar, "look what you did!"
"I didn't mean to do it, I was tryna get your dog-"
"-it was an accident-"
"-you're an accident!-"
"-hey they're my friends-"
"-just an honest mistake-"
"Enough!"
The four teenagers froze, all of them looking at Max. As he dabbed at his sauce splattered pants, Lucy ran her hands over her face.
In the sudden silence of the room, they all seemed to realize just how loudly they had been bickering.
"I don't know what sort of a joke this is but Lucy worked hard to make dinner and look at it" he spoke to Elizabeth and Sammy but frowned at the four of them before saying, "look at this room. I don't know why you would act like this" his tone was rather conciliatory, "listen, Sammy, I don't want to intrude in your lives. I only want to be your friend. I'm sorry if you weren't ready to meet me but this isn't fair to your mother"
"No, no I didn't plan this!" Sammy protested but Lucy simply sighed.
"Edgar, Alan would you-would you please go to the garden and bring in some rags from the shed?"
"The shed?"
Lucy looked pale and upset, "my father does woodworking, he uses them to clean. I don't want to stain the kitchen towels..." her voice was strained.
"OK..." both boys nodded and left the room.
"Sammy if you weren't OK with tonight-"
"-no, mom I swear I didn't know they'd bring garlic.."
"I'm not looking to replace your father, Sam. I really do just want to be your friend" Max said rather kindly, still dabbing at his trousers.
"Oh, Max. That's going to stain, I'm so sorry"
"Mom, I swear I didn't know"
Sammy sounded so desperate and Elizabeth trusted him.
He'd never really talked about Max, she doubted wether he really understood just how much Lucy liked him or how serious she was about wanting to date him.
She didn't think he'd do anything to sabotage dinner. He didn't know there was really anything to sabotage, he was clueless. Plus that wasn't his style. Simply put, Sammy wasn't mean enough to do something like that.
His friends were just idiots.
"It um..it was probably their idea of a joke.." she offered feebly in defense of her brother.
There was nothing she could say in defense of his friends though. She doubted they'd be welcome back.
"Mom, I swear-"
"-Sammy please take Nanook upstairs. Get him clean"
"Alright.." Sammy sounded sad but dutifully did as he was told.
"Elizabeth go to the kitchen, your legs are covered"
"Shouldn't I get a rag?"
"What?" Lucy sighed as she took in the scene before her, "oh, no. No, I just wanted them out of the house for a minute. I don't think there even are rags in the shed. Go on, now.."
Elizabeth headed towards the kitchen as she heard her mother once again say, "oh, Max.."
As she shut the dining room door behind her, she looked down at herself. Sauce over her legs, her jean shorts soaked and sweater sticking uncomfortably to her stomach.
She couldn't believe how insanely chaotic it had been. From nowhere, just pure insanity.
It was Sammy's friends.
They were idiots! How could she ever think they'd be capable of having a nice evening?
She didn't know what kind of stupid, idiotic, childish prank they were pulling. What the hell was the appeal? Where was the joke?
They'd ruined dinner.
There was no way it was an accident and sure, maybe they couldn't have predicted Nanook's involvement but Jesus!
Garlic?! Soaking her?
"Stupid, stupid, stupid.." she muttered, picking up a handful of napkins as she did, punctuating each word.
She glanced down at herself. Her bare legs were splattered with sauce but unlike Max, her clothes were just wet rather than stained.
"Wild animals..." she grumbled, wiping at her legs, tutting as one of the thinner napkins tore and stuck to her skin, clumping with the sauce, "and stupid cheap-"
"-Elizabeth?"
She jumped.
"Are you alright?"
Max was politely stood just beyond the door of the kitchen.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm ok" she replied, trying to smile.
How long had he been stood there, listening to her complain?
She could feel herself blush.
"You're sure?"
She nodded.
Truthfully, she felt bad for him and bad for her mother. Annoyed for herself and really, really angry at the frog brothers but now that she was away from the dining room, she just felt a creeping sense of guilt. She hadn't done anything wrong but she couldn't help her feelings.
He was being so polite still.
It wasn't fair.
Lucy's date had been ruined. It had been going so well until then, the conversation easy and pleasant and Max fitting in so well with them.
What did he think now?
She hoped he didn't view her and Sammy as wild children or something, she hoped he still wanted to date Lucy. She'd comforted her mother about it before but dating Lucy did mean kind of dating her family, too. She was a mother, her kids were part of the deal...Elizabeth could only pray Max still wanted to deal with them.
"Thank you for coming to check..um, Max? I'm really sorry and I uh, I just want you to know that it's not usually like this. Just Sammy's friends are insane, we had no idea they were gonna be so stupid"
"Why on earth would you apologize?"
Elizabeth blinked at him and he expanded, "you were the victim of a fairly unpleasant prank. Why apologize to me?"
"Well, just..." she shrugged, "my mom is really awesome and I'd hate to think that what just happened would...you know..."
"Make me change my mind about dating her?"
Elizabeth nodded and Max smiled widely, as if he was impressed, "I have no such intention. I'm very fond of your mother"
"You are?"
"Absolutely...and to be honest, I'm quite impressed by you, too"
"Oh.." she frowned a little. She hadn't been at her most graceful, "but I swore"
Max chuckled, "you were taken aback, I understand that. We all curse now and then but just now, I mean. Your concern for your mother. You two are very close, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I love her. She's the best"
"You're adopted?"
Honestly, she was so used to the question it didn't occur to her to be offended. Besides, like Paul the first time she met him, there was a sort of ease about the question.
"Yeah but she never treated me like I was. I'm her daughter, one hundred percent.." she smiled, "do you have kids?"
"No, unfortunately not. I very much wanted a family, though. It just didn't seem to happen for me"
"Oh" perhaps Lucy being a single mother was actually a positive in his book? Elizabeth was going to make a joke about him being able to join their ready made one but it felt inappropriate; he and Lucy were still very mew in their relationship.
"It's wonderful to see how close you and Lucy are. She seems so maternal, if it weren't for the physical differences, I'd never have guessed you weren't biologically related"
Elizabeth wiped at her legs again, "she really is. I can't tell you how amazing she is and Mom always said that blood doesn't matter. I'm her daughter, we're family"
"She's an impressive women" he smiled, "and I'm a lucky man. It's a good thing for me that you all came to Santa Carla"
"Hah yeah" she began to peel the clumped paper from her legs, thinking she should have just used a towel instead of the cheap, take-out paper napkins that they seemed to have a huge stash of.
"You're happy to stay here?"
"Oh for sure. Sammy is too" Elizabeth assured him, noting the casual tone of his voice. She felt like she was being interviewed, almost, and took it as a good sign, "he's just kind of oblivious to everything"
"I hope you don't feel patronized when I say that's kind of given"
"Why?"
"His age" Max grinned and Elizabeth laughed politely, "I guess"
"You know, Elizabeth," he said before giving her a curious smile, "it's funny, since we're talking about your brother..he said Santa Carla has a funny smell to it.."
"Why is that funny?" she asked with a confused chuckle.
"Because you have quite an interesting scent about you, too"
Scent?
She frowned, confused and suddenly scared at his very specific choice of words before he chuckled, "the garlic?"
"Oh!" laughing at her reaction and in relief rather than at his joke, she shook her head, "God it's gross, isn't it?"
"What did you think I meant?" he asked her with a curious and wide grin.
"I don't even know" she said with a shake of her head and a smile.
"Max?"
Both Elizabeth and Max looked up as Lucy entered the kitchen. She was smiling softly but she certainly looked tired, a little worn out.
There was a hopeful sadness about her as she said her date's name.
"Hi, Lucy" he replied, his voice warm, "are you alright?"
"Oh I'm fine, fine" she dismissed her own feelings, only caring about those around her, "are you OK? I'm so sorry, I had no idea..what a silly prank..Elizabeth, sweetheart are you OK?"
Elizabeth gestured to her mostly clean legs, "all good...and this is Sammy's sweater, so.." she shrugged and Lucy exhaled a little laugh, "just gotta brush my teeth and get rid of the garlic smell"
"It won't be that easy, I'm afraid"
"Why?" Elizabeth asked Max.
"Certain smells, certain scents...they linger" it was a curious thing to say, an strange way to say that the garlic stink would be around a while but Elizabeth didn't have time to dwell on it.
"Max is right" Lucy said apologetically, "I think the garlic is going to stay in your stomach and come up and out when you speak"
"Oh that's rank"
Both Lucy and Max chuckled at her reaction and Elizabeth took it as her cue to leave.
They deserved a bit of alone time.
"Well, I'm gonna go and try and brush it away, anyway"
"Good luck"
"Thanks" she smiled at Max and plopped the used napkins in the trash can, "and it was really nice to meet you. I hope we can do this again but, you know. More, uh, civilized?" she smiled, "night, Mom.."
Elizabeth wasn't sure if Lucy would be up for talking that evening but she knew there would be a lot to discuss the next day. She wanted to berate Sammy, too because even after his droll little comment about being patronized, his friends had indeed messed the night up. Still...he did look hurt at what had happened. Maybe she didn't need to berate him so much as touch base with him, see if he knew what the hell that was all about.
Stupid Frog Brothers.
As she headed towards the stairs, she could hear muffled talking from Sammy's room. Deciding to go straight to the bathroom and then up to her own room, she figured it could wait until morning. Sammy didn't sound too happy by the muffled tones and it kind of sounded like desperate proestations were coming from his friends.
Perhaps he was telling them off?
They definitely deserved it.
"Hey, boy.." she whispered to Nanook as she passed him, stretched out infront of his owner's closed door.
He was still kind of splattered with sauce but he didn't look too bothered.
Clicking on the bathroom light, Elizabeth shook her head once more.
"...stupid Frog Brothers.." she mumbled, turning on the shower and sighing.
Who could ever have imagined dinner would turn into such a mess?
A/N: ahh thank you so much for staying with me. I have this story planned down exactly, I know what's going to happen and where it's going and it's so clear...but damn do I not have the time! I'm writing when I can and I'm absolutely still here. It's just taking me longer to find the time to sit down. Thank you to those who review, to those who message. I appreciate it all so much. Stay safe and take care!