edit posted 3/11/2018
4.
Coming back to my grandparents place was always a struggle. Half the time I felt either exhaustion or trepidation as I dragged my feet to the front door. In the same state I was always a tiny bit glad to have made it this far. I never knew what I was going to get when I made it past the threshold.
Today was different. I had two avenues of conversation. Plus, I had chicken. Pa didn't mess around with his poultry, which was why for the past nine years I had been frequenting the same chicken spot for him. It was called Terry's Chicken Barn. I had never questioned if there was an actual man named Terry or Terrence who owned or worked in the place. It was a busy place and a local treasure to anyone who paid any mind to things like that. I had found a liking to such places.
I was usually in and out in about five minutes depending on whether or not my order was ready or not. I was only in there for about three minutes before I was heading down the next street to my grandparents.
They lived in a house that was almost a copy of the American dream. White picket fence included. I had spent most of my childhood in the front and backyards running around with the dogs that now stayed inside due to their old age. I unlocked the gate and slipped through before shutting it and slipping the metal lock in place again. It took all of two minutes to get past the shrubbery and skip the steps to unlock the door with my spare key. I knew that my Pa wouldn't want to get up from his spot in front of the TV with whatever war special he was frequenting today.
As usual I moved around the front rooms and headed straight towards the kitchen where the light was already on. At least he had done that much for me as I constructed his plate of two thighs, a leg, and breast with corn and mashed potatoes (no gravy) before ducking into the fridge for his bottle of water. He would need something to cleanse all the grease and he usually stuck to water anyways.
"You better be eating with me child." Was his initial greeting when I passed him his plate and sat his drink on the coaster next to him. I shot him a quick smile before slipping back into the kitchen to fix a much smaller plate for myself. I wasn't quite as hungry as him but I put more sides on mine as to lose the lecture I would get if there was empty space on the plate. I also grabbed a water for myself too before taking my grandmother's place opposite of him.
"How's it going Pa?"
He just grunted as he dug into one of the pieces of chicken. I knew there would be nothing but complete silence beyond him eating so I surveyed the area. Nothing had really changed apart from the abundance of photos of Ma. I looked down at my food and spooned some yellow corn into my mouth. I let out a sigh.
Pa surprised me for once and started talking to me while I was eating. "You look better than the last time I saw you, Bumblebee."
"Do I?" I breathed as I looked over at him. He didn't look as sad as he did the last time I was over. I suppose death was something that he was accustomed to. He had lost many friends, I had been to those funerals too.
He nodded, wiping his hands on a napkin from the small stack that was always present on the side table. "We can talk about the estate stuff later. I want to know what's changed with you?"
I bowed my head trying to hide my smile.
"Is it a guy?" He asked almost immediately.
I scoffed. "Why does it have to be a guy?"
He shrugged. "I'm not wrong, often." He mumbled. Well, he wasn't lying about that. Most of the times he pointed something out to me it was something that I was trying not to see for fear of something I didn't want. I supposed discussing Sam wasn't something I planned to do. Maybe it was easier that his other half wasn't around for this. She would pester me more than he was currently doing so I could do it. She would do more later when she was home. Hopefully I'd be able to dodge it at least for a day.
"He's a recent friend addition."
"Friend? Friend how?"
I could feel my mouth screw up at his wording. Perhaps he was worse than his wife. "Not like that Pa! I literally met him a few weeks ago when I was doing something stupid."
He gave me a squinty look as if he was getting more suspicious the more I didn't spell it out for him. I sighed heavily, "Alright, this was before we buried Ma...I had gone out for a jog...when it was pouring outside."
He didn't say anything but I did see him slink back more in his chair. He disapproved of my actions. "Does it make it worse than he was also out at the same time when I kind of slunk to the ground because I was upset about Ma and then I may of went to his house where nothing happened at all. He just gave me some clothes for a shower and we talked a little."
"No funny business?" He piped up after digesting that for a little while.
I laughed. "No. I'm not that kind of girl and you know it."
He nodded. "Besides he works with the VA so he didn't mind that I went to sleep soon after that and left when I woke up."
Pa hummed before spooning up some of his mashed potatoes. He ate a few more spoonfuls before deciding what he wanted to say to me about this new person in my life. "You need friends in your life. Even guys. It's been a long time since you had one of those."
"Which one a friend or a guy?"
I knew what he was going to say but I asked it all the same. "Both. The last guy I met was Jay and we both know how that ended." I willed my eyes to dry before it ran over again at a thought at another person who left me. At least Jay had the decency to tell me goodbye before he disappeared.
"We don't need to talk about Jay. It happened, it's done." I rather stay as in the moment as I could, it was no use looking in the past. Not about Jay anyways.
"What's this new friend's name?"
I didn't falter as I told him. "His name is Sam."
He left at that while we ate and watched an old game that he had in the VCR. Not many people kept those around but Pa did. He had to convince my grandmother many times not to simply throw it out. He had a large collection of tapes that he would find useless if he thought to toss it out.
Much of it were home movies that hadn't seen the light of day in years. Speaking of those, after we finished eating I cleared away the dishes and made sure everything was spotless before Granny-mummy returned. She liked to keep it clean. When I returned to the living room Pa was putting in a new tape. It didn't look to hold all the dust that the other had collected over the years.
As the film began to play my breath caught. There was Ma during one of the better days or maybe before she ever really got sick standing in the kitchen - our kitchen - she was talking to me. She called me her sweet honey pie. My eyes glossed over but I kept looking and listening to her final words. Things she hadn't said to me, but everything that would help in the days to come. When she gave the wave to shut the camera off I wiped my face and turned to my Pa, he nodded before passing me a large envelope that I knew held the documents that I needed to sign as the agreement of her last will.
I grasped it and took it out. I did look at the front page for a little while without saying anything. There was so much I wanted to say. I decided to wait until I signed it to say anything. It was one of things that I needed to get over with anyways.
Signing my name in print and cursive carefully before dating it and passing it back over to Pa. He simply nodded, the deed was done.
"Did you know about the tape?" I breathed as I ran my hand through my hair.
"Nope, wasn't mines to watch. You can take it with you if you want. I know your mother has a player in her room." I would watch it again another day when I wasn't so emotional. I wasn't quite there yet.
"Thanks Pa."
"You know I'm here for you, Bee." If I wasn't already looking at him and could see the look of intensity and pure genuine love behind it, the use of just my first name gave it away. I reached over and patted his hand.
"I know. Love you, old man." I chuckled trying to take the easy going route again.
"Get out of here before I tackle you to the ground. Old my ass, kiddo." I kept laughing but chanced a peck at his cheek before grabbing the tape out of the VCR and making a dash out of the house.
It was only as I headed to the bus stop at the end of the street that I realized I hadn't told Pa about the possibility of going to a party surrounded by superheroes and important folk. I could use his advice on the matter. I didn't tell him that Sam was the Falcon either. I figured that was something that limited people needed to know.
Though I was sure at some point it would come out. For now I was fine with being the only one who realized it.
I waited until Monday morning to text Sam. I had mulled over it after having a conversation with both of my surviving relatives. There was a bout of explaining how I came to know Sam in more definite detail. Grand-mummy needed to know all and I had gotten pretty close. I couldn't bring myself to tell all - I'm not a gossip but I told enough to satisfy her concerns of me seeing this guy again in a more public place surrounded by his friends that I had to fib and claim were in the law enforcement. They were a form of protection but I couldn't remember what their stance on the superheroes that now littered the city, and the country. All would come out when the time was right.
Okay. I'm in. Where's this party at? - Bee
Yes! _ - Sam
There was an address to a place that didn't have a name so maybe it was an apartment building. I'd have to put it into my phone later to figure it out. For now I had one additional question since he answered so quickly. It was a bit surprising considering how long it took him the last time.
What's the dress code? - Bee
Casual probably. Girls are different though… - Sam
He hadn't a clue which just made me laugh.
I'll figure it out. Geez. - Bee
There was a message of emojis that I found later when I paid any mind to my phone. He was being ridiculous. I'm sure meant he was attempting to be funny. And I laughed as much as I tried not to.
The next afternoon I spent an hour trying to figure out what I would wear. My wardrobe was limited and Sam's clueless attitude towards what a person who wasn't used to any of this certainly hadn't helped but I managed to make myself look like I hadn't tried at all. That in itself was fairly normal for me. I didn't try so I wouldn't be going that far for a group of people apart from two who I did actually know.
Around fifteen minutes before I set out to leave for the party I got another text from Sam telling me to call him when I was close so he could come out to get me. It was with this notification that my nerves decided to kick in. I had been anxious before but the fact that he wanted to bring me in himself kind of made it amplify tenfold.
It took about twenty minutes to get there, fifteen minutes in a cab that I almost didn't take then five more minutes due to an accident which made me just throw the fare at the driver without asking for change out of frustration and deciding to walk the rest of the way. I decided to call Sam during this time to vent though it did help I was close as he asked.
"You here?" He asked immediately. It sounded like he had exited out of a room to somewhere quiet.
"Almost. Walking the rest of the way because of an accident. Oof." I could hear him laughing at me. I had to try not to roll my eyes at him. I had almost tripped over someone who was posted near the corner.
I moved the phone away to offer an apology before continuing on.
Turning on the avenue that the party was supposed to be on it was clear that this street was often the center of lively comings and goings. It was such a different place to where and what I was used to. I must have gasped because Sam immediately was concerned. "It's a busy place. If I didn't have a reason I don't know if I'd come down here willingly."
"Yeah, well that's Stark's MO. The busiest the better."
"Is that whose party you asked me to come to?" The image of the billionaire came to my head and I had to fight down the grin that smeared on my face as my eyes surveyed the curb as I kept walking trying to not make a repeat of embarrassing myself in front of more people. Tony wasn't my favorite person in the world but he was more normal to the people I dealt with on a daily basis so I found that comforting knowing he could be among the lot, if not the main attraction at this gathering.
"Nah, it'd probably be in the center of the city somewhere if that was the case."
"Well don't keep me guessing, Wilson. I'm a few steps behind you." I wanted to giggle so bad as the man twirled around in an almost comical way and ended the call.
What happened next had me shaking my head which was half curls and half pinned down. "Damn, girl." He was very clearly impressed with my state of dress. It wasn't anything fancy. Just some jeans, lime green Chuck Taylor's with white shirt and an old jacket from university that I had dug out.
I got ready to tell him to lay off the flattery because it was both embarrassing and ridiculous seeing as he looked great too but a woman's voice interrupted from a few stories above.
"Hey now, that's a better greeting than I got when I first met you Sam." A red haired beauty grinned cheekily as she looked down at the two of us. Try as I might it was going to be hard to be around most of the Avengers but Natasha Romanoff would take the cake.
"I know you're a spy, Nat but you couldn't let me have this moment." Sam pouted. I nudged him in this shoulder.
"You'd think you were bringing me home with that look on your face." I joked as I waved up to the assassin.
She did something that shouldn't have surprised me as much. Natasha flipped out the window with a roll and took a few steps towards me with her hands reached out.
"To add to that line, he was being suspiciously secretive when he left the party. I like to know what my boys are up to. I'm Nat."
I took a deep breath as I took her hand and gave it a nice firm shake. "Bee, and yes that's my actual name. Nice to meet you."
"Nice, so Sam you don't mind if I steal your friend will you. It's rare to find a civilian in our midst that isn't afraid of someone who could kill them."
She was referring to herself, clearly. "I did come to meet his friends...so." That appeared to be the only thing she needed to hear before she looped my arm through hers and we left Sam at the door.
Sam who was left to his own devices just shook his head at the retreating women. "Dammit, Romanoff." He rushed inside hoping Bee would be alright.