Disclaimer: No money, no
ownership of anything but Susana, the couch, and now a big-ass recliner my
grandpa is getting rid of. But you
don't have to know about the chair, since it's not mentioned in the story. Hmm…individual disclaimers- I don't own the
rights to the game Tomb Raider, the game system Super NES, the band U2, or the
song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". I never attended Archbishop
Blenk High school, but the school and its choir groups do exist; they have a
site at blenkhs.com if you don't believe me.
Also, just to warn everyone, I've taken huge liberties with the size and
geography of the mansion. The hallway
they have to walk down is -by my official decree- just the length they need to
be able to have a good conversation.
Who is "they", you ask? Well,
you'll just have to read and find out.
Notes:
sound
*thought*
} telepathic conversation {
Setting: The
mansion's gameroom, hallways, and kitchen.
About 5:00 PM
Susana bounded down
the stairway and into the hall, then stopped short to reorient herself. *God, this place is huge…I don't think I had
this much trouble remembering where things were at UT, and that was an entire
campus, not just one huge building. Oh
well.* She fidgeted with the strap of
her tank top and gave a silent thank you to whoever the genius was who invented
built-in bra tanks. They made the most
wonderfully appropriate pajama tops for coed living…comfy, yet not indecent.
Having
successfully determined where she was in relation to the rest of the mansion,
she headed down the hall to the game room, which she heard before she saw. The cacophonous sounds of Lara Croft
fighting yet another devilish enemy competed with the low vibrations of an
acoustic guitar from the corner opposite the door. Susana stepped into the room and clapped her hands to her ears,
pasting an exaggeratedly pained expression onto her face.
"Angelo, chico…do you have to turn that up so
loud? Geez…I heard it all the way down
the hall!" She looked over at Jono, who
had stopped playing and was regarding her with an amused expression, and at
Mondo and Ev, both of whom were deeply entranced by a game of Monopoly. It looked as if Ev was winning, if the messy
pile of colored paper in front of him was any indication
}Of course
he's gotta have it that loud…don't you know that's the only way to play
that kinda thing?{
"No, Jono…can't
say I was aware of that. I used to play
Super NES all the time when I was little… I could deal with normal volume
levels. How silly of me to expect
Angelo to possess such a talent." She
grinned at Jono as Angelo turned and gave her an unbelieving look.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard
me. I don't expect you to have talents
comparable to mine. I mean, if I did,
I'd just be setting myself up for disappointment. And I really try to avoid that kind of thing"
"Trust me, chica…I got talents you can only imagine…"
He trailed off; giving her what she supposed was a suggestive, knowing leer in
Angelo-world.
*Might actually
look like one if I didn't know him* she mused.
She raised her
hand in a gesture of mock disgust.
"Angelo, what are you thinking?
That's not the kind of thing most folks consider a talent. Anyway, sorry to upset you, but you forget
that I know you. I highly doubt
you've got any kind of hidden talents I'd be interested in." She turned to leave, then stopped short as
she remembered her original reason for coming to the gameroom. "Any of ya'll want to come help Jubilee and
I cook? I'm…I mean, we're…gonna
make my Mama's marinade and fix up some steak and veggies."
"Folks? Ya'll?
Your swamp-rat roots are really showin' there, chica. But
yeah, I'll help…to get first crack at that steak, I suppose I can deal
with you and Jubecita for a while."
"Nuh-uh,
handsome. We're cooking dinner for
everyone. That usually means you gotta
leave some for the others. And if I
recall correctly, you kinda ignored that guideline last time I let you help me
cook. If I want to listen to an overconfident
17-year old boy talk about how great he is, I'll call my brother. Jono, think you could put the guitar down
for a bit and help out? Ev and Mondo
are looking intense over there, or I wouldn't bother ya."
}Your offer, gel,
actually sounds a lot more appealing than you know. Just let me put this away, and I'll be right down.{
"Oh, come on,
Starsmore. You think we're not going to let you play when we're done? Bring it with you…you can play while I grill
the steak." She picked up the unfastened
bottom end of his guitar strap and walked out of the room, pulling him along
behind her.
}How could I
resist such a gracious request?{
She giggled. "Well, gracious is my specialty. One of them, at least. I am, after all, a southern belle." She rested
the back of her hand on her forehead and sighed…then broke out in gales of
laughter at Jono's puzzled expression.
"What? I assume you've never
read Gone With the Wind?"
}No, and you'll
forgive me if your performance there doesn't inspire me to run out and do so…{
"What is it with
this place? Everyone's a critic! I happen to think I could do quite well as
an actress. It's not as if performing
in front of people is something new to me."
}Really? What kind of performance?{
"Oh, just my high
school's choir back home in New Orleans.
No biggie."
}What school did
you go to?{
"An all-girls-
comment and I kill you- Catholic school-same threat- called Archbishop Blenk…I
was part of the Mamselles-the select choir, we won a lot of awards- and the Free
Spirit of Harmony volunteer choir, too."
}Very cool. I hadn't figured you for an artistic sort of
person.{
"Well, you know,
I'm just full of surprises…come on now.
I've told you about myself. Your
turn."
}What would you
like to know?{
*Everything…* She
mentally shook herself, glad that they both conformed to the school policy of
letting thoughts stay private as much as possible. "How long have you been playing the guitar? What made you start?" *There, that's
innocent enough. No ulterior motives
here, folks. Move along now.*
Oblivious to this
inner monologue, Jono considered the question.
}As to what made me start playing…well, this is not going to go over
well, I'm almost positive. But here
goes…my best mate's older brother was the guitarist for a reasonably successful
band in London. Every day he had a new
gorgeous woman hanging on his every word.
When you're a skinny little bloke like I was, that sort of thing makes
an impression. I started playing when I
was about 12 or so…I was still young enough that I was scared of girls, I
remember that clearly enough.{
"Wait…you were
scared of us, but you wanted to get our attention anyway? Woo…and I thought I was odd."
}Hey now…I was
12. How much time do you spend around
12 year old boys?{
"Well, I've got a
brother who was 12 5 years ago…that count for anything?"
}I suppose it
might. Do you remember him being a
weird little plonker?{
"Maybe not in
those exact terms, I think I preferred to call him a 'bizarre little rat'. I get your meaning, though."
}so then you have
some concept of how weird we are at that age?{
"What, you think
your gender has the market on weirdness all locked up? I think not…you're talking to the
woman who used her mutant gifts of a brilliant memory and telepathy to get the
boys to like her. I'll tell ya what
mutant power I would love to have…the mutant power to have perfect
eyebrows. Now that would
rock."
}Eyebrows?{ He
regarded her quizzically and with more than a trace of alarm. }Dare I ask?{
"Don't you worry
your pretty little head about it…just let us girls be concerned with things
like eyebrows. How about if you go sit
over there," she gestured to a barstool across the bar from the sink "and play
something to entertain me while I chop these onions. Nothing sad now…I'll already be crying."
Jono readily
acquiesced, sinking onto the stool and propping one heel on the bottom rung of
the stool. Jubilee walked in from the
separate pantry, a basket of onions and peppers cradled in her arms and a small
glass cruet dangling from one finger.
"Susana, I found
this in the pantry…is it left over from the last time we made marinade?"
"Gimme…I'll
check." She opened the bottle and
sniffed delicately. "Yeah, I think this
is left over…but there's not enough here for another batch. We'll just have to make more and overuse
it."
Jubilee glanced at
Jono, lounging on his barstool. "What's
up, Starsmore? You gonna serenade us?"
}Would you like
that? I'd be more than happy to
oblige.{
"Depends…what would
you play?"
}Hmm…I could play
some U2, or some Pearl Jam. How would
that be?{
"I think I'd
rather slap my face onto that grill out there than listen to any music
connected with that whiny bastard Vedder…but that's just me. How about you, Susana, what's your
preference?"
"Hmm?" Susana looked up from the sink, where she
was washing the peppers in preparation for chopping them to bits. "What was the question?"
Jubilee gave a
word-for word recount of what she'd said.
"You know, I've
always liked Bono. Play some U2, will
ya dear?"
}Certainly. Are you sure you don't want me to help?{
"You know, I think
we've got it under control. Thanks
though. You're a darling."
}Tell that to my
ex.{ He replied bitterly.
"Hey now…need I
remind you that you are not the only one here who's had a lover get mean? Remind me later and I'll tell you my
story. It's not a good thing for me to
be talking about when I'm handling cutlery."
She turned to Jubilee. "So,
Jubes…Jono here doesn't believe me when I say that the mutant power of
possessing naturally wonderful eyebrows is something to be desired. What do you think?"
"Oh, God…that
would be the greatest. No worrying
about overplucking, no plucking at all…yeah.
That'd be very nice."
Jono's psionic
laughter echoed in both of the girls' skulls as he began the intro to U2's "I
Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".
