Disclaimer: I own
nothing, and I'm not making any money from this. Suing me would be dumb.
I'm unemployed and a student, for God's sake.
Notes:
sound
*thought*
} telepathic conversation {
Setting: The next
morning, Susana's room. About 7:15 AM
BEEEEEPBEEEPBEEP
BEEEEEP
BZZZZZZ
BEEEEEP
BZZZZZZ
BEEEEEPBZZZZZZ
The discordant
eruption of beeps and buzzes from her pager alarm and her bedside clock jerked
Susana from a very pleasant dream straight into reality. After identifying what was making the ruckus
that had dragged her out of her comfortable sun-warmed blanket nest, she
settled back against her pillow and glared intently at the offending
electronics. When that accomplished
nothing, she leaned forward and smacked the appropriate buttons on the clock
and pager. Letting her head droop down
onto the smooth wooden tabletop, she inhaled deeply, then sat up and swung her
feet from the couch onto the room's plush carpeting. Rubbing bleary eyes, she stood, shed her pajamas in favor of a
robe, and stumbled towards the bathroom for a hot shower.
45 minutes later,
clad in jeans and a long-sleeved black and silver glitter "Rock Star" t-shirt,
she wandered into the kitchen and headed straight for the coffee maker. Pulling a mug from a cabinet, she poured
herself a cup and turned to greet Angelo and Mondo.
"'Sup, guys? You sleep well?"
Angelo shrugged
and Mondo murmured a response, which was promptly lost in the chaos of
Jubilee's arrival. Bounding into the
room in cloud-print pajama pants and an electric-blue tank top, Jubilee made a
beeline for the pantry, and emerged with a box of cereal tucked tightly under
one arm. She grabbed a bowl from the
stack someone had left on the bar, then reached around Angelo and stole the
milk just as he reached for it.
"Sorry Ange, but I
gotta have my Sugar Bombs. You know
that…things could get pretty ugly if I was denied them."
"Jubecita, things
are already pretty ugly…did you even brush your hair before you came down
here?"
THWACK
"OW! What was that for?" He groaned, rubbing the left side of his
head. His curly hair, normally about
the same length on both sides, looked decidedly uneven, and much the worse for
wear.
"I think you
know," she said, reaching into the cereal box to press out on the crushed side
of the cereal box. "Now see what you
did, Ange…you made me hurt the Sugar Bombs box!"
"Yep, I was
definitely responsible for that one."
"Angelo," said
Susana from her post at the end of the bar "Maybe you're not aware of this, but
we girls tend to get a touch upset when someone makes a negative comment about
our appearance first thing in the morning.
If you'd said something about me when I came in, you'd have been pickin'
coffee scented glass chips outta your hair for days."
"Mi amante, you wound me," He pressed a gray fist to
his narrow chest and gave her a hurt puppy-dog face. "How could you think I'd ever have anything bad to say about you,
of all people?"
"Because like I
said last night in the game room, I know you.
You've always got somethin' to say.
And don't forget, I AM a telepath…"
"So then you know
I speak nothing but the truth…"
"I know nothing of
the sort. What I do know is that I want
to finish this cup of coffee, then I have to make sandwiches before I go to the
gym. Keep makin' me talk, and we'll see
how popular coffee cologne is with the ladies these days."
"Couldn't you
answer that on your own? I mean, you
are a señorita, so your opinion
counts…"
"I prefer for my
men to look yummy as coffee. I'm not so
big on them smelling that way."
"Muy bien…I'll let you finish your coffee. But only," he stressed "because I have to
get to class." With that, he slid from
the barstool, rinsed his bowl and spoon, and dropped them into the sink to wash
later. Giving Susana one last knowing
glance, he headed towards the classrooms of the mansion, leaving she and
Jubilee sitting at the bar in silence.
"Whew, I'm glad
that's over…I'm really not up to witty repartee this early in the morning. Little rat won't even let me drink my coffee
in peace."
"Well, at least he
didn't greet you with an insult," mumbled Jubilee from her spot at the bar, her
posture- nearly facedown in the cereal bowl- muffling her words
considerably.
"Aww, Jubes, I'm sorry. But that was a damn good hit. Did you catch how the hair on that side of
his head was completely flattened? How
funny is that?"
Jubilee snorted in
spite of herself, then, sputtering and coughing on a mouthful of cereal, broke
into peals of laughter at the memory of the expression on her friend's
face. "That was pretty hilarious,
wasn't it? His hair was so…flat!"
"Yes it was
indeed," said Susana, setting her mug on the bar's edge and jumping from her
chair to the floor to the rug in front of the refrigerator as quickly as
possible.
"What's with the
Swan Lake imitation?" asked Jubilee as her friend removed bread, condiments,
and lunchmeats from the fridge. "You
thinkin' of taking up ballet?"
"No, no…I did that
for a while. I liked the people I
danced with, but I hated the dancing itself.
Do me a favor and take off one of your slippers." Jubilee complied, a distrustful glint in her
eyes. "Now, go ahead and plop your bare
foot down on the floor." The younger
girl regarded the smooth white floor tiles with poorly hidden trepidation. Shifting her weight, she stretched her leg
down the side of the stool to the floor and touched it with one toe.
"Brr…I see your
point. Why didn't you wear slippers
down here? You know the floor's cold."
I'm not used to
slippers. I can barely stand shoes in
general…I'm all about sandals and being barefoot. It's the greatest." She
pulled a knife from a drawer by the sink, metal grating on metal with a slight
scritching sound. Laying out six slices
of bread, she unscrewed the top of the mayo jar and dipped the knife in, then
spread the bottom row of slices with it. Knife in hand, she looked up at
Jubilee. "Do you know if Artie and
Leech like mustard?"
"Can't say that I
do know…but I'd leave it off if you're not sure. You can always add it later."
"Good point. I'll do that." She squirted a thin, murky yellow line diagonally across one
piece of bread. Unwrapping a block of thinly sliced cheddar, she dropped
raincoat-yellow cheddar onto all the bread in the bottom row, then began
stacking turkey, lettuce, and tomato on top of the cheese. Finishing that, she sliced the sandwiches in
half and wrapped them in sheets of plastic wrap, then jumped from the rug at
the bar to the rug in front of the fridge and put them all on a shelf. Turning back to the bar, she landed on the
rug and began to rewrap all of her sandwich supplies. "Well, I think now I want to go work out. You comin'?"
"Sure, just let me
finish the rest of these and change, and I'd love to."
"Ok, you do
that…I'm gonna do these dishes, since leaving them sitting here until someone
gets inspired to wash up would definitely not be good... lessons you learn
living on your own as a college student.
Just come back down here when you're done, and we can go through those
kickboxing moves I showed ya last week.
Sound good?"
"Sounds
wonderful. Thanks for doing the dishes,
I was gonna do them…but I won't try to talk you out of 'em or anything crazy
like that. Back in a few!" She dropped
her bowl beside the sink and raced for the stairs, leaving Susana alone with
the dishes.
