a/n: well i'm back in class and wooooooo! it's april 24th my magical day! hopefully i will get a lot done. in april i am very very very manic and i can do anything anything! so it's a lot of fun. i can type at the speed of light! so woooooo! here goes.
At long last, "Betty Mykel," as Sandy insisted on calling him (Bear preferred "Betty", while Lu preferred to hope this nutcase didn't really live with Bear) returned to take their order. This mostly meant he stood patiently in front of the table, pen posed over pad, waiting for them to spit out their orders. Bear and Sandy ordered the lasagna, and Lu ordered a Caesar salad. They all looked expectantly at Legolas. He sensed this and raised his head.
"Hey Doug, you gonna get something?" Sandy asked. Lu looked at her and wondered at the name "Doug" but knew with Bear's buddies you'd best not ask. "Doug?" she tried again. He stared blankly out the window, hypnotized by the passing cars.
Lu began to worry. "Hey," she said gently, "do you want a salad?" Legolas looked at her. She had an odd face. Her eyes were too big. At least they didn't bulge out like some people's. He looked away. Lu looked helplessly at Betty. "Let's just get him a salad."
Betty looked pleased, then proud, then actually began an elegant bow. Bear was all posed to clap, when Lu drew in a sharp breath, closing her eyes. The bow turned into a turn and Betty scampered away with the order. Suddenly, Bear put down his menu. (Betty had taken the others' menus but Bear had stubbornly pulled his away. Lu remembered how he had always liked to look at the pictures of food throughout the whole meal and smiled to herself.) "You know what I just realized?" Bear marveled incredulously.
"What??" Sandy gave him back, just as awed. She had given up on her fear of Lu, who Sandy now viewed as just a smart, no-nonsense, straight edge version of Bear. She was still easily frustrated and easily annoyed.
"I just realized," Bear hoarsely whispered, "that Betty isn't wearing his sunglasses!" Sandy ahhhhed in a "oh you're right" way, which pleased Bear. He puffed out his chest a little. He glanced at Lu to see if she had witnessed his epiphony, but then remembered she wouldn't know what he was talking about. Sure enough, she was just staring at him with a tight little smile. She shook her head at him, and he looked away, unembarrassed, yet detoured from the path of annoyance.
Lu once again turned her attention to Legolas. "OK," she said. Legolas suffered himself to at least look in her general direction, as he had sensed she did not like being directly looked at. "Do you know why you're here?" Legolas waited a moment, then shook his head slightly. Lu looked sharply at Bear, who without even looking up from the pictures of food on the menu sensed this and shrugged shortly. Lu looked back at Legolas. "Well, Bear said that you had been pretty upset today, or..." she looked to Bear for help but he was mesmorized with the menu, "or maybe for a while?" she ended. Legolas stared at her.
"Today," he said shortly.
"Why were you upset?" Lu tried. Legolas' mouth dropped open a little, but no words wanted out, so he shut it again. Lu started, "Did you-" but he remembered an unanswered question and began speaking.
"Who is God?" Lu looked taken aback, and opened her mouth but Legolas was quicker. "How many people follow him?" Lu's shoulder's went up in a shrug, and she felt speechless, with was a rare occurance. "Who is Jesus Christ, and why did he die? Who killed him?" At this point Bear and Sandy were silent too. Lu and Bear looked at each other and for the first time in years they were both speechless. Bear's eyebrows knotted up and with his head shaking back and forth he finally mouthed 'I don't know.'
Lu found her voice. She looked into Legolas' eyes, and they seemed a little less cloudy, and a lot more imploring. "Is all this about religion?"
"Do you think me to be an atheist for asking these questions of you?" Legolas asked her.
Lu was then a little surprised at his sentence structure. She found herself wondering, Where did Bear get this friend? She smiled, despite of the situation. Asking about religion and with impeccable grammar at that? She hm-ed. Good deal! She then remembered his question. Before she could say a word, Bear ruined everything, by opening his big dumb mouth.
"Hey, nothin wrong with bein an atheist, I am," Bear supplied grandly. Maybe that'll make 'em feel better, he thought, then busied himself with looking at the desserts on the menu.
"I'm agnostic," Sandy added, then glanced at the look on Lu's face and wished she hadn't. She pretended to suddenly be very concerned with the placement of the ice in her water, and herded it around the glass with her straw.
Lu rubbed her temples. "Legolas," she started. He looked at her. To her, Legolas now seemed to be the only decent person at the table. It was all clear now, very clear: Bear had not understood that Legolas wanted to learn about religion, and so of course, when Bear doesn't understand something, he assumes the other person has a problem. Same with this situation. He simply made the incorrect assumption that Legolas was suicidal... Wait a minute, she thought. How can you mistake curiousity of God for suicidal? She had seen the look on Legolas' face when they got here. He really was depressed. She pondered this, then mentally shrugged it off. You can be depressed when you think you're missing something in life. She smiled. She had liked the way that Legolas had worded his questions: 'Who is God?' So philosophical. Lu wondered if she could help him. When she had been 14 she went to two weeks of public high school before she knew it was brainless and stupid, even the advanced placement classes. So she requested she be put in a private school, and the closest one was Concordia Lutheren High School. She attended with pride. Bear, however, thoroughly enjoyed public high school. Lu rolled her eyes, then noticed she still had Legolas' attention.
"OK, Legolas, how about this. I don't think we have enough time to get into this now, and I don't have a Bible anyway, so why don't we try to do this again?"
Bear looked at Lu in shock. "What the hell are you doing?" Lu gave him a sharp, "you better shut up now" look. Bear ignored it. "Are you asking him out?"
Lu felt uncomfortable, and embarrassed, and she felt her cheeks flame up. Leave it to Bear to mess everything up and try to embarrass me, she thought hotly. "Oh, shut up, Bear, what is he, your boyfriend?" Insulting Bear gave her some dignity back, and her cheeks returned to their normal shade of Cover Girl foundation and powder. "I would just like to have another shot at talking to him about God." Bear rolled his eyes. "Oh quit it, just because you don't even know what the first book of the Bible is."
Bear started, frustrated. He really didn't know. "Yes I do!" he said cooly, settling back in his seat and lighting up another cigarette.
Lu waited. And waited. "OK, what is it?" she asked impatiently.
Bear glanced up from his menu. "A-what?" he mumbled around his cigarette. Sandy giggled, and went back to trapping water in her straw, then watering the diminishing ice cubes. Bear went back to the menu.
Lu waved away his ignorance. She glanced at Legolas, but he had his head down again. So she decided to amuse herself like the rest of the bunch, and began scrutinizing her fingernails. Time to get them refilled, she pondered, looking at her mostly perfect manicure.
Minutes later, a group of giggling girls walked up to the table. Lu rolled her eyes and muttered, "Here we go."
They tapped Bear on the shoulder, and he started guiltily, ashamed that they had caught him neglecting his menu by discovering how many times he could touch his eyeball before it began to water. "Wha?" he grunted, ashing his cigarette. Sandy wrinkled her nose. Posers, she thought disgustedly.
The leader of the pack was obviously the non-giggling girl, who had made her way to the front of the group. "Hey, you're friends with the drummer in The Moodswings, right?"
Bear had no clue what they were talking about. He started to poke his eyeball again, while staring at her. "Yeah," he spouted confidently.
"Well they're having a show on Thur-..." she stopped. "What are you doing?"
"None of your fuckin business, what are you talkin about, when's a show?" Bear said impaitently, still testing the toughness of his eyeball. Lu hid her face in her hands, and Sandy hid a giggle.
The girl looked shocked, and started to say something, then walked away. They began to giggle after her, and one laid a flier on the table. "Sheep," Sandy muttered. Bear baaaa-ed after them loudly, ashed his cigarette and went back to his menu. Lu slid her hands down her face and looked to Legolas to see what he thought of all this. He had pulled a lighter out of his pocket and was flicking it on and off.
"Do you smoke?" Lu asked, feeling that normal conversation with him felt a little taboo. But to her surprise he answered her, his eyes never leaving the flame.
"No. I'm an elf," he said, even surprising himself with his bluntness. But then he wondered why he was so ashamed of this. Where was his pride? He felt terrible, and put the lighter on the table.
It was then that Lu first noticed his ears. Woah... she thought uneasily. "Oh, well, whatever!" she said, with artificial laughter, and she felt 13. She checked Legolas' face to see what? and and he was just looking at her strangly. She cleared her throat. "Well," she said, "hm. Anyways," she tried. "How did you um..." she wondered where this was going. "What's with the uh..." she touched her own ears.
"My ears?" Legolas supplied, in a voice you would use with a infant, slow and painful.
She laughed nervously, "Uh, yeah..." Lu wanted to slap herself! She had never used um and uh so many times in one week, let alone one minute. She glanced at Bear and Sandy to see if they were getting this, but they were being intrigued by the many different combinations one could make with a drink, appetizer, meal, and dessert. She looked back at Legolas sheepishly.
"That's how they've always been," Legolas told her, a little pointedly. She gave an 'oh' and returned furiously to her nails, rubbing them and examining them, fingers curled, fingers splayed, palm, back of hand, and so on. Legolas wondered how else his ears could be explained. Did they think he just stuck them on there? He looked at Luthien. She was dressed in black and white just like Shawn and the human who lived with Bear. "Betty." Once again, a second name. Maybe black and white meant that the person had an important part of society. Luthien seemed to think she did. Legolas could tell she probably thought she was 'helping.' He did not like to think of her as terribly wrong, but she was. Well, mostly. He did feel a little more like his old self. But what old self? The old self, the prince? Or the old self, the shamed bumbling homeless rake he had turned into before today? He felt so confused. Maybe it would be better if he and Luthien did meet again.
Just then the food came. Betty brought it out on a large platter, set it out and dwindled away. He returned shortly after with a pitcher of water, filling first Bear's, and then Sandy's cup. Lu clapped her hand over the top of her's, but Betty smiled at her and poured the water between her fingers. "You!" she shrieked. "Creep!" she finished, surveying her wet hand. Bear laughed obnoxiously, and Sandy had to stifle her laughter, nearly suffocating herself. Legolas held up his glass, and Betty poured away, then slithered off to the kitchen. "Did any of you even notice that he poured water on me?" Lu said shrilly. Bear extinguished his cigarette, laughingly shook his head, and began to eat. Sandy concentrated on her lasagna as well and tried to ignore the situation.
Legolas nodded, and said, "I did see this. I am sorry, Luthien."
Lu glanced up from trying to dry her hand on the green napkin. No one ever called her Luthien. Always Lu or Dr. Stone. And Bear usually stuck with 'sis.' He looked at her too. She had a feeling he what she was thinking. But it was true! No one ever called her Luthien. But Legolas did. Legolas. Legolas. She got lost inside a thought, but worked her way out to answer him. "Oh....well that's all right, it wasn't your fault." She smiled, and he smiled a little back, then continued to pick at his salad. Lu felt as though she had made a major breakthrough. She continued to dry her hand, until she happened to see her watch. "Oh no!" she cried. They all looked at her. "Oh, I have to be back in about 10 minutes, lunch is almost over. Let me go pay, and I'll leave. Nice to meet you, Legolas, Sandra!" She jumped up and ran right into Satan, who was walking by with Rita.
"Hey Lu, what's going on!" he said happily.
"Phillip, Rita," she said, acknowledging them with a nod apiece, then rushed off. Rita sauntered over to where Lu had been sitting, and sat down slowly. Phil stood over her, resting his hands on her shoulders. He nodded towards Sandy, then Bear.
"Dude, why won't your sister stop calling me Phillip?" he said, looking pained.
"Dunno, but she called Sandy Sandra, and I don't think that's even 'er name, is it?" Bear asked.
"Nope," she said. It was actually Alexandra, but she didn't think it was necessary to mention that. She just hoped Lu never found that out. She looked down to catch Bear eating a forkful of lasagna off her plate. She looked at him with a questioning smile. He shrugged, and reached over to grab Lu's plate of half-eaten salad, then began to scarf it down while scanning through the menu again.
"Well, wish I could stay, but lunch's almost over," Phil sighed. "You wanna stay here?" he asked Rita. She nodded, smiling.
"Sure, Phillip," she mocked.
Phil rolled his eyes. "Well, I guess I'll go pay and leave." He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You guys watch her," he told the rest of him. Rita looked slightly annoyed, then smiled as she watched him walk away.
"What a nerd," she commented lovingly. "So what are you guys up to?" she asked, quite enthusiastic. Legolas shrugged. "Hey, Doug, you shaved your head!" He smiled, and she sensed something was wrong, but didn't want to ask in front of everyone. She then noticed how dressed up everyone was. "What's the occasion? You guys get all dressed up just for me?" she asked charmingly.
"NO," Bear said, "for Lu, cos," he then stopped short, gratefully catching himself before he spilled why they were having lunch with Lu. "Cos she's all," Bear waved his hands around, indicating who knows what. Sandy laughed.
"What are we sposed to watch you for?" Sandy asked, with a sunny smile. Rita smiled back, not really knowing what to say.
"AH! Ahem!" Bear drew attention to himself conspicuously. The girls looked at him.
"Hey, sonny, you got somethin to say?" Rita asked, smiling and cocking her head to one side.
"Oh, well," he acted confused, and waved an arm in her direction, "I thought you had something to say." Bear winced. Yeah, I sound like a fuckin dumb ass, he thought.
"Well, I guess so..." Rita paused, sounding a little unsure of herself, which was rare. Bear's eyes widened, surprised that his plan had worked. "Well, cos I'm preggers," she said, trying to sound more confident than she felt. She smiled, trying to pull off a Marie. How Marie could say anything she wanted and sound completely sure of every word, Rita had never figured out. She only hoped that she sounded calmer than she felt.
"Oh wow!" Sandy exclaimed genuinely. "Congratulations!"
"Thanks," Rita said. It was nothing, she added comically in her head. She looked down at her tummy, just beginning to look a little more than chubby. Next to her thin arms and legs, it seemed ridiculously obvious that she was pregnant. She then glanced at Bear who was grinning like a madman. "Bear, what're you smilin about?"
"Oh, man, Rita!" he exploded. "This is just so big! I can't believe that some of my best friends're going to have a baby!" He looked to Legolas. "Idn't it frickin bad ass?" Legolas smiled blankly. "YEAH man! I mean, wow! A little kid, one of us!" he babbled.
Rita furrowed her eyebrows in mock anger, though her smile remained. "Hey, don't make it such a big deal. Dude, Everlease's had a kid for what, three years? Why don't you freak about that? I mean, she's you're age. A little more excitement there right?"
"Yeahhh," Bear drawled reluctantly. "But.... It's not the same, cos this is like, two of my friends reproducing!" Rita rolled her eyes.
"Bear? Reproducing? Come on," she said.
"Well what I mean is that you an Satan are like family, and we don't know Ryan's dad from fuckin Adam."
"Bear if you don't watch your mouth a little you are NOT going to get to see your 'nephew' or whatever, so you better clean it up, sonny," Rita said firmly, waving a finger at him.
Bear looked down at the table. "Sorry, Rita," he mumbled. Legolas recognized this as a nearly mother/son situation, and glanced at Sandy to see if she saw it too. Sandy only looked as though she felt bad for both Bear and Rita.
Sandy was wondering how she could lighten up the conversation. "So um, whatcha gonna name the baby? Do you know whether it's a boy or girl?" she inquired.
Rita smiled, then thought of what a sweet little girl Sandy was. She hoped Bear would keep 'er. Maybe she can keep him on the right track, she thought. "Well, I think it's too soon to tell or something, well," Rita realized she didn't really know what she was talking about. "Either way, we dunno." She smiled dreamily. "But.... We're thinking about what we would want to name the baby either way." Bear decided this was not very intresting, so he lost himself in the menu again. "Well, for a boy, we thought about naming it Ike," Rita paused, and Sandy giggled appropriately, "but then we thought that that might be a little cruel. 'Hmm,' we thought, 'Ike O'Connor. A little testy.' So, then we decided on Freddie."
"Aww," Sandy said, "I like that name."
"Yeah!" Rita said, glad to have an audience other than Phil for the baby naming endeavors. "Yeah, so Freddie. And for a girl, we weren't sure. We were thinking about Dinah, or Darla."
"Oh! You know what would be cute?" Sandy exclaimed. Rita looked interested so she continued. "Dinah Jane, or Darla Jane. Cos then it's like balanced between interesting and plain, so it's just right!"
"Oh, wow!" Rita cried. "I like Darla Jane a lot. We hadn't even thought about middle names." Sandy looked pleased.
Just then Bear threw down his menu. "OK, hey, Sandy, you ready to go?"
Sandy glanced around the table, "Um, sure! But uh, what about Doug?" Bear looked pained.
Rita sensed a excluding situation coming on, and thought quickly. "Well I was just about to go to Starbucks, so you wanna go with me?" she asked Legolas. Legolas shrugged.
"Well we're leavin," Bear announced, and stood up, stretching. Sandy looked back and forth between Legolas and Rita. Rita smiled and gave her a half nod, so as to tell her not to worry about Legolas. Sandy smiled back and got her purse. "Well bye," Bear said shortly, and lumbered off. Sandy ran after him, calling bye over her shoulder.
"Well, Padre?" Rita said, smiling at Legolas. "You ready to go?" Legolas shrugged, and started to stand, but Rita trapped his arm on the table, and he sat back down. "Hey, there somethin wrong?" she asked him. Legolas thought about anything he might say to her. Nothing would be right. Why would she believe him? He shook his head.
"No, really, Rita, I am fine," he replied. He found that he still felt guilty when he did not say Lady before a woman's name. But he knew that no one else here said it. So he didn't either.
Rita looked unsatisfied, but let go of his arm. "Well, I'm sure happy to hear that, Douglas." She stood up. "Well, let's go." They stood up and headed for the door. It was there that they were headed off by "Betty," who bowed, and handed them each a mint. Rita grabbed hers, unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth. "Thanks, Betty...or Mykel, or Jean, whatever. Thanks." Legolas nodded to him, and crammed the mint in the pocket of his khakis, next to the lighter he had transfered there eariler.
Rita headed for the Camero, and Legolas followed. "Well, Padre, here we are again," she called to him, when they were standing at their respective doors. Legolas squinted back at her through the wind. She began to unlock the doors. "Well let's not get in tha middle of any more wrecks, right?" Legolas nodded solemnly, and they got in the car. Rita looked at him.
"Man," she said, beginning the process of starting the car. Rev. "You really are-" rev "a trip." The engine turned over, and she pulled away.
a/n: sorry it took me so long to finish that. mostly i just finished the whole thing in an hour, but didn't get around to the last 2 paragraphs till today. well, eat it up, kiddies. please leave reviews, if you enjoy it. thanks!!!!