A Light Lunch


"I'm Fiona Friend."

Sabina grinned slightly. The other girl's accent said rich. Unfortunately, Sabina only had a vague idea of who the most important people in Britain were. It wasn't like she had the names of the House of Lords memorized or anything. Meeting people like them was more of her father's thing, anyways. "And?"

Fiona made a tsking noise. Honestly, Sabina thought she was rather fun to irritate. Maybe that was why Alex had done it. To be fair, she did seem a little snobby, just based on her expectation of name recognition. "Ah, don't worry about it. My dad just owns a bunch of supermarkets anyways. A bit boring."

Sabina grinned. Fiona let out a sigh. She leaned back against the wall.

"Do you want to grab some tea?"

Sabina had nothing better to do this afternoon. Fiona was already headed towards the door. Did she just not expect people to say no? "Sure."

Sabina walked next to her. Fiona offered a hand. Sabina took the carefully manicured hand into her own. They were headed down the road. It wasn't like there was a shortage of tea places or lunch places. They headed to a spot in a very nice-looking neighborhood. "Here we are."

It was a cute little tea shop. The sort of place that was cheesy enough that you might think it was a tourist gimmick. Sabina followed Fiona in. "Ah, Ms. Friend! And another charming young lady."

They were led to a pristine white table in a discreet spot. The tablecloth felt nicer than Sabina's sheets. Fiona grinned at her. "It's my favorite one, to be honest. I never take my dates here, just in case we break up."

Sabina grinned. The shop was a bit too pink and china-decorated for most teenage boys to enjoy either way. Besides, sometimes it was nice to hoard the nice things for yourself. "I don't think they would appreciate it, anyways."

A waiter with a giant pot of tea and a small basket of warm scones appeared next to their table. Lemon curd, clotted cream, and jam were also placed on the table. Fiona smiled. "Thank you, James."

The man waved as they began to get into their tea and scones. Sabina bit into her first bite of warm buttery heaven. The scones were possibly the best she'd ever had. Fiona was grinning across from her. The tea was also really nice.

Sabina hadn't been sold on Earl Grey before, but this one was nicer for some reason. Fiona looked like a mildly smug cat. "It's really good."

Fiona grinned. She poured herself more tea. "We can order a light lunch if you want."

Sabina wondered how much this place cost. She sighed. It was polite to at least offer to pay for your half of lunch. Her father might want to murder her later, though. "I can pay for-"

Fiona smirked and waved her off. Sabina rolled her eyes. There it was. Rich people's logic. "Nope. It'll all go on my tab here. Don't worry, my dad won't even notice it missing."

Sabina sighed and put her purse back down. Of course, Fiona would have a fucking tab at her favorite tea spot. Sabina had no idea how having a tab at a non-bar worked, but she was sure that it was a rich person thing. "If you insist."

Fiona beamed at her. Sabina was once again reminded of the cat that caught the canary. Maybe it was the yellow leather jacket she was wearing. "I do."

Sabina leaned back in her chair. Fiona was happily on her fourth cup of tea. She was moderately concerned for the other girl's health, but it probably wasn't her business. "Lunch would be nice."

Fiona cheerfully summoned James to them. Sabina watched as she ordered without a glance at the menu. "We'll take two of the smoked salmon sandwiches, the soup of the day, and the chocolate pudding. Thank you, James."

James nodded and walked off. Sabina wondered how many times you had to go to a place to be that familiar with the menu. Did Fiona ever eat lunch at her home? "Smoked salmon sandwiches?"

Fiona grinned. Sabina wondered when her enthusiasm had started becoming contagious. It wasn't like she didn't have other friends. That said, Fiona just seemed so much more sure in life. "You're going to love them, don't worry. I would have ordered the caviar starter, but it's out of season."

There was another eye roll moment. Sabina was enjoying the food so far. Fiona continued as she grabbed the last scone. Sabina watched her smear an almost hilarious amount of lemon curd on it. "I'm sure it'll be back on the menu soon enough."

Sabina gently patted Fiona's hand. She seemed a little bit pouty that fish seasons existed. Then again, people got grumpy about the rain in the UK. Sabina leaned back as their sandwiches arrived. Fiona peered eagerly over the teapot.

Sabina picked up her utensils and took the first bite of the ridiculously large and ornate sandwich. It looked expensive. It tasted expensive. The smoked salmon and cream cheese were paired perfectly together. The sprouts crunch well with the sandwich. "It's great."

Fiona beamed at her before slicing into her sandwich. Sabina watched as she carefully pulled the sandwich towards her and began cutting pieces off of it to eat. "The food here always is, but the sandwich is my favorite."

The soup had arrived with the sandwiches. Fiona looked at hers. "Oh, good. It's bean soup today. I was worried it would be tomato soup again."

Sabina kept from rolling her eyes. It was a close call, though. Ah, yes, the soup of the day had changed. What a surprise. "You don't like tomato soup?"

Fiona crinkled her nose. Sabina thought it looked kind of cute. "Oh, no. It reminds me of my father's business dinners he has me attend. Honestly, we could probably get away with potato leek soup once in a while, but daddy doesn't want to risk it."

Sabina withheld a snort. Tomato soup probably did get boring after a while, but still. She had a feeling that this was going to be an interesting friendship.


Fin


Based on a prompt by Zyzyax (see story summary). This is the 310th work in the Winds of Change 2022 Alex Rider Prompt event, where a new prompt (plus a short 1-3K work) is posted every day. For more details, see the AO3 collection. We have an index of all the prompts used in this event so far and going forwards - join the discord to get access to the online index (and to take part in our events, chat about everything and anything, and meet a load of awesome people!