Fruits of Chaos 3
By: Hotaru
Notes: Pyun! Thank ye all for egging me on. I'm sorry it's taken awhile to get this one out, but it's here at any rate. I think I will be writing a flashback in Brian's point of view, so we can see things from his perspective.
Claire led John to her sleek, black Lexus and unlocked the doors. "Glad to see your parent's are still loaded." Bender remarked, climbing into the passenger seat. "I'm paying them back for this car, you know. It's just taking awhile." Claire replied, turning the key in the ignition.
"So you're working now?"
"Yeah, actually."
"What do you do?"
"I'm a stewardess."
Bender snickered. "You hand out peanuts and moist towels for a living. That's rich." He remarked, opening his window a bit.
"That isn't all I do. Besides, I get to fly all around the world for free." Claire replied.
"So what, you stay in a foreign country over night or something, before flying back here and dying from jet lag?"
"We don't do out of country trips that often, but if we do, we get to stay a few days to relax. It's nice work." She pulled the car to the side, and put it in park. "We're here."
"Already?"
Claire smiled and climbed out of the car. "This is the best sushi place in town. You're going to love it." She said, running around the car.
"I highly doubt it. I'm wary about canned tuna." Bender replied, eyeing the place as they walked inside. The people at the counter apparantly knew Claire, so they led her to a table in the back. "Come here often?" John questioned, picking up a menu.
"I used to. I've...stopped living so luxuriously since high school."
"The princess denounced her royalty? I'm shocked."
"Do you always have to be so sarcastic all the time? Have you even had an adult conversation before?"
Bender grinned. "Good to see I can still piss you off without trying. Anyway, it's good that you've changed. It seems like we all did a little growing up."
"Yourself included? You don't seem all that mature to me. What are you doing anyway? Are you working?" Claire asked, placing her menu down on the table.
"Yes."
"Doing what?"
"Construction. I get to destroy shit on a daily basis."
Claire rolled her eyes, but didn't comment. The waitress came by, and Claire ordered "the best" food for John. They were silent now, probably both thinking about high school, and how they never really talked again. "So you still talk to your old friends from Shermer?" Bender asked suddenly.
"..not many. Why?" Claire answered.
"Well, it's just that you were so concerned about what they'd think about all of us. Seems kind of stupid, since you don't even talk to them anymore, right?" Damn, the man had a point.
"I guess not. I was just...stupid back then. I didn't prioritize. You don't have to shove it in my face." Claire said, looking to the side. Bender cursed inwardly. /I made her feel bad...and now she's making me feel bad./ He thought.
"Oh but I do." Bender said, despite his heart telling him not to. "You could have had an awesome romance with me...but like you said, you didn't prioritize."
"What, so you're taken now? Am I supposed to be heart broken?" Claire snapped.
Bender raised his eyebrows. "Are you?" He questioned.
"No. I'm happy for you. Where'd you find her, some cheap bar?" Claire retorted.
"Yeah, somethin' like that."
"Figures."
"Actually, we met at a party. She was drunk, and a room was empty."
"That's disgusting."
Their sushi arrived, but neither of them ate any right away. "I'm actually probably going to end it. I really can't stand her anymore." Bender confessed, staring at the raw fish on his plate.
"...why?" Claire asked.
"She's a floozy. I'm a tad bit above floozy."
"That's it? Just her character?"
"She is drunk all the time, and wrecks my place on a daily basis. There isn't any point in stayin' with her if that's all I got to look forward to."
"John Bender...thinking about his future? My God, you have grown up!" Claire said, picking up her chopsticks with a grin. "Does this mean that you're a one woman guy, now?"
"Yeah. It ain't as bad as I thought...well, with Tori it us, but, otherwise, it's alright." Bender replied, grabbing a piece of sashimi and shoving it into his mouth.
"How is it?" Claire asked, leaning forward.
"Disgusting. Yo Akira, can you toss this on the grill or something?" Bender shouted to the sheff, holding his plate up.
"His name isn't Akira." Claire whispered.
"It's the only Japanese name I know, so he'll have to deal with it." Claire rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway.
Meanwhile, Andrew and Allison were at a small diner, enjoying a dinner of cheesburgers and fries. "So when'd you cut your hair?" Andrew asked, grabbing his glass of Coke.
"Awhile ago. I was tired of it being in my face all the time." Allison replied, licking the salt from her fingers.
"So...you're an artist...do you like, have shows and stuff?"
"Yeah, exhibitions. People either buy it at a price I set, or sometimes there are auctions. It's fun."
"Neat. I'd like to see some of your other stuff sometimes. That picture you painting of Brian was...haunting."
"Really?"
Andrew nodded. "Yeah. When I was lookin' at it, I was like...it was kind of like he was really looking at me."
"I creeped you out, again." Allison chuckled.
"You never did before. Do you do portraits or anything?"
"Not actively. When I found out about Brian, I just had a can of green paint laying around, and it was the same color of the shirt he wore at detention."
"Jesus, you still remember that?"
"Of course. I remember what everyone was wearing, what they had for lunch...I'm a very observant person." Allison said, finishing off her burger.
"What did you observe about me?" Andrew questioned, smiling slyly.
"Hm...I could tell you weren't as happy on the inside with your life. You put on a front that everything's great, but on the inside you were hurting"
"Yeah, I'd say that's about right. But...I'm kind of disappointed in myself that I didn't change after that day."
"No one really expected you to."
"That hurts, you know."
"It's supposed to. I knew you were just a dumb jock and I couldn't expect you to be friends with a geek, and a freak, and with Bender, the criminal of Shermer." Allison replied honestly.
"Now...God, I have so many regrets about back then. I wish I could go back and change it all."
"You've grown up since then. I knew you would."
Andrew remained silent, and pushed the french fries around on his plate. "Did ah...Brian ever mention any of us?" He asked a short while later.
"Yeah. We talked about you all the time." Allison replied.
"About what?"
"Well...the fact that you guys continued to ignore us, and pretended like that Saturday never happened. We'd make fun of you and Claire when ever we'd see you, but it was just childish games we'd play."
"I really did want to talk to you. I just wasn't ready to deal with the consequences." Andy admitted.
"You were that afraid of your friends?"
"I couldn't lose them, because I had nothing else. Life at home was shit, if I didn't have them around to distract me, what would I have?"
"Me."
