HOLY GOD! I'M UPDATING! My deepest apologies, folks, for the incredibly long absence. RL threw a whole bunch of shit at me, and it took me a long to get it together... but yay for graduating in April! This update will have to last you for a while... but hopefully you all can forgive me for making you wait so very freaking long! You'll all have to tell me what you think of Brian's twin brother...
DISCLAIMER: Just to repeat what I said before, more or less, I do not own tFatF or tFatF2; I merely own those that do not appear in the movie. You wanna sue me? You'll get nothing but dust bunnies, and that's assuming I don't clean house before you sue me.
"So, you're really gonna open the pub back up?"
"CHRIST ON A FUCKING CRUTCH, JAMESON BLOODY O'CONNOR! DON'T SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT!"
"Is that any way to greet your step-brother?" Sarah glared at the unrepentantly amused twin of her step-brother Brian. Her hands went automatically to her hips as she subconsciously took on a stance her mother had often used.
"It is when he decides to give me a flipping HEART ATTACK! Jesu Criste, boy, when are you gonna learn to not piss me off first thing when you see me?"
"When you learn to hear me comin'." Sarah stared him down for a full thirty seconds before turning away and screaming in the direction of the dance floor area:
"BRIAN! YOUR UNGODLY ANNOYING TWIN IS BACK IN TOWN! Haul your ass in here and make him behave!" She turned back suddenly to face Brian's perfect replica, "Where were you, anyway?"
"Talkin' with me step-dad about his will. How're me kids?"
"Angelo, Sophia, and Vincent are just fine. So is the rest of the house—except your twin. Make him talk, if you can." Sarah turned away again and headed towards the bar area. Jameson followed her. Brian's distinctly lopsided footstep could be heard scraping across the floor, getting closer.
"I'll do me best, Sassy."
"And don't call me that crazy nickname!"
"But it annoys the hell out of you every time," Brian said sullenly from the doorway, "I think he should keep doing it, just to piss you off. But then again, you might try to kill him for it."
"And that's a bad idea...why, exactly?"
"Because he's my brother and my twin and I'd have to revenge his death by violent and extreme measures." Sarah beamed at Brian, not caring if he was belittling her at all, so long as he was finally talking. You've got to start somewhere, she thought dryly.
"Then let the games bloody begin!" Jameson called out gaily, a faint Irish accent evident.
"I see you haven't lost your Irish lilt," Brian commented, crossing the floor to sit down at the bar. Jameson deliberately kept his eyes off his twin's injured leg.
"Yeah, well, that's what happens when you spend a good ten years living there. You can't lose it again, even after coming back to the states."
"So I see."
Vince didn't get the chance to ask Dom about central AC after all. Mia called his cell and sent him on some errands. She sounded distracted. Vince found himself thinking about how to cheer her up while he listen to her rambling off a list of things they needed from the hardware store, the pharmacy, and the florist.
"Wait a second... why do I need to get balloons and shit from the florist?"
"Because, Vince, did you forget that Mrs. Velazquez's birthday party is tonight? The whole neighborhood is invited, of course, and we can't get her nothing. So I called up her niece who said to get her some balloons and a basket of flowers."
"Oh. Okay."
"Just tell the florist that they're for an 80-year old woman who likes bright colors, and that you need it to be between fifteen and twenty-five dollars. Go to the one on Craig Street, they're nice. It's beside the theatre." Vince sighed heavily before agreeing and disconnecting. He tossed the phone onto the passenger seat and cranked up the music. He cringed when he caught a whiff of apple scent, and grumbled under his breath. I am never letting Mia pick the shampoo again, he thought.
It was two o'clock in the afternoon when he pulled out of the pharmacy with Jesse's meds and Letty's "feminine hygiene products". Vince also congratulated himself on nabbing some plain, practical, UNSCENTED Ivory soap and Suave shampoo on sale. Now us guys don't have to run around smelling like another chic. He'd heard Leon complaining loudly about the apple-scented shampoo from hell at dinner last night. Dom had kept his mouth shut, a million miles away. Letty had agreed with him, a tad nastier though. That was one of the things he loved about Letty—sure she was a chic, but she was too practical and self-assured to need make-up or perfume and shit like that. Vince changed the music in his car and switched lanes, heading toward his final errand: the dreaded florist shop.
Sarah called it quits early, around two o'clock, after she had left to use the restroom and came back into the bar area to see Brian and Jameson gone. There was no note, but Sarah assumed that Jameson was taking Brian home. Deciding that there was really reason she couldn't stop early, she closed up and hopped in her car. She maneuvered her truck expertly onto the highway, cranking up the volume on her music. Her cell rang out loud and clear above the noise.
"Hawkins, go."
"Hey, Sis, it's Moira."
"What can I do for you, my dear?"
"Turn down that music, for one! I can barely hear you!" Sarah turned it down and apologized.
"Can you stop at the florist shop for me? One of my friends' kid is in the hospital, and I'd like to take her some flowers, but I have to cook dinner and run Jack and Abigail to the doctor's office, and Mica's sleeping over a friend's house tonight."
"Calm down, kid, I'll grab 'em. You want anything in particular?"
"No, just grab something nice for around twenty dollars. I'll pay you back when you get home. Thanks, hon."
"No problem, Moira. Get going, I hear Jack wailing in the background."
"Okay, love you, bye."
"Love you, bye."
Sarah disconnected and slid the phone back into her purse with ease, never taking her eyes off the road. The music went back up and she slid into the exit lane. She narrowly avoided a collision with a Mazda turning onto Craig Street from Monroe Avenue, and slid into a parking spot. Grabbing her purse, she hopped out of her small truck, locked it up, and walked briskly inside. John, the clerk she knew from the class behind her in high school, was busy helping another customer. She nodded to him, and began looking around. She spotted some ready-made bouquets of carnations, daisies and zinnias, and checked the price. Sarah grabbed one and got in line behind John's other customer. She caught a whiff of apples as she stood behind him.
"I'll be with you in a second, Sarah," John said to her as he finished ringing up the other customer. The person in front of her turned around, and she smiled at the guy.
"Take your time," she told me, "I've got a while to get home." The guy smiled at her briefly. He had a nice smile. She smiled back at him. He finished paying and turned to let her by.
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" he asked. He had a sexy voice.
"I've heard that line a lot, but I kinda think I know you from somewhere too, so I won't hold it against you," she said, placing the bouquet on the counter.
"The chic from the supermarket the other day!"
"Oh yeah... you were behind that fat lady who only had milk," Sarah rolled her eyes, "Some people need to learn to use the self-checkout lane."
"No shit," Vince said to her, "I'm Vince."
"Sarah," she said, paying John, who winked at her, "And don't you look at me like that, John. I know what you're thinking."
"I didn't do anything!" John said, grinning. "When are you opening the pub back up?" he asked.
"Oh... in a few weeks. Maybe a month. The place took a lot of water damage," she said.
"You own a pub?" Vince asked.
"Yeah. It was formerly Black or something like that," she said, waving her hand for emphasis, "But I'm changing the name to something more in the family. Like O'Dell or O'Connor or something."
"You know somebody named O'Connor?" Vince asked. His tone made Sarah squint her eyes a little at him.
"Yeah, it was my step-father's name. When he adopted me he let me keep my Mum's name, Hawkins."
"I've got to go, but I'll see you around," Vince said. He shook her hand and headed out. Sarah finished paying, and hung around for a few minutes to talk to John, who teased her mercilessly.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm sorry that this was a short update, after such a long absence, but I've got a tutorial to write and research to do. I hope you all like where this is going. Take care of yourselves!