Chapter 50: Lucky Socks & the Lads from the Bronx
Both Elise and Marie were nervously pacing between the living room and kitchen. They were expecting guests any minute now and despite being warned about a week ahead of time, they were not ready… mentally that is. "Would you two sit down?" Sarah growled from her position on the couch. She was in the middle of a Gilmore Girls marathon with an obscenely large bowl of popcorn resting between her knees and a tall glass of iced tea on the coffee table in front of her, and her roommates were interrupting with their pacing.
"Sorry Sarah," Elise apologized before grabbing Marie's arm and steering them both towards the kitchen. At least here they'd be less interruptive. "Where are they?" Marie asked once she'd been settled at the breakfast bar.
"They'll be here soon," Elise replied. "I doubt Steven Rogers is capable of running late," she smiled. The two women would be dining that evening with Steve Rogers and James "Bucky" Barnes. The two men were traveling to see the country a bit. It was part of Steve's home-made rehabilitation plan for his friend. They'd gotten into the Portland, Oregon area last night, and had been sight-seeing all of today. This evening they would be picking up the two young women to go to Fat Head's Brewery for dinner and beer.
Just then, there was a firm knock at the door, and both women startled slightly before rushing back into the living room where Sarah was sighing loudly and simply pausing her Gilmore Girls marathon until everyone had left. Elise arrived at the door first and opened it quickly to see two tall men wearing black leather jackets and carrying motorcycle helmets. "Come in!" she grinned.
The beaming blond Captain America lead the way in followed by a somewhat cautious Winter Soldier. "Are you two ready?" Steve asked.
"Just have to put our shoes on and then we will be," Marie answered grabbing her jacket from the hallway closet.
Elise moved to put on her shoes, but a strong hand held her back for a second. She looked up into Steve's grinning face. "Is that my shield on your socks?" he teased.
Elise blushed and looked down at her feet. She'd forgotten that she'd put on her lucky Captain America socks that morning. "Um… yes?" she mumbled.
Steve chuckled and even Bucky cracked a grin. "Phil Couslon has those same socks," Bucky said.
Marie laughed at this and said, "Oh my god, Elise. You're a Cap Fangirl."
Elise blushed furiously, but crossed her arms defiantly. "Oh yeah, well you're a Winter…" Elise did not get to finish her sentence though before Marie slapped a hand over her friend's mouth. "Mmph!" she let out a muffled yell.
"That's enough out of you," Marie grumbled before releasing her friend.
"Well I think it's cute," Steve grinned.
"Alright, alright… it's getting too sappy in here. Time to get some beer," Bucky said eyeing his friend and the taller of the two girls. He turned to Marie then and offered his arm. "Come on, doll, let's let these two sort themselves. You'll be riding with me."
"Riding with you?" Marie gulped as she headed out the door behind the tall man to see a sleek black motorcycle with silver trim.
"Yup," he replied popping the 'p' as he pulled out an extra helmet for her from the saddlebag. He handed it to Marie who took it and carefully put it on, tightening the chin strap a bit. A moment later, Elise and Steve came out and mounted the red and white motorcycle. The two women tightly gripped the waists of the men sitting in front of them as the motorcycles rumbled out of the driveway and down the road.
It didn't take long for them to reach Fat Head's Brewery in the Pearl District. They were impressed by the amount of beverages offered at the establishment, but eventually they made a decision. Steve got a Trail Head Pale Ale, Bucky got a Black Knight Schwarzbier, Elise chose a Battle Axe Baltic Porter, and Marie chose a Sunshine Daydream Session IPA. They also selected a meal to go with their beverages; the two men were actually impressed by the "head sandwiches," which the menu claimed to be larger than a person's head.
Overall dinner went well. Elise and Steve chatted about where he and Bucky had traveled, while Marie and Bucky talked about various styles of knives and what they were best used for. Towards the end of the night, the two women had had a couple of beverages each and the men had had just a few more. Steve offered to buy for everyone, to which all three of the others protested, but finally relented after insisting that they would leave the tip. They left Fat Head's to walk around downtown Portland for a bit. "I need to walk after all that food," Elise said resting one hand on her stomach.
"No kidding, I'm stuffed!" Marie chimed in.
"I thought it was perfect," Steve shrugged.
"That's because you have the metabolism of a sparrow," Marie countered.
Bucky burst out laughing at this while Steve's cheeks reddened. "I used to call him a sparrow when we were kids. He was so small!" Bucky grinned as Steve rolled his eyes. "Face it Stevie, you were a bird in a past life!"
"He's got a point," Elise jumped into the conversation. "I mean Bucky called you a sparrow because you were so small and then after you became Captain America you were obviously associated with an eagle. Now Marie is calling you a sparrow because of your high metabolism."
Steve groaned. "Last time I offer to pay for dinner if you all are gonna talk about me like this."
"Oh come on, Steve," Elise took his hand and smiled up at him. "You gotta admit that the coincidences are there."
Steve gave her a sideways look, looked down at their hands together, then returned her smile. "Fine," he conceded.
"Besides," Marie spoke up again after a minute. "We all know you're actually a lion."
"A lion?" Bucky raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Sure," Marie shrugged. "Steve is as Gryffindor as they come!"
"Ah, I get that reference!" Steve exclaimed excitedly.
Bucky still had a confused look though, so Marie continued on. "It's from a book series by J.K. Rowling, about a boy who goes to a magical school. The school has houses that the students get sorted into. Gryffindor is one of them. Gryffindors are known for their nerve, chivalry, daring, courage, bravery, and determination." She paused for a second before adding on, "They're also known for being pretty reckless sometimes and acting before thinking things out."
Bucky burst out laughing at this last addendum. "That's Steve to a T!" Marie and Elise chuckled along too. "So which house am I then?" he finally asked.
"Hmm, I'm not sure," Marie replied. "I'm torn between two of the houses."
"Well there's a quick way to find out!" Elise chimed in pulling out her cellphone. She began tapping the screen rapidly, until she handed the phone to him. "Here, you just need to confirm your email quick then you can take the quiz."
The Winter Soldier gave her a skeptical look, noticing that she'd created an account for him using the name Sergeant Bucky, but signed into his email they'd set up for him a few months ago. "Now what?" he asked giving the phone back.
Elise tapped a few more things then handed it to him again. "Just answer the questions as honestly as you can."
The group decided to sit down on a set of benches just up the street so that Bucky could focus on answering the questions. While they waited, they talked about where Steve and Bucky were going next. "Well, we thought we'd head south, see the Grand Canyon. Always wanted to see that when I was a kid," Steve said.
"Never been there," Elise commented. "But it would be pretty amazing."
"You sure you can't come with us?"
Elise's cheeks turned a light pink as she answered. "No, we've got some important things on our plate just now."
"Oh that's right," Steve nodded. "That whole Erudite thing…" he trailed off.
"Yeah, we're hoping to find more," Marie interjected.
"And what will you do when you do find more?"
Marie shrugged. "Form a network. From what we've experienced, there's a few who know what's going on and how the whole Erudite thing works, but for the most part there's no connection between us. We need a way to stay in contact and compare notes, ask questions, and get help if we need it."
Steve nodded along as she spoke. "Makes sense," he agreed. "Let us know if there's any way we can help."
Marie was about to reply when Bucky interrupted with, "What the hell is a Hufflepuff?"
Both women burst out laughing, much to the bewilderment of the two men. "Sorry! Sorry!" Elise exclaimed. "Just, that phrasing was perfect."
This only served to further confuse the men, but Marie chose to ignore that and just explain what a Hufflepuff was. "Hufflepuff is the most inclusive of the four houses. They value hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty, and fair play," she read the description from the phone's screen depicting the familiar Pottermore sorting result.
Steve seemed to consider the description then nodded. "Sounds a lot like you back in the day, Buck," he grinned.
"Huh," Elise looked around at the others. "That means together we represent all of the Hogwarts houses. I'm Slytherin, Marie is Ravenclaw, Steve is Gryffindor, and as we now know, Bucky is Hufflepuff."
"That's kind of neat," Steve grinned putting an arm around Elise's shoulders. "About ready to head back to your place?"
"Yeah, that sounds good," Elise replied, so they headed back to where they'd parked the motorcycles.
When they arrived back at Marie and Elise's house, Sarah had moved up to her room. However Marie and Elise could still hear her talking to a certain Goblin King. Marie cast a glare up towards the ceiling, but didn't comment as she led the way into the kitchen and started making coffee and tea. Steve sat next to Elise at the small kitchen table, while Bucky pulled out Marie's chair for her once she was finished making their hot beverages. Tea for Bucky and Marie, coffee for Steve and Elise. It was getting late, but the four weren't tired yet. At one point, Steve and Bucky started reminiscing about playing late-night poker with the Howling Commandos, which led Marie to pull out a deck of cards and a bag of pretzels for gambling. A bottle of Writer's Tears, an Irish whiskey recently bought by Marie, also somehow appeared on the table.
It was close to two thirty in the morning when they finally called it a night. Somehow, Bucky and Marie had teamed up against Steve and Elise, resulting in a mountain of pretzels between them. Steve and Elise only had five pretzels between the two of them, a fact that they were heartily ignoring in favor of talking about sleeping arrangements.
"Really, we can go find a motel room or something," Steve said.
"Nope! You're stayin' here," Marie declared with a slur. "And I'm makin' waffles for breakfast!"
Bucky looked at Steve as though to say Waffles, Steve… waffles. Steve rolled his eyes, but relented. "Fine, I'll take the floor," he said.
"No need! We've got an air mattress!" Elise chimed in and ran to the cupboard to get blankets and the air mattress.
The next morning, dawned with the two men already up when Elise and Marie arrived downstairs. They had coffee brewed and the tea kettle steaming on the stove. "Hope you don't mind," Steve said gesturing with his coffee cup.
"Not at all," Elise murmured, pouring herself a cup as well.
Marie sipped at her tea before pulling out mixing bowls and waffle ingredients. She was making apple cider waffles. Elise threw some bacon in a pan while Marie handled the waffle iron. They quickly put together a breakfast worthy of Captain America and the Winter Soldier.
After breakfast, the two men packed up their things and consulted the map one more time. Marie was showing Bucky the best route to get out of town. They're journey would take them back east along I-84 to I-15. Driving straight through it would take them about eighteen hours, but Bucky and Steve planned to stop about halfway through and camp for the night. "Well this is it," Steve said hoisting his bag onto his shoulder.
"Yeah, had fun with you guys last night. We'll have to do it again sometime!" Elise replied.
"Maybe next time you two will come out to New York?" Steve replied.
"We could probably manage that," Elise smiled.
"We'd better get going if we're going to reach Lake Walcott before dark," Bucky said mentioning their stopping point for the night in southern Idaho.
Elise and Steve hugged, and Steve dropped a kiss on top of her head before pulling away. Elise stared at him with a happy smile and a rosy blush, while Marie grinned from ear to ear as she watched the American icon swing his leg over his motorcycle. The two men buckled their helmets on before backing out of the driveway and taking off down the shady street. Elise sighed and watched until they disappeared. "I hate goodbyes," she murmured.
Marie nudged her with a smile though, "Yeah, but just think of who we're going to get to say hello to soon."
Elise grinned and nodded. "True! We'd better get packing."
Marie led the way back in. Their flight for London, England left in two days!