Disclaimer: I still do not own HM or any of its characters (including Toby :( -he's my favorite!- )
"Chase?" Kathy's voice rang as she caught sight of me upon entering Sundae Inn. "Run!"
"Akari?" a tenor's voice drifted out from the kitchen.
"Mmm-hmm..."
"Well she deserved it!" Chase whined "My meunière was to die for!"
I pushed my way past Kathy into the narrow kitchen. Chase stood in front of the stove, stirring a wooden spoon vigorously. I inched closer, trying to catch a glimpse of what he was making. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was stirring an empty pot. I had to admit, though, that he did an impressive job of making himself look incredibly busy. I grabbed the closest thing I could find (a leek) and swung it across the backside of his head.
"Owwww!" he hunched over and cradled his head with his hands.
"I almost did!" I said, and smacked him once more before gently replacing the leek.
"and I'm still mad at you" I said as I caught Hayden's eyes. He shrugged and raised his hands, his expression clearly saying that he had absolutely no idea what I could be referring to, but underneath the bushy beard I swore I saw a grin.
"geez, stop harassing my dad.." Kathy said as she grabbed my arm and drug me out of the kitchen.
"What about me!" Chase moaned incredulously as he followed us, still clutching his head.
"eh..."
"Anyways, we haven't heard from you in weeks!" she began, pulling out a chair for me. "we were starting to get worried!" She sat down opposite of me, drawing up a denim-clad knee to rest her arm on.
"New jeans?" I asked.
"You bet!" her eyes brightened, meaning that this was somehow related to horses. Just wait for it.
"Candace made 'em, but they still gotta be broken in..." she stretched out a leg as if i would be able to tell that the fabric was too stiff to be at prime comfort. She nipped at the fabric with her fingers, observing the reaction of the material.
wait for it...
"I washed 'em plenty, she said that'd soften 'em up..."
wait for it...
"but it's sure takin' a while..."
wait for it...
"hopefully they won't chafe somethin' fierce when I go riding..."
zing.
"horses or Owen.." I mumbled into the rice cocktail chase had brought me. I figured it was chase, though I can't recall when he would have had time to make it. He smirked... and I got a face full of napkin, courtesy of Kathy.
"hey! what the..!" I managed to avoid spilling the majority of the glass on myself. oh well, it's still the cleanest thing I own right now.
She gave me a meaningful look and nodded towards her father, who was polishing a glass that already sparkled like crystal.
"oh, like he's listening!" I said quietly. She glared at me, which made me smile...
"Can't hear a thing!" Hayden called out from behind the bar, which made me snort my drink. I could hear Chase trying to stifle his laughter as I coughed, expelling the liquid from my lungs.
"God, Akari, don't breath it..." Kathy said, looking at me as if i was sprouting horns... or mushrooms... or something, maybe even both.
"Thanks cough for cough-cough the concern cough-hack-cough you jerks cough."
"Not my fault this time.." Chase said into his sleeve. My eyes widened and I stared pointedly at him, then the drink (which i had set down), and then back at him. "Oh, come on!" he flailed his arms and stalked back to the kitchen, probably to plan my ultimate demise.
The coughing subsided and I shrugged, finally remembering what it was like to breath. It was pretty nice.
"Aaaaanyways!" Kathy said, getting back to the initial topic "where the heck have you been? It's been weeks!"
"A week." I pointed out and she glared at me again. I really don't understand how the horses can stand her sometimes. Maybe she treats them better than her friends.
"Working, " I said "in fact, I only stopped in because I'm on my way back from Souffle. Remember that perfume I made last winter?" She nodded, it had been a hit.
"I had to pick up some more of the seeds, Juli sent me another order today" Okay, so it had only been a hit with Julius.
"a bulk order." A really big hit. She groaned and shook her head.
"Do me a favor and warn me when you're finished, mkay?"
"yeah" I pondered this "I wonder if I should post a notice about it..."
"Might not be a bad idea but maybe you better... Oh yeah! Luke!"
"What?" Great, the guy isn't even here and he still manages to annoy me. She raised an eyebrow at my reaction, and I could see her brain calculating it.
"What, you really do like him'?"
"ugggh. No, please continue.."
"Well, he swung by the other day, fix'n the cabinet Maya broke" Sneer (Kathy was the only person who called the girl by her given name, everyone else called her Mai. Personally, I was eagerly anticipating the day Kathy cracked and beat her up. I prayed to the goddess that I would be around to see it) "and was askin' after ya."
"Why?"
"Beats me. He kept sayin' how much you liked honey and was buggin' dad to make some mead. Came back later with a pot o' honey even tho' dad never said he'd do it."
"uggggh..."
"don't worry none, we didn' tell Chase. Figured he didn't need any more ammo." I thought about how she phrased this..
"Wait, what's he got on me?" I cried, more concerned about what Chase would do with my secrets than the logic of a crazy amber-eyed boy.
"Nothin' yet, that I know of at least... but you might wanna knock some sense into Luke before it gets all over town"
"Before what gets all over town?" I asked, not liking where this was heading.
"Well... he made some comments here 'n there, bugged the crap outa dad.."
"... get to the point"
"it seems he's got it in his head that you're his beau"
"WHAT?"
"you know, girlfriend"
"Not that part!"
"oh"
I slammed my head against the table.
"I figured as much" she said "for one I think you'd at least have talked about him. Girls talk about that kinda stuff, right?"
"oothotathabouwen" I said into the table.
"er, mind repeatin' that?"
"You don't talk about Owen." I said, lifting my head up, and was promptly awarded with another napkin in my face.
"because i don't like him!" she yelled, though I could tell she was blushing. "Goddess! I don't know why I'm trying to help you! You're horrible!" I nodded in agreement. That was one of the things I loved about Kathy: her temper.
"Ack! Well don't come cryin' to me when Chase finds out!" she blurted. Considering the volume of her voice and the current location of where I believed Chase to be it was safe to assume that he had found out. I'd deal with that later.
"noted."
"Argh!" She growled as she got up and stomped back towards the bar. I waited a few moments, listening to muffled conversation between her and Chase (It probably went something like this: Kathy: I hate her, Chase: Me too!, Both: She sucks! ). A little longer and her head popped out from behind the kitchen.
"And I won't be here if you stop by tomorrow. I'm going riding"
I raised an eyebrow.
"Don't say it!"
Thanks for reading Chapter 2! ^_^)b Please review if you have the chance ^_^!