Hellooooo faithful readers and newcomers alike! Chapter nine is finally up and running! I'm just gonna warn you before hand, there's a kind of crude joke later on in this chapter (my teenage mind was in the gutter at the time; it's a curse). So I'd just like to take this opportunity to say, pardon me for my sometimes crude sense of humor x)! And if you don't know what I'm talking about, no worries, it isn't at all important to the plot.
As usual, thank you ever so much for your kind reviews :). I love to hear from you! I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or affiliated characters.
Chapter 9: Dinner Time!
Harmonica town was bathed in a warm evening glow when Luke and I walked hand in hand to the Brass Bar. There weren't as many people out and about, so there weren't any funny looks on the way there.
We spent most of the walk silently trying to sort out our thoughts on what was going on. And trust me; there was a lot to sort through. How can we fix this? What should our next move be? Will I survive? I looked over at Luke striding beside me. He was staring straight ahead determinedly. It was amazing how much he seemed to grow up in the few hours I'd been with him. Or maybe he'd always had the capability to be reasonable, but I just never noticed? He was still the same old Luke (in my body, but that's beside the point), but it seemed as though I was seeing a bit of a different side of him.
We finally arrived at the doors of the Brass Bar. It was amazing to think that I had been there giving my orange cake to Chase only two nights ago. I resolved to act as much like Luke as I possibly could in the bar, and Luke also resolved to act like me.
When we walked in, our hands separated. Luke started smiling, as per my usual. Except this time, even though I could tell he was trying to tone it down after I'd told him that his smiles were a little too exaggerated to pass as my own, the smile on what looked like Clarissa's face was slightly over the top. It still had that Luke quality to it, but I figured it was the best I could hope for, so I didn't protest.
I then pasted a huge, over confident grin on my face and changed my walk into a larger-than-life Luke strut. If I had done the same thing as my old self, I would've come across as a lunatic, but it looked normal for Luke's body. For extra effect, I began whistling and swinging Luke's axe carelessly by my side.
"Watch out Clarissa, you almost hit Hamilton!" Luke whispered to me urgently. It turns out that I had just missed slicing the little curl atop Hamilton's head off with my careless axe swinging. Luckily, he didn't seem to have noticed. I sighed a sigh of relief, and whispered a quick thank you to Luke. Note to self: minimize axe swinging in public.
"Welcome to the Brass Bar!" Kathy said as she spotted us.
"Hey Kathinator, what's crackalackin'?" I greeted her, using one of Luke's nicknames. For some reason that I did not know, Luke felt the need to have nicknames for most people in the town. In fact, I think I was one of the only ones he didn't have a nickname for.
Kathy looked at Luke all strange, as if asking 'Why are you here with him?'. Luke just laughed in response. He leaned in close to Kathy, acting like he didn't want me to hear, but speaking just loud enough so that I could make out the words.
"This idiot wouldn't stop following me all around town! The only way I could get him to stop was if I agreed to take him out for dinner." He said. I was proud; Luke was putting on quite the act. But I couldn't help but frown for a moment (it felt so foreign on Luke's face, it was as if his muscles had never frowned before!). Did Luke really think I said things like that about him to other people? I mean, sure, I had never particularly liked him, but I had never actually called him an idiot. Kathy nodded and smiled at Luke in understanding. Both of them then turned to look at me. I realized that I wasn't supposed to be aware that they were talking about me (Luke? Me? Luke-me? Oh…never mind) so I immediately turned my attention to an imaginary speck of dust on the wall, trying to think like Luke. What a fascinating speck on the wall! It's so totally awesome! It's grey, and small, and, and…EXTREME!
"Alright then!" Kathy said cheerfully, now intending for both of us to listen. "Where would you like to be seated?"
"We'll take the seat by the window!" Luke announced loudly, which caused a few heads to turn. Kathy nodded and led us to the most out of the way seat in the restaurant.
"Thanks Kathinato—uh, I mean, Kathy!" Luke said, smiling.
"No problem!" She said, seemingly not noticing Luke's slip up. "I hope you enjoy your evening at the Brass Bar! Our server will be with you in a bit." She then disappeared behind the counter.
"Do I really come across that cold towards you?" I asked him when we sat down.
"I dunno." he shrugged. "You don't seem to like me very much though, that's for sure." Luke said matter o' factly.
"Well yeah, I guess, but I've never called you a…you know…idiot." I said with a sheepish attempt at a grin.
"Not to my face." Luke replied with a semi smile that made my insides twist up into uncomfortably guilty knots. I felt guilty, and I hadn't even done anything!
A few seconds later, Luke spoke again.
"Do I really appear that spastic?" He asked.
"Yup." I said with a decisive nod. The fact that he came across as that spastic did not seem to upset him, so I continued, "It's alright though; Selena seems to admire you for it." I gestured towards the stage where Selena was doing one of her signature belly dances. She noticed my looking at her and licked her lips. I'm pretty sure that I threw up a little bit inside my mouth.
"Oh, yeah, she's pretty cool. She's not all that extreme though." Luke said.
"She seems to really like you!" I told him. Does he not understand this?
"But maybe I like someone else!" Hmm, I'd never considered that before. Could Luke like someone? He always seemed pretty immature, so I assumed he still thought that girls had cooties. But it was possible…
I could hear footsteps approaching our table.
"Hello, and welcome to the Brass Bar, my name is—"
"CHASE!" I yelled involuntarily and quickly covered my mouth with my hands. I completely forgot about him! I was shocked to see him, yet there he was, all decked out in his purple apron and black collared shirt. Chase threw a death glare my way that made me feel as though I was about to be killed by the sheer intenseness of it. I couldn't help but blush when I stared into his amazing violet eyes. Stop blushing! He thinks you're Luke, he thinks you're Luke, channel Luke, you are Luke…
"Oh, it's you." He said to me menacingly. My heart began to melt all over again. No! Stop that! You can't do that while you look like this!
After a few awkwardly silent moments of Chase glaring at me, and me blushing in return, Luke spoke up. "Can we order our food now?" He asked impatiently. Chase noticed Luke (who he thought was me) for the first time. He looked surprised for a second that we were together, but he immediately reobtained that smooth nonchalantness that distinguished him from all the other guys. It was likely that Kathy, who was known as the main source of Castanet gossip, had already told him our story.
"Certainly. What would you like?" Chase asked Luke politely. Well, there was a first.
"Hmmm, a hamburger, french fries, pickles, some tuna, a few pieces of toast, and a big melon with a coconut cocktail on the side!" Luke said with a wink out of habit. Chase blushed for a second, confused, while I sat there completely embarrassed. Did Luke even somewhat remember what I told him about no more winking? If what looked like Luke's cheeks had been blushing a light pink before, they were now likely to be more of a deep red.
Chase shook his head, probably convincing himself that he'd only imagined "Clarissa" winking at him seductively just then. He then turned to me.
"And you?" You could tell that he was straining to be civil.
"I'lljusthaveahamsandwichplease." I stuttered quickly. I felt like turning invisible and running away.
"Luke, are you going to order the damn food or not?" he spat. This was stupid! I had to compose myself.
"A HAM SANDWICH PLEASE!" I yelled loudly and clearly this time. Half of the restaurant was looking over at me. Chase rolled his eyes.
"It took you long enough…" He muttered while writing down my order. He then turned around and walked back into the kitchen.
As soon as Chase was out of earshot, Luke turned to look at me oddly.
"What was that all about?" he asked.
"I don't know! I just couldn't talk to him, it was too hard…"
"Well, you're gonna want to eat more than a small ham sandwich." He said, digressing from the subject of Chase, thank goddess. "Pops says that my stomach was like a bottomless pit." He smiled proudly.
"Yeah, well, I'm not too hungry at the moment. And I highly doubt that you'll be able to eat everything that you ordered. I graze, Luke; a little food here and a little food there. You ordered a mountain!"
As if on cue, Chase came over with our food. It always amazed me how he managed to make it so fast, and yet it still tasted delicious. "You two are way too loud over here. Be quiet and try not to disturb the other guests, will you?" he said before walking away again. I could hear Luke mumbling something about Chase being a 'party pooper'.
"Sheesh, why does he always have to ruin all the fun?" he questioned to nobody in particular. Deciding not to answer, as I didn't feel like thinking about Chase anymore, I looked down at the food in front of me. It was a ham sandwich; something that I ordered a lot when I came to the Brass Bar. But this time it was different. It seemed smaller than it had in the past, and looked much less filling.
I hadn't realized it before, but I was hungry. No, wait, I was starving. My gaze travelled across the table to the feast of food that was spread in front of Luke. I could've sworn I felt a trickle of desiring drool hanging out of my mouth.
Luke noticed the want in my eyes.
"Not too hungry, eh?" he said with a knowing smile.
"Nope." I lied. But my borrowed stomach betrayed me with a loud rumble. Luke laughed out loud before taking a good look at the meal that I couldn't tear my eyes away from. He seemed to be awed at the size and turned the slightest bit pale. He then looked over at my measly ham sandwich thoughtfully.
"A bottomless pit, eh?" I snickered. Luke threw me an angry look that quickly softened.
"Alright, so I guess we were both right then." He said. We stared at each other's meals for a few more seconds.
"You wanna switch?" I asked.
"Definitely." He said without hesitation. We both got up and sat on the opposite sides of the table. Satisfied, I looked down at the meal that was now before me. Bon Appétit!
I quickly found out that Dale was not exaggerating when he called Luke's stomach a bottomless pit. I began eating at a relatively slow, neat pace. It soon became clear to me that I couldn't go on like that; I'd be at the bar all night at the rate I was going, and I was just so hungry. That was when I abandoned all pride and began swallowing mouthful after mouthful of glorious food. I kept eating and eating, yet I didn't feel any fuller.
Across the table, Luke was smiling at my vigorous consumption of the food while he nibbled on his ham sandwich every now and again, as I usually did.
"We order for each other next time, deal?" he asked.
"Deal." I told him through a mouth full of food.
About ten minutes later, as I finished up the remainders of my gargantuan meal, Luke's stomach finally caught up with me. I was full. I felt utterly satisfied, and expressed that satisfaction with a loud burp. Luke, who had just finished his ham sandwich, started laughing at me.
"Clarissa, if I didn't know any better, I could swear you were 100% guy!" He teased.
"Hey, it's not me that's 100% guy, it's your stomach." I said as I patted said stomach contentedly. "How do you eat so much and stay so thin and muscular? You're just like Shaggy from Scooby Doo!"
"Bottomless pit." He answered with a shrug. "That, and the fact that I need the energy to run around all morning and chop down trees."
I nodded. "I suppose it makes sense. I imagine it'd take a lot of energy for you to handle all that wood in the morning."
Luke stared at me for a few moments before he began laughing. "Wood! You said wood! Handling wood in the morning!" To my utter confusion, his laughter continued.
"What? What's so funny about handling wood in the morning?" I demanded to know. This just made him laugh even harder. His face was turning red, and he was having trouble staying in his seat. After a few more seconds of just watching him laugh and wondering why, I understood. And I was completely grossed out.
"Ugh, that's disgusting Luke! What are you, an inappropriate teenage boy? Get your mind out of the gutter!" I shouted at him, but he just kept on laughing. To my dismay, I was beginning to laugh too.
"Now that you're me, you'll have lots more wood to handle, won't you Clarissa?" He asked, and then we both started howling with laughter. Even though there was a part of me that was irritated at my laughing so hard over something so immature, I couldn't help it. The more I thought about what I'd said and the way I'd said it, the funnier it got.
Chase then came over to our table. "Are you two done?" he asked. We both nodded as we reluctantly wiped the tears of laughter from our eyes. "Wow. I can only imagine why you two are cackling like hyenas over here." he said, picking up all of the empty dishes. "And I'm sure it's not because of one of Luke's axe jokes." I'm not completely sure why, but this just made me start cracking up again.
"Ahaha, nice one Chase!" I said, finding it much easier to talk to Chase than it had been when I was ordering. Laughter removed the stress and anxiety I normally felt when he was around. Chase sighed.
"That'll be 1200 G." he said in monotone. I pulled the money out of my pocket and handed it over. He quickly snatched it out of my hand, mumbled good night, and walked back into the kitchen.
"Chase does seem to have a stick up his butt most of the time, doesn't he?" Luke giggled. I'd never really noticed it before, but Chase had always been kind of stiff. So stern, so serious…Luke had a much better sense of humor. And, now that I thought about it, that wasn't such a bad thing.
Luke looked at his wrist, as if he were looking for a watch. He looked slightly perplexed for a moment, but he quickly snapped back to reality and turned to me.
"Hey, check my watch, will you?" he asked. I looked down at Luke's bright orange watch, which now resided on my wrist. It read 11:00 PM.
"Holy chicken eggs, it's gotten late! Will Dale—"
"Pops." Luke corrected me.
I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Will Pops and Bo be worried about you…me…us?"
"Yeah, I guess so. We should probably hit the road." We got up from our seats and strolled out of the Brass Bar like two good friends.