I don't think I mentioned this before, but the story is set in the Manhattan/NYC area. Anya lives in the borough of Brooklyn, but she works in Manhattan (not Times Square/Downtown).
Chapter Two
Her dog was barking loudly as another dog walked pass Anya and Maxim. Her grip around the leash tightened as Maxim was about to go for the beagle being walked by a man. Anya was a little worried. Maxim would always get a bit too excited when seeing another dog. With a quick apology to the man she pulled her overly excited ovcharka away from the beagle.
The first activity of the day was almost over. It was the same every day, get up, walk Maxim, go back home, get ready for work, get to work, get pissed off by Francis and one of the math teachers, Gilbert, go home, walk Maxim, go to bed. Maxim started to bark loudly again but this time at someone riding a bicycle.
"Then she totally turned down me! The awesome me! How could she turn me down?" Gilbert whined loudly in the teacher's lounge.
"She turned you down because it was you," Anya spoke as she took a gulp of her coffee.
Gilbert scoffed, "You're just jealous because you didn't have Diane's rocking hot body."
"Why would I be jealous of such trash?" questioned Anya giving Gilbert a look.
"Des enfants(1), we mustn't fight. We are all a team here." Francis responded to the bickering two.
"She is hot right Francey? We have to prove this Rusky wrong!" Gilbert pondered.
"Diane is nothing special Gilbert. Get over it. And don't call me a Rusky you damn German!"
"Prussian!"
"Prussia doesn't exist anymore!"
"Yeah because your totally unawesome country destroyed my totally awesome country!"
"Stop saying awesome more than once in a sentence- wait, you know what's even better than that? Not saying the word awesome at all!" Anya shouted.
"Gilbert, Anya, now there is no need for fighting," Francis calmly spoke knowing they'd ignore him. More unenthusiastic pleads came from Francis as the two kept bickering. And then the curses broke out, English, Russian, German, and a little bit of French coming from Anya. "Fermer votre bouches(2)!" Francis yelled, "Are you two insane?"
The fighting stopped.
"Sorry Francis." Anya mumbled. Gilbert did the same.
"Great. You apologized to me. I'll let you off the hook for now," Francis said sarcastically, "Now that that's settled, I'd like to invite you both to a dinner party at my home this evening." The two looked at him as if he was shitting himself.
"Damn, sorry Francey. I can't. It's my grandfather's birthday tonight. West is making sure I get there early too." Gilbert said.
"It is alright. And you Anya?"
"I don't have anything planned for tonight."
"Great! Be there at seven. Au revoir mes amis. I have to go find those dead frogs I ordered."(3)
"Thank you for letting me come earlier to help you set up Francis."
"Ah, no problem Mathieu. Now excite me would you? How has your sex life been?" Now, before Matthew answers Francis' question, let us have a little review on Matthew's personality. He was a shy, quiet and reserved twenty four year old, which could help us infer that he didn't have much of a social life. Now let us get back to the plot.
"Francis, how could you ask something so crude!"
"Mathieu, all you have to do is answer, or I'll keep bugging you all night and possibly share childhood stories of you to everyone else."
Matthew had to remind himself why he hung out with his cousin, "You wouldn't."
"I would." Francis replied.
"It's alright…You know I'm not like you and I want a stable relationship over a friend with benefits or a one night stand."
"In other words you haven't gone out on a date in quite a long time and you haven't been laid in a year." Francis said. Sometimes Matthew hated how easily Francis could read him.
One might say that Francis' dinner party was large and flooded with many, then that person may be blind. Francis has many companions and lovers, but he strictly stuck with close friends this evening. One might say that it wasn't really a party considering it was so small, but then that person has never met Francis' friends. One might say that most of the party was filled with awkward moments between guests, and that person is right. It was Francis' younger sister, Magali, one of his best friends Antonio, Lovino, Antonio's boyfriend, his cousin Matthew, his friend Bella, a poor unfortunate soul that would be stuck with Francis forever named Arthur, Francis's cousin Alfred, also the brother of Matthew, (who is running late as always), and Anya who has not arrived yet.
There was awkward chatter going on in Francis' living room while Matthew helped put food on the table since he didn't want Francis to do all of the work himself. Then the door slammed open.
"The hero is here! Now the party can really start!" shouted Alfred, as he walked through the door holding an ice cream cake from Carvel with a crap load of sprinkles and chocolate syrup. Arthur sighed. The second person that knows how to really torture him was here. The first was Francis, but Alfred was coming close to first. Everyone knew that it was time to eat, because if Alfred wanted to, he could eat the entire table. Now, Alfred wasn't fat, but…muscular…? Yeah…that can work…
"Good to see you too Alfred…" Matthew spoke quietly, knowing he'd be ignored. And he was.
"Aw man Francis, I didn't think I'd be able to come tonight, but I made it! I'm starved can we eat?" Alfred asked, while everyone else took their seats.
"Not yet. We are still waiting for someone. She should be here soon…" Francis said.
"So the Frog couldn't go a night without a whore," spoke Arthur.
"For your information, rosbif, I do not have a date tonight. She is a very good friend of mine."
"Please don't inform me that it's that bartender you've been "friendly" with for a few months."
"For the last time, I don't have a date tonight. Besides, I quit all relations with her because she was the one who introduced Gilbert to Diane." Before Arthur could respond, very rudely may I add, there was a knock on the door. Francis, who almost skipped, went to answer the door.
Almost all of Francis' guests expected some sleazy woman with big boobs, no matter how many times Francis tried to explain that he didn't have a date. Nobody expected a tall Russian woman who was ecstatic that a certain "Prussian" wasn't there, especially a good hearted American by the name of Alfred, who sometimes forgot that the Cold War was over. At least they got the boob part right. The Frenchman and the Russian woman said their hello's to each other.
"Everyone, this is Anya." With a grin, Anya had greeted everyone, even though she had met Antonio and Arthur a few times, and took a seat next to a very quiet Canadian male. After a bit more awkwardness, the dinner commenced. There were conversations about work, friends, and of course family.
"Did you guys know that Mattie used to suck his thumb until he was six?" said Alfred who was gulfing down French cuisine. Matthew blushed and looked down. Everyone stared at him.
"And I remember he always carried that polar bear toy around with him! How old was he when he stopped that Alfred?" was what came out of Francis' mouth.
"Thirteen!" Commence obnoxious laughter coming from the pair. Hadn't Francis said he wouldn't share stories tonight? Matthew thought.
"At least I didn't eat our mother's lipstick when I was five," Matthew snapped back at Alfred, "And I didn't wear panties when I was four because I thought they were comfortable," eyes directing at Francis. You mess with the bull, you get the horns. Anya couldn't hold back a giggle.
"So Francis used to wear panties normally instead of wearing them on his head now?" Anya questioned. It was Francis' turn to look like Antonio's favorite fruit. Everyone started laughing.
"Excuse me Anya, but you have me mistaken for Gilbert who does that every other Tuesday night at the clubs." He was in denial.
"Of course Francis," she said sarcastically, "Whatever makes you smile. And before you ask, I won't take those pictures off Facebook."
Thus Alfred and Francis, mostly the host of the party, were made fun of all night.
Cliffhanger much? No not really. I was going to add more but I couldn't come up with anything. I decided it was time to actually post chapter two since I've been writing it since the beginning of February and it is almost April. This is kind of a fill in chapter but it also leads to the actual action and plot of the story. In other words this chapter was the stupid boring rising action nobody likes and makes people quit books after the sixth chapter. Then those said people go to see the movie version four months later after it comes out.
And no I am NOT one of those people.
1. Des enfants- children (translates directly into the children but in this case it is just children)
2. Fermer votre bouches- Shut your mouths
3. I remember dissecting a frog in seventh grade… I felt like I was part of the black market… anyway I found it funny to have Francis say that since Iggy always calls him a frog. Not funny? Too bad. :)
I just noticed this chapter isn't as long as I hoped...but oh well. I'll try to write the next one longer, try being the keyword.
Hope you enjoyed!