Day Twenty-Three
Prompt: "Why in the world would you do that?"
"Oi, George, what if we do this?" Fred leaned closer to his brother, showing him some intricate sketches and scribbles on a piece of parchment. George nodded half-heartedly and shrugged his shoulders. "You don't like it, do you?" Fred let out an exaggerated sigh and let his shoulders droop.
George laughed. "No, it's a great plan."
"Then what's the matter with you?" Fred turned to face George, straddling the bench. He grabbed a chicken leg off his plate and took a bite. "It's like you don't even want to give Old Toad Face hell. It's like you want to stay here," he said incredulously. Then he froze, mid chew, and opened his eyes wide. "You don't want to leave, do you?" He pointed at George with his chicken leg. "You don't want to leave because you don't want to leave Pell." Fred took another big bite of chicken. "Very noble, brother."
"I can't leave," George said sadly. "I can't leave Pell. I'm sorry Fred." He shook his head. "You should though, really." He tapped the parchment full of Fred's scribbles. "This is a really great plan though. Sorry, Fred."
"What are you sorry for?" Capella's sudden appearance startled George and he spun around to face her. "Fred showed me his plan, it's a good idea." She sat down next to George.
George kissed Capella and took her hand. "I was telling Fred that I couldn't go with him." He glanced up at Fred. "Wait, you already knew about the plan?"
Both Capella and Fred nodded. "She's the one that came up with this part," Fred said, pointing at the parchment.
"Why aren't you going with him?" Capella asked as she nodded towards Fred. "If I came up with part of the plan, it's going to be a great one." She smiled mischievously at George.
"I'm not going with Fred, I'm staying here with you," George said, squeezing her hand.
"Why in the world would you do that?" She threw her hands up in the air. "George," she took both of his hands in hers. "You have to do this. You have your joke shop, you don't belong here anymore." She held up her left hand and showed him the back. The gouges had started to heal but they were still an angry red. "I can overcome anything, remember? I'll miss you, but you have to do this."