Chapter 40: Set A Date
It was a rather quaint morning, with cloudy skies and a bit of a nip in the air. Perfect weather for a drive, as long as the heater worked properly.
It's always nice to have a day off from work and all the rigamarole of filing business reports to rent out a new venue for concerts, or get album labels approved and disapproved.
And any excuse to get out of the house and let the kids do whatever they want, maybe learn a little more about fending for themselves in the process, is one she's happy to take!
For today, Alura Dark was going to set out to accomplish the task she oh so selflessly took upon her shoulders: Set her friend Maria up with a date!
Unfortunately, everyone seemed to have the right idea of going out for a drive today, because the roads were stuffed more than Uncle Fringo's cheesy bread.
Alura tapped on her gas pedal while waiting to go, "Hurry up and turn green already! This light, I swear…"
It was tempting to use some of her stored funds to force the city council to fix this already, but then her husband would likely get on her case for abusing her riches like that.
"But this is soooo annoying!" She groaned, putting a little more pressure onto the gas pedal to hum the engine.
"I had this day all planned out between me and my adorable freckled friend, so if you don't turn green right this instant, swear to my HUSBAND, I will-"
The light seemed to flicker green out of intimidation, so she hoped, and with a bright smile she swung her head out the window and shouted in a flirty tone, "Thank you~"
Then she made a sharp turn down another road to avoid this headache of a traffic block and after burning a few more minutes to get through her detour, she rolled up to Maria's humble little plant shack and parked off to the side.
She then saw the lights were on, but the shop was closed, "Ah, she must be getting ready for Springtime!"
She fanned her fingertips before her growing, mischievous smile and whispered, "Which means…"
She tip-toed towards the left side of the building with her hands bent over her chest like something out of an old cartoon.
But upon hitting the corner she heard her friend's voice in a "take it like it is" sort of tone, "Alura? Were you trying to ambush me again?"
Alura pulled away in her natural posture and waltzed on up to the front door with her hands hidden and her body hunched forward, "Drat! Foiled again!"
Maria had just come out and finished locking the door, wearing a dark pink and white jacket with a puffy hood, her adorable braided pigtails hanging off her shoulders.
Maria lovingly shook her head and smiled, "I don't get you, you remember I'm an Aurian, right?"
Alura poked the side of her smug smile and recalled fondly, "As I recall, I'm currently at a 60-40 ratio of successes to losses."
Maria's cheeks became flushed and she relented to her good memory, "Ok so…maybe my senses have rusted a BIT."
"Heh heh!" Alura was still tempted to pick her perfectly compact body up and give her a nice hug.
But she knew restraint! …This time.
"Soooo, where are you going?" She wondered.
Maria said, "I WAS planning on going grocery shopping, but since you're here I assume-"
Alura clapped her hands and grinned, "Oh, no, let's go grocery shopping together, I don't mind!"
"I only just spent the ENTIRE WEEK planning for today, but no, that's fine, I'm not bitter in the SLIGHTEST…" She said, her inner thoughts channeling just a BIT of that frustration from dealing with her managers.
Her smile cracked and Maria commented, "Are you…sure?"
"Sure! Nothing wrong with trying to stay healthy and well fed!"
"But I WAS going to try and feed you a nice chunk of meat…"
"Alura, I feel like you're upset about something." Maria pointed out.
Alura looked at her directly, "Ooooh, I won't hide anything from you. Yes, I was planning on taking you around town to try and hook you up with a date again."
"We were going to visit a few hang-out spots, maybe hit a bar or two, that sort of thing!"
Maria shrugged, "I mean, we can still do that."
Alura's eyes lit up and she mentally pumped her fist in victory, "Ha! Nailed it!"
Maria pulled her keys back out and smiled, "Just let me go grab my cooler and I'll meet you by my car."
After Maria entered the house Alura turned and relished in the moment, "I knew I could get her…"
A little unnecessary given she was sincerely going to work with whatever was thrown at her, but oh well.
Once everything was ready on Maria's end, however, Alura extended a little more good will her way, "I'll drive! That'll save you a little bit of gas money."
They've gone through this routine of "humbly denying someone's generous offer" so many times that Maria cut down the filler and said, "Alright, alright, but you know that means you can't play any drinking games."
Alura smirked and then tapped her knuckles against her stomach, "A worthy sacrifice! Too bad too, I had prepared my stomach for this occasion!"
Maria cast a glare of doubt and then fondly smiled her way into the passenger's seat, with Alura driving them back into town.
They had fooled around enough that traffic wasn't AS bad now, and getting to the grocery store should only take them ten minutes tops!
Along the way Maria dug into the glove compartment, filled with one copy of all of Alura's albums.
Maria paused and definitely had a look on her face that suggested she thought this was a bit much, but heck! She worked hard on those, what's wrong with having a little pride in that?
Maria thumbed through them until one caught her eye, "Do you mind?"
Alura took a quick peek and grinned, "Oooh! 'Bloodied, Battered, but Beautiful'! Excellent taste, Maria!"
They enjoyed two songs of pure symphonic metal bliss before they arrived at their destination.
On their way out of the car, Maria commented, "You've only gotten better since."
"Yeeeeaah, but a part of me misses when I got away with the more…blunt, edgier lyrics!"
The talk of her job suddenly reminded her, "Ah! That's right."
She cast her illusions from her eyes so nobody recognizes her as they're walking, "Ok, we're good!"
They then headed into the store and Maria pulled out her phone to check the list, with Alura leaning onto her shoulder to get a look, "So what's the first item we're after?"
"I always start in produce so…scallions, and cabbage."
Alura licked her lips and hummed, "Yum! Ok! I recognize those two ingredients. Making stir fry?"
Maria pulled her head back a little and gave it some thought, "...Maybe. It depends on if I can find some good beef on sale."
Alura whipped up a suggestion, "You could try chicken as a substitute!"
Maria looked back with puckered lips, "Mmm, no thanks. Chicken doesn't compliment my palette that well when it comes to stir fry."
"Have you tried it with teriyaki sauce?" Alura said in a slightly alluring tone.
Maria nodded.
"How about…soy sauce?"
Maria nodded again.
"...Sweet and sour, orange sauce, korean BBQ sauce, wasabi, chinese mustard?"
Maria nodded at every single one.
Alura tapped her puzzled, pressed lips and murmured in a humored tone, "And people say I'M a glutton…"
"Sorry, it's beef or no deal." Maria punctuated the end of this conversation, but Alura slightly diverted course a bit to drag it out.
"But you don't avoid chicken all the time, do you?"
"Are you kidding?! Chicken breasts are the perfect low-effort dinner. All you need to do is pop them in the air fryer with a bit of spices, mix a little ranch and BBQ sauce in a dipping cup, and viola!"
Alura hid the trickle of drool coming out the side of her mouth with her thumb, "Why Maria, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were hitting on me!"
Maria blushed and resumed focusing on the list, before pausing to remark, "...Alura, you're not that shallow."
Alura grinned proudly, "Exactly! So consider that a sincere compliment from one friend to another!"
Maria only ended up blushing more, distracting herself by tapping the top of her phone against her chin.
"Ah ha ha ha!" Alura enjoyed it when she got like this, she really was too cute for words.
But teasing a friend only works when you take breaks, so they enjoyed a bit of normal idle chatter while knocking out the first few ingredients on her list.
"So what other types of dishes can you bring to the dinner table?" Alura wondered.
"I-It's a little embarrassing, but I tend to eat a lot of frozen dinners." Maria said.
"Nothing wrong with that!" Alura admitted, "I admit! I'm guilty of splurging on pad thais."
Maria looked back as though she wasn't the least bit surprised.
Alura puffed her cheeks at that and then asked, "You must have something you like making?"
Maria pondered that for a moment and then flashed her homely smile, "Strawberry pie."
Alura nodded, "Ah, strawberries, the Whiter fruit."
Maria gave her a light jab in the arm for that tease, then went on to say, "For my recipe, I squeeze a little lemon juice into the filling, and mix a little bit of graham cracker crumble into the crust. Gives the inside a little less tartness, and the crust some of that hometown, honeyed, melty goodness."
Alura couldn't hold back the drool slipping out of her smile and then poked Maria on the nose, holding her eyes at her attention as she told her, "I hope you realize you have to make me one of those now!"
Maria closed her eyes and sighed, "Isn't your birthday coming up soon?"
Alura grinned like sunny delight, "Yay~"
The two continued to stroll around at a leisurely pace until they had half the cart filled with essentials. Alura tried to break her habits a bit by sneaking in some noodles, which are easy to make recipes with.
Maria noticed, looked at her, then went along with the plan.
By the time they checked out and left, Alura's eyes widened sharply upon realizing, "Ah shoot…!"
Maria paused and took her remark as a cause for concern, "W-What is it?"
Alura propped her fists on her hips and pouted, "I was so busy having fun I forgot to look for guys you might like."
Maria rolled her eyes and calmly brushed her off, "That's all?"
As they strolled the cart over to the car, Maria slowed down a little and showed a hint of reluctance on her face, "...I do think the cashier was kind of cute."
Alura's eyes lit up and she locked onto this attraction like a fly does to ripening bananas, "Alright, alright, what caught your eye?"
"I dunno, he just looked cute."
Alura came right out and said, "Well that's something you two have in common then!"
Maria shook her head, "That's not good enough. But he's a cashier, so I wouldn't want to hold up the line by talking to him. And if I waited until he got off work…he might think I'm a stalker."
She was making good excuses. But they didn't make any sense unless she was lacking confidence in herself.
That's clearly not it though, Alura thought, as Maria handled herself better than most adults her age do.
There was some sort of tough, pressing matter that made Maria think she couldn't handle dating someone, or even take the first steps to approach them.
"Is it possible…?" Alura put the evidence in her head and gasped internally, "Maria's a budding lesbian?!"
Alura watched her adorable buddy put away the groceries and decided to support her with a smile, "Well if that's the case, then I'll just have to correct course!"
Maria looked back and immediately slanted her brows, "...You're plotting something, Alura."
"Am I?" Alura replied in a strained, sing-song tone.
Maria shook her head and smiled, "Yes. You are."
Alura tilted her head back and forth and reached out to pat her head, "Don't worry about it."
"I definitely am." Maria said in a humored tone.
The two then put away the groceries and by the time they got in the car, it was comfortably sitting around lunch time.
"Alright, where do you want to go first?" Alura said, foot revving the gas pedal.
"Why don't we just go to Sam's for a bit?" Maria said.
"Can't knock that idea!"
"Alura…" Maria took on a bit of firmness.
"I know, I know, I'll be a responsible driver." Alura replied.
Maria gave her a smile and then turned the album back on as they traveled to the Bombbrew Bar.
The place was pretty dull with activity this time of the day, so Alura felt a little more comfortable letting the public eye gaze upon her natural beauty for now.
Samantha was out and about serving a few pints to some loggers in the middle tables, and upon recognizing familiar company she greeted them with her tough and gritty smile, "Hey you two, welcome back!"
She flashed her signature fiery gaze at Alura and remarked, "Alura…"
Alura scoffed and then put on a slightly childish pout, "Oh geez, Sam, I'm almost 37 and have two kids, I don't need to have responsibility rubbed into my face all the time. Who are you, Spider-Man?"
Samantha laughed and then tapped her chest with her knuckles, "S'long as you know the score!"
The three then started heading for the bar counter with Samantha commented, "This is pretty early for ya both. What's up?"
Maria replied, "Oh, I wanted a quick bite to eat."
Alura made her motives more blunt, "And I'm still trying to help her on her manhunt."
To which Maria blushed and almost wanted to cover her face in embarrassment.
"Ha ha!" Samantha laughed, "Well you'll find the pond's pretty empty right now. Might I recommend scouting out Coal and Chars?"
"What's that?" Maria's response surprised Samantha.
"And here I thought you were a tried and true city girl! It's a deli a few blocks down. Serves primarily hot foods and drinks. Comes with my HIGHEST recommendations. And it's always pretty packed around the afternoon."
Alura smiled, "Well heck, if the Fire Fist herself thinks it's hot stuff, we oughta go check it out!"
Maria had to take a few more moments to think it over as her stomach grumbled, "...I guess I can hold out for a few more minutes."
Maria then gestured her hand from the counter, "You sure, Sam?"
Samantha shrugged, "I ain't gonna take offense. I make plenty more money in the evening anyways."
Alura then asked, "While we're here though, got anymore juicy gossip?"
"Hmm…" Samantha started rinsing a glass out, "Word on the backstreet is that a cargo platform was found buried in the sea just the other day."
Maria gasped, "That sounds bad."
"Not as bad as ya'd think. No bodies were found, the cargo was already emptied. Sounds like it just broke down on the way back."
Alura hummed, "Still, a lot of funny things are happening around the city lately."
Samantha chuckled, "I ain't too worried! You guys would be able to handle any problem that comes around."
"Heh, that's true!" Alura lightened up and pitched her worries over her shoulder for now.
"Still, ain't nothing wrong with being prepared." Samantha pointed out.
With that little bit of news in the back of their minds, Alura and Maria went back to the car and followed the GPS to the new deli.
True to Samantha's warning, it was pretty packed up on the inside, but the line was currently small.
Maria made one thing clear before they headed inside the door, "My priority is getting lunch."
"Alright." Alura said with a wiggling smile.
Maria raised a brow and then opened the door.
The deli had cozy vibes, clearly designed to invoke being near a fireplace along with inside of a fire station.
The guy running the front counter, tagged "Anthony", clearly had the burly physique of a former fireman and that appealing dash of ruggedness for good measure.
Not to Alura's taste, she prefers her men to start with "Joe" and end with "Dark", but maybe Maria will take a liking to him. It was a…"wait and see" moment.
She decided to start browsing the carry out menu to speed things up a little.
"Oh that's cute, there's little dalmatians at the bottom dragging a firehose along the border!" Alura said with her cheeks rosy from the cuteness.
Maria leaned in to check and then asked, "So what have they got?"
"Lotsa toasted sandwiches, and some five star coffee blends ooooh…"
"Hmmm, I'll pass on a coffee, but the Fiery Canals of Italy sounds pretty good." As Maria pointed at the item, Alura noticed that it had all the trappings of an Italiano sub, but with a little extra jalapeno bite and a marinara sauce spread.
"Well, I think you just decided for me!" Alura tucked the menu under her arm and smiled to tease her, "But unlike someone, I'm getting a coffee to go."
"I'll be fine with water." Maria said humbly.
Alura wanted to make a thirsty joke, and dare she say it was balancing off the tip of her tongue like an Olympic pool diver.
But she'd try and let things play out for now.
As she browsed the restaurant for things to do to maybe give her a subtle nudge, she was caught unawares by her nephew Leo sitting at one of the tables.
And lo and behold, he seemed to be having a quaint little lover's time with a curly violet haired girl.
As hungry to keep her gossip up to date as she was actually hungry, Alura started marching towards them while saying to Maria, "Please go ahead and take my order."
Maria sputtered, "W-What, but you're paying for yours!"
Alura spun back, flicked her debit card at her, and said in a sing-song tone, "You know my pin~"
Maria's sigh was the last thing she heard before focusing her full attention on her nephew's date.
She wanted to enter with subtlety, but the excitement of seeing young love reminded her so much of when she first fell for her husband it made her squeal, "Leeeeeooo! Heeeey!"
The girl sprung to attention first, with Leo letting out a sigh then greeting her with a smile.
"L-Leo?" The girl stuttered, looking like she was going to go into a state where it'd be hard to catch her breath, "I'm not going crazy am I, t-that sounded a LOT like-"
Leo put his hand gently onto hers and whispered, "Relax, it's just my aunt."
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww…." The girl bemoaned for a while, giving Alura ample time to swoop in and whisper to Leo, "What's with her?"
Leo whispered back, "She's a classmate, and a MAJOR fan of your music."
"Awww, that's adorable!" Alura giggled, before teasing him a little, "And totally out of your wheelhouse, mister."
Leo blushed and tapped on the table, "True, but I do enjoy her company despite our clashing music tastes."
The girl smiled back, "But I'm working on him. Little by little."
She then tried to reach out to Alura, her struggle pinpointing her blindness to her immediately, "Hi there, Leo's aunt. My name's Lyra, you could say I'm the Eugune to his Rapunzel."
Alura gracefully shook her hand. She had nice soft skin and was very princess-like in manners. Hard to imagine her as a metalhead, but then again, she used to be in the same boat.
"Guess it's time to flex my old acting chops a little." Since illusions were out of the question, Alura adjusted the pitch of her voice slightly to not incite the girl to squeal.
"A pleasure to meet you!"
And during this exchange, Leo looked around her and remarked, "Ah, you're here with her, that makes sense."
"Her who?" Lyra wondered.
"Maria, my older sister." Leo answered, taking a moment to exchange waving "Hi" with her as she finished making her order.
"Oh yeah, I remember her! She's the one with that nice flower shop out of town. Describe her to me again?"
Leo started off, "She's got red hair-"
"-tied into cute braided pigtails!" Alura added.
"Freckled skin-" Leo continued cautiously.
"That looks extra adorable whenever she gets flustered!" Alura declared.
Leo paused for a few moments before saying, "And she's about…close to your height."
Which Alura punctuated by smiling, "The perfect pick up and hug size!"
Lyra took this whole description affair to mean, "Leo, is she your aunt by marriage to your sister or-"
"Oh no no, I'm married to a husband! And I have two kids. You go to Leo's school so you may have heard of them. Erin? Alex?"
Lyra going "Oooooooh" really carried some negative connotations that Alura was REALLY not wanting to address at the moment, lest she cause a scene.
Fortunately the topic was dropped as Lyra seemed to have her priorities set on Maria, "So a red-head, eh? You sure do have a rainbow of hairstyles in your family, Leo."
Leo remarked, "Actually, Maria was adopted by my dad before we were born. It's…a little complicated."
Lyra smiled, "Well, tell me another time then."
"Well, I just wanted to say 'Hello' and see how my nephew's date was going. I'll leave you now!"
However, by saying that, she wedged some awkward silence between the two.
It took Lyra turning towards Leo with a slowly widening, anticipation smile, to get him to speak up, "...I hope you understand the complicated situation you put me in."
"Whoops!" Alura gasped.
"Well, Leo? IS this a date?" Lyra said in a teasing tone.
Leo raised a finger and calmly replied, "...Yes, and I promise to do a better job next time."
Lyra giggled and Alura creased a delighted smile, "Oh I LIKE her."
Alura returned to Maria and was surprised and happy to see she was still at the counter, talking with the nice man.
"What's going on here?" She inquired.
Maria answered, "Well, we have a few minutes, so I was curious to learn a little more about this place."
"Ah, her socialite bug is kicking in." Alura thought in an endearing way.
Anthony spoke, his dash of a Scottish accent adding to his charm, "I'm surprised you never heard of this place."
Alura said, "Well, Seattle is a small melting pot of cultures. Some things just slip our eyes."
Anthony smirked, "Well, one meal is all it takes to bring ya back."
"We're looking forward to it." Alura said.
Anthony then looked off to the side and with a puckered lip, began whispering, "Say…I know we just met and all-"
Alura's eyes lit up as he turned to Maria, "Oh my God is this it?!"
He gestured off the counter and remarked, "-But you seem to know that boy sitting with my baby girl."
"Oh…" Alura was at first disappointed, but then her spirits soared, "Oooooh, but what a twist!"
Now hyperfocused on letting this unfold, she took a vow of silence as Maria took center stage.
Maria looked over at her brother and said, "Oh yes, he's my little brother."
"Heh, small world," Anthony coughed and then awkwardly fumbled around what was on his mind, "...Then tell me, is my Lyra…safe around him?"
Maria whispered, "Leo is the kind of person who will rush headlong into danger to save a life. He prioritizes others happiness over his own at times. But most importantly, I've never known him to have an impure thought."
"B-But, I'm also his family, so…"
Her humbleness slid off him like he was soap, "I trust your word. You carry a very…homely, honest aura."
"Ooooh, he's already keyed in to some of her best traits!" Alura couldn't help but nudge Maria in the back.
Maria reached back and slapped her fingers.
Anthony then remarked, "It's tough raising her by myself. I just want to make sure I don't make any more mistakes. Her smile is as precious as her mother's."
Maria reached out empathetically, "Oh…I'm sorry to hear that about her mom."
Anthony paused to reflect on his own melancholy, then waved his hand and admitted, "I'm not going to ruin your meal with this."
"You know, if you're still dealing with stress, I can recommend a nocturnal herbal plant that would help alleviate it."
Anthony got a spark of sincere relief on his scruffy face, "Are you serious? That'd be incredible!"
"If you ever have time, just come visit my flower shop on the outskirts of town." Maria confidently passed out her business card, and Alura cracked the biggest, stupidest grin.
"Oh my God you're inviting him to your house!"
Maria turned sharply with flushed red cheeks while Anthony stared like he got caught red-handed.
"..." Alura stared like everything was normal before murmuring, "Wait that wasn't in my head, whoopsie."
Maria turned back and ran damage control, "D-Don't mind her, but it's true that my store is also my house and-"
Anthony stared at the card and chuckled, "Ah now I get it. I heard about you around town. You're THAT Maria."
He tucked the card away in his pocket and crossed his arms, "I'd be honored to visit on my day off."
"ORDER 156!" Was called out.
"O-Oh, that's ours!" Maria said, still slightly flustered.
"Ummm…" Anthony mumbled to hold her back a little longer.
His shy expression was extra attractive given his body type, and he needed a moment to hype himself up, "Boy this is going to sound ridiculous…"
He then asked Maria, "Do you…believe in love at first sight?"
Maria turned and was caught completely stiff in the face with disbelief.
Even Alura had to giggle at the line.
Anthony coughed and snapped his fingers, "No. It still ain't time. Not yet…"
"Come on dad, go for it!" Lyra shouted.
"L-Lyra?!" Anthony sputtered.
Lyra gave two thumbs up, and now that Maria was sandwiched between this movement she was really blushing.
Alura whispered, "Don't hide it, you're feeling something for him."
Maria said nothing but groaned uncomfortably.
Anthony, however, looked her way politely and remarked, "No no…I don't want to force anything onto you."
Maria shook her hands, "I didn't say no!"
Anthony's eyes lit up, "R-Really…?"
"...I didn't say yes either." Maria calmed down.
"Hmmm…" Anthony crossed his arms.
"Do it do it do it!" Lyra cheered either of them on.
Anthony closed his eyes and murmured for his company's ears only, "I think we'll just stick to our business arrangement, and see where it goes from there."
Maria sighed in relief, "That's a good idea."
"I won't keep you waiting any longer. Enjoy your lunch ladies." Anthony then turned away with a hint of reluctance in his eyes.
On the way to getting their meals, Alura thought, "He must not want to move on from his wife. Totally understandable…and it makes him even MORE attractive to Maria, I bet."
She then got elbowed in the gut softly as Maria picked up her food.
"What did I say?" Maria reprimanded her quietly.
"Okay, I admit, I went a little crazy there," Alura smiled sincerely, "But admit it, there's something there."
Maria blushed, "I-I guess so…maybe something will happen. But I'm not going to force him if he doesn't want to do anything."
They sat down to enjoy their lunch, with Alura telling her proudly, "I'm glad you didn't reject him outright."
"Cause for a moment there, I thought you were secretly a lesbian."
Maria almost choked on the first bite, and then after a tense swallow replied, "Y-You would've been the first to find out…trust me."
"..." Alura leaned in and smiled like someone of her age should, "You don't know how happy I am to see you take these important steps, Maria. "
Maria smiled back, "Ha ha ha. And I am grateful to have your help. Just…dial it back a little."
"No promises!" Alura slipped in a bit of her manic energy to that response, and Maria laughed.
So they enjoyed their lunch in peace.
Next Time: Lunalei's Trap