Despite having to work on his day off, Steve is happy at how good BBQ Bob's business has been today. It was a steady pace to enjoy running a restaurant instead of feeling like being run into the ground by it or ever regretting buying Bob's in the first place.
It also gave him opportunities to check his phone for the updates his father sent him throughout the day. He's relieved his dad and Ellen succeeded in getting Aurie released to their custody. Having heard enough rumors about conditions in the detention center, he wasn't comfortable with Aurie being in there longer than necessary. Despite his initial misgivings about her, he feels she's had it rough enough as it is.
It also disturbed him when Mark texted to say they were taking Aurie to the ER to get checked out. Mark wasn't very detailed, but Steve knew his dad wouldn't have gone through that trouble without good reason. However, things must be fine if Mark just texted they're heading to Bob's for a late lunch/early dinner.
Crossing the room with an empty bin in hand, he starts clearing off a cluttered table. Once he's got the dirty dishes gathered up, he's heading for the kitchen and scowls when he sees Jesse walking in the front door with Aurie."I'm just saying it's an interesting evolutionary quirk," Jesse points out, holding the door open while ushering Aurie inside.
"That's not a quirk, it's a belch," Aurie retorts. "Whether it was God or Mother Nature, someone was doing some strange drugs to come up with the platypus."
"What are you doing here?" Steve interrupts while pointedly looking at Jesse.
"Aurie hasn't eaten since lunch yesterday," Jesse replies as if that explains everything.
"I expected Dad and Ellen to be walking in the door with her, not you. You wanted the day off."
"Which I didn't get to start until I finished with my last patient here," he grins while gently patting Aurie on the shoulder. "And now I get to enjoy a nice meal with my friends at our restaurant."
"Hi, Aurie," Steve finally greets her, getting a small wave in return.
Glowering at Jesse, he disappears into the kitchen. Looking over at Aurie, Jesse notices her arched brow.
"What good is owning a restaurant if you can't enjoy the food?"
"It'd be a bad sign if you didn't eat here."
"Exactly," Jesse grins.
Aurie smirks while shaking her head and letting him guide her over to the table they ate at the other day. She enjoyed the car ride over with him. It was much nicer riding with the top down in his convertible than in the back seat of Ellen's car. Plus, Jesse is easy to talk to about nothing and anything, taking her mind off of the burning train wreck that seems to be her life at the moment.
Once Aurie is seated, Jesse steps over to the counter and grabs a few menus. Handing her one, he places the rest on the table for Ellen and Mark.
"What do you want to drink?" he asks her.
"I think I'll just take water this time."
"Okay, be right back," Jesse nods then gets up and heads towards the kitchen.
Aurie looks over the menu, figuring it's probably not a good idea to have the Five Alarm Special again even though she really liked it.
"Dad said he was taking you over to the hospital to get checked out, but that looks a lot worse than I imagined," Steve comments, drawing her attention to him standing next to her and eyeing her arms and face in concern.
"They said my back is pretty bad too, but nothing's cracked or broken."
"Do you want an ice pack?"
"No thanks," Aurie smiles softly. "Jesse had me icing it while we waited for the x-rays."
"That's good," Steve smiles back. "What happened?"
"Two cholas getting deported decided they didn't like me and didn't like how I understood the crap they were spewing before I threw it right back at them. I wish I had a camera to get the stupid looks on their faces because they didn't expect the white chick thrown in with all the illegals to know Spanish fluently," she rolls her eyes.
"Maybe they thought you were an illegal from Canada," Steve quips, earning a laugh from Aurie.
"Probably," she agrees, calming. "Seems their fragile egos couldn't take it 'cause they decided to prove how hardcore they were by jumping me two to one." Looking down at her arms and flipping them over, she adds, "It might not have been so bad if I fought back, but I didn't so it wouldn't count against me."
"But it would've been self-defense," Steve frowns in confusion as Jesse returns with the drinks.
"Maybe not in ICE's eyes," she shrugs. "It seems like they'll change the rules based on the weather because they can. Even if that's not true, I didn't want to take the chance. And the guards pulled those girls off before they could do any real damage and tossed them into solitary. It won't be long 'til they're on their way back to El Salvador or wherever they crawled out of."
"Glad it wasn't worse," Steve accepts with a nod. "Dad also texted about you not eating since lunch yesterday and wants you to start without them. If you know what you want, I can get that started."
"Hey, what about me?" Jesse protests.
"What about you? You've got some free time thanks to your day off," Steve retorts, earning a mocking, silent laugh from his partner.
Aurie decides to order before things escalate.
"I thought I'd go easy with a salad, but I don't see any on the menu," she frowns in confusion. "It's weird 'cause I thought Amanda ordered one the other day. I guess I'll go with a mushroom cheeseburger, medium rare, and fries."
"You're right, Amanda did order one and so did Mark, but they have to ask for it. And you know what?" Jesse facetiously asks her. "Salads would be a great addition to the menu, but someone thinks they don't belong in a barbecue restaurant," he explains, looking pointedly at Steve.
"They don't," Steve retorts.
"Why don't you have such an easy moneymaker?" Aurie asks Steve.
"Because no one would order them and customers are coming here for the barbecue, not the salads," he explains as if it should be obvious.
"Unless they're being dragged here by their friends, family, or co-workers." Seeing his confusion, she continues, "Someone could be joining a celebration and have dietary restrictions, and eating barbecue could be bad for them. And salads are great palate cleansers for dessert. No one wants the lingering taste of barbecue sauce when trying to enjoy ice cream."
"Yeah, Steve," Jesse taunts in agreement.
Steve shoots him a look before replying to Aurie.
"We don't serve dessert and groups like that should be thinking of everyone when going out for a celebration like that."
"That's a crime you don't, but a good point. But why miss out on easy profits like that?"
Both Steve and Jesse look at her, prompting her to explain further.
"For basic house salad ingredients, the wholesale costs aren't that high and it's easy to price it for a hundred percent profit. Add some grilled meat and you can go higher. Plus, most customers will add a house salad without thinking. And for those coming in on a date or something who isn't interested in eating barbecue, you'll still be making money instead of them sitting there drinking water."
Steve frowns in thought as a waitress having finished clearing off another table steps over.
"Want me to put that in for you?" she asks Steve, eyeing the notepad in his hand.
"Thanks," he answers, tearing off the sheet and handing it to her.
"Do you want to join them since it's slow?" she asks while reading the order.
"Yeah," Steve replies, taking the paper and scribbling down his order before handing it back.
"What about you, Jesse?" she asks.
"Yes," he glares at Steve then tells her what he wants.
Smiling and knowing it's best not to ask, she adds Jesse's food to the order slip and heads toward the kitchen. Steve steps over to the counter to grab his glass. He returns to the table and eases into the seat across from Aurie, while Jesse asks another question.
"You seem to know a lot about restaurant pricing, have you worked in a restaurant before?"
"I'm working for a restaurant called El Parador. Well, it might be 'worked' now 'cause this trip is taking longer than I meant it to, so I don't know if I'll still have a job when I get back."
"And it took only three days to get an appropriate answer," Steve mutters under his breath while sipping his tea.
Aurie gives him a flat look and takes a deep breath.
"Despite shuffling like Quasimodo, I don't feel like swinging from the bell tower, much less fighting. Truce?"
"I was merely commenting I asked the same question three days ago and got a non-answer."
"During an impromptu interrogation," she pointedly challenges.
"Okay, truce," Steve smirks, throwing his hands up in surrender.
Aurie smiles back in relief.
"Glad you two aren't going to bicker the entire time," Jesse mutters before recoiling at dual glares. Nervously clearing his throat, he looks at Aurie. "So you help run this restaurant?"
"Nope, I started out bussing then moved up to serving," Aurie replies, deciding to ignore his first comment. "But it's family-run and sometimes I ended up learning stuff I probably wouldn't learn at a big chain restaurant or doing stuff I normally wouldn't get to do."
"And do they serve salads?" Steve asks.
"Yep," she nods. "Our biggest seller is the taco salad which has everything bad and good all at once."
"Bad and good?" Jesse prods.
"Goes without saying the actual salad part is the good part, but with the deep-fried tortilla shell, meat, refried beans, sour cream, and guacamole it's not so healthy anymore. My point is, salads are pretty cheap, easy to make, consistently sell, and have a profitable return."
"Gee, Steve, even Mexican restaurants serve salads," Jesse goads, earning another glare.
Before Steve can retort, their food arrives. Aurie prepares her burger by adding mustard to the buns before reassembling it. She then clears a spot on her plate to add ketchup to dip her fries into.
"You mentioned being able to do other stuff, like what?" Steve asks, seizing on the chance to learn more without putting her on the defensive.
"Sometimes I got to cook," she grins. "Not just doing the prep work, but actually cooking the food, which is a lot of fun."
Their attention is drawn by the jingling of the front door opening as Mark and Ellen enter the restaurant. Exchanging greetings, Mark takes his seat at the head of the table while Steve stands up to embrace and kiss his greeting with Ellen.
"Ignore them," he tells Aurie while swiping one of her fries. "They're going to be busy for a while."
"Yeah, your food would be stone cold by the time they come up for air," Jesse quips before taking another bite of his food.
Aurie grins and focuses on her food, deliberately ignoring Mark stealing another fry before looking at his menu and figuring out what he wants. It gives enough time for Ellen and Steve to finally join them at the table. Having settled on his order, Mark sets his menu aside to wait for their server while Ellen decides on her order.
"Anything interesting happen before we got here?" he asks conversationally.
"Aurie and Steve called a truce and succeeded in not bickering for more than five minutes," Jesse quips, earning glares from the two again.
"You like to live dangerously, don't ya?" Aurie asks. "As in dancing in a lion's den with raw meat strapped to your body dangerous. And aren't you the pot calling the kettle, 'black'?" she challenges.
"So you got to witness Steve and Jesse's usual interaction too?" Mark asks Aurie with a grin.
"Within five minutes of stepping through the door," Aurie smirks back.
"Hey, I'm not that bad!" Jesse indignantly retorts. "Besides, Steve is the common denominator here, proving it's not my fault."
Steve glares harder at Jesse, causing Ellen to laugh at his expression.
"Way to throw someone under the bus," Aurie quips.
"Agreed," Mark nods.
Their server returns and she takes both Mark and Ellen's orders. After checking with everyone else, she returns to the kitchen to put the orders in. Jesse looks over at Mark.
"Anyways, to finish answering your question, Aurie made a very good, reasonable argument as to the benefits of making salads a permanent menu item."
"I never understood why you guys didn't have them in there from the beginning," Ellen muses, drawing a glare from Steve.
"Not you too," he grouses, earning a sweet, defiant smile from her.
"Then Aurie was telling us a bit about her experiences working at a restaurant," Jesse adds for Mark's benefit before looking over at Aurie. "You were saying how you got to cook at work sometimes. How'd you get a chance to do that?"
Aurie finishes the fry she was munching on before answering him.
"Like I said, it's a family-run restaurant and the cooking duties are mostly between two or three cousins of the owners. Because it's family-run, the relatives try to get away with murder. So if there's a big, family party after work one night, chances are good more than a couple of them are either going to show up hungover or not at all. A lot of times it's not at all. Especially, with two of the cooks."
"How is it they didn't get fired?" Ellen asks when Aurie pauses to take a sip of water.
"Because in big Mexican-American families like that, you don't fire family," Aurie explains. "But it's not so much out of loyalty as they don't want to hear the griping and complaining that would spread through the rest of the family like wildfire. Especially since the owner's mom and two of the cook's moms are sisters. It'd be entertaining with loads of drama, but the fallout wouldn't be pretty."
Aurie is interrupted by their server returning with Mark and Ellen's food. Once she finishes checking if everyone is good and if they need anything, she heads off to check another table.
"Anyways," Aurie continues. "The first time it happened the scheduled cook was way too hungover to bother coming in and I got handed an apron, dragged into the kitchen by the owner then told I'm temporarily promoted. Make the orders. The owner was too hungover to bother trying to help me with anything, but I had the recipe sheets and did what I could. Stressful, but I did okay. I slightly burned myself, didn't poison anyone, and didn't burn down the kitchen. So that was a win."
Aurie pauses again to eat another French fry before continuing.
"And I had helped in the kitchen before, cutting ingredients and stuff, so I knew pretty much where everything was or how certain things are prepared. Since then, the owner liked using me to keep the cooks in line by not only threatening to tell their mom about certain things they've done that they've hidden from her but by threatening to fire them and give me their job."
"But you just said they wouldn't get fired," Ellen states, frowning in confusion.
"The owner wouldn't, but they're not so sure because she plays up how good I am in the kitchen, claiming the restaurant had an increase in profits and customer praise over the food. As far as she's concerned, it'd be better if I replaced them."
"If she's 'claiming' does that mean it's not true?" Steve asks.
"Pretty much," Aurie shrugs. "The times I had to cook was the day after some sort of big family celebration, like a wedding, holiday, or quinceañera. It was really slow at the restaurant those days. If anything, we lost money, but since the cooks were no shows they wouldn't know any better."
Aurie grins as the others laugh at her story before munching on another fry.
"That's pretty smart, but that wouldn't work on our cooks even if we had that problem," Steve comments.
"Definitely," Jesse agrees. "Do you get to cook anything even when the kitchen staff isn't hungover or MIA?"
"Not too often," Aurie replies, wiping her mouth after finishing off her last fry. "The cooks are more efficient. I'd just slow things down. But they have shown me some tricks and stuff and how to make certain recipes, which I've been using when cooking at home."
"What's your favorite thing to make?" Mark asks while taking a sip of his iced tea.
"Tacos. They're simple and you can put anything in them. I make really good shrimp tacos."
"So Taco Bell has nothing on you," Jesse quips, earning a sardonic look from Aurie.
"Not even in the same universe close."
"Well, for Mexican fast food, it's decent."
"It's an insult to Mexican food," Aurie retorts. "It's okay in a pinch, but it's crap. Every time I've had it, the tomatoes are always on the verge of spoiling. The shells are pre-made and always taste stale. And the meat is a mystery because it's so over-processed it's hardly recognizable. Don't even get me started on their so-called hot sauces. Del Taco is way better by comparison, though still not nearly as good as mine."
"That's some confidence," Jesse quips.
"I can back it up," Aurie snorts.
"That's a challenge I want to taste," Mark grins.
"Me too," Steve agrees.
"Since you're staying at Mark's, I'd say that's a good opportunity to rise to that challenge," Ellen suggests.
"Definitely," Aurie agrees. "I'm going to have to figure out what I'll need then go to the store."
"Not today," Mark states, finishing wiping his mouth with a napkin. "As good as your tacos are sounding, you need your rest. Doctor's orders."
"Okay," Aurie agrees while playfully rolling her eyes.
"On that note, we should probably head back to the house," Mark states, having noticed Ellen already finished her food.
"When are you coming home?" Ellen asks Steve.
"After closing," he replies, throwing another glare at Jesse who pointedly ignores it in favor of taking a drink from his glass.
"How about I come back after dropping Mark and Aurie off? Then maybe we can go out for some dessert afterward," she suggests with a playful grin.
"Sure, that sounds like a great idea," he agrees, leaning in for a kiss.
"Well, unlike you two, I'm not stuck waiting on them to come up for air, so I'm heading out," Jesse states, rising to his feet. Looking at Aurie, he adds, "Make sure to get plenty of rest and you'll start feeling better soon."
"I will," she nods. "And thanks."
"No problem," he grins before stepping over to the register to take care of his bill before heading out the door. "Catch you guys later," he waves on his way out.
"See you later, Jesse," Mark waves along with Aurie.
Ellen pulls back first to smile into Steve's eyes.
"I'll come back in about an hour."
"Looking forward to it," he smiles back as they both rise to their feet, prompting Mark and Aurie to follow suit.
Minutes later after Mark settled their bill with Steve, the three are on their way home. During the ride, Aurie watches the scenery changing outside in fascination as Ellen navigates shaggy, brown hills despite the dense, urban setting that is Los Angeles. It's nothing compared to the view when they crest the hill to the coastline.
Mark glances over his shoulder and notices her reaction, remembering her comment about not seeing much of LA's sights during her past experience in the city.
"This is your first time seeing the ocean in person, isn't it?" he asks, earning a nod.
"Pictures and what is shown on TV or in the movies don't even come close," she replies, awed.
"No it doesn't," he grins before looking over at Ellen. "Take us to that overlook near the house."
"Sure," she nods.
Within minutes Ellen pulls into the parking lot of an overlook high on a hillside. Mark leads the way to a railing near a couple of picnic ramadas where they can safely take in the breathtaking view of the ocean as well as miles of coastline and multi-million dollar neighborhoods.
"Wow, this is amazing!" Aurie breathlessly comments, trying to take in the stunning view bathed in the golden hues of the late afternoon light.
"See those ships off in the distance?" Mark points out. At Aurie's nod, he adds, "They look small, but those cargo ships are huge and can carry 200 thousand tons of cargo. When you get up close to them, you get an idea of what it's like to be an ant."
"That's a good analogy," Ellen comments, chuckling with Aurie at his joke.
"Do you have to ride a boat out there to see whales?" Aurie wonders aloud. "Or do they stay away because of all those cargo ships?"
"You can see them from the beach," Mark answers. "And not just whales. There are lots of dolphins out there. And seals and sea lions come ashore and hang out."
"Really?" Aurie looks at him as he nods.
"You just have to be careful not to disturb the seals if they're basking onshore. There are laws to protect them," Mark explains.
"That's good because people act stupid sometimes," Aurie replies. "This is really cool. You didn't have to detour out of the way to show me this, but thanks for doing it."
"It's not out of the way," Ellen explains as they head back to the car. "We're maybe five minutes from Mark's house."
Aurie frowns slightly in confusion, processing her words. She figures as a doctor, Mark would have a very nice house, but for the past couple of miles, she's been seeing fancy mansions lining the beach and creeping up the hillsides that she would not describe as 'houses'. The difference is too significant. However, her mind is blown as Ellen makes a left turn into the gated driveway of a very comfortable-looking two-story mansion.
"Thanks for the help today and driving, Ellen," Mark smiles when she parks the car.
"Yeah, thank you," Aurie echoes, unfastening her seatbelt.
"No problem, I love giving federal agencies a hard time," she grins back at the both of them. "I probably won't see you two until tomorrow, so have a good night."
"You too," Mark replies easing out of the car.
Aurie steps over to Mark, giving Ellen a wave as she maneuvers back onto the road. Following Mark as he turns up a gated path between the garage and another structure to the front door, Aurie tries subtly taking everything in, feeling overwhelmed. She pictured Mark as having a nice, simpler family home like the ones on the old sitcoms she'd seen a couple of times. Even as they cruised along the highway, she expected Ellen to drive back up into the hills or something. She didn't think Mark owned a house on the beach, much less a comfortable-looking mansion.
Mark ushers her inside. He gives her a few moments to look around and take everything in, watching as her eyes lock on the ocean outside the back windows.
"You can see the ocean from in here! That's so cool!" Aurie breathes in awe, stepping further into the foyer.
"Well, now you can have a real spring break while waiting for the test results," Mark grins affably. "As you can see, it's a short walk over the dunes to the beach."
"Being a doctor and restauranteur in California has some nice payoffs, huh?"
"Sort of," Mark chuckles. "I got lucky. A friend of mine who's a DEA agent tipped me off about this house going up for auction after being part of a drug seizure, netting me a good deal."
"Oh, so you wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise? Even being a doctor?"
"Maybe if I was a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon in private practice," he quips. "My job pays well and the restaurant is doing well, but not well enough to normally afford a home like this on the beach. Real estate around here is well into the millions. When the opportunity came up, I got it for a lot less."
"That's cool," Aurie grins back.
"Certainly a dream come true," he nods. "Now let me show you the rest of the house so you can settle in and relax."
"A shower would be nice. I didn't dare take one in the detention center. After running into those two cholas I didn't dare chance it, which is probably where they would've jumped me."
"They might have hurt you a lot worse if you had. Your backpack is in the guest room, which I'll show you in a bit, but everything you could need is in the guest bathroom. C'mon."
Mark leads her downstairs to Steve's apartment first. As he's showing her the two-bedroom, one-bath unit, Aurie thinks it's much too big to be described as an apartment. Not while taking into account the large living room with a wet bar, large fireplace as well as a full-sized kitchen.
Instead of going back upstairs, Mark ushers her out through the private entrance, showing her the patio, jacuzzi, and backyard before leading her back upstairs to the main deck and into the house. She likes how airy and light the kitchen is. It's also nice how the adjacent dining room has a great view of the beach and the ocean.
"I like how you got this area set up for TV watching," Aurie comments as they leave his den to walk towards where the bedrooms probably are.
"Right between the kitchen and the bathroom," Mark grins, earning a grin back.
"Be even better if both were right next to it."
"Not really, because then you can't have the TV too loud if someone has gone to bed."
"Good point," Aurie nods as he shows her the bathroom.
"You mentioned wanting to take a shower. Everything you might need is in the cabinets or on the shelves," he explains, before pointing to the room directly across the hallway. "You'll find your backpack on a chair in that room. The room next door is another guestroom, so if you don't like this one you're welcome to switch rooms." He then gestures toward the end of the hallway. "My room is down that way."
Dropping his arm he faces her.
"While you're here, you've got free range of the house. Don't be afraid to help yourself to whatever you need and if you aren't sure, ask. This house isn't that big where you can't find me," he smiles at her.
"Thanks," she smiles back.
"Okay then, I'll leave you to it. I'm going to go change into something more comfortable then I'm going to head back to the den and watch TV. You're welcome to join me if you don't feel like turning in so early."
"Okay," Aurie nods.
Mark heads down the hallway and disappears into his room as Aurie steps into the guest room. She idly wanders around the room in awe, feeling like it's about the size of her apartment.
Picking up her backpack and sitting down on the comfortable bed to rummage through it, she figures she's not going to have any problem sleeping tonight. Grabbing what she needs out of her bag, she ventures into the bathroom. Taking her time washing her hair and body, she enjoys the hot water easing some of the stiff achiness from her body, not feeling on guard for the first time in days and just letting her mind go blank.
Nearly an hour later she finally emerges from the bathroom. Having towel-dried her hair, she changed into a large, worn t-shirt and a pair of baggy shorts before brushing her hair out. Briefly disappearing into the bedroom to drop off her things, she wanders out of the room and follows the sound of the TV.
Comfortably slouched down on the sofa, Mark watches Aurie as the stunning sunset beyond the windows captures her full attention. Drifting past him, she crosses the room and then steps onto the deck. She walks over to the railing to lean on it and watch the sun sink on the horizon. She briefly glances over to her left when Mark joins her, before returning her gaze to the setting sun.
"You definitely lucked out getting this place," Aurie finally breaks the companionable silence as dusk settles around them.
"Can't say I'm the least bit sorry for seizing the opportunity."
"I wouldn't be either," she agrees. "The sunsets are about as good as the ones back home."
"Well, Arizona sunsets are hard to beat. Too bad the reason they're so stunning is because of the pollution in the atmosphere."
"Killjoy," she quips.
"Then let me make it up to you. Would like some ice cream? Got a couple of options, including rocky road."
"Mmmm, that sounds good. Sure."
Aurie follows him back inside where they get to work serving up bowls of ice cream before heading into the other room to watch TV. She declines his offer of watching whatever she wants, opting to enjoy her ice cream while he flips through the channels.
"Looks like the 1956 version of 'Around the World in 80 days' is about to start. Would you like to watch it with me?"
"Sure," she shrugs. Reaching for his empty bowl abandoned on the coffee table, she stands up. "I'll take care of these before it starts."
"Just leave them in the sink. I'll wash them later."
"I've got it. It's not going to take me long," she counters.
Leaving before he can argue, she disappears for a few minutes into the kitchen to wash their dishes, returning a short time later she settles next to him on the sofa just in time for the movie to start. Aurie appreciates it's a comedy and it isn't long before she's enjoying it.
"Oh, I didn't know Cantinflas ever did an English movie," Aurie comments during the scene when Phileas Fogg meets and interviews Passerpartout.
Not sure he heard right, Mark frowns slightly in confusion as he glances over.
"Who?"
"Hmm?" she distractedly replies, before tearing her eyes from the movie to look at him. Realization lights up her face. "Oh. Cantinflas. He's playing the butler, or whatever to the British guy."
"Is Cantinflas his real name?"
"His stage name," Aurie shrugs. "I don't know his real name, but he's really famous in Mexico. Did a lot of movies, mostly comedies. They would show his movies a lot on TV down there and every so often the local theaters did film fests of them. He's kinda the Mexican Charlie Chaplin."
"I didn't know that," Mark replies. "This is the only movie I've seen him in, but I've always enjoyed his performance. I'll have to check out his other movies."
"Do you at least understand Spanish?"
"I'm not fluent, but I can speak and understand it. Why?"
"Because as far as I know, all of his other movies are in Spanish," she explains. "That's normally not a big deal, but his characters always talk in doublespeak where they're saying one thing, but the phrasing and how he says things mean something else. A lot of times, his characters are fast-talking their way out of trouble while making the supposedly smarter characters look really stupid. I sometimes had trouble getting the jokes because the references were from the 30s or 40s or whenever the film was made. But he was also kinda like the Marx Brothers and does a lot of physical comedy, so that made his movies more enjoyable to me."
"Oh, that's good. I love physical comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton."
"Then you'll like the movies and can probably find them on whatever Spanish language channels you've got here on the weekend," she muses thoughtfully, returning her gaze to the movie.
Mark hums in agreement and also focuses back on the movie. Towards the end of the movie, Aurie is struggling to stay awake.
"I hadn't seen that one, but I liked it," she comments during the ending credits before stifling a yawn.
"It's one of my favorites," Mark nods. Noticing her yawn, he adds, "Even though it's still early, maybe you should head off to bed."
"Yeah, I'm going to," she agrees. "I was having a hard time staying awake towards the end. Not surprising since that was a long movie." After stretching and stifling another yawn, she rises to her feet. "You have a good night and I'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight, Aurie. Let me know if you start feeling worse or need anything. I don't care what time it is."
"Okay," she agrees before stepping around the coffee table to head down the hallway.
Switching the channel to the news, Mark spends another hour watching TV before deciding to call it a night himself.
Cholas- slang for Latina gang members