Disclaimer: I do not own The Mr. Men Show or any of its characters. But I do own a few characters in this story and the idea that Mr. Grumpy has a brother and a niece.
For the first half of the next day, Mr. Grumpy and his niece spent time at his house, talking and watching TV. Mr. Grumpy was pleased to see that Little Miss Aloof also enjoyed fishing shows, like him, but around noon, he noticed she was losing interest in just sitting around and watching his programs. So he decided to take her to lunch.
They walked to the restaurant and when they entered the main part of town, they spotted Little Miss Music who was with her best friend, Little Miss Calamity, and the accident-prone Little Miss' boyfriend, Mr. Scatterbrain. He was slightly annoyed that the other two were with the red Little Miss, but he was actually happy to see Little Miss Music, and he invited her to come to lunch with them. And she asked if the others could come, too, which Mr. Grumpy couldn't say no to. If it hadn't been Little Miss Music who had asked, he'd say no in a heartbeat, but there was something about the way she looked at him, with those big, sparkling eyes of hers, like she admired him and longed to please him.
So the five of them went into the nearest restaurant, and Mr. Grumpy reflected that it was good to go out to eat knowing that Mr. Scatterbrain wasn't his waiter so maybe he could get through a meal at a restaurant without getting annoyed.
They sat at a table, and Mr. Grumpy picked up the menu. He turned to tell Little Miss Aloof something when he realized that Mr. Scatterbrain was gone. He turned to Little Miss Calamity. "Where is Scatterbrain?" he asked.
She shrugged and then suddenly the magenta Mr. Man was there, holding a notebook and a crayon. "Hello, what can I get you?" he asked, and Mr. Grumpy looked at him, dumbfounded.
"What is going on?" he demanded.
"I don't know." Mr. Scatterbrain shrugged.
"Do you have to work right now, Mr. Scatterbrain?" asked Little Miss Calamity.
"Um." He looked around, as if he was confused.
Mr. Grumpy facepalmed. How stupid was he? "Are you the waiter?" he asked. When Mr. Scatterbrain nodded, Mr. Grumpy groaned and said," I thought I could get through one meal without you annoying me."
Little Miss Aloof stared at her uncle. Why was he so upset? And didn't Mr. Scatterbrain come here with them? Why was he their waiter now? She was so confused. She jumped when a voice spoke beside her. She realized Little Miss Music was leaning toward her.
"Just go with it," she whispered to her. She straightened up again and turned to Mr. Scatterbrain. "Can I have beanballs and spaghetti?" she asked him.
Mr. Scatterbrain nodded and turned to Mr. Grumpy, who sighed and ordered the same thing. Little Miss Calamity ordered a bean burger, and Little Miss Aloof jumped a little when everyone turned to her.
"Um…" She looked at the menu. She didn't eat much and she didn't think she could finish a whole bean burger by herself, and she didn't really like beanballs and spaghetti. She was getting very anxious as she struggled to decide.
A touch on her shoulder made her look up at her uncle, who frowned at her. "What do you want?" he asked, and she flinched when she heard the impatience in his voice.
Mr. Grumpy saw his niece move away from him, and he regretted snapping at her. He took a deep breath, and said as gently as he could," Is there anything on the menu that you like?"
She blinked at her. "C-Can I just… um… have some… fries?"
He nodded and turned back to Mr. Scatterbrain, who wasn't even paying attention to them anymore. He was trying to balance the crayon on his nose. Mr. Grumpy cleared his throat, and Mr. Scatterbrain jerked his head up, dropping his crayon. He gasped and fell to his knees to pick it up, bumping his head on the table.
Mr. Grumpy rolled his eyes.
"Let me help," said Little Miss Calamity, standing up and guiding Mr. Scatterbrain out from under the table. He stood up, and his girlfriend told the others," We'll be back." And they hurried toward the kitchen.
Mr. Grumpy rolled his eyes again, and he jumped when he felt someone brush his hand. He looked up to see Little Miss Music smiling at him. "He can't help it," she told him softly.
All anger drained from him. "I guess," he muttered.
Little Miss Aloof watched her uncle and the Little Miss. She felt like a moment passed between them, but she didn't understand it, and she quickly looked away, pretending not to have noticed.
She brightened when she spotted Mr. Small on the other side of the restaurant. He was with Mr. Nosy, and they haven't noticed her yet. She turned back to her uncle and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. When he turned to her, she asked," Can I go say hi to Mr. Small?" She pointed to the small Mr. Man.
Her uncle hesitated. Finally, he nodded. "Okay, but don't be long." He turned back to Little Miss Music as Little Miss Aloof got up and went over to the two Mr. Men.
She was halfway there when Mr. Nosy looked up and spotted her. He tapped Mr. Small on the shoulder and pointed toward her. He turned just as she joined them.
"Oh, Miss. Aloof!" The small Mr. Man tipped his hat to her. "Good tidings!"
"Hey," she responded, waving shyly.
"Hey," Mr. Nosy replied, smiling. He glanced over at where her uncle sat with Little Miss Music. "What's Mr. Grumpy and Miss. Music talking about?"
She shrugged and didn't answer him. Instead she looked at Mr. Small and asked him," Are you going to the fair tonight?"
"Yes, we are," he told her. "Is Mr. Grumpy taking you?"
"Yup." Little Miss Aloof shifted her feet, suddenly feeling awkward. She wanted to keep talking to Mr. Small, but she didn't know what to say. She looked at Mr. Nosy when he asked her a question.
"When's your dad coming back?" he inquired.
She shrugged. "He said he'll be gone for a week and I've been here a couple of days so I'll still be here a few more days."
"Do you miss your home?"
Quickly, Mr. Small spoke up, giving his friend a weird look that Little Miss Aloof didn't understand. "I think Mr. Grumpy is trying to get your attention," he said, gesturing behind her.
She turned and saw her uncle waving her over. She noticed Mr. Scatterbrain and Little Miss Calamity walking over to the table, carrying plates. She was disappointed that she had to go back. She wanted to keep talking to Mr. Small.
"See you later," she said, and walked away.
"Goodbye!" Mr. Small called after her.
"Bye," Mr. Nosy said, and then he immediately turned to his best friend. "Why did you give me that look when I asked her if she missed her home?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. He didn't understand why Mr. Small didn't want her to answer that question. He was just curious.
Mr. Small sighed. "She's homesick, Nose," he told him. "Best not to bring up her home since she'll still be in Dillydale for a few more days."
Mr. Nosy thought he understood but he wanted to make sure. "She'll get sad if I ask her about her home?" he asked.
"Yes." Mr. Small glanced over to Little Miss Aloof who now sat with her uncle and the others. "We don't want her to get sad. We need to show her how fun and great Dillydale is. Then she'll want to come back if her dad ever needs Mr. Grumpy to babysit again."
"Oh." Mr. Nosy blinked. "How do we do that?"
"It shouldn't be hard," Mr. Small said. "Dillydale truly is fun and great." The small Mr. Man looked thoughtful. Then he jumped up and gestured for Mr. Nosy to follow. "Come on, Nose. I have an idea."
"Ooh!" Mr. Nosy jumped up, too and ran after him, asking," What's your idea?"
Mr. Grumpy watched as Mr. Small and Mr. Nosy left the restaurant before turning back to his niece. "What do you want to do after lunch?" he asked, picking up his fork and eating a mouthful of his food.
With Little Miss Calamity's help, Mr. Scatterbrain exactly got all their orders right. Little Miss Aloof frowned, looking thoughtful as she ate a few of her fries.
"I'd like to take a walk through the park," she finally said. "Um… I saw in a shop that they sell kites. Can I get one and fly it?"
Mr. Grumpy hesitated. He didn't really like flying kites, but he saw the hopeful expression on his niece's face. Finally he sighed. "Okay. We can do that." He looked at Little Miss Music. "Want to fly kites with us?"
She shared a glance with Little Miss Calamity who looked at her boyfriend. Mr. Grumpy blinked, not understanding the looks.
"We actually have plans after lunch," Little Miss Music told him, and he tried to hide his disappointment. "We were going to go to the library and try to find a new book for our book club."
"Oh. Okay." Mr. Grumpy turned to Little Miss Aloof. "Looks like it'll just be us."
Little Miss Aloof nodded. "Okay."
They ate in silence and when they were done and paid the bill, Mr. Grumpy said goodbye to Little Miss Music and he and Little Miss Aloof headed toward the Hobby Shop.
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