Los Angeles, 2005
Megan took the last sip of her second margarita of the evening. She was enjoying the slight buzz from the alcohol she'd had with dinner, as well as being out with Walter at her favorite Mexican restaurant. She pushed the glass aside and propped her elbows up on the table, her chin resting on relaxed fists as she surveyed the other diners seated nearby. "Okay, Little Brother, it's time to play my game, Speech Jam." Walter groaned. "No bad attitudes, remember? You promised after last week's fiasco."
"What was wrong with last week's game?" Walter took the last bite of his entree.
Megan drummed her fingers on the table for a moment before replying. Where to begin? "Well, first of all, it wasn't the game I decided on."
"Your requested game was called, People Watching. I chose a person to watch, a man doing Sudoku from the newspaper at the next table. I observed his actions closely. How was it my fault that I had the same issue in the bag with my laptop?"
Megan tossed her napkin at him. "Because then you filled in the numbers on the grid in the same order he did. That wasn't the game."
"I literally watched him and did what he did. I thought that was the game." Walter told her. "I observed the position and movements of his pencil as he completed the puzzle. Instead of completing it from the top left corner to the bottom right, I filled in the puzzle in the man's less-than-stellar-intelligence order. And I used a pen!" Walter crowed triumphantly. "Was I incorrect?"
"Yes, Walter, you were incorrect. Playing People Watching involves creating elaborate backstories and motivations for a person or group of people. Not copying their order of filling in a math puzzle. It's meant to be silly and entertaining."
"I was quite entertained at timing the man's completion of his Sudoku. I still don't see how what you're describing and what I did are measurably different."
"Now you're just being purposely obtuse." Megan huffed and crossed her arms across her chest as she looked out into the restaurant, anywhere but at her infuriating genius brother. "And because you didn't actually play the requested game, I get to pick the game and the subject of the game tonight. You already agreed the last time we talked about this."
"What was the name of the game we're 'playing' tonight again?" Walter asked, curling his fingers as he spoke.
Megan playfully pushed his fingers down to the tabletop. "Don't get all condescending on my game and use air quotes when referring to it. The name of the game is Speech Jam. It's a version of People Watching that includes making up the dialogue that a couple or small group of diners in the restaurant might be saying to each other as they speak using body language and other nonverbal cues as well as imagination since we can't hear what they're saying."
"Oh boy, because last time that game went so well."
"Just for that, I get to pick which member of the couple I am. No bad attitudes is a rule too, and you just broke it… again!"
"Fine," Walter tossed his napkin on his plate in disgust. "But I get to order our dessert."
Megan beamed at him. Walter waived the waitress over as Megan cast her eyes around the restaurant at the nearby tables' occupants. She swiftly discovered the perfect target: a good-looking couple, obviously college students out on a date. The man looked athletic, with pale hazel eyes and brown hair that threatened to fall into his eyes. Megan thought that he was likely a soccer or baseball player at UCLA. The woman had likely been a high school cheerleader. Tonight she was wearing a bright pink Pi Epsilon sorority t-shirt. Her expertly applied makeup, high-end salon-quality highlights, and designer jeans screamed prom queen and everything about her showed that she knew it.
The unwitting pieces in her game chosen, Megan caught Walter's eye. He saw her dimples appear and her eyes sparkle with a devilish glint. "I see you've found a suitable target for your bizarre role-playing game."
"I never expected to find such perfect subjects," Megan gestured to the man and woman at the nearby table. Walter barely glanced their way and gave his sister a nod of acknowledgment, before he started calculating the rate of carbon dioxide loss from his glass of soda based on ambient temperature and relative humidity. Megan snapped her fingers in front of his face. "You promised. Now pay attention. You be the man, I'll be the woman. She's going to be a fun one." Megan turned her head slightly to more easily observe their actions. Their body language expressed neither one was particularly enjoying the evening at that moment.
The man spoke and the woman rolled her eyes. Megan turned to Walter to say something as the woman when she saw Walter gesturing to catch the waitress' attention. Her attention diverted from the unhappy couple for a few moments as Walter ordered dessert, Megan missed the next words the woman spoke, but it was obvious that the man had gotten the message and he didn't like it one bit. His face turned red and he leaned forward for a moment in a motion that caused Megan's heart to speed up in alarm for a moment.
The man growled something in disgust and stood, knocking the contents of his nearly untouched beer all over the woman's half-eaten dinner and most of the table. Without another word, he stalked out of the restaurant and didn't look back. The woman blinked furiously and glanced around the restaurant as if to discern if anyone around her had seen her humiliation. She didn't notice Megan's rapt attention at the nearby table.
"Did you see that, Walter?" Megan hissed. Walter shook his head. "You completely missed the best show and you didn't even narrate his parting shot! You're a terrible Speech Jam partner." Megan paused, "Though admittedly I didn't excel at the game tonight either."
Walter shrugged. "Forfeit?" Megan was trying to decide how to answer his question when the waitress returned with his order of fried ice cream with strawberries.
"I think we can call it a draw. So that makes it my choice again next time we go out."
That seemed fair to Walter, Megan enjoyed playing her favorite games and she seemed to gain some kind of entertainment even while complaining that Walter didn't play her games 'correctly'. He had already completely forgotten the couple at the table Megan was obsessed with as he pushed the dish to the center of the table. Megan stuck her spoon into the rapidly melting dessert, still watching the woman.
After her momentary embarrassment, the woman smoothed over her features and attempted to mop up some of the spilled beer with a napkin. Giving up on the mess that her dinner had become, she started picking at the bowl of chips and salsa that had avoided the dousing. She sat with a smile on her face as if she didn't have a care in the world. But after a few moments of valiant effort, her brave facade cracked once again.
Megan watched as the woman ducked her head and surreptitiously wiped a tear away from one perfectly made-up eye. The woman reached around the back of her chair as if searching for her purse to pay the bill and make a hasty exit before she realized she didn't have a bag with her tonight. Megan watched with dismay as the woman panicked, rifling through the pockets of her jacket hung on the back of the chair and the pockets of her jeans, all to no avail. No wallet, no money anywhere. Resigned, the woman rested her head on her arms on the table, heedless of how sticky they became sitting in the half-mopped-up puddle of beer, courtesy of Mister Personality. At that action, Megan gasped in horror. That got Walter's attention.
"What? What is it? Are you okay?" Walter's eyes quickly darted up and down her face and body as if trying to discern any causes for sudden physical pain or discomfort.
One of the perks of living with a chronic disease was that her physical health was always a surefire way to get her nerdy genius brother's attention. Megan waved off Walter's concern. "She didn't bring her wallet. She was on a date. She didn't think she'd need it. And now that creep left her at the restaurant alone with no way to pay the bill and probably no way to get home either."
Realization slowly dawned on his face as he realized his sister was talking about the woman at the other table. "That's terrible, but you're okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. She's not." Megan gestured to the woman.
"How do you know?"
"How do I know? How do I know?! Just look at her!"
Reluctantly Walter shifted in his seat and turned to look at the woman who, a few minutes earlier, had been an unwitting piece in his sister's strange game. As Walter turned, the leg of his chair rubbed along the ornate tile floor of the restaurant making a surprisingly loud scraping sound and the woman turned toward the unexpected noise. Walter truly looked at the woman for the first time and found himself unwilling to look anywhere else. For a moment, he indulged the impulse. For the first time in his life, Walter ceased thinking.
Her attention pulled away from the fact that she had no way to pay for this rather expensive meal she had just eaten, the woman locked eyes with Walter for a moment before looking away, discouraged. Realizing that her arms and strands of her hair were covered in beer, she attempted to wipe herself clean for a moment before giving up. She dropped the used napkin on the table and just stared down, dejected and uncertain about what to do next. Not only didn't she have any money, she hadn't even brought her cellphone.
Megan, of course, noticed the entire split-second moment between her brother and the woman. It had happened so fast, but she knew what she had seen and it told her everything she needed to know. The fleeting look on Walter's face of intrigue and attraction. The vulnerability that had shone for a moment in the woman's eyes. There was more, much more to the woman than she was interested in showing to the world. Maybe it was something the woman would let Megan's knucklehead little brother see. And he wanted to, even if he didn't know it yet himself. She leaned forward and took a bite of the dessert. This was an interesting and unexpected turn of events. People watching had finally paid off. "Walter.."
"Hmm?" His gaze had found the woman again.
Megan would have to try harder to get his attention. "Walter…" she kicked him under the table.
"What was that for?"
"You should go over there."
"Over where?"
Megan began to seriously wonder if his obvious interest in the woman had somehow short-circuited his big brain. "Over there," She saw the confusion on his face and clarified her statement further, "To her." She gestured to the woman who had captured her little brother's attention.
"Why?"
"She fought with her idiot boyfriend and he left her here without a way to pay for dinner, and likely no way to get home. Go over there and talk to her. Offer to pay for dinner. Offer to call her a cab. Help her! And maybe if you're smart, get her number."
"If I'm smart?! Surely you know how insulting that is." Walter took a bite of the ice cream in the center of the table.
"That's what you got stuck on? Whether or not I think you're smart, Mister Super IQ? Just go over there," She kicked him in the shin again.
"Ow! All right, all right, but only if you stop physically assaulting me."
"Fine," Megan assured him.
"But then we're even. Next time we go out to eat, I pick the restaurant and the game." Walter insisted.
"Oh, brother," Megan huffed. "If you have such a low sense of what's actually important in this situation, that you want to spend time here with me convincing me that you should get to pick the restaurant and game on our next night out, instead of getting your butt in gear and going over there before someone else does, then fine. Next time it's your turn."
Satisfied with Megan's concession, Walter stood and turned toward the woman two tables over who somehow had completely mesmerized him, an unfamiliar oscillating sensation in his abdominal region developing as he walked toward her.
Author's Note:
The fact that anyone reads my stories at all amazes me. And then when readers take the time to leave reviews and comments, I am humbled and amazed all over again. I want you to know that I read and treasure every single review. FFN makes me sad because the only 'official' way to reply to a review is to PM the reviewer and that feels kind of weird to take a public comment directly to a private message. I know that many writers put answers to their reviewers in the next chapter or next story. I have mixed feelings about that. So what I have chosen to do is to leave a guest review as 'Masikka' addressed to each comment/commenter. If you leave me a comment, I will do my best to reply in a timely manner. If you are ever so inclined, also feel free to PM me and I will answer that as well. Thank you once again for reading, enjoying, and commenting on these stories. You are my Cyclone!