Luke's (after paintball), Wednesday

[vdistinctive]

Eliot had eaten at least three of every fried thing that was available in the park, but being a teenage boy, he was still hungry. So he headed to the diner he'd spotted while running through town.

"Do you guys do, like, quadruple cheeseburgers?" he asked. "And a buttload of curly fries. And a coke. Please." He gave the staff a bright, shiny smile and dug through his pockets.

Where was his wallet?

"Um."

And that was how he ended up slicing onions behind the lunch counter while the kitchen staff cooked him his excessively greasy midday snack.

Thank god for Ashley in Home Ec, last year. . . .

Today's specials
Build your own cheeseburger
Leaning tower of onion rings
Peach cobbler

Luke's was open and OCD free.

Comments

[whoisalicewhite]

Parker had snuck into some muffin place earlier, and grabbed some food, but this place looked like it might have burgers. Now to figure out the best way to sneak into the kitchen.

[vdistinctive]

“It’s you.” Eliot flipped his knife and pointed at the blonde girl who’d been in bed with him that morning.

There’d been someone else in that bed too, but Eliot was Not Thinking About That.

“Don’t try anything weird. I got my eye on you.”

[whoisalicewhite]

"I am weird," Parker said matter-of-factly to the Jock Guy she'd woken up with. Nerd Guy didn't appear to be around, so she wasn't feeling quite as hostile as she had earlier. "I don't have to try." She frowned, looking around. "Is the other guy here?"

Hmm. That was an awfully big fridge.

[vdistinctive]

"Well maybe try not to," Eliot said. "Like by not wandering into the kitchen of a diner!" He looked around and sighed. "No, the other dude isn't here. I dunno where he went after paintball."

[whoisalicewhite]

"You're not the boss of me." Parker was already wandering around and touching things. Everything. "I saw some paintball. Nobody got me, though. You work here?"

[vdistinctive]

"No, geez." Eliot shook his head, continuing to track her suspiciously. "I ordered lunch but I forgot my wallet. So I'm workin' for it."

[whoisalicewhite]

"You forgot it?"

Hunh. She thought she'd stolen it. Parker looked in one of the pockets of her too-large jacket, and smiled, then patted it shut. And started nibbling on some of the carrots she'd filched a minute ago. "You didn't run fast enough, hunh."

[vdistinctive]

"Mama says I'd lose my head if it wasn't screwed on," Eliot said. "And I didn't run! This is a small business, they work hard. They deserve to get paid."

[whoisalicewhite]

Parker gave him her blankest of blank expressions. The one she didn't have to practice. "They have this place. And all this food!" Nom nom nom. Unlike her face, her voice sounded puzzled. Mmm, peppers.

[vdistinctive]

"Yeah, and where do you think all this comes from?" Eliot had been groomed from birth to take over a struggling hardware store. He might resent the hell out of it, but he still knew how hard it was for a business to stay afloat.

[whoisalicewhite]

Okay, now *that* was weird. "The fridge," Parker said. Like it came from anywhere else? Speaking of... She opened the door to the walk-in freezer, and stared. "Whooooooooa."

[vdistinctive]

"The fridge doesn't just magically --" Eliot cut himself off, staring over her shoulder.

". . . Woah."

[whoisalicewhite]

"This is amazing," Parker whispered, then, in a voice full of hope, "You think we can get to the North Pole this way?"

DID SANTA LIVE IN THIS FRIDGE?!?!

[vdistinctive]

"What?!" Eliot gaped at her. "No! We're in --"

He actually had no idea where they were.

How had that not bothered him more earlier?

[whoisalicewhite]

"You don't know for sure," Parker argued back, staring around the well-stocked interior of the freezer-- and the far horizon covered in snow. "It could be like..." Like a lot of things she'd forgotten she'd ever wanted to believe. She darted a look at Jock Guy. "Finders keepers."

[vdistinctive]

"You can't keep an entire --" Eliot didn't know how to describe this place. "Tundra."

[whoisalicewhite]

"I can try!" Hmmm. She poked at his arm. "You can have part of it, if you want? ... IS THAT A POLAR BEAR?"

[vdistinctive]

"Why would I want part of a tundra?" Who was this girl?! "Wh -- don't touch the polar bear!"

[whoisalicewhite]

"Why?" Parker was already lunging forward, because FUZZY WHITE BEAR.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot grabbed for the back of her shirt. "BECAUSE IT'S A POLAR BEAR!"

[whoisalicewhite]

Parker flailed, because duh. Only now the polar bear was lumbering off, and she made a low, mournful sound. "You think it would let me ride it?" Bears were way less scary than horses.

[vdistinctive]

"I think it would eat your face."

[whoisalicewhite]

"Why would you care?" Not accusatory. Just confused. Parker stared at Jock Guy. Really, in her experience, people said things like good luck with that when she did something they thought was dangerous.

[vdistinctive]

Because he hadn't gone out and become a contract killer yet!

"Because it would be horrifying?"

[whoisalicewhite]

"You're...strange." As in new. Archie was the only person who'd ever cared about her taking risks. And he mostly just taught her how to do it smart. "In a good way."