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Lunch Jitters (6-23-18)


[WP] You are the greatest villain in the world. When you come face to face with your only rival, he says, “Do you want to grab a coffee before we start? I’ve haven’t eaten all day.” [Link to post.]

 "I'm so glad you said something, I started late today too," The Shade said. He patted the heavy, dark leather coat over his stomach, then leaned closer to whisper at SunKnight. "Kayla's teeth are coming in, and Lucille's out of town for that thing." He shrugged, then pulled off his black, featureless hood. "I needed an extra 40 winks. Let's do a lunch, meet me at the pizzeria in 20." Keith Slinny, the man under The Shade's mask checked his watch. The rest of his black costume dissipated from his body; black smoke wafted from him like steam escaping a body in winter. "At this point, we'll end up putting it off until tomorrow so I need to book the babysitter now."

 "The wedding's tomorrow, remember? Let's take the weekend off and do Monday?" SunKnight asked. His armor faded from in a golden glow. 

 "Right. See you in a bit." A breeze disturbed the black smoke that formed Keith causing the man to fade away. Jorge Amaya walked out of the dark alley that had become their greeting place over the years. He decided to enjoy the walk to their favorite pizza shop. The stroll through his town filled Jorge with pride. He goes above and beyond other heroes. He does not only defend his city, he nurtures it. He helps improve it without anyone realizing it. Jorge arrived at Luca's Pizza 15 minutes after he left Keith, but found the man waiting for him already when he walked in. His friend waved him over. 

 "Food's ordered already," Keith said. He nodded at the second cup of soda on their wooden table. It sat in front of an empty seat. Jorge thanked Keith with a nod as he sat down in the booth.

"Thanks. Hey, since we're postponing anyway, can we change the route a bit? I walked through the park on my way here, and their bathrooms are horrible." Jorge asked. Keith nodded.

"Definitely. Kayla loves that park," Keith replied. His dark brown eyes rolled upward as he tried to picture the area. "Uhhh. Oh, we can work it in between the bank and here." He sat up straighter to check the area around them, then leaned closer over the table. He grabbed the salt and pepper shakers. "Bank." He set the shaker on the table between them. "Pizza." He set the pepper to the side, some distance away. Then he grabbed the parmesan shaker and placed it an equal distance from the two, in a triangle formation. "Park." He pointed at the salt shaker. "After I steal the money I can blast you hard enough to get you to the park. After a tussle there you knock me over here for the finale." Jorge nodded his agreement, then a middle-aged Italian woman approached their table carrying two large pizzas. She set them down, then grabbed their cups to refill.

"Ma, why are you wasting dough? I only ordered one." Keith asked Luca's owner, Ma Luca. She smiled at Keith with a shrug.

"Might as well use it up, I won't have anywhere to put it once this place is wrecked," she winked at Jorge.

"Oh yeah. Uh, Monday instead, okay?" Jorge said and flashed his best apologetic smile.

"But today's the 31st." Her voice dropped. She knelt at the table between them. "It needed to be today, or I have to pay another month's rent." She grasped their hands with each of hers. "I don't have another month's rent." Keith checked his watch.

"Okay. Let us finish eating, then we'll come back. We can just start here and work our way backward, right?" Keith looked across the table at Jorge. Joy poured into Ma Luca's face through her glassy brown eyes.

"Thank you!" Keith shook his head.

"You will. In about an hour start cooking up all your dough, I'd love to eat pizza for the next week or so."

"Thank you!" Ma said again, then walked away carrying their cups.

"So I'm going to punch you to the bank? Doesn't that strike you as a bit suspicious?" Jorge asked once Ma left. He did not want to diminish her hopes. Keith shook his head.

"Yeah, you're right. It's fine, it's Ma. We can hit the bank next month. We'll just hit the park and here today."

"Thanks," Jorge said. He offered a hand across the table, and he felt glad when Keith shook his hand.

"It gets me pizza and saves me from paying from another day of babysitting. You're doing me a favor," Keith smiled at him.

"Consider it a wedding gift," Jorge laughed.

"Please stop reminding me about it. I'm nervous enough."
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