Granny Wisdom Who: Lochlan and Avery When: Evening Where: The bar
A curfew didn’t seem to keep people away from the bar that night. Avery didn’t figure it would, but it was still pretty funny to see that people would rather risk their lives to a bat bite than forgo an evening of drinking beer. The bar wasn’t crowded, crazy busy, but there had been enough people in and out that it hadn’t diminished Avery’s work load. Or... what should have been her work load. There were still a few tables needed clearing off and cleaned, but Avery was currently lounging behind the bar with her brother, bored. Her nail polish had started to come off on her middle finger, so Avery was idly chipping away at the pink polish with her thumb nail, ignoring the work that needed to be done.
“Next time I waste money on nail polish, it better last for more than two days,” she said with a small sigh as she scraped off another tiny, pink flake. It wasn’t that Avery was vain, or even all that worried about that kind of stuff, but money was money and she didn’t like wasting it on crap.
Lochlan finished wiping water from the inside of the last of the freshly washed tumblers and tossed the white bar towel back over his shoulder, eyeing Avery amusedly. "And they call me a loafer," he said. "You do know that people prefer to eat at clean tables, yes? You should't let Eily catch you lollygagging with dirty tables out there."
He wasn't really getting after her but rather teasing her. There wasn't a huge rush on tables thanks to the curfew and many of the patrons had no qualms about offloading dirty dishes onto another table so they could sit if they really were desperate. "I'll try to remember to warn you next time we go shopping for cosmetics together. It's high up on my list of things to do with you. Like watch a few chick flicks and get my hurr did." He chuckled.
Avery shot Lochlan a look before dropping her arms to her sides and looking up at the ceiling with a loud, overly dramatic sigh. Then she pushed away from the bar and turned around to look at the tables she still needed to wipe off. Too bad she was feeling exceptionally lazy tonight. But she would get it done before she left, or got caught by Eily. But work wasn't really high on her priority list at the moment. "You need your hurr did," Avery retorted, forgetting about her work again as she began to reorganize the tumblers Lochlan had just finished wiping clean. "I just mean I need to start spending my money on stuff that's worthwhile." She grinned brightly at her brother. "Like cigarettes and pot."
Lochlan raised his eyes as though he might just be able to see his scruffy mop if he tried heard enough. She was right about his hair and she probably knew it too. He shrugged then protested loudly. "Oy! Come on now, fingerprints on my masterpieces?" he grumbled goodnaturedly. "Sure and that's a good thing to spend money on. You know when you say stuff like that I get to feeling very big-brother-y. What do you want with that stuff anyway, Aves? Just makes you stink."
He wasn't always sure when she was serious or when she was messing with him. He chose to believe, more often than not, that she was messing with him. Some of what she suggested she get into wasn't savory by his standards. For instance, pot in the dome didn't sound like it came without some complicated strings attached. He shook his head, flipping the bar towel down to wipe the bartop.
Sometimes Avery just messed with Lochlan because it was fun. He usually wasn't as quick to scold or get offended when she was in a pissy mood and was deliberately trying to annoy. Right now, she was in a decent mood, so of course she was just messing with him. Mostly. "From what I know, cigarettes stink and can kill you. And pot stinks, but makes you feel good, so... Beer smells too, by the way, but you still sell it to people. Same thing, if you ask me." Avery shrugged and then leaned over on the bar, resting on her elbows. "Speaking of beer, I get it for free, right? I mean, like a glass or two. Or three. If I wanted it?"
It was his turn to mess back. "Okay, Avery. If you really want to have survived all the Bitey McZombiepants violence to die languishing away from lung cancer. Well why don't you just hop on up and be my guest? What kind of flowers you want on your grave?" He snapped his towel at her lightly. "Too right, I sell beer. It's the family business and it's good beer! I'm not selling it to my little sister though. But you go ahead and text Eily. See if she's good with you drinking on the job." He rolled his eyes but he was still smiling.
She didn't have any real plans to smoke cigarettes. Avery wasn't entirely sure she would say no to pot someday, if only to try it, but Lochlan didn't need to know that. He didn't annoy her as much as some of her other family did, but Avery still liked keeping some things to herself. Avery swatted at the towel and then resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him. Acting juvenile would only remind him that she was his kid sister, and Avery tried to do avoid that at all costs. Especially now that she was asking about beer. "I'm not talking about drinking it now, dummy. And there's no legal drinking age in the dome, so it's not like you would be breaking the law by giving me some. But I don't have to work tomorrow night, and I made plans to hang out here with someone, at least for awhile. So you'll be an awesome big brother and help me out, right?"
Lochlan smirked and shook his head. She really didn't have to remind him of laws but it was fun when she did. He didn't care a whole lot about anything beyond what the family was okay with. Beyond that, laws were handled circumstantially at best in his mind. He'd help her out just like he had a million other times with a million other things. He just enjoyed watching her squirm a little.
He raised a brow at her mention of another someone who might be partaking of requested beer. "Thaaaaaaat depends," he said, drawing out the first word as he made a show of quickly settling himself in the oh-so comfortable position of chin in hand atop the bar staring with great interest right at her. "Who are we hanging out with tonight?"
"Tonight, I'm hanging out with you, because you're obviously my favorite out of the whole mess of family we've got scattered around," Avery said with a grin. Yes, she was kissing ass, but sometimes it was needed. "Tomorrow, I'm hanging out with a guy from school. I promised him some excitement, so I plan on delivering. Excitement's a lot easier to come by when beer is involved." It was possible she would be a total light weight, but then again, Gabe could be too. Based on their conversation earlier, it didn't sound like he drank a whole lot. Avery hadn't been lying. Drinking alone was kind of pathetic. Avery reached over quickly to poke Lochlan in the nose. "And before you start teasing me, it's not a date in any kind of way."
He grinned at her, ego pleasantly stroked. "Right answer. We have a winner. It's always nice to obviously be the favorite. And face time with your old bro definitely wins you brownie points. I think I can swing some beer." He smiled because she'd answered his next question without him even needing to ask it. He stood up as she spoke and looked at the bartop thoughtfully, giving his head a scratch. Signature move for Lochlan as he walked into a mindset where he was going to say things she probably wasn't going to want to hear. He nipped at her finger as it zeroed in on his nose. "You're right it's not a date. Beer drinking is not a date until you're older. And if you're both here drinking, you are not leaving together. Not on my watch, Aves."
The first answer was what she wanted to hear. Avery had already figured that Lochlan would be cool with her plans, but it made sense to ask anyway. At least then if Eily didn't like it, Avery could always blame it on Lochlan later for saying yes in the first place. But then he was going all big brother on her, and Avery stared at him, her lips parted in surprise for a moment or two before she released an impatient sigh. "What exactly do you think's gonna happen, Loch? We're not going to get trashed and run off somewhere to get naked together. And we're not going to get in trouble either." Well, it was possible they could, but Avery sometimes thought the only way to have fun was to get into trouble. "You know I'm seventeen, not ten."
If he'd been talking to anyone else, her wording would have made him laugh. He bit his lip because it was somewhat amusing still. "I don't always know what goes on in that head of yours. You could be planning on streaking through the park for all I know with this boy. He better be well-behaved. That's all I'm saying. If he gets frisky, he's getting the boot. Better warn him. Old Lochlan will have his eye on him but good." He made a 'v' with his two fingers, pointing first at his own eyes with them, then out at an empty bar stool as though the guy Avery had mentioned were sitting there.
"Believe me, I'm all too aware that you're not ten." He gave her a look that said silently what he'd voiced many times in the past: I'm two breaths away from locking you in a cupboard to keep the boys away.
"Oh my god." Avery whined and folded her arms on the bar top to rest her head down on them. This was the worry she had earlier, that her family would embarrass her in front of Gabe. She probably should've asked Eily first. Eily was a girl, so she would have at least understood where Avery was coming from.
Lifting her head up again, she looked at Lochlan and set her cheek against her palm. Brothers were put on earth to aggravate her, she was convinced. "Gabe's not going to get frisky. I can't believe you even used that word. Today was the first time we even had a conversation. He's nice and doesn't really doesn't seem like the kind of guy to do that kind of stuff, at least not with someone he barely knows. If anything, you should be scared that I'd get frisky with him." Avery paused and made a face before quickly continuing, "Forget I even said that. The point is, my dear, favorite big brother, Gabe's just a friend. Or a potential friend. We're going to have a couple beers and then hang out for awhile. I promise, promise that I won't get into any trouble."
Lochlan was pleased he could ruffle her feathers as much as he had. That was half the purpose of all his big brother posturing. The other half was so she knew that there were actually people who cared that she wasn't running around wild. At least, not too wild. When she put her head down on the bar, he ruffled her head playfully. He'd never purposely embarrass her in front of a stranger. Or at all really. He wasn't one for humiliating people, especially his family. It was fun to give grandiose speeches.
"What's wrong with frisky? It's a valid word," he said with mock indignation and poked her ribs. "Here's the plan. Tonight you clean up your tables, address me as 'my most favorite brother' at all times, and keep me company. And tomorrow night I won't break your not-a-date's kneecaps so long as neither of you gets ideas for after-hours shenanigans. Particularly the naked variety. Also, it might be helpful to always keep the mantra, 'What would Lochlan do… to me if I did this' running through your head. Yes, I like this plan."
That was better. Avery straightened again to reach up and smooth down the hair he had just tousled. Amusement have overtaken annoyance, which was good for them both, because Avery would have hated to sink into a foul mood after the sort of nice day she’d had so far. "Okay, my most favorite brother, I'll clean my tables and keep you company. And no after-hour shenanigans, naked or otherwise." That much she couldn't really promise, but she figured she could just go with things and see where the night ended up. It wasn't like she planned on sleeping with Gabe, or anyone for that matter, tipsy, or not tipsy. He really was just a potential friend. A cute one, sure, but just because he was cute didn't mean she had to want to get him naked. Smirking softly, Avery went back to picking at the chipped polish on her finger, forgetting, again, about her dirty tables. "I'll write WWLDTM on my wrist with a marker and look at it whenever I feel the urge to do something naughty. And don't forget you promised me a movie on Saturday at the festival, okay?"
Lochlan grinned and nodded at her, resisting the urge to reach out and rustle a hand through her hair again. "Aw yeah. That's the stuff. Music to my ears, sweet Avery. And you just happen to be my most favorite sister so, you know, I care what happens to ya. Specifically with boys named after archangels. Granny O'Reilly used to say, 'Never trust a Gabriel or a Michael. You might think they're angelic but they're clever bastards.'" And he was BSing at this point because Granny O'Reilly would never have used that sort of language let alone dispensing wisdom on trusting men based upon their names.
"Make sure you do. With indelible ink. Or we could take you to get it tattooed. Oh, tattooed, yes. Even better." His eyes lit up with the ridiculous idea. He'd never encourage her to tattoo herself - not that he'd discourage it either unless it involved full facial ink in the form of someone's name - but it was amusing, this line of thought. His words forever there whenever he wasn't, waiting to annoy the living daylights out of her when he couldn't do it personally. Oh yes. Mmhm.
He watched her go back to picking at her fingernails and marveled at how much of an art she had made of being lazy. He almost had to give her kudos and ask for advice on how to improve his own layabout ways. "How could I forget? I'm getting prepared already. Bought us both big boxes of tissues and chocolate. Don't you forget you promised to cover my eyes for me during the mushy bits. I'm holding you to it."
Archangels, ha! She could only imagine what Gabe might say or do if Avery repeated that bit of wisdom to him after a beer or two. She might end up scaring the poor guy after all. As it was, Avery had no plans on tattooing herself with anything remotely related to Lochlan, either. Although once he mentioned it, the idea of a tattoo did sound pretty appealing, and Avery filed it to the back of her mind to think about later. That was also something she could totally blame on her brother if it came back to bite her in the ass later. It was hard not to smile at that particular thought, and Avery lifted her gaze from her finger back to Lochlan's face. He might totally irritate her sometimes, but he was fun, and she needed that sometimes, to keep from getting down and sullen. Those particular days weren't terribly entertaining for anyone who happened to be around her.
"I'll definitely cover your eyes. Although maybe if it's a romance, you should watch to pick up some pointers, my perpetually single brother. When are you going to have a beer date, since apparently that's only for older people?" As far as Avery knew, Lochlan wasn't seeing anyone around the dome. Personally she thought he was pretty awesome, and the girls ought to be lining up, but on the other hand, Avery was glad they weren't. She had a feeling she would probably dislike anyone who tried to wedge their way into her family without her approval first.
Lochlan made a face at her. As if he need pointers from ancient romance movies. He did pretty well on his own but he'd been making somewhat of a reputation for himself as the guy who kind of flakes after the first few dates. It was what it was, he supposed but it didn't mean he wanted to be alone forever.
"Well there are a lass or two on the horizon. One in particular but I haven't seen her since the first time we met here a couple days ago. You'd hate her. She's sweet as the day is long, funny, and fairly enthusiastic about quinoa with a decent singing voice to boot." He grinned at the thought of her and nearly tripped on his way to serve a pint to a newly seated customer at the bar. "I really need to get out of this pub at some point and try to bump into her somewhere else, right?" he asked Avery once he was finished with the customer.
"Also, that fine gentleman remarked after the dirty tables. He asked if we were looking for help because he could do with a job. Better get your tookus in gear before someone swoops in here and takes your work away from you."
"Yeah, yeah, dirty tables, blah, blah..." Avery waved her hand dismissively toward said customer, her eyes focused on Lochlan. She was much more interested in this lass her brother mentioned. "If you think I would hate her then I think you should keep looking. Besides, I think anyone who likes quinoa sounds pretentious." Avery wrinkled her nose, as if to further her point. And then she smiled, turning to finally pick up the bin for the dirty dishes she needed to clear off the tables. "Remember what Granny O`Reilly used to say... Never trust a woman you meet in a bar." If Lochlan could make up Granny wisdom, so could she.
Seeing Avery was never going to budge about the dirty tables, at least not anytime soon, Lochlan caught the eye of one of the hired bussers just coming back from a break and pointed to the tables. The guy got the message and went to work. Lochlan turned back to his sister, his expression one of familial tolerance and affection. What did it matter if she did the work so long as it got done, right?
"You, I think, might hate anyone if she interfered with your comfort in some way. Yes?" he asked with a knowing smile. "Clementine is tops though. One of these days I'll get off my butt and figure out how to contact her. And hey, I like quinoa. It gives me that burst of energy to run every morning." He laughed at her Granny O'Reilly comment; he loved it when she took the thread of something clever and kept it going.
"Oh, Granny, she was such a distrustful woman, wasn't she?" It was probably a good thing one of the other bussers had started clearing off the tables, because Avery paused on the other side of the bar, leaning against one of the empty stools with the bin still in her hands. One could say she was either easily distracted, or just extremely slow to get moving. Maybe a little bit of both.
"Clementine? Isn't that the name of an orange or something? Yeah, I don't like her already." Avery was just teasing. Sort of. But Lochlan was probably right. She really hated it when her family got overprotective of her, but that didn't mean she couldn't watch out for them. And all women sniffing around her brothers, or even her cousins, were to be immediately untrustworthy until proven otherwise.
"I think Granny had the right idea. She lived to be considered beyond ancient, so clearly being suspicious of everyone benefited her, or something. She wouldn't have liked any girl named Clementine either, just so you know."
Lochlan had been doubtful she'd ever get her butt in gear and he'd been right. Even with the bin in her hand she was still dawdling. He knew she had good intentions, or at least he hoped she did, but Avery seemed to have almost as much of a hard time as he did with focusing on things that weren't all that fun to deal with. "Yes, I believe it is. You paid attention in botany. Gold star for Avery O'Reilly." He snorted a light laugh and shook his head. "There's just no pleasing you, is there? What was your problem again with Marisol?" he asked, refering to his most recent failure at a longterm relationship. It had lasted all of 2 months before she'd gotten fed up with having to text him to remind him they had a date 30 minutes after the date was supposed to start.
"I think Granny would approve of Clementine. But hey, at least she's a sweet fruit, not a pretentious archangel." He made a childish "so there" face at her. Unable to resist, Avery stuck her tongue out at him, sacrificing her need to be seen as an adult just for that moment. Lochlan was right though. When faced with something boring or difficult, like work or school, Avery tended to lose focus, especially when there was something much more interesting to do in lieu of it. "My problem with Marisol was that her name was Marisol," Avery reminded him. "Why can't you meet a girl with a normal name, like Anna or Jane? Besides, it wasn't my problem with her that got you dumped." Avery smiled sweetly, her dimple deepening. "Don't forget that fruits go rotten. Archangels have halos and wings. Who's going to win this one?"
"Ew, no thank you," he said to her tongue, making a sour face. "That's not very ladylike, Aves. Just saying." He rolled his eyes though because her preoccupation with people's names was so weird to his thinking. Who cared what a girl was named so long as they were nice, polite, and rather hot? "I know, I know. Marisol the parasol and all that. What can I do? My name is Lochlan. Not exactly Bob or Ted. Or are you going to make fun of my name now too?" He wasn't touching her statement about him getting dumped. He'd kind of seen it coming but it still stung a bit. It was never fun to be dumped.
"I believe I will win this one because I control the flow of beer for your not-a-date tomorrow night. Hm?" He raised his brows in amusement.
Ladylike! Since when had she ever pretended to be a lady? She found his reaction humorous anyway, because Avery was well aware that she always zeroed in on the silliest, most irrelevant reasons to dislike Lochlan's girlfriends. Her name was odd. Her voice was weird. She laughed like a hyena. There would always be a reason to dislike someone, because no one was perfect. And no one was good enough for her brother. Or brothers, for that matter. Maybe she sounded like their mom, but it was what it was. "Your name is Irish, which means it's awesome. Lochlan and Anna sounds a lot better than Lochlan and Clementine. Or Lochlan and Marisol." Avery wrinkled her nose before setting the bin on the stool beside her. It was getting heavy just holding it against her hip, empty or not. "Don't be mean! All I'm saying is, would you rather date an orange, or an angel? C'mon." Not that she was dating anyone. But that wasn't the point.
"Well, if it's any consolation, I haven't seen her again since the other night. So we're not exactly dating. There is no Lochlan and Clementine. There's Lochlan and the bartop if anything. Besides, if I were to date someone named Anna, you'd find something to dislike about her too. I know you." He imitated her lighter, feminine voice, folding his hands and fluttering his eyelashes dramatically, "'Her name is a palindrome! So lame. And her eyes are too perfectly spaced. AND she smells like bread all the time.'" His voice cracked and he laughed. "No, I love that you have such high expectations for me. And Clementine is both. Orange and angel. So ha!" "Psh, that sounds nothing like me," Avery said, her tone haughty as she raised her chin. "So there." And she did have high expectations for Lochlan. She just didn't want to see him with a girl who didn't deserve him. Or who had a stupid name and weirdly spaced eyes! Was that so wrong? "I'd rather date a clever archangel than a fruity angel," Avery added before her lips twitched into another smile. "But whatever. You're not dating Miss Orange and I'm not dating Gabe either. I barely know the guy. So this whole conversation is totally pointless!"
"Oh excuse me." He grinned; he always a fan of her attitudes so long as they weren't nasty and directed at him. She appeared to make perfecting attitudes her full time profession some days. She would probably have made a great actress if Hollywood were still around.
Lochlan gave her a knowing look. "If you're dating anyone fruity, I think you might be barking up the wrong tree. You're right though. It is a pointless conversation unless you look at it as a great way to have passed the time since you didn't have anything more pressing to do. Like, you know, clean tables." He glanced over her head to the now sparkling tables. "Proof positive you can waste time and stuff still gets done, right?"
She really had no plans to date anyone anytime soon. Sure, Avery saw plenty of guys around the dome that she thought were cute, or even hot, but that was usually the extent of her interest. No one had really grabbed her attention yet, and that was okay. It wasn't like she was looking or anything. Glancing over her shoulder, she grinned when she saw the tables were clean. "Look at that! Must be luck of the Irish or something. Guess I can put this away for now." She hefted the bin up from the stool to bring back around behind the bar. "Is there anything else you want me to do?"
"How in the world did we end up on a whole tangent about dating? We are pretty pathetic though. Neither one of us dating anyone, eh?" Lochlan sighed and suddenly wished he could pour himself a scotch. Liven things up a bit around here. Avery wasn't the only one who believed that one of the keys to fun was alcohol. Maybe it was stereotypical but it was also what it was. He shrugged off the thought though, not wanting to dip in while working.
He chuckled at her. "Most definitely is the luck of the Irish. Granny O'Reilly'd tell ya that if she were still alive. Rest in peace, Granny O'Reilly." He kissed the St. Christopher medal he wore around his neck and looked heavenward. "Guess you can. You got somewhere else to be right now? Don't you think you should stick it out until I can walk you home what with all the flying, biting rodents supposedly around."
Avery shrugged, because she didn't think she was pathetic for not dating. She just hadn't met anyone she really felt like trying to date yet. That could always change. It just wasn't something she was actively looking for. Putting the bin behind the counter, Avery leaned against the bar again and rested her chin in her palm while glancing at her brother. "If you want me to wait so you can walk me home, you can. But do you have some secret ninja anti-bat moves I don't know about? Don't think there's much to do to avoid getting bit other than just getting home quickly and staying inside, right?"
“No,” Lochlan said, making a face at her. “I don’t have secret ninja anti-bat moves but I can always take the bite for you. You’d live on to not-date another day and you could leave flowers on my grave and feel stupendously guilty for the rest of your life. What do you say?” He looked expectant but also amused. “If you want to get out of here, do it. I can always boss around the newb some more to bus your tables if you have somewhere more important to be.” He shrugged in a fashion reminiscent of hers. He enjoyed her keeping him company but it wasn’t something he needed, particularly if she would rather be off having fun doing something else.
Avery didn't like the idea of Lochlan taking any kind of injury for her. Especially since the people who had been bitten had died, or something. The thought of her brother getting hurt because of her was not a pleasant one by any stretch of the imagination. She had the sudden urge to hug him just to tell him, in a non-verbal way, how much she loved him. But Avery had trouble expressing herself in an affectionate way, so she didn't. It was much easier to be snarky and biting than loving and sweet. "I'd rather avoid having to feel guilty. Too much of a downer," Avery said with a shrug. "But I can stay. I don't have anything else to do except fix my nails." She grinned, lifting her fingers and wiggling them. And then Avery sighed dramatically.
"Give me something to clean. Might as well do something productive, huh?" Lochlan grinned at her answer. "That's my girl. And I wasn't really interested in dying for you anyway. Not inside the dome anyway." His grin faded to a smile with less wattage. He'd definitely put his life on the line for her a few times before the dome and he'd felt proud of himself for how well he had held up under pressure. Sometimes he wondered why he couldn't be that guy again. He was certain that guy would've settled down with a Mrs. and have a baby on the way by now. No sense in dwelling on it, though. He had his family and they loved him in spite of his slackitude on a regular basis. He only did bar tending well because he enjoyed it. "Right, yes, do your nails. Though maybe after the cleaning. I've heard nail polish smudges or something like that. But what if I taught you how to sling shots down the bar without spilling them instead?"
“I don’t want you to die for me anywhere,” Avery muttered as she studied her fingernail just so she wouldn’t have to look at him. It hadn’t been that long ago that they had lived outside the dome in all of that. It was a time Avery would rather try to forget because every time she thought about it, her mood took a nosedive. Swallowing and lowering her hand, Avery managed a smile. “You know I’d rather learn bartending than clean tables any day of the week, so yes please! But if I break any glasses, you’ve got to tell Eily it was your fault.”