Triumverate
"Five dollars for three boxes."
"I don't have five dollars."
"That's a shame." The child said coolly. "This is a fine cookie. Grade-a mint, imported from Ceylon."
He stared at her blankly. "You're kidding me, right?"
"Oh no; a fine, fine cookie. Nummy." She deliberately picked one up and crumbled it, sending a shower of cookie crumbs to the pressboard table before her. "Better than anything else I've ever had!" She smiled deliberately.
His mouth watered. "Please...I don't need the temptation."
"But it's hot outside! The chocolate on all of these will just melt off and make a yucky mess in the trunk of my mommy's car....icky chocolate puddles."
"But...."
"And if you don't eat it, I'll have to give 'em to the dogs. And Amos doesn't chew anything either. He just kinda gulps it."
He frowned, digging into his wallet. "Curse my social conscious."
"Yes." She smiled, taking his money. "Your conscious."
****
"Coffee's getting cold."
He smiles lightly, fine lines appearing at the corner of his mouth. "I don't care. They have bottomless refills. And there's a reason why we didn't buy two cups, if you recall. Besides, I have no need for coffee at the moment. What I really need..."
Enthusiasm appears in those wide, light eyes.
"I need bacon."
Quizzical frown. "I thought you're Jewish."
"It's been twelve years since I've been to a synagogue." He shrugs. His eyes land on a cross, lying heavy at Jeff's neck. The ornate black inlaid onyx had captured his eye; a thin collection of lines telling sinners such as he that no trespassers would be allowed past this point.
The eyes dance from the cross to the face of the wearer. He watches with a combination of erotic anticipation and guilt.
"Why the long face?"
Jeff draws from the cold cup. "I'm new to this thing."
"I'm aware of that."
"You weren't nervous your first time?"
He smiles, scratches the healing gig mark by his temple. "The first time I did this, I didn't think it out. I just..." He deliberately draws out the confession, deciding to walk the line between tantalization and confession. "...plunged in."
There is an audible swallowing, and his smile is the laziest sort, from the most self-satisfied origin. He pushes the coffee across the table with the tip of his pinky.
"Why the hell am I so nervous?" Jeff muttered.
"Everyone's nervous, the first time. Weren't you, the first time you fucked a girl?"
"Hell no! I knew what to do with a girl."
Raven chuckled, low, deep, meaningfully. "Virgins are so cute."
"Now I'm insulted. I may be many things, but a virgin isn't one of them."
The chuckle turned to an honest laugh. "The coffee is almost gone, and I don't see our waitress anywhere. And there's a park a few miles back, with these monumentally huge beech trees that seem to hide everything for miles around..."
He took out his wallet, starting the car from a distance, leaving behind only the amount due for the check.
And a half-drunk cup of coffee, heavy on the sugar.
****
"Ow. Ow."
"I'm sorry. Did that hurt?"
"Yo! Yo, girl, why did you do that?"
"I can sum that up in six words, and I'll even use words you can understand: pearl necklace jokes equal not funny."
"Damn, you're cold. Did you have to hit so hard?"
"Well, that's the only thing you guys seem to understand. There's a reason I did so well at Monkey Tai Chi."
"That ain't a real form of karate!"
"It is if it works. It worked on you."
"Damn...hand me an ice bag!"
"Maybe this will teach you to stop talking about me like that in public. I'm a lady, see?"
"No lady ever cracked my nuts like that!"
"Then all of your other ladies were doormats."
"Hey, am I interrupting?"
"Go away, Billy."
"Screw you guys!"
"So, are you sorry?"
"You tell me you're sorry first!"
"John Cena don't appologize! He just macks and attacks!"
"Oh, that's so ninties."
"Hell no it ain't!"
"I'm sorry that your brain doesn't go back to nineteen-ninety nine..."
"You said you were sorry! Burn!!"
"Damnit..."