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Summary: Theo has a bottle of vodka. He and Chezlie make smoothies, and talk family histories that they might be more reluctant to talk about sober.
Date: April 13, 2010
Log Title I'll Drink to That!
Rating: PG
Xavier Mansion - Sanctuary
Across the threshold into the chapel is a small receiving foyer, dust and dirt coating the once welcoming room, which is now bereft of furniture or decor, save one framed painting, the glass covering it dark with smoke almost to the point of making the art and inscription impossible to read. Upon closer inspection, it is a painting of two women in an embrace, one older, one younger, the inscription reading 'For whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Ruth 1:16'.
Through the large double doors lies the main sanctuary, pews and alter still set up as they were when it was in use, however, the ash is still thick within, and the smoke has stained the walls and chairs and wood black. Back and to the left lies and opening the fire left, a charred passage to the grounds. Leaves and dirt have made their way into the room, concentrated the most heavily in that area. Behind the alter on the back wall, there is only one place left unblackened, which seems to have once been under a large cross, as the shape, if not the cross itself, is outlined on the wall.
Off to the right side of the sanctuary are a few doors leading to small and simple rooms, all bare at this point, but once used to house the priest and other permanent staff of the small parish. The first of the trio still has a rosary hanging on a peg in the wall. The others, however, hold nothing at all, only the effects of the fire.
It's early afternoon and for the most part classes for the day have ended. Most of the students could probably be found somewhere between the cafeteria and kitchen, which is normally what Chezlie would be doing. Instead, she's found herself in the completely empty chapel, a place directed for her to go through a note she received in the middle of class earlier from Theo.
It's raining lightly outside, so she wears her usual black hoody, the material looking a little blotted from the rain drops. The rest of her attire is made up with a pair of blue running shorts and her usual knee length, black moccasins. She's seated across one of the pews, her back resting up against the hand rail towards the wall as she waits. Held in her left hand is sandwich with a couple bites already missing from it.
Theo is a little late from the time he told Chezlie to meet him at the old chapel. It was a little more difficult than he expected to get everything he wanted. He wears his school backpack, and has a bag that appears to be full of laundry over his shoulder as he manages through the door. Whatever is in it, it seems to be heavy. His steps are dictated by the shifting of the contents. As he walks in, he carefully sets the heavy bag on the floor, and sheds his backpack. "Phew," he says with a pant, and braces his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
He pulls back his own hood of his green high school hoody, and grabs the bag he set down. "Sorry I'm late," he says. He opens the bag, and pulls out a blender. When, where, or how he managed to sneak out the blender, it's hard to say, but there it is. "Do I have a treat for you!"
Chezlie watches, still seated at the pew, her left brow crooked up. The sandwich is moved the remaining distance towards her lips and another bite taken and slowly chewed before being swallowed down. Her sight stays focused on the large and apparently heavy looking laundry bag, the main object that seems to causing Theo a difficult time.
"You're a little late." She says, holding up her right hand as if there where a watch there to prove exactly how late, but there isn't. "No big deal, just thought I'd let you know." She smiles, taking another small bite from her meal, watching as a blender is revealed from within the bag. Her features don't appear as shocked as her voice sounds. "A blender?"
The boy walks along the side of the chapel, looking for an outlet until he spots one. "Yep," he affirms. "A blender. I'm going to show you a recipe they won't be teaching in Mr. PM's cooking class." He plugs the blender in, and the outlet sparks a little. He jumps back and watches for a moment. "Guess these things haven't been used in a while," he says. He flips the switch, and it purrs to life.
Theo returns to the bag and pulls out a bucket of ice. No wonder the bag was so heavy. "Could you be so kind as to bring my pack over here and get out the bottle and fruit?" He says the word 'bottle' with a certain mystery, building it to be the reason they are out here. Likewise in the pack can be found two plastic cups.
Chezlie chuckles when the sparks fly out from the found outlet, her head shaking from side to side slowly. "Guess not." She says, twisting her head around to give the chapel a better look than when she first arrived. Her attention is reclaimed at the sound of the blender working, her smile softening up a bit. She nods at Theo's request, jumping up from the church pew and heading towards the mentioned back pack.
"It's so weird to be in a church. Probably been a couple years since the last time." She more or less mutters out loud for her own sake. Once the pack is reached, it's picked up and gently dropped off at the side of the other teen before the inevitable question is finally asked. "So what's in the bottle?"
Theo grins mischeviously, sets himself down and unzips the pack. His hand glides in, and then slides back holding a bottle of Stoli's vodka. "Something you won't find in the kitchen at school," he says. He turns the bottle to examine it briefly. "Dad always used Bacardi, but I'll go with what I can get."
He pulls out a banana, a single serve orange juice, and a small can of pineapple. "We're going to make smoothies."
Chezlie's eyes narrow in on the bottle of vodka put on the display, her top teeth chewing down into her bottom lip. "Stoli, huh? Is it any good?" She takes a step closer, trying to get a better look at the bottle through squinted eyes. "My father never touched an ounce… or that's at least what he said. Nor my moms for that matter…" Yeah, that sounds about right for a fundamentalist Mormon family.
Had Theo known of Chezlie's mormon upbringing, he may have picked a different location. But, he didn't, and he doesn't seem to quite connect that she used a plural 'moms' either. "My dad touched it plenty," he says in contrast. "Not a drunk, but he enjoyed a glass now anda again. He would make this stuff and let me have some every summer. Only one way to find out if it's any good, though." He pulls the two cups from the bag, and pours a very small amount in each one. "We need something to drink to," he suggests, though immediately doesn't seem to have an answer.
It's been so normal in her lexicon to use mom as a plural that Chezlie doesn't even realize she's saying it. Makes sense for something that has been used in her daily life since she could first talk. "It's against my father's religion to drink. So he doesn't." She says flatly, her eyes still glued to the clear bottle. "Something to drink to…" The little teen trails off while pondering the idea. "How about to a quieter school year?" Considering how many attacks the school has seen since her brief stay, it would be a breath of fresh air!
Theo smiles, and stands back to his feet, handing her one of the cups. "Sounds good to me," he agrees. He holds up his cup, "To a quieter school year." He then tilts back the cup, trying to do the single swig like the movies. He almost gags, but manages to swallow it. "Man, that's like a kick in the teeth," he says with a laugh through coughing.
He then proceeds to build the first batch of smoothies, pouring in the ice, the orange juice, and pineapple. He adds a little of the vodka, and sighs. "Vanilla powder. Damn, I knew I forgot something. They'll be a little runny I think, but should be tasty, still," he says. After everything is put together, he hits the blender. The loud crunching and grinding of the ice fills the quiet sanctuary. "My folks were never too religious. Believed in God and all, they were really good people. I've never met a better man than my dad." He flips the blender off with the toe of his shoe, and then bends over to pick up the pitcher.
Chezlie mimics Theo's movie, holding her cup up in the air and waiting for him to take the first go. To her dismay, you're obviously suppose to down the glass of all it's contents in one swift gulp, so she does. It barely goes down, her face contorting into a look of half disgust and half pain. "Ewww, that's terrible!" she says, practically doubling over from the sudden coughing fit.
"Can't believe people like that stuff." The words are spoken once she's able to pull herself back up straight, then uses the back of her left hand to wipe at her mouth. She remains silent as she watches the other teen put together the fruit for the smoothies, arms crossing over her chest. "Wish I could say the same for my dad, but he's kind of a bastard." No more is extrapolated on the subject as the dark haired teen seems content with just having said that little tid-bit of information.
Theo indicates for Chezlie's cup. "That sucks. I would hate to have had a bad relationship with my dad." He doesn't ask for more information. He doesn't like people prying information out of him, and so he won't do it to her.
The little teen from Utah just simple responds with a shrug, her eyes half focused in on the remnants of alcohol sitting at the bottom of her cup. It's really just a drop left, but it's a enough to invoke an odd look. "Seriously, how do people just down this stuff?" Chezlie asks again, causing slight indents in her bottom lip as it is briefly bitten into and released. It's becoming more and more obvious she's never touched a drop in her life. The subject of her family is still left alone, which probably isn't a horrible thing for the other teen. It gets complicated when you live in a polygamist community.
"It's an acquired taste I think," Theo answers with a broad grin. "I should've have given you it straight to start. I never tried vodka by itself before. In the smoothie it'll taste much better, I promise." He puts the pitcher forward, pouring her a full smoothie if she will let him. "It's actually really good, you have to trust me." He pours himself a smoothie as well, and sets the pitcher on the pew nearby. He takes a drink of his smoothie, not nearly reacting so strongly as he did before. "Not quite perfect without vanilla," he says, "But it's still pretty good."
Chezlie allows her cup to be filled up all the way, her eyes still staring at it with a cautious look. "Ok, I'll trust you, but if you're wrong…" Mockingly, she holds up one balled fist, insinuating he's likely to get socked if she dislikes the drink. She's slow to move the cup up to her lips, hesitating for several seconds before taking a little sip down. "Oh, that isn't that bad at all." She explains holding the cup out before her eyes to get a second look. "So, this is probably going to fuck me up, right?" She sounds a little nervous.
"Nah," Theo says. "If we just drank it straight it would, but there's just a little in these, so we should be fine." He's not really lying, he's just not anticipating drinking a lot of them. "It loosens up your muscles though, great if you've been stressed out. Guess that's why so many people become drunks, they just can't handle stress." He takes another long drink, tilting his head back. He closes his eyes tightly as his head comes back down. "Augh," he groans. "I always do that!" He tenses for another second before relaxing. "Maybe I'm a masochist," he laughs, "But the feeling of a brainfreeze going away is almost worth having it. It feels so good when it passes. Is that weird?"
"Yes. Yes it is." Chezlie replies, tilting her own glass back and taking down a long, but not long enough to entice a brainfreeze, sip. Lips are licked before another swipe with the back of her hand is used to clear any stray drops of the smoothie. "I couldn't imagine wanting to put myself in any sort of pain just so I can experience it going away, but maybe that's just me?" There's soft laughter after she finishes speaking, her eyes falling back down to cup in hand. She ignores the subject on drunks.
Theo grins widely, "I don't really mean I WOULD get a brainfreeze on purpose, I just mean, I really like the relief at the end. I guess it's sort of like…" he searches for an example, and takes another sip of his smoothie. "You know when you just screwed up, and you think you're going to have to eat crow for doing something dumb, but then something happens that changes everything. It turns out what you thought was a stupid idea ends up being a good thing, and everybody thanks you instead of chewing you out? It's kinda like that." He finishes off his first cup.
Chezlie answers with a shrug, "I guess I understand." Despite the words falling from her mouth, it's obvious she doesn't entirely. Perhaps she just can't get passed the original statement on brainfreeze just yet. "But I still wouldn't say that I like it. I mean, it'd just rather it not happen at all." She ends with a curt nod before lifting the cup back up to her lips for another sip. Drinking at a much slower pace, there is still half of her contents in the cup.
Theo looks at his cup. "I dunno what I'm sayin'," he says. He lets the silence linger for a moment, and looks back up, straight into Chezlie's eyes. "So enough about my stupidity. I don't even know where you moved here from." He doesn't pour himself another drink yet, rather patiently waits for Chezlie to finish hers.
The dark haired teen takes another sip, leaving the two with another couple seconds of silence before responding to Theo. "Yes. Always good to move on from your stupidity." She quips in before taking another quick pull at the cup. Then there's another pause, this one a little more awkward than the previous. "Yeah, where I'm from… well, a little town in southern Utah. Hildale to be exact." She looks sheepishly at her mostly empty cup, swirling it around lightly with her left hand. "What about you? Where you from?"
"Only about five hours from here. Depending on how fast you drive. I was stuck on a bus, so it was longer for me." Theo picks up the pitcher again. "More?" he asks, hoisting it a little. "Not a big town where I come from, either. Manassass, Virginia. You can guess how many jokes there are about us when the football team plays other schools." He chuckles a little, remembering them. "Wasn't long ago, but it still feels like years at the same time."
"Why would you get made fun of for that?" Chezlie says, sounding genuinely confused at the actual thought. She holds the cup out for a non-verbal gesture that yes, he should fill it back up. It's probably a bad idea, as the beginnings of fuzzy thoughts begin to seep into her brain. "At least you're not related to everyone in your little town. Small towns suck, but it is way worse when everyone is related to each other."
Theo refills the cup, and then his own. "Change the emph-asses," he laughs. "Manassass. Man-asses." He takes another drink. He's getting a little fuzzy himself. "You think that," he says, "But I think my life would have been better if I had been related to a few more asses in my town." He knits his brow. "People in my town." He laughs ago.
"Oh." Chezlie says, more mouthing the sound then actually vocalizing it. She looks down at her cup, now filled back up to the rim with the smoothie. "Well, a couple is different than being related to the whole damn town. Seriously." The cup is lifted back to her lips as more of the contents are poured into her mouth. It's starting to hit her even harder, evident by the begins of slurs in her speech. "I have five siblings, 7 step moms and over 60 half brothers and sisters." She downs another sip. "It sucked."
Theo takes another sip of his. "60?" he asks. "Damn, your dad is a bastard. I got seven sisters." He looks like he's going to cry, and corrects himself. "Three sisters. All by the same dad and mom, though." He thought he had a big family, until he heard that.
"You gotta start warnin' your dad's girlfriends," he says. "I think I need to sit down." He takes a seat on the pew, leaving room for Chezlie to join him.
Chezlie laughs, "I told you earlier he was a bastard!" She takes another sip, shaking her head lightly with the new found light headed feeling. "But they're not his girlfriends, they're actually all his wives." She's buzzed enough to not have caught Theo's look just before he corrected the amount of sisters he has. "So what? I can keep count of over 60 siblings but you can't even keep track of three?" She bends forward laughing, opting to remain where she's at for the time being.
"Yeah, but they don't start out his wives," he says. He doesn't realize that they were all simultaneously his wives. "You'd think that after the first three, the ladies would be sayin' "You know, I don't think I got something the last three didn't, I think he's jacked up!" He laughs, but his laughter turns to tears in a nearly seamless transition. He doesn't answer her comment about the three sisters for a long moment, and he hangs his head. He holds up his cup, feeling the need for another drink. "I'm sorry," he slurs slightly. "It used to be seven." He wipes the tears from his eyes. "Look at me, cryin' like a pussy," he gives half of a laugh, trying to contain himself.
Chezlie shakes her head, trying to think of the best way to correct his misunderstanding of her families situation. "Oh, no, they're all still his wives. My family practices polygamy." She feels that should suffice in getting the entire situation across, deeming it worthy off taking another sip from the plastic cup. There's shock in the little teens eyes as Theo starts to cry, her head tilting down, her gaze directed straight into the floor. "Uh, sorry. I didn't…" she trails off, eyes struggling to find a place to focus on in the little chapel, making it more than obvious that dealing with someones strong emotions is not her strongest suite. "Oh, yeah, it's cool." She pathetically and nervously adds.
Theo starts laughing again, and takes another drink, but finds there's nothing left, and bringing himself back to the conversation of Chezlie. "All done now," he says, looking back up to her, draping his arms across the pew. "So, I thought that was against the law, isn't it? Or am I just making it up?" he waves his hand carelessly in the air as he speaks, not having very good motor control.
Chezlie takes another sip before nodding, her head bobbing up and down in a rather slow motion. "Yeah, it's illegal. That's why he lives in rural Utah - they tend to keep a blind eye to all the fundamentalist communities that behave themselves." She scratches at the back of her head with her free hand, fingers spread out to cover more surface area. "He's seriously not that bad though. I mean, he's pretty good to all his wives and kids."
Theo sluggishly gets to his feet, and takes the empty pitcher. He begins to make a fresh batch, throwing in the ingredients. "You serious?" he asks, missing with a scoop of pineapple which falls on the floor. He doesn't bother cleaning it up, he just puts in another scoop. "The guy is banging seven girls. I couldn't do that!" he says. "If I had a girl, pretty like you," he adds. Alchohol seems to be giving him some boldness. "I'd only be with that one girl. I couldn't dream of cheating. My dad, he loved the same woman for…" he thinks, "I dunno. Forever. Had eight kids, never looked back. He loved her til his last breath," he says, a slurring soapbox.
The cup is quickly finished off before Chezlie laces her arms over her chest, the now empty cup hanging slightly off to the side. "Yeah, I am." Her balance does appear to be the best, as she sways just enough to force her left leg forward to keep her balance. "You wouldn't get it…" She snips, pausing for some extra time to recollect her thoughts. " …but it's a part of his religious views, you know? It's not like they don't love each other as much as your parents do. They do." It's nearly impossible to tell if the comment directed towards her specifically is being ignored or was simply missed.
Theo hits the blend button as he attempts to consider the concept. The noise coupled with the alchohol already in his system makes it difficult. "I guess," he says after the blending is done. He's unable to wrap his head around it right now. "Well, I think I'd still have trouble," he says, pulling the blender off. He nearly falls as he tries to get back to his feet, and offers her some more smoothie.
"What about you, do you want to have seven husbands?" he asks with a chuckle. "I think you'll have a hard time with that here. Most of the guys here are homos." He bursts out with a little too much laughter. It wasn't that funny. Or was it? It's hard to tell when you're drunk.
Chezlie watches as the second batch of 'smoothies' begins to be blended, her ears becoming lost in the grating noise. There's almost a sigh of relief once it's done, and the sight of Theo almost falling makes her laugh. "Whoa, watch your step there." From the movement of her swaying body, she'd probably do good to take her own advice. She waves off the more drink offer.
"Me? Seven husbands? Doesn't sound like much fun if you ask me." She laughs nervously, pulling her crossed arms in tighter around her body. The little teens demeanor begins to shift once that last word hits her hears, coupled with the over-done laughter. Her family is a bunch of polygamists, it would make sense she's a bit sensitive towards those considered outsiders. "Yeah, so? Lots of people here are gay." She clearly doesn't see the humor in it.
Theo pours himself another smoothie, and takes a sip. "You okay?" he asks, "Did I say something wrooong, wrong?" He steadies himself by leaning on the pew. "I'm sorry about the gay joke," he says, though, now that he says it, he's not sure what was funny, himself. "I, uh, guess it tends to piss off a lot of folks." He doesn't realize that it wasn't the word 'homo' that has caused her uneasiness.
"Yeah, I guess." The words come out so lackluster, that she hasn't really convinced herself. "You know, I should probably head back to my…" She stops, eyes squinting slightly as her arms uncross and fall dangling at her sides. " …my dorm." The thought is finally finished. She's beginning to panic inside, trying her hardest to keep it squished down and away from the surface. Makes sense, she's never taken anything that could be remotely considered a drug before her first pack of cigarettes. "Yeah, I should probably get going. Don't want to get in trouble."
Theo doesn't really seem to have a good grasp on what's happening. "Okay," he says with a shrug. That same shrug is holding the smoothie pitcher which spills a little out of the top. He looks at where it spilled, not thinking about the fact that he has to somehow clean this all up. "Can I walk you?" he asks. Still daylight, he figures they will need to be careful not to fall over.
Chezlie makes no move to bring to light what any of the issues are right now, as she sways slightly back, her eyes turning towards the door. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll be fine on my own." Her eyes linger on the spot that was spilled across the chapel floor before the first couple steps are taking towards the door leading back outside into the sunlight. She hesitates once the door is reached and turns back around. "Thanks for the drinks Theo. Sorry for having to split."
Theo nods, "No problem, I'll see you later," he says. He watches as she leaves, and looks around at his mess. "Crap," he mutters, realizing the long task ahead of him.
