Dinner Date, Interrupted
Johanna slurped up the last of her drink absently, tapping out a quick message to Gemini to let her know that they were just waiting for the check and would be headed to the campsite soon. Dane chuckled from across the table, thoughtlessly offering his card to the waiter as he stepped up beside their booth again.
A large hand rested on the table, and the weight of the body leaning on it caused the laminated particle-board to creak faintly. “I have just one question,” Ian announced quietly, “You still dating Gemi?”
Dane blinked up at the Red Elk looming over them, realizing a little too late he was not their waiter, and answered before he could think better of it: “Uh, yes, we’re still together.”
The towering Elk gave a quick, sideways glance at Johanna (also staring up at him blankly, like she didn’t recognize who he was). “Then I think you know you deserve this,” Ian warned as he pulled the two thick signet rings off his right hand...
Dane’s former martial-arts instructor should have been proud. Nearly eight years out of practice, and from a very unfavorable position, the Dalmatian’s form was still sharp and quick enough to intercept that first punch at the wrist. Regrettably, Ian seemed to have been counting on that, instantly seizing Dane’s forearm with the redirected hand and pressing it down on the table with all the ease of a father bending over a small child for its spanking. Dane’s other hand would be at too poor an angle to be effective against the Elk’s other fist as it came for his nose.
Johanna popped up from under the table, seating herself in Dane’s lap like she’d been there all evening. Ian pulled the punch short so hard it snapped the sleeve of his shirt and popped his own elbow. Still tapping away on her phone, the female Dalmatian spared one hand for a second to give the massive Elk a quick wave. “Hi. You probably don’t remember me.”
“...Gemi’s friend,” Ian frowned just slightly, “The one with the phone addiction. ‘Hanna’, wasn’t it?”
“JO-hanna,” she corrected with a quick nod, “But close enough.” Gesturing over her shoulder, Johanna continued, “This is my brother. He’s taking me out, because it’s my birthday and he’s sweet like that. We’ll be meeting up with Gemi later.”
Ian’s frown softened into a vague sort of annoyance, and he let go of Dane’s arm. “Oh. I see.”
Johanna nodded again. “Also, Gemi has something to say to you,” she added, turning the screen of her phone toward him just as she accepted the request for a video-call.
Gemini’s face popped up on the screen, and took just a fraction of a second to be sure of who she was looking at before declaring quite loudly, “Ian Clawburn, we are through! And I’m a little shocked you are the one I have to spell that out for, of all people!” Her frown was genuine for once (a rare expression on the bubbly Doberman), and Ian grimaced a little at the expression, but held himself upright and silently accepted his scolding as Gemini continued, “Who I date and how they treat me from here is not your problem! You should know I can handle myself! Now that is my boyfriend and my best friend you’re bothering, on her birthday no less! Leave them alone!!”
With a sigh like he was disappointed in himself, Ian put his hands by his sides and bowed his head low, both to the screen and the pair of Dalmatians sitting in the booth. “Right. I misunderstood. I apologize.” Turning around sharply, he bumped chest-first into their actual waiter, who’d been standing behind him in shocked silence since the first punch was thrown. Frowning down at the smaller man, Ian noted the bill on the little tray clutched in his hands...and pulled his wallet from his back pocket. “Add two slices of fudge-cake to that,” he instructed curtly, dropping a handful of cash onto the tray that would be plenty to cover the bill, the tip, and a bit more besides. “Happy birthday,” the Elk added over his shoulder before marching out the door before anyone could refuse him.
Dane let go of the breath he’d been holding and Johanna shuffled back around to the other side of the booth, giving an accepting nod to the anxious waiter, who went to fetch the cake. “Wuff,” Dane muttered, rubbing his forearm where he could still feel the Elk’s tight grip, “What does that guy do for a living? Professional fighter?”
Gemini, still on the video call, shrugged. “I don’t even know. He told me ‘security’ when I asked, but wouldn’t give me the details, and he gets paid way too well for a mall-cop. He was always a perfect gentleman, though...I never would have guessed he’d be so aggressive after we broke up. Sorry about that, honeypot.”
Johanna shook her head. “Not your fault. Thanks for the assist. See you in a bit.” Gemini puckered her lips to the screen and Johanna did the same, sharing a mock-kiss before the pair hung up. The cake arrived, and the waiter started to leave the change from the bill with it (even though it technically wasn’t theirs), but Dane motioned for him to keep it as a bonus for the trouble.
“Thanks for the assist there, sis,” Dane chuckled, echoing her words to Gemini, as they both dipped their forks into the soft dessert, “It’s a little embarrassing to have you and Gemi coming to my defense...but that guy’s definitely out of my league.”
Johanna shook her head slowly. “We only could because of his very specific personality. If it were anyone else, we’d be the ones hiding behind you. Especially me,” she reminded him, chewing a bite of cake somberly. Johanna reached one foot out to lightly rub his ankle under the table. “I still owe you a lot for that. If I could have done something like that when we were kids...”
Dane waved his fork to cut off the brooding mood she was starting to sink into. “Sis, we were kids. I...wasn’t so much brave as stupid,” he reluctantly omitted the reminder that he had loved her even then, though in the way a brother ought to love his sister. Gesturing toward the door Ian had just left through, he continued, “It’s none of his business, but at least I can respect that guy’s reason for taking a swing at me. Dad was just drunk and miserable, and taking it out on us. He’d have beat me even if you weren’t in the picture, I’m sure. You don’t owe me a thing.”
She enjoyed a couple more bites of her cake, still discreetly rubbing his shin with her foot. “When I lost my first smart-phone the same week I got it, you told him you’d borrowed it and couldn’t remember where you put it. The time I dropped the last bottle of beer after he told me to bring it to him, you told him you bumped me. That day I knocked his cup onto his chest with my tail, you pulled me behind you and huddled over me while he hit you,” she listed off her clearest, most guilty memories. “That’s not even half of what I remember, but I think you get the point.” It was hard for her to resist adding a certain three words in this public place, so she put the last forkful of cake into her mouth to help.
Across from her, Dane rolled his eyes, shaking his head with an embarrassed smile. It had never crossed his mind at the time, and he certainly hadn’t had any intentions of the sort...but maybe — just maybe — he could be grateful to their father for one thing in his life.
