The Trees and the Bramble

[Cicadan]

((Paris Ardennes continued from Sawyer, You're Going out a Youngster))

Paris had considered ordering Mamma's for a second but he wasn't so in the mood for spice. He'd needed a few minutes to pick out his order, then he'd settled on a basket of fries. He wasn't that hungry, so Maxwell and Soren could grab a couple handfuls unless they wanted their own food.

"The others will be along soon," he said to his attending waitress, a tall redhead. "Hopefully not too long a wait or I might be forced to flirt with you instead." He smirked a bit and she smiled with a bouncy little giggle.

"Goodness. No idea how I'd survive." She was probably like, twenty or something. Sometimes it was hard to tell with that sort of thing.

"I'd be the one in danger, really."

---

A couple more minutes later and Paris was checking his phone. Soren and Maxwell were several minutes late, or maybe Paris was several minutes early. He had left a study group a bit early to get here, because they'd already completely managed to help him finish his latework. He'd excused himself after by saying his Mom had sent a text. Then he'd ended up here, where he as of now had a barely touched plate of now not-so-hot and fresh fries and the name of the cute redhead who he'd probably be dropping in to meet again when she had her next shift. Danielle, he was pretty sure.

Supposedly he'd be meeting with his dudes today to hash out some of the details concerning the summer trip to Europe. Paris wasn't entirely sure who was going and all that. Finalizing some of the details would probably help in that regard.

[Skraal]

((Soren Rosendahl Start))

Oh man, I'm gonna be late!

Soren stopped running as he reached the Benson's parking lot, his hands on his knees as he panted. The sun beat down on his head it turned down to look at his watch. The hands ticked slowly by, the time just over fifteen minutes late for his appointed meeting.

He swallowed hard. It wasn't a big deal, he reminded himself. Paris wouldn't mind. They'd both been late tons of times before. Everything was going to be fine. Soren focused on his breathing, calming himself down as he shuffled into the store. His shoulders slouched unconsciously as he entered through the doors, a bad habit that he had unfortunately yet to break. After a few moments of standing there awkwardly, he remembered the phone in his pocket and pulled it out. The rubber of the case felt unpleasantly warm to the touch, caused by the weather, most likely.

He was about to shoot his friend a text when his eyes happened upon the table that Paris was sitting at. He gave a wave before heading over and taking a seat.

"Hey! I'm really sorry I'm late. I thought that I'd be able to make it in time, but I guess I misjudged how long it would take me to get here."

He paused for a moment, going on to give a further explanation that nobody had asked for. Another bad habit of his.

"I ran as fast as I could though. Sorry for making you wait."

[Cicadan]

Paris needed a moment to recognize a familiar face as the tall slouching dude approached. Then he nodded, at Soren.

"Dude, what's up. No harm no foul on being late!" Paris physically waved off the bulk of Soren's apologetic rambling past a certain point, while the syllables just kept coming. Come to think of it Paris might have given Maxwell and Soren different meetup times. So Maxwell would probably be on time anyways, just not on time as Paris had defined to Soren. It all worked out.

"In the market for food? I can call for a menu." Paris already raised a hand to call a waiter over. A dude probably not named Danielle. Paris gestured a bit, fingers tracing a square. Could have meant 'bill', though, so Paris just called it out anyways. One menu for his good buddy.

"Anyways, so. What do you think about the current itinerary?" Last Paris remembered late July would involve the south of Italy. Was that right? "Uh, whatever it is," Paris chuckled.

[Skraal]

Soren cringed inwardly as the waiter headed back to the table, having almost miraculously made the correct interpretation of his friend’s request. This trip was going to be pretty expensive, and, unlike Paris or Maxwell, Soren’s family wasn’t exactly wealthy. Soren himself had been cutting back quite a lot on expenses, and carefully pinching the pennies from his part-time job in order to pay as much of his own way as he could.

Even still, he didn’t want to let Paris know that. The very thought of his friend offering to pay for him turned his stomach. It would be shameful to impose on Paris that way, even if the amount was small. Soren knew that if he accepted any sort of gift, he’d be up all night feeling guilty about it. It was enough that he was being invited on this trip in the first place.

After spending just a little too long deliberating, he put down the menu handed to him and placed it to the side, hoping that he wouldn’t be asked about it as he attempted to focus the both of their attentions on the trip.

“Uh...yeah… It sounds pretty great to me!” Even if he did have any objections, it definitely wouldn’t have been his place to voice them. After all, the trip was Paris’ idea, and he was undoubtedly paying the lion’s share of the cost, so it was only fair.

“We’ll be arriving in...er…” Soren first thought to use the word Napoli, but quickly decided that would be too pretentious. “...Naples first, right?” He had been trying to learn some Italian over the past couple months, but his pronunciations were still much too rough to be worth showing off.

[Cicadan]

Paris sometimes wondered how Soren was going to afford the trip. His parents were some sort of white collar if Paris recalled correctly. Maybe it was just savings or some other sort of mystical miracle.

Paris glanced at the waiter when he returned with the menu. Then back at Soren, who looked vaguely alright as ever.

"Napoli, then?" Paris had an okay Italian accent, not the best because he slurred the syllables a bit too much. With more practice he'd get it better. "Then up north through the peninsula? Following the coast or the countryside, either way we'll be seeing all kinds of cool stuff." Supposedly the more interesting historical ruins were further inland. Churches, monasteries, that sort of thing. "What about Sicilia though? Maybe we'd want to double back at some point?" Paris didn't particularly know. He was just idly throwing ideas out there. It was all on the table after all, as long as someone brought a little extra money in the pocket.

"The islands like... Corsica, it's Corsica right? Those would also be interesting stops." Paris grabbed a handful of his fries and began to bite them down by the half. "You going to order anything?" He asked when he had a moment with a clear mouth and clear mind, nothing to say otherwise. "It's about dinner time, might as well. I can cover for you if you want, no problemo."

[Skraal]

Oh man….

This was exactly what Soren was hoping to avoid. He stared forward for a moment, looking like a deer in headlights before gingerly picking up the menu sitting on the table in front of him. A quiet sigh escaped his lips.

“N-no...it’s alright. I’ll get something. I just need to look at the menu first.”

In hindsight, perhaps agreeing to meet at a restaurant wasn’t the smartest idea for someone who wasn’t planning on eating anything. His hand unconsciously shifted to his pocket, squeezing the wallet inside as he searched through the text of the laminated paper to find something that wasn’t too expensive.

Well. It looked like everything was pretty close in price, except for one special. Some kind of “surprise”? Soren licked his lips nervously. He wasn’t exactly a fan of Mexican food, but it was on some special sale, so… It surely couldn't be that spicy.

Soren raised his hand and, as “Danielle” came over, he gave his order. The waiter eyed him over, responding quizzically.

You sure about that, buddy?

Soren pursed his lips, wondering what his server had meant by that. In any case, it was a little too late to back down now. He confirmed that he did, indeed, intend to order the dish, and as the waiter turned to leave, he focused his attention on Paris.

“Yeah, Sicily sounds great, I mean, it’s not a big deal to double back. We’ve got a couple weeks booked off anyway, so a few more days won’t be too much of a big deal.”

[Cicadan]

Paris watched the server walk around. He'd never realized Danielle could also be a guy's name. Not such an attractive one, that particular Danielle. He glanced back and Soren was staring out into space like he'd been punched in the gut, whatever that meant.

Paris almost asked if he was alright but it wasn't needed. Danielle came to take Soren's order.

"The Mex Surprise?" Paris nodded in approval. "Hah, good choice." Paris didn't realize Soren liked spicy food.

"And yeah, exactly!" Paris was pretty enthused. "That's the spirit, dude. Itinerary's flexible, I don't think we even have return tickets booked yet." He'd have to ask Mom about that. "I know our flight is one stopover in Charlotte, then Madrid where we spend... first three days, harsh. Not a lot of time, huh?" Paris pantomimed a hustling motion, shoulders hunched and arms pumping. As he did that Danielle returned with the pile of cheesy pepper and cumin drenched meat and vegetables that was Soren's surprise. Looked pretty decent. Paris finished off a few more fries and contemplated getting some of that other dish for himself.

[Skraal]

Soren nodded slowly, before adding a quick, “Yeah.”, before thanking his waiter. He wasn’t paying a ton of attention by this point, to be honest. The smell of hot food in front of him was distracting enough, despite the fact that he wasn’t planning on eating anything in the first place. He closed his eyes and bent his head down slightly, murmuring a quick prayer of thanks for his food before taking a good look at the dish in front of him.

The first thing that he noticed was the almost overpowering smell of melted cheese. Not that that was a bad thing, of course, but not exactly what he was used to. Soren reached down to the plate to grab one of the nachos lying beneath the mix of meat, cheese and vegetables. Unfortunately for him, the plate was a little hotter than he had anticipated, and he quickly pulled back his singed finger to his mouth.

After taking a quick sip of the glass of water sitting beside his plate, he decided to give it another try. Gingerly grabbing the outer edge of one of the chips, he lifted it and its load up to his mouth and took a bite.

Moments after, his tongue burst into flames.

Not literally, of course, but it definitely felt that way. Soren quickly grabbed the glass of water next to his plate and chugged it down, the coolness of the liquid soothing the pain somewhat. He poured himself another glass from the pitcher at the table, warily eyeing the dangerous meal sitting in front of him.

[Cicadan]

Paris inhaled deeply, distracted. Paris could sniff out the pungent spiciness of the cheese from all the way across the table. He offered a prayer himself, when he saw Soren steeple his hands.

"Whoa, careful." Plate must have been hot or something, for Soren to jerk his hand back like that.

"Hah, it's hot as heck, isn't it? You mind?" Paris took a chip, only modestly slathered with cheese and a couple of chunks of bell pepper and what Paris could only guess was maybe fresh onion. He chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. It tasted better than it smelled, looked like the kitchen had a good batch. Paris continued to ponder getting his own plateful.

"You going to be able to finish it, dude? Could be a fight of epic proportions," Paris laughed.

[Skraal]

Soren swallowed nervously as he looked down at the plate in front of him, his stomach churning a bit as he imagined eating more of it. Looks like that hot pepper symbol next to the item’s name on the menu was more than just decoration. What this what Mexican people ate all the time? They must have had stomachs of steel.

In any case, it was too late to back out now. He sighed. Spending the money was one thing, but letting the food go to waste was another. Even putting aside the embarrassment of it all, it just wouldn’t be right. Like, what about all those starving children in Africa? How could Soren just throw perfectly good food in the trash when there were people around the world who would do anything for it.

Steeling himself for the pain he was about to experience, Soren nodded to Paris. “Yeah, I can do it.” He wasn’t really so sure about that, but it wasn’t a lie either. Technically, it would have been more honest for him to say that he would try, but it was too late now. He had committed himself.

He reached down, and grabbed a chip from the plate, thankfully now much cooler than before. His mouth felt uncomfortably dry as he slowly placed the chip inside, chewing it methodically. The burning feeling was back, but at least he was expecting it now. Soren took another big gulp of water before going back to have some more. He kind of wanted to ask Paris more about the trip, but at the moment he was just too distracted to think of anything to say.

[Cicadan]

Soren said he could do it, cool. He was struggling with each bite and each gulp of water. Paris watched for a second, contemplating, then called a waiter over. He left Soren to deal with his own thing for a second while he ordered the Mex Surprise. A little extra hot. He nodded at the waiter with a polite smile as they walked away.

"Get some milk or something. It'll help wash it all down." Paris nodded sagely at Soren. Soren would just have to call over the waiter or something, take it easy until he could call in the reinforcements. "Wars aren't easily won. Eh, like I would know that." He'd never had the best grades in history, at least, not without asking a couple of others in there for some help. Paris watched Soren for a few more seconds, thinking, then was silent for another few seconds staring elsewhere. The wall and the floor and a few more fries as he chowed down. Huh, he was apparently hungry tonight.

"So itinerary wise there are like, tons of historical churches and stuff in Madrid. I think some sort of tour could be arranged but that's kind of lame. We could cover more ground on foot... and avoid the spicy food, maybe." Paris chuckled warmly.

[Skraal]

Milk… Yeah, that would be a good idea. Soren was already in the hole as it was, but if it helped him finish this “surprise”, it would be worth it. He quickly called to the waiter as he walked away from their table.

“Um, sorry about that, but I’d also like to order some milk, if that’s alright.”

If the waiter’s amused chuckle was anything to go by, looks like it was. In the meanwhile, it gave Soren a chance to take a break from the seemingly monumental challenge sitting on the plate in front of him. Chatting with Paris about the trip would take his mind off it for a few minutes, at least.

“Yeah, I’ve always wanted to see some of those. I hear the cathedrals over there are really beautiful. It would be more fun to go without a guide, but I dunno if they’re going to let us just walk around unsupervised…”

[Cicadan]

Paris checked the menu. One fifty for a glass of milk, huh. Kinda expensive. Poor Soren. Paris and the waiter exchanged some kind of look as he went away again. A knowing look, but Paris wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to be knowing.

He looked back to Soren, and the plate his friend was mostly keeping his hands clear from.

"Yeah!" Paris nodded eagerly and emphatically. "I've seen photos of the de La Almudena, it looks so pristine inside. Like, historical but also pure, like a real house of worship. Hah, waxing a bit too poetic there aren't I?" The waiter returned with Soren's milk. No second Mex Surprise though, not yet. "But yeah, like I get your concern. But, you know, it's pretty important we not just be typical tourists you know? We really have to see the city, all of us... who are going and all." Soren... who else, Maxwell... Lyndi...? People were going, at any rate. Seats occupied beside Paris' own, and conversations to be had about random things, whatever.

Paris nodded to himself. "I am seriously looking forward to this. Like, you're leaving Denton as well right? For college? We should come back after Europe and chill out in Central or something one last time, you know. Before we all move on to the next chapter."

[Skraal]

Soren thanked the waiter profusely as his drink arrived, taking a sip before setting it down on the table. His hand trembling slightly, he scooped another bite of food into his mouth. It was a little better now that he was used to it. Still far from pleasant, but not likely to destroy his taste buds either.

He continued eating as Paris rambled on. Soren didn’t really hang out with the same crowd as his friend, so the names of the others coming along wasn’t really too important to him. In some sense, it was a miracle that they were even friends in the first place. It was honestly a mystery how Paris managed to enjoy hanging out with a boring person like him, though the fact that they were part of the very few active participants in the school’s Christian club probably had a lot to do with it.

That said, the reminder that they were all going to be splitting up after high school hit particularly hard. Soren was heading out of state for college, and most of his friends seemed to be doing the same. The idea that most of them likely weren’t going to see each other again still caused him more than a little anxiety.

“Yeah…” He paused for a moment before licking his lips nervously. “We definitely should. You know, round up all the guys and go see a movie or something? Just like old times.”

Soren was beginning to feel a little queasy, though he didn’t know if it was from the food or the topic of conversation. Most likely the food, though. A slight frown appeared on his face as he took another bite.

[Cicadan]

Like old times. Soren was a cool guy, humble and respectful and all kinds of important things. Paris didn't want to forget this particular friend for a good while, even when Denton had long become a distant memory. Paris nodded eagerly, leaned in a bit over the piping hot basket of spicy nachos that was suddenly his to devour.

"Whoever we can, yeah. I bet at least a couple of folks are staying over long enough that we'll get back, like, in time to still meet them." Paris took a moment to remember names. He had visions of faces, a lot of faces with a jumbled assortment of disconnected syllables. Paris' head went a bit numb. Kind of like a foot he stood on for too long. Paris moved on. "Or maybe some people who are going to be stuck here for a while, if anyone's like, repeating a grade or whatever."

Paris suddenly laughed a bit, and raised his eyebrows suggestively. "What about the girls? Any pretty faces you're gonna miss?" Paris remembered a few more faces, and a few more disconnected syllables like 'Lett' and 'Min' but they didn't mean anything in isolation. Paris grabbed a handful of chips and began to crunch at them like it was his job. He took pains to keep his fingers clean.