Searchingg For Atlantis [2/6]
Title: Searching For Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: America/Belarus, England/France, Romano, Prussia. Mentions of Canada.
Warnings/Ratings: PG-13, and underage drinking? And Romano's mouth.
Summary: Alfred Jones wants to find his real parents. Arthur Kirkland would like to find some form of employment. Natalia Alfroskaya needs to get away. The solution: a road trip to California. Along the way they meet a mysterious hitchhiker called Romano and his problems, as well as discover what exactly utopia means to each of them.
Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
July 2, 20XX
Alfred is driving today. Natalia navigates. After getting nowhere yesterday, we manage to reach Cleveland, OH today. Stop at a diner for breakfast in New York, a roadside burger stand on Alfred’s insistence in Pennsylvania for lunch, and another McDonalds in Cleveland for dinner. The rest of us will probably be sick of McDonalds before we reach Chicago.
Against my better judgment, we picked up a hitchhiker who calls himself Romano in Pennsylvania today. If we all end up dead, I suggest him as the primary suspect, but as much as I hate to admit Alfred being right, he seems harmless. He won’t tell us anything about himself or where he’s going, and I doubt Romano is his real name, so I’m keeping my guard up.
-Arthur Kirkland
“Why are you stopping?” Arthur forcefully demanded as Alfred started to slow down.
“Hitchhiker. Just picking him up,” he explained.
“Are you mad? You can’t just pick up a random stranger on the side of the road! I’m not even sure hitchhiking is legal in this day and age.”
“All the more reason we should pick him up,” Alfred explained, “so a cop doesn’t.”
“For all you know he could be a crazed serial killer after our organs! Keep driving.”
“No. As the driver, I’m making the executive decision to pick him up.”
“You don’t have executive decision making powers just because you’re the driver! You have control over when we stop and what’s on the radio and that’s it!”
“Yeah, and I say we stop now and pick this guy up.”
“Ugh,” Arthur rested his head against Alfred’s seat, “Natalia, talk some sense into him.”
“I don’t-”
“Bloody hell woman, he’s going to bring some stranger into the car with us! Start caring!”
Natalia turned and hit him with an icy glare. “It’s fine. What’s one more person in the car anyway?”
Arthur resigned himself to bashing his head against Alfred’s headrest while the car came to a complete stop in front of the hitchhiker.
“Hello!” Alfred greeted happily after he rolled down Natalia’s window, “Where are you heading stranger?”
“That depends,” the hitchhiker leaned against the window, “where are you going?”
“Los Angeles, California.”
He smirked and tilted his head, causing the curl on top of his head to bobble. “Then I guess I’m going to California.”
“Really? Awesome, what a coincidence,” Alfred smiled naïvely at him as Arthur unbuckled his seatbelt and shifted over so he could lean over Natalia’s headrest and glare at the hitchhiker directly.
“Of course you’re heading to California. You couldn’t possibly be thinking about robbing us blind and leaving our decapitated corpses on the side of the road now could you,” Arthur gained a smirk to match the mysterious man’s as he continued, “Just what makes you think you have any right to enter this car?”
“Bastard,” the hitchhiker snarled, “The driver just gave me permission!”
“See? Told you driver has executive powers,” Alfred taunted in a sing-song voice, causing Arthur to shoot him a glare.
“We need to make this decision as a group Alfred! And I vote against letting him in the car.”
“I’m all for letting me in the car,” the stranger stated.
“You don’t get a vote.”
“Well, I get a vote, maybe two since I’m driving, and I say he can come.”
“You still only get one brat! Natalia, what do you say?”
She turned to scrutinize the hitchhiker for the first time, causing him to go pale and sweat slightly, probably had him rethinking this decision in the first place.
“…Can you pay for your own food?”
“Y-yeah…,” he coughed awkwardly and took a step back, “I have some money…”
“Enough for gas and a room? We’ve been splitting the bills; it would be easier on everyone to split it all four ways instead of three, especially you Arthur.”
Arthur muttered something incoherent and settled back into his seat when the hitchhiker nodded.
“So he can come?” Alfred asked, smile back on his face.
“Yes, it’s not like he’s going to get in our way much anyway, if he is heading in the same direction as us.”
“Awesome! Hop in stranger!” Alfred unlocked the rear passenger door for him. Arthur grumbled some more and moved to make room for him as the door was opened and a small bag was tossed in the middle seat. The stranger scrambled in and shut the door shortly after, and Alfred wasted no time slamming on the gas pedal and gunning it back down the deserted back road.
“Alfred Jones by the way,” Alfred said as he topped off at 75 mph, “this cheerful gal is Natalia Alfroskaya, and the grumpy old man in the back there is Arthur Kirkland.”
“Don’t give him our full names idiot!” Arthur barked, “Now he’ll know how to find us!”
“Yeah, I’m sure a Jones from New York is going to be so easy to track down,” the hitchhiker said as he rolled his eyes.
“So…what’s your name?” Alfred asked as he made eye contact with him through the review mirror.
“You can call me Romano.”
“…Romano what?”
“Just Romano. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“If you’re trying for the ‘mysterious hitchhiker’ persona,” Arthur smirked at him, “I believe you’re failing miserable.”
“Who asked you anyway asshole?” Romano snapped and tossed his bag at Arthur’s head.
“Yes, far too much of a temper for that archetype.”
“See?” Alfred smiled from the front, “We’re all getting along great.”
“Eyes on the road git.”
***
“Is this all we’re going to eat?” Romano complained as he stared down his burger, “McDonalds? We’re in a city now; we can eat real food you know.”
“Hey!” Alfred managed to sound offended, “This is edible, so that means it is real food.”
“I believe that depends on your definition of edible,” Arthur said, disgusted as he too stared down his alleged food.
“All I’m saying is that who knows the next time we’re going to be in a city,” Romano scoffed, “We should take advantage of that.”
“We should get to Chicago tomorrow if there’s no traffic,” Natalia informed him.
“I - well, yeah, but I’d still like some real food. And what’s with that cheap hotel room you got us anyway.”
“You are a hitchhiker!” Arthur shouted, “You are leeching off of us! If you don’t like the accommodations, then go somewhere else! You have the ability to do that!”
“Yeah…well,” he blushed and adverted his gaze, “Che, I don’t need to explain myself to you!” he chucked his half eaten burger into the nearby garbage can and stormed out of the restaurant with a hasty “I’ll see you back at the hotel” thrown over his shoulder.
Arthur angrily turned to face his other two companions, who were staring at him as if they were disappointed in his actions.
“Why did you go and make him upset like that Artie?” Alfred asked.
“I made him upset? He’s leeching off of us and he acts like we owe him a favor.”
“It’s a small car,” Natalia pointed out as she turned to stare out the window, “Things will get…awkward.”
“Well what do you want me to do about it? He’s the one at fault here.”
“Just, go apologize,” Alfred sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, “I know you’re all tense because you haven’t gotten laid in a while-”
“Th-that has nothing to do with anything!” Arthur denied, “H-how do you…why would you even insinuate that-”
“But,” he interrupted, “just, find him and apologize.”
“And get him something to eat,” Natalia added, “He did look a tad hungry.”
“You two are wankers and impossible,” Arthur sighed in defeat, “Fine, but if I’m going to go apologize to our leech, I want you two to do something for me two.” They looked at him expectantly as he stood up, “Just…don’t do anything stupid. I know being teenagers alone in a strange city may seem exciting, but it’s quite dangerous and I’m not up to bailing you two out of jail at the moment.”
“C’mon Artie, us? Get into trouble?” he beamed up at him, “Do you really think Natalia and I are the type to get into trouble?”
“With you Jones, I honestly never know,” but he sighed and went out to chase down his leech. As soon as he was gone, Alfred gulped down the rest of his burger and Natalia finished off her drink.
“I saw a bar a few blocks down,” she said in her monotone, “It looked shady. I doubt they’ll scrutinize ids too hard.”
“I still have some fake ones in my wallet,” Alfred said as he pulled out said wallet and flipped through it, eventually taking out two plastic cards and handing one to Natalia, who took it and stared at it.
“…Why does this say I’m a middle aged Japanese man?”
“Well, that was Kiku’s before he went to Japan…”
“It will have to do, I suppose,” she tucked it into a pocket and stood to throw her garbage away. Alfred snatched her tray from her hand before she could and threw out both of their trash out as Natalia walked towards the door instead, stopping just outside to wait for Alfred to catch up. As soon as he did, he offered her his arm, which she accepted without much protest, and they were off to explore the city nightlife.
***
They got into the bar with no problems, and Alfred was able to buy them both drinks, again with no problems. Natalia picked out a booth in the back corner of the bar, hoping that no one would bother to disturb them there. Alfred gave her a drink and sat down across from her as the two of them descended into an awkward silence.
“So…how are you?” he asked in an attempt to break it. Natalia merely glanced up and continued ignoring him.
“Talking wouldn’t kill you, you know,” he said, “nor would smiling.”
“I know what everyone on campus is saying about me,” she snapped at him, “I don’t know what possibly possessed you to let me come along with you, but it doesn’t mean we have to get along. It doesn’t even mean we have to be friends.”
“I don’t care what everyone else is saying,” Alfred frowned as he leaned back, “I invited you ‘cause I like hanging out with you and you seemed like you needed a break from New York. I don’t have an ulterior motive…unless you want me to have one,” that last line was delivered with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.
Natalia ground her teeth and was about to snap back at him when they were interrupted by a shout of “Mattie!” from across the bar. Both teens looked over to see an albino running towards them and slide in the booth next to Alfred, wrapping his arm around them like they were the best of friends.
“Mattie! What’re you doing in Cleveland man?” the albino smiled at Alfred, “I thought you were still in Vancouver!”
“I am, I mean, he is. I guess,” Alfred blushed slightly and tried to shift away from the strange man. Natalia leaned back in the booth with her drink, offering no help whatsoever, “I think you’ve got the wrong person. My name’s Alfred, Alfred Jones.”
“Huh? Alfred?” the man took a closer look at him, much to Alfred’s discomfort before leaning back and taking a sip from his beer, “Weird. You know, you look just like this kid I know from Canada, Matthew Williams.”
“Eh? You know Matt?” Alfred’s original discomfort vanished instantly, “He’s my brother!”
“No shit. Didn’t know he had a brother,” the albino chugged the rest of his beer and slammed the glass against the table, “The name’s Gilbert Beilschmidt, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you Gilbert,” Alfred eagerly shook his hand, “this is my friend Natalia.”
“Hello Natalia,” Gilbert gave her a once over with a look in his eyes that said he clearly liked what he saw. Natalia responded with a quick but fierce kick to his shin, “That’s cool. I like ‘em feisty.”
“So, Gilbert,” Alfred interrupted with an awkward cough, “How do you know Matt?”
“Worked in Canada for a bit,” he answered as he snatched another beer from a passerby, “He was…an interesting kid.”
“What were you doing in Canada?”
“I was working! Didn’t I say that? I’m a doctor, surgeon to be precise, and they need some of my awesome surgical-like expertise up there.”
“What brings you to America then?” Natalia asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he winked, causing her to kick him again.
“I would!” Alfred shouted, “Can you tell us?”
“Sure kid. I’m looking for someone. You haven’t seen him by the way have you?” Both teens shook their heads, “Shame, could’ve saved me so much time.”
“Hey, it’s a big city! I’m sure you’ll find him.”
“Kesesese, I like your spirit kid,” Gilbert signaled to the bartender, “Next round’s on me!”
***
“You’re reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaally pretty,” Alfred slurred as Natalia attempted to drag him back to the hotel they were staying at.
“And you’re quite drunk,” she replied. She really should have just left him there for Gilbert or someone else to deal with. How was she supposed to know the boy couldn’t hold his liquor?
“Pshaw, am not,” he attempted to argue, “And it’s true n’matter wha’ state ’m in.”
Natalia didn’t say anything, just kept dragging him along the streets praying she ran into Arthur or Romano or someone else to hand him off to.
“Ivan’s ‘n idiot,” he continued rambling, “I’d let ya stalk me ‘ny day babe.”
“It would be in your best interest to shut up now.”
“But, but but but…”
“…But what?”
“I forget. You’re really pretty.”
Natalia contemplated quickly killing him there or waiting to get back to the room so she could prolong the torture.
“Like seriously though, wha’ didya ever see in a jerk like Ivan?”
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand the complicated matters of the heart.”
“Try me.”
She stopped walking and let go of Alfred. Without her support, he ended up leaning against a nearby wall instead, patiently waiting for her to tell her story. It was late (or was it early?) and the street was empty, just an Alfred, calmly listening to what she had to say.
“Well, I suppose…”
“There you are!” a very British voice shouted from down the street. Both heads turned to see a very angry Arthur coming towards them. “Where the hell were you?”
“Artie,” Alfred whined, “You totally ruined the moment!”
“And you’re completely pissed!” Arthur exclaimed before he turned on Natalia, “I thought I told you two to stay out of trouble!”
“No one died, and he’s not driving tomorrow,” she shrugged, “No harm done.”
“Yes, I do believe harm has been done!”
“Did you find Romano?”
“I, well, yes, I did, but I believe you are missing the point-”
“Where is he?”
“Back at the room. We ended up screaming at each other for a few hours and forgot the reason for the row in the first place, and when we got back he just sort of passed out on the bed, but-”
“Then no harm is done. We should get some sleep and head out early tomorrow if we want to get there in a reasonable amount of time,” she stated before sauntering off in the direction Arthur came from, leaving him to deal with Alfred.
“Stupid girl,” he muttered as he slung Alfred’s arm around his shoulders, “Who does she think she is, ordering me around like that. Bloody twat.”
“Hey, dun talk ‘bout her that way,” Alfred groggily protested, “I like her.”
“I know you do; you make it very obvious, although I’m starting to doubt your taste in women…”
“Yeah, well I’m startin’ t’doubt yer face!”
“You do that lad, you do that.”
Characters/Pairings: America/Belarus, England/France, Romano, Prussia. Mentions of Canada.
Warnings/Ratings: PG-13, and underage drinking? And Romano's mouth.
Summary: Alfred Jones wants to find his real parents. Arthur Kirkland would like to find some form of employment. Natalia Alfroskaya needs to get away. The solution: a road trip to California. Along the way they meet a mysterious hitchhiker called Romano and his problems, as well as discover what exactly utopia means to each of them.
Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
July 2, 20XX
Alfred is driving today. Natalia navigates. After getting nowhere yesterday, we manage to reach Cleveland, OH today. Stop at a diner for breakfast in New York, a roadside burger stand on Alfred’s insistence in Pennsylvania for lunch, and another McDonalds in Cleveland for dinner. The rest of us will probably be sick of McDonalds before we reach Chicago.
Against my better judgment, we picked up a hitchhiker who calls himself Romano in Pennsylvania today. If we all end up dead, I suggest him as the primary suspect, but as much as I hate to admit Alfred being right, he seems harmless. He won’t tell us anything about himself or where he’s going, and I doubt Romano is his real name, so I’m keeping my guard up.
-Arthur Kirkland
“Why are you stopping?” Arthur forcefully demanded as Alfred started to slow down.
“Hitchhiker. Just picking him up,” he explained.
“Are you mad? You can’t just pick up a random stranger on the side of the road! I’m not even sure hitchhiking is legal in this day and age.”
“All the more reason we should pick him up,” Alfred explained, “so a cop doesn’t.”
“For all you know he could be a crazed serial killer after our organs! Keep driving.”
“No. As the driver, I’m making the executive decision to pick him up.”
“You don’t have executive decision making powers just because you’re the driver! You have control over when we stop and what’s on the radio and that’s it!”
“Yeah, and I say we stop now and pick this guy up.”
“Ugh,” Arthur rested his head against Alfred’s seat, “Natalia, talk some sense into him.”
“I don’t-”
“Bloody hell woman, he’s going to bring some stranger into the car with us! Start caring!”
Natalia turned and hit him with an icy glare. “It’s fine. What’s one more person in the car anyway?”
Arthur resigned himself to bashing his head against Alfred’s headrest while the car came to a complete stop in front of the hitchhiker.
“Hello!” Alfred greeted happily after he rolled down Natalia’s window, “Where are you heading stranger?”
“That depends,” the hitchhiker leaned against the window, “where are you going?”
“Los Angeles, California.”
He smirked and tilted his head, causing the curl on top of his head to bobble. “Then I guess I’m going to California.”
“Really? Awesome, what a coincidence,” Alfred smiled naïvely at him as Arthur unbuckled his seatbelt and shifted over so he could lean over Natalia’s headrest and glare at the hitchhiker directly.
“Of course you’re heading to California. You couldn’t possibly be thinking about robbing us blind and leaving our decapitated corpses on the side of the road now could you,” Arthur gained a smirk to match the mysterious man’s as he continued, “Just what makes you think you have any right to enter this car?”
“Bastard,” the hitchhiker snarled, “The driver just gave me permission!”
“See? Told you driver has executive powers,” Alfred taunted in a sing-song voice, causing Arthur to shoot him a glare.
“We need to make this decision as a group Alfred! And I vote against letting him in the car.”
“I’m all for letting me in the car,” the stranger stated.
“You don’t get a vote.”
“Well, I get a vote, maybe two since I’m driving, and I say he can come.”
“You still only get one brat! Natalia, what do you say?”
She turned to scrutinize the hitchhiker for the first time, causing him to go pale and sweat slightly, probably had him rethinking this decision in the first place.
“…Can you pay for your own food?”
“Y-yeah…,” he coughed awkwardly and took a step back, “I have some money…”
“Enough for gas and a room? We’ve been splitting the bills; it would be easier on everyone to split it all four ways instead of three, especially you Arthur.”
Arthur muttered something incoherent and settled back into his seat when the hitchhiker nodded.
“So he can come?” Alfred asked, smile back on his face.
“Yes, it’s not like he’s going to get in our way much anyway, if he is heading in the same direction as us.”
“Awesome! Hop in stranger!” Alfred unlocked the rear passenger door for him. Arthur grumbled some more and moved to make room for him as the door was opened and a small bag was tossed in the middle seat. The stranger scrambled in and shut the door shortly after, and Alfred wasted no time slamming on the gas pedal and gunning it back down the deserted back road.
“Alfred Jones by the way,” Alfred said as he topped off at 75 mph, “this cheerful gal is Natalia Alfroskaya, and the grumpy old man in the back there is Arthur Kirkland.”
“Don’t give him our full names idiot!” Arthur barked, “Now he’ll know how to find us!”
“Yeah, I’m sure a Jones from New York is going to be so easy to track down,” the hitchhiker said as he rolled his eyes.
“So…what’s your name?” Alfred asked as he made eye contact with him through the review mirror.
“You can call me Romano.”
“…Romano what?”
“Just Romano. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“If you’re trying for the ‘mysterious hitchhiker’ persona,” Arthur smirked at him, “I believe you’re failing miserable.”
“Who asked you anyway asshole?” Romano snapped and tossed his bag at Arthur’s head.
“Yes, far too much of a temper for that archetype.”
“See?” Alfred smiled from the front, “We’re all getting along great.”
“Eyes on the road git.”
***
“Is this all we’re going to eat?” Romano complained as he stared down his burger, “McDonalds? We’re in a city now; we can eat real food you know.”
“Hey!” Alfred managed to sound offended, “This is edible, so that means it is real food.”
“I believe that depends on your definition of edible,” Arthur said, disgusted as he too stared down his alleged food.
“All I’m saying is that who knows the next time we’re going to be in a city,” Romano scoffed, “We should take advantage of that.”
“We should get to Chicago tomorrow if there’s no traffic,” Natalia informed him.
“I - well, yeah, but I’d still like some real food. And what’s with that cheap hotel room you got us anyway.”
“You are a hitchhiker!” Arthur shouted, “You are leeching off of us! If you don’t like the accommodations, then go somewhere else! You have the ability to do that!”
“Yeah…well,” he blushed and adverted his gaze, “Che, I don’t need to explain myself to you!” he chucked his half eaten burger into the nearby garbage can and stormed out of the restaurant with a hasty “I’ll see you back at the hotel” thrown over his shoulder.
Arthur angrily turned to face his other two companions, who were staring at him as if they were disappointed in his actions.
“Why did you go and make him upset like that Artie?” Alfred asked.
“I made him upset? He’s leeching off of us and he acts like we owe him a favor.”
“It’s a small car,” Natalia pointed out as she turned to stare out the window, “Things will get…awkward.”
“Well what do you want me to do about it? He’s the one at fault here.”
“Just, go apologize,” Alfred sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, “I know you’re all tense because you haven’t gotten laid in a while-”
“Th-that has nothing to do with anything!” Arthur denied, “H-how do you…why would you even insinuate that-”
“But,” he interrupted, “just, find him and apologize.”
“And get him something to eat,” Natalia added, “He did look a tad hungry.”
“You two are wankers and impossible,” Arthur sighed in defeat, “Fine, but if I’m going to go apologize to our leech, I want you two to do something for me two.” They looked at him expectantly as he stood up, “Just…don’t do anything stupid. I know being teenagers alone in a strange city may seem exciting, but it’s quite dangerous and I’m not up to bailing you two out of jail at the moment.”
“C’mon Artie, us? Get into trouble?” he beamed up at him, “Do you really think Natalia and I are the type to get into trouble?”
“With you Jones, I honestly never know,” but he sighed and went out to chase down his leech. As soon as he was gone, Alfred gulped down the rest of his burger and Natalia finished off her drink.
“I saw a bar a few blocks down,” she said in her monotone, “It looked shady. I doubt they’ll scrutinize ids too hard.”
“I still have some fake ones in my wallet,” Alfred said as he pulled out said wallet and flipped through it, eventually taking out two plastic cards and handing one to Natalia, who took it and stared at it.
“…Why does this say I’m a middle aged Japanese man?”
“Well, that was Kiku’s before he went to Japan…”
“It will have to do, I suppose,” she tucked it into a pocket and stood to throw her garbage away. Alfred snatched her tray from her hand before she could and threw out both of their trash out as Natalia walked towards the door instead, stopping just outside to wait for Alfred to catch up. As soon as he did, he offered her his arm, which she accepted without much protest, and they were off to explore the city nightlife.
***
They got into the bar with no problems, and Alfred was able to buy them both drinks, again with no problems. Natalia picked out a booth in the back corner of the bar, hoping that no one would bother to disturb them there. Alfred gave her a drink and sat down across from her as the two of them descended into an awkward silence.
“So…how are you?” he asked in an attempt to break it. Natalia merely glanced up and continued ignoring him.
“Talking wouldn’t kill you, you know,” he said, “nor would smiling.”
“I know what everyone on campus is saying about me,” she snapped at him, “I don’t know what possibly possessed you to let me come along with you, but it doesn’t mean we have to get along. It doesn’t even mean we have to be friends.”
“I don’t care what everyone else is saying,” Alfred frowned as he leaned back, “I invited you ‘cause I like hanging out with you and you seemed like you needed a break from New York. I don’t have an ulterior motive…unless you want me to have one,” that last line was delivered with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.
Natalia ground her teeth and was about to snap back at him when they were interrupted by a shout of “Mattie!” from across the bar. Both teens looked over to see an albino running towards them and slide in the booth next to Alfred, wrapping his arm around them like they were the best of friends.
“Mattie! What’re you doing in Cleveland man?” the albino smiled at Alfred, “I thought you were still in Vancouver!”
“I am, I mean, he is. I guess,” Alfred blushed slightly and tried to shift away from the strange man. Natalia leaned back in the booth with her drink, offering no help whatsoever, “I think you’ve got the wrong person. My name’s Alfred, Alfred Jones.”
“Huh? Alfred?” the man took a closer look at him, much to Alfred’s discomfort before leaning back and taking a sip from his beer, “Weird. You know, you look just like this kid I know from Canada, Matthew Williams.”
“Eh? You know Matt?” Alfred’s original discomfort vanished instantly, “He’s my brother!”
“No shit. Didn’t know he had a brother,” the albino chugged the rest of his beer and slammed the glass against the table, “The name’s Gilbert Beilschmidt, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you Gilbert,” Alfred eagerly shook his hand, “this is my friend Natalia.”
“Hello Natalia,” Gilbert gave her a once over with a look in his eyes that said he clearly liked what he saw. Natalia responded with a quick but fierce kick to his shin, “That’s cool. I like ‘em feisty.”
“So, Gilbert,” Alfred interrupted with an awkward cough, “How do you know Matt?”
“Worked in Canada for a bit,” he answered as he snatched another beer from a passerby, “He was…an interesting kid.”
“What were you doing in Canada?”
“I was working! Didn’t I say that? I’m a doctor, surgeon to be precise, and they need some of my awesome surgical-like expertise up there.”
“What brings you to America then?” Natalia asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he winked, causing her to kick him again.
“I would!” Alfred shouted, “Can you tell us?”
“Sure kid. I’m looking for someone. You haven’t seen him by the way have you?” Both teens shook their heads, “Shame, could’ve saved me so much time.”
“Hey, it’s a big city! I’m sure you’ll find him.”
“Kesesese, I like your spirit kid,” Gilbert signaled to the bartender, “Next round’s on me!”
***
“You’re reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaally pretty,” Alfred slurred as Natalia attempted to drag him back to the hotel they were staying at.
“And you’re quite drunk,” she replied. She really should have just left him there for Gilbert or someone else to deal with. How was she supposed to know the boy couldn’t hold his liquor?
“Pshaw, am not,” he attempted to argue, “And it’s true n’matter wha’ state ’m in.”
Natalia didn’t say anything, just kept dragging him along the streets praying she ran into Arthur or Romano or someone else to hand him off to.
“Ivan’s ‘n idiot,” he continued rambling, “I’d let ya stalk me ‘ny day babe.”
“It would be in your best interest to shut up now.”
“But, but but but…”
“…But what?”
“I forget. You’re really pretty.”
Natalia contemplated quickly killing him there or waiting to get back to the room so she could prolong the torture.
“Like seriously though, wha’ didya ever see in a jerk like Ivan?”
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand the complicated matters of the heart.”
“Try me.”
She stopped walking and let go of Alfred. Without her support, he ended up leaning against a nearby wall instead, patiently waiting for her to tell her story. It was late (or was it early?) and the street was empty, just an Alfred, calmly listening to what she had to say.
“Well, I suppose…”
“There you are!” a very British voice shouted from down the street. Both heads turned to see a very angry Arthur coming towards them. “Where the hell were you?”
“Artie,” Alfred whined, “You totally ruined the moment!”
“And you’re completely pissed!” Arthur exclaimed before he turned on Natalia, “I thought I told you two to stay out of trouble!”
“No one died, and he’s not driving tomorrow,” she shrugged, “No harm done.”
“Yes, I do believe harm has been done!”
“Did you find Romano?”
“I, well, yes, I did, but I believe you are missing the point-”
“Where is he?”
“Back at the room. We ended up screaming at each other for a few hours and forgot the reason for the row in the first place, and when we got back he just sort of passed out on the bed, but-”
“Then no harm is done. We should get some sleep and head out early tomorrow if we want to get there in a reasonable amount of time,” she stated before sauntering off in the direction Arthur came from, leaving him to deal with Alfred.
“Stupid girl,” he muttered as he slung Alfred’s arm around his shoulders, “Who does she think she is, ordering me around like that. Bloody twat.”
“Hey, dun talk ‘bout her that way,” Alfred groggily protested, “I like her.”
“I know you do; you make it very obvious, although I’m starting to doubt your taste in women…”
“Yeah, well I’m startin’ t’doubt yer face!”
“You do that lad, you do that.”