Backlog: What's Irish for Hanging Out?
Who: Gabe Young, Alvin Smith and Sophia Ben Israel
When: Monday, 31 January 2019
Where: Gabe Young’s House
What: Hanging out
Alvin gathered some snow from the car as they were passing by. Rolling it into a nearly perfect snowball, he threw it at Gabe's head. He stiffled a laugh when Gabe turned and glared at him. “When do you guys think it’ll stop snowing?”
“Probably never,” Sophia laughed, “I sometimes think that Ohio only has winter. The seasons are supposed to be evenly divided right?”
“What? This is nothin.’ It Ireland, there’s like three times this much snow. The world is right about Americans. You’re all a bunch of spoiled wankers,” Gabe said, turning suddenly and throwing a snowball in each of their faces before sprinting off.
Sophia quickly wiped the snow from her face before she chased after Gabe. “You are so dead,” she called out. Luckily, all of the snow was slowing him down and she managed to catch up to him. She threw the snow she had gathered in her arms as she chased him at the back of his head without even bothering to form a snowball. “Take that.”
Stumbling a little, he gathered snow haphazardly and started throwing it back. “I’m better at this game than you.” Gabe ran up to her and grabbed the hat off of her head and filled it with snow before chucking it back at her. “Like that?”
“Nope,” she laughed putting the hat on, snow and all, “love it. My head was starting to get warm. Now you’ve solved my problem.” She stuck her tongue out at him and pretended that the snow now falling out of her hat wasn’t bothering her.
Alvin grabbed a handful of snow before sneaking behind Sophia. He pulled back the collar of her coat, and shoved the snow down her back.
“Ahh,” Sophia screeched, she had been too busy focusing on Gabe to notice Alvin sneaking up on her. She whipped around and lunged for him, narrowly missing snagging his jacket. “What exactly did I do to you?”
“You don’t have to do something to me to have a snowball fight,” he replied simply before sticking his tongue out at her.
“No shit,” she rolled her eyes at him but her tone was joking. “I meant why are we ganging up on me exactly? He’s the one who called both of us wankers.” She waved in Gabe’s general direction. “And I didn’t throw snow at you,” she added before reaching down and grabbing a handful of snow and packing it into a ball. “...yet.”
“Hey, now. I never said I was ganging up on anyone... You were just closer,” he replied with a shrug. Alvin started backing away slowly when he saw Sophia gather snow. “Gabe, help me out here, bro.”
Sophia tossed the snowball at Alvin before he could get too far away, hitting him squarely in the chest, “scared of a girl I see,” she laughed.
Gabe jogged back over to the pair, packing snow in his hand and throwing two snowballs at Sophia. “We’re practically brothers. Don’t you go tryin’ to turn family against family.”
“Okay, okay,” she was the one backing up now. “I see how it’s going to be.” She held up her hands. “I’m sorry,” she added before she flopped back into the snow, figuring that maybe playing dead would work.
Alvin grabbed more snow and started inching his way towards Sophia. He gave a look to Gabe before throwing the snow in her face. “Don’t try to play dead with us, Ben Israel.”
“What?” She grinned, sitting up and wiping the snow from her face. “It was worth a try.” She tried to stand up but getting up proved to be difficult and it took her a couple of attempts before she was standing again. “Okay, that was a lot less graceful than desired,” she laughed at herself. “So much for my surprise spring up and attack plan.” She took a hesitant step towards them, two against one might require a bit of strategy. She figured there was no way she could knock Alvin down but maybe, just maybe, she could get Gabe to topple into the snow, and with that she rushed head first at Gabe.
Caught off guard, Gabe stumbled backwards and landed hard in a snowbank. “Jesus Christ!” He shrieked as the wind was knocked out of him. “What the fuck, Ben Israel?”
“What?” Sophia suppressed her laughter. “If you’re going to play the ‘we’re family’ card with Alvin over there, then I need some kind of advantage because you two against me isn’t completely fair,” she paused before adding, “it turns out I have a hard head.” When Gabe didn’t immediately get up she got a little worried. “You’re okay right?”
“No, do I look all right to you?” Gabe asked, groaning as he rolled on the ground, holding his stomach.
“Shit,” she cursed approaching him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t think, I...” she paused her rambling to offer Gabe her hand and added another. “Sorry.”
Gabe took the proffered hand and tugged hard until she landed on the ground. He rolled over top her, pinning her with his weight before shoving snow into her face and laughing. “That was classic.”
Sophia tried to get away from him but it was no use so she gave up her struggle. “That wasn’t classic. It was terrible, you’re terrible. I was really worried.” She paused before deciding. “Okay maybe it was a bit classic but you’re still kind of a jerk.”
Smirking down at her, he mushed more snow in her face for good measure. “Maybe I am, but I’m just handsome enough to get away with it.”
Sophia cringed as more snow got shoved in her face. “You talk about us Americans, but you’re pretty full of yourself. Is everyone in Ireland like you?”
“Only the good looking ones,” Gabe answered, moving off of her.
She groaned at his response rolling her eyes, “of course.” Once he had moved off of her she sat up. “I don’t think I can feel my face anymore.”
Alvin laughed loudly at Gabe and Sophia's conversation. After catching his breath, he said, "Yeah, my face feels pretty frozen, too." As a shiver ran through his body, he thought of the perfect way to warm up again. "Lets get some hot chocolate!" he suggested enthusiastically, licking his lips at the thought.
Gabe nodded. “Sounds like a plan. I’d also like some nice, dry clothes as well. Sorry about you lot.” He walked ahead of them, spotting his house not too far ahead.
“Great,” Sophia groaned, “I love being soaking wet.”
“I like a girl that can admit that,” Gabe said with a smile and a wink. “Do you also like to have wet t-shirts as well? I mean we have a hose just outside.”
“Don’t make me tackle you again,” Sophia replied, shoving his arm. “I swear boys are ridiculous, you all think the same.”
"I was going to say "that's what she said," but Gabe beat me with his comment," Alvin replied with a grin. "Lucky for me, I have clothes in the laundry from last time I was at your house. I get dry clothes! What will we do when we get to your house? Aside from making hot chocolate."
“Game or mix. Your call,” Gabe said as he opened the door to the house. He looked over at Sophia. “I don’t suppose you want to do either. You probably want to watch some said chick movie and cry, right?”
“That’s exactly what I want to do,” Sophia said with a straight face. “Of course I’d be crying from laughter because I would bet money that neither of you could sit through some sad chick movie without crying and that would be hilarious.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. Sorry to burst your bubble, Soph. I vote we game because our mixing is like a highly guarded secret. She has to earn her way to the mix sessions,” Alvin said seriously before winking at Gabe.
“I like that you assume that I desperately want to be part of your mix sessions,” she laughed. “I guess I can settle for seeing you cry when I kick your butt at whatever game we play though.”
“Pshh, Everybody wants to be a part of our wicked awesome mix sessions. You don’t have to try and hide the truth. We’ll understand, really. Oh, and you’ll be the one crying, not me,” Alvin said confidently.
“Okay, you caught me,” she said. “Who wouldn’t want to be part of something wicked awesome? I can wait though, patience is like a virtue or something, I think.”
“Your sarcasm is not appreciated when referring to our mix sessions, thank you very much,” Alvin said seriously before his face broke into a wide smile. “Where’s Momma Young, Gabe? Gotta say hi to my favorite aunt.”
“MA! I’M HOME!” Gabe called out as he walked in the house and collapsed on the couch in the lounge room.
Iona Young made her way down the hall and smiled at the teens. “You’re all soaking wet. What happened?” She asked, her Irish accent almost making it hard for her to be understood.
“Just a little... well, nice sized snow ball fight on the way over,” Alvin answered wrapping his arms around the woman, getting her clothes wet. “Hi there, favorite aunt!”
“Don’t ya be tryin to butter me up. Yer gettin my clothes all wet,” she complained, pushing Alvin away from her. “Go change!” She turned to her son. “You too. Get off the couch and change.” Her eyes fell on Sophia. “Who’s the lass? I don’t recall seein her before.”
Sophia stood awkwardly in the entrance to the room and watched Alvin greet Gabe’s mother. When the woman turned to her she had a hard time understanding exactly what was said but she figured she got the gist of it. “Hi, my name’s Sophia, I’m in Glee club with those two,” she explained. “I’m sorry that we’re getting water everywhere.”
“Nice to meet ya, dear. I don’t know why yer hangin with these two hooligans, but I don’t envy ya either.” She smiled over at the girl before smacking Gabe’s arm. “Don’t just stand there. Get her some dry towels.”
“Ow! You hit me too much,” Gabe complained, rubbing his arm. “That one hurt.”
“Sissy,” The older woman teased. “Maybe I shoulda let ya keep prancin around in my dresses when ya were younger.”
Gabe’s face turned red and he glared. “I don’t know what yer talkin about. Maybe ya should lay off the port,” he replied, making a face. When his mother lifted her hand again, he jumped away. “Alright, alright...Jesus, come on. Let’s go dry off,” he said to Alvin and Sophia, leading the way to the basement.
“So dresses huh?” Sophia laughed as she followed Gabe down the steps to the basement. “Anything you care to share?”
“Ha...ha...” Gabe said before throwing a towel at her, hitting her in the face.
Sophia jumped back on reflex as the towel that Gabe threw at her hit her in the face. Picking it up off the floor she started drying herself off as best she could. “I think I sort of love your mother.”
“His mom is pretty awesome,” Alvin commented as he grabbed his dry clothes and headed to change in the bathroom.
Gabe grabbed his a new shirt from the dryer. “Yeah, don’t neither one of you go repeatin what ya heard. Got it?”
“Who me?” Sophia joked but then added seriously, “don’t worry your secret is safe with me.”
“You know your secret’s safe with me. Don’t fret,” Alvin said as he walked back in the room. “What game are we playin’? And, where’s the hot chocolate?”
“DAD, CAN WE GET SOME COCOA DOWN HERE?” Gabe called up the stairs. “How’s about some Rock Band? It’s a classic.”
“Sounds good to me. What do you think, Sophia?”
“Sounds good to me too,” she agreed, glad that they weren’t going to play some game that required true skill. She may have joked about beating them, but when it came to video games, she was more of a button masher.
“Sweet, I’ll take the drums. You lot can sort out the other bits,” Gabe said, moving over to the system and setting up the game.
“Do you mind if I take guitar?” Sophia asked Alvin.
“Uhh, sure. Go ahead. I’ll take the bass. How about we do this song first,” Alvin replied. “Unless either of you have a song you’d prefer.”
“That song’s just fine,” Sophia confirmed. “Are you ready to witness my mad skills?”
“If that’s what you call them. You’re on. Ready? Go.” Alvin said as he hit play.
As the song started Sophia focused her attention on the game, not wanting to screw up. When they made it to the end of the song successfully she loosened her grip on the guitar. “What did I tell you? I’m awesome!” She grinned at the boys before she added, “and I guess you weren’t so bad either.”
“Well, look at that. You weren’t that bad. But was it just beginner’s luck? That’s what I’m thinking it was,” Alvin said playfully. “Pick the next song and we can see if you can do that again.”
“Think what you want,” Sophia laughed. “You’ll see in a minute that it wasn’t a coincidence.” She took her time picking a song but finally settled on one. Hitting play, she once again turned all of her attention to the game. She was glad when they managed to finish the song successfully once again.
“Alright. You’re good. But then again, you’re only on easy. Let’s try intermediate with...” Alvin trailed off as he looked for a tougher song. He settled on Crazy Train in hopes of it being too fast pace for her. “This song. It’s a classic,” he finished with a smirk.
Sophia didn’t even answer him, her focus completely on the game. She usually wasn’t so competitive, but after all of the joking about how good she was, she really didn’t want to fail. It was close but she managed to make it to the end of the song. “There, see, it wasn’t beginner’s luck,” she told Alvin.
“Well, damn. I’m impressed,” Alvin said as he heard his uncle calls down the stairs. “Sounds like the hot chocolate is ready. Let’s go get some and then come back for more jamming.”
Sophia smiled and answered, “yes, let’s.” Even though Gabe had given her the towel to dry off, she was still damp and a bit cold. “I’m super excited for hot chocolate,” she added, following the boys up the stairs.
When they reached the top of the stairs, Alvin led the way to the kitchen. He was over enough that Gabe’s house seemed like a second home to him. He pulled out a bar stool at the island and sat down. Grabbing mug of hot cocoa, Alvin took a sip. “Mmmm. This is good. Thanks for making it for us.”
“Yeah Da, thanks. We’ll be ready for those potato skin things you said you were gonna make,” Gabe said, reaching for the homemade whipped cream.
Greg Young shook his head. “Did you guys want anything else? Some wings? I just bough home some drumettes home from the supplier. They don’t take that long in the deep fryer. Sound good?” He asked, looking over at the teens.
"Mmmm. Now that you mention it, wings would be awesome.” Alvin said enthusiastically before taking a long drink from his mug.
Gabe grinned over at his cousin before nodding in agreement. “Yeah, that would be great. Use that barbecue-buffalo sauce stuff, yeah? Extra spicy.”
The older man nodded. “Okay, I can do that. Wings and potato skins coming up. Should take about thirty minutes because I don’t have the sauce made.” He looked over at the girl standing with them and back at his son. “Where’s Molly today?”
Shrugging, Gabe shifted. “She had one those pompom meetins today,” he explained, glancing back at his friends. “We don’t do everythin together, ya know...”
His father chuckled, holding up his strong, calloused, dark brown hands. “All right, no need to get defensive. I was just asking,” he said, winking over at Alvin.
“Yeah, yeah...come on. Let’s go,” Gabe said, glaring at his dad.
Alvin laughed at the conversation between his cousin and uncle. "Yeah, Gabe, no need to get defensive," he added with a grin. "Okay, let's go and play more rock band. I want drums this time, though."
When: Monday, 31 January 2019
Where: Gabe Young’s House
What: Hanging out
Alvin gathered some snow from the car as they were passing by. Rolling it into a nearly perfect snowball, he threw it at Gabe's head. He stiffled a laugh when Gabe turned and glared at him. “When do you guys think it’ll stop snowing?”
“Probably never,” Sophia laughed, “I sometimes think that Ohio only has winter. The seasons are supposed to be evenly divided right?”
“What? This is nothin.’ It Ireland, there’s like three times this much snow. The world is right about Americans. You’re all a bunch of spoiled wankers,” Gabe said, turning suddenly and throwing a snowball in each of their faces before sprinting off.
Sophia quickly wiped the snow from her face before she chased after Gabe. “You are so dead,” she called out. Luckily, all of the snow was slowing him down and she managed to catch up to him. She threw the snow she had gathered in her arms as she chased him at the back of his head without even bothering to form a snowball. “Take that.”
Stumbling a little, he gathered snow haphazardly and started throwing it back. “I’m better at this game than you.” Gabe ran up to her and grabbed the hat off of her head and filled it with snow before chucking it back at her. “Like that?”
“Nope,” she laughed putting the hat on, snow and all, “love it. My head was starting to get warm. Now you’ve solved my problem.” She stuck her tongue out at him and pretended that the snow now falling out of her hat wasn’t bothering her.
Alvin grabbed a handful of snow before sneaking behind Sophia. He pulled back the collar of her coat, and shoved the snow down her back.
“Ahh,” Sophia screeched, she had been too busy focusing on Gabe to notice Alvin sneaking up on her. She whipped around and lunged for him, narrowly missing snagging his jacket. “What exactly did I do to you?”
“You don’t have to do something to me to have a snowball fight,” he replied simply before sticking his tongue out at her.
“No shit,” she rolled her eyes at him but her tone was joking. “I meant why are we ganging up on me exactly? He’s the one who called both of us wankers.” She waved in Gabe’s general direction. “And I didn’t throw snow at you,” she added before reaching down and grabbing a handful of snow and packing it into a ball. “...yet.”
“Hey, now. I never said I was ganging up on anyone... You were just closer,” he replied with a shrug. Alvin started backing away slowly when he saw Sophia gather snow. “Gabe, help me out here, bro.”
Sophia tossed the snowball at Alvin before he could get too far away, hitting him squarely in the chest, “scared of a girl I see,” she laughed.
Gabe jogged back over to the pair, packing snow in his hand and throwing two snowballs at Sophia. “We’re practically brothers. Don’t you go tryin’ to turn family against family.”
“Okay, okay,” she was the one backing up now. “I see how it’s going to be.” She held up her hands. “I’m sorry,” she added before she flopped back into the snow, figuring that maybe playing dead would work.
Alvin grabbed more snow and started inching his way towards Sophia. He gave a look to Gabe before throwing the snow in her face. “Don’t try to play dead with us, Ben Israel.”
“What?” She grinned, sitting up and wiping the snow from her face. “It was worth a try.” She tried to stand up but getting up proved to be difficult and it took her a couple of attempts before she was standing again. “Okay, that was a lot less graceful than desired,” she laughed at herself. “So much for my surprise spring up and attack plan.” She took a hesitant step towards them, two against one might require a bit of strategy. She figured there was no way she could knock Alvin down but maybe, just maybe, she could get Gabe to topple into the snow, and with that she rushed head first at Gabe.
Caught off guard, Gabe stumbled backwards and landed hard in a snowbank. “Jesus Christ!” He shrieked as the wind was knocked out of him. “What the fuck, Ben Israel?”
“What?” Sophia suppressed her laughter. “If you’re going to play the ‘we’re family’ card with Alvin over there, then I need some kind of advantage because you two against me isn’t completely fair,” she paused before adding, “it turns out I have a hard head.” When Gabe didn’t immediately get up she got a little worried. “You’re okay right?”
“No, do I look all right to you?” Gabe asked, groaning as he rolled on the ground, holding his stomach.
“Shit,” she cursed approaching him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t think, I...” she paused her rambling to offer Gabe her hand and added another. “Sorry.”
Gabe took the proffered hand and tugged hard until she landed on the ground. He rolled over top her, pinning her with his weight before shoving snow into her face and laughing. “That was classic.”
Sophia tried to get away from him but it was no use so she gave up her struggle. “That wasn’t classic. It was terrible, you’re terrible. I was really worried.” She paused before deciding. “Okay maybe it was a bit classic but you’re still kind of a jerk.”
Smirking down at her, he mushed more snow in her face for good measure. “Maybe I am, but I’m just handsome enough to get away with it.”
Sophia cringed as more snow got shoved in her face. “You talk about us Americans, but you’re pretty full of yourself. Is everyone in Ireland like you?”
“Only the good looking ones,” Gabe answered, moving off of her.
She groaned at his response rolling her eyes, “of course.” Once he had moved off of her she sat up. “I don’t think I can feel my face anymore.”
Alvin laughed loudly at Gabe and Sophia's conversation. After catching his breath, he said, "Yeah, my face feels pretty frozen, too." As a shiver ran through his body, he thought of the perfect way to warm up again. "Lets get some hot chocolate!" he suggested enthusiastically, licking his lips at the thought.
Gabe nodded. “Sounds like a plan. I’d also like some nice, dry clothes as well. Sorry about you lot.” He walked ahead of them, spotting his house not too far ahead.
“Great,” Sophia groaned, “I love being soaking wet.”
“I like a girl that can admit that,” Gabe said with a smile and a wink. “Do you also like to have wet t-shirts as well? I mean we have a hose just outside.”
“Don’t make me tackle you again,” Sophia replied, shoving his arm. “I swear boys are ridiculous, you all think the same.”
"I was going to say "that's what she said," but Gabe beat me with his comment," Alvin replied with a grin. "Lucky for me, I have clothes in the laundry from last time I was at your house. I get dry clothes! What will we do when we get to your house? Aside from making hot chocolate."
“Game or mix. Your call,” Gabe said as he opened the door to the house. He looked over at Sophia. “I don’t suppose you want to do either. You probably want to watch some said chick movie and cry, right?”
“That’s exactly what I want to do,” Sophia said with a straight face. “Of course I’d be crying from laughter because I would bet money that neither of you could sit through some sad chick movie without crying and that would be hilarious.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. Sorry to burst your bubble, Soph. I vote we game because our mixing is like a highly guarded secret. She has to earn her way to the mix sessions,” Alvin said seriously before winking at Gabe.
“I like that you assume that I desperately want to be part of your mix sessions,” she laughed. “I guess I can settle for seeing you cry when I kick your butt at whatever game we play though.”
“Pshh, Everybody wants to be a part of our wicked awesome mix sessions. You don’t have to try and hide the truth. We’ll understand, really. Oh, and you’ll be the one crying, not me,” Alvin said confidently.
“Okay, you caught me,” she said. “Who wouldn’t want to be part of something wicked awesome? I can wait though, patience is like a virtue or something, I think.”
“Your sarcasm is not appreciated when referring to our mix sessions, thank you very much,” Alvin said seriously before his face broke into a wide smile. “Where’s Momma Young, Gabe? Gotta say hi to my favorite aunt.”
“MA! I’M HOME!” Gabe called out as he walked in the house and collapsed on the couch in the lounge room.
Iona Young made her way down the hall and smiled at the teens. “You’re all soaking wet. What happened?” She asked, her Irish accent almost making it hard for her to be understood.
“Just a little... well, nice sized snow ball fight on the way over,” Alvin answered wrapping his arms around the woman, getting her clothes wet. “Hi there, favorite aunt!”
“Don’t ya be tryin to butter me up. Yer gettin my clothes all wet,” she complained, pushing Alvin away from her. “Go change!” She turned to her son. “You too. Get off the couch and change.” Her eyes fell on Sophia. “Who’s the lass? I don’t recall seein her before.”
Sophia stood awkwardly in the entrance to the room and watched Alvin greet Gabe’s mother. When the woman turned to her she had a hard time understanding exactly what was said but she figured she got the gist of it. “Hi, my name’s Sophia, I’m in Glee club with those two,” she explained. “I’m sorry that we’re getting water everywhere.”
“Nice to meet ya, dear. I don’t know why yer hangin with these two hooligans, but I don’t envy ya either.” She smiled over at the girl before smacking Gabe’s arm. “Don’t just stand there. Get her some dry towels.”
“Ow! You hit me too much,” Gabe complained, rubbing his arm. “That one hurt.”
“Sissy,” The older woman teased. “Maybe I shoulda let ya keep prancin around in my dresses when ya were younger.”
Gabe’s face turned red and he glared. “I don’t know what yer talkin about. Maybe ya should lay off the port,” he replied, making a face. When his mother lifted her hand again, he jumped away. “Alright, alright...Jesus, come on. Let’s go dry off,” he said to Alvin and Sophia, leading the way to the basement.
“So dresses huh?” Sophia laughed as she followed Gabe down the steps to the basement. “Anything you care to share?”
“Ha...ha...” Gabe said before throwing a towel at her, hitting her in the face.
Sophia jumped back on reflex as the towel that Gabe threw at her hit her in the face. Picking it up off the floor she started drying herself off as best she could. “I think I sort of love your mother.”
“His mom is pretty awesome,” Alvin commented as he grabbed his dry clothes and headed to change in the bathroom.
Gabe grabbed his a new shirt from the dryer. “Yeah, don’t neither one of you go repeatin what ya heard. Got it?”
“Who me?” Sophia joked but then added seriously, “don’t worry your secret is safe with me.”
“You know your secret’s safe with me. Don’t fret,” Alvin said as he walked back in the room. “What game are we playin’? And, where’s the hot chocolate?”
“DAD, CAN WE GET SOME COCOA DOWN HERE?” Gabe called up the stairs. “How’s about some Rock Band? It’s a classic.”
“Sounds good to me. What do you think, Sophia?”
“Sounds good to me too,” she agreed, glad that they weren’t going to play some game that required true skill. She may have joked about beating them, but when it came to video games, she was more of a button masher.
“Sweet, I’ll take the drums. You lot can sort out the other bits,” Gabe said, moving over to the system and setting up the game.
“Do you mind if I take guitar?” Sophia asked Alvin.
“Uhh, sure. Go ahead. I’ll take the bass. How about we do this song first,” Alvin replied. “Unless either of you have a song you’d prefer.”
“That song’s just fine,” Sophia confirmed. “Are you ready to witness my mad skills?”
“If that’s what you call them. You’re on. Ready? Go.” Alvin said as he hit play.
As the song started Sophia focused her attention on the game, not wanting to screw up. When they made it to the end of the song successfully she loosened her grip on the guitar. “What did I tell you? I’m awesome!” She grinned at the boys before she added, “and I guess you weren’t so bad either.”
“Well, look at that. You weren’t that bad. But was it just beginner’s luck? That’s what I’m thinking it was,” Alvin said playfully. “Pick the next song and we can see if you can do that again.”
“Think what you want,” Sophia laughed. “You’ll see in a minute that it wasn’t a coincidence.” She took her time picking a song but finally settled on one. Hitting play, she once again turned all of her attention to the game. She was glad when they managed to finish the song successfully once again.
“Alright. You’re good. But then again, you’re only on easy. Let’s try intermediate with...” Alvin trailed off as he looked for a tougher song. He settled on Crazy Train in hopes of it being too fast pace for her. “This song. It’s a classic,” he finished with a smirk.
Sophia didn’t even answer him, her focus completely on the game. She usually wasn’t so competitive, but after all of the joking about how good she was, she really didn’t want to fail. It was close but she managed to make it to the end of the song. “There, see, it wasn’t beginner’s luck,” she told Alvin.
“Well, damn. I’m impressed,” Alvin said as he heard his uncle calls down the stairs. “Sounds like the hot chocolate is ready. Let’s go get some and then come back for more jamming.”
Sophia smiled and answered, “yes, let’s.” Even though Gabe had given her the towel to dry off, she was still damp and a bit cold. “I’m super excited for hot chocolate,” she added, following the boys up the stairs.
When they reached the top of the stairs, Alvin led the way to the kitchen. He was over enough that Gabe’s house seemed like a second home to him. He pulled out a bar stool at the island and sat down. Grabbing mug of hot cocoa, Alvin took a sip. “Mmmm. This is good. Thanks for making it for us.”
“Yeah Da, thanks. We’ll be ready for those potato skin things you said you were gonna make,” Gabe said, reaching for the homemade whipped cream.
Greg Young shook his head. “Did you guys want anything else? Some wings? I just bough home some drumettes home from the supplier. They don’t take that long in the deep fryer. Sound good?” He asked, looking over at the teens.
"Mmmm. Now that you mention it, wings would be awesome.” Alvin said enthusiastically before taking a long drink from his mug.
Gabe grinned over at his cousin before nodding in agreement. “Yeah, that would be great. Use that barbecue-buffalo sauce stuff, yeah? Extra spicy.”
The older man nodded. “Okay, I can do that. Wings and potato skins coming up. Should take about thirty minutes because I don’t have the sauce made.” He looked over at the girl standing with them and back at his son. “Where’s Molly today?”
Shrugging, Gabe shifted. “She had one those pompom meetins today,” he explained, glancing back at his friends. “We don’t do everythin together, ya know...”
His father chuckled, holding up his strong, calloused, dark brown hands. “All right, no need to get defensive. I was just asking,” he said, winking over at Alvin.
“Yeah, yeah...come on. Let’s go,” Gabe said, glaring at his dad.
Alvin laughed at the conversation between his cousin and uncle. "Yeah, Gabe, no need to get defensive," he added with a grin. "Okay, let's go and play more rock band. I want drums this time, though."