a fellon and a rich guy walk into a kitchen... (king)

Eli était très occupée ces temps-ci. A l’inverse, Noah n’avait pas grand chose à faire de ses journées - rectification : elle n’avait rien à faire de ses journées. Plutôt que de passer une soirée de plus à se galérer toute seule et à ruminer dans sa légendaire bonne humeur de fin d’année, elle avait donc été chercher Eli après sa représentation. Elle n’avait pas vu le spectacle. Le ballet, pas vraiment sa tasse de thé. Mais elle avait quand même fait l’aller-retour pour ramener son amie, c’était bien aussi, non ?

Eli sous la douche, elle avait chargé Noah d’une mission de la plus haute importance : allez récupérer les menus de plats à emporter. Noah avait donc quitté l’étage pour se rendre à la cuisine. Eli lui avait donné des indications rapides, mais… c’était Eli. Donc rien n’était très précis, et évidemment pas là où on lui avait dit. Sans trop remuer tout ce qui se trouvait là, parce qu’elle n’était pas chez elle, Noah parti donc à la recherche des menus, sans grand succès.

@Kingsley Delarosa

La maison était silencieuse. Les australiens étaient endormis. Kingsley et Ivy pouvaient enfin profiter d'un peu de temps ensemble - du moins, c'était ce qui était prévu. La réalité, c'était que la plus belle était vidée, jouer l’hôtesse était après tout un travail assez difficile. Elle s'était donc endormie en plein épisode de riverdale. Ce soir, King ne s'en plaindrait pas. She was pretty when she slept, and he could give her all the soft kisses he wanted. Par contre, il se plaindrait de son estomac vide, criant famine, après quelques heures d'Archie sans tee-shirt. Doucement, il déplaça son amoureuse, s'assurant de ne pas la réveiller, pour sortir du lit. Il savait qu'il y avait un nouveau pot de nutella dans le garde-manger de la cuisine, et salivait déjà à l'idée d'en couvrir une banane parfaitement mûre. Il fit donc son chemin, le plus discrètement possible, vers le rez-de-chaussé.

À cette heure tardive, il se serait attendu à être seul debout, mais vu la visite et les horaires d'Eli, il ne fit pas de cas quand il entendit un bruit provenant de la pièce où il gardait son nutella. Il fit un cas, cependant, quand il tourna le coin, et vit une criminelle, fouillant les tiroirs. Une criminelle qui lui devait 75 000$. If you plan to steal stuff, the expensive cutlery is in the locked buffet. Étrangement habitué aux rencontres nocturnes avec les amants/fellons d'Eli, Kingsley s'arrêta là, préférant ouvrir l'armoire pour y prendre la pâte à tartiner. Quelqu'un l'avait ouverte. Man, did that girl also steal his nutella?

@noah lehane

Finding something in a kitchen you don’t know without waking up the whole house wasn’t as easy at it appeared. Especially when you were given incomplete, or completely false instruction. She was sure she had opened the drawer Eli told her about, and yet, not a menu in sight. So she had started looking into other drawers. Elle finirait bien par tomber dessus, ils ne pouvaient pas être bien loin.

Elle n’avait toujours rien trouvé lorsqu’elle entendit quelqu’un arriver à la cuisine. Soupirant face à un énième tiroir dénué de menus, Noah le referma avec un soupire de frustration. Why couldn’t Eli give her the right instructions?

Because she was Eli. That was the answer, really.

Relevant le nez de ses recherches, Noah se retrouva face à face avec King. The man of the house - the one without a fur or feathers. The unhappy man of the house, because he didn’t sound thrilled to see her. Not that she could blame him. Unless your fancy spoons can deliver us a pizza, or chinese, or anything edible really, I’m not interested. I wouldn’t make much money off of them, really. Maybe not the best answer. Noah et l’amabilité, c’était pas encore ça. On efface et on recommence. Enfin, elle n’effacerait rien, mais elle pouvait recommencer quand même. I’m looking for the delivery menus. Eli told me it was in this drawer but… they’re not. There, the reason she was here. Not stealing anything - really, if she was planning on robbing the place, she wouldn’t go for the cutlery.

@Kingsley Delarosa

i don't know who taught you to steal, but clearly they didn't know shit. Ou peut-être que Noah avait l'habitude de cambrioler des gens pauvres, ce qui en dirait long sur son caractère. it's like the easiest thing to grab, already boxed, with a pretty handle to help with transport. The kit over there is worth, i don't know, a tenth of a bail, easy. Des ustensiles, ça avait l'air bien stupide, mais ça restait des bouts d'argent travaillés - Des bijoux qu'on se mettait dans la bouche une fois par année, dans les occasions spéciales. Encore mieux, les gens avaient rarement d'attachement sentimentaux avec leurs cuillères et les sortaient rarement. C'est plutôt difficile de déclarer un truc volé quand on ne sait quand il a été pris. Perfect plan. Maybe she wouldn't get caught next time. Y'all don't have a phone? He said while pulling out a (cheap) knife to get his nutella. Le pot était presque vide. Le voleur avait eut l'intelligence de prendre de la tartinade au centre, mais de laisser les parroies bien couvertes pour éviter d'être découvert. Smart. Check the last drawer on the bottom. Most places must be closed right now though.

@noah lehane

Clearly, King hadn’t done his homework. If she ended up having paid bail for someone she barely knew, Noah would have looked into said person. Made sure she wasn’t setting a murderer free without her knowledge, you know. Let me rephrase that. She hadn’t been clear enough, apparently. I wouldn’t know what to do with your nice, fancy cutlery set with a pretty handle because I am not a burglar. I used to steal cars, not forks. Among other things. Et vraiment, qu’est-ce que des trafiquants de voitures volées aurait bien pu faire de ses précieuses petites cuillères en argent ? You know what? Don’t move, I’ll be right back. Et sans un mot de plus, Noah tourna les talons, et quitta la maison.

Quelques minutes plus tard, elle revenait à l’intérieur, quelques papiers à la main. This, she said, slapping a paper on the kitchen counter, is what I’m accused of. Notice the address, right here. And this, another paper ended up on the counter, is the deed to that house, with my name on it. They were in a safe at the bank, so I couldn’t prove it when they arrested me, and since I punched a cop, they didn’t really want to listen to me. As it turns out, punching police officers wasn’t the best way to convince them to hear you out. Take notes. I also have proof of ownership of every single car in the garage, except my crazy aunt’s. She can keep it, it’s a load of crap. Finally, Noah grabbed a pen, and her checkbook, and quickly scribbled inside it. There you go. J’ai arrondi à 80 000, pour le dérangement, comme ça si je me présente pas au tribunal pour cette affreuse tentative de cambriolage dans ma propre maison, tu pourras l’encaisser. Don’t worry, I’m good for it. She hated owing anything, to anyone, cette petite entrevue tombait à pic, finalement. She’d managed to handle things mostly on her own since her dad died, et elle comptait bien continuer ainsi. Now, maybe you can stop giving me the stink eye everytime I step foot in this house. Not that she cared, really. Eli was her friend, not King.

@Kingsley Delarosa

Faute de nutella, Kinglsey c'était rabattu sur du beurre d'arachide. Il en avait la bouche pleine, profitant du silence qui régnait dans la cuisine durant l'absence de Noah. Fan de musique et du son de sa propre voix, il fut lui même choqué du fait qu'il puisse apprécier le calme et la solitude, mais le sentiment était là, indéniable. Peut-être qu'il prenait en maturité, ou peut-être que Noah était à ce point chiante. Who knew. Il s'assura qu'il n'avait pas de tartinade étendue sur le visage, et avala ce qu'il lui restait en bouche avant que la cambrioleuse revienne. Once she was back, he kinda wished he'd kept a little hidden somewhere, as a snack, because she wouldn't stop talking, putting papers on the table like that would make her ok in his eyes (she would probably never be; he'd seen eli date enough fucktards to know to keep his guards up, always.). She even wrote a check. King almost laughed. Either that would bounce and she'd go to jail for writing bad cheques, or she had money, which wasn't any better. Either that was from crimes, or no one had given her the rich kid legal talk. Give it to Eli, she's the one you called. He wouldn't stop giving her the stink eye for a five k tip. Eli's emotional safety was worth more, and so was the physical safety of every person living in his house. Boyfriends getting drunk and trying to get into the house? Been there. Creeps having to be escorted out. Done that. From what you're telling me, all your problems could've been solved that night, if not, before. You just had to call a lawyer. You have money to pay a good one - they would have cleared things for you in a zap. Even better if you call them before breaking into the house, that way they don't have to charge you the extra hours it would take them to find a copy of the deed. Simple like that. Instead, you called a girl you barely know.; He glanced a bit at the papers, but didn't care enough to read them. Don't call Eli next time. Because he wouldn't let her pay bail a second time, but mainly, because she deserved a candle lit dinner, not a night at the jail house.

@noah lehane

Somehow, she knew a check wouldn’t be enough. That boy didn’t like her. But still, she felt better knowing that if she screwed up - which she didn’t plan on doing - he could get his money back, and she wouldn’t owe him anything. Toutefois, il ne voulait pas du chèque, et lui dit de le donner à Eli. Which made no sense. Elle avait certes effectué le paiement mais l’argent, lui, sortait du compte de King. You’ll give it to her if don’t show up to court, then. I don’t care. She gave back what she owed. Whose account it ended up on, that was none of her business.

King n’en avait toutefois pas fini avec elle. Elle comprenait qu’il soit protecteur avec Eli. Noah aussi était protectrice avec les quelques personnes qui comptaient pour elle, même si on pourrait aisément penser le contraire face à son éternelle attitude de je-m’en-foutiste. But he didn’t get to have an opinion on that night. He didn’t get to decide how she was supposed to handle things on the anniversary of her father’s death. He didn’t get to decide her priorities for her on the one night she had needed someone, and hadn’t been too proud to ask for help. Before he had started talking, she was merely annoyed at his holier than thou attitude. Now, she was starting to get pissed. The magic of lawyers, why the fuck didn’t I think of that, uh? Thanks for the tip, if only I had known that before... Ironique ? Nah. I bet he would have been really useful when I had a meltdown over the anniversary of my dad’s death. She didn’t want his pity. That’s not why she had said it - she didn’t really know why she did, really. Her dad had died a long time ago. She missed him every single day, but that was life, and she had learned to live with it. It’s not like she’d had a choice, really. When life gives you lemon, you make lemonade. And when it give you a truckload of shit, you just do your best not to drown in it. I did something stupid. I don’t deny that. It’s not the first time, and probably not the last. But I didn’t need a lawyer. I needed a friend, who wouldn’t just let me out in the streets with nowhere to go, and nothing better to do than get myself into more trouble. That was honest, at least, and even if she was still pissed, she didn’t sound like she was talking to an idiot this time. And you should give Eli more credit. She’s not a 5 year old, she can handle herself. Tu l’aideras pas à la couver comme ça. She would never learn how to handle things on her own if someone was always there holding her hand and doing things for her. In the long run, it would probably do more harm than good, no matter his good intentions.

@Kingsley Delarosa

La saison actuelle de Riverdale était très mal écrite, à un tel point qu’on pouvait discerner le dédain des acteurs pour le dialogue qu’ils leur était donné. Pourtant, à ce moment exact, Kingsley avait hâte de retourner regarder. Il n’était pas le plus grand fan du show - Il regardait parce qu’il avait commencé la série et y avait investi trop de temps pour ne pas voir la fin (et les abs d’Archie, again.) - mais il ne pouvait plus supporter Noah.

He was sorry her daddy had died. C’est une chose horrible de perdre un parent si jeune. Kingsley ne l’avait jamais vécu, lui même, mais il avait été victime collatérale d’un deuil parental imprévu. Il était petit, mais il était dans la vie d’Ivy et de Julian lorsqu’ils avaient perdus leur maman. Il avait eut le temps de la connaître, et de l’appeler mama par erreur une bonne dizaine de fois. King était aussi resté, avait vu la différence, l’après. He knew how though it could be. He also knew it couldn’t be an excuse, even on the hardest days.

Noah’s dad didn’t want her to commit crimes in his name. He would probably have been on King’s side of the argument.

Il avait un peu envie d’être petty, de rouler les yeux ou de pleurer une larme de crocodile. Il l’aurait probablement fait, si la blonde-brune devant lui aurait été son grand frère adoptif, mais Noah n’était pas Alejandro. C’était une invitée, dans sa maison, et Kingsley, un Delarosa, un hôte d’exception. Son visage resta donc sans expression. Fallait rester poli. You needed a lawyer first. You can use their phone once they got you out of the hole. You fucked up calling Eli, I’m telling you know so you don’t do it again next time. You don’t have to find excuses, just own up to your shit and move on. Honestly, it was like the girl hadn’t learn anything her first round in prison. Telling King all kinds of stories wouldn’t change the way he felt. Excuses were just that - Excuses to avoid the guilt, things to make the perpetrator feel better. King didn’t care about her feelings. What she had done was dumb, straight up. Like a kid saying their ABCs wrong, she just needed to see the mistake not to redo-it after, because next time daddy king wouldn’t be so nice about it. And you should not tell me how to treat my friends. I know them, I know her as much as anyone could, and I know how to be a good friend. Eli needs stability. Eli doesn’t need to be dragged into drama, she has plenty herself. She has a voice, and believe me she knows how to use it, so she will tell me if i’m smoldering her. Papa poule allait couver sa Eli jusqu’à ce qu’elle se mette à crier, because that’s what papa poule do when they meet a little chick with a bad case of the Nancies.

@noah lehane

Noah wanted to scream - she really, really wanted to. And maybe hit King just a tiny little bit. This part of the year was always hectic for her, and she tended to get into all kinds of troubles, including useless fights. Anger issues? Sometimes, yeah. She had fucked up. Plenty of times, and she was well aware of that. She didn’t need or want his judgement, or his advice. What she needed to do was breathe, before she lost her shit and made yet another mistake. She had come back to Concord promising herself she’d stop repeating her old mistakes, or at least most of them. You know what? Believe whatever you want, I don’t give a fuck. I’ve made bad choices, I’ve been judged for them, and I don’t need you for a sequel. Eli is my friend, and contrary to what you think, she’s a grown up. If she wants me out of her life, she can tell me herself. Noah had never asked for permission for anything in her life - this being a good thing or a bad thing was up for debate - she wasn’t about to start now, and certainly not with him. This conversation was going nowhere. Or at least, nowhere good. Noah decided it was time to put an end to it before she got really angry. Grabbing her checkbook, her papers and her car keys, she started walking backward towards the door. If she can still talk with you smothering her, that is. She turned around, and while going towards the door, sent a text to Eli. She was upstairs, but she didn’t want to yell just to tell her she was going on a food run and would be back in a few minutes.

-the end-

@Kingsley Delarosa