Mealtime with the Brady Bunch on Cascade Hall

Reinhardts & Laila Kennedy

August 26, 2016 3:35 AM

Mealtime with the Brady Bunch by Reinhardts & Laila Kennedy

“So,” Tobi said with a grin as he and Liac, his best friend and favorite cousin, walked down the stairs towards Cascade Hall for lunch. It was Saturday so there hadn’t been a need for one of them to take their backpacks to their dorm and the other to scout a good place to sit. “Never thought I’d be the one to have a date to the ball before you, Liac.”

“Oh, so word has gone around?” Liac asked with a cheeky grin. “Good, good. I want everyone to know of my availability. You see Tobi, it's all in my master plan. If I have a date I can only dance with one witch, but going stag I can dance with them all!”

Tobi lifted an eyebrow. Trust Liac to want to dance with as many witches as possible. “I should have known that if I got a date you’d decide to go stag just to spite me. Remember how you wouldn’t let me do that last time there was a ball?”

“Well yeah, but now look at you! Getting dates on your own like a stud. I’m- I’m just so proud,” Liac said with a catch in his throat whilst wiping away an imaginary tear. “So,” he asked cheery once again, “Why Scarlett?” Liac already thought of handful of possibilities as to why Tobi had chosen this particular witch, but he would never pass up a moment to tease his better half.

“Yeah, well, don’t get your hopes up, okay? It’s not like that.” Tobi had to refrain from rolling his eyes. He didn’t want Liac getting the wrong idea and accidently spreading some sort of rumor. He was trying to keep Scarlett’s reputation in tact, not ruin it in front of the whole school. “Aiden asked Savannah and I thought it would be sad for Scarlett to have to go alone, that’s all. I don’t like her.” He paused a moment and frowned. He was always a careful speaker, always thought through what he wanted to say. But Liac somehow managed to get Tobi’s words turned around. “Okay, I like her fine, she’s a nice person, but you know what I meant.”

Liac listened earnestly to Tobis reasoning, trying to read his cousin's face for any hidden feelings. Tobi had a tendency to stay in his own head, which Liac always liked except for when it came to getting the dirty details on his love life. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” he replied nonchalantly. “I had no idea you had turned into a such a gentleman without me even noticing,” he added giving Tobi a nudge on the shoulder as they walked through the doors of Cascade hall. Tobi really had come such a long way from when they were kids. “So are you gonna kiss her?” Liac asked bluntly.

“What?!” Tobi spluttered, shocked Liac would say something like that. “Of course not! And what do you mean you had no idea I had turned into a gentleman? I’ve always been a gentleman! Much more so than you, anyway...” He made a face and hunched his shoulder, only half-offended with Liac’s statement since he knew, logically that his cousin was only teasing him. But still--what if someone overheard and it got back to Scarlett? He didn’t want her thinking he was up to no good.

“I’m teasing,” Liac said brushing him off. “I had to know for sure how you felt, but with that reaction I can see you aren’t into her romantically. Nothing wrong with a platonic dance partner though,” he said, thinking of Chaslyn. He originally thought of asking her, but decided against it since she was now engaged. It just felt wrong to ask her as a date under those circumstances, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to have a dance or two with her- for old times sake. “And for the record,” Liac added returning to the conversation, “I am the better gentleman. It's not your fault though, I have had many more years of practice. Perfecting the art, learning the way of charm, it’s who I am.”

“Riiight,” Tobi didn’t refrain from rolling his eyes this time. Liac was just...there wasn’t a word for it. “You, my dear cousin, only have the appearance of being a gentleman. But I will give you that learning ‘charm’ is essential to your being.” He would have continued to tease his cousin if not for the clap on his back that caused Tobi to turn.

“What’s up, losers?” Arne said heartily, inserting himself between his older brother and cousin with a hearty slap on each of his relative’s backs. “So, what are we talking about? How much you each love me?”

Tobi just gave Liac a Look. His little brother was prone to such violent mood swings. One second he would be biting Tobi’s head off for breathing wrong and the next second he was pleasant as you please.

“Hey Arne, nice hit,” Liac said rubbing the back of his head. “I guess lil’Ali is really training you Crotalus beaters well. So are you gracing us with your presence for lunch?”

Arne shook his head. “Don’t talk to me about Alistair Johnson... But yes, I think I will. Laila’ll be along too--whenever she finishes whatever it is she’s doing with Mr. Xavier.” He rolled his eyes. He thought it was weird that his fellow Crotalus seemed to think she was best friends with a forty-year old man. That was...weird, wasn’t it?

Liac was pleased that despite Arne being in Crotalus he still held the Reinhardt traits: an affection for playing Beater, and of course a disdain for a certain someone. Thier family really was the best. “Ooh, sounds fun,” Liac said happily anticipating the additions to lunch. Although he thought it was kinda weird that Laila spent so much time around a teacher. It was one thing to spend time after class asking questions about a lecture, but to actually enjoy their presence. Ew. “So Arne,” he said changing the subject back to the initial topic, “what is this I heard about a certain Reinhardt asking Lauren Song to the ball? And here I thought you went to our Quidditch games to support us.”

Tobi grinned, glad that the teasing had skipped him and moved on to Arne. “Do you love her?” he added to Liac’s line of questioning.

Arne scowled. “Shove off,” he mumbled, all of a sudden remembering why he hated Liac and Tobi. They always ganged up on him, always. He gave each of their shoulders a little push. “All I did was ask a witch to a dance. No big deal.”

“I think its cute,” Liac said knowing full and well how to get under Arne’s skin. “And be proud you got yourself a such a pretty witch for a date. You have good taste.” Choosing a part of the table big enough to accommodate all of them, Liac sat down in preparation for his highly anticipated lunch.

“Yeah, yeah,” Arne said, taking the seat diagonal from his cousin so that Tobi could sit next to the self-proclaimed Ladies’ Man, and began to fill his plate up. He piled macaroni and cheese next to potato salad and short ribs next to sweet rolls, sweet corn next to cold green beans and topped the whole thing with fried chicken. He was a growing boy, after all.

Tobi watched in a mixture of awe and disgust. He, too, had a large appetite, but he prefered to eat his meals little by little so as to fully appreciate each part of his breakfast, lunch, or dinner. This way he also had time to reflect on whether he really wanted to have the baked potato over the sweet potato, and he could even forsake the potato for something lighter, like rice, if he so desired.

“It is nice that we are all going to the ball though,” Liac said as plopped some macaroni salad onto his baked potato topping the entire thing off with bacon bits. “I mean I would feel kinda bad if Oma spent all that time having us learn ballroom dancing for nothing,” he said, preferring the common term for grandma when around his cousins. He took a bite of his potato, enjoying the comfort food. Although Liac didn’t need comforting, he wasn't one to pass up a hot meal.

Tobi nodded in agreement and followed the Reinhardt lead of selecting a type of potato to eat for lunch. His choice of the day was mashed potato and, since he thought mashed potato went very well with meat, he put some roast chicken next to it so that he could eat the two together. All Liac got in form of a response from Arne, on the other hand, was an uncivilised grunt as he fourteen year old ripped off a nice piece of his chicken leg with his teeth.

“You’re disgusting, Arne,” came a new, female voice. Laila Kennedy tossed her hair over her shoulder and took a seat next to the youngest Reinhardt and across from the fairest Reinhardt. Although the Reinhardts weren’t her main group of friends, she still liked to eat with them from time to time as they had been the first people at Sonora she had felt comfortable with. So when Arne approached her in his rather aloof manner like he had that morning in the common room, informing her that he would be eating with his family that day and that she was welcome to join, she always said yes. “What’s up with you guys?”

Liac held his hand up as he finished chewing his bite of food. He had a gentlemanly point to prove, and nothing was worse than talking with a mouthful. “Nothing much,” Liac answered when he had finally swallowed his teenage sized bite of food. “So were you and Professor X just hanging out? Or... did you get into trouble?” he asked curiously with a wink. She was a pretty mellow girl, Liac hadn't really pegged her for the troublemaker but there was a first time for everything.

At the sound of trouble, Arne’s ears perked up. Laila was probably one of the last girls in their year that he would expect to cause trouble and the idea of her getting a detention from her favorite Mr Xavier (although the Herbology teacher was on his way to becoming a full-fledged professor, Arne still had issues straying from the more familiar Mr. Xavier that he had used for the past three years) was too good to pass up. “I bet she got in trouble,” he said with a grin. “Probably did too much weeding for fun and tore up some of his favorite plants.”

Liac’s initial words, accompanied with a wink, caused Laila’s tanned cheeks to flush pink. The heated skin quickly turned from something of the embarrassed nature to something more hostile, however, as Arne decided to add to it. “No,” she glared and angrily dumped pasta on her plate--as angrily as one could dump pasta on one’s plate, at least. “We were just talking. You know, like normal human beings do.”

Liac kicked Arne from beneath the table. His cousin had twisted his words with one sentence into something accusing and he didn't appreciate it. “Sorry Laila, Arne wouldn't understand, ya know, what normal human beings do,” he shot his cousin a glare before turning the attention back to the fair girl. “So talk about anything good?” he asked, curious as to what she could confide in a teacher that she couldn't in one of her friends. Although he wasn't as close to her as Tobi, he still cared a lot for the fourth member of the Lunch Patrol.

Laila shrugged. Truth be told, in their time together Mr. Xavier mostly taught her a bunch of stuff that she later used in Herbology class to complete homework or to support claims, but every now and then she looked to him for advice when it came to other things. “Mostly we talk about the gardens,” she answered truthfully even though she knew that wasn’t what Liac was enquiring after. She liked the older boy--he was a more outgoing version of Tobi without the meanness that came with Arne from time to time.

“Mr. Xavier’s cool,” Tobi mused as he ate some of his lunch. He hadn’t been paying much attention to what was going on as he had caught glimpse of Makenzie Newell at another table and he had been casting longing looks in her direction since Laila’s arrival at the table. “It’s cool that he’s teaching now, does anyone know if he’s doing advanced classes next year?”

“Of course he is cool. He is our Head of House,” Liac added before taking a bite of his potato. As he chewed he couldn't help but follow Tobi’s gaze to a certain Crotalus witch. Deciding to have to get the details out of him before bed tonight since the poor sap couldn't be more obvious. Heh heh heh. I am the best, he thought to himself through mouthfuls, listening to the conversation.

OOC: Co-written for the lulz [(c) Sammy Meeks] by the authors, will possibly be continued later if we have time.

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