How Bad Could It Be

Chapter 3

Warning: There will be some references to illegal drug use and underage drinking.  The former because I'm writing in the 70s and I want to stay true to the time period.  The latter because how the underage drinking occurs is not unbelievable.

A/N: If you remember it from the movie, I don't own it.  

When Kat arrived in the cafe parking lot, she saw a few cars and a donkey laying down with a wagon attached to him.  Kat went to the odd site and couldn't resist patting the donkey on the head.

"Hey, little guy, what are you doing here?" she asked, in a sweet voice she reserved for animals.  "You so cute."

Kat rubbed the donkey's neck and smelled a stink that could only come from the donkey.

"You stinky but you cute," Kat said smiling.  "Tell you what, I'll bring you a snack from the cafe."

The donkey nodded its head and brayed happily as Kat walked inside the cafe.  It was a small place with yellow wallpaper and South American artwork on the walls.  A black board with white chalking on it was right behind the glass display case filled with treats and a register on top with a yellow floor to match.  The cafe was filled with wooden chairs and tables.  A stage with a microphone was on the right side of the area and the place smelled of burning incense.  Kat saw Once-ler in the same white long sleeve shirt, grey sweater vest, striped pants of regular and light grey, matching grey boots and the grey fedora with a black stripe he wore at the diner.  Kat saw Once-ler's guitar case near him as he waved at her from a nearby table that she made her way to.

"Glad you could make it," Once-ler said, looking her up and down and blushing like mad.  "You look amazing!"

Kat giggled and flipped her hair, feeling a blush coming on herself.

"Thanks, so do you!" Kat replied, taking the seat opposite of Once-ler.

"What, this old thing?" Once-ler said nonchalantly.  "It's the same thing I wore at the diner."

"Well, it still looks good," Kat said.

"Thank you!" Once-ler said excitedly.

"I'm glad you were able to find the place," Kat said, smiling.  "I was worried you'd get lost."

Once-ler held his head up high and put a hand to his heart.

"Me, lost?" Once-ler said in an overly dramatic voice.  "My head is a built in map, always knowing which way to go!"

Kat couldn't help but laugh.

"Even if my directions sucked?" Kat asked.

"Don't put yourself down like that, your directions didn't suck!" Once-ler said, the smile disappearing from his face and looking at Kat like he wanted to restore her confidence.

"Really?" Kat asked suspiciously.  "I wrote those down hastily and I had to get back to work."

"All right, I had to ask one person," Once-ler admitted.  "But only one!"

Kat laughed.

"You know, it's funny, you have not changed one bit," Kat observed.

Once-ler immediately perked up.

"You really think so?" he asked.

"Yeah, you're still the same little boy who built those houses of our future married life," Kat said smiling fondly as she relived the memory in her head.

"No, we built them together, remember?" Once-ler said, holding a finger up.  "You would always talk about how I was going to be a rock star, you were going to be an actress and we were going to have eight kids."