Shuffled: When the Cards Talk You Must Listen

Chapter 20 Practice (Working title)

It was raining again when I pulled up to Aunt Teenies diner. I again wondered at my choice of clothing, no more skirts for me, for a long time. Well unless I have good heavy leggings under them.

When I got in the girls were already there as were half of that damn "Pack". Cein was not one of them, sigh. I ducked around one of the lesser known guys and made a beeline to the restroom. When I was almost done the girls came piling in a fit of giggles, practically falling over themselves.

"OK so what's so funny?" I asked as I washed my hands.

"OH Lyssa you so missed it." Daisha said between fists of gasping laughter.

MeiLei was in a fit of giggles and it looked like she couldn't breath. There was this weird squealing, wheezing squeak coming from her instead.

MeiLei's giggles died down enough for her to continue.

"Lindi was filling Ketchup bottles but when Conal came in, he had water in his eyes and apparently couldn't see very well because he walked right into her. And the big Ketchup can was right next to her!" MeiLei hiccuped and took a deep breath. "Conal ended up knocking that can over....." and she dissolved into a fit of laughter again.

I looked over at the other two, and of them Kelli was the calmest.

"Can you tell me what else happened?"

She opened her mouth to continue the story when three very blonde and very RED girls came bursting into the restroom. Completely covered in ketchup!

I instantly shot a look at the other girls, TRYING to tell them to be quiet, but by this point it was hopeless, their sniggers were too loud to ignore. I, on the other-hand, covered my mouth with my hand, ducked my head down and pulled MeiLei's hand out the door.

From the dining room I could hear Melody wail about her new shirt. I was actually able to keep it together until I got to our usual seats. We had to skirt around the mess that poor Lindi was still cleaning up. And when I saw the other pack members still laughing, I just lost it. I couldn't hold the giggles in anymore. The whole situation was just beyond me.

Aunt Teenie came over, her eyes were watering and I could tell she was trying to keep her own composiour but failing rapidly. She filled me in, in a more detailed account, before excusing herself to hand the girls in the restroom free Tinnies Diners t-shirts. When she came back she brought us some hot fries and drinks.

All was actually going well, we had all calmed down but when she put the ketchup bottle on the table we all lost it all over again. I think I even heard Aunt Teenie snort. Which of course was just when Kelli took a drink of her soda and she sprayed it all over MeiLei, who then knocked her own drink over and ya... the hilarity just continued. At least my group was not concerned about getting all messy.

By the time we helped clean it up, the bell jingled over the door, and Cein walked in and did a little bit of a slip on the floor, even with the "Caution Wet Floor" sign. It was still funny. I could feel the giggles bubbling up again, so I quickly ducked out of our booth and rushed up to him.

"Hey" I said, still catching my breath, desperately trying to suppress my own giggles.

"Hey" he responded. "So is my slipping that funny?" He sounded serious but I could tell by his liquid silver eyes that he was anything but. They danced with mirth and honestly that openness relaxed my own nerves.

"No, no, no... Its just you just missed a whole cluster fuck of funny, messy, but funny situational comedy."

He looked at me, and just blinked. Like wordless asking for me to continue the story.