A Single Rose

Chapter 11 ~ Steve

Steve sat slouched in a chair in the town's bar. Eli sat beside him. "Picture it, Eli." Steve spoke, slightly dreamily. "A rustic cabin, my latest kill roasting on the fire," he explained as he relished the burning beside him. "Adorable children running around the fire as my love rubs my tired feet." He suddenly became angry. "But what does Claire say?" He questions Eli rhetorically. "'I will never marry you, Steve.'" He repeated Claire's words with a bitterness in his voice. "You know, there are other girls..." Eli suggested as he gestured to three women sitting at a table, who daydreamed, smiled, and waved back at him. "A great hunter doesn't waste his time on rabbits." Steve replied. Out of nowhere, Eli started to sing. 

🎵Gosh, it disturbs me, to see you Steve. Looking so down in the dumps.🎵 As Eli reached the end of his phrase, Steve threw the knife he had in his hand at a painted picture of a deer on the wall, and it stabbed right where it's heart would've been. Some people inside the bar gasped. Steve, now looking verklempt, offered his right arm to Eli, who started to massage it. 🎵Every guy here'd love to be you Steve! Even when taking your lumps.🎵 Eli let go of Steve's arm, stood up, and moved behind his chair to massage his shoulders. 🎵There's no man in town half admired as you, you're everyone's favourite guy.🎵 Eli switched his hands on Steve's shoulders with another man's, which Steve noticed and quickly shooed away. 🎵Everyone's awed and inspired by you, and it's not.. Very hard to see whyyyy-yah!🎵 Eli finished the frase dramatically, as he dropped money into the musicians' cup, so they'd keep playing for him. 🎵No ones.. Slick as Steve,🎵 Eli jumped onto the table in front of Steve and pointed at him. 🎵No one's quick as Steve. No one's neck's as incredibly thick as Steve's.🎵 As he sang the recent sentence, he grabbed his own neck and dramaticized how big it was. Eli then laid down on the table the three women were at. 🎵For there's no man in town half as manly.🎵 He sang fancily. The girls stood up behind him to see Steve, and joined the song. 🎵Perfect, a pure paragon!🎵 Eli then moved to the stand-up bar, pointing at three men 🎵You can ask any Tom, Dick, or Stanley, and they'll tell you whose team they'd prefer to be on...🎵 Eli had hoisted himself up, and was sitting on the counter. He suddenly couldn't think of a refrain, and started waving his arms helplessly at Tom, Dick, and Stanley to help him as he held. 🎵Who... plays....🎵 "darts like Steve!" They yelled, and Eli clapped. "Who breaks.." Eli started, and the three men finished with "hearts like Steve!" 🎵Who's much more than the sum of his parts like Steve?🎵 Eli started to sing again. Steve jumped up at this point and joined in, pumping his chest out. 🎵As a specimen, yes, I'm intimidating!🎵 🎵My, what a guy, that Steve!🎵 The whole bar sang. "I needed encouragement!" Steve spoke rhythmically. "Thank you, Eli." 🎵Well, there's no one as easy to bolster as you!🎵 Eli sang back, and hugged Steve tight. There was a moment of awkward silence, and Eli looked up at Steve with his eyes. "Too much?" "Yep." Steve replied immediately.

 Eli let go of Steve, turned back to the bar crowd, and restarted the song. 🎵Nooo ooone, fights like Steve🎵 He punched a man in the gut. 🎵Douses lights like Steve🎵 He licked his fingers and put two candles out with them. 🎵In a wrestling match nobody BITES like Steve🎵 Eli pulled up his shirt and showed the scar of a bit, which many squealed horrifically at. 🎵When I hunt, I sneak up with my quiver... and beast of the field, say a prayer!🎵 Steve explained, and Eli squealed in excitement. 🎵First, I carefully aim for the liver... then I shoot from behind!🎵 "Is that fair?" Eli questioned, cautiously. "I don't care." Steve replied, and shot the ceiling with the gun he had been demonstrating his hunting with. 🎵No one kits like Steve, matches wits like Steve!🎵 The crowd triumphantly sang. 🎵In a spitting match, nobody spits like Steve!🎵 Eli started with a bowl in his hands, standing far from Steve. 🎵I'm especially good at expectorating!🎵 Steve suggested, and then spit into the air, which eventually landed right in the cup Eli was holding. "Ten points for Steve!" The crowd yelled and clapped, and he thanked them. 🎵When I was a lad, I ate four dozen eggs every morning to help me get large." He took a woman's hand, and lifted her onto his shoulder. 🎵And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs,🎵 Eli approached him, and Steve started to pick him up onto his shoulder. 🎵so I'm roughly the size of a barge!🎵 He sand strongly. Just then, the people started clapping slowly on the beat. Eli and Steve looked at each other, and smirked, signaling for a "friendly" sword fight to start. Steve first got onto a table and danced to the rhythm with two women first. He then was thrown a sword by Eli, and he got it, swinging it around at the man in front of him. The one man soon became three, which became five, all of which Steve methodically pretended to defeat, and they fell as they were falsely stabbed. When he had, the room cheered for him, and he held his sword in the air. Eli looked happily at him. The three girls squealed and cried. 🎵Who has brains...🎵 "like Steve!" 🎵Entertains ...🎵 "Like Steve!" Eli sang, and the crowd finished. 🎵Who can make up these endless refrains like Steve?!🎵 Steve sung, confident. He turned around, and looked at a pair of deer antlers on the wall. Eli came up behind him, and dramatically gestured at the antlers with Steve. 🎵I use antlers in all of my decorating!🎵Say it again!🎵 Eli rhythmically jumped around the table he was on, and everyone else followed. 🎵Who's the man among men?!🎵 The same rhythmic jump followed. 🎵Who's the super success, Don't you know? Can't you guess? Ask his fans and his five hangers-on!🎵 Tom, Dick, and Stanley guided Steve onto the bar counter as he ran and jumped. 🎵There's just one guy in town, who's got all of it down!🎵 "NAH!" Eli finished dramatically, then kneeled in front of Steve on the closest table. 

🎵And his name's S-T-E-V....🎵 He paused nervously. 🎵I believe there's another V...🎵 Eli sang, staying on one note, trying to finish his bit. 🎵It just occurred to me... that I'm illiterate... and I've never actually had to spell it out loud before!🎵 Eli's mix up had kind of killed the energy, but it was quickly fixed when he and the rest of the bar ended singing 🎵Steve!🎵 Steve jumped of the bar, walked back to his chair and fell back in it at the end of the song, and the bar cheered. "Oh, Eli, you're the best." Steve said as he sat beside him. "How is it that no woman has scooped you up yet?" Steve questioned. Eli moved closer to him. "I've been told I'm clingy, but I really don't get it." Steve looked at him, and then cleared his throat and looked in the other direction.