The Apartment Above Luke's, Monday Evening

[spin_kick_snap]

The lack of private function space was perfectly solved by the empty apartment above the diner. Kathy had spent the afternoon cleaning and setting up for dinner tonight. Her anniversary dinner, if you would.

A year ago today, she'd woken up in Eliot's house, surrounded by tight, worried faces. Her friends, pretty much en masse, had gone through a portal to LA and fought through hordes of exes to bring her home, in hopes that Nanika could bring her back to life. Or maybe just so she'd stop chanting Kathy's name. For whatever reason they'd done it, though, they'd succeeded. Kathy was alive again and had been for a full year.

A dizzying, challenging, terrifying year.

It seemed only right to hold some kind of commemorative dinner for it, somewhere between a celebration (which she still didn't think she'd earned, exactly) and an appreciation dinner. Not just for what they'd done, but for sticking with her this past year, for weathering the ups and downs, for reaching out and checking in, for reconnecting and promising to be better and stronger friends from here forward.

And, well, even if that didn't all come through, it would still be a delicious dinner cooked by Eliot and would give her a chance to just spend some time with the people she loved best, getting caught up with those she hadn't seen in awhile and offering an opportunity for them to get to know one another better, too.

If nothing else, they could all just stuff themselves silly with whatever delicious things the kitchen downstairs had whipped up and the super, extra, very chocolatey desserts Kathy had promised Alluka in her invitation.

[For those invited and up early for SP. No OCD, feel free to just ping in and around.]

Comments

[soniaroadsqueen]

"It's like you're saying I'm predictable," Ringo fake-complained. "But I'm so spontaneous!"

Said the girl whose daily AirTrek schedule could be used to set a clock.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I believe you," Kathy said, trying her best to look innocent. "So why don't you open that and show us what you brought?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo stuck out her tongue. "Shut up, you, or I'm going to eat the cheesecake all by myself."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy just laughed. "Not saying anything at all," she promised, dimples very deep. "Don't even remember what we're talking about."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"You always were smart," Ringo grinned.

"So, on a totally new topic, would you like some cheesecake, senpai?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Ahh, so this is appetizer cheesecake and not dessert cheesecake?" Kathy asked, clapping her hands. "Excellent. Less time that I have to behave for to still get a piece!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"You mean that this is the only way you'd get some?" Ringo suggested. "Unlike me, who is very good at behaving."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I see you haven't learned to be any more honest in the last year," Kathy said, donning her best 'I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed' face. "Tsk, Ringo, and here I thought you were past the point of telling tales."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo smirked. "I learned it from you, senpai."

Yeah. She went there.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hurtful," Kathy sniffed. "Hurtful and wrong. I don't even know what to do with you right now, Ringo."

She nudged her kohai with a fond elbow and changed the subject. "So, how've you been?" she asked. "I know I keep dropping out of touch."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo bumped Kathy back with her shoulder. "Yeah. I've kind of been doing that, too."

"But," she took a deep breath and smiled, "I've actually been doing pretty well. Taking some time to, I don't know, sort myself out?" Ringo shrugged slightly. "And trying not to feel too guilty about not seeing people I care about."

"What about you? Catch me up on things!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Don't feel guilty about that," Kathy said quietly. "Taking time to figure yourself out is important. It's most of what I've been doing this past year. It's hard and it's exhausting and sometimes it hurts. The last thing you wanna do after all that is put on a happy face and see people. I get it."

She'd lived it.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Yeah, and part of me knows all that, but," Ringo sighed, then sort of chuckled at the contradictory feelings she felt. "I miss people, you know?"

Even when having a bit of distance from them to keep her from dwelling or obsessing was probably a good thing.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I get that," Kathy agreed. "Though sometimes it's more that I miss missing people. Like, missing those days when I really longed for other people's company, instead of being stressed out by it."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"That makes sense." Ringo leaned in for another solid hug. "I wish it wasn't like that." Ringo didn't feel that way, but she understood how Kathy could in a way that she hadn't been able to six months ago.

"Or that there was something I could do." She bumped her head against Kathy's shoulder. "But I'm glad to see you looking so good tonight." Kathy didn't seem stressed out at the moment, at least.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was happy to sling an arm around Ringo and just let it rest there, holding her close. "I'm doing a lot better than I was. I'm sleeping more. The future doesn't stress me out as much, either. I'm in a way better place than I was, even just a few months ago. I still get stressed and scared and overwhelmed a lot more. Hosting people for Christmas was rougher than I expected. But...I can point a clear line from where I was to where I am now and it's pretty much trending up."

She sighed and looked around at the people talking. "That's why I'm hosting this...whatever it is, I think."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, you know I'm in favor of any plan that gets me good food," Ringo declared.

She leaned lightly into Kathy. "And some time with my favorite senpai."

[spin_kick_snap]

"But it's really about the food," Kathy said, nodding widely. "I know. We've met."

Beat.

"Wait, how many senpai do you have?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, dozens. Hundreds even!"

Yeah. Really!

"So you should feel real special."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I do," Kathy assured her. "That's why you're absolutely in my top ten kohai."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Top ten, huh?" Ringo pretended to consider that. "Who's ahead of me?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"See, now if I give you their names, you're going to go all Battle Royale on them to become my favorite," Kathy declared. "Can't have that!"