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

[spin_kick_snap]

"Arguing is only the least of it," Kathy said. "People who want a slice of that chocolate, caramel fantasy are going to have to wrestle over it." She leaned in to whisper, "And while they're distracted, I'm going to run off with it and eat it in my old bedroom."

[smilestopscars]

"Then, again, darling," Ezra replied in a stage whisper, "you're a terrible hostess and a worse friend."

Friends didn't make friends wrestle for chocolate.

(And her whisper of that kind of thing was unfairly attractive.)

[spin_kick_snap]

It's entirely possible the whole idea was sparked by how attractive she'd find Ezra in that position. Not that she was saying that aloud.

"But," Kathy said, raising a finger, "I'll have an entire chocolate and caramel fantasy to make me feel better, so I'm still pretty sure I win."

She grinned up at him, smile made of pure mischief. "You're just mad you didn't think of it first."

[smilestopscars]

The wrestling wasn't the attractive bit. The part about using her cunning to distract people and running away with her winnings?

That was.

As was her mischief. "I'm not mad about anything."

[spin_kick_snap]

So says him. Kathy found the idea of Ezra wrestling with her someone very attractive indeed.

Though would be tickled pink to discover that it was her cunning and mischief that was distracting him.

"Not mad, just disappointed?" she asked, dimples showing. "Because you didn't steal it first?" She reached over to pat his shoulder. "At least you can take comfort in knowing you're a better guest than I am hostess."

[smilestopscars]

"Perhaps I'm just bored with this unwinnable conversation?" Ezra quipped, though he didn't mean it. "So much talk, so little chocolatey action. I should've brought snacks."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Darling, if you were looking for a little chocolate action, you should have just said." Kathy's expression was wry. "I wouldn't have bothered with all this Italian food foreplay."

[smilestopscars]

"Dumpling," Ezra tsked with a headshake of lament, "I thought you knew me better than that."

Meaning his never-ending quest for instant gratification.

[spin_kick_snap]

"There are times when you're willing to take your time and really indulge in a bit of starchy decadence," Kathy pointed out.

[smilestopscars]

Ezra shrugged. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

It was a quip, but in all honesty... The ground was so unsteady here.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I just mean that you won't be rushed through an excellent meal if you don't want to be, even with the promise of all that chocolate at the end," Kathy said, giving him a reassuring smile.