Laurie & Angelo & John | Tuesday Afternoon [Backdated!]

[x-pyromania.livejournal.com]

'She's like a ray of sunshine. No, strike that. She's more like a death ray.' -Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place-

"No helping," Laurie said with a grin, shooing Angelo gently out of the kitchen and pointing to where chairs surrounded a small dinner table. "Go sit down and talk to me from there."

She'd arrived in the early afternoon, weighed down with several bags of fresh food and a determined expression. While she might be learning not to mother everybody, there were some people she knew were more then used to it by now, and felt no compunction about doing so with.

"It's my kitchen", he pointed out, but he was already obediently heading for the chairs. "What'd you bring?"

"Curry, of course. Lamb shank curry actually, with jasmine rice and last but not least, a sticky date pudding for dessert," Laurie replied, examining the various cupboards in search of cooking tools. "Where do you keep your measuring tools?"

"Second on the left at the top", Angelo told her easily. "An' that's why you should let me help."

"Maybe you can help a little," Laurie conceded, pulling ingrediants out of various bags and starting to line them up on benches. "Can you get me a large pot, and a couple of small bowls. I like to prepare all my ingrediants before I start to cook."

"Thought I heard squeaking," John said as he poked his head into the kitchen. He surveyed the area and arched his brow at Laurie. He'd only just woken up and his hair was sticking out at all ends but it was obvious that he didn't particularly care. "Come to poison me already?"

"Yes, I figured it would be doing the world a favour," Laurie replied, poking her tongue out at him and going back to her preparing. "Go brush your hair, and put on some non-slept in clothes."

There was that whole bossy attitude again but John managed a smirk. "Why? Someone other than you joining us for a meal?" He glanced over at Angelo and chuckled.

Angelo shrugged at him. "Think it's just us. Laurie, if you want him smarter, you're on your own."

Laurie avoided the obvious dig there as too easy and simply shrugged, taking a chopping board from Angelo and fishing out a knife from the knife block. "If he wants to look like a scruffy nerf herder, it's no problem on my part."

"If I knew she was gonna be handing out insults with her meals..." The threat was left unspoken however as John joined Angelo at the table. He opened a bottle of pills and popped one into his mouth. "I'd rather you serve us some appetizers right now, woman," he bellowed. "What's she cooking?"

Angelo looked at him, rolling his eyes. "Laurie, I'm gonna apologise right now for whatever John says after that codeine kicks in. She's doin' curry an' then date puddin'."

Concern briefly clouded Laurie's gaze as she watched John take his pills, but she figured he'd already had doctors look at him, and so she wouldn't fuss. No matter how much she itched to make sure of things.

"That's okay, Angelo. I think John would fall over dead if he didn't get to insult at least one person every hour or so," Laurie noted with a brief grin, before going back to her preparations. After a moment she fished a small container out of the bags and pushed it over to Angelo. "I may have made some turkish delight."

Angelo grinned as he reached for the Tupperware. "Cool! Don't think I've ever had this homemade."

"It's the first time I've made it," Laurie admitted, placing the lamb shanks to the side as she went about cutting up and placing into bowls the various herbs she'd be using. "Let me know what you think."

John poked at the confection with his finger. He hated sweet stuff with a vengeance. "Man, this shit reeks of a tea party. Next we're going to be singing the unbirthday song." He made a face but took one between his fingers just so he could mess with it.

"So Olive. I thought you were coming over for dinner. I thought we were going to have dessert."

"I love that you think you're going to get some sort of rise from me, John," Laurie said, smile firmly in place now as she continued to prepare their meal. "It's so cute. Dessert is a sticky date pudding, like Angelo said."

"--I need a smoke."

Angelo threw a packet of cigarettes at him without looking. "This is definitely not a smoke-free house. But not in the kitchen, John."

"Yes, pops." John saluted him but didn't move from his seat. He tapped the pack of cigarettes on the edge of the table and leaned in toward Angelo. "Did you know our young cook's got a boyfriend? Never seen the guy though." He picked up a spark lighter and drew a flame from it. "What's he like, Collins? Invisible?"

"International jetsetter," Laurie replied amiably, shaking her head as she started placing ingrediants in a pot and turned the heat on on the stove. "He's away on business a lot."

She couldn't remember if Angelo knew who her boyfriend was but teasing John was almost second nature now, especially when he thought she was lying.

"You say that like you think she'd introduce her boyfriend to you, Firebug", Angelo said with a grin. "We all know you better than that."

John smirked. "Where's Joy Toy?" he asked, looking round the kitchen for Angelo's dog. "I told her we were gonna have a feast but I doubt she's gonna like curry." He popped another pill into his mouth, grabbed his lighter and stood up. "Think I'm gonna go walk her."

"She's in my room, she's not allowed curry unless you want to clean up after her, an' no you will not." Angelo made record time to block John's way at that threat. "You think I trust you out alone with my dog, after what you said about her this mornin'?"

"If it's that important to you, John. I'll introduce you the next time Eamon's in town." Laurie replied, putting down the knife she'd been wielding to chop ingredients as she watched the two men.

She wasn't sure just exactly what it was that John had said about Joyita but it must have been somewhat interesting considering Angelo's reaction to it.

John gave Angelo a somewhat apologetic smile. He really hadn't been serious when he said he was going to sell the dog. The allergies were killing him though. "So tell me." John sat back down and lit his cigarette. "What's this travel bug like?" He grinned at Angelo. "Too bad he's not a teleporter, huh? Pass me the ashtray?"

"Nice," Laurie said, her smile turning wistful as she thought of Eamon. "He makes me feel safe."

"An' so he should", Angelo said firmly, handing the ashtray over to John. "He make it into New York often?"

John thanked Angelo with a nod then turned his chair to face Laurie just so he could play the part of the tentative listener. He raised his brows at her expectantly.

"Not as often as I'd like, but he tries," Laurie noted, rolling her eyes at John as she went back to her preparations. "He works a lot, and most of the places he works are a long way away from New York."

"Then maybe you should go see him", Angelo suggested cheerfully. "When he's not too busy, or whatever. Get you out to interestin' places."

"Now why didn't I think of that?" Laurie said with a teasing lilt, and then winked at him. "I do try to when I can. X-men training, medlab volunteering and study tend to keep me in the U.S a lot of the time. So how about you two? Any romantic interests?"

It was John's cue to turn in his seat so he could look at Angelo this time. Once again, he raised his brows with that same expectant look.

Angelo threw a dishcloth at his head, then grinned at Laurie. "Since John just all but told you, there is, actually. Girl I used to know in LA, helped her an' her brother set up here a couple of years ago."

"That's wonderful, Angelo. You should have invited her around to eat with us," Laurie said with a grin, and then raised her eyebrows at John. "And how about you, firebug?"

"Her name's Alejandra and boy, is she smokin' hot." John whistled. "And yeah. We're still on the subject of Angelo's love life 'cause I've got nothin' for yah, Collins. I don't do romance."

"It's alright, John. You don't have to lie to us, I'm sure you've got someone stashed away that you give flowers and soppy love poetry to," Laurie noted, finished with her preperations. She stood back for a moment and surveyed her handywork, and then got down to business.

"Well, I don't know about that", Angelo said with a wicked grin, getting his revenge, "but he's definitely had at least one person back here."

John laughed then shrugged nonchalantly. He sucked on his cigarette and blew smoke rings out of his mouth.

"So you do have someone stashed away. Anyone we know?" Laurie asked with a teasing grin. She winked and then turned to place scraps from her preparation into the bin. She'd been taught by Lorna to be as clean as possible, even while cooking.

John chuckled. "Just people, Collins. It's called having a casual fuck, you know?" He smirked and offered Angelo the last remaining bits of his cigarette. "So who wants a drink?"

Angelo took the cigarette automatically and took a drag. "Yeah, might as well have drinks with dinner. What've we got?"

"Last I checked--" John got up and headed over to the newly installed kitchen cabinet. "Lots of good stuff." He pulled out a bottle of vodka and grinned. The perks of living outside the mansion. "What's your poison, O?"

"Juice, if it's available," Laurie noted, placing several more things into the pot as she brought it to a simmer. "You can add some vodka to that if you really must. But not a lot, I still have to get home tonight."

"That's the spirit." John took the cap off and poured a generous amount for himself and Angelo before he prepared Laurie's drink: the poor man's screwdriver. He handed her the glass with a smile.

"Thanks," he said. "For coming over. It's... it's a good distraction, you know. Us--" He indicated the three of them. "Us having fun. It's all good."

Laurie took a sip, and smiled in appreciation at the taste. The orange juice was fresh, with just a hint of bite from the alcohol, perfect.

“You’re welcome, John. I guess we should make this a more regular occurrence if I’m going to get such praise,” she replied after stirring the curry and then putting a lid on it so it could cook. “If neither of you mind, that is."

John gave her a lopsided smile and let out a shrug. The medication he'd taken combined with the drink he was having was making it hard for him to form proper sentences in his head let alone voice them out loud. But obviously, Laurie was more than welcomed to drop by anytime. Providing she had food with her. Otherwise, he'd probably be inclined to slam the door in her face. Just because.