2020-01-10 - Trash Beer and Bowling Leagues

Geoff sighs as he arrives with Harper, lamenting "We only have a waffle shoppe here." the corner of his lips upticking as he carries on "Remember when you picked me up that day I got out of prison and we went to Waffle House? I seriously cried over a burger and hashbrowns." Offering a wave to one of the waitresses and moving to seat them himself he heads for a booth near the windows, gesturing for Harper to slide in first before he caps off by claiming the outside seat. The Waffle Shoppe itself is rather quiet with only one other customer sitting out the counter and Tom Petty playing across the radio.

"I remember quite well. You'll never want for hash browns again. But Gray Harbor could really use a Waffle House. You need to have your 'scattered, smothered, and chunked' to really live." Harper is wearing a bright skirt, a geometric print blouse, bright-hued tights, and boots. Still dressed for work, either after or before. Around her neck is a delicate silver filagree chain from which hangs a simple silver ring that is equally delicate and unadorned. She shrugs out of her jacket and hooks it somewhere nearby before sliding into the booth and kissing Geoff's cheek when he moves in beside her. "We could always invite them to Tahoe. If they're reconciled." An arch of a dark brow in query.

Through the window it's easy to spy Easton's jeep bouncing into the parking lot, Bennie's blonde pony tail swinging wildly as Easton turns the vehicle into a spot. Before he's even had a chance to crank off the engine, Bennie is hopping out of the passenger side and flipping the door closed. "I told you that it actually happens! It doesn't become an urban legend by chance, there's some fact behind it. It was a Big Foot, honest to god. I think he was attracted to the smell of our s'mores." Bennie's wiping tears away from her eyes, but they're ones born from laughter if her smile is any indication.

"I'm not saying it wasn't. I just think you're underestimating hipsters and their beards." Easton laughs as they enter the waffle house and make their way over to the booth. He slides into the free side of the booth and gives a dumb smile when Bennie slides in next to him.

Geoff offers a grin to Harper "You know babe, that sounds like a pretty good idea, we should invite them." Then comes that jeep and the tell tale erratic driving of Easton. Waiting till they come in he offers his fist out to Easton for a fist bump, a broad grin pulling at his features as he looks between the two "Well it seems that you guys have made up again. Does it mean that the four of us finally get to form a bowling team and take on such illustrious opponents as 'The Jesus'."

Harper regards grinning Geoff for a few long moments, then dips her chin in agreement about invitations to skiing and casinos. She only catches Bennie and Easton's arrival when Geoff's gaze strays to the window. "Wait, they're both ... when did that happen?" The laughing couple make their way inside and Harper watches with an inquisitive smile. Easton slides in first, across from Harper and Bennie follows. Harper puckers her lips in an air kiss at Easton, "Hi, bastard." Then she turns her attention more fully to the woman she hasn't seen since high school. How is she even more spectacularly gorgeous now than she was then? Her demeanor is entirely sincere when she greets the blonde. "Hi Bennie. It's been forever. You look great. And I'm glad to see you." With Easton.

Bennie levels Geoff with a Look tempered by a smirk, "Seriously? I haven't even unbuttoned my coat." Before she slips in next to Easton, she leans over to Harper to give her a quick hug and exuberant kiss to the cheek. "An age and a half." She agrees as she flops down next to Easton and scoots in so close to him that he'll have trouble operating a fork with her proximity. "I'm glad you scooped this one up." She tells the other woman of Geoff, kicking the man underneath the table with her words. "Otherwise I'd have to convince Easton to get a bigger bed to fit both Gunner and Geoff into it."

The fist is bumped and Easton just grins at Harper's greeting. He returns the air kiss with a loud 'muah' noise. He doesn't seem to mind that Bennie is cramping his fork arm. Totally worth it. He nods seriously at Geoff, "Oh yes, that is definitely happening." He looks at Bennie to take the lead on the 'state of things' between them but at the crack about the bed he says, "I think I need to buy a new bed just for Gunner. If Geoff's joining in we need to just go with the mattress room concept."

Geoff levies a fork to use it as a pointing and direction instrument as he talks "I think I'm the lucky one to have been snagged by her." a slight grunt coming with the kick to his shin "Look I can't promise I won't still sneak in to sandwich Easton." bringing his hand up he says with faux solemnity "My heart cannot be chained." With Easton sliding in he turns his attention on the other man "So I had an idea. We should sign up to be coaches for the youth hockey teams down at the rec center....You know...For the kids to keep them off the street and not just because I could ground your team into the dust."

If Bennie's providing hugs and kisses, Harper's accepting and returning the same with enthusiasm. The body language and proximity between the pair on the other side of the booth doesn't escape Harper's keen observation. She turns a Look to Easton. "Point for you, Marshall." Bennie's 'scooping' commentary has Harper flickering an amused smile from the other woman to Geoff. "I don't think it has to be an either-or proposition, really. Either way, I don't think I could restrain Geoff from a bed that had both Easton and a dog in it. That's just too many of his favorite things. I mean, you add hashbrowns and I think he'd die happy." Mattress room. That earns a roll of laughter from Harper. "The sheets would be incredibly difficult. But if you could add a bit of a bounce, it'd be totally worth it." She shakes her head, "Damn. You two are a pretty couple." She tips her gaze back around to watch Geoff lift a hand to profess the free-range nature of his heart. Youth hockey? This is the first Harper's heard of that idea and she cants her head to the side. "I didn't know you had ice-skating skills." Sign her up for the cheering section. "It's a terrific idea. But I think bowling is even better."

"First of all, I'm all-in for bowling leagues and strapping a pair of ice skates to this one." Bennie says, angling her smile at Easton's profile, her eyes sweeping up and down his face as if already scheming what both of those entails. "But E and I haven't had our 'talk' yet. It keeps getting railroaded by birthday parties and waffles with friends." Regardless, her hand finds his underneath the table and laces fingers in with his. "We are going to have coffee." A tiny pause. "And then probably just go back to shagging like rabbits."

"I should certainly hope that a me sandwich is still happening." Easton being reminded that he's ridiculously hungry picks up a menu to find something ridiculously caloric to eat. He smirks and says, "I'd lay a trail of hashbrowns to the bedroom but Gunner would just eat 'me before I could trap a Geoff." He also couldn't handle actually having food on his floors but that's another thing entirely. At the concept of coaching ice hockey, Easton's brow furrows, "Hockey? I haven't skated since.." that line of thinking gets cut off the taunt of getting ground into dust. "Pfft. Your idea of organized sports was probably synchronized spitballs. I would almost feel bad for your kids. Almost." He is relieved when Bennie deflects at least a little bit of relationship talk, but his smile creeps even larger when she takes his hand. He laughs at her plan and says, "Unless I really fuck up the coffee part."

Geoff laughs easily enough and tells Harper "I don't see why I should be bound to one or the other, I think I could manage both. Just as long as it didn't interfere with our Friday night cooking dates." because that's a thing they have. Listening to what Bennie says he nods his head somberly before having to inform Easton "You know if you fuck up again I'm obligated as your friend to kick your ass, right?" gesturing to Bennie he says "She's the best damn thing that's happened to you since me." Then there is that quip about his idea of sports "Look man, I don't think your knowledge of Lacrosse and beer pong are going to help your team win."

Bennie approves of bowling, so for Harper it's a done deal now. The boys will just have to play along. They really have no choice at this point. No talk yet. There's some information right there. "I see. It's lovely to get to see you both, despite the not-so-perfect timing. And a waffle or something, surely. Not just coffee." She lifts a menu, hefting it a couple inches with approval, "Shag on." Easton taunts Geoff back. "Well, if the spitballs were synchronized to music, I'd pay admission. But hockey would be more entertaining and have the full-body-contact I think you both crave, even if it's vicariously through kids." Fucked up coffee? Still looking at her menu, Harper comments idly to Easton, "You won't." She leans toward Geoff just enough to bump his shoulder with her own. "You could even miss a night here and there. Just let me come and spectate." Hockey. Full room mattresses. Spitballs. Really, any of the prospects. "Flexibility is a thing." Geoff promises ass-kickings. Harper murmurs to Easton a second time, "You won't fuck it up, Easton. I have bets to win." Who is betting against Easton is really the question there. Harper sets her menu down. "What about trash beer? Is there a skill set there?"

"No no!" Bennie pipes up, as does a sudden blush to her cheeks or maybe she's just flushed from coming in out of the cold. It's not like Bennie to get all ruddy in the face and embarrassed about something. "I meant we're going to meet. Later. For the coffee. And the shagging. Today is just coffee and waffles with friends and no serious talk, which includes the earnest kicking of asses if anyone makes any more mistakes. Though I am contractually obligated to say if it happens again, the Women Code dictates that I warn I am perfectly capable of making appendages atrophy and fall off." She peers casually over Easton's arm to the menu, sharing his instead of taking up her own. "What's trash beer?"

Laughing at the clarification that coffee is not actually happening here, nor the shagging either (at least probably not anyway) Easton shares his menu with Bennie. "Those skills will crush you Turner." The lacrosse and beer pong, that is. "Trash beer is because apparently Harper thinks cheap beer is for some reason undrinkable." He may be a snob about putting fruit in beer, but he's perfectly content to drink beer. He grins at Bennie's comment, "I appreciate the warning. Frankly I'm more worried about you than Turner trying to kick my ass." He grins hands over the menu completely before saying, "And I might need to sneak Geoff away from you for a bit of non-vicarious full body contact."

Geoff is taken with distraction through that, examining his menu as he idly comments "Trash beer is great when you don't have money for craft. Also trash beer is the official drink of bowling." Then the waitress is arriving and he is flashing her an easy going smile "Hey could I could a stack of chocolate chip pancakes, a side of bacon, a plate of hashbrowns and a coke? Thanks."

Harper finds Bennie's flush fascinating, a small smile curving at her lips. "I see." Contractual obligations. She nods thoughtfully at that. "A fair stipulation, depending on how coffee-fueled negotiations go." Harper mocks an offended look at Easton. "I seem to recall agreeing with you about the US Bowling League's choice of endorsement." As for fruit in beer? She knows nothing about sangria-ale. "Sneak away if that's what does it for you, Easton. But if that's how it has to be, I want pictures at the very least. Geoff knows the bylaws quite well." No swimming with otters without Harper. She orders cheesy scrambled eggs with raisin toast and bacon. Plus a large orange juice. Her menu is tucked away and her attention sifts over the portrait Bennie and Easton paint across the table.

"Good." About the warning and the ass kicking. "As a person who used to only have Milwaukee's Beast in my fridge, I'd take insult to that, but sometime the best beer is the cheap beer. Or the free beer." As it's said that it's the official drink of bowling, Bennie adds, "And grilled cheese!" Before she says aside to the waitress. "I meant, I'll have the oatmeal with the fresh fruit, coffee, and the bagel with cream cheese. Unless you have bowling alley grilled cheese? No. Then the oatmeal." Back to the conversation, "Bylaws! We need bylaws. And a lack of sneaking, if you please. I prefer wide open full body contact.

"Cheap beer has it's place, which is when you are drinking a case." Yes, it rhymes and no that doesn't seem to bother Easton. He puts in his order for the largest breakfast sandwich they sell that comes between two waffles. "And a coke" He adds. He isn't familiar with bowling alley grilled cheeses but accepts that it's probably both terrible and awesome. "Ok. No sneaking, Geoff and I will just strip here in the middle of the waffle house for you." He grins at Bennie, the twinkle in his eye daring her to say they won't.

Geoff nods his head grimly "I know the bylaws, if I went to our orchard by myself, or snuck out to see the deer or otters then I'd be relegated to the couch for eternity." With a tsk and a shake of his head he tells Bennie "No, Easton and I need to practice our strip routine. That first time just wasn't good enough. You wouldn't ask your tattoo artist to keep getting up to check on progress on your back piece. No you'd wait till they had something to show."

Grilled cheese. Harper is an avid supporter of the grilled-cheese ticket. "I'd definitely like to hear some of Bennie's bylaws. For the most part so far, they've come from Geoff and Easton. And most of them involve making out and feeding tortoises. Though not at the same time, as far as I could tell." Harper smiles warmly at Bennie's wide-open platform. Ironically, when it comes to cheap beer, it was Geoff who inculcated Harper to it back in high school. It's not an experience she'll forget. That's the second Coke Harper's seen Easton drink in as many encounters. She lifts her elbow to rest it on the table, and props her chin atop her palm, turning a bit at an angle to drape her nearer leg over Geoff's knee in the booth. Easton's going to strip here and now? Harper's a ready audience. "Whichever couch was farther away, yes," she agrees mildly. "And that doesn't count roller coasters, wrestling, camping, dancing, or paintball." For a start. "Don't listen to him, Bennie. They've already admitted to me that they perfected their stripping act in Vegas."

"I can play some sexy music on my phone!" Bennie offers helpfully at Easton's notion that they'll just strip right here in the Waffle Shoppe, where the extra p and e add extra exoticness. She gives a look aside to Easton as Geoff starts saying words like 'orchard' and 'deer' and 'otters', biting back a smile about how quaint the whole thing is. "Really, one fishing trip and they have the routine all worked out?" See, Bennie doesn't know about trip Number Two. "No, no, Harper, if they get to go off and practice stripping, then that means you and I get to practice making out with each other. Which makes us all winners, I think."

Easton raises his eyebrows as if tempted by the offer of sexy phone music / waffle shoppe stripping but ultimately does not move out of the booth. He laughs at Harper, "Well Bennie's bylaws would include pineapple on pizza, tomato not being a fruit and worst of all, Die Hard falling outside the genre of Christmas Movies." He glances over at her, making sure that he got those three questions right this time, "But, she's also extremely cute and terrible at personal space, so I will allow it." He manages not to look guilty at the mention of 'one fishing trip'. Maybe he can broach that topic later. Maybe. Besides then she's distracting him with talk of making out with Harper and he's nodding emphatically, "That is true. I think we all win in that scenario." He doesn't mention anything about otters or deer or orchards, but definitely shares a look with Bennie wondering if those are sex acts that he's not familiar with or somehow code for something?

Geoff chuckles at Harper's additions and nods along as if to reinforce them, a hand dropping to his lap to lightly rub at Harper's knee that's landed there "Hmmm, kissing Harper is one of the best things you can do with your time, I can't fault you there. I think I'd get just a wee bit jealous though." The man leaning over to press a kiss to the corner of Harper's lips out of the blue before righting himself. Turning serious he looks to Easton "I hate to say this but you're going to have to break up with her. You don't go in a room with a sock on the doorknob, you don't give anything for free in prison, and you don't ever say that Die Hard isn't a christmas movie. There are just certain things you gotta uphold for a peaceful life man." Squinting he studies Easton "Though I think you got it bad for her, so the best I can say is that at least we at least can celebrate Christmas by remembering the Nakatomi Plaza."

Sexy music on Bennie's phone. Harper's laugh is quiet but appreciative. "I think it had something to do with the drugs," the stripping perfection. "It was a murky subject, I was double-teamed, and I wasn't all in yet. I didn't press for details. But Easton was quite emphatic about the skillset." Harper doesn't address the second trip to Vegas. Perhaps she figures that's a topic for coffee-on-its-own. As for quaint? It's one of Harper's best illusions. The librarian turns her gaze to Bennie. "Make out practices? Of course. Skill-honing is a process." Easton has issues with some of Bennie's bylaws. "Easton, you're aware that I'll default to Bennie's bylaws, aren't you? Because that's absolutely the way it'll go down. You kept us separate for quite some time. I sense the tide changing." He'll allow it. Harper finds that particular interaction on the other side of the booth charming, and it's clear to see. "And Geoff here, with his musical ... quirks." Savage Garden, indeed. She turns her gaze to the man beside her as she teases him, tilting her head with a what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it challenge in her eyes. And that's when she somehow earns a kiss. She smiles into it and winds her closer arm around Geoff's neck. Ah, the sidebar on Die Hard. Again, Harper's quiet laughter touches the ears. "My feet hurt just thinking about it."

Easton gives Bennie a silent, and dead serious shake of his head when Harper says she was double teamed. Nope, not letting that be mistaken for something else.

Bennie turns slightly sideways, her leg slipping up over Easton's to hitch there. "Actually you know what I realized during our time apart? None of those things really matter. And it turns out, pineapple on a pizza is highly over rated." A bit of a smirk there. "Pears and arugula are where it's at." As Easton starts emphatically shaking his head at some of Harper's word choices, she raises an eyebrow but it settles just as quickly back into an amused expression as she snuggles against his shoulder. Devoid of physical affection when your best friend is Alexander of the No-Touchie land, Easton is getting the lion's share of making up lost time. "The women will relent that Die Hard can be played at Christmas time so long as it's sandwiched between Miracle on 34th Street and Elf, and that tomato can be a fruit so long as it never makes it into a fruit salad. If the men agree to matching bowling shirts and to give at least one back rub per quarter that does not resort in an obligatory reciprocal blow job. Does the motion carry?"

Alexander's lack of physical affection is something they oddly have in common when they were seperated though Easton did manage to get a bear hug, no kisses though... unlike other people. The choice of pizza toppings gets a quirked eyebrow and a "Fancy." comment from Easton, but not the real scrutiny it deserves. Easton agrees seriously to the rules set forth and carries the motion with a solemn, "Aye." He grins at Harper and says, "I understand that I have made a grave mistake in allowing you two to become friends and will accept all of the terrible and extremely cute pain you inflict on Geoff and I from this point forward." He leans over to kiss Bennie's cheek and say, "And I'm glad you relented, can't have Geoff not supporting our relationship. That would doom it." He's grinning like it's a joke. It's not.

"Seconded!" Harper pipes up without hesitation. Though she arches her brows at Bennie at the last. Say it isn't so! Once per quarter? Harper doesn't miss the exchange between Easton and Bennie, her brown-eyed gaze merry, perceptive, aware. She tips a long look to Geoff as if to silently query him on some subject that isn't readily apparent. The arm around his neck slides down and her fingertips trace over his shoulders and upper back above the cushion of the booth-back.