Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman Fan Fiction ❯ Tuesday ❯ Prologue

Tuesday

Jason never went to the bar near the track on Tuesdays. That was an after race Sunday thing. However, this particular Tuesday, he made an exception.

He screeched into the Speedway's gravel parking lot, spraying mud and stone in an arc. He stalked out of his car, ignoring the cold and rain. Yanking the door open, he stalked inside and sat at the bar.

The bar was empty on this Tuesday, save for one person. Jason recognized her as one of the waitresses that served him on Sundays. He thought her name was Alicia. She was standing behind the bar, a book open in front of her. She looked up in his direction briefly when he entered the establishment.

"The usual?" she asked him.

"No," he said shortly. "Jack Daniels. Straight." He dug into his wallet and pulled out some money. Jason pushed the crumpled bills at her.

Alicia gave him a curious look as she got him his drink. She placed it in front of him, and then took care of his money. After she gave him his change, she went back to her book.

Jason stared at the wall behind the bar as he drank, oblivious to the woman behind the bar and the radio playing. Instead of the racing paraphernalia, he saw everything that had conspired to put him in his foul mood. The broken water heater in the trailer, his empty refrigerator, Mark telling him that he couldn't fire the missile, Chief Anderson lecturing him about firing the missile against orders, Zoltar, Spectra, this war, the rain, the sign at the track that said "Closed". He felt like hitting something.

Jason reached into his pocket and dug out some more money. Shoving it at Alicia, he said brusquely, "Get me the darts."

Alicia, looking up from her book, cocked an eyebrow at him. "Aren't we a merry little ray of sunshine today?" she said sarcastically. Jason ignored her. She got three darts for him and took his money.

Jason violently flung each dart at the dartboard, picturing each object of his ire in the bulls-eye. Each dart hit its target. After he threw his darts, he walked up to the dartboard and pulled them out. Then he went back behind the strip of tape on the floor and started throwing them again.

"You know, if you kill that dartboard, Sam's gonna be pissed."

Jason glared at Alicia. "So?" he replied.

"Just thought I'd warn you. You don't want to get on Sam's bad side."

"Guess not," he shrugged. Sam was the owner of the Speedway. While everyone liked him for his general jovial manner, he was not one whom you wanted to piss off.

Alicia watched him throw darts for three rounds. "Not bad," she said, clearly impressed. "Where did you learn to throw like that?"

"Practice," he replied. The corners of his mouth quirked up slightly. "I get lots of practice."

"You shoot darts a lot?" she asked.

"You could say that," Jason replied. Looking at the bar, he noticed for the first time that Alicia had been reading a textbook. He hadn't paid much attention to the book earlier, instead assuming it was a novel.

"You go to school?" he asked.

Alicia nodded. "English major," she replied.

"And you work in this place?"

"Gotta pay the bills somehow," she said, smiling slightly. "Although, I get the feeling that if things don't pick up, Sam's gonna call and tell me to close early."

"It's a shitty day outside," Jason said. "The track's closed. Otherwise I'd be there right now." He tossed a dart at his target, hitting the bulls-eye once more.

Jason threw the two remaining darts, and then went to retrieve them. He sat down at the bar again, but this time, in front of Alicia. He dug out some money, slid it towards her, and said, "The usual this time."

Alicia got him a bottle of beer. She opened it and placed it in front of him. She didn't bother with the mug. He never used them.

After taking a drink, he asked her, "So what pisses you off?"

"Well, sometimes school pisses me off. My roommate can piss me off. People who sit too long at the intersection when the light turns green. People who drive slow in the fast lanes on the freeway. Drunk guys who think you'll go home with them after the bar closes. I could go on and on." She waved her hand and rolled her eyes slightly.

Jason chuckled for the first time that day.

"Now it's your turn," Alicia said. "What pisses you off?"

"Broken hot water heaters, empty refrigerators, my foster brother, my foster father, and the rain." Jason chose his words carefully. "There's more, but if I had to list all of them, we'd be here for months." He took a drink from his beer bottle.

Alicia was about to say something when the phone rang. "Excuse me," she said as she went to answer it. Jason got up and wandered over to the jukebox, scanning the selections for something he was in the mood to hear. Finding nothing, he went back to the bar and grabbed the darts. He started throwing them again, but this time less violently. Unbeknownst to him, Alicia was watching him as she talked on the phone.

As Jason threw darts, he picked up snatches of Alicia's phone conversation. "Again?" he heard her say, exasperation in her voice. He tossed a dart. "Well, what if I can't?" she said. "Suppose I'm bringing someone home?" Jason's ears perked up. "Well, I might sometime. You know I live there, too." He went to retrieve the darts from the dart board. "Whatever," Alicia said before hanging up the phone. When she came back, she didn't look too happy.

"My roommate," Alicia said in response to Jason's questioning look. "'Don't come home too early," she quoted, but in a higher pitched and whiny voice. "'Craig's over.'"

"Craig?"

"Her boyfriend," Alicia replied. "Either I go hang out somewhere else, or I go home and listen to the bedsprings squeaking. I end up doing the former."

Jason tossed another dart. "Where do you go?"

"There's a Denny's not far from my place," she said. "Late at night, they don't care how late you stay there." She shrugged.

"I'm glad I live alone," he remarked as he tossed another dart. Then he went over to the dartboard to retrieve them. Jason went back behind the line, and started throwing them again. Alicia watched him for three rounds before she stepped out from behind the bar.

"Damn, you're good at that," she said, a hint of envy in her voice.

Jason stopped throwing. "You want to try? It's more fun with two people."

"No thanks," she replied. "I suck at darts."

"I could show you," he said. "Then you wouldn't suck."

Alicia seemed to brighten. "Really?" she asked.

"Sure," he said. He held out the darts to her. "Show me what you can do first."

Alicia took the darts from Jason and took her place behind the line. She held up her hand, poised to throw the dart. A look of uncertainty crossed her face.

"Go on," Jason said.

Alicia looked at him briefly. She seemed to be a little embarrassed. "I won't laugh," Jason said. "If that's what you're worried about."

She brought her arm up, and then tossed the dart. It bounced off the edge of the dartboard. She made a face. Alicia looked at Jason again. He had no reaction. She tossed the second one, a little harder than the one before. It hit the wall and got stuck. She looked at Jason again, her cheeks crimson. Again, he had no reaction. Then Alicia tossed the third one. It hit the dartboard at the edge and it stayed there.

Jason went to retrieve the darts. He brought them back. He handed one to Alicia and asked her to hold it like she did when she threw it. She did as he asked. He critiqued her technique and showed her how to hold them the way he did. When she got the hang of that, he asked her to throw it. She did. It bounced off the dartboard.

Jason gave her another dart, told her to hold it the way he showed her, and then showed her how he threw it. He took her arm and went through the motion slowly and showed her how much force to use, until she got the hang of it. Then he asked her to throw that one. She did, and it landed on the edge of the target.

Then Jason gave her the third dart. This time, he showed her how to aim it properly. She threw it and this time she was a little further inside the target.

"Not bad," he remarked as she went to get the darts. "With practice, you'll get better."

"Nowhere near as good as you," she said. "You must shoot at things a lot."

Jason stifled a laugh. "You mean target practice? Yeah, I do that."

Alicia stood behind the line and threw the darts again. She hit places on the target all three times, but not the bull's-eye. She went a couple more rounds before handing the darts back to Jason. She went back behind the bar and got herself a soda. Then she got another beer for Jason.

Jason settled back onto the bar stool. "Now it's your turn," he said. "Show me something you know how to do."

"Like what?" Alicia asked.

"Anything," he said. "What kind of hidden talents do you have?"

"Well," she began. Then she thought for a moment. "I can French braid my own hair. But I doubt you'd want to learn that. Your hair's not long enough to do that." She thought some more. "I know how to say obscene things in other languages."

"Like what?" Jason asked, clearly interested.

Alicia thought for a moment. "Like Andate a tutti vaffanculo!"

"Which means…"

"'You all can go fuck yourselves' in Italian."

"Say that again," Jason asked. Alicia said the words again, slowly. He repeated after her and she corrected his pronunciation.

"Where did you learn that?" he wondered.

"I studied abroad two summers ago. I went to Italy. You pick up a lot of things that the textbooks don't tell you."

He took a drink, and then asked, "So do you study Italian in school?"

Alicia replied, "It's my minor. If I can't get a job as a writer or an English teacher, I could get a job as an interpreter."

"But why Italian?" he asked her.

"Because everyone else takes Spanish," she replied with a grin.

Jason asked her some more questions about school. He found himself envious of the fact that she actually got to go to college. Or maybe it was because she was living a normal life for someone their age.

Alicia told him that she was a junior and that finals were coming up. She said she didn't have any plans for summer classes. "I don't have the time, really," she said. "I spend most of my summers working here because that's when the track is so busy. I'll have more than enough credits to graduate by this time next year, so I'm not worried about doing a fifth year."

They spent the next few hours talking and doing other things. They played darts again, and then went over to the foosball table. What skill she lacked in throwing darts, Alicia made up for it in foosball. After their game finished, Alicia went back into the bar's kitchen area and got a plate of hot wings, which they split. They even watched TV for a bit, making a running commentary during some cheesy movie that was on TV. Alicia asked Jason if he was a Mystery Science Theater fan, which he was. She told him she was, too. "I've acquired quite a few tapes," she said.

Around ten, the phone rang, and Alicia dashed off to answer it. When she returned, she told Jason that it had been Sam, the bar's owner. "He told me to close up now," she said.

"But things were just getting fun," Jason protested.

"I know," she said. "But he's the boss. You can stay while I clean up, though."

After she had cleaned up and made sure that everything was turned off and locked up, she went to the back to get her things. Jason waited for her. He had fun tonight, and he was reluctant for it to end. He managed to forget about all the bad things that had happened to him that day. He wasn't looking forward to going back to the trailer with the broken hot water heater and no food.

Alicia came back with her things and her car keys in her hand. "You didn't have to wait for me," she said.

"I don't mind," he replied. "Is it late enough for you to go home?"

"Not really," she replied. "But I'll be okay." She opened the front door. The two exited the building, and then Alicia locked the door. The rain had stopped. "What about you?" she asked Jason. "Are you going to be okay?" She started walking to her car, and he went with her.

"I paced myself with the beer," he said. Then he realized that she wasn't talking about alcohol or driving. "Yeah," he said. "I'll be fine. I'll fix the water heater and get some food in the morning." They stopped next to Alicia's car, a red Chevy Cavalier.

"If you're sure," she said. He nodded. It sounded like she was offering to let him crash at her place, roommate or no roommate, but since she didn't actually come right out and say it, he didn't ask. He didn't want to impose.

"See you Sunday?" she asked. Sundays were race days at the track, which meant that the bar was busy. Alicia unlocked the car door and then opened it.

"If it's not rai--." He stopped short. "Yeah, see you Sunday."

Alicia slid into the driver's seat. Before she shut the door, she said good night to Jason. He replied in kind. Then she shut the door and started her car. Jason took a step back as she put the car in reverse and backed up. Before she pulled out of the parking lot, she waved. He waved back. Then he walked back to his car and headed home to his broken hot water heater, his empty refrigerator, and undoubtedly messages on his answering machine from Mark and the Chief.