The Cafeteria; Lunch [ 09/09 ]

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Chad was glad he followed his instincts and went down the cafeteria today to see what they had for lunch instead of making his own because it appeared to be taco day. He loved taco day. It had been, for a long time, a rather love-hate relationship, though, considering how he felt that liking taco day was like fulfilling some sort of blatant and uneducated stereotype, but...

Tacos were tasty. He couldn't help that. So Chad embraced the taco day, filled a plate up, grabbed a bottle of Tabasco, and found a seat.


[[ and now I want tacos. This is why you don't do cafeteria posts when you're hungry. Open for all your lunch neeeeds! ]]

Comments

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Who couldn't resist the siren call of tacos?

Definitely not Hurley, who came over to where Chad sat with a tray of his own.

"Hey dude. Can I join you?"

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"Go ahead," Chad said, nodding to the many open seats at the table. "How's it going, Hurley?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Pretty good," he said, sitting down. "I mean, like, I met a robot last night. That was pretty awesome."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"I haven't met the robot yet," Chad admitted, faintly disheartened. "I think we actually have a few, but I'm not sure."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Oh, cool," Hurley said, before he crunched down on a taco. "I mean, robots are pretty awesome. Especially Bumblebee."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"Running into anything else you like about Fandom other than robots?" Chad asked. "There's definitely a lot goin' on here..."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Oh yeah," Hurley said. "I mean, everybody so far has been pretty nice. Mostly, yeah. Way cooler than Santa Monica."

[notasuiciderisk.livejournal.com]

Eric wasn't sure he was feeling up to, y'know, people. Still, he needed to eat, and he hadn't actually discovered the facilities in the common rooms. ... Not that he'd know what to do with them once he did.

Tired of take-out, he'd wandered to the cafeteria, only to find, "Oooh, tacos."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Noticing him come in, Chad waved from his seat at his newest little brother, hoping that he would se--

Oh, who was he kidding? You'd have to be blind to not notice Chad waving at you from across a relatively empty cafeteria.

[notasuiciderisk.livejournal.com]

And blind, Eric was not.

He covered a slight shiver, nerves at the idea of Chad being gay, maybe being able to tell that he's gay, but outwardly smiled. "Hey, Chad," he said, as he brought his tray over and sat down. "How's it going?"

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"Not bad," Chad said, nodding slightly. "I should be asking you that question, though. Settling in okay?"

[notasuiciderisk.livejournal.com]

Eric nodded, although his mood visibly dimmed a little. "Yeah," he said. "Still... processing everything, I guess. But I've got a couple of friends from home, which helps." His mouth quirked a little, a bit of a dry smile. "And they're actually from my home. Since it seems that's not always the case here."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah," Chad said, nodding with an understanding grunt as he swallowed down his last bite. "That whole...time, different dimension thing. My best friend from back home is like that. He and I came from the same spot, but he came here two years later, so it was a bit of a...err, shock to see me when he'd just left in Japan."

There was a slight pause, for a drink of water. "Who are your friends from home, if you don't mind me asking?"

[notasuiciderisk.livejournal.com]

Well. Realistically speaking, 'friends' may be too strong a word. But at least they're familiar people.

"Blair and Chuck," Eric said, and then took a bite of taco. After swallowing, he continued, "I didn't even know they were here until I got here."

[bad-nose-job.livejournal.com]

Tray in hand, Penelope glanced around to find a table that was not preoccupied by other students. Eating in front of people could prove disastrous and she'd rather not deal with the frightening outcome of being called a freak, being laughed at, and ultimately being sent home.

It was easily enough avoided, she thought, since the cafeteria wasn't full, and she sat down, small and hunkered over as she began the difficult task of eating while trying not to get anything on her scarf or reveal the freak that she was.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley noticed the scarfed girl, and got up from where he was sitting to walk over.

"Hey, like, there's room over where I'm sitting, like... if you want to join us."

[bad-nose-job.livejournal.com]

Penelope looked up, eyes wide. "H-hi." It was such a nice, friendly offer. But how could she eat without causing others to wonder and ask questions? She would look like an idiot in front of people. It would be... horrible.

Instead of replying to that, she decided to offer instead, "I'm Penelope." And she extended her hand.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Hurley," he said, shaking her hand. "I mean, if you don't want to, that's okay and stuff. I just thought, like... in case you didn't want to eat alone."

[bad-nose-job.livejournal.com]

"It's nice to meet you, Hurley," Penelope replied. "I..." she looked over at his table, reached up to touch her scarf, and looked embarrassed. She didn't like eating alone, no, but wasn't sure how to fix it. "I... could, yes, thank you." She just will enjoy her soda with her straw. That was easily managed.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Oh, cool scarf," Hurley said. "Like... oh, hey, is this one of those, like, religious things? You have to keep your face covered and stuff?"

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Once the quiet girl in the scarf came to join their table, Chad gave her nod in greeting. "Hello."

[bad-nose-job.livejournal.com]

The big man was intimidating, very much so. Penelope responded with a shy, small, "Hello."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"I like your scarf," Chad offered, and he really did. It was very avant guard casual.

[bad-nose-job.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," came her soft reply. That was very nice of him to say and she searched his expression, or tried, to see if the comment was genuine.

"I'm Penelope," she offered.

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, searching Chad's face for hint of expression sometimes was like searching a rock cliff for a pebble.

"I'm Chad," he responded back. "You're new, right?" He realized that it could be someone he knew, but her eyes didn't look familiar.