{CO} I Got Nothin'

[Matt Wilson]

Well, now, this was a shindig that Matt could get behind. He'd been more than willing to show up and put in his volunteer time. Even better: he got to try out some of his grilling skills. Despite owning a bar, Matt didn't exactly get a lot of time to actually grill, especially for this many people. He also happened to be handling the staff side of things, which meant keeping some food off to the side. But that was something to look at for another time. For now, he was more concerned with looking over the drinks.

"They got anything for responsible adults around here?" Matt wondered as he picked up what had to be the twelfth bottle of Coke. At least they sprung for the stuff that actually had the name brand, so he had to give them that. But you'd think they could spring for a beer or something like that.

Well, there was a punch bowl. Matt edged over to it, praying that he'd find it spiked, and leaned over, grabbing a ladle and lifting it to his lips to test. He winced as he did, and looked at the stuff. If it had been, they'd done a piss-poor job. "I did a helluva lot better," Matt said. He tapped his fingers along the side, staring down at it. Well, he was pretty sure he had a beer stashed somewhere, and there was a flask, right? Matt started unscrewing it when he saw someone else approached. "Jus' givin' the punch a little extra--" he began before looking up, seeing that he did, in fact, recognize precisely who it was. "Uh, hi, Tam. This ain't... hell, I ain't got nothin'. You done caught me. Can I at least get a drink first?" Tamara Sulik

[Tamara Sulik]

Some people seemed happier of this than she was. Should it surprise her? People seemed to think grumpy was her natural state. She begged to differ, as she could be quite the life of a party when she wanted to. Only, she didn’t really want to right now. She was just hoping for it to end soon. It would be awesome the day it would. They could then go back to what they normally did around here.

It happened more than once during the move-in week, and right now, that she felt like she could use a drink to get over this. But her working schedule was insane right now and she couldn’t afford time for that. Anyway, she was too tired to think it wise. Her only way to escape this was to find someone to hang out with. Someone who preferably graduated and not like two minutes ago. Someone like... Matt. Not to add that she saw him handing over food and drinks and it was about time she fed herself. Sure, the drinks were more along the lines of sodas and bottles of water but it was better than nothing. And while she ate, no one could argue she was not doing her job. She could still watch people while eating. She just wouldn’t go after them. And she might take her sweet time finishing everything. Hey, it was not every day that the staff not working in the kitchen would cook for you, she better savour it to show how she appreciated they took some of their precious time to do it!

“Hey Matt...” she said as she arrived near him but anything she might have wanted to tell him left her as she noticed the flask and the punch bowl near. She expected that from students but didn't think she’d catch a teacher doing it. At least he didn’t try to pretend it was not what she thought. He asked her if he could drink. She grabbed his hand holding the flask and took a sip from it. She paused a moment as she tasted the content. “You can have a drink but I’d say it’s a waste if you pour that in the punch. I wouldn’t say they deserve it.” She probably should tell someone of what he was about to do. But Matt was amongst those she actually liked. And she didn’t feel like getting him in trouble. “Spiking drinks uh? That bored? I thought it was something the kids did, I had no idea it was the teachers I had to watch.”

[Matt Wilson]

Matt barely even blinked as Tamara grabbed the hand holding the flask. He really should've been expecting it, and yeah, it definitely hadn't surprised him at all. He had to smile a little as she took a swig of the stuff. "Well, it's a bit on the strong side, an' as fun as buzzin' would be..." Matt shrugged his shoulders slightly. there were far too many people around who needed to see the staff acting in a mature, responsible manner, and, yeah, sometimes that was dang hard for Matt.

"An', hell, it ain't like someone's not gonna do it anyways. I was kinda hopin' they had already, 'cuz I don't know how in hell they expect us to get through this crapfest without having a fair amount of liquor in us," Matt wiggled the flask again before grinning. "So what do you say? How 'bout turnin' around an' jus' lettin' me pour it in on? Ain't gonna harm no one, an' we can jus' keep the littlest kiddos away."

And no, no it hadn't occurred to Matt that he could spoke the glasses he drank. For some reason he was dead set on actually spiking the whole damn thing and doing it that way. Because it was go big or go home, obviously.

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara was not against a quick drink too. Sleep deprived with all there had been to do lately, she just needed one nagging student to lash out. She could use time for herself to relax. It was not like she hated the students. Some were annoying of course, but over all she liked them. She just needed some time off, a luxury she couldn’t have until this was all done and they could start classes. Even then, with the few new students, she had to stay alert and make sure they were all going to class when supposed to. Some were pretty shaken during their first days here, with all the changed they suddenly had to deal with. Tamara assumed it would take her the end of the month before she could really take a weekend or a bit more than that for herself. She couldn’t wait. In the meantime, Matt’s alcohol would do the trick.

Strong stuff might not be good in her condition but it was not one swig that would get her drunk. “Believe me, I agree with you. Not sure they all do though. And I don’t think the janitorial staff will love that kids found out how they cannot hold liquor today. Especially mixed with hotdogs.” In her mind, a bunch of them might just get sick for eating too much of those. If you added alcohol to the mix, she was not seeing it end well. “We’d have to hide it, keep it for us. Or we can pretend it had been spiked with something. Not alcohol though. Tabasco? Justify why we don’t want kids to touch it.” Would not explain why they would but Tamara didn’t want to think this much about it.

Matt had a tempting offer for sure. The littlest kiddos being everyone who was not a staff that would not rat them out. At least it was how she saw it. He might not. “I’d love to, but I doubt we can watch this bowl enough to prevent anyone who shouldn’t to drink it. Besides, I won’t mind but I know some staff that might and what would I do if you’re not around here anymore?” She would survive it, of course and could still go to his bar but she didn’t want him to risk his job here just because some people here could really use a drink. Sometimes, as much as she disliked it, she had to be the adult.

[Matt Wilson]

The thought of kids just discovering liquor while they had hot dogs in their guts did make Matt's nose wrinkle. He'd seen battlefield injuries, so he was fairly certain he could take it. He was also fairly certain that he'd rather not put that thought to the test any time soon. Plus, Tamara had a good point and idea; didn't want the kiddies getting hold of it.

"Well, seems pretty obvious to me," Matt said, picking up the bowl with one hand and looking around. "Ain't nobody done prepared the damn punch," he grinned at Tamara, "so they're gonna have to go an' find somethin' else to drink. Most of 'em are probably headin' for the soda anyway," Matt was already unscrewing his flask further still, using his teeth if he had to. He leaned back a bit to look over Tamara's shoulder, then bent down and looked around for a while.

Then he took another sip. "Pretty sure this is spiked already," he said, nodding. Thinking fast (at least for him) he pulled a glass, quickly gave it a shot, and then held it out to Tamara. "Here you go monitor lady. Take a quick sip an' tell me that don't have a kick to it."

[Tamara Sulik]

It was not like Tamara was all that affected by sick kids because of a bad mix in their stomach. She was not in the cleaning crew. But it was gross and she wouldn’t want to be the one calling them. Again. There were worse things in life but that did not mean she would take the sight of it well. Or the sound of it. Or the smell.

Matt had an idea for it not to happen though. There never was any punch prepared. She chuckled silently at this. That was a way to deal with it. Without it, there sure was no way any of the kids could drink something spiked. Even if the usual rule to this was probably the toss the punch and make another. But could they really make another? As for tossing it... Hell, who cared about that! There was still time to do that later on. As long as it was out of reach of the students, it was all that mattered.

“You’re right. That’s just juice after all and I’m pretty sure they have bottles of those too. Not that I think juice and barbecue mixed that well to begin with.” Beer and soda sure sounded like a better option, except maybe for the health. But they were serving hotdogs and hamburgers so she supposed health was not really a major issue today.

Matt maintained it had been spiked before he came in. And wanted her to test to prove that. She looked at him for a moment but had no problem drinking from the glass. She pushed the glass away after, wrinkling her nose at the taste. “Whoever did that need some serious knowledge in alcohol. What did they pour in it?” That mix too didn’t seem like a really good one.

[Matt Wilson]

Matt nodded. Chances were pretty good that there had been a committee that had put the punch together or something. there was always at least one type A girl who needed to have everything in order and would come along to make sure that was handled just fine. Matt figured they'd probably realize that there wasn't any punch and get more ordered at some point. Even then, the soda and so forth worked better for the whole barbecue, as Tamara pointed out.

"Exactly," he said, agreeing. Then the glass got extended and Tamara, good sport that she was, took a sip. "Probably whatever they had on hand," Matt said, waving a hand. "You know how these things can be. Get desperate, pull whatever you got on hand. Coulda been..." Matt dug into his pocket to pull out the flask, looking at it. he unscrewed the top, taking a whiff and tilting his head back and forth. "Whiskey, maybe? Hell, I don't remember what I put in the damn thing," he extended it toward Tamara, "what that smell like to you?"

Which was probably not something you said to someone you wanted to flirt with, but Matt came from a different place in the world.

[Tamara Sulik]

In reality, Tamara couldn’t care less about this event. However, she cared about her job and didn’t want some nosy, uppity person to come over and say the two of them were slacking or worse, spiking drinks with alcohol. It would get them fired no doubt and if Matt had his bar, Tamara had no backup plan. Sure, the man once said she could work for him, and he’d owe her should he get her fired, it was not exactly the kind of job she wanted for a living. She was trying to get her act together, for her son’s sake. As silly as she might find some obligations and rules, she had to follow them if she wanted to keep her job.

“I suppose I should be worried some students brought alcohol in, but unless we caught the one who did that, I fail to see what can be done. Other than warn at the end of the cookout of this little incident and how it was taken care of... well one way it was taken care of.” Because admitting they drank some of it, more than the sip required to tell someone poured liquor in there, was not that good of an idea.

As he tried to say what might have been in there, he also pulled out his flask and asked her what she thought it was. “Yes, I think it is. With maybe a mix of whatever you had in there before. Are you saying you’re the one who did that bad mix? Because I’m highly disappointed that someone with an establishment like yours can’t mix cocktails well.” She was teasing of course but was also wondering if she did not catch him adding more rather than pouring some for the first time.

[Matt Wilson]

Had Matt done well enough that she actually thought it was some kid? Maybe he should've winked more or something. He just wanted some booze: he didn't want to get some kid in trouble. Then again, he supposed he could always find some kid who actually deserved it. There had to be someone around who got away with stuff like this all the time and deserved a lot more than whatever the two of them would cook up.

However Tamara caught on, noticing the flask and teasing him about his cocktails. he had to look at her with a set of raised brows. "Shit, ain't like you ain't drank there before," he pointed out, before pouring a bit more of his flask into another glass before adding some punch. "Don't really cotton to those fancy cocktails an' mixed drinks. 'bout as far as we go is rum and coke," he took a drink and had to pull a face.

"Gah, that is truly some awful stuff," he shook his head and then rolled his shoulders. "Damn, makes me wish they at least let us adult types wet our whistled. I've been drinkin' age longer'n some of these kids have been alive," he gestured at the gathered crowd, "you'd think I could enjoy a beer with my steak," he took another sip, grimacing but swallowing all the same.

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara preferred not to think Matt might be involved in spiking the drinks. She did hope he didn’t mean to get everyone in this room drunk with the punch. They didn’t need that and it sure was one thing she could not accept. But keeping this punch for the tired and stressed staff so they can relax while enduring this day? Now, that she would not condemn him for. Unless he refused to give her some but he already proved he would let her have as much as she wanted.

She couldn’t help to laugh. It was true that a place called Matt’s Hole In The Wall didn’t exactly strike as the kind of place you can order fancy cocktails with little umbrellas. Even more when you took a look at the place. Whiskey, scotch, some good old beer with pretention, that was more the kind of drinks you expected to get. “If you ever start serving those, remind me not to ask you to make it for me,” she replied.

A beer and a steak. That did sound awfully tempting. “If it was any other barbecue, I’d be with you. No wait, I’m with you here too. But I figure they want their staff to show how good of a model they can be.” She shrugged. She didn't even want to have this little cookout thing. Why couldn’t they ask for the cooks to prepare something for everyone, like they do everyday? It could have been a real barbecue then and perhaps a beer wouldn’t have been as forbidden. No wait, they were still at school. She doubted they’d ever allow them to drink there then. She sighed at that. “Speaking of steaks, you supposed to cook them right? Or you’re doing ribs or... I don’t know I think they serve burgers and hotdogs too. Damn, I really pity the vegetarian ones. What is there for them in here?” Not that she was vegetarian herself but that did look more like a meat fest than something for everyone when you thought about it. Maybe they had corn or tons of salad somewhere she did not check already.

[Matt Wilson]

Matt had to smile as Tamara admitted to his idea sounding like a good one. He had to roll his eyes at the mention of being a role model. "Sh--shoot," he glanced around for a moment to make sure nobody caught the near slip there, "it ain't like I'm plannin' on gettin' drunk or anythin' like that. 's'like I said: I'd like a beer with my steak is all. Show the kids how to drink all responsible like," he swirled the punch again, pulling a face that showed that he fully expected this was exactly the wrong way to go about doing the whole drinking thing. He brought it up to take another sniff, nearly reeling.

The question drew his attention away from alcohol for a bit. "You really think they gave steaks for me to cook?" Matt asked. "They do got ribs goin'," he nodded, "got 'em smoked by some mutants with the right powers an' all. I handled the burgers an' dogs..." Matt took another quick swig, shaking his head a bit and then smiling. "Do got a few steaks slid off to the side an' all, so if you ain't had one yet, jus' lemme know."

Matt swirled the drink again, before turning to point. "An' they got stuff set up for the lettuce eaters too. Turns out they got a whole crate of primo veggie burgers or somethin'. I didn't have a thing to do with them. They wanted to keep it far away from me." Matt shrugged and leaned over to look at the punch. "Can't imagine why."

{post 100!}

[Tamara Sulik]

“If only they didn’t set this whole barbecue - no wait they’re calling it cookout- at school, we could have enjoyed that,” she agreed with him. It was not being alcoholic to want a drink every now and then. It was only when you couldn’t go without one. And she thought she could very well live this day without a drop. But it would be better with some. “I should have some beer left in my fridge,” she let out. That is, if no one else emptied it first. But who would, really? She could not exactly picture Humphries opening the thing and grabbing a beer.

Of course, sneaking in to get one might be a little harder and she did not even want to start thinking what they’d say if she brought two down for them to enjoy. She understood that it was unacceptable to have that in a school but this was also their home and they would not start telling her what she could and could not do in her home.

“Why not? You’d burn them all?” she retorted. It was not like she knew how talented, or how lacking talent, he was in a kitchen. Or, in this case, a grill. “I’d rather go for steak. Or ribs,” she admitted when he explained what he had in stock and what he mostly had to do here. Burgers and hotdogs. No, she left those to the kids, she’d go for steaks or ribs. “They’re giving you time to eat or that’s something they expected you’d do after everyone else is full?” She didn't think it was an invitation but it might as well be. She was just curious. And not caring if she kept the ‘chef’ away from the grill making it hard then for the students to get their burgers and hotdogs. It was not like they weren’t many doing it, they can do without him for a few minutes. “Now I’m curious what you could do to them. It’s good they thought of them though. Didn’t feel like hearing them go ‘eating meat is murder’ or whatever.” She rolled her eyes at this. She did not mock them and called them rabbits, why did they feel the need to annoy her on her diet?

[Matt Wilson]

yes, a cookout, though Matt was with Tamara in that the term they used didn't actually matter all that much. She still had a point about the campus and all. "Still think they coulda made an exception," Matt grumbled further. Like Tamara, he wasn't exactly someone who had to go through a day with a drink. Despite actually owning a bar, he didn't imbibe in alcohol on a daily basis or anything along those lines. Didn't mean that he didn't at least want the choice to enjoy a cold beer with his take or anything like that.

Matt had to smirk. "Oughta go grab one of the steaks I've been sneakin' to the staff an' give you a slap 'cross your pretty rear with it for that," he said, nodding and pointing at her with the hand that still happened to be holding the alcohol. "I happen to be damn good at grillin', which is why I've been headin' that up. Ain't like we got too many more staff from the great nation of Texas standin' around waitin' to do it," he gave her another wink and then shrugged. "I've been takin' time."

And he had to snort. "I'd wrap the damn things in bacon fat an' roast 'em under the steak. Only way they'd taste halfway decent," he chuckled again, before shaking his head. "An' I'd blame whoever was in charge of settin' this whole shindig up. Probably one of them Bellefonte girls or whatever. Ain't my job to ask questions," which was how he went about going through his time as a soldier too. He swished the flask again before holding it out. "Sure you don't want so more? Day's still got some time left, an' I heard we gotta sit through some sorta announcement to top it all off."

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara shrugged. She would have liked for them to make an exception, true, but she also understood why they opted not to. Still, water or soda? Oh wait, there was the punch too. Not exactly choices that appealed to her. Like Matt, it was not so much that she wanted a beer in her hand right now than the opportunity to have one if she wanted it. It was for reasons such as this that she started to find getting an apartment in town really appealing.

She raised an eyebrow at his comment on how he might just slap her for that. On the butt. With a steak no less. “That would be something you’ll achieve only once,” she said. She was not really threatening him as she did not believe he’d do it. At least not with a steak. That would be a waste of good food. But it might be important to point out one does not do this and still live to tell the tale afterwards. Even if the threat sounded almost as much of a jest as the one he gave her. “That’s the Texan specialty? Grilled food? Hey, I’m just asking. I might have crossed through but I don’t remember sticking there long enough to really soak in the southern culture,” she told him. Although if he said he was good at grilling, she’d take his word for it. Might be a little skeptical, just because it was very much like her to be, but she would not deny he could be good. After all, the grill seemed to be a ‘manly’ thing, right? Or Tamara just dealt with too many machos of thought the woman had the kitchen and they had the barbecue.

She laughed softly but still shook her head. She felt like she should shake her head to show it was not good to do that. Not that she particularly cared. She was not vegetarian and doubted she’d ever become one so whatever he’d do to their food mattered little to her. “I know that’s what I’d need to eat tofu every day,” she admitted. She even wrinkled her noise at the idea of eating that for the rest of her life. No way. “Neither is mine,” she said softly, still pretty lost in her thoughts but able to agree with him nonetheless. She tried not to question, at least not loudly, the decisions coming from above. The best way to keep her job was to keep quiet.

She groaned when he reminded her of the speech later. “I totally forgot about that. Don’t know how I could, it’s not like they don’t say a little something every year.” She sighed heavily but did not take his flask. She was too busy trying to find a way she could sneak out of this one.

[Matt Wilson]

"Question is whether or not it'd be worth it," Matt replied, grinning and winking. In truth, he thought more or less along the same lines as Tamara: that sounded like a waste of really good meat to him. But you only had to spend about five minutes with Matt to realize that he was going to make slightly inappropriate jokes and comments like that with a smile and a knowing wink and absolutely no intention of actually going through with anything rowdy or rude without some permission.

As for the Texan specialty: "Every man's gotta learn to grill," Matt replied. "That's jus' how it works. Jus' like you gotta spend at least some time on a horse or somethin' along those lines. An' the Southern culture ain't too different from some of the culture 'round here. Well," Matt glanced around, "Kalispell might be the exception in Montana," he shrugged. College towns always ended up being exceptions in the grander scheme of things. But when you added in the mutant thing, well, Kalispell ended up being all kinds of exceptional.

Matt's jokes about the fake meat got a laugh at least, which had him grinning. He turned the grin into another shrug when Tamara lamented the speech. "All part of the job. Though I do wish we could at least get a good buzz goin'," Matt took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Least we can fill our bellies with some good stuff. An' this," Matt looked at the punch again. He again found himself wishing that a student would just appear and spike the damn thing. Buncha slackers.