ALLURA'S NEW GROOVE - PART 5

“Hey, Dexter.” Keith grabs a tray and pauses to study the dishes on the other side of the display. He finally chooses a chicken breast and vegetables combo and begins to look the desserts over.

“Damn, the chocolate pudding is all gone already.”

“Goes fast, I guess.” I glance down at the extra one I’ve concealed behind my container of milk. Big dilemma here. If I give him the pudding, does that mean I’m trying to suck up to him, and if I don’t, does that mean I’m cheating him out of his chance at a favorite dessert? Should I even be worrying about things like this?

“Something wrong, Dexter?”

“No.”

“Want to get moving, then? We’ve got hungry people behind us.”

“Right.” I start sliding my tray along. “Keith, what would you do if you had a little too much of something that you knew someone else would appreciate having?”

“I’d share it. It would take care of the excess and the worry about being greedy all at once.”

“What if you had a concern about being called a brown-noser for doing it?”

Keith shrugs. “Depends on which is most important to me, my principles or my pride.”

“Okay...here, then.” I put the extra pudding on his tray. He blinks at it, looks up at me and begins to laugh.

“Dexter, only you could get into a moral upheaval over chocolate pudding.”

“If it wasn’t for the sake of defending the high marks I earned in my evaluation, I would have kept it. Trust me.”

He grins. “Ah, so you’re saying that your sense of right and wrong only matters when you’re trying to make a good impression with your superiors?”

“What? No, that’s not what I -”

He laughs some more. “Cut it out, will you? I’m only kidding.” He gives me a nudge. Come on, Hunk and Dunkirk just came in. I don’t feel like being steamrolled by those two.” His amusement fades a notch. “I wonder if Allura will show up for lunch. Tasia had a talk with her, but she won’t tell me what was discussed. Allura is restless for some reason, but that much is already obvious. I still don’t know why.”

“Want me to interrogate Tasia for you?”

“And what makes you think you’ll get anything out of her?”

“Three words. Raspberry chocolate truffles. We can pick up some from the candy store while we’re out. And if I back that up with a foot massage, I’ll own her.”

Keith eyes me suspiciously. “Why do I get the feeling that would wind up being more to your advantage than mine?”

“Well, I’m sure I could slip an appeal for information in there somewhere.”

“I just bet. How about we try Plan Number Two instead?”

“Sure...so what’s Plan Number Two?”

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking.”

“Say, look who’s coming to dinner.” I give Keith a nudge and point toward the door. Allura is entering the cafeteria with Tasia and the rest of the gals keeping close to her like ladies in waiting. “That’s a good sign, right?”

“Maybe.” Keith studies Allura as she takes her place at the end of the line. Several people wave at her to go ahead of them, but she politely declines. She looks in our direction and pointedly averts her gaze. Keith sighs to himself as we reach the end of the line and he steals glances at Allura as we pick a place to sit.

“Oh no, Tasia, there’s Keith!” Allura blanches slightly and nods toward the front of the line. “Do you know what that means? That means he’s probably going to try to talk to me while I’m here. What should I do if he does? I can’t keep a secret around him. He’ll figure out what I’m up to!”

“Come on, Allura, you know what’s really going to happen. Keith is going to stare at you the whole time he’s eating, and that’s about it. Then he’ll sit and sulk once you’re gone. Am I right or am I right?”

Allura ponders my statement briefly before she nods. “Yes, I guess you’re probably right about that.”

“See? Exactly. And that’s when Caro will go over to discuss the translation, because that will snap him out of it. He always gets serious when it comes to duty. By the time she updates him we should have you in the car and gone, just like we planned.”

Caroline gives a hasty nod. The girl is way too nervous about this. I think she needs a distraction. I tap her arm and point. “Hey, look - isn’t that Mister Dimples right up there ahead of us?”

“Where?” She leans out a little to get a clearer look, then she smiles. “Yes, that would be him. I’d recognize that backside anywhere.” Now she’s grinning from ear to ear. Hunk continues on down the line, completely oblivious to what’s going on behind him. And speaking of oblivious, Lynne is so distracted from listening to the plans for Allura’s escape that she doesn’t realize she’s on the way to a collision with Dunkirk. She keeps right on going until she meets with resistance, and she takes a half step back to see who she’s bumped into. He looks over his shoulder and grins hugely when he sees her. We all watch with baited breath to see how the encounter will unfold.

“Well, hullo there, lass. Fancy meetin’ ye here in a place like this.” Dunkirk’s entire face lights up with a smile, right up to the merry twinkle in his eyes.

“It’s a cafeteria, is it not? I imagine an encounter under these circumstances would occur quite naturally around meal time.”

“Aye, I’d suppose it would.” He looks my tray over and frowns slightly at my cup of soup and salad. “Not eatin, much, are we?”

“I want to maintain my girlish figure,” I reply loftily.

“An’ what a girlish figure it is.” He looks me over with delight in his gaze, much the same way he did in the library earlier. I swallow tightly and grip my tray little harder. I can’t believe I actually agreed to let this man take me out on a date before. He is such an arrogant, chauvinistic -

“I work on me figure too, ye know, but I have t’ eat a bit more, since I’m a growin’ lad.” He nods toward the pile up on his tray and grins at me again. “How’s this for a figure?” He flexes a hefty bicep and my heart skips a beat or two. He is very attractive, I won’t deny that. But he’s such a scoundrel. He needs to learn some manners.

“Nice,” I reply stiffly. “Very nice. But there are other people in line, you know, so you ought to do less flexing and more moving.” I give his arm a poke with a finger to encourage him to turn around. He takes the hint and starts going.

“I’m in good shape all over, ye know,” he says over his shoulder. “How about that bum, eh? What d’ye think?” He flexes for my supposed benefit. I bite my lip, and a fit of giggles erupts from behind me. I notice that even Caro is laughing when I look around, though her cheeks are very pink. I glare at them again and face forward. Good-looking butt or not, I will not allow this egotistical man to get the best of me. A wedgie ought to be just the thing to cool him off.

I leave my tray behind to march right up behind him and stick my hands down the back of his jeans. My fingers find bare skin and nothing else. He isn’t wearing any...

“Ah, so ye do like me bum, do ye?” He turns and gives me that roguish smile of his again. “An’ when do I get t’ return th’ favor?”

“I wasn’t trying to cop a feel, I was trying to give you a wedgie. I had no idea you weren’t -” I feel my face getting hot. His smile gets even wider.

“Well, either way I figure it, I’m thinkin’ I deserve a fondle in return. So when do I get t’ collect?”

“Collect? You - you’re out of your tree.”

“Now c’mon, donna be so stubborn. Give us a turn-round real quick, an’ we’ll have a go.”

I grip my tray and stare him down. “I will do no such thing.”

He studies me quietly for a moment. “All right, ye win - for now.” He winks, picks up his tray and says nothing more, hurrying to catch up with Hunk as he exits the line. I have a bad feeling about this...

“Hey Lynne, what did it feel like?” Shannon nudges me with her arm. I hear Camille and Desiree start laughing again. I frown at them all as I search for a table as far away from the offending party as possible and take a seat.

“That’s very bold behavior for a mild-mannered librarian. Do you always get fresh with a fellow so openly, Lynne?” Allura regards me with honest curiosity in her expression. I feel my face getting even hotter.

“No, not normally. This was a special instance.”

“Oh,” she replies after a taking a sip of her juice. “Because you like him?”

Shannon and Tasia stifle their snickers. Caro smiles to herself and begins to eat her salad. Desi almost chokes on her drink.

“Princess, I wasn’t, I don’t - look, I was planning to give him a wedgie. He just didn’t have any...underwear on.”

Allura’s eyes get big. “He didn’t?”

“No. That’s a habit that men tend to practice a lot.”

“Hmm.” Allura looks over at where Keith and Dexter are sitting. Lance has just joined them at their table. She studies Keith for a long time without speaking.

“Do you think Keith does that?” She studies him for awhile before she blinks and presses a hand to her mouth. “Oh, my. I shouldn’t think things like that, should I?”

“Oh, princess, come on,” Desi says. “You’re a grown woman. You’re allowed to think about Keith any way you like, even if it involves dessert toppings.”

“Especially if it involves dessert toppings,” Shannon adds.

“Dessert toppings? And what would I do with -” Allura pauses in thought, then she bites her lip and turns her head to look in Keith’s direction. Keith happens to look up at her at just that moment. Her face turns a deep shade of red and she quickly averts her gaze. Shannon and Tasia exchange glances and secret smiles. Caro tries not to laugh. I break off a piece of my broiled salmon and pop it into my mouth. At least my little encounter with Dunkirk isn’t the subject of discussion anymore.

“Penny for your thoughts, Ally,” Tasia teases.

“Nope,” Allura replies and begins to eat her lunch.

“Two pennies?”

“No. Stop it. I wasn’t thinking...okay, yes I was. But still, I’d rather not discuss it here.”

“Then how about you share it after shopping?” Shannon says. “We can all hang out at the condo and have girl talk.”

“Really?” Allura looks pleased. “You wouldn’t mind having me around?”

“Don’t be silly,” I tell her. “Of course we wouldn’t mind. You’re one of the gals.”

“Pink Ladies!” She says happily. “We’re going to rule the school.”

Everyone gets a laugh out of her remark, and we fall into some small talk as we eat.

“Hi, guys.” Lance plunks down in the chair on Keith’s right and studies his friend for a moment. Keith is watching the table where Allura and the rest of the girls are sitting. Lance follows his gaze, then he looks at me. I shrug at him.

“Uh-oh,” Keith says after a moment.

“What’s the matter?” Lance asks, looking toward the table again.

“Something’s going on over there.” Keith replies with a frown. “They’re talking, they’re laughing and Shannon keeps glancing at me.”

Lance takes a third look at the girls, studying them carefully this time.

“Uh-oh.” He grins and starts eating. Keith looks around at him.

“What?”

“They’re definitely talking about you, that’s what. And I could have sworn Allura used the phrase ‘dessert topping’. That’s what it looked like she said, anyway.”

Keith makes a face. “No way. Allura couldn’t possibly be discussing things like that. It’s not in her nature.” He looks back toward the table just as Allura casts a return look his way. She blushes deeply and breaks eye contact immediately. Keith arches an eyebrow.

“Now what do you suppose that was about?” He says to no one in particular. Lance looks at me, I look at him and we both break into big smiles. Keith glares at us.

“Damn it, you two, if you have some theories I’d like to hear them.”

“Okay, Cap’n, I’ll give it to you straight up,” Lance replies. “Allura was obviously thinking naughty things about you, naughty enough to make her blush. And those naughty things apparently involve covering you in edible, icky-sticky substances. You do the math.” He goes back to eating. Keith begins to poke at his food with his fork.

“Stop messing with me, Lance. She did not say that.”

“Fine, don’t believe me then.”

“Dexter, what do you think?”

“I think ‘uh-oh’,” I reply.

Lance laughs. Keith frowns.

“Oh, you two are so funny. Absolutely hilarious.”

“Seriously though, Captain-Captain, I agree with Lance. She could very well have said ‘dessert toppings’.”

“You’re no help,” he snorts and puts full attention on his meal. I shrug and pull the top off of my chocolate pudding. Lance nods his head in Allura’s direction and mouths the words ‘Chocolate-Keith Surprise’ at me. I bite back a chuckle. Keith stares us both down and we quiet immediately.

To Allura's New Groove: Part 4

To Allura's New Groove: Part 6