Sid and Ari were still sitting in the booth side by side talking quietly.. Jonah was over at the counter making Miles turn every different shade of red on his face. Ari watched them, completely amused as Miles shook his head in defeat and Jonah laughed so hard, he almost fell off his seat.
As a group of four guys came in and took a seat near the front entrance, Miles went over to greet them.
"What can I get you guys tonight?"
Miles asked as he put new cuttlery wrapped in napkins down on their table.
"Just coffees, please."
The one sitting closet to the front door answered Miles. One of the other ones spoke quickly after.
"Pie. You got any?"
"Pecan, Lemon, Apple or Chocolate peanut butter." Miles answered.
"Chocolate peanut butter? Let's do that one."
"You got it." Miles smiled and disappeared into the kitchen. The cook still hadn't come back in yet.
Jonah came back over to the table from the counter and sat down. He leaned over towards Sid and said something Ari couldn't make out. Sid nodded in agreement to whatever it was.
A few minutes later, Miles came back with the piece of pie on a plate and four mugs all on a tray, and a coffee pot in his other hand. He set out the cups, and filled them with coffee. He told them to hollar if they needed anything else. They nodded, continuing their quiet conversation. Miles came back to Sid and Jonahs table to refill Ari's coffee too, and after putting the coffee back behind the counter to make more, he sat across from them at the bar stool again.
"You guys good?" he asked, and they all nodded.
Ari mixed her cream and sugar in sitting quietly next to Sid drinking her coffee. She was staring out the window, watching a dark figure walk by on the sidewalk across the street. It was too dark for her to make out much more than that.
When she looked back, all the eyes at the table were on her. She froze.
"What?" she looked between the three of them.
Miles smiled at her sympathetically.
"You're just kind of adorable."
Miles laughed at her and looked at the brothers.
"I like her, Sid. You're gunna keep her, right?"
Jonah was nodding with extra enthusiasm making Ari grumble loudly. She didn't appreciate being 'kept', but at least it wasn't going to be by Daniel Holland. No, she thought, just his kids.
Just then, the figure Ari saw earlier was headed in the opposite direction, but this time across the parking lot of the diner. The four guys near the entrance left more than enough cash on their table and walked out. Ari wondered if they had been waiting for the stranger to appear.
She watched as the group walked past them out front of the diner. Before she said anything, Sid spoke to Miles.
"Miles, go bring your cook back inside and lock the back door."
Miles nodded as he hurried to the back. The table was quiet as they listened to Miles tell the guy to get back inside and locked the back door.
"Man, I hate this city." Ari heard the cook say.
Miles came back with the cook trailing behind him. They both leaned against the back counter, all caught up with their cleaning for the night. Everyone was quiet, as if expecting something to happen outside, even to hear the siren of an ambulance. Nothing happened that they could hear.
"Jake, Sid can drive you home now if you want. I can handle it from here." Miles spoke to the cook.
"You guys don't mind? Jonah and your new friend can keep you company?" Jake answered back.
"Yes, Ari and Jonah will stay here. You guys don't mind do you?" Miles asked the table.
They all shook their heads that they didn't mind. Ari moved from her seat to let Sid out of the booth and she slid back in when he got out.
"Let's go, Jake." Sid said, starting his car from inside the diner.
Jake ran to the kitchen to grab his backpack and met Sid back at the front door.
"Thanks, Sid. I really appreciate it." Jake said as they left.
Inside, they couldn't hear Sids response, but Jake was laughing pretty hard as they got into the car and drove off. Miles went to the kitchen to double check everything was done.
"I like Miles." Ari commented to Jonah.
"Sid does too, actually. I didn't think we'd end up here today. Mile's has tomorrow off, so I figured you'd meet him then." he shrugged.
"How long have you been together?" Ari asked making Jonah chuckle.
"He's engaged. His fiancé has just accepted that I'm not going anywhere." Jonah smiled.
"Jonah!" Ari giggled at him, and he laughed too.
"Louis isnt missing out on any of this, don't you worry." Jonah added motioning to his body. "You don't have too either, you know." he winked at her.
"You're just a giant slut, aren't you?" Ari said making Jonah burst out laughing even louder.
Miles walked back out from the kitchen and cleared all the dishes from the two tables used tonight, he put them all into a tub, and put it on the counter before sitting back down on a stool to sit with Ari and Jonah.
"What's your plan after I close? Louis is working overnights again." Miles asked.
"What do you wanna do?" Jonah responded.
"Blake's having the guys over for his birthday, tonight." Miles shrugged. "He did invite us."
Jonah grumbled. "Yeah, but I asked where you wanted to go, not where we should go."
"Well, let's say I wanna go. Ari and I can have plenty of fun while you mope in the corner with Sid." Miles said.
Before anyone could answer, a guy just under 6' walked into the diner. He was in a dirty blue sweater with the hood up over his head and jeans. He was out of breath, and his jeans and knuckles were stained with red. His knuckles were clearly bleeding, but not all the blood looked like his. Jonah jumped up in front of Miles and Ari, but started to relax when the hood came down off the guys head. Ari was pretty sure this was the figure she saw skulking around when those 4 guys disappeared. Did this guy seriously just take on all four of them and win?
"What the fuck, Colt!" Jonah snapped at him.
"What!" The guy named Colt yelled back with a grin. His blonde hair tied back in a bun. He was skinny, average build, his eyes were green. He really didn't look like much of a fighter, but that never means they aren't.
Ari watched as Miles sighed, now unfazed by the sight. She sat silently, mentally realizing things like this were going to be normal, hanging around the Holland brothers. He pushed Colt lightly back behind the counter toward the kitchen.
"Let's go get you cleaned up, Colton." Miles said as they disappeared.
Jonah turned and looked at Ari questioning whether or not to follow.
"I'm good, I'll go lock the door and only open it for Sid." She stood up to go to the door.
Jonah nodded and went behind counter, he waited until after he watched her lock the door before disappearing into the kitchen.
She sat on a stool behind the counter out of sight from the windows, but far enough away from the kitchen she wasn't accused of being nosy later. She wasn't sure she even wanted to know what was going on.
It was a few minutes of quiet before anything happened. Ari looked up to see headlights of a car. When she stood up to see better, she could see Sid. He was watching her as she came over to the door to unlock it and let him in. Sid locked it behind him.
"What happened?" he asked her.
She shrugged. "Some guy named Colt is getting blood cleaned off him in the kitchen. I don't think much of it is his though."
"No, it usually isn't." Sid replied, which meant this was not the first time this has happened.
"You good?" he looked at her, and she nodded. "I'll be right back."
He grabbed the tub of dishes off the counter and took them into the kitchen. Ari sighed and sat down behind the counter again until all four of them walked back out into the front, almost ten minutes later. Colton was the first out and straight over to the entrance. When he brought his hand up to unlock and open it, she noticed his hand wasn't bandaged. Neither hand was, and the cuts she saw were gone. She frowned.
The brothers followed out suit, out the door. Miles had Ari stay while he set the alarm, and switched the lights off.
"You'll be okay, little fire cracker. Life's going to get real fucking weird, but you'll be alright. I'm here for you, so don't forget it." Miles said as he locked the front door.
The others were in the car already as the two of them made their way to the door behind the driver, when Miles opened the door and didn't get in right away, Ari grumbled as she took the middle seat. Colton helped her put on her seat belt because he was basically sitting on it.
"Thanks." She smiled politely at him.
Miles climbed in, to completely fill the back seat. Sid looked back in the rear view mirror, he could see over Ari and between the two others just fine.
He smiled to himself.
When he got to the end of the parking lot, he stopped to ask the others in the car.
"So, we're really going to Blakes?"
"Yes!" Colton and Miles yelled excitedly.
Sid turned right, making Jonah grumble in the front seat. Sid turned the music up to ignore him, and off they went to the home of some guy named Blake.