Good to the Last Drop (Part 2)

Posted on Sun Nov 19th, 2023 @ 5:19am by Hale Stratton & Alonzo Blazevic
Edited on on Sun Nov 19th, 2023 @ 5:19am

1,231 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Bangor or Bust
Location: En Route to Bangor
Timeline: 28 August 2010 - 08:00 p.m.

"Mine certainly," Hale said as he pressed the plunger down slowly. "I like that about you. The way you think about the others. Worry after Ethan." He kept his gaze on the plunger as it finished its descent. He poured the coffee, first to Alonzo and then to himself, because action was easier for him, always had been. "I've spent most of my adult life around soldiers either in training or in combat." He shrugged lightly. "I don't know that I'm good at figuring out teenagers."

Alonzo took a deep and reflective breath. "Yeah, but I'm not that good at it either. These teenagers can be annoying and René is a handful. I'm primarily concerned about Ethan but that's because I have to be. He doesn't have a home or family to go back to. All Ethan has right now is me." That was the problem. Alonzo had to become what we he had.

"What I like about you is your leadership and survival skills," stated Alonzo. "I couldn't keep the teenagers or the whole group together let alone unharmed. They may not always listen to you but you bring order and they respect that."

Hale's answering smile kindled a warmth in the depth of his eyes, banishing the professional soldier for the moment, and leaving in its wake, a man who didn't quite know how to be anything else.

"Us," he amended. "Ethan has us." He took a sip of his coffee, savoring the taste on his tongue, and thought about the teenagers.

"Rene doesn't trust us, me at least. Every conversation with him feels like a challenge .." He shook his head slightly. "But then, that's the way of teens isn't it? Half-grown and they think they have all the answers. What's clear to me is that Rene isn't going to do what he's told for much longer. And for his own sake, its probably for the best that we're in Bangor. He'll go back with people he knows and can trust."

Alonzo sighed. René was frustrating but even with that, he would miss the younger French teenager. "So we rid ourselves of the problem children and hope they do well after we part ways?" He looked at Hale. "I'm going to kind of miss him to be honest. All of them."

It wasn't the sort of thing Alonzo would just say and not in the world as it was lately. "I still feel responsible for him, but even more responsible for Ethan."

Hale nodded his agreement to that. "I feel the same way, responsible I mean, but they aren't interested in that. They'll fight it ... and that's bad for all of us." He paused for a sip of coffee, placing it back in nearly the exact same spot, before continuing. "What will you miss about them?"

"Family?" Aonzo had responded in a manner that was as much of a question as it was a statement, leaving him lingering idle for a moment trying to decipher his own answer. "I suppose. I have a family, parents and such, but being responsible for these teens made me feel more mature and that gave me a sense of family that I don't think I even realized that I craved."

He looked at Hale cautiously. "Does that make any sense?" he genuinely asked the other man. "I'm not all that much older than them, but I still felt like I was at times. Maybe because they were young and dumb?"

"A bit," Hale said. "They're all being thrown into the deep end, aren't they? And there's a lot more to the world than weekend camping trips have prepared them for ..." He shrugged lightly. "I grew up in Alaska and living off-grid meant that I learned early about reading signs, hunting and fishing, building shelters when you got caught out, and all that. I thought I knew how things were ... but I didn't." A shadow seemed to pass across his face and for a moment, he was somewhere else. "The world has a way of teaching you all about the sin of pride, doesn't it?"

"The world has its many ways of teaching us hard yet necessarily lessons, a plethora of them. Sometimes, at the most random of times" assessed Alonzo. "You lived off the grid, survival was second nature to you. It makes sense you'd go into the military and why you'd excel out here like this."

Alonzo did a bit of self reflection. "I'm just scrappy. I didn't learn those sort of skills to survive. I know how to cook because of my mom, I know a thing or two about cars from my dad. I know how to break into places and hotwire vehicles because I have my secrets." Secrets. There were plenty of those that he kept close to himself.

"Have a few of those myself," Hale said, smiling over the rim of his coffee cup. "Course, I never learned how to cook. I'm a total disaster in the kitchen and while I don't know much about picking locks, I do know how to kick in a door when its needed."

"A little less stealthy," commented Alonzo regarding the kicking doors down. He rested a hand on the table somewhat hoping Hale would take it or brush against it, but Alonzo didn't want to get his hopes up. "The coffee is good. The company is even better. All things aside, I would have liked to gotten coffee with you before all of this happened. I guess that would've been unlikely. The two of us meeting under normal conditions."

"Stealthy," Hale repeated, his voice dropping slightly, as he set his coffee cup down, his own hand lying alongside Alonzo's, touching along the length, fingertip to wrist. "I've always been good at that." He smiled, his expression softening, "Unlikely or not, if you'd have asked, I'd have gone."

The subtle physical contact was just enough. Like a little spark to hotwire a car, the two may have just had something if either of them were willing to give it a chance. "I would have probably been a bit nervous to ask. You don't look like the type of guy who'd choose to send time with me drinking coffee" stated Alonzo. "Not that I spend all that much time having coffee with guys."

"Well," Hale said as he picked up his coffee cup with his other hand, "you know what they say about appearances and all. Been a soldier for a long time but that isn't all I am."

"Don't judge a book by its gruff cover?" Alonzo shot back. "It wasn't exactly the easiest thing for me growing up feeling a certain way. The expectations to find a nice girl and all of that." He was hoping that he was reading Hale correctly. "So, you..." he brushed against Hale's hand.

"Gruff, huh," Hale said, nodding as he spoke. "Guess that's true enough." He turned his hand enough so that he could take Alonzo's hand into his own and hold it."

Yes," he said. "Absolutely."

It felt like Alonzo's heart was racing between the caffeine and the contact. "Hale," Alonzo looked at the man and into his eyes. Alonzo wanted to ask a lot in that moment. He didn't want this to end, but he knew this wasn't the place. This wasn't the time. "You make a fantastic cup of coffee" added Alonzo.

 

RSS Feed