Part 18: Alabama

A week had gone by since we’d gotten the news about Bird’s clan. We were slowly becoming used to the fact that they weren’t coming back. Life went on, Killjoys kept coming. It seemed like every day there were more Killjoys than the day before. Eventually people had to start sharing mattresses, there were so many here.

“Here, I’ll grab plates.” I took a tub out of the kitchen where Wasp, Solar, Mighty Mouse, Zebra and Disco were starting to clean and walked back through the tables, tucking plates into the tub as well as other dishes and taking them back into the kitchen. We had just finished breakfast, so everyone here was getting ready to head out.

“Let Mighty Mouse do that, come help me wash.” Wasp beckoned me towards the large metal sinks residing in the half of the kitchen used for its intended purpose. I handed off the tub and plunged my bare arms into the soapy water, taking a rag to start scrubbing. Thanks to the grocery store, we had enough soap to last us until the second coming, meaning we could actually use the dish soap and not save it for more important uses.

“Hey chica, keep them pretty hands pretty and soft for Arizona now, don’t scrub to hard.” Plasma said nudging Alabama in the side with a wink as he dried a plate.

“Well, watch yourself, Plasma, I heard about you and that girl from Destructive Daisy’s clan.” I winked at him. “Just make sure you use protection.”

Plasma’s face reddened to that of a radish as he dropped his eyes, but his smile didn’t fade. “I got needs just as you and Arizona do Chica.” He said to her almost sheepishly in Spanish.

“Dude, I don’t wanna know.” I shuddered, gagging.

“Bet you do that a lot with Ari, huh?” He grinned at me.

“Bet you do that a lot with what’s-her-face, huh?” I made a face at him.

“Plasma’s got a girlfriend!” Mighty Mouse sang as she walked back out into the barroom.

“Hey now, don’t be teasing me when you are crushing majorly on our good friend and Alabama’s boyfriend.” He said smirking as she hurried out into the diner, her young face a bright shade of red.

“She better not be.” Wasp’s eyebrows hit her hairline as she kept washing.

“She better still think boys are icky.” Disco said from somewhere in the background.

“Oh shut it, overprotective.” I rolled my eyes. “I remember your crush on Antimatter and if you think I won’t share, you’ve got another thing coming.”

From the corner of my eye, I watched Solar duck out of the room, wiping her eyes. I moved to go after her, but Wasp stopped me.

“Leave her be.” Wasp took my arm. “She has to do this on her own.” I nodded and returned to my spot, scrubbing the dishes and handing them to Wasp to dry.

“So, what’s this girl’s name, huh Plasma?” Wasp asked lightly.

“Honeydew Heaven.” He grinned goofily, handing a clean plate to Disco to put away.

“You like her?” Wasp looked at him, her eyebrows raised.

“No, he hates her, he’s just too scared to break it off.” I rolled my eyes. “Look at his face!” Plasma had turned a violent shade of red, regardless of his Hispanic roots.

“I really do like her, I mean, she’s so nice, and she’s more than pretty, she’s really more like beautiful...” Plasma paused his dish-drying to gaze at a spot on the wall.

“Hey, star-crossed lover, get moving!” I splashed some water at him, snapping him out of his dream.

“Hey, chica, watch the shirt!” He glared playfully at me, trying to reach around Wasp to splash me back. I squealed and jumped out of the way, almost upsetting a pile of dirty pans.

“You can flirt after the dishes are done, get to work!” Wasp yelled, sending us back to our stations to finish our work quickly.