Alterlife ⇝ Bucky Barnes [1]

three.

03. | ALLEY BRAWLER.

"SO HE'S A WHITE BOY?"

The question hung in the air for a moment as Lydia dug her fork into the slice of pecan pie in front of her. She and Effie sat in barstools in the empty seating area of the diner, seeing as it was in between shifts, while Ken and Gumbo stood behind the counter. The former of the men felt it necessary to catch their dear head cook up on Lydia's love life after Effie informed him of the night's events. This was the usual for their trio - Ken would pick on Lydia and her lack of charm while Effie bode her time planning another date - the addition of Gumbo proved to be as interesting as it was annoying.

Joseph and the awkward first date had only been brought up again after Lydia had revealed to her friends that they'd been on a couple more since that night, a surprise to both extra parties. Keeping secrets from the socialite of the three was difficult, but it was always worthwhile to see her face of shock and hear the never ending questions that she had. In the end, the youngest of the three informed her friends that she was going on another that very night and had been sent a custom gown to wear for the occasion. That was when Gumbo had been brought into everything.

"Yes, Gumbo, for the fifth time, he's a white boy." 

"Man, actually." Effie corrected the two of them as she adjusted the newspaper in front of her, legs crossed and face contorted with concentration. Lydia rolled her eyes before shoving the bit of pie on the fork in her mouth, quickly following it with the rest of the pie in a matter of seconds.

Ken, as he had been for the past twenty minutes, took the rag in his hand and began to wipe out another of the glasses in the bin near him. He'd looked up towards his sister at just the right time, eyebrows shooting up on his face at the sight of the young women shoveling the dessert into her face, "Well I hope you ain't eat in front of him like that." 

It was very clearly a joke, one that he and Gumbo both found hilarious. Both men's booming laughter echoed around the empty dining area, a sound that normally would have had Lydia laughing along. Seeing as the laughter was geared towards her mannerisms, however, she only scowled and pushed her now empty plate towards the bus boy. "You can kiss my ass, Ken. I'm hungry as all hell." 

"It ain't hard to tell that. Ain't a lick of meat on your bones." 

"Cause I don't sit in the kitchen and eat half of every meal I cook." 

The comment even had Effie looking over her newspaper in surprise, while Ken's mouth formed a circular shape. It wasn't abnormal for the entire staff to joke about the overweight man's stature, nor was it hurtful to him, and no one in the room took it as such. The banter was common between the two, having turned into a competition of sorts as of recently and Lydia was not keen on losing. So, when the cook declared that he suddenly "had food to check on", the young woman couldn't help the grin that spread on her face.