Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 6:48 am Post subject: Big Fat Ruth's Diner
Every family has traditions.
For example, before Estella and Mack Fitz died, they would take their boys out for countryside drives every Saturday. Some Saturdays, if they were bold enough, they’d even drive a few hours to the Indiana Dunes to spend the day with homemade lunches and sunburnt cheeks. Or, there were Thursdays, on which Mack Fitz would close up the shop early and he’d meet his wife and boys down at the park and they’d play a game of baseball together until the afternoon light burned low and the sky became dappled with streetlight and stars. And then there was Sundays, where the Fitz family would go to Sunday mass, say their prayers, and come home to enjoy their mother’s sinfully delicious chocolate cake, which, surely, nullified any blessings they may have had cast their way.
Those had been all of their traditions, but somehow, they didn’t feel right acted out without their parents, which forced them to forge new traditions of their own, searching for that feeling of celebrated repetition for their new family, their new way of life… without their parents.
Which was why Griffith, Lawson, Dixon, and Flora Fitz were all sitting in a packed in a window-side booth in Big Fat Ruth’s diner, attempting to breathe life into this new Tuesday night tradition with a round of pop, Ruth’s Wet Burgers, and the typical family small talk.
“Baby, why didn’t you get a burger?” Lawson groaned as he craned his whole body to look at his wife discriminately, or rather, the salad sitting in front of her in place of a chili burger, which all of the brothers had sitting respectively in front of each of them.
“I’m not feeding our baby that.” Flora’s face scrunched up as she leaned back to look at Lawson. “You no know what’s in that chili. Probably dog. Smells like dog, trust me, I know that stink.”
Dixon couldn’t even be bothered to surprise his own snorted laughter at both Flora’s statement and the look of utter distaste on his older brother’s face. When Lawson shot him a look from across the table, he continued with his laughter and forced a shrug. Lawson went to look at Griffith, hoping he could tell his other brother to reign in their youngest brother and his (albeit expected) immature reaction, but found Griffith instead chewing mindlessly on a french fry soaked in ranch while staring at the cake platter on the diner counter, which housed a chocolate cake.
“You think that tastes like Mama’s?” He asked, helping Lawson out in the way of diverging away from the dog-chili topic even if he was unaware.
Dixon’s laughter subsided with the sudden interest of cake as he sat up in his seat, trying to peer passed Flora’s head to observe the cake platter Griffith was fixated on. Lawson and Flora both followed suit and looked over their shoulders to the cake. The oldest Fitz brother was the first to turn away from the cake with a shrug and a sound of “I dunno”.
“I don’t think it can really compare to Mom’s cake. Does it matter though? It’s not Sunday, more than not tasting the same, it probably won’t feel the same.” Lawson said matter-of-factly, knowing full well his brother simply wanted a taste of yesteryear.
Griffith’s lip twitched a bit as he sucked up the rest of the fry he’d been nursing and looked to Lawson. He didn’t like when Lawson knew what he was thinking, and that tone, that face… he knew his older brother was on to his silly little notion of reviving that memory of that particular Sunday tradition the Fitz family had had.
“You’re probably right, it won’t be as good as Mama’s, but who said anything about Sunday?” He said, simply wanting his brother to be wrong in his assumption, even if he was in fact right on the money.
This was another tradition, unfortunately. Despite their best efforts to make happy family traditions, the two eldest Fitz brother’s had a knack for turning things sour, especially when it came to each other, which was exactly what was happening as both of Lawson’s brows were dragged together, pinching tight in annoyance.
“No one, but it’s pretty obvious, innit?” Lawson said, his words clipped.
Griffith’s own brows were being drawn together in bitterness, however, before he could say anything, Dixon bolted up from his seat, throwing his hands up in the air.
“MILKSHAKES!” He shouted, getting both of his brother’s attention and then some. “We should get milkshakes.” He said, flopping back down into his seat as the situation quickly lost its heat and fizzle, apparent when both of his brothers gave tight little smiles, unable to contain them for the sake of their youngest brother, their officiated bomb squad, or so Flora called him so often.
"You really don't get it, do you, Harper?" Darcy's voice carried through the doorway as he followed his older sister into the burger joint, a frown on his face and brows knit together.
"No, Darcy, I guess I don't." Harper said with a tired sigh, eyes flashing in annoyance as she glanced around for somewhere to sit. Kasper had stayed behind to find a parking spot for his baby, his big damned truck.
"Harper, school is important. You could get a real degree, you know what they were saying about you in school when you were on the team. And what they were saying about you and biology. Why don't you try to pick it back up?" Darcy tried, following his sister to a table to sit down.
"Darcy, look. I don't care for school and it doesn't care for me either, okay? I'm really not in the mood to talk about this though." Harper said as she sat down, waving her hand at him in a dismissive matter. "Would you try to relax? Kasper is only taking us out to relax."
Darcy gave a huff of irritation and leaned back in his seat, both of them going silent. It wasn't fair that his sister didn't get a chance at proper life and Kasper never pushed her towards it. She was his "second hand" in all of this bullshit.
They said nothing else to each other until Kasper sauntered in, messing with his bandana on his wrist to make sure it was on properly. He flopped down in a seat and propped his elbows up on it. "What's with the sour face on you two, eh?"
"Nothing, Kas. I've never been here, what should we get?" Harper asked, hoping to turn Darcy away from starting back up again.
Darcy pursed his lips and looked away and around the building instead.
While Dixon had the undeniable talent of being able to diffuse a dispute between his brothers, his skills didn't go that much farther beyond that, and they certainly didn't traverse into gang matters, which was about to become excruciatingly obvious as, just after having ordered milkshakes and simmering down, Lawson happened to hear a familiar voice and caught the briefest of flashes of blue from the corner of his eye. He whipped his head to confirm his suspicions, spying none other than Kasper Crawson, enemy to his personal "state", and his face instantaneously turned into a scowl, which everyone quickly noted, but none quicker than Griffith, who turned to see Kasper and reflected his brother's expression down to it's finest detail.
"Baby, what's with the-"
"KASPER!" Lawson yelled, cutting down Flora's concern as both he and Griffith lurched up from their seats.
Just as the Hunt and Crawson family got into happier chit chat, a loud all too familiar and infuriating voice shouted Kasper's name, sounding just as infuriated.
Harper's and Kasper's heads both whipped up at the same time to confirm what they already knew and Kasper stood up, slamming his chair back at the strength and speed of which he stood up. "Lawson." He practically growled. "The fuck are you doing here?"
"Oh come on." Darcy looked frustrated and gave Harper pleading eyes but Harper stood up and went to stand at Kasper's side, arms crossed against his chest.
Darcy looked even more frustrated at that and went to get up to go and leave to stand outside. If anything started, he didn't want to be there for it and Harper would've physically forced him elsewhere for his "own safety."
"'The fuck I'm'? The fuck you doing here? This is our turf, it ain't yours." Lawson hissed, reaching to grab a switchblade from his back pocket, which he whipped out with a great deal of speed and precision, instantly taking it and pointing it at Kasper, earning several frantic screams from other customers.
Griff followed suit in arming himself, however, unfortunately for him, his weapon of choice, his bat, wasn't handy, so, instead, he reached back over to their table behind he and Lawson, and grabbed the steak knife abandoned on his plate.
Meanwhile, Flora had quickly gotten up from her seat, scuttled passed her husband and brother-in-law, making her way over to the other side of the table to collect Dixon, who protested quite a bit.
"Flo, just let me - ugh, stop, let me help them!" He insisted, however, FLora continued to drag him right along out of the diner, knowing full well that's what Griffith and Lawson would have wanted.
Kasper grabbed his own brass knuckles from his jacket pocket, keeping his eyes on Lawson steadily. "This spot ain't fuckin' nobodies, Lawson. What'd you do, piss on it like the bitch you are?"
Harper frowned, eying the knives with a small feeling of unease. It wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last but it always made her feel uneasy anyhow.
Darcy stormed back out to the truck to wait for his piss babies family members.
"Hey," Griffith spoke up, "listen here, fuck-face, we tagged this block fair in square. No blood drawn over it even. We don't have to have a problem here, but we're gonna if you don't turn hightail and beat it." His gaze flickered to the girl standing at Kasper's side. Both Griffith and Lawson were infamous for being merciless on the streets, however, Griffith still had reservations about winding up in a physical altercation with a girl, especially one as little as the one standing, dwarfed beside Kasper.
"I didn't have a problem either, bitch-ass, just coming here with the kids." Kasper scoffed and stepped forward a bit. "So what Lawson, you lettin' your brother fight for you now? Too stupid to come up with any wit?"
Harper shifted her position a little when she caught Griffith staring, ready to dodge or hit. Kasper was egging on Lawson and this wasn't going to end up good and she knew damn well people hesitated to hit her at all.
"Hey, at least my brother's smart enough to not get himself killed. At least mine's got some brains and a pulse." Lawson flashed a devilish grin, showing that he knew what the hot button was and that he certainly wasn't afraid to press it.
Griffith tried not to shoot his brother a look. Of course, Griff would always fight when necessary, but all he wanted was to come out with his family and have shitty burgers today. He didn't want to fight, and a fight was certainly bound to happen with the way both Lawson and Kasper prodded at each other.
"You son of a BITCH." Kasper shouted at the top of his lungs and lunged for Lawson, ready for a brawl to the death if it came to it. No one brought up his brother. Certainly not them.
Harper shot past Kasper and Lawson and grabbed for Griffith to keep him away from them, grabbing his wrist quickly, hoping to twist it and get the steak knife away.
Lawson made quick work of dodging Kasper's lunge, sidestepping just far enough to avoid being knocked down, but staying close enough that he was able to reach out and wrap his arm around Kasper's neck and shoulder, pulling him close to him, rendering him mostly useless.
"Fuck!" Griff hissed as his wrist was grabbed and twisted. His lips curled back into a snarl as he looked at the girl, noting how much he had underestimated her. However, she underestimated him if she thought that this was going to render him useless. He dropped the steak knife from his hand, however, reaching out with his other, he quickly caught it mid-fall and wasted no time in slashing haphazardly at the girl's hand on his wrist.
Kasper stamped down on Lawson's foot and then kicked his shin as hard as he could with his heel, reaching back to try and grab him to flip them both over if he had to. "You mother FUCKER!"
Harper hissed as it slashed her hand but kept a firm hold and went to drive her knee into his side. She didn't particularly want to fight today and get even more scarred up but this was life.
One of the chefs stormed out, looking furious. "HEY!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "Knock it off or I'm calling the cops!"
If it was one thing that could break up a fight between any of these thugs, it was the mention of the fuzz. As soon as the cook brought up the prospect of calling the police, both Lawson and Griff looked to the chef and yanked themselves free from their opposing grasps. Of course, everyone still looked riled up and ready to fight, but the idea of the fight happening hear was losing it's heat.
"This is a family place, you take your sorry asses and get out!" The man shouted, furious with the events. "OUT!"
Harper yanked away from them and grabbed Kasper, going to hurry out of the building with him. The last thing Harriet would need is the both of them in jail.
"Best watch your back, Kasper! I don't want to see you back in our neighborhood again!" Lawson yelled, taking lengthy strides after the escaping duo.
Meanwhile, Griff heaved a hefty sigh and rubbed at his aching side before approaching the diner counter between he and the cook. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tightly rolled pack of cash. He unwound the rubberband holding it fast together and began taking out money.
"Sorry, Wyatt, we didn't mean for it to get out of hand." He said, apologetic simply because he didn't want to get his family kicked out of the restaurant, not when it was one of the few traditions they had together. He set out a neat stack ten or twelve twenties, more than enough to compensate for the meal and the fuss. "There should be enough to pay for these folks' dinner, enough for a tip for all these gals and you guys too. Sorry, again." He said, pushing the money across the counter. He turned to look at Lawson, watching as his brother breathed heavily against the glass door, watching as Kasper and that girl headed out. He pulled a sour expression, glancing to the cake in it's glass case again. He approached it, grabbing a napkin from the counter as he made his way over. Upon lifting up the lid, he reached in and grabbed an already sliced piece of cake with the napkin and turned around to head out. "Fuckin' lets get out of here." He said, nudging his brother as he went to pass him.
"It ain't over, Griff, you know that, right?" Lawson hissed as he continued to stare out the glass.
"Yeah yeah, but it is now, so let's get the hell out of here before they THROW us out for good." Griffith said, nudging Lawson again utnil he could get his brother out of the restaurant.
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