Page 16 of A Little Christmas! 4: Song

“I know you do,” Suede said. “But I had to say it. Sometimes it’s hard to get used to you being all grown up.”

“Thought you’d be celebrating that instead of continuing to worry about me.”

“You came home with a shiner the other night; that alone is reason enough for me to keep on worrying,” Suede declared. “I hope you told Decon what would happen if you ever came home bruised up like that again.”

“I did.”

“Good. He’d better remember that too.”

“He will; he was super upset about it and apologized as soon as he saw what he’d done,” Song replied. “It was my fault too, you know; I was the one trying to grab his arm while he was swinging.”

“And I’ve warned you a hundred times about doing that shit,” Suede remarked. “I’m too tired tonight to say it again.”

“What are you doing up this late, anyway?”

“Unclogging the tub,” Suede said. “For whatever reason, water started backing up when I was taking my shower. I tried the plastic snake, and that didn’t do shit but piss me off, so I had to go out and grab some Drano, which didn’t work either, so I went back out and got some industrial shit, plunged the hell out of it, tried snaking it again, then poured in the stronger stuff, which finally got the water to drain. I don’t know what the hell got stuck down there, but I picked up one of those plastic sink drain strainers and stuck it in the hole to stop it from happening again.”

“Hair, probably,” Song replied. “Since we’ve all got a lot of it.”

“Tell me about it,” Suede said as he shoved the end of his braid over his shoulder and took another bite from his sandwich. “Been thinking about cutting mine, actually. I don’t see the point in keeping it long when I have to keep it braided anyway.”

“It still looks good, even in a braid.”

Suede nodded at that and kept on chewing.

“What’s this, a family meeting no one remembered to invite me to?” Solo asked, stepping into the room in the black pants and red blouse that made up her bartending uniform.

“Naa,” Song said. “I fell asleep in my cereal, and Suede is finally getting around to having supper after unclogging the tub.”

Her cheeks reddened before she scrubbed a hand over her face. “That might be my fault. I tried this new hair detox gel thatinvolved chia and flax seeds, and things got a bit slimy and a whole lot messier than any of the treatments I’ve tried before. I loved how my hair felt afterwards, and it’s been a lot easier to maintain.”

Suede groaned and shook his head. “The drain wasn’t a fan of those seeds.”

“Sorry about that.”

“I put a drain strainer in there, so it should be fine the next time you try it again; just make sure it’s firmly in place before you rinse slimy seeds out of your hair. I hate to have to take apart the pipes.”

“Yeah, and I hate to be the one who has to help you,” she replied. “One adventure in plumbing is more than enough for me.”

“You can thank Song and his plastic turtle for that one.”

“Hey, who knew it wouldn’t float?” Song protested. “I didn’t think flushing would be powerful enough to suck it down the pipe; I just wanted to watch the turtle spin.”

“And I bet he spun too and squeaked all the way down to the drain trap.”

“Naa, there was no squeaking, just a lot of bubbles and disappointment when he didn’t pop back up.”

“Well, since we’re all here, I might as well share how my night went,” Solo said as she grabbed meatballs from the freezer, dumped them in a bowl, topped them with tomato soup, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder, and two slices of cheese before popping the bowl in the microwave.

“Have at it,” Suede said before taking another bite out of his sandwich.

“Brock promoted me to bar manager,” Solo declared. “It means more hours but a bump in pay too, like, a sweet one. He wants to focus more on brewing and promoting the new line of craft beers he’s been developing now that he’s finally gotten allthe permits in place. He’s thinking of adding patio seating out back now that the construction crew has finished the deck, and he’s got a list of ideas that range from tastings to game nights to bring more people in.”

“Good for him,” Suede said. “He’s really turned that place around.”

“Yeah, it’s not a dive anymore, and I, for one, am happy for the change in clientele. The new patrons leave better tips and a lot less blood on the floor.”

“Don’t forget that you’ve been the cause of some of that bloodshed over the years,” Suede pointed out.