American Gods: The Girl Of Lightning

Sweeney's first impression

The inside of the bar was dank, dark, and reeked of cigarette smoke. I looked around at the few patrons, watching carefully and taking note. Mr. Wednesday walked us to a booth and gestured for me to have the inside seat. I responded by slipping into the seat across the table.
"You're extremely hard headed, you know that." Wednesday mused, squinting to read the menu before him.
"Piss off.." I muttered under my breath as I scanned the menu as well. There was very little appetizing food, and I was half starved to death. I heard the familiar crack of a pool table and I pricked my ears up. A woman came up to us and asked for our order.
"Hello darling, I'll have a scotch in the rocks." Wednesday winked at her and I rolled my eyes slightly. Shadow ordered next, "I'll take a Cajun Crazy beer please." He smiled politely and she finally turned to me.
"Can I get a basket of fries and a water please." My voice sounded much hoarser than I wanted it to. The waitress looked at my swollen face and glanced at Wednesday.
"An ice pack too, if you have anything of the like." Wednesday said, reaching across and patting my hand. I flinched hard and pulled away, not meaning to be rude. The waitress left with a concerned look on her face.
"I hope she doesn't think you did this, Wednesday." Shadow said, looking at the welts and bruises. I shrugged and fiddled with the napkin holder.
"She thought about it, but her mind changed when you didn't say anything." Wednesday mused, looking across the room. The pool tables were on the other side, and from there I saw a tall man with flaming red hair drunkenly hustle people. The waitress came back with our drinks and my ice, "Honey, if you need an aspirin or something please let me know okay?" She gave me a soft smile and patted the top of my head before leaving. Wednesday cracked into a grin.
"She patted your head like you would a puppy." He chuckled and sipped his scotch.
"I'm not a puppy." I grumbled, lightly pressing the bag of ice chips to my sensitive face. I pitifully drank my water and sighed.
"So what's your story?" Shadow asked, drinking his beer. I looked up at him.
"Why do you want to know?" I muttered, switching ice to the other side of my face so I could look at him.
"Now now, lets all get along," Wednesday said, looking at me directly. I glared at him and sighed, my stomach rumbling pitifully.
"Foster Home's my whole life. I hopped place to place, no one wanting me. I didn't care, I was saving to get the fuck out of there." I stared at Wednesday while I said this. "I was less than a month away from being aged out of the system. I would've-" I was interrupted by the tall red haired man slamming his palms on our table, making me jump and jab ice chips into my sensitive wounds. I gave a quiet squeak.
"You. Yer gonna play me in pool," he rocked back and polished off a beer before answering again. He was looking right at Shadow, who stared back, unwavered.
"No thank you, I don't want to play pool." Shadow turned to face the drunk man. Wednesday reached out and patted my hand again, my Unswollen eye watering as I looked at him. Shadow stood up, confronting the man now. "I think you should apologize to my friends here for disturbing our dinner, as well as her," he pointed to me, the drunk man turned and looked, "for making her jump and bash her face again." Shadow crosses his arms and stood in a very 'I mean business' way. The drunk man was staring at me, then back to shadow, then back to me. I silently scooted closer to the wall and he tipped his hat to me.
"Yer a pretty one, even if ya got a right fucked face." The drunk man said, stepping backwards to catch his swaying self. I growled, "get lost." And turned back to my water and ice chips. The red haired man slipped past Shadow and say down in the booth next to me, making me nervous.
"Sweeney, get away from my daughter." Wednesday said, his voice stern but low and neutral. The man known as Sweeney looked up at him and tocked his head.
"Wednesday, is tha you?" Sweeney lounged in the booth next to me and looked thoughtfully at him. I looked at Shadow, then to Wednesday.
"Yes, you drunk bastard. Now, get away from my daughter." Sweeney turned to look at me, his drunken stupor was appalling.
"What happened to yer face?" He reached a hand towards me and in an instant, I snatched his wrist and pinned it to the table away from my face with a loud bang. I let go of his arm and glared at him.
"Don't fucking touch me." I snarled, feeling sharp pains all across my body. Sweeney reeled back and held his wrist.
"Ow you fuckin cunt, that fuckin hurt!" He whined, I felt fear and adrenaline pick up in my blood. Was this drunk guy going to try and fight me? Would Wednesday or Shadow even help?
"You," he pointed in my face. "You need to learn some fuckin manners, young lady." He leered. Suddenly Shadow grabbed him by his collar and yanked him out of our booth and onto the ground.
"Cmon over to this side, it's gonna get ugly in a second and you've already fought enough." Wednesday said, gesturing for me to slip beneath the table. I tried but the pain was too much. The fight between Shadow and Sweeney has reached a pretty big peak at that point, they were throwing punches and swinging hits into one another. I began shaking, feeling the panic set in. The other bar patrons were watching as the fight took place. I stood up and grabbed Sweeney by the throat and put him in a headlock, pulling him off of Shadow. Sweeney shouted and swore as I tightened the grip ever so slightly, he came up and tried to hit my face but he was drunk and kept missing. He was gasping for breath and I shoved him to the ground, stepping away immediately. Wednesday grabbed me and put me behind him. Sweeney slowly stood up and almost toppled over again. I, in a very panicked and hoarse whisper said, "Wednesday can we go please?"

*** Authors note ***
Hey, it's been 2 years almost since I updated. Wow. Sorry I guess, but thanks for reading lol