Room for One More

Part 7: Doing Business

"We just need to wait for Smash-Mouth." Little Larry said.

"Smash-Mouth is a psychopath. We ain't getting our money back. Open your eyes, man!" Beckett shouted.

Little Larry drove onto an exit ramp to get off the interstate in order to get back to their town. He then drove into the parking lot of a burger place.

"Oh. There's some girls here, man." Little Larry said, looking out the car window to see some people eating outside.

"Are you serious?" Beckett questioned.

"What?" Little Larry questioned.

"This isn't fun." Beckett admitted.

Without them knowing, Smash-Mouth had followed them from the casino back into town. He sat in his car across the street where from the burger place, watching Little Larry's every move. He also smoked a cigarette to keep himself occupied.

Two of the girls left their table and went over to the parking lot. They were admiring the Bentley. Little Larry rolled down the window to talk to them.

"Hey. How old are you two?" he asked them.

"18. Why?" one girl answered.

"You're acting like a juvenile." Beckett said to knock some sense into his friend.

"Jeez." Little Larry said.

"You know Samuel was right. We're stuck in the mud. I'm better than this." Beckett said.

"No, you're not. We are who we are, Beckett. We are who we are." Little Larry said.

"I'm outta here." Beckett said as he got out of the car.

"Don't go, dude. I have the car." Little Larry said to persuade his friend to stay but it didn't work.

Little Larry noticed that those two girls were still standing near window.

"Get out of here. Get out of here. Get out of here. GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" he shouted at them.

~~~~~~~~~~

Samuel and Ashlyn sat out on the front porch. She was showing him some key things in her stories. He looked up and saw that Grace was walking over, which made him cower in fear a little bit because of the injury she caused him.

"It's okay, Samuel." Grace said to him.

"It's super late." he said back.

"I know, I snuck out." Grace said.

Ashlyn kinda felt like the third wheel, so she cleared her throat.

"Oh. Grace, this is my new friend, Ashlyn. Ashlyn, this is one of my neighbors, Grace." Samuel introduced.

"Hi there." Ashlyn said, offering her hand.

"It's nice to meet you." Grace said as she shook her hand.

"I have something for you, Samuel." she said to him.

"You had something for me last time too." he responded.

"I found this in my grandfather's stuff. I'm sorry it's kind of old, but I think you might like it." Grace said, holding out a Phantom Halo comic book.

"Hey! That's your favorite." Ashlyn pointed out.

Samuel took the comic book into his hands and examined the cover.

"1961? This is his first appearance, this is his origin! You know just like Shakespeare's Prince Hal, everyone underestimated the Phantom Halo." he said.

"Prince Hal?" Grace questioned.

"Yeah. He ran with this group of thieves in the underbelly of London and then he threw away his old clothes and become King Henry the 5th and successfully conquered France." Samuel explained.

"Wait a second! Isn't an old comic book like this worth a lot of money?" Ashlyn interjected.

"Yes. Listen, I appreciate the thought, but I can't take this. It's worth like $100,000." Samuel said.

"What's going on in there?" Grace asked when she heard his father's voice coming from inside the house.

"It's my Dad and he's drunk." Samuel answered.

"So what were you two doing out here before I came over?" Grace asked.

"I'm trying to teach Samuel how to write a story. So, I was showing him the various things that go into it." Ashlyn explained.

"Cool. Can you see?" Grace asked.

"Sure." Ashlyn said, opening up her journal.

The three of them sat outside and had a few conversations about different things.