The Mecha Project | Godzilla

Ch. 8: Celebration

"Hmm... looks like everyone had the same idea." Maria said as the parking lot was visibly pretty full. "Look, there's even people out by their cars with meals." She pointed. "Yeah, lets hope we can even get in there." Brian said. He managed to find a parking space and shut his vehicle off. "Shall we?" Maria said. "After you, hon." Brian said and the two left the car.

Brian opened the door for his wife and let her in. Music played from the speakers and a band was playing. "Seems like a good time." Maria said. Brian smiled and wrapped his hand around her hip and brought her against him. "Yeah, it sure does." He said. "Let's go find a seat." Maria said and lead her husband to an open booth she spotted. They quickly took it before anyone else could.

"Oh, look who it is!" Maria said. Brian looked over his shoulder and saw Tazz. Brian called out, "Tazz!" He turned his head to the voice calling him and smiled. "Hey, what's up?" Tazz said. He started walking over to them. Revealing a woman was walking behind him. "Guys, I want you to meet Lindsey Harper." Tazz said. Maria smiled and stood up. Offering her hand out to the woman. "Maria O'Neal." She said. "Hi, it's nice to meet you." Lindsey said with a kind smile. "This is my husband, Brian." Maria said, turning to her husband.

Brian held out his hand with a welcoming smile. "Hi." He said. "Hello." Lindsey said. "Here, take a seat." Brian said, gesturing to the seat across from them. Tazz let Lindsey sit down before he did and took his seat across from Maria. "Well, we goddamn did it, Brian!" Tazz said. Brian smirked and said, "Yeah we sure did. It's about time, too." "You're telling me." Tazz said.

"Howdy. Wha' can I get for y'all?" The waitress asked them. They told her what they would like and she smiled kindly at them and said, "Comin' right up!" She winked at them and went to go get their meals.

"Well, would you look at that?" Lindsey said, pointing at the TV. Due to the music and loud chatter, the TV was inaudible. But on the screen, Mechagodzilla was standing idly at the G-Force base. "What a beauty she is." Tazz said. Lindsey glared at him and hit his arm lightly. Tazz turned and laughed. "So, are you two together if you don't mind me asking?" Maria asked. "We're, uh, seeing where it goes." Tazz told her. "We met a few weeks ago." Lindsey added. "Oh, I see." Maria said. "How did you react to him working on Mechagodzilla?" Brian asked.

"Oh, I thought it was amazing." Lindsey said. "It's not everyday you run into someone who actually works for the G-Force." Lindsey said with a bright smile. "And he's a true gentleman." Lindsey said, smiling shyly at Tazz. He ran a confident hand through his slicked back hair. "It's runs through the family." He said.

The waitress came back with their order and placed it all on the table. Once the beers were open, everyone clanked their bottles together. "To finishing Mechagodzilla." Tazz said and they started drinking.

On the TV, there was a memorial picture of Lauren Graham. A famous journalist who wrote a hit report about The Four-Legged Guardians. Lindsey put her bottle down and nodded at the TV.

"A friend of mine actually knew Lauren." She said. Drawing everyone's attention to the TV. They looked at the brown-haired woman on the TV. "I even got to meet her. It's a shame she's gone." Lindsey said. Tazz nodded. "Her career was actually going downhill before she wrote The Four-Legged Guardians." He said. "Yeah, it was." Maria said as she stared at the screen. "Can you imagine the story she probably would have stirred up about Mechagodzilla?" Brian said. Tazz snickered. "Yeah, that's no doubt." He said. "Man, that was a long time ago when she died." Tazz said. "Yeah, ten years." Lindsey said. "She was taken too soon." Maria said. Lindsey nodded at her. "Definitely..." She muttered.

After chatting and eating dinner, they paid the check and left the restaurant. Once they were outside, fireworks exploded in the dark sky. "Man they're really taking this celebration to a higher level, huh?" Lindsey said. "Yeah I didn't think it would get this exciting." Maria replied. "Well, Mechagodzilla is finally done! We will at last stand a chance against Godzilla." Tazz said. "Yeah, I guess that's why everyone's so happy." Lindsey said. Maria grabbed her husbands hand. "Well, at least once this is all over, life will be back to normal again." Brian said.

"Look at her." Lindsey said quietly, pointing at a woman leaning on her truck. She had shoulder length black hair with a blue streak in it and light skin. Her attire consisted of a tan leather jacket, black cargo pants and red high top shoes. She smoked a cigarette and looked at the fireworks in the sky. "She looks like a drug addict." Tazz muttered with a scowl. "We probably shouldn't stare." Maria whispered.

Suddenly, the woman looked at them and arched an eyebrow. She glared at them and said, "What?" with a snarky tone. "Oh, nothing. Sorry." Lindsey said with an apologetic expression. The woman rolled her eyes and leaned against her truck. Shaking her head. "Just a sec." Lindsey said and approached the woman. "Lindsey—" Tazz said before she replied, "I got this." Lindsey approached the woman and said, "Wonderful, aren't they?" The woman looked at her and rolled her eyes. But she replied, "Yeah..."

"I'm Lindsey." The woman gave her a look and faced forward before saying, "Natalia." Lindsey smiled and said, "That's a nice name." "Whatever you say." Natalia said and inhaled her smoke. It was silent before Lindsey spoke. "Anywhere you're going?" She asked. Natalia eyed at her before saying, "Just passing through. Going home to Livingston. Visiting family." Lindsey nodded. "Ah." She said. "Not that I'm expecting them to be happy to see me..." Natalia said. Lindsey awkwardly nodded, not expecting to hear that.

A few seconds later, Natalia spoke again. "My brother is a biologist on monsters." She said. "Oh?" Lindsey questioned. "You might've heard about him. Tyler Carson?" Natalia said. "Oh. Yeah, I heard about him." Lindsey said. "Is that who you're seeing?" She asked. "One of them." Natalia replied. She snicked and grinned. "It's funny. He was always a monster geek. Used to call him 'dweeb' because of it. But not anymore..." Natalia said. "Given the current shitty status of our world." She added. Lindsey nodded. "It's a scary world we live in." Natalia said.

"My girlfriend used to say "smoke a pipe and it'll all be better"..." Natalia grinned. "She was right." She said. Natalia looked at Lindsey. "Got some weed in my truck, wanna hit?" Natalia said. Lindsey cringed. "Uh, no thank you." She said. "Whatever." Natalia said. She walked around to the door and entered the truck and disappeared into the night.

"Who was she?" Maria questioned when Lindsey returned to them. "Let's just say... she was an interesting woman." She told them. "Let's just stay away from people like her. She gave off a bad vibe." Tazz said. "Maybe she's been through a lot." Maria said. "Yeah, maybe." Tazz said back. "Anyways, we're probably going to walk around for a while." Tazz said. "Yeah, we're probably gonna head out." Brian replied. "It was nice meeting you two." Lindsey said kindly. "Likewise." Maria said as they shook hands. "Well Brian, see you when Godzilla shows up." Tazz said. Brian laughed and shook his hand. "See you then." Brian said. The two couples went their separate ways after bidding farewell to each other.

After arriving back home, Brian and Maria sat at the couch. "I had fun." Maria said. "Yeah, me too." Brian said. "It was nice seeing Tazz again. Been a while since I last saw him. Lindsey was nice too." Maria said. "Yeah, she was pretty nice." Brian said. "Well, I'm probably gonna head to bed. Coming with?" Maria asked. "Nah, think I'll stay up for a while longer." He said. "Okay." Maria said she pressed a kiss to his cheek and stood up.

Brian sighed and dipped his head back. Finally feeling good about life again.