Common Ground

Lionel fingered the menu nervously.

Peering quickly over the top and then ducking safely behind the plastic coated shield of protection, he established that she was still there. Didn’t she ever go to the bathroom? he wondered.

It had been over ten minutes since his older brother Jason had left with his date to get some air. It was Lionel’s job to hold down the fort with the younger sister until they returned. Jason would pay for his treachery; of that, Lionel had no doubt.

His brother, along with a five dollar bill, had approached him yesterday with the proposition.

“Sally has to look after her sister tomorrow. I need you to come along so that the sister doesn’t get in our way. All you have to do is sit there with her at dinner. To her, it will be like a date, but you and I will know differently.”

The deal had been sealed with the help of another five dollars due upon completion of the mission.

The little sister was not quite what he expected. He was surprised to find that he knew her from school. She was the most popular girl in his class. That had not been part of the briefing! He was clearly out of his element.

Sweat poured down his forehead. Without moving from behind the giant menu, he slowly reached around and subtly pushed a glass of water her way.

“Thank you Lionel,” said the most fully developed twelve year old girl in three counties. He was going to be sick.

“Do you like to play Halo 3 on the Internet?” she asked suddenly.

He dropped the menu and quickly replied, “Daily. My handle is MonsterStomper.”

“Mine is DeathEater,” she replied.

They never even noticed when the others returned to the table.

Word count 299