The Long Gift—Chapter 3
#4 of The Long Gift
Jaime and Kurt go out to eat and Jaime is met with an issue he's dealt with many times.
The Long Gift 3--Eating with Prejudice By Zmeydros AKA Lucien Quinn AKA Alexi Tishen.
Kurt gets in front of him and leads him to his dark green 1998 Toyota Camry. After opening Jaime's door, Kurt runs over to his own door and opens it. He starts the car and then gets the ice scraper out of the trunk. His powerful arms make short work of the ice and he hops back into the driver's seat. "Let's get some food."
For the first few minutes of the drive, Jaime just looks out the window and watches all the cars trying to battle the winter weather. Kurt slips and slides on the roads, but manages pretty well. A family of bunnies is trying to get their cobalt blue minivan out of a snow bank while a dragon and a panda are arguing about an accident right next to them.
"Oh fuckity damn shit!" Kurt yells, as the car slides into the oncoming lane when he takes a turn too fast. Luckily the other drivers manage to get out of the way. When he has the car is back in the right lane, both friends give a sigh of relief.
"I hope we get there soon." Jaime frowns at the gridlock ahead of them.
"I just hope we're not dead when we get there. The roads are awful." Kurt huffs in frustration when the car slides forward a few feet instead of stopping.
"Me too." Jaime grabs onto the door and looks at the floor. He's not sure he wants to see what's going on outside the car.
Fearing for their lives and driven by their hunger, Jaime and Kurt make it into the TGIF parking lot. Once they are parked, they give each other an "I can't believe we're still fucking alive!" look and get out of the car.
Jaime dashes into TGIF as quickly as he can without falling again. When he's in the warm building, he silently thanks the universe for his safe passage.
"How many?" the young Hispanic female human with frizzy hair asks from behind the podium.
Preoccupied by the sheer wonder of not being cold, Jaime gasps in surprise. He wasn't even thinking about getting a seat or the fact that other people were in this warm place. "How many what?"
"People are with you." The attendant smirks in amusement.
"Oh, two people... Counting myself I mean." A familiar paw pats Jaime on the shoulder and he looks up to see Kurt staring back at him.
"I'm with this guy. Can we get a table right away?" Kurt grins at the attendant. "We're starving."
When the attendant gives Kurt a very long once-over with her eyes, Jaime pulls Kurt into a kiss. It's a short kiss, but passionate enough to get the point across. Tonight, Kurt belongs to Jaime.
They both turn to look at the attendant, who is now blushing fiercely. "F-follow me."
Stifling a giggle, Jaime follows the attendant and Kurt. At least six other people in the restaurant are now watching them and only a couple seem to be against what they just saw. Being openly gay or, in his case, bi is ridiculously fun. He's going to have some good stories to tell Leneth when she gets back... He makes a fist with his left hand to distract himself. Nothing can be done. He just has to wait and not think about her too much. Sitting down, he takes a deep breath.
"Steve will be your waiter tonight." She turns and walks back to the podium, glancing back at the two friends as if she is expecting to see even more PDA.
"That was unnecessary." Kurt opens a menu.
Opening his menu, Jaime raises a finger. "But still awesome."
Leaning in, Kurt puts his hand up to whisper. "I could smell her getting really excited by our display."
"I bet. She was blushing really hard. I think we've found a new way to pick up dates for you." Jaime giggles at his own thought.
Kurt leans back laughing. "I'm not that desperate."
A wicked smirk forms on Jaime's face. "Says the guy who planned ahead to get some from his best friend."
With a fake serious expression, Kurt says, "That's it, read the f-ing menu so we can get mother f-ing food."
Jaime chuckles. "Yes, sir!" He starts looking at the menu. He's so hungry that every item looks good. Swallowing, he prevents himself from drooling while looking at all the pictures of food and stops when he gets to the pasta section. It doesn't matter if there's something better than the chicken bruschetta pasta, he doesn't want to torture himself further by continuing to look at all this food when he's this hungry. He closes his menu and sets it down.
"Hey, you want the Jack Daniel's sampler for an appetizer?" Kurt tosses his menu on top of Jaime's.
"It looked expensive," he says as he looks to see if the waiter is heading their way. A smile forms as he sees a slightly shorter-than-average male tabby cat with four piercings on his left ear walking toward their table. This cat is making no effort to hide the boredom on his face and doesn't even seem to notice or care that Jaime is looking at him.
Giving Jaime a sly grin, Kurt leans back. "There's sixty bucks on the gift card."
"Wow, never mind then. Let's order it." Picking up the menus, Jaime hands them to the waiter who is now standing at the table.
The cat looks at Kurt and smiles slightly. "Hello, I'm Steve. What would you like to drink?"
"I'll have an orange soda and the Jack Daniel's Sampler to start. After that I'll want the Jack Daniel's ribs and shrimp with coleslaw and fries as my sides." As Kurt orders, his tail moves back and forth with anticipation.
When Steve turns his attention to Jaime, his faint smile disappears completely. "And what would you like?" He looks at the table instead of Jaime after he makes eye contact.
There is no question in Jaime's mind what's going on with Steve's disinterest. It's happened so many times before. Not all people treat him equally. Some take offense at the fact that he associates with furs. Fortunately, these individuals are a tiny subset of the population. "I'll have the Chicken Bruschetta Pasta and milk to drink."
Steve turns toward Kurt the moment Jaime is done ordering. "Okay, I'll get your order going."
"Don't you mean both of our orders? Is Jaime so ugly that you can't look at him?" An evil smirk appears on Kurt's face. "I know he's kinda scrawny with clothes on, but he looks great naked."
The waiter's eyes widen in surprise and then his face twists in disgust before he turns and leaves.
"I guess the ice is too thick to break this time." Kurt throws up his arms in surrender to the situation.
Jaime can sense people at nearby tables staring at him. He feels like laughing and hiding under his coat at the same time. "Ask me before you stand up on my behalf like that. I've had more experience with this than you have and it's risky to try and lighten the mood."
"Sorry, bud. I did that more for myself than you. He was pissing me off and I was hoping he had a good sense of humor. You know, something that made him less of an ass so I could forgive him." The tiger crosses his arms and frowns a bit.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. If he gets too bad, I'll stand up for myself, I promise." Jaime looks into Kurt's big blue eyes.
Kurt stares back and then turns his head to look toward the front of the restaurant. "I wonder if they have comment cards or anything like that. That way I can do something useful with my state of pissed-offness."
"I'm sure they do. I'll fill out one too once we've seen just how bad he is."
Right after Jaime finishes his sentence, Kurt goes up to the front. Steve drops off the drinks without even looking at Jaime. "Need anything else?"
Looking at Steve, Jaime puts on a warm smile. "Just some extra napkins."
Steve pulls a couple napkins out of his apron and sets them on the table before turning and leaving. His tail makes a dismissive motion as he leaves.
When Kurt returns, he hides the comment cards under his coat. "Now that I have those, I'll be okay. Nothing gets me as mad as racism."
Jaime looks at the random pictures of famous people on the wall. Elvis seems to be the focus of the immediate area. "I'm used to it, so I don't think about it much."
"That's the saddest thing I've heard all day, well, besides... you know." The frown on Kurt's face grows before he takes a sip of his soda.
Just when he'd forgotten about his love. The unknown factors start haunting him again. He doesn't know where she's going, what she's doing, or if she's safe. A pained look takes over his face as he worries.
Putting a paw on Jaime's hand, Kurt leans forward. "I didn't mean to get you worked--" The appetizer platter gets set down almost on top of their hands, causing Kurt to let go of Jaime. "up again."
Not looking at either of them, Steve says, "Your other items should be ready soon; enjoy." He walks away.
"Hmm, TGIF has been my favorite chain for years and this is the first time I've ever had a problem with one of their waiters." He grabs a breaded shrimp and dips it in the Jack Daniel's sauce before eating it. "Mmm."
"Yeah, I love this restaurant too, guess we just had bad luck in getting stuck with Steve." Jaime giggles watching Kurt devour the platter. "I just realized that there's shrimp and ribs on the platter. You're getting a double dose."
"You better get started before I finish the whole thing." Kurt cuts the sampler ribs in half and puts them on his small plate.
Looking at the ribs, Jaime remembers that he doesn't actually like ribs that much. He grabs some of the chicken and the shrimp. He takes the Jack Daniel's sauce and drizzles it over his shrimp. "You can have all the ribs. I don't like getting them all over my face. I was so hungry I wasn't even thinking about that."
"Now you tell me--I'll let you have most of the chicken." He takes the rest of the ribs and a tiny bit of the chicken. "Wait, you've ordered ribs before. Is this a new thing?"
After eating a couple shrimp, Jaime thinks for a moment. "I guess I just figured that out today. I like the taste. I just don't like the feeling of having sticky stuff all over my mouth."
With a twinkle in his eye, Kurt carefully cuts the meat off of a couple ribs and scoops it up with his fork. He hands the fork to Jaime. "Problem solved."
"Thanks, I'm not that great with utensils." Jaime takes the tangy-sweet rib meat into his mouth. He chews it and can't get over how good it tastes. His hunger is enhancing every flavor. He might as well be in a four-star restaurant. "God that was good!"
"I'll feed you more in a bit, when I'm less hungry." Kurt gets serious about eating. It looks as though he's trying to balance tasting his food and eating it as fast as possible.
Jaime does the same. Everything tastes so good that his anxiety slowly dissipates.
Eventually, when there are only a couple ribs left, Kurt cuts the meat off of them and offers it to Jaime, who leans in and lets Kurt put it in his mouth.
The second fork-full is interrupted by Steve. "Are you finished with those plates?"
When Jaime leans in and takes the meat off of Kurt's fork, Steve takes on a look of absolute revulsion and looks away. A feeling of annoyance and frustration surfaces in Jaime. "It's okay now, Steve, no more healthy interspecies interaction going on."
Steve's face is oozing with distaste when he locks his gaze on Jaime. "I wouldn't call it healthy."
"That's not the word I'd use to describe you either." Blocking the urge to say something even more inflammatory, Jaime takes a deep breath. "Ever since I can remember, I've wished that I was born one of you. I feel more at peace amongst furs. I've only been able to form friendships and fall in love with furs. I would have to be insane to deny myself happiness just to please people like you. I'm not your enemy. Please don't treat me as such."
A few sounds of approval come from surrounding tables. Kurt smiles at Jaime. "Well put."
It takes Steve almost fifteen seconds to process what Jaime said. "But you were born human. They are your peers, not us."
"I couldn't choose my genetics before I was born. No one has that choice. So, if you were born a human would you not interact with any furs? Give up the feeling of snuggling against their fur, scales, or feathers and give up being able to play with their tails. Would you be able to find humans that could replace your current friends?" Jaime watches as an inner battle rages in Steve.
At first it looks like he just wants to leave, but his look of distaste changes to one of confusion and he meets Jaime's eyes. "I never thought about it that way, but I don't know whether I can get over the feeling I get when I see furs and humans being intimate."
"I'm sure you have work to do and I don't want to keep you, just give it time, that's all I can really say about that anyway." Gathering the plates, Jaime hands them to Steve who still appears to be a bit shocked.
Steve takes the plates and walks away.
Many smiling faces and a couple disapproving ones are still looking in Jaime's direction. This corner of TGIF is a bit quieter. Jaime blushes heavily and looks at the table. He feels Kurt's fingers under his chin pulling his head up and he lets his gaze fix on Kurt's smiling face.
Kurt holds up a hand. "That deserves a high-five--great speech."
Smiling widely, Jaime high-fives Kurt. "See, I can stand up for myself."
"I think I'll just leave it to you next time, but I really hope there isn't a next time."
"Me too. Knowing I can make speeches like that if I need to is enough for me." Jaime sees Steve approaching with their food and smiles when Steve actually looks him in the eye. He may not have changed Steve's mind, but at least Steve's showing a bit more respect.
"Heh, I'm not sure I want to know what sort of speech I would make in that situation." As Kurt finishes his sentence, Steve stops in front of the table.
"Here you are." Steve sets each plate down carefully. "Would you like a refill?" He points at Kurt's soda.
Handing Steve his glass, Kurt says, "Yes please."
"I'll be right back." Steve glances at Jaime before he turns and leaves.
Jaime wastes no time. He takes a few bites of pasta and starts to drink his glass of milk. Kurt does the same and has a fourth of his meal gone before Steve gets back. The moment Kurt's glass hits the table, he starts sipping away. Steve smirks at how eagerly the two friends are eating before he heads over to another table.
When Jaime is only half done, he realizes that he's completely full. What surprises him is that Kurt is almost done with his whole meal. "I've never seen you eat that fast."
"My food was superdelicious, I exercised most of the morning, and I didn't eat a big enough lunch. We're lucky I didn't turn into a walking black hole." Kurt starts on the second to last rib.
Giggling, Jaime steals one of Kurt's fries and eats it. "I want to see my physics professor try to explain that."
Kurt chuckles and starts taking the meat off the last rib. "Do you want this?"
"I couldn't eat another bite." Jaime looks at the tiny bit of milk that's still in his glass and decides against drinking it.
A smirk crosses Kurt's muzzle as he steals a bit of Jaime's pasta. "Allow me to aid you." He eats it. "That's actually really good."
"I know, I almost couldn't stop eating it." After setting his fork down, Jaime pushes his plate of pasta away.
"Even when you're hungry as hell, you don't eat that much." Kurt sets his fork down. "I don't think I can eat any more either."
"I'm glad, because I was hoping to take the rest of this pasta home."
Steve arrives and seems surprised by the fact that Kurt's food is completely gone. Then he sees the mess around Jaime's plate and raises his eyebrows.
Picking up his knife, Jaime says, "I'm not very good with utensils for some reason." He puts the knife on Kurt's plate and keeps his fork. "I'll need a container and he'll need the check. I don't think we have room for dessert."
Handing his plate to the waiter, Kurt burps. "Excuse me."
Once Steve has Kurt's plate, he looks at Jaime. "Not good with utensils?"
Jaime shrugs. "Yeah, I'm actually better with chopsticks. My mom used to tell me that it was because I didn't hold my fork or spoon straight enough. Things tend to slide off."
"I have a cousin who probably has that problem. I'll be right back." Steve makes his way to the back.
"I still don't think he's warmed up to me." A sigh comes from Jaime as he thinks about what he's going to put on the comment card.
Kurt nods. "Things like that take time."
"Do you think we should even fill out the cards? I'm wondering if we should just give him a chance to get better." Leaning back, Jaime stretches.
With an adorable tilt of his head, Kurt says, "How about we just say something like. 'Steve might need help getting over his prejudices.'"
"That sounds perfect to me. But... Maybe we should add something saying that he was very good at his job otherwise." He feels a cheap plastic pen in one of the inner pockets on his coat and pulls it out. "He's on his way back."
Steve arrives, sets a small styrofoam container down in front of Jaime, and hands the check to Kurt. "Here you are."
Pulling out his gift card, Kurt hands it and the check to Steve who grabs them and says, "Thank you," before leaving.
By the time Jaime gets all his pasta in the small container, Steve's already on his way back.
When Steve hands the receipt to Kurt, Kurt signs it and immediately hands it to Steve. "The food was awesome. Have a good night."
"Ditto," says Jaime. "I have one other thing for you to think about. I just thought of it. Do you have a moment?"
Steve's ears fold down a little as if he's feeling a bit self conscious. "I have a minute or two."
Jaime leans back and pokes at Kurt's boot with his own. "A friend of a friend of mine caught Craddier-Zimblast syndrome and tried to keep his human relationships intact after he turned into a fur. He was from a small town and a third of his childhood friends stopped replying to his attempts to contact them. He was heartbroken and cried about it a lot because one of those friends had gone with him to the same college to be his roommate. This friend was one of his most supportive, one that he could depend on for anything. He still misses him and never gets tired of telling stories about their exploits. Social pressure broke that beautiful friendship apart."
A frown forms on Steve's muzzle as he hear's Jaime's story. "Are you sure that it was social pressure that broke them apart?"
"Yes, because that small town was St. Peter, a town that prided itself on having no anthro residents until they lost a lawsuit that made it to the state supreme court." A frown forms on Jaime's face. "I've been to that town and I think there are only a few people that actually wanted to keep the furries out, it's just that they were making the most noise, and the roommate of the friend I told you about had parents that were part of the movement. He had to choose between continuing to get support from his parents or being friends with the person who caught CZ."
Shaking his head, Steve looks away for a moment. "I'm going to have to do some reading. All this time and I've never thought about things like that."
"Thanks for listening to me. That's all I can ask of you. I don't want to keep you any longer." Jaime smiles softly at Steve.
With a nod, Steve puts the receipt Kurt handed him into his apron. "Have a good night and thank you for choosing Friday's." He walks off to tend on other tables.
"Looks like you got him thinking. You never told me that story. That really sucks." Kurt fiddles with the comment slip.
Running a finger along the table top, Jaime says, "Yeah, I was pretty depressed for a while after Leneth told me about that. At least Steve is the type that thinks about things instead of just getting pissed off."
"Me too; if he got pissed off, I might have done the same." A smirk forms on Kurt's face. "Heh, you probably would have stopped me, though."
"Of course!" Jaime holds out his hand. "Okay, I'm going to write our message and we can both sign it."
Kurt puts a comment slip in Jaime's hand. "Sounds good to me."
After he's finished the comment slip, Jaime starts putting on his coat.
Getting up, Kurt puts on his coat and then walks toward the front. "I'll get the car started so you don't freeze as quickly."
"Thanks." Jaime puts on his scarf, hat and gloves. On the way out, he leaves the comment card with the attendant. The moment he's back in the cold air, he frowns and tries to think of something other than how cold it is. He runs as fast as he can without endangering his life and gets in Kurt's car.
They get back to their dorm room safely and play Halo: Reach until 1AM.