Chương 114: Bonus story : More than just colleagues : Part 18 : An Ordinary Evening

Aldric arrived outside the restaurant. Patrick was already standing near the entrance with his hands in his pockets, while Lucas studied the menu displayed behind the window as if he were trying to make a final decision before even going inside. A few seconds later, Karim appeared at the end of the street. Emma arrived almost at the same time from the metro station.

"Perfect," Lucas said.

"For once, everyone's on time."

"There are still three minutes left." Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Thank you for that clarification." Patrick opened the door.

"Let's go inside before he starts calculating how early we've been on average for our last six outings."

"I wasn't planning to."

"The problem is, now I know you could." They entered the restaurant. Karim had reserved a table slightly away from the entrance. The waitress led them to a round table where five places had already been set. Patrick took a chair near the wall, Lucas sat beside him, Karim chose the seat facing the dining room, and Emma sat next to Aldric. Aldric placed his phone on the table, picked up the menu, and began reading while Lucas was already commenting on several dishes.

"Just so everyone knows, I refuse to order a salad."

"No one asked you to," Emma said.

"I prefer to establish my boundaries immediately." Karim looked at the menu.

"You say that like someone's going to force you."

"We could," Patrick said. Lucas closed his menu.

"I'm leaving." Aldric continued reading.

"Several dishes contain vegetables." Lucas turned toward him.

"That's not the same thing."

"A vegetable remains a vegetable regardless of whether it is in a salad." Emma burst out laughing.

"He has a point." Lucas looked around the table.

"We've barely started and I'm already under attack." The waitress returned to take their orders. Lucas hesitated between two dishes.

"Get the burger," Patrick said.

"Why?"

"Because you'll spend the entire meal staring at mine if you order something else."

"That's true," Karim said. Lucas closed his menu.

"Burger." Aldric chose a chicken dish served with rice and vegetables. Emma ordered pasta, Karim chose grilled meat, and Patrick ordered the burger.

"One of my coworkers came back from Portugal yesterday," Emma said.

"She spent two weeks there."

"Where did she go?" Lucas asked.

"She started in Lisbon, then traveled south."

"And what does she recommend?"

"Lisbon, apparently. She also told me about Porto, although she only stayed there for a few days." Patrick looked at Lucas.

"Since when are you interested in traveling?"

"Always..."

"How many times have you left France?"

"That's not the point..."

"So never," Karim said.

"I've been to Belgium."

"That doesn't count," Patrick said.

"Of course it does. It's another country."

"Why wouldn't Belgium count?" Aldric asked.

"Thank you. Finally, someone reasonable..."

"I didn't say your trip was impressive." Emma stifled a laugh while Lucas stared at him indignantly.

"Even he's starting to do it."

"Do what?"

"Make fun of me."

"That was not my intention."

"That's even worse..."

"All right, since we're talking about travel, if you could go anywhere tomorrow, where would you go?" Patrick asked.

"I'd like to go back to Italy. It's been several years since I've been there," Emma said.

"Where?" Karim asked.

"Florence, maybe. Or Rome. I haven't decided yet." Lucas set down his glass.

"I'd like to go to southern Spain."

"For the culture?"

"Obviously."

"The beach," Karim said.

"The beach is part of the culture." Emma burst out laughing.

"You've never left France, and your first priority would be finding a beach?"

"You have to start somewhere."

"And if you're going to start somewhere, you might as well choose a place with sunshine," Patrick added.

"Exactly. He gets it."

"Do you often choose a destination simply to rest?" Aldric asked.

"Yes," Lucas said.

"With no other objective?"

"I understand the principle, but traveling several hundred kilometers in order to reduce one's activity seems paradoxical."

"Wait until you discover vacations," Emma said.

"I am familiar with the concept."

"Not really. You still turn a simple walk into a reconnaissance mission." Patrick burst out laughing.

"Observing an unfamiliar location remains useful." Lucas leaned toward Karim.

"Imagine him at the beach."

"He'd probably check the currents."

"That is indeed prudent," Aldric said. The conversation then shifted to their worst travel experiences. Lucas told them about a weekend in Belgium when he had forgotten his wallet at a gas station and only realized it an hour later.

"You really do forget everything," Patrick said.

"I got it back."

"After turning around."

"Detail."

"So two hours wasted," Karim said.

"One hour and fifty minutes."

"You just corrected a detail about time," Aldric pointed out. Patrick burst out laughing.

"He got you." Emma looked at Aldric.

"Was that intentional?"

"Partly." Lucas placed a hand over his heart.

"He's starting to make jokes. We're doomed."

"He's learning," Karim said. Their food arrived. Lucas looked at Patrick's burger.

"What?" Patrick asked.

"Yours looks bigger."

"They're identical."

"No." Patrick moved his plate closer.

"Do you want to measure them?"

"They appear to be approximately the same size," Aldric said. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Lucas turned toward him.

"I don't need an expert opinion." Emma burst out laughing. The subject of travel eventually gave way to movies. Lucas asked Aldric if he had watched anything else since their movie night. Aldric replied that he had started a series Emma had recommended.

"And?" Patrick asked.

"Some of the characters still make questionable decisions." Lucas set down his fork.

"You know a series can't work if everyone always makes the best decisions."

"Why?"

"Because there wouldn't be any problems."

"So that means many plots deliberately rely on incompetence or a lack of communication." Emma raised a finger.

"There. Exactly." Patrick smiled.

"He just summarized half of all TV shows."

"And maybe part of real life too," Karim said. Lucas turned toward him.

"Very philosophical tonight." Karim shrugged.

"It happens."

"What about the movies you watched when you were kids?" Emma asked." Indiana Jones. My father loved those movies. We watched the first three together whenever they were on TV," Patrick said.

"The first three?" Aldric asked.

"They made more after that, but that's not important," Patrick replied. Lucas nodded.

"For once, I completely agree with him."

"For me, it was mostly Disney. The Lion King, Mulan, Aladdin... I could probably still recite half the dialogue," Emma said." Mulan?" Aldric repeated.

"A young woman disguises herself as a man so she can join the army in her father's place."

"Does she succeed?"

"Do you really want me to tell you how it ends?"

"Yes."

"No." Lucas burst out laughing.

"She's trying to protect you from spoilers."

"From what?"

"We'll deal with that later," Emma said. Karim set down his glass.

"For me, it was The Prince of Egypt. I watched it more times than I can count."

"Very good choice," Patrick said approvingly.

"And you?" Emma asked, looking at Lucas.

"Easy. Terminator 2. I watched it at least twenty times when I was a teenager."

"Twenty times?" Aldric repeated.

"At least."

"Did the story change between viewings?" A brief silence fell around the table before Emma burst out laughing.

"No," Lucas replied.

"That's the whole point."

"Then why watch it twenty times?"

"Because it's Terminator 2... That movie is excellent."

"Wasn't a second viewing enough?"

"No."

"Twenty viewings represent several dozen hours devoted to the same story." Lucas set down his fork.

"When you put it like that, it sounds like a problem."

"Because it was," Patrick said. Karim explained that these days, he mostly watched whatever his son chose.

"I've seen the same cartoon four times in one month." Lucas raised a finger.

"See? Him too." Karim shook his head.

"I didn't choose it."

"The result is the same."

"Not at all."

"Doesn't Yanis get tired of already knowing the story?" Aldric asked.

"That's exactly what he likes. He knows what's going to happen."

"That reduces uncertainty."

"See? Maybe Lucas does the same thing," Emma said. Lucas nodded.

"Exactly." The conversation continued and eventually returned to their childhoods. Patrick talked about a house smaller than the one he owned today, a father who fixed everything himself, and a garage where almost no tool was ever stored in the right place.

"So your obsession with tools comes from childhood trauma..."

"My father knew exactly where everything was."

"Like me before the cleanup..." Patrick went on to explain that he had learned DIY skills very early because his father refused to throw away anything that could still be repaired.

"He always said that something being broken didn't necessarily make it useless."

"That philosophy seems reasonable to me." Emma then talked about her childhood in Brittany, the small village where she had grown up, and summers that seemed to last forever. Part of her vacations, however, took place much farther south. Since childhood, she had regularly traveled to Spain to visit her grandparents and the rest of her family. She talked about the long journeys, the heat that greeted her as soon as she arrived, and the weeks spent surrounded by cousins, uncles, and aunts.

"We barely had any Internet connection there."

"How did you survive?" Lucas asked.

"We went out."

"Outside?"

"Yes, Lucas. The outside world." Karim smiled.

"There are trees."

"I've seen them before."

"There were also trees near your apartment when we went to the park," Aldric said.

"Thank you for confirming my experience with nature." This time, even Aldric smiled before the others did.

"You did that on purpose," Emma said.

"Perhaps..." Lucas placed both hands on the table.

"No..." Patrick burst out laughing.

"Too late."

"We taught him irony. Now he's dangerous." Karim then talked about growing up in a large family. He had four brothers and three sisters, which meant meals were rarely quiet. He explained that his mother always prepared too much food because she was afraid an unexpected guest might show up. She still had that habit today. Emma smiled.

"Does Samira do the same thing?"

"Yes. But she claims it's because Yanis eats a lot."

"At seven?"

"Seven and a half," Lucas corrected. Karim burst out laughing.

"He really made an impression on you."

"I don't want to make that mistake again." Aldric then shared some memories from his own childhood. He talked about his first years of training, long days spent riding horses, and visits to the fortress where his father worked.

"You were already training when you were a kid?" Lucas asked.

"I began learning the basics when I was around seven or eight."

"Yanis's age," Karim said.

"Approximately."

"With real swords?"

"Wooden weapons." Lucas looked at Karim.

"See? You can still sign him up."

"No."

"I didn't even finish."

"No." They moved on to cooking. Patrick asked Aldric how many recipes he knew by now.

"Twelve that I can prepare without consulting instructions."

"I'm impressed," Emma said.

"He probably has a ranking..."

"I have not established one."

"Yet," Patrick replied.

"Some recipes are simpler than others, however."

"Which one is your best?" Karim asked.

"Probably the chicken with vegetables." Emma nodded.

"It's really good." Lucas looked at Aldric.

"Wait. Emma's already tried it? What about us?"

"What about you?"

"Why have we never tasted it?"

"He doesn't have to cook for us," Patrick said.

"You don't want to try it?"

"I do." Karim smiled.

"Me too."

"You just walked right into that one," Emma said.

"I can prepare that dish." Lucas raised his glass.

"There we go."

"But I will determine the quantities in advance." Lucas shook his head.

"Did you have to ruin the moment?" Lucas then told them about one of his former jobs at a call center.

"I lasted three weeks."

"Only three?" Emma asked.

"Three weeks and two days."

"Why did you leave so quickly?" Aldric asked.

"Because I had to repeat the same sentence five hundred times a day."

"What sentence?""'Hello, sir. I'm calling today to tell you about an exceptional offer.'" Patrick started laughing.

"By the end of the second week, I was dreaming about that sentence."

"You quit?"

"Almost." Patrick cut in.

"He got into an argument with his supervisor."

"We had a professional disagreement..."

"You told him his script was stupid."

"Exactly. Professional disagreement." Emma laughed.

"Your comment probably lacked diplomacy," Aldric said. Lucas looked at him.

"Probably?..."

"Certainly." The whole table burst out laughing. Lucas placed a hand against his chest.

"This evening is very hard on me."

"You'll recover," Patrick said.

"I was the victim of an organization incapable of recognizing my talent."

"Three weeks seems like a relatively short period of time to demonstrate that talent."

"Patrick..."

"What?"

"Do something."

"I'm enjoying this."

"Me too," Karim said. Aldric took a sip of water.

"Did I make a mistake?" Emma shook her head.

"Whatever you do, don't change." The waitress returned to ask if they wanted dessert, and Lucas picked up the menu. Patrick checked the time on his phone.

"Oh."

"What?" Karim asked. Patrick showed him the screen.

"Ten fifteen."

"Already?" Lucas looked around.

"That's fine." Aldric ordered a coffee and agreed to share a slice of cake with Emma when she said she wouldn't be able to finish it on her own. Lucas ordered an ice cream sundae that Patrick said was far too large, which Lucas interpreted as a challenge.

"I'm going to eat the whole thing."

"No one told you to do that," Karim said.

"Now they have." Lucas's ice cream arrived.

"Good luck." Lucas stared at the dessert.

"I acknowledge a slight error in judgment."

"You can stop when you're no longer hungry," Aldric said.

"There's a principle at stake now."

"What principle?"

"I don't know yet, but it exists." With the desserts almost finished, the waitress returned to their table to collect the first plates. When she reached Lucas, she stopped when she saw the sundae still half full in front of him.

"Are you finished?"

"Yes. I give up." Patrick immediately turned toward him.

"Excuse me?"

"I said I give up." Karim looked at the sundae, then at Lucas.

"You spent ten minutes telling us you could finish it."

"I was younger back then..."

"That was twenty minutes ago," Emma said.

"A lot can change in twenty minutes." Patrick pointed at the sundae.

"There's almost half of it left."

"Thank you, Patrick. I was trying not to look at it."

"Shall I take it?" the waitress asked.

"Yes. And I'd prefer it if we never spoke about this again."

"Absolutely not," Karim replied.

"We'll still be talking about it in ten years," Patrick confirmed.

"You did say that dessert was 'barely big enough for one person.'""I made an error in judgment."

"You also refused when I offered to help you," Aldric said.

"Thank you for reminding me of my mistakes, Aldric."

"I thought we were establishing the reasons for your failure." The waitress finally took the sundae along with the other dishes.

"Would you like anything else?"

"A coffee for me," Patrick replied.

"Same for me," Karim added. Lucas held out his glass.

"Just water."

"No second ice cream?" Emma asked.

"I can still leave." She laughed before turning to the waitress.

"I'll have another tea." The waitress finally looked at Aldric.

"And for you?"

"Nothing, thank you." Once she walked away, Patrick looked at Lucas.

"You know she just left with the evidence."

"What evidence?"

"Of your defeat." Lucas sighed.

"I knew I should've stayed home."

"You say that now," Emma replied, "but in a week, you'll be the one telling everyone this story."

"Absolutely not."

"You still tell stories about things that happened to you when you were ten," Karim pointed out. Lucas shrugged.

"Good stories deserve to be preserved."

"Even the embarrassing ones?" Emma asked.

"Especially when they happened to other people." The remark shifted the conversation toward childhood memories and the stories their families still brought up years later. Emma shared a few from the vacations she used to spend with her family.

"My grandmother always called me Emi when I was little." Emma immediately realized her mistake.

"I shouldn't have said that..."

"Way too late. Emi," Lucas said.

"Only my family calls me that."

"Emi," Lucas repeated with a smile.

"I forbid you from doing that again."

"All right, Emi." Emma gave him a look that only made his smile widen, while Karim shook his head.

"You really are asking for trouble."

"Now I want to know yours," Lucas said. Patrick picked up his coffee.

"No."

"You had one."

"I never said that."

"You answered too quickly."

"I simply answered your question." Karim looked at Patrick.

"He's right. That was fast."

"Now I want to know too," Emma said.

"There's nothing to know."

"So you did have one," Lucas concluded.

"That is absolutely not what I just said."

"Patrick," Emma cut in, "you do realize that the more you refuse to answer, the more we're going to insist?" Patrick looked at Emma, Lucas, and Karim before turning to Aldric.

"At least you're not going to take part in this."

"I'm curious as well." Lucas slapped his palm against the table.

"Four against one." Patrick sighed.

"You're unbearable."

"The nickname," Lucas insisted.

"Patou." Lucas blinked.

"Patou?" Patrick pointed at him.

"One comment and I'm leaving." Lucas clapped a hand over his mouth while Emma burst out laughing. Even Karim had to look away to hide his smile.

"It was my mother," Patrick clarified.

"I was six."

"Of course, Patou," Lucas replied. Patrick closed his eyes.

"I knew I should never have told you."

"Now Karim," Emma announced. Karim shook his head.

"Oh no," Lucas protested.

"Patrick just sacrificed his dignity. Everyone participates."

"Kaki..." Lucas frowned.

"Kaki?"

"My little brother couldn't pronounce Karim. It stuck for a few years."

"Kaki and Patou," Lucas murmured.

"This evening is exceptional." Emma crossed her arms.

"And you?" Lucas's smile disappeared.

"Me?"

"You wanted to know everyone else's."

"I was simply starting a conversation."

"Your nickname, Lucas," Karim said.

"Lulu..."

"I still prefer Patou," Karim said.

"No one asked you to rank them."

"Why alter your names when they are already short enough?" Aldric asked. Lucas turned toward him.

"Don't look for logic. Families just do that." Aldric nodded before looking at Emma.

"Emi."

"Not you too, Aldric..." The waitress passed by again. She did not ask them anything this time, but slowed down near the table before walking away. Lucas watched her go.

"I think she wants us to leave." Karim looked around the dining room. They were the last ones there.

"Maybe." Patrick checked the time on his phone.

"Ten to eleven." Emma's eyes widened.

"All right. We really should go now." Lucas sighed.

"I was just getting comfortable."

"You've been sitting for more than three hours," Aldric said.

"Exactly. My body has adapted to the chair."

"You'll have to learn how to walk again," Karim said.

"Thank you for understanding." They finally asked for the bill. Aldric suggested dividing it exactly according to what each person had ordered. Lucas shook his head.

"We split it five ways." Aldric looked at the different amounts.

"You ordered more than Karim." Lucas smiled.

"And one day Karim will order more than me." Karim raised an eyebrow.

"Unlikely."

"That's not the point." Emma placed her card on the table.

"We split it."

"That method may create a slight inequality."

"We'll survive," Patrick said.

"Very well," Aldric replied.

"He just accepted a voluntary financial inequality."

"He's making incredible progress." They finally left the restaurant shortly after eleven. Several shops had already closed, and the traffic was much lighter than it had been at the beginning of the evening. They stayed outside the restaurant for a few minutes, finishing a conversation about a series Lucas wanted to watch. Patrick and Karim would be heading in the same direction for part of the journey. Emma and Aldric would be going toward a different station. Lucas put his hands in his pockets.

"Well. That was good." Patrick smiled.

"Detailed analysis."

"I learned from Aldric."

"My analysis would probably have been more precise." When they reached the intersection where their paths were supposed to separate, Karim stopped. Patrick turned his head.

"Everything okay?"

"Yes. Well... I need a favor." Everyone turned to look at him.