Chapter Eight

Helena went crashing to the floor and Kenny scurried to help her up.

“What the hell Dana? Why’d you do that for?” he yelled.

Helena got up gingerly rubbing her now throbbing jaw.

“Bloody hell Dana! What in the world has gotten into you?”

“Stop calling me Dana,” yelled Karen, looking frantically between the both of them.

“Karen, I’m sorry,” said Kenny, trying to regain control of the situation. “This is Helena. She’s…she’s…my…aunt. Yeah, she’s my aunt.”

Helena turned to Kenny wide-eyed. Karen wasn’t going to fall for that.

“Your aunt?” asked Karen, skeptical.

“Yes. I can’t believe you just hit my aunt. I mean, what the fuck?”

Karen looked a little sheepish and Kenny uttered a silent prayer of thanks. She was falling for it.

“I’m…um….I’m really sorry. Really,” said Karen, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Well, Karen…that’s quite alright. I’m not going to sue you. But, make sure it doesn’t happen again. And…fetch me some aspirin.”

“Yes ma’am,” said Karen.

The table was still quite in shock of what had just happened as Helena and Kenny sat down. 

“Holy shit,” said Helena, getting a good look at Ti…um…Randy.

“Hi, I’m Kenny’s friend Randy,” she said extending her hand for Helena to shake.

“Hello Randy,” said Helena shaking her hand, and turning to Jake, who extended his as well.

“I’m Jake and these are our dates Lucy and Alex,” said Jake.

“Hello,” said Helena to the both of them.

“Hi,” said Alex.

“We met,” said Lucy.

“Yes,” agreed Helena, “we did. This morning, actually.”

“Uh huh. You kept calling me Alice,”

“I did,”

“Yeah…,” said Lucy, nodding, “Why is that?”

“I…um…because…you see…”

“It’s an English thing,” said Kenny coming to the rescue. “You know. Like we American’s say guy or dude. They say Alice.”

“Really?” said Alex.

“Absolutely,” said Kenny, turning to Helena who was looking at him like he had absolutely lost his mind, “Right auntie?”

“Certainly,” said Helena.

“So what do you do Randy?” asked Alex, shifting the gear of the conversation to avoid further weirdness. As if, right? Karen returned shortly thereafter with a glass of water and the aspirin. She, Jake, and Lucy fell into a heated discussion about women’s role in society, while Alex and Randy quietly busied themselves with getting to know one another. Helena and Kenny just sat back and watched the scene unfold, occasionally joining in on the conversations. After a few drinks, Helena started to relax and the throbbing of her jaw disappeared.