[Mixed Muses] Dinner with Simon and Luke

[his_sarah_jane]

She can't remember the last time she has really felt this nervous. It isn't been the first time Sarah Jane had brought Simon home to show him Ealing and her little world. But it is the first time she has brought him home to meet her son. It is, quite possibly, the first time that she has brought anyone of the male persuasion home to meet her son.

Sarah is, quite surprisingly to herself, a nervous wreck.

The dinner table is properly dressed with a table cloth. There are candles and flowers on the table and she has actually spent a good part of her day in the kitchen. Her best silverware and dishes aere out on the table. And, she thinks, the meal smells decent enough. She likes to cook, on occasion. But Sarah Jane knows that she is far from being the best cook in the world.

Now she only needs Luke to come home from Clyde's. She turns to smile at Simon, glancing quickly at her watch.

"He ought to be here any moment."

Comments

[slasherofprices.livejournal.com]

"That's a very good skill to have," he says obviously. "Do you intend on becoming a mathematician someday?"

[born-running.livejournal.com]

"I like math, and I'm good at it," he restates, searching for a fault in his reasoning. "Doesn't that make me a mathematician already?"

[his-sarah-jane.livejournal.com]

"In a way it does," Sarah Jane replies in an attempt to reassure Luke. "What Simon means, Luke, is that you can do it someday as a career. If you want to, that is."

[slasherofprices.livejournal.com]

"A very noble career, too. Mathematicians are among the ones who contribute most to humanity." And Skinner is all about contributing to the greater good.

[born-running.livejournal.com]

With just a touch of worry, "Isn't what I am now good enough?"

[his-sarah-jane.livejournal.com]

"It's more than enough," she promises, reaching out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You have plenty of time to decide what to do with your life. There's absolutely no rush. None at all."

[slasherofprices.livejournal.com]

Simon has the distinct feeling that he's said something wrong, and, as a result, says nothing at all.

[born-running.livejournal.com]

He looks a tad relieved; he has so much to learn already.

[his-sarah-jane.livejournal.com]

And then?

Then there is awkward silences. Sarah Jane hadn't known what to expect from proposing her boys meet over dinner. Perhaps now wasn't the best of times. Perhaps there never would be a best of times.

She sighs quietly, picking at the chicken dish she had made. There has to be something they could share. There ought to...

"Luke, why don't you share with Simon what Clyde taught you today?"

[born-running.livejournal.com]

"He's been teaching me how to tell jokes," he tells Simon, his face lighting up eagerly.

"Knock-knock."

[slasherofprices.livejournal.com]

Jokes? Skinner likes jokes. Especially corny ones. This sounds like it's going to be a corny one.

"Who's there?"

[born-running.livejournal.com]

"Nobody."

[slasherofprices.livejournal.com]

"Nobody ?" He's supposed to say something corny like "Doctor," so Simon can say...

Oh, wait: "Nobody who?"

[born-running.livejournal.com]

This is where Luke just grins, a bit, and says nothing.

[slasherofprices.livejournal.com]

Simon pouts.

He can has punchline nao plees?






Give him a minute.




Ok!

"Oh!" he exclaims, finally getting the joke.

He thinks.

[his-sarah-jane.livejournal.com]

Sarah Jane laughs, shaking her head a little. "I believe you've met your match, Simon."

[born-running.livejournal.com]

Luke was starting to get a little worried in the time it took for Simon to understand, but when he does, Luke beams. He successfully told a joke!

[slasherofprices.livejournal.com]

"Hardly," Simon says. Then: "Knock knock."

[born-running.livejournal.com]

! A new joke!

"Who's there?"

[slasherofprices.livejournal.com]

"Luke."

No, not Luke Smith.

Or Skywalker.

[his-sarah-jane.livejournal.com]

"Luke?" Sarah asks, confused.

[born-running.livejournal.com]

"But that's me," he asserts, equally confused.

[slasherofprices.livejournal.com]

"No. It's a different Luke. It's Luke out, here comes another knock knock joke!"

Booya!

[his-sarah-jane.livejournal.com]

"Oh," she mutters before laughing.

That one was quite possibly worse than Luke's.

[born-running.livejournal.com]

...

No, he doesn't understand it, and is so completely mixed up by now that he asks, "Knock-knock...?"