Snippet #2232892

Arthur watched her with a dull expression as Lauri took her sweet time answering his question. She was probably purposely doing it to agitate him, though she probably also knew that he was done with his food and wanted to get going and she needed to hurry up and eat. Finally she leaned back in her chair, chewing on some french fries before at last answering him. And the moment she mentioned still having to get alcohol he readied himself to stand up and throw his food away when her sentence was unexpectedly cut off.

A couple of young children had bumped into her chair while running after each other. Why they were alone wasn't really the first though that came to mind as they quickly apologized and then left.

"Wonder where their parents are, letting a couple of kids go off alone like that.."

He sighed and shrugged, standing up and picking up his plate. "Who knows." He said simply, turning towards the restaurant entrance and tossing his food into the trash. He watched the two kids make their way over the civilian crossing, about to turn back to the table to throw away his drink when he noticed something fall from the little girls arm and land on the pavement. It only took him a second to figure out it was a small children's purse before watching the boy who was probably the little girls brother run back for it. The red light flashed green and he heard Lauri yell his name, but he was already on his way down the sidewalk a good four to five feet ahead of her and doing a fair job at not bumping into anyone. He took a sharp turn at the corner, his shoe sliding a couple inches on the cement but he kept his balance as he leaped out into the street.

The moment passed by in a flash, a truck horn flaring and a few worried yelps from the audience. Once the truck passed, those on the side Arthur leaped from could see the him lying on his side on the sidewalk with his eyes closed, holding a shaking boy against him. The red-head opened his eyes and lay still for a moment before letting out a rough sigh and forcing himself to sit up. "Dumb kid.", He scoffed, taking in a breath and releasing his arms. The poor boy had the most terrified look on his face and Arthur couldn't help but feel a little bad for scolding him. "Didn't my friend just tell you to be careful running around? Are you hurt at all?"

The boy shook his head, but Arthur couldn't really say the same for himself. He'd slammed his side quite hard onto the cement sidewalk and he could feel that his right arm and most likely his right side were going to be bruised for a while, not to mention the cloth on his shoulder had ripped and most of the skin looked to be scraped, but it wasn't anything serious. The only thing that mattered at the moment was that the boy wasn't hurt. Arthur pushed himself up off the sidewalk, wincing a little at the pain in his arm and side, but ignoring it the best he could as he took on a mostly straight stance and looked over to Lauri across the street. "I got him.", he called to her, managing to give her a smile and a thumbs up with his left hand.