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Disclaimer: I don’t own Gundam Wing and am making no money off of this fic.
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Honey and Vinegar by luvsanime02
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Hilde struggles to keep a straight face and not start choking, but she’s not the most graceful of people normally, and she’s very surprised at the moment. There are few times that are worse to find out that your drink is unexpectedly at least two-thirds alcohol than right as you’ve just taken a big gulp.
It’s a luncheon with her mom’s friends, for crying out loud. An outside one, in July. Hilde’s been dying of thirst for an hour now, and when the drinks finally arrived, she’d just assumed that they were raspberry lemonade and drank deeply.
Well, that explains why everyone else is sipping theirs carefully. Somehow, she manages to finish swallowing her mouthful without choking, and then Hilde takes a minute to carefully breathe. Her eyes are watering, and she’s sure that her face is red. Damn.
A few older women off to her right, who look like gentle grandmothers, clink their glasses together and chug. Hilde is half-horrified but mostly impressed. Especially when they all smack their lips and look perfectly fine afterwards. She hopes that her stomach is that strong someday.
In the meantime, Hilde waits a few more minutes before taking a much more cautious sip this time. She didn’t get to taste anything but the alcohol before, but now, she gets the tartness of the lemonade. And the burn of the alcohol, because these drinks really are somewhat on the heavy side. By a lot.
No wonder her mom never drives herself home after these things.
Which would be why Hilde’s even there right now. Usually, her mom’s best friend picks her up, but Hilde had to play chauffeur today. Something about her mom’s friend having a doctor’s appointment she couldn’t reschedule.
Now Hilde’s wondering if the woman’s seeing someone about her liver. Wouldn’t be surprising, if she’s had a few of these drinks every week.
There’s not even any food at this thing, which really is a huge mistake, in Hilde’s opinion. Shit, she drove here, and even though she’s only had one glass, she’s feeling floaty. Well, that’s enough ‘lemonade’ for her today. Hilde sets the empty glass down and walks quietly away from the small tables set up around the open area.
This whole place is way too fancy for her tastes. It’s some country club, which Hilde hadn’t even known her mom belonged to. At least Hilde can walk around some, and not just sit and wait for her mom to be done socializing. Hilde has her phone on her. If her mom wants Hilde to come back and get her, then she can send a text.
For now, though, Hilde’s on a mission to find something to eat. She’ll settle for something non-alcoholic to drink, but food would be good, too.
The main building feels cool when Hilde steps inside, and she sighs quietly, closing her eyes to enjoy a brief moment of peace. Some cheering and kids’ voices catch her attention, and Hilde finds herself walking down a hallway until she comes across two open doors leading to an event room. It’s huge, of course, and packed with people. Some kind of party, obviously.
There’s also food inside that Hilde can smell from the doorway.
She really shouldn’t just gatecrash some party, but seriously, there are so many people inside that Hilde doubts anyone will remember her face. She enters, walking along the perimeter of the room to try and spot where the food is.
Three people smile and nod at her, but no one tries to talk, and no one frowns and asks her what she’s doing there, so Hilde counts it as a win. Even better, she finds the food. It’s set out across three large tables as a buffet, and Hilde happily loads a plate up.
She takes a cup of punch, carefully sipping first to test, but no, it’s fine. She’d seen some of the kids get cups of the same stuff, so Hilde had been hoping that it wasn’t alcoholic, but apparently, you can’t be too careful about things like that in this place.
Hilde spends the next hour nodding politely to people and eating good food and listening to everyone around her talking and laughing, and it’s good. Her shoulders slowly loosen up, and Hilde hadn’t even realized how tense she’d been.
This is fun, even though she’s not really a part of the festivities. It’s nice to just be there and soak in the atmosphere.
Eventually, Hilde’s mom is going to want to leave. Eventually, this party will be over. For right now, though, everything feels perfect.