Meadow: A Sopranos Fanfic

Twirling the Jimmy Deans

"Hehehe, well if it isn't Pat Morita and the K-Pop boys!" Paulie Walnuts came in with open arms and all the wise guys in the room erupted into a collective "OH!" Coming in for pats on the back and drink handing. The Corso crew had no idea what the hell Paulie was talking about to begin with, seeing as only Volante and Furio were fluent in English and neither had arrived yet. Patsy was the only one who kind of got the joke but, that would make him Pat Morita, so his smile was purely skin deep.

All the placeholder furniture had been moved in while waiting for the actual ones to show up in the days to come. Bobby was sitting on a couch and smiling at the primitive exchange while enjoying a conversation with Alyssa Giglioni, Aunt Barb's daughter. Bobby was still big and harmless and kind, having made it a point in his fledgling career to not allow Hollywood to change him. A.J. had made no such promises and was mostly ignoring everyone, digging into the fridge through the abundance of food that people had been bringing in since noon. He pulled out a root beer, gave Paulie a 'Yea what's up' feigned-interest head nod and leaned back into a corner in order to people watch. Paulie was not amused. He made a signal at Meadow with his middle finger tucked in which Chrissy used to call the pitchfork.
Meadow was ignoring Paulie in light of AJ being there and was trying to keep certain appearances, offering everyone a few appetizers and refreshments instead. She turned to A.J. and he simply made a brow raise and pulled back the lips under his short beard in a 'uh, yea. This is awkward' kind of gesture. Besides him, unbeknownst to anyone in the room except for Meadow, sat Silvio with his own drink, nodding over at AJ while looking at her with that greasy Cagney smile she'd alway hated as if to say 'oh yea, we gotta problem.'

Volante and the Blundetto Twins arrived and the room exploded into another "OH!" and fresh pats and drinks all around. Still no word from Furio and her mom.
Meadow smiled at the full living room and gave Benny a look as if to indicate that it was his job to keep Patsy the fuck away from her. She then nodded for A.J. to follow her into the kitchen, which he did with another raise of his brow.

The male heir is here, she thought, not that anyone would possibly look at A.J. that way, but the question of Meadow being a female boss was suddenly a topic of discussion again because of it. How she handled this situation for the next few days was going to be very important in the eyes of everyone she had working under her; and yet she knew she needed to be mindful of more than that. This was her baby brother after all.
She eyed him for a moment, trying to find the changes that normally come with age, but when he looked back at her she realized she couldn't see any.
"Mom coming?" he asked in the quiet apathetic way he was known for while taking a swig of root beer.
"I hope she doesn't bring Mr. Weglur, fucking asshole," he said under his breath.
She went into the fridge to get the meat when she saw the Jimmy Deans and stopped, an old memory suddenly getting the best of her.

***

Meadow opened the door to her room, eyeing her watch with a box full of freshly washed clothes, realizing that she'd probably be late for her shift at the law center.
Downstairs, A.J. had just started munching on cereal at the counter.
"Where's mom?"
"UhhhI don't know. Out back I think," he responded.
Meadow headed over to the window and saw her dad coming out of the pool saying something that made her mother's body language shift uncomfortably somehow.
"They still at it?" She asked.
"I guess so," he said before pursing his lips and grabbing his cereal to eat somewhere quieter. She noticed this but couldn't shake the conversation she'd had with her mom the night before.
Looking back out the window, she noticed both of them heading into the pool house.
Taking a step to leave, she stopped in her tracks, painfully aware that an invisible magnet was not allowing her to do so.
She quietly closed the back door behind her and walked over to the pool house intent on making a scene,  but the muffled voices were beginning to make sense and she leaned against the wall, close to the door, instead.