A dozen? Jane had almost forgotten how much she’d liked Summer back in high school, but it was starting to come back to her. She grinned. “A dozen doughnuts sounds perfect,” she said, and went up to the counter.
“Oh, that’s one hell of a story. It all sort of goes together, too.” She hadn’t really told it to many people, because most people she knew now were well aware of exactly what had happened. She ordered their dozen doughnuts, an assortment of glazed, powdered, jelly-filled, and chocolate, as well as a very large cup of coffee for herself, waiting for Summer before she headed outside and found them a table to sit at.
“How crazy would it sound if I told you that I met Thor because he crash-landed on Earth after he was kicked out of Asgard and I hit him with my car?”
Summer spluttered into the doughnut she was putting into her mouth. “I would say, that sounds exactly like you. We gotta find you a driver!” She licked her fingers contemplatively. “Kicked out of Asgard, huh? Is that why the alien invasion? They don’t give us peons a whole lot of information.”
“No, no, the whole invasion happened a while after all that,” Natalie said, shaking her head and picking up one of the chocolate-glazed doughnuts. “Thor got kicked out temporarily and ended up in New Mexico. I ended up picking him up, and he stayed at my place for… only about a week before he left again. But his brother, Loki? He was jealous, so he sent this… Destroyer thing to come and kill Thor.” She shrugged, taking a bite from her doughnut. “Big heroic thing happened, Thor got his powers back, had to go back to Asgard to stop his brother, and ended up getting stuck there for a while.”
She took a sip from her coffee, washing down the bite of doughnut and licking her lips. “S.H.I.E.L.D. kind of got involved in the middle of it all. When Thor got here, they realized something was up, so they sent a whole unit out to New Mexico. They stole all of my equipment and research. The only reason I got it back was because Thor refused to help them unless they did.” She smirked. “But we’re on good terms, now.”
“You go away, and your life turns into a soap opera. So, you’re dating Thor? Even though he was gone for a while, and you only knew him for a week before that … ” Summer drawled. “I just … forgive me, honey, but I have to — ” She closed her eyes and touched the back of Jane’s hand for a second, before her eyes popped back open.
“Wow. That’s just … wow. You really care about him. That’s … ” Her voice softened from the spurt of surprise. “That’s wonderful.”