[Princeton] Polar opposites

[pullmysteth]

Who: Riley & Tab
Where: Riley's Apartment, Princeton
When: Saturday morning
Follows: Twin engagments on New Years

Comments

[asinthecity]

Tab was still eyeing Riley's wall like she was ready to jump up and start paining on it at any second. But the samples were for the house, not the apartment.

She stuck her tongue out as she picked up another pile of swatches. "They should just call the colours what they are. "Baby spew green, mucus green, pee yellow, shit brown..." Tab flicked through the pieces of card and frowned. "Whatever happened to the decent end of the colour palette? Can't you create your own colour?"

[pullmysteth]

"How would I even know what to create anyway? My colour analysis spans just that... colour of mucus, shit and vomit, and in the very literal sense." Riley blew his hair off his face, trying to make a note to remind himself to get a haircut. It had gone all curly and floppy and was starting to piss him off. "I can't even ask Pat's expert opinion because he's still in New York. Where are all the gay guys when you need them?"

[asinthecity]

"Getting laid?" Tab suggested as she tried looking at the colours upside down. They were still boring as all hell no matter which angle you looked at them from. "Can't you go for a light blue, or something? Not duck egg blue, or baby clothing blue... just a nice shade of light blue. Like... afternoon sky blue?"

[pullmysteth]

Riley shrugged non-committally. "The Clinic walls are that colour. Actually, half this palette is in PPPTH." He held up a rusty coloured swatch. "Third floor men's bathroom. I should just paint it all white and let Riley have at it with crayons when he's old enough."

[asinthecity]

"Yeah, but you're also smarter than me. I don't want to be like you are with Beth with Walker. I don't want anything to do with him," she said honestly. She used to wonder if she'd wanted to salvage their friendship, but there hadn't really been one to salvage. All those years had been about getting together, and then when they did--it exploded. "Look? They're all gone!" Tab took a deep breath and puffed out her cheeks as she blew away the memories.

"Want me to cut your hair, beanpole?" Tab finally asked, after watching him play with it all morning. "I think that's what Luke's parents are going to be like, only they're the Jacksons. And I so want to not break out into song in front of them because I keep thinking about the Jackson Five." Tab nudged his elbow and gave him an encouraging smile. "You can deal with Evie's dad, Big Bro. You're made of awesome, just like me."

[pullmysteth]

Riley sniggered. "I'm proud of you squirt. You and the 'all gone' didn't have any ties beyond whatever it was between you. Beth and I do. We have people who are mutually special to us. She has known Lachlan her whole life. It could have been awkward and messy if we didn't keep a mature head with this. We're some of the lucky ones who could keep the friendship."

"No, I want to keep my ears, thanks," he laughed. He grabbed some handfuls of it. "I could almost put it in pigtails. I hate it like this. Goes all fucking curly and blah. With your widdle Luke as Michael. You get to play with fun families. I get Evie's Dad who scares me even before I know him."

[asinthecity]

Tab smiled at the praise before she patted Riley's leg. "That's because you're mature, and you'd rather keep things civil and friendly than have a hate fest. You are lucky. I still like Beth, but Evie's your girl. She's the one you're meant for now."

Tab tugged on one of the locks. "Then make an appointment? You can spare twenty minutes for a haircut, right? At least do it before you meet Evie's dad. My widdle Luke is so much more talented than Michael. And he looks like a person. Hey, what if we arrange a dinner with you, me, Evie, Luke and Evie's dad? Safety in numbers and all that. Then he'd see you've got a crazy sister and you'll seem perfectly normal in comparison."

[pullmysteth]

"Beth's happy with Keiran... I think. I feel guilty that I haven't spoken much to her. They seem happy," Riley murmured. "I hope they are."

"Or he'll just single me out any way and mortify me in front of an even larger group, including my sister's fiance," Riley snorted. "He's her Dad, he can do or say whatever he pleases to me."