Need more crack please.
Oooowwwwww!!!! *whine, whine* My head is killing me. And looking at the computer screen is hurting my eyes.
On the upside, it quit snowing outside. And I'm now going to spam my journal before taking a cold medicine induced nap.
So, going with the whole 'write what you know' theory, I started on this. I think, somewhere down the line I had delusions of someone trying hold up the store. Who knows, maybe someday I'll go back to it when the thought of Frank the dog and film and photos don't make me laugh at myself hysterically. >_> Plus, Brandon is severely lacking in the personality department...
*****
“Look, Cal, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tennessee scowled as Cal blew smoke in his face. This wasn’t the first conversation that Tennessee had been subjected to with the scrawny, brown haired teenager. Cal had started a couple months ago, and Tennessee often saw him standing outside the store, chain-smoking when Tennessee was out walking his Chihuahua, Frank.
“Course you do,” Cal grinned. “Jack says you and he go way back. Says you used to terrorize the neighborhood together,” Cal laughed as if the idea of Tennessee terrorizing anyone was a huge joke in itself and Tennessee had to resist the urge to shake the kid.
“I haven’t seen Jack in five years, and when I knew him he was bad news. I’m telling you, I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t think you do either, man.” Tennessee pulled his coat in tighter against the wind. Frank pulled against his leash to reach the one patch of grass in a fifty-foot radius. “How the hell did you meet Jack, anyway?”
“Cousin knows him back home, and Jack wanted to see some new scenery. I needed a new roommate to help with rent and bam.” Cal carelessly blew another puff of smoke into the air. Tennessee had to resist the urge to rip the cigarette out of the kid’s hands and stomp on it in frustration.
“He’s living with you.” Tennessee said tonelessly. “Man, I don’t think you know what you’re doing.”
“You got it all wrong, Ten,” Cal laughed, blowing another puff in Tennessee’s face. “He said there was some bad blood between you. Says it’s all a misunderstanding.”
“That’s not the way I remember it,” Tennessee muttered. “I remember that we were dumb ass kids who did dumb ass things before one of us took things too far.”
“He says he’s sorry,” Cal batted his eyes idiotically, obviously amused by Tennessee’s grudge.
“Look, Cal, I’ll tell you straight up. Whatever it is that he’s got you into? Get out. It’s a bad idea,” Tennessee decided to lay it out. He wouldn’t go so far as to say that Cal was a good kid, because he wasn’t. Tennessee could see the signs, most of which he knew first hand. But Cal wasn’t in Jack’s league. He had to know that after living with the guy for a week or two.
Of course, Cal wasn’t exactly breaking the sound barrier with the speed of this thought processes either.
“Ya have it all wrong,” Cal brushed off easily. “This’ll work like a charm. Wham, bam and we’re set. I just need you to cover for me today.”
“You’re out of your mind,” Tennessee told him curtly as Frank pawed at his pant leg. Picking up the Chihuahua, he decided he didn’t care if Cal thought he looked ridiculous holding his scrawny dog under his coat in the cold. Frank gave his chin a grateful lick. “If I take your shift I’ll be at work for twelve hours. You’re insane if you think I’m doing that. Especially if you think I’m doing it to help out with some stupid ass plan that Jack has you talked into.”
“C’mon, Ten. Be a pal.” Cal blew another puff and Tennessee resisted the urge to glare.
“No. Find another patsy to take the fall, because it ain’t gonna be me.” Tennessee turned on his heel and left before Cal could talk him out of it.
-------
Tennessee was not having a good day. His back ached, his feet hurt, and the next customer that came up to him and demanded the impossible he might just have to wring the neck of for the good of humanity as a whole. The place had been a mad house all day, and Tennessee had been busy trying to both help ring customers and get to all the film that everyone, of course, wanted in an hour or less.
“Hey, Rhode Island, you look beat.”
Daring to take a peak over at the customer, Tennessee was beyond relieved to see Brandon, leaning on the counter. Brandon the regular. Brandon who Tennessee looked cautiously forward to seeing whenever he went in to work.
As was usual, Brandon wasn’t exactly dressed to impress with grungy blue jeans, a black shirt and baggy dark blue flannel shirt. He’d gotten a haircut since the last time he’d been in, Tennessee could tell, since his dark brown curls weren’t falling into his dark brown eyes.
“I’m exhausted,” Tennessee confided, “it’s been busy.” Which was the truth since it was a weekend and the college was holding some kind of arts fair just down the block. There had been everyone from old hippies to yuppies to curious families to bored college students.
“Have you had a chance to look outside? See the festival?” Brandon idly pulled a 1-hour envelope out of the stand and twirled a pen in his hand.
“It’s been too busy. I haven’t had a break since I got here this morning, and I won’t be leaving until long after that festival is over with,” he sighed, running a hand through his own board straight blond hair. He was pretty sure his normally blue eyes were bloodshot since they felt so dry. Truth be told, he was tired already and he knew that the minute he stepped foot in his apartment, he was going to fall right into bed and sleep like the dead. Well, after he took the time to give Frank a short walk and feed him, that was.
“Oh.” Was it his imagination or did Brandon look disappointed? He might have asked, but he could see that Kayla was getting swamped on the register so he let Brandon finish filling out the envelope as he rang up a roll of antacids, some trash bags, and two cases of beer. By the time he got away from the check-out counter and back to photo, Brandon was perusing the film. Because Brandon always looked at the film.
“So, another roll, huh?” Tennessee didn’t have to look at the envelope to know that Brandon wanted singles, glossy finish, 3x5 paper. It’s what Brandon always got.
“Yeah, got some interesting people this time,” Brandon mumbled before finally picking out a roll of film. “Gonna give my babies the respect they deserve, Connecticut?”
“Sure,” Tennessee favored him with a wry grin, putting Brandon’s envelope on the counter behind him before walking over to a check out register. It never ceased to amaze him that Brandon would get his film developed at a dive like this. His pictures were always professional looking, and a bit refreshing after hours of blurry pictures of babies, fat people on the beach and naked stripers at bachelor parties. “What time are you coming back for ‘em?”
“What time are you getting off?” Brandon asked.
“N-nine,” Tennessee stammered a bit taken back by Brandon’s intensity.
“Then that’s when I’ll be back for them, Massachusetts,” he gave Tennessee a wink and then waltzed out the door. Tennessee let himself be bewildered by the whole thing for maybe two seconds before he was forced to get back to work.
By the time nine’ o’clock rolled around Tennessee was beyond tired. He was bone weary and feeling every one of the twelve hours he’d put in today covering both his shift and Cal’s. And Cal owed him big time. Pity it was more than likely that Craig was going to be firing him shortly and he’d never have a chance to make it up to Tennessee. But at this point, he figured Cal got what he deserved since Craig had to call Tennessee in this morning for the fourth time in two weeks in order to cover Cal’s shift.
Pulling on a jacket, he bid Kayla goodbye and walked out into the blustery wind. It wasn’t raining yet, but it was going to pretty soon. He’d only lived here about three years, but enough nights of walking home by himself and getting drenched had made him a bit more knowledgeable then most when it came to the weather.
Just about the time that he rounded the corner and made it to the end of the block, the skies opened up and Tennessee scowled as the rain came pouring down. Pulling out his old green stocking cap, he glumly threw it over his now wet white-blond hair and hunched his shoulders.
“Yo, Colorado!”
Almost in disbelief, Tennessee found himself turning around slightly to see someone running after him with an umbrella. “Brandon?” Why on Earth the guy was out in this kind of weather was beyond Tennessee.
“I thought I’d missed you,” Brandon managed to gasp out, shoving the umbrella over Tennessee as he tried to catch his breath. Not wanting Brandon to get wet, and not particularly willing to stand in the rain himself, Tennessee moved closer.
“Did you get your pictures?” Tennessee was a bit mystified as to why Brandon was chasing him down. He knew the pictures were done and priced and ready. They’d turned out wonderful as they usually did since Brandon obviously knew how to use a camera.
“Yeah, but I kinda wanted to talk to you. Sorry I was late. I got caught up with stuff.”
“Um, okay.” Tennessee wasn’t too sure what to say. While he had regulars that he knew by name and talked to happily in the store, he wasn’t quite used to seeing them outside of that particular setting. And he certainly wasn’t used to them wanting to talk to him. About anything. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Er, why don’t we go and get a cup of coffee?” Brandon looked at him hopefully. Tennessee just stared for a moment, listening to the rain drops plink on the umbrella and pound the pavement around them.
It had been a long day, with many people and the last thing Tennessee felt like doing was subjecting himself to more people. And given the way the wind was blowing, he could tell that it wouldn’t be too long before this rain turned to sleet and then snow. The closest coffee shop was three blocks in the opposite direction of his apartment, which was still five blocks from here. “I really don’t think,” he started only to catch sight of Brandon’s face falling in disappointment, “my apartment’s not too far from here, you just want to come over for a cup instead?”
He wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing. He didn’t have people over. He usually didn’t socialize period despite the invitations his coworkers gave to hang out or to party. It wasn’t so much that Tennessee thought he was above them, although he knew some of them thought that. It was more that he just wasn’t that type of person. He’d moved here to see if he could make it on his own, and he was. He was doing all right, and no he wasn’t ever going to acknowledge how empty his life seemed at times, thank you very much.
Moving here. Being here by himself. It wasn’t about having a life. It was about proving that he could. Without help. Without pity. It wasn’t about having fun or screwing up. He wasn’t going to let it be.
“Sounds great, lead the way,” Brandon beamed, holding the umbrella over them both as Tennessee turned slightly and proceeded to lead the way. Of course, this was a first on many fronts. Even before moving so far away from home, Tennessee had never quite gotten along with complete strangers this well.
Maybe it was that Brandon wasn’t a totally unknown person. Tennessee had seen him practically every other day since he’d started working at the store.
“Do you take pictures for a living?” he asked quietly, hating how the silence was stretching between them. Brandon seemed utterly relieved and Tennessee gave him a slight quizzical glance in return.
“No, I just like doing it for fun. I got the idea a while back to just take pictures while I people watch and it just kind of sprang to life from there. I’ve got a couple albums at home of some of the better ones,” Brandon grinned.
“I like the ones you take of the old people in Montgomery Park.” Tennessee smiled. “I mean, I see half of them in the store all the time, and it’s just interesting to see them doing something else. They look relaxed. More themselves. And I like imagining what their lives have been like and how they’ve lived them.” And the minute he’d said it, he wished he could take it back.
Because this wasn’t superficial small talk he could shrug off the minute Brandon left. These weren’t the pretty lies he sometimes told just to make conversation. These were best thoughts kept to himself.
“I like putting those pictures next to the shots of the kids on the playground. One group is a wealth of experience and the other is all about promise. It’s just a nice contrast,” Brandon offered with a reassuring smile as Tennessee came to a halt at the steps of his apartment building. A building that had seemed perfectly fine and respectable when he’d first moved here, but now seemed run down and drab with its grey brick front, the chipped concrete steps and the ugly brown door. Tennessee hated to think what it looked like from Brandon’s perspective.
“Kids make me sad,” Tennessee blurted out, pulling out his keys and opening the door by way of explanation to Brandon’s unasked question as to what they were doing here at this particular spot. “They look so happy, and you have to know that it’s so short lived. They have no idea what life has in store for them or what hard knocks it’s going to give ‘em. They’re just happy that they can use the swings or play in the sand. They have no idea what they’re in for.”
“I never quite looked at it like that,” Brandon said thoughtfully as Tennessee led them up the even uglier rickety stairs to the third floor and the door to his apartment.
On the upside, it quit snowing outside. And I'm now going to spam my journal before taking a cold medicine induced nap.
So, going with the whole 'write what you know' theory, I started on this. I think, somewhere down the line I had delusions of someone trying hold up the store. Who knows, maybe someday I'll go back to it when the thought of Frank the dog and film and photos don't make me laugh at myself hysterically. >_> Plus, Brandon is severely lacking in the personality department...
*****
“Look, Cal, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tennessee scowled as Cal blew smoke in his face. This wasn’t the first conversation that Tennessee had been subjected to with the scrawny, brown haired teenager. Cal had started a couple months ago, and Tennessee often saw him standing outside the store, chain-smoking when Tennessee was out walking his Chihuahua, Frank.
“Course you do,” Cal grinned. “Jack says you and he go way back. Says you used to terrorize the neighborhood together,” Cal laughed as if the idea of Tennessee terrorizing anyone was a huge joke in itself and Tennessee had to resist the urge to shake the kid.
“I haven’t seen Jack in five years, and when I knew him he was bad news. I’m telling you, I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t think you do either, man.” Tennessee pulled his coat in tighter against the wind. Frank pulled against his leash to reach the one patch of grass in a fifty-foot radius. “How the hell did you meet Jack, anyway?”
“Cousin knows him back home, and Jack wanted to see some new scenery. I needed a new roommate to help with rent and bam.” Cal carelessly blew another puff of smoke into the air. Tennessee had to resist the urge to rip the cigarette out of the kid’s hands and stomp on it in frustration.
“He’s living with you.” Tennessee said tonelessly. “Man, I don’t think you know what you’re doing.”
“You got it all wrong, Ten,” Cal laughed, blowing another puff in Tennessee’s face. “He said there was some bad blood between you. Says it’s all a misunderstanding.”
“That’s not the way I remember it,” Tennessee muttered. “I remember that we were dumb ass kids who did dumb ass things before one of us took things too far.”
“He says he’s sorry,” Cal batted his eyes idiotically, obviously amused by Tennessee’s grudge.
“Look, Cal, I’ll tell you straight up. Whatever it is that he’s got you into? Get out. It’s a bad idea,” Tennessee decided to lay it out. He wouldn’t go so far as to say that Cal was a good kid, because he wasn’t. Tennessee could see the signs, most of which he knew first hand. But Cal wasn’t in Jack’s league. He had to know that after living with the guy for a week or two.
Of course, Cal wasn’t exactly breaking the sound barrier with the speed of this thought processes either.
“Ya have it all wrong,” Cal brushed off easily. “This’ll work like a charm. Wham, bam and we’re set. I just need you to cover for me today.”
“You’re out of your mind,” Tennessee told him curtly as Frank pawed at his pant leg. Picking up the Chihuahua, he decided he didn’t care if Cal thought he looked ridiculous holding his scrawny dog under his coat in the cold. Frank gave his chin a grateful lick. “If I take your shift I’ll be at work for twelve hours. You’re insane if you think I’m doing that. Especially if you think I’m doing it to help out with some stupid ass plan that Jack has you talked into.”
“C’mon, Ten. Be a pal.” Cal blew another puff and Tennessee resisted the urge to glare.
“No. Find another patsy to take the fall, because it ain’t gonna be me.” Tennessee turned on his heel and left before Cal could talk him out of it.
-------
Tennessee was not having a good day. His back ached, his feet hurt, and the next customer that came up to him and demanded the impossible he might just have to wring the neck of for the good of humanity as a whole. The place had been a mad house all day, and Tennessee had been busy trying to both help ring customers and get to all the film that everyone, of course, wanted in an hour or less.
“Hey, Rhode Island, you look beat.”
Daring to take a peak over at the customer, Tennessee was beyond relieved to see Brandon, leaning on the counter. Brandon the regular. Brandon who Tennessee looked cautiously forward to seeing whenever he went in to work.
As was usual, Brandon wasn’t exactly dressed to impress with grungy blue jeans, a black shirt and baggy dark blue flannel shirt. He’d gotten a haircut since the last time he’d been in, Tennessee could tell, since his dark brown curls weren’t falling into his dark brown eyes.
“I’m exhausted,” Tennessee confided, “it’s been busy.” Which was the truth since it was a weekend and the college was holding some kind of arts fair just down the block. There had been everyone from old hippies to yuppies to curious families to bored college students.
“Have you had a chance to look outside? See the festival?” Brandon idly pulled a 1-hour envelope out of the stand and twirled a pen in his hand.
“It’s been too busy. I haven’t had a break since I got here this morning, and I won’t be leaving until long after that festival is over with,” he sighed, running a hand through his own board straight blond hair. He was pretty sure his normally blue eyes were bloodshot since they felt so dry. Truth be told, he was tired already and he knew that the minute he stepped foot in his apartment, he was going to fall right into bed and sleep like the dead. Well, after he took the time to give Frank a short walk and feed him, that was.
“Oh.” Was it his imagination or did Brandon look disappointed? He might have asked, but he could see that Kayla was getting swamped on the register so he let Brandon finish filling out the envelope as he rang up a roll of antacids, some trash bags, and two cases of beer. By the time he got away from the check-out counter and back to photo, Brandon was perusing the film. Because Brandon always looked at the film.
“So, another roll, huh?” Tennessee didn’t have to look at the envelope to know that Brandon wanted singles, glossy finish, 3x5 paper. It’s what Brandon always got.
“Yeah, got some interesting people this time,” Brandon mumbled before finally picking out a roll of film. “Gonna give my babies the respect they deserve, Connecticut?”
“Sure,” Tennessee favored him with a wry grin, putting Brandon’s envelope on the counter behind him before walking over to a check out register. It never ceased to amaze him that Brandon would get his film developed at a dive like this. His pictures were always professional looking, and a bit refreshing after hours of blurry pictures of babies, fat people on the beach and naked stripers at bachelor parties. “What time are you coming back for ‘em?”
“What time are you getting off?” Brandon asked.
“N-nine,” Tennessee stammered a bit taken back by Brandon’s intensity.
“Then that’s when I’ll be back for them, Massachusetts,” he gave Tennessee a wink and then waltzed out the door. Tennessee let himself be bewildered by the whole thing for maybe two seconds before he was forced to get back to work.
By the time nine’ o’clock rolled around Tennessee was beyond tired. He was bone weary and feeling every one of the twelve hours he’d put in today covering both his shift and Cal’s. And Cal owed him big time. Pity it was more than likely that Craig was going to be firing him shortly and he’d never have a chance to make it up to Tennessee. But at this point, he figured Cal got what he deserved since Craig had to call Tennessee in this morning for the fourth time in two weeks in order to cover Cal’s shift.
Pulling on a jacket, he bid Kayla goodbye and walked out into the blustery wind. It wasn’t raining yet, but it was going to pretty soon. He’d only lived here about three years, but enough nights of walking home by himself and getting drenched had made him a bit more knowledgeable then most when it came to the weather.
Just about the time that he rounded the corner and made it to the end of the block, the skies opened up and Tennessee scowled as the rain came pouring down. Pulling out his old green stocking cap, he glumly threw it over his now wet white-blond hair and hunched his shoulders.
“Yo, Colorado!”
Almost in disbelief, Tennessee found himself turning around slightly to see someone running after him with an umbrella. “Brandon?” Why on Earth the guy was out in this kind of weather was beyond Tennessee.
“I thought I’d missed you,” Brandon managed to gasp out, shoving the umbrella over Tennessee as he tried to catch his breath. Not wanting Brandon to get wet, and not particularly willing to stand in the rain himself, Tennessee moved closer.
“Did you get your pictures?” Tennessee was a bit mystified as to why Brandon was chasing him down. He knew the pictures were done and priced and ready. They’d turned out wonderful as they usually did since Brandon obviously knew how to use a camera.
“Yeah, but I kinda wanted to talk to you. Sorry I was late. I got caught up with stuff.”
“Um, okay.” Tennessee wasn’t too sure what to say. While he had regulars that he knew by name and talked to happily in the store, he wasn’t quite used to seeing them outside of that particular setting. And he certainly wasn’t used to them wanting to talk to him. About anything. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Er, why don’t we go and get a cup of coffee?” Brandon looked at him hopefully. Tennessee just stared for a moment, listening to the rain drops plink on the umbrella and pound the pavement around them.
It had been a long day, with many people and the last thing Tennessee felt like doing was subjecting himself to more people. And given the way the wind was blowing, he could tell that it wouldn’t be too long before this rain turned to sleet and then snow. The closest coffee shop was three blocks in the opposite direction of his apartment, which was still five blocks from here. “I really don’t think,” he started only to catch sight of Brandon’s face falling in disappointment, “my apartment’s not too far from here, you just want to come over for a cup instead?”
He wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing. He didn’t have people over. He usually didn’t socialize period despite the invitations his coworkers gave to hang out or to party. It wasn’t so much that Tennessee thought he was above them, although he knew some of them thought that. It was more that he just wasn’t that type of person. He’d moved here to see if he could make it on his own, and he was. He was doing all right, and no he wasn’t ever going to acknowledge how empty his life seemed at times, thank you very much.
Moving here. Being here by himself. It wasn’t about having a life. It was about proving that he could. Without help. Without pity. It wasn’t about having fun or screwing up. He wasn’t going to let it be.
“Sounds great, lead the way,” Brandon beamed, holding the umbrella over them both as Tennessee turned slightly and proceeded to lead the way. Of course, this was a first on many fronts. Even before moving so far away from home, Tennessee had never quite gotten along with complete strangers this well.
Maybe it was that Brandon wasn’t a totally unknown person. Tennessee had seen him practically every other day since he’d started working at the store.
“Do you take pictures for a living?” he asked quietly, hating how the silence was stretching between them. Brandon seemed utterly relieved and Tennessee gave him a slight quizzical glance in return.
“No, I just like doing it for fun. I got the idea a while back to just take pictures while I people watch and it just kind of sprang to life from there. I’ve got a couple albums at home of some of the better ones,” Brandon grinned.
“I like the ones you take of the old people in Montgomery Park.” Tennessee smiled. “I mean, I see half of them in the store all the time, and it’s just interesting to see them doing something else. They look relaxed. More themselves. And I like imagining what their lives have been like and how they’ve lived them.” And the minute he’d said it, he wished he could take it back.
Because this wasn’t superficial small talk he could shrug off the minute Brandon left. These weren’t the pretty lies he sometimes told just to make conversation. These were best thoughts kept to himself.
“I like putting those pictures next to the shots of the kids on the playground. One group is a wealth of experience and the other is all about promise. It’s just a nice contrast,” Brandon offered with a reassuring smile as Tennessee came to a halt at the steps of his apartment building. A building that had seemed perfectly fine and respectable when he’d first moved here, but now seemed run down and drab with its grey brick front, the chipped concrete steps and the ugly brown door. Tennessee hated to think what it looked like from Brandon’s perspective.
“Kids make me sad,” Tennessee blurted out, pulling out his keys and opening the door by way of explanation to Brandon’s unasked question as to what they were doing here at this particular spot. “They look so happy, and you have to know that it’s so short lived. They have no idea what life has in store for them or what hard knocks it’s going to give ‘em. They’re just happy that they can use the swings or play in the sand. They have no idea what they’re in for.”
“I never quite looked at it like that,” Brandon said thoughtfully as Tennessee led them up the even uglier rickety stairs to the third floor and the door to his apartment.