. Archer Galloway .

“I guess it’s an easy thing to bullshit theories on, but I’m sure I’d believe any of em…or at least try em out.” Oliver’s hand lifted to scratch at the back of his head as he took in all of what the other man was saying, some of it cuing a raised brow. “I’d be terrible at Jeopardy. I’m annoyingly good at one category in Trivial Pursuit but when it comes to the rest of it, watchin’ me struggle through it isn’t a fun sight to see. What are you reading about? Seems like it’s interesting if you’re spending that much time with it. That’s the role of younger siblings, ain’t it?”

Archer glanced at the watermelons next to him, grinned and looked the other with slightly raised brow. “Go ahead, find the melon with darkest and straightest stripes, with a small dot on the bottom, a lot of white and it sounds good while knocking on it.” Archer really wasn’t sure would it be possible to find any watermelon with all those details in it. But it could be fun to try. “Back in the day I was reading school books, after that law books, and now.. I guess I read newspapers. And sometimes actual books, probably mostly thrillers and mysteries. It’s fun trying to outsmart the author and figure out how everything ends before you even read the end.”

“Uhm…shit, you would think I knew this.” She tilted her head back. “I just turned thirty one in April…so twenty five. She’s a January baby. But believe me, she is still the exact same girl. If not a little older and with a smart phone.” Still just as snobby when she wanted to be, and entirely too demanding, sending Lili out on weekly missions to get her coffee or food. “You still have plenty of time to figure it out, though. And if you ever need a job to fill in the blanks I am always looking for people to help around the store,” she teased, giving him a wide smile. “Thank you. Yeah, but it’s okay. He’s pretty great to live with so far. It’s nice having someone around my house who kind of knows how to do stuff? He’s attempting to fix my old car, so that’s good.”

Archer chuckled when Lili had to rethink her own age to figure out her sister’s age. “Good that you’re still able to count”, he teased. “I honestly didn’t remember that your sister is so much younger than mine. Or more like, I forgot the fact you are the age of my little sister.” It certainly wasn’t a bad thing, it was just a bit weird to suddenly remember that. Sometimes Archer did forget that he himself wasn’t any young boy anymore. “Good to know. So don’t be surprised if I come by one day being all like ‘You promised me stuff to do’.” Working at a record store could actually be a nice change, so who knows, maybe Archer really would take the offer one day. “You sure you didn’t want him to move in just so you can have a repairman on hand 24/7?”

“Always and forever. Whatever the Thing is, Lou wants to be a part of it. When she was ten, she wanted to be a member of a girl group. When she was thirteen she wanted to be Hannah Montana. Now it’s an instagram influencer.” Whatever it was, Louise was always a dreamer. That much could at least be said. Maybe it was the fact that she owned a business or she was getting older (God, she hoped it wasn’t that) but Lili wished that her sister had some sort of direction with her life. She could dream all she wanted, but those dreams had to culminate into something. At least with her attempt at music, she tried to get herself out there. Recorded demos and played around and the like. She tried before she failed. “Well, when you figure it out, think about whether or not it be worth teaching others. A little over a year, by now. He just moved in with me, actually.”

Archer chuckled and shook his head. “She clearly has always wanted to be on top of things”, he commented, but then frowned a bit. “How old is she even now? I know she definitely isn’t that little girl I remember her as.” It’d be worrying if she would’ve stayed the same age all these years. There would have to be some magic involved in that and Archer wasn’t quite sure what he thought of magic and the fact was it real or not. Archer gave Lili a smile and a nod. “Yeah, I will.” Thinking of what he wanted might take some time, but then again, there finally was no rush on doing something. “That’s really nice. And hey, congratulation on the moving in situation. Now the real relationship starts, right? The real nature starts to show up when you are seeing each other all the time.” The comment was a bit teasing way, but not meaning anything bad with his words. He really was happy that Lili had found someone to love and live with.

“If she had aspirations to get a corporate job, sure. Though I think somewhere in that brain of hers she’s determined to be an Instagram influencer? Or something like that. Lately she’s been paying people to let her sponsor them, or whatever it is that those people do.” She shrugged. She should have been better about keeping up with what her sister was interested in, but sometimes she made it so hard. Especially when she was completely irritating about her “branding”. Lili turned towards Archer, listening to him speak. It was a feeling that she often had. Growing up, all she had were her family and her music. There was no other option, there was nothing else for her. When she had to give that up, she had no idea what she was going to do. Music was all she ever wanted to do. The record store came up by chance, and it provided her a unique opportunity to start over. She waved off his apology, leaning back in her seat with her arms folded. “Well…you could always do what my boyfriend is doing. He’s actually going back to school to start teaching mechanics at vocational schools. Sort of like a second coming. He likes what he does and he’s good at what he does and he doesn’t really see himself doing anything else, so he’d thought he’d teach others.”

“Ahh, she’s hunting for that dream”, he mused with a slight amusement in his voice. “What I’ve heard a lot of younger people want to be some kind of royalty of the social media. While I have only Facebook and I never even use that.” Archer probably was too much of a book nerd to truly understand technology or social media. Plus he never truly had the time to look into all those different social media platforms, nor the interest for those. The only reason he even had a Facebook account was because his sister made it for him telling him he had to have one because otherwise he didn’t exist. Which was a weird thing in Archer’s mind, but what wouldn’t he do for Astrid, really. Archer looked at Lili when she talked about her boyfriend. She seemed really happy and Archer couldn’t help but smile at it. “That is definitely an option. I just have no idea what I’d like to do. So I guess I’ll just keep floating for a bit”, he coated his words with a small smile, not wanting to take the topic to sad things. “How long have you been together with your boyfriend?”

‘‘Oh, yeah, that’s right,’’ Ian suddenly felt dumb for assuming it was a piece of equipment, but he just laughed it off. ‘’That would make sense… but I think that would also require some research? I can’t really just go into a store and ask for those specifications,’’ He added with a smile. ‘’If I were to buy somethin’ she’d actually use with that purpose… I’d like to know exactly what I’m looking for.’’ Ian was just like that – he liked to cover his bases no matter what the thing in question actually was. ‘’Gotcha. Well then– dedicate this time to yourself, nothin’ wrong about that.’’

“That is true”, he hummed, eyeing towards the items again. “But you could always just buy one of those really nice looking bags for her and she could use it for her camera or just as a normal bag.” What Archer could see from his spots those bags really did look pretty neat. Maybe he should get one for himself, even though he didn’t really need one for his work anymore but it was so much easier to toss all your things in a bag than try to keep them in your hands or pockets. He looked at Ian and chuckled a bit. “Honestly I wasn’t even going to come to this thing in the first place, but here I am, several hours later, queueing to a stall that sells leather. So I definitely have dedicated today to myself.”

Ian laughed, shaking his head. ‘’I legitimately have no fuckin’ clue what a camera bag is, man,’’ He admitted, but then realized he could spend some time researching his girl’s hobbies and things that were important to her. As much as he loved her, maybe the time they had spent apart created some gap that he needed to put some effort to fill. ‘’Unless you just meant like a bag you put your camera in? I don’t know, never seen them,’’ He scratched his scruff as he mused over it. ‘’Well, that may be right. How ‘bout you, though? Anyone you wanna get somethin’ for?’’

“I meant a bag where she could put the camera and lenses and whatnot in”, he explained. “What I’ve heard it doesn’t really matter is the camera bag actually meant for cameras as long as the bag is firm and keeps the pieces safe.” Sure, he wasn’t expect on this thing, but what he had seen and heard that seemed to be the case. Archer glanced at Ian when he asked about Archer getting something for someone. And then he shook his head a bit. “I don’t really have anyone like that. So I think right now I’ll just shop for myself.”

“You wanna test that theory?” She asked with a wide grin and a laugh, hanging up her phone once he agreed to walk over to her and waiting for him with her hands on her hips and a playful disapproving scowl on her features. “You know, I should just punch you right in the gut for addin’ that stress on me.” She said, pausing for a moment before a wide smile broke out on her features and she stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his waist and giving him a tight hug. “You owe me a beer after that shit, Galloway.”

“Oh no, little Lou Lou is destined to be one of those super intense, stereotypical fourtune 500 CEOs. She never gets anything for herself and expects people to just read her mind. Which, granted, I don’t know how it happened because my mother has done nothing but raise her children all the same way, but she’s determined,” Lili said, shrugging. “So I’m probably going to have to get her a pair for Christmas or her birthday or something.” Lili turned to look at Archer, laughing. “Honestly, it’s worth a try. That way all the blame is off me and Louise has to take care of cleaning up her mess herself.” In truth, while she knew that the record store made her happy, and likely set her up for the rest of her life (or until records went out of fashion again), it had never been what she truly wanted. Though she didn’t necessarily think Archer needed to know that. “I’m sure you will. Even if it’s not what you think you want, it’ll find it’s way to you soon.”

“She’s one of those stereotypical CEOs yet she’s shagging someone in your car”, he commented with a chuckle. “Or technically in Frankie’s car, but anyway, not really that much of something a CEO would do.” He couldn’t help but laugh at his own comment though. He really hoped Louise wouldn’t hear that they were pretty much laughing at her in the car next to her. Archer was quiet for a bit, the smile slowly fading away. “If I’m completely honest I’m not that sure will I or not. You know how I’ve always been like -- if I wasn’t helping out people or watching after my siblings, I was studying. Buried in the books. After that I was burried in work. And I thought that was what I wanted and how things should be. But now.. I don’t even have a job anymore. Sure, I could have my old one back, but I have a feeling getting it back would just make me go back to my old ways.” He glanced at Lili and gave her a tiny apologising smile. “Sorry to just pour this on you. I haven’t really spoken aloud about all this and I guess it just happened to overflow right now.“

“Windows would definitely be nice but ya know, they don’t want us to have any distractions.” Rolling her eyes, Rose shrugged her shoulders. “Mhm… years apart will do that to ya.” She mused with a smirk. She’d gotten used to running into people she’d known from before the ambush, people who didn’t look at her with pity in their eyes and bombard her with questions every time she saw them. Having to retell the story every time became easier with each retelling, but it still caused a slight tinge of something within her. “Sounds good to me. Some conversations just need to be had over a good, hearty burger.” Nodding her head in agreement, Rose’s attention drifted to the menu for a second. “Hey, I’m not gonna turn down a free meal don’t you worry.” A soft chuckle left her lips as her gaze drifted back to Archer. “Let me get the avocado burger with fries and a sprite, please.”

“You start to sound like some mine worker goblin that has never seen the sunshine”, he commented with a soft chuckle. Surely he had never been someone who read fantasy books or watched fantasy movies, but even he did know goblins and mines were a thing. Archer eyed at menu and raises his brow when he heard what Rose wanted to eat. “Actually that sounds pretty good. I’ll take that too”, he smirked a bit and then ordered two meals, one with sprite and one with fanta, and also paid them as well. “Alright, lets find a spot to sit down.” He gestured Rose to head towards the tables so she could pick out a good place to sit at.

“The greatest achievement.. I would’ve said it’s my job and my education, but I’m not that sure about it anymore. I guess my greatest achievement is still in the future. What comes to the biggest letdown..” Archer went quiet for a bit and eventually let out a soft sigh. “I’m not sure will I ever forgive myself the fact how drowned in books I were and how my studying was so important to me that I wasn’t at home for my family when my sister got into the accident that took her away from us. I promised to always take care of my siblings, but I had failed.”

“The future. All of it, really. If you would’ve asked this about a year ago the answer would’ve been completely different. Like about a year ago my future was all planned out, but I ditched it all away so now the whole future is open and that’s the first time in my life when I have no plans. So yes, it all scares me.”

“All those Sundays we spend at the beach with the whole family. It was always our special day. Sure, there wasn’t truly anything that special in it, but now that I think back I think there was something truly magical to play on the beach and swim  while having all your siblings running around with you and your parents smiling at you all. It was great.”

“Animated world? I haven’t really ever watched much animated films or series, so this is quite a tough one. Is there some workaholic person in some movie? Because if there is, then that’s probably me.”

“No, not at the moment. But would I like to? It would be nice to have someone to share the tiny bits of life, but if I’m being completely honest I don’t think anyone would be able to be around me at the time. I have so much unsolved things going on and there are those heavy days when I’m not the happiest person. But still, it would be nice to have someone.”

Oliver listened intently as the other many spoke of methods that apparently helped to establish whether a watermelon was ripe or not. The theories he was listing off were new to him, so his attention was quickly captivated by the other man’s words. “Hell…I only knew about the knocking theory, but you’re standing here telling me there’s a bunch more? I think it’s only right for me to go back to that grocery store I worked in as a kid and give ‘em hell for not training me properly. I could’ve gone places…” Oliver faded off, a chuckled leaving him before he offered the stranger a smile. “Have you been studying the anatomy of watermelons or something? I’m feeling like you’d be a real winner on Jeopardy or at least Trivial Pursuit.”

Archer definitely didn’t expect the man not to know those things he listed, but when that clearly wasn’t the case Archer just looked slightly amused by the guy’s surprise. “I think a new theory comes up every few months”, he admitted, but then laughed softly. “I’d be horrible at Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit. I’ve been so heavily my head in the books that I pretty much only know lot about one topic and not that much about other things. The only reason I know these watermelon facts are because of my little sister. She always keeps me up to date with the new things.”

‘‘Ah–’‘ Ian only then connected the dots, realizing that Archer was completely right. They had been talking for a solid amount of time without even knowing each other’s names. Extending his hand and giving it a firm shake, Ian smiled. ‘‘Ian Henderson,’‘ He dropped the full name much like Archer did his. Tapping his chin in thought, Ian shrugged. ‘‘She’s into photography a lot,’’ He shared, but he wasn’t sure that was much helpful. ‘’I didn’t see anything remotely related to that around here, though. Maybe a bracelet after all?’’

Archer gave the hand a firm shake with a smile. It was always nice to meet new people and Ian seemed like a pretty nice fellow. “There might not be photography related stuff there”, he admitted as he eyed towards the items. “But there probably are bags that could work as a camera bag?” he suggested looking at Ian. “But in the end, I’m sure she’d be happy to receive any kind of gift because it’s from you.”