blue jean baby.

Again, Casper groaned, but there was no resistance when Jenni tugged the pillow out of her grasp. “I don’t need vitamin D - Dick or otherwise,” she said as she made a weak attempt at fending off the hit from the pillow, stretching her arms up into the air, “Just let me rot on this god forsaken couch.”

“See, that right there proves to me that you definitely need to get the fuck out of this place” she said, sighing in frustration.  She new her friend was going through something if she was this insistent on being dramatic and staying in, but it was too bad that Jenni did not allow it. “No excuses, we’re going out. I’ll throw in food, maybe a mango smoothie if that’ll sway you.”

“I’m not being ridiculous, I’m doing what a big brother is supposed to do,” Eli mumbled a bit exasperatedly because in his mind he wasn’t. He was just trying to look out for her and quite frankly save himself a headache later, although something told him he was gonna end up doing something stupid for her regardless of his efforts to, not stop this necessarily, rather, take a more rational approach to it and continued to listen to her as she spoke and although he knew she was joking did frown when she called herself dumb. He had a habit of using self-deprecating humor on himself, but something about her doing it seemed wrong. “You’re not dumb, you just lack impulse control, there’s a difference.” He interjected quickly needing to reassure her of that cause there was, in fact, a difference and she was very smart she just occasionally made dumbass decisions which he was positive was a running pattern in their shared DNA. “You should explore that, no one’s saying you shouldn’t, but if I am gonna help you and put my professional reputation out there to do it it’s reasonable to make some rules.” He reasoned. “They’re just simple agreements really. One, I just need you to take it seriously. Two, I need you to be professional and not purposely try to embarrass me for your own amusement cause that’s not a good look on me or on you.” He pointed out. “Three, I will help get you to a couple of the right people, make the introductions, but it’s your job to follow through with anything that comes from it. You earn it yourself and work hard to get what you want. You can’t just skate by and manipulate yourself into stuff and expect people to give you everything. It doesn’t work like that. So if you get a no, you don’t just quit. If this is really what you want, you don’t just get to quit without a real reason. Are you fine with all that?”

Jenni knew, deep down somewhere, that she was lucky to have a brother that looked out for her, that worried about her maybe dumb, mostly lacking in common sense moments. She knew that a lot of people didn’t have that and so there should’ve been some appreciation for what he was willing to do for her, for what he was willing to go through for her. That was all nice, honestly and truly, but mostly he was being kind of annoying at the surface of it all. She appreciated him, in her own way, of course, but mostly she found authority in any form frustrating, even if it was a brother who was consistently going out of his way for her. “Yeah, I don’t think before I act, or speak, or anything, really.” she agreed because, well, how could she not? Her track record wasn’t great. She listened to him list all of the rules, and she understood that this was important, that if she was going to pursue this, that she needed to take it seriously. She was a brat, she was manipulative and her work ethic was lacking, but she also knew that when she put her mind to something she got it, always. There was never really anything she saw and wanted that she didn’t get, though her ways of going about that may have been morally ambiguous. She might need to work a little harder for this, but if her brother believed in her? Maybe she could make it work. “Okay, I promise” she began, and eyed him “but you have to promise to trust me, and try not to be so overbearing, okay?”

Casper groaned. “Why?” she finally flipped over from lying down on her stomach on her couch, looking at Jenni with scornful pout, hugging a pillow tight to her stomach. “Can’t I just enjoy my day in?”

@jennievans

Jenni stood in front of Casper, hand on her hips. “No, you’re not just staying in, you’re going to enjoy the day, outside. You need some vitamin D, bitch and for once i’m not talking about dick.”  she leaned forward and tugged the pillow out of her hands, hitting her with it. “Let’s go.”

“Ew, not that man. He smells like warmed over culo.” Sarai said with a disgusted look. “But I might make an Onlyfans account— have you heard of that? Girls on there make, like, ten thousand a month off nudes and videos.” She explained. “Either that, or I might have to suck it up and get a roommate. Both would probably be better.”

Jenni scrunched up her nose in disgust at Sarai’s description of the man. “Girl, of course I’ve heard of it.  A bitch has been trying to work up the courage to make one herself” she explained and then her eyebrows quirked “yeah, no, take it from me, roommates suck. I understand the need for one I guess but how the hell are you supposed to walk around naked or like, do anything fun and naked when someone else is living with you?” 

Bash had gotten to work early to help out with preparations before the bar opened. He was happy the fruit was being taken care of by the not so busy kitchen staff and worked on his station. Hoping to get everything ready within the last few minutes seemed pretty easy considering he just needed to tidy things up, but then he saw someone come in and sit at the bar. “Let me know when you’re ready to order. I’m almost finished here.” 

Walking into a bar just when it was opening to many may have been pathetic. Possibly a signal that she was an alcoholic, or a budding one at least. But for her it just meant that she was done with a long day at the diner. She needed a drink and she needed someone else to make it for her. “Vodka Pomegranate when you can, and keep em’ coming” she said, pressing a credit card she maybe shouldn’t be using on the bar top. It was for emergencies, she had promised her brother when she opened it. Well, this was an emergency. “Is it weird that I’m the first one here? Are you totally judging me?”

“My rent just went up another $500. My landlord has some fuckin’ nerves when my sink has been leakin’ for two months,” Sarai complained. “I miss Southern prices. In Texas, my piece-of-shit apartment woulda been like three dollars.”

Jenni didn’t have a landlord, unless you counted her brother, which she didn’t, not really, and well, her dad had paid for most things before that so...she technically couldn’t empathize, but she could sympathize, or try to, at least. “Did you offer to suck his dick? I got out of a lot of stuff in high school by offering to blow people” she explained, shaking her head with a laugh and then taking a sip from her drink “or sell nudes or something, easy money.”