CLUB POOR

‷ watch out , jeremy washington has crash-landed into roswell !! they look twenty two years old and celebrate their birthday on march 25th . they are from roswell, reside in greystone complex and are currently working as a waiter (teal pumpkin cafe). one thing you should know about them is he's hoping to go professional with lacrosse ‷

" oh man , i love ALL food . but my ma makes really amazing homemade pizza . like . the dough , and the sauce. she does it all from scratch ! it's always the fuckin' BEST , plus she always puts on my favourite toppings . man , she rocks "

FEATURING  :  jeremy  washington  (  @jeremyss​  )

LOCATION  :  teal  pumpkin  cafe

          “  YOU’RE  ABOUT  TO  CLOCK  out  ,  right  ?  ”  she  asks  this  as  if  she  hasn’t  inherently  memorized  his  work  schedule  for  the  week  .  “  wanna  go  grab  a  bite  to  eat  ?  i’m  between  hatch  and  pizza  planet  .  ”

“ yeah - i got about another . .  “ jeremy looks at his phone , which he knows he’s not meant to have on him , but always does anyways . “ five minutes ? “ he glances up at astrid and grins , wiggling his eyebrows . “ were you waiting on me , astrid ? that’s very romantic of you , y’know . “ he teases , voice sing-songy . “ y’know i can always hook you  up for food here if you need . “ jeremy adds . the perks of working at teal pumpkin was that he could get free food and not have to pay his hard-earned paycheck elsewhere . he wasn’t sure if that TECHNICALLY extended to his friends , but he made the allowance regardless . he pauses , though , realising how cheap he sounds . “ i mean . . uh . both of those choices sound good , too . “ mentally , he’s already calculating how much he can spend , and how many days he’s got until his next pay will come in . something he conveniently will NEVER mention around astrid . 

     when she felt jeremy’s presence come nearer to her, sophie rolled her head from one shoulder to the other so that she facing him again. she a wore a sweet smile as she began her apology. “oh dear jer, please forgive me,” she singsang. “i trying to picture you and mr. foot fighting out in that parking lot there,” she lied; she had actually been scoping it out to see if it was too sketchy or not to go out for smoke. “i do have a question, though: doesn’t he live in the mountains? where– in this giant sandbox– do you think you’ll find him?”

 “ MR FOOT ? what , you’ll allow him such politeness but won’t call me mr washington ? “ jeremy pretends to scoff , offended . the idea of being called mr washington reminds him of his father , though , and that’s definitely something jeremy wants to avoid having much of an association with . he eyes sophie up and down , seriously . “ if it came down to it . . like . . you’d bet on ME to win , right ? “ her eyes are moving again , over jeremy’s shoulder briefly . “ cut it out ! are you waiting on someone else ? a hot date ? hotter than ME ? you’re really packin’ the blows today , soph . “ he sighs , sitting back in the booth and shaking his head at her . “ uh , people find bigfoot all the time . there’s heaps of photos and sighting on the internet , duh . and like , there’s a live web cam feed you can watch and spot him on . the problem wouldn’t be finding him , but it would be keeping him in one spot to square up with . “

-

she can’t help the face that she makes at his revelation, disgusted expression replaced by amusement only moments later as she bumps her shoulder against his. maybe others would be turned off by it, but not cleo. she’s far too used to his idiosyncrasies for it to matter.      “ what did you think ‘ CMT ’ stood for , genius ? cleo marie tsiboe. ”     she says, rolling her eyes as if it should be obvious. she did not spend all of her pocket money at this arcade for her achievements to go unnoticed, thank you very much.     “ now you’ve got me paranoid that my hands are giant. thanks, j. ”    a playful smile spreads across her face as she abandons her next attempt at the game in favour of holding her hands up against his.   “ see. they’re normal sized ! ”  she laughs, interlocking their fingers. 

 “ isn’t that like . . a timezone ? “ jeremy mumbles , a sly grin sliding onto his face as he playfully rolls his eyes . “ i dunno . i guess i never thought you were INTERESTED in the arcade . “ he admits . that was back in the day when jeremy rode around on his bike , and thought girls were gross ( but still kinda cute ) , and his ma was always yelling at him to be at home in time for supper . life was easier then , although  - it included a lot less CLEO , which is for the worse  . jeremy can’t help grinning wide , pretending to eye her hands in suspicion . “ yeah , of yeah . . those are monster hands . absolutely disgustingly large . “ he’s commenting , batting her away gently , before allowing their hands to be held up . almost immediately , he’s feeling himself blush . “ i - normal sized ? “ jeremy can’t help say , as soon as their hands are up together . his own could crush her . “ i had no idea you’re basically ELF SIZED , cleo . i didn’t know hands could be this small . “ as she interlocks their fingers , jeremy clears his throat and quickly pulls his hand away . he hopes to god his blush is not noticeable . “ anyways , i guess it doesn’t matter now cause no offence , but you suck at the game now . “ he says it a bit more rough-tough how-you’d-speak-to-one-of-the-boys then he intends , but he’s still feeling the phantom warmth of her hand on his and it’s making his brain feel slightly scattered . 

        ‘  i’m  asking  you  ,   silly !  ’   she  quips  up  at  him  ,   bambi  eyes  fluttering  up  at  him  as  she  ponders  his  own  question  .   gigi  will  let  her  fingers  travel  down  to  his  hand  ,   giving  a  gentle  squeeze  as  she  drags  him  around  to  do  so  ,   her  facial  expression  pleading  for  him  to  come  with  her  .    ‘  don’t  be  SILLY  ,   i’m  practically  famous !   too  many  eyes  are  on  me  to  do  anything  at  some  SECONDARY LOCATION !  now  i  need  someone  brave  because  i  need  someone  to  give  me  some  extra  height  at  a  haunted  abandoned  building !  ’  

IMMEDIATELY jeremy stops walking . “ haunted abandoned building ? uh yeah . no . no . no way in hell . nope . nada. “ he holds up his hands , trying not to pull a face at the slight brag of her being famous ( that wouldn’t be nice , and he probably shouldn’t laugh ) . “ maybe you could call up one of your famous friends to help you then , or somethin ‘ . “ jeremy adds , untangling himself from her grip . he is beginning to realise that she is absolutely dangerous , and whilst jeremy is stupid as anything - he’s not THAT stupid . also , the more he talks to her - the more he’s determined that she’s not worth potentially losing his life for , or becoming demonically possessed with . “ uh .  sorry . “ he adds belatedly , still feeling bad for turning her down , but also uncomfortable with the way she’s looking at him , and the tone of her voice . 

open to: anyone !  @roswellstarters​ location: space invader arcade

“ can you get worse at things as you get older ? ” she sighs, shaking her head in frustration as she’s greeted by the GAME OVER screen for what seems to be the millionth time. “ because i swear i used to have, like, the second highest score on this thing when i was ten and now i can’t even get past level two. ” which is boding terribly for her competitive streak. 

  “ oh ABSOLUTELY . my grandpa by the time he was like 80 , he was terrible at peein ‘ in the toilet bowl . and i’m like . . .perfect at that now . “ jeremy says , conversationally , nodding along . he glances over her shoulder , to what she’s been gaming on , and a sly grin flashes over his face . “ this game ? nuh uh . no way . cause i used to play this game ALL the time when i was younger , and i was third place , always trying to beat the first two . and no way did that place used to belong to YOU . “ jeremy can feel his younger self wanting to kick himself now , with the realisation potentially trickling in . “ maybe your hands have gotten too big for the controls . i swear i read once that arcade’s are made for childrens hands . “ that’s most definitely not correct , but jeremy says it with enough confidence . “ c’mon , hold ‘em up . let me see them . “

starter: open location: teal pumpkin cafe

“I had a couple in labor with no progress in a long time. The doctor consented them for a C-section, saying, ‘We are going to need to get this baby out the other way.’ After asking if there were any questions, and the patient and partner stating that they had none, the doctor left the room to go prepare for surgery.” Allegra paused,  looking down at her cup filled with hot coffee. “As I was preparing the patient, the partner asked me, ‘So they are going to take the baby out of her butt?’ Believe it or not, that’s not the first time I hear that.”

jeremy paused for an extremely long time . some may say his face was akin to this image  . he digested all of the information , pausing on the way to set her plate of food down ( an order which he’d more than likely gotten wrong ) . “ i - “ his brain feels like it’s frozen . “ as in - “ he pauses again . swallows . the plate of food almost burns his hand and he quickly remembers it and sets it down . “ — did they think you were gonna slice her ass open  ? “ definitely not the way , or language , jeremy should be talking to customers , but this has to be the most interesting story he’s heard in MONTHS . 

          Out of the many things Mercy had learned throughout her years of travelling, pool seemed to be the one she was most grateful for currently. Game after game, shot after shot. It seemed like her winning streak would never cease. Of course, all good things came to an end eventually and the brunette wasn’t going to take the chance. As the other spoke, the femme leaned her head lightly against the pool cue as her eyes took the other in. “I haven’t beat you all yet,” she pointed out, teeth grazing her lower lip before tossing him a rather cunning smirk. “You up for a game? You look like you could take me.” So much for no more rounds.

 “ oh no , no . .  “ jeremy laughs modestly , ducking his head for a second as she fixes him with a stare that could mean TROUBLE . “ that’s not something i gotta figure out , ‘ cause i know for sure i’d lose . “ jeremy says , with a cheerful and honest laugh . he glances around though , to the rest of his defeated and glum looking friends . normally this is the part where jeremy might offer to buy her a drink regardless , but he’s BROKE as anything and already gave his paycheck to help his mum pay rent that week . definitely not something he’d ever say aloud .  “ 'm not terrible at pool , but no whiz like you . however maybe you , me , and lacrosse ? i definitely think i’d have you beat then . “

LOCATION && WITH WHOM : : THE CRASHDOWN CAFE W / @jeremyss​

“I don’t understand people who dedicate an entire week to themselves for their birthdays.” He was, once again, referring to his younger brother who was taking this entire week to celebrate himself. Carmichael was both jealous and a bitter bitch. “It just seems stupid to me.”

“ and I don’t understand why we can’t just print more money . “ jeremy says , with a sigh . he closes his textbook with a groan , wishing finley was here to better explain it . for a moment , he closes his eyes too , before really clocking onto what carmichael was saying . “ a whole WEEK ? damn . i mean , i’d do that if it meant partying every day , i guess . “ he pauses . “ shit , is this you hinting at me that it’s your birthday soon ? “ 

Finley thought about the question, trying to process everything that went into sociology. “I’m going to go ahead and go with the second one, and hope that it ends up being the first one. But, it’s very broad. It’s about the development of society, and what it means. There’s a lot to know, but a lot of the discussions and papers will be about what you think. You might enjoy that.” She knew Jeremy enjoyed sports, though she had her doubts about his enjoyment of true academic courses, but she thought there was a chance with Sociology. She had grown to love teaching more than she ever thought was possible. She was no official, and she could never manage a classroom setting, but teaching Jeremy one-on-one was something she found herself really enjoying. “Oh, yeah, heaps to do. Like, any of those things plague my social calendar.” Finley rolled her eyes. “I don’t think anyone could pay me to jump out of a plane.” There were days she could barely handle being in a moving car. 

 “ i hope it’s the first one , too . and i admire your optimism , fin . “ jeremy adds , with an extra goofy grin for effect , rolling his head over to her in amusement . he’s PASSED subjects because of finley ( scraping through ) , but he’s never really enjoyed much of it . although , he does enjoy the feeling of when he briefly gets it . like when him and finley got super psyched together because he was beginning to understand trigonometry for a hot second - before he promptly forgot it all again . when jeremy is good - he’s GREAT . but when he’s bad ( which is most of the time ) , he’s . . . fail - level bad . “ papers ? like . . long papers ? with difficult words like . . dissertation and shit  ?” jeremy holds back a groan , his face falling slightly though . he lets out a quiet chuckle at her own sarcasm - something he often delights to hear from finley’s mouth , albeit a rarity . “ you know , maybe next time we can study somewhere more exciting . i could take you out to the arcade . or that great chicken shop , just outta town . “ he pauses , looking down at the stairs , and then at greystone . this has been his entire life . a slight solemnness falls over him at the fact that this is the only place he’ll probably ever really be . “ there’s gotta be more for us than bein’  just two kids sitting on some stairs , right ? “ jeremy asks , aiming for lighthearted , but his voice sounding slightly softer and more wistful . 

.

        head nods in approval. as if chilli flakes were a determining factor ; their whole friendship riding on the spice level in which food was consumed. because consume was exactly what the pair did. arrived like locusts to suck back every crumb of free pizza the males could get their hands on. “psh, scared? me? never.” the bottle of pepper flakes is scooped in his over sized palm and hoovered above the slice. “i can handle a lot of heat. i’m so game, man. tell me when.” the shaker tipped completely upside down, beginning to pour out a mountain of spice. 

jeremy narrows his eyes at the male , letting out another belch , and talking through it - in true boy manner . “ just give me the same amount as you . “ jeremy challenges right back , although he really doesn’t know how long he can last , but he refuses to concede defeat . now , or ever . he warily eyes the flakes in gabe’s hand , but pushes away any concern . “ chuck ‘em all on . “ jeremy says with more confidence than he actually has . “ but if i eat all of this then you gotta . . .” he pauses , trying to think . “ i dunno . text the last girl on your phone and ask her if she wanna netflix and chill later . “ jeremy’s eyes flash in pure entertainment.