#rrl01w11

Gen One, Day Seventy-Four

As the routine starting growing to a close, Eris quickly excused herself from Geoffrey to go get all three of them something to drink. She was beaming with pride and it was made even greater when she got to the bar and overhead the conversation about her Dad. 

“This guy’s great, isn’t he?” 

“He’s gonna win for sure. Haven’t heard the crowd laugh this hard all night.” 

Eris grinned ear to ear, ordered her drink and stood there with her lips twisted like she was trying to hold back what she wanted to say. After a moment, she couldn’t anymore. “That’s my Dad up there,” she told the crowd at the bar and they all perked up, telling her how great he was, what a good job he was doing, where did he get his material, etc. She tried to entertain the questions as much as she could, getting a few laughs herself and it felt good, making comedians laugh. 

Skill Up: Comedy Level 2 (Eris)

Gen One, Day Seventy-Six

As they got up to head back to the bus stop, Eris couldn’t resist anymore. She stopped in front of him, turning and he could only get out a quiet, “Wha-...” before she went in for the kiss. 

It surprised her, stomach dropping, when he dodged out of the way. His hands came up to hold her arms back and she stood there, feeling the flush cross her face and not in the good type of way. She took a step back immediately. “I’m so sorry,” she breathed out, embarrassed. 

“No, no,” Allan shook his head, looking down at his feet with a heavy sigh. “Please, don’t...” he shook his head again, like he was struggling with what to say. “Please don’t feel bad, or like you did something wrong. Or that I haven’t been feeling the same way.” The words confused her, having her look up at him and his face was understanding, yet mournful. “I’ve been fighting the urge to do that all day.” 

Confused, she shook her head. “Then, why...-” 

“Because we’re moving,” he cut her off. “At the end of the school year. To Strangerville. I, uh...I found out last week. Terrible timing, I guess.” 

“Strangerville’s not that far,” she tried meekly. 

Gen One, Day Seventy-Six

It was late and Charlie didn’t want to stay at practice, but he didn’t want to go home either. His mind was racing, heart beating loud in his chest. He felt like crying and he almost did as he walked to the park behind the school gym. He sat there for a long time, just thinking, legs curled up onto the bench with him as he hugged them to his chest, chin resting on his knees. 

The world sucked. He couldn’t believe he was so stupid as to think that Josef liked him. He’d just used him, hadn’t he? Used him and then expected him to keep quiet about it because that’s what a decent person would do and he knew Charlie was decent. What if he didn’t have to be? What if he went around and told everyone what Josef had done? 

The thought was out of his mind in a heartbeat, because there was cruelty and then there was ruining someone’s life. An eye for an eye was not the way Charlie did things and he closed his eyes, thinking back on his karate days. He hadn’t really kept up with it, even though his parents had been willing.

He wonder what karate would have him do about this? Probably meditate, think on it, and then get his emotions and energy out in a healthy way. He’d move on, prove himself worthy or not letting this define who he was or the way he thought about relationships and romance. One bad egg, that’s all this one. One bad experience. While the thought may help in the long run, it didn’t make it any less painful now. And he spent much longer than he meant to just sitting in the park, thinking it all over in his head. 

Gen One, Day Seventy-Seven

True to her word, Robyn sat down to talk to Charlie in the morning. But only after she’d made him breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon and freshly squeeze orange juice. She had it waiting for him to come downstairs and when Charlie saw it, he actually cracked a smile, though he still looked utterly exhausted. 

As Charlie sat on the couch, hungrily eating the breakfast, Robyn started with, “Charlie, I need to know why you were late last night. You know we have a curfew and I need to hold you accountable for it, but I won’t be unreasonable if something happened, do you understand?” 

Charlie nodded, mouth full and he took a swig of his orange juice, looking straight ahead of him like he was trying to decide on what he was going to say. She gave him the time, honest, hard conversations like these were neither of their forte’s. Especially because they hadn’t needed to happen much as Charlie was growing up. He was genuinely a good kid...except for the whole breaking another kid’s noise at one point. 

“I don’t think I can tell you everything, Mom,” he finally said, turning to look at her and she lifted a brow, curious. “At least not right now. I’m not...quite ready,” he admitted. Robyn’s head tipped back and she had the faintest of inklings, but she wouldn’t jump to conclusions or even make him explain himself on that front right now. “But, I can tell you I... I had a tought time with one of my teammates who I thought was my friend. Turns out he’s just an ass.” He looked apologetic at the word and Robyn just smiled, urging him to go on. “I just...I sat in the park for a long time? I just needed to think. Not feel like an idiot.” 

The last words were what got her to say anything. “Honey, you are not an idiot. Not for believing in someone who let you down, okay?” Charlie smiled slightly at the words, nodding his head like he wanted to believe her. She reached up, rubbing his back in a soothing motion. “Thanks for telling me. Next time, if there is a next time, I’d really like you to call me, or your Dad, or even Eris, instead of sitting there alone, okay?” She paused for a second and then admitted, “My mind always goes to the worst, because of what happened with your sister. I can’t go through that again.” 

Charlie’s shoulders deflated at that, because he’d never heard his Mom say anything like that again. He leaned back, nodding his head because he understood. He understood her. “I won’t do it again, Mom,” he promised. “I’ll call next time I need to be a broody teenager in the park, okay?” 

They both laughed at that and she leaned forward to kiss his forehead, ruffling his hair in the process.

Gen One, Day Seventy-Six

As the day grew to a close, the exhibit’s doors were shut and the two made their way down the riverwalk instead. Laying down on the boards just next to the fountain, they looked up at the sky and daydreamed what it would be like for Eris to be a civil engineer and Allan and cop. Maybe just pipedreams now. Just fantasies they had in the moment, but it was fun to think about. 

Eris found herself growing closer and closer with Allan. Several times during the night, she found herself wanting to reach out and take his hand, or lean over and give him a peck on the cheek. Those weren’t things friends did, at least none of her friends. She had to remind herself that they weren’t dating. That they were out here at the art center as friends. Close friends, granted, but still friends. 

Gen One, Day Seventy-Three

“Hey, man,” Josef said, clearing his throat and tipping his head side to side. “I, uh, hey don’t worry about Jorge, okay? He’s pretty much the biggest dick on the planet.” 

Charlie snorted. He didn’t have to be told that twice. “Don’t know if I want to deal with that, though,” he admitted, because it was what he was thinking. That tomorrow he just wouldn’t show up. He’d tell Dimitri sorry, but this wasn’t for him and that’d be the end of it. A shitty way for a dream to go down the drain, but the headache of having to deal with that all day every day was going to kill him. 

“Look, Jorge and I are friends and...” Josef looked appalled that Charlie was thinking about quitting. He floundered a moment before giving a miserable laugh. “What I’m trying to say is that I’ll reign him in, okay? Don’t let him rattle you, he’s not worth it.” 

Charlie lifted a brow. “But you’re still his friend?” 

Josef snorted. “Yeah, don’t ask. Just...don’t quit, okay?” He didn’t know whether to think the words sincere or not. Didn’t know what to think in general about everything. Not until Josef said, “You’ve got skill. And, the look,” Charlie felt his cheeks flush slightly, but Josef didn’t seem to truly notice. “You belong here, no matter what Jorge says.” 

Gen One, Day Seventy-Six

After they made their rounds of the exhibit, they didn’t want to leave just yet and decided to check out the mural wall in the back. The arts center had set it up so anyone could come in and add their piece of the mural. They decided to add their own. A small section where they could spray paint their names together, hopefully so it would be immortalized for as long as this mural stood. 

“What about you?” Eris asked and at Allan’s confused look, she chuckled. “What’s after high school for you?” 

A shrug can in response. “I have an idea, but... I don’t know, it seems kind of stupid.” 

“It’s not!” she assured him, no matter what it was, she knew that she wouldn’t think it was stupid. “Tell me. Let me be your cheerleader.” 

A snort and Allan still looked a little hesitant before he stopped spraying his name and looked over at her. “I was...kinda thinking I’d go to the police academy.” 

Eris was a little taken aback by it all. “You want to be a cop?” she asked. 

“Told you it was stupid.” 

“No!” she insisted, putting her own spray can down and moving closer to him. “No, not even a little. I think it’s really cool. But...what made you decide that?”

Another hesitation, and she knew it was going to be a heartfelt answer before he even gave it. “Just...thought it might be nice to help other kids who had the same upbringing as me, you know? I’m still in touch with the cop that came that day. He really cares. I just thought, I dunno, might be nice to have a job where you can do stuff like that.” 

She smiled adoringly at her friend, reaching out to give his arm a squeeze because that was the mostly wholesome thing she thought he could ever get out of his situation. To want to be like one of the cops who’d come to help him. “Officer Szalinski, huh?” 

“Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” 

Gen One, Day Seventy-Three

“Not bad, not bad,” Dimitri laughed as they got through the different parts of the tryouts. Dribbling, two point shots, three pointers. Charlie thought he was doing fairly well, though his nerves were starting to fray a bit. He stood there, breathing heavily as he waited for Dimitri to give him his next assignment. 

“You said you’ve never played before on a team?” 

“No,” Charlie admitted, shaking his head while he held the ball in his hands. “Just here and there when I could. I just like to play.” 

Dimitri grinned, like that was exactly the right thing to say and he wanted to hear it. “We need that on the team,” he told him. “But one more thing. Can you dunk? Layup, at least?” 

Charlie took a deep breath, one of the good things about having a growth spurt was that this was the thing he’d been waiting for. Maybe he’d be tall enough that he could dunk and he’d been practicing that in particular on his own. Dribbling the ball backwards, he lined himself up, give the ball a few quick extra dribbles before he grabbed it and ran forward. 

The dunk wasn’t the prettiest in the world, but it got the job done. The swish of the net music to his ears and he landed with a smile, though he quickly tried to temper it in, not wanting Dimitri to think he was too overly proud of himself. 

“Holy shit,” Dimitri said, laughing. “Yeah, we definitely need you on the team.” 

Charlie felt his heart skip a beat, grinning ear to ear. Had that been an official offer to join the high school basketball team? He hoped so. It was the only thing he’d ever wanted from high school.