Roleplay in Different Eras! discussion

Chan all but trudged into the gym to see if they were hiring. He wasn't exactly into the gym, but he felt like he had applied just about everywhere else in town and his mom was making a big deal about him "getting off the sofa and finding a job."
He was leaning against the counter and accepted a form from girl who worked there. She was pretty attractive and looked like she belonged there, unlike him.
He skimmed over the form. Address... phone number... references... he scoffed. He was short on references. He couldn't exactly use his previous employer as a reference considering he was just fired.
"Uh." He scratched the back of his head and looked up at the girl who worked there. "I think I'll take this with me and fill it out later." He started to walk away.

He gave her a half grin. "Yeah I don't disagree. You seem insane. What's with the nose? I'm Channing, by the way." He said the last part mostly to the counter girl-- Jessie. He started to lean against the counter again, basically making himself at home there.

"I have no idea what that means, but I have a feeling I should be offended." The humor was apparent in his eyes. "I'm applying for a job. I'm kinda desperate. If I don't find a job, I'll be stuck working for my uncle's tiling business. I get along with my uncle, but working side by side with him would not be ideal."

"Noted." He nodded briefly. He took in this girl's appearance. Beneath the scars on her face, he thought she could be pretty attractive. Although he wasn't usually attracted to gingers. The whole "soulless" thing was a deal breaker for him. "Your, uh, hair's on fire." He almost cringed at himself. What a dumb thing to say.

He grunted. "That wasn't a pick-up..." he muttered through his teeth. "Never mind. I hope you find your keys." He pushed himself off of the counter. "See ya around, Jessie." He winked.

(Me tooo!)

Chan walked back home; it wasn't too far from the gym.
He climbed up four steps and opened the door that was in desperate need of a new coat of paint. Inside, he was caught off guard when a little chihuahua scampered up to him and started to sniff his shoes. He hated chihuahuas.
"Mom!" He shouted. "Whose rat is this in the living room?" He glanced down as he walked. "Great, the thing is following me."
"That's Britney." Claire said as she strutted into the living room in heels.
"I didn't ask its name. I asked why it's here. In our house. Shouldn't someone call the exterminator or something?" The dog was sitting on the floor, staring at him.
"Oh, shut up. Britt is mine. Well, technically she's Brian's, but I stole her after I caught him cheating on me."
"He cheated on you?" His voice rose and his hands balled up into fists. "I knew he wasn't good for you. Didn't I tell her he wasn't good for her?" He was talking to his mom who just walked into the living room.
"Chan, it's okay, I'm already over it. I had a good ugly cry like an hour ago. It's all good."
"I don't believe this. Not that Brian cheated on you. That, sadly, I can believe. But how are you not a complete mess right now?"
"I was a complete mess. 'Like an hour ago.' I swear I'm fine and I'll never speak to Brian again."
"That's not true. You say that all the time, but you always run back to him."
"Well, this time is for real. You'll see." She plopped on the couch and turned on the tv. "Come here Britney." She patted a spot next to her.
He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I'll be in my room if you need me."

(Ha. Sorry about the "novel" I just wrote:))

(Hmm, I actually couldn't imagine him working there, so I decided that he doesn't get the job and ends up working with his uncle instead. Then they just happen to get a tile job for the gym's restroom or something like that :p that way they can form some type of relationship during the time that he works there. How's that sound to you?)

It had been a couple of weeks since Chan had applied for a job at the gym. He knew he wouldn't get the job, but he had to try.
Now he found himself working for his uncle, Leo, again. They just happened to get a tile job at the gym.
Leo grabbed Chan's shoulders roughly and started to tousle his hair. "I'm glad you're working with me, Kid."
Chan shoved him away. "Hands off the hair, man." His uncle could drive him crazy sometimes, but he was his mom's brother so they had to get along. "It might not look like it, but this look takes a long time to achieve."
He glanced at Chan's hair. "So you actually wanted your hair to look that way?"
They both grabbed some supplies from Leo's beat-up old pickup and hauled them into the gym to start the work in the restroom. It wouldn't take too long. Especially with two people working on it.
As they worked, Leo rambled on and on about how he thought the government was out to get him-- out to get all of us. Chan just kept his mouth shut. He had learned his lesson after the last time he expressed his disagreement about one of Leo's many theories.
"Did I ever tell you about the flat earth theory?" Leo stopped laying out tiles to look at Chan.
"Uh, you mean how people thought the earth was flat like a thousand years ago?"
"Thought? They were right, man. The government is lying to us and wants us to believe it's round."
Chan almost groaned, but that would bring unwanted debate.
"And just think about it," Leo continued. "if they're lying about this, what else could they be hiding from us? I'm starting to think the moon landing never happened."
"Okay, Leo," Chan was going to humor him. "If that's true, then why would the government even want us to believe it's round?"
"I dunno." He shrugged. "But, listen, I think even the Bible supports this theory. I couldn't tell ya the where in the Bible cause I've been slacking in the religion department, but if the Bible supports it, there's gotta be some truth to it, am I right?"
Chan sighed and got up off of his knees. "I'm gonna take a lunch break." He walked out and into the main room.

"Nope." He bit into an apple he had brought with him. "I'm here with my uncle for a tile job."

"You know, just lay out tiles on the ground." He shrugged. "Not much to it. Although, if you ask my uncle, he'll tell you it's an art form."

"I'll get over it. At least I have a job." He tossed the apple core in the trash. "So I ran into you both times that I've been here. This might sound cliche, but you come here often?"

"Wow, do you even have a life outside of this place?"

"Oookay." He stroked his chin. "Well, I guess I should get back to work."

He wrinkled his brows, "Odd request, but okay." He held the door open as they walked in. "Uncle, this is Ange. She wants to watch."
Leo stood and extended his hand to her, "Aye, I'm Leo, like the zodiac sign, although I'm actually a Gemini. But that would be a pretty sucky name." He grinned.
Chan rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to give him a sarcastic "ba dum tss!"

"I don't mind, but," he gave her a strange look, "why would a girl wanna learn this stuff?"

"If you say so..."
Chan cut in, "Yeahh, you might wanna cut back on the sexist remarks."

"We're just covering these tiles here with mortar and carefully setting them on the floor, making sure they're perfectly aligned." Leo explained. "Hey, have YOU ever heard of the flat earth theory?" He asked her.
"Great." Chan grumbled and sent her an apologetic look.

Chan's eyes pleaded as if saying "Please, don't get him started!"
"Well," Leo began.
"Here we go." Chan muttered under his breath.
"All this "round earth" nonsense is just a conspiracy to debunk religion. The earth is actually more like a dome shape. NASA faked all kinds of evidence of a round earth by faking moon landings and space launchings and all that..."
His uncle just rambled on and on about NASA and the government, so Chan just zoned out as usual and continued working.

Leo looked up. "I'm glad you asked..."
Chan groaned in frustration, "Aw, come on, Ange!" It's like she wanted to torture him.

Leo shook his head, "This kid has always been closed minded."
"Ignore him." Chan said.
"Yeah, that always does the trick."

"See ya." Chan said as she raced out.
"She's a keeper." Leo commented as he cut through a tile with a manual snap cutter to fit the edges.
"We just met, but I'm sure she'd appreciate the compliment."

"Oh, hey." Chan greeted her, wondering if he should question the concerning bruises on her neck. It wasn't like they knew each other very long; it wasn't really his place. "How'd yesterday's meeting go?"

"About the same, really. We're almost done, though, as you can see."

Chan narrowed his eyes at her, "What did I ever do to you to deserve such spite?"

"Me? I'm just your typical troubled young adult." He shrugged, "I live a short drive from here with my mom, stepsister, and newly stolen rat-- I mean chihuahua."

"Neither do I, but I'll probably end up taking responsibility for it anyway."

"Four dogs?" His eyes widened. "Whaat? I can barely tolerate one dog."

"No no," he chuckled, "it's all good. You're great."

"Sure! I mean, who can say no to coffee, right?" He half-smiled, "How's this Saturday sound?"

"Evening's good. I like evening." He nodded.
Leo returned from his lunch with a teasing gleam in his eyes when he saw the two of them. Chan glared at him. "There's my cue to get back to work."

"Yep, I'll see you then." He couldn't help but smile. She was cute, he thought. She kinda reminded him of an elf or fairy.

"Hi." He wore an amused expression. "You okay?"

"Not too long, no. It's weird that I had to wait for someone else for a change. I'm usually the late one." He added sheepishly. "Which probably isn't something I should be admitting aloud."

"You party too hard last night or something?" He joked.

"Nothing too exciting." He sipped his coffee. "My mom and Claire forced me to watch Christmas movies with them all night."

"Of course! Who hasn't?"

"What is your Christmas usually like?" He was curious what kind of family she had. His was always so unconventional.

"We don't do much. My uncle comes over and watches tv while my mom tries not to burn dinner. We have dinner. Bicker. Leo drinks a few too many beers and then passes out on the couch. And that's our Christmas."

"Yeah, I got something, but I already finished it." He shrugged and glanced at his phone. It was lighting up as he got text after text from Claire. What on earth did she want? He clicked the power button and turned it around so he could no longer see the screen.

"Yeah, I'm sure everything's fi--" his phone started to buzz. He shut his eyes and sighed. "Sorry. Excuse me for a second." He picked up his phone and walked out the door.
"What do you want, Claire?"
"Chan, I have a sort of emergency..." she sounded panicked.
"What, did the dog eat something it shouldn't have?"
"No. I just... Can you come home?"
"I'm kinda busy, can you wait?"
"Yes. No. I'd rather not." Her voice broke.
"Where's Mom?"
"Work."
"Okay..." he sighed. "I'll get home as soon as I can."
He went back into the cafe and ran his hand frustratedly through his hair. Although Claire was three years older than he was, somehow he always got stuck taking on the role of big brother. "I'm really sorry, Ange. Apparently Claire's got some kind of emergency, so I gotta go and help her deal with whatever it is."

"I-I don't know. She didn't even give me any hints about what was wrong." He crossed his arms and looked out the window as if in thought. "Do you need a ride home or anything?"

He smiled slightly, "As long as you don't mind the drama. I wouldn't be surprised if her emergency is something really insignificant."

He drove to his house and walked up to the door, holding it open for Ange. "I don't smell any smoke. I guess that's a good sign." The Rat greeted them with obnoxious yelping and jumping up and down. "Claire?"
No one had cleaned the house that day, so he was embarrassed about the mess. Throw pillows were on the floor, a bowl that once held popcorn was still on the coffee table, along with empty coffee cups.
His stepsister slowly emerged from the shadows of the hallway. She wrapped one arm around around herself and she was biting her thumbnail as she leaned against the wall. Her eyes were puffy and her curly blonde hair was messier than usual.
She just stood there for a second and then noticed Ange behind Chan. "Who's she?" She asked hoarsely, with her Australian accent -- she and her dad were both from Australia.
"This is my friend, Ange." He folded his arms. "Are you gonna tell me why you called?" He knew she wouldn't care if Ange was there. She never cared if people knew about her personal life. It was all part of being an attention-loving drama queen.
"I'm pregnant." She said.
"What?" Chan almost laughed aloud. "You're kidding, right? If you pulled me out of my da--" he was about to say 'date' but wasn't even sure that's what it was. "If you called me all the way here to play some prank, it's not funny."
"It's not a joke." She said quietly. "I'm pregnant and- and I don't know what to do. I can't take care of another human being; I can barely take care of myself."
This was too much. But he had to be the sensible one, like always. "Yes. Yes you can. Mom and I will help you, and between the three of us, everything will be okay. I swear." He sucked in a breath. A baby. They would have a baby in the house. He sucked in a deep breath and turned to Ange. "Sorry." He said quietly. "Do you want to go home now?" He hoped this didn't scare her away.

He was in complete and utter shock. He didn't know how to act.

Claire stiffened, but didn't resist. Chan could see a single tear run down her cheek and heard a small sniffle.
His sister was going to have a baby. That fact had just fully registered in his mind and his brotherly instincts started to kick in.
"Claire... you should sit down." He pulled her over to a chair. "Do you need anything? Water? A snack?" He asked anxiously.
"No." she wiped her eyes and he could tell she found his reaction hilarious.
"Well. Okay." He folded his arms over his chest trying not to show his discomfort.
"I need to tell Brian." She said suddenly.
"No!" He said much too harshly. "You can't tell him." He knew how it sounded, but Brian's knowing would do more harm than good. "He isn't good for you and he certainly wouldn't be good for the kid."
"But-" she began to protest.
"Please? Don't tell him."
"Okay..." she said noncommittally.
"You have to promise."
"Okay, I promise." She gave in.

"Yeah. Okay." He said as he walked her to the door. "Sorry about... everything."

"Nothing I can think of right now... Honestly I feel like my brain's been turned to mush. But if I think of something, I'll give you a call." He smiled gratefully. "Oh, do you want me to walk you to your car?"

"Definitely. You'll definitely meet the baby." His smile widened. He turned around and grabbed his sweater. "I could just drive you back to your car..."