"What would you say your qualifications are?" Reynolds asked, chewing absentmindedly on a toothpick as he leaned back in his office chair, legs up on the desk, reading through a paper application. The man seated in front of him at the desk - a man in his mid to late twenties with short brown hair and a slim build - shook his head and shrugged.
"Uh, well, I played catch with my dad a lot," he replied, and Reynolds chuckled. "I'm just kiddin' ya, there's no qualifications necessary for this. You're essentially babysitting," Reynolds said, "honestly, I can't see any reason not to hire you, and not just because I didn't get many other applicants." "You wouldn't believe how often being a last resort has worked out in my favor," the man said, making Reynolds laugh again. "Welcome aboard Drew, I think you'll do just fine," he said, leaning across the desk and shaking Drew's hand. *** Gorey was standing on the front porch of Laura's mothers house. It was so perfect. So manicured. So landscaped. It looked like it was ripped right out of a 50s squeaky clean sitcom about the most clean cut American family on the block. It made her sick. She knocked again, and this time the door actually opened, Laura standing there with a mug in one hand, smiling. "You could've rung the doorbell, that would've probably worked better," she said. "I don't want to impose." "You're literally here as a guest," Laura replied, chuckling as she stepped aside and let Gorey enter. The interior of the house was even more perfect. All the right kind of furniture, clean and cozy, with photos hung on the walls showing the family throughout the years; various vacations, graduations, weddings, you name it and it was hung. Gorey felt her stomach turn. Her mother had never once hung anything of their family on the wall...then again their family wasn't exactly the kind to strive to be. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything," Gorey said as she followed Laura back into the kitchen while she sipped from her mug. "No no, I was just baking cookies," Laura replied, "please sit down, do you want some coffee?" "Do you have any soda?" Gorey asked, and Laura said she did before happily bounding to the fridge and pulling out a cold can, which she handed to Gorey; Gorey opened it and took a long sip, then wiped her mouth on her sleeve and after sighing finally followed up with, "so...I guess I should apologize about the other day. I'm not-" "You don't need to apologize," Laura said, "you survived something traumatic that changed you fundamentally. You're under no obligation to explain yourself. Lord knows I didn't come home just to save the theatre." This piqued Janice's curiosity. She raised an eyebrow and folded her arms on the round kitchen table. "Why did you then?" she asked. Laura pulled out the tray of cookies from the oven and slid them onto a plate before bringing the plate over to the table for them both to munch from, seating herself in the process. She pushed some of her hair back from her eyes and sighed as she reached out and picked up a cookie. "...I wanted what my mom had," Laura said, her vocal inflection turning to that of something more somber, "I grew up in this house, with my parents, and I was such a happy kid. I wanted what we had here, but for myself. My own family. A child. A partner. A cute safe little home. Those sorts of things. But it's hard to afford a home anymore, and it's hard to find the right person to spend your life with. As for having a child, sure, I could do that by myself, but I wanted the whole kit and kaboodle." Gorey didn't like where this was going. "Regardless, I looked into having a child, but...to be a single mother...I mean, kudos to those who can do it. They're stronger women than I, but it's just not for me. I wanted everything. I wanted it all. Instead now I am just living back home with my mom, without a child...and I'm getting older. I know I'm barely in my thirties but still, time is running out to do it the way I wanted. So now instead I'm pouring all that focus and adoration into a nearly defunct building that houses a medium most don't even care for anymore." Gorey smiled and bit into a cookie of her own. "I care about it," she said, "I often feel like I'm putting on a play, pretending to be someone I'm not, and it's only around certain people that I feel like I can stop acting and just be myself. But I care about it, and I wanna help." Laura smiled. "That's why I wanted you to come by," she said, "because I knew if anyone would understand, it'd be you. It's admirable that the thing tied to your significant setback is still the thing you love the most." Gorey shrugged, chewing. "What can I say, I love toxic attachments," she said. *** Clarissa, Misty and Hawley were spending the afternoon shopping. Because of Reynolds interviews, there was no practice today, but Misty had forgotten to tell her parents this, and so instead of going home, she simply went with Hawley to the mall to meet Clarissa. Now the girls were sitting in the food court, enjoy frozen lemonades, shopping bags set by their respective feet. Hawley sipped from the straw jabbed into her lemonade lid and looked around at all the other girls their age and older shopping and eating as well. For the first time in her life, she felt like she was truly amongst her peers. "See, it's got this clip," Clarissa said, attaching a bracelet to Misty's wrist, "and it's not too hard to get done and undone! You just have to hold the little metal bob back momentarily while you click 'em together." "Thanks," Misty said happily, turning her wrist and admiring her new bracelet. "Putting on jewelry by yourself is annoying, and I'm guessing you don't get to wear it to school," Clarissa said, leaning back in her chair now, "like, back in LA we could wear jewelry to school and nobody cared, but that's LA. We're all frauds out there. But in a real place like this, they probably don't want you doing it. Especially if you're doing sports." "I'm a bat girl, I can wear whatever I want," Misty said, "it's not like I'm playing." "I don't even have much jewelry to wear so it's kind of a moot issue," Hawley said, looking down at her knees peeking out from her shorts as she added, "I don't even have my ears pierced." "Well," Clarissa said, finishing her drink and tossing the cup in a nearby trashcan, "that's something we need to rectify right now. Come on." She grabbed Hawley's wrist and tugged her from her chair while Misty grabbed their bags and followed in hot pursuit. Hawley was a bit scared, but she was also excited. After all, all she'd wanted for as long as she could remember was to have girl friends she could do girl stuff with, and now that she was living that life, she couldn't say no. *** "It was so sad," Gorey said, stuffing cheese fries in her mouth as she and Reynolds sat across from one another in a diner downtown; she chewed, took a sip from her drink and continued, "like, I felt sorry for her, and if I feel sorry for someone, then you know it's sad." "We need to work on your self esteem," Reynolds said, laughing and grabbing some fries from the plate for himself, asking, "so...so she came home because she just couldn't have the life she wanted? She just gave up that easily?" "You're one to talk." "Hey, I'll have you know that I fought to stay in LA," Reynolds said, "it just was better for everyone, specifically my family, if I didn't. Guess I shouldn't be so judgy in that case. Still, kind of sad. She seemed like a perfectly attractive young lady, I wonder why she didn't have any luck." Gorey shrugged, leaning back and chewing. Once finished, she sighed and shook her head. "No idea," she said, pushing her glasses back up her face, "but whatever the reasons might be, it's not in my interest. I'm literally there just to help her rebuild the theatre. How did your interviews go?" "Pretty good, found a guy, he'll be starting this coming week," Reynolds said, "You know, now that I think about it, and this might come off sadder than intended, this is the most healthy adult relationship I have had. This, with you, right here. Just...two people doing their things in their lives, then reconvening and discussing it later on in the day. This is what I think people in eachothers lives are supposed to do. Not that I don't enjoy wasting all my time with you-" "Wasting? Please, being with me is a gift," Gorey said, making him laugh. "-but," he continued, "it's not exactly healthy to be attached at the hip, right? That's what all the experts say." "Bah, experts, what do they know, besides, you know, everything in their field," Gorey said, picking her drink back up and drinking from the straw again. "I'm just saying that it's nice to have one healthy adult relationship," Reynolds said, "it's nice to have that as a friend." Gorey nodded slowly as she listened. Course what she wanted she couldn't have. Reynolds already had that with Rebecca, and Gorey didn't want to make things more complicated by wanting more, so instead she just nodded, smiling, agreeing with him. This would have to be more than enough for her. She always had to settle, but she'd gotten used to that. Sad that that was the reality, to have to get accustomed to something that isn't normal, but sometimes some people just don't get to be happy. And Janice had accepted that she was probably one of those people. "She baked cookies," Gorey finally said. "Were they good?" Reynolds asked. "Not really, no," Gorey said, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry you had to eat subpar cookies," Reynolds said, "I promise, I'll bake you cookies soon to make up for it." "You can't bake," Gorey said, chuckling. "I promise, I'll buy you cookies soon to make up for it," Reynolds said, the both of them laughing. *** Sitting in the chair of the jewelry shop in the mall, Hawley couldn't help but feel a mixture of both excitement and fear. She'd never once done anything like this - never even considered it when living with her father - and now here she was, all on the insistance of Clarissa, who seemed more dedicated to making her feel like she fit in than Hawley herself was trying to. Misty was sitting in a little chair nearby, watching as Clarissa knelt beside the chair, gripping Hawley's hand while the woman who'd be doing the piercing gathered her equipment. "It's gonna hurt a little," Clarissa said, "but it's gonna be SO cool, and then we can all share earrings." "You didn't tell me it's gonna hurt," Hawley said. "I'm telling you now," Clarissa said, shrugging. "Okay hun," the woman said, approaching and sitting on a stool, "now you're going to feel a small sting." "I guess this is a bad time to say I have absolutely no pain tolerance," Hawley said. "Yeah, it is, you should've mentioned that before putting this idea in my head," Clarissa said, squeezing her hand and smiling, "but you're my sister, and I'm gonna get you through it, alright?" Hawley didn't know how to respond to this. Clarissa was calling her her sister? That warmed her heart, and with that, she felt like she was capable of doing anything. Amazing what a healthy support system can do for a teenager. Hawley looked at the woman sitting on the stool and nodded. "I'm ready," she said, shutting her eyes. *** Gorey entered the house and shut the door behind her, locking it as she did. As she passed by the kitchen, she heard her mother, Alice, working away in the room. Gorey stopped at the bottom of the stairs, sighed, then backed up and looked into the kitchen where she saw her mother preparing something she couldn't quite comprehend visually. As she watched, she thought back to Laura and felt a small bit of comfort in the fact that she wasn't the only one still living at home with her mother, having had a setback of immense proportions befall her. She finally cleared her throat, causing Alice to look at her and smile. "Hi honey!" Alice said. "Hi mom," Gorey said, entering the kitchen, arms folded, "what are you making?" "Well it's supposed to be some kind of asian duck, but it's...it's not going very well, as you can see," Alice said, stepping back from the counter and laughing, "but that's how you learn, I guess." "Mom, can we take new photos?" Gorey asked, "to replace the ones that are hanging up?" Alice pulled a handtowel from the stove handle and wiped her hands off on it, looking at Gorey with a puzzled expression on her face. "Why?" she asked. "Because I'm not the same person that I was when they were taken, and it...it isn't fair to constantly be reminded of who I can no longer be," Gorey said. "Janice," Alice said, approaching her as she tossed the handtowel on the counter, "you're still her. You'll always be here. Some things might be limited to you now, some things might be more challenging. You might struggle, but you're still you. Just because a person faces diversity doesn't mean they aren't a person. If anything, it makes them more of a person, for being so strong to be able to overcome it." Gorey listened, nodding slowly. She'd always considered her life split into two halves; one pre-accident and one post-accident, but to hear her mother tell it, it was still the same life, just altered slightly, and this gave her immense comfort. Alice reached out and put her hands on her daughters shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. "You may think whatever you think of yourself," Alice whispered, "but you'll always be the same to me." Gorey felt her eyes water up and squeezed her mom back tightly. "We don't have to take new pictures," Gorey whispered back, "they're just pictures." *** Hawley, seated in front of her vanity in her bedroom, admired her earrings when she heard her bedroom door opened and turned to see Reynolds standing in the doorway. She turned in her chair and looked at him, and he smirked at her. "When did that happen?" he asked. "Today," Hawley said, shrugging, "Clarissa took me to the mall and made me do it, but I'm glad she did. It came out great." "Well, just remember not to wear them during practice," Reynolds said, "I once watched my daughters softball team play, and one girl forgot to take her earrings out and it snagged home base when she slid and ripped her ear clean off her head." Hawley furrowed her brow and pursed her lips. "...you're making that up," she said. "I would never! Everything I say is the absolute unvarnished truth!" Reynolds said, laughing as he entered the room further. Hawley turned back to look at herself in the mirror again as Reynolds stopped behind her and put his hands on the back of her chair, looking at her in the mirror with her; he sighed and shook his head, "it's great to see you being so comfortable after such a short amount of time. I'm glad you're feeling so safe here." Hawley blushed and nodded. "I really do," she said quietly, "thank you for taking me in." Reynolds patted her on the back, then turned and headed back for the door, before stopping and looking back at her. "What do you girls want for dinner?" he asked, "I was thinking of ordering in something." "Anything is fine," Hawley said happily, as Reynolds smiled, nodded, and shut the door. Standing in the hallway now, thinking back to his life in LA and about what he and Gorey had talked about earlier, he couldn't help but feel at ease and content with what he'd had. He'd had to leave everything else he knew behind, but he'd somehow managed to land on his feet, more or less, and start a new life here with better people. And now that Clarissa was here, and he'd adopted Hawley in a way, he thought things would only get better with time. And yet...yet something about what Jeff had said recently was still rattling around inside his mind. About how maybe enough time had passed since the incident, and now people were seeing him in a better light, and maybe he could return to the entertainment industry soon if he wanted to... ...but was that worth leaving behind what he'd managed to build in such a short time? He couldn't take Hawley with him, of course, she wasn't actually his daughter, and he hated the idea of leaving her here... Ah well, he thought, shrugging to himself, that's a problem for another day. Right now, the only problem he had was what to order for dinner. He was thinking Italian.
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GRAVE INNINGS is about A funeral home that has sponsored a local little league, the coach who is a disgraced reality show host, a young transgirl and the odd family they create for one another. Archives
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