Who: Jeremy and Griffith Where: Rec room When: Sunday late afternoon, early evening What: Chance meeting, watching a movie, exploding coke.
Surprisingly Griffith had some nice alone time in the rec room. Something interesting was probably happening somewhere else because he had finished up his latest book report uninterrupted. Oh there were one or two kids who came and went but they weren't the ones that Griffith usually avoided. Now he was sprawled out on the carpet. His notebook was by his side, the report tucked in between it's pages. The novel was lying open on his scrawny chest. And the boy himself was staring contentedly at the ceiling. It was a good book. It put him in a reflective mood.
Jer had just finished something he had not got around to doing for quite some time. Homework. For once Jer would be able to turn in a complete assignment into the teacher. He had decided to reward himself with using the school parking lot and front steps as a personal skate park and now strut through the hall feeling particularly good. Shaggy skater hair under a backwards baseball cap, baggy shorts and his tee-shirt now slinged over one shoulder, Jer carried his board down the hall, as he was already yelled at for riding it in doors. He glanced around, making sure no teachers were in sight before he smirked, dropped the board to the floor, jumped on and kicked off.
He road the board down the hall till he made the sharp turn into the rec room and stopped it, stepping off and stomping on one end of the board, causing it to leap up into his awaiting hand. He didn't spot Griffith at first and just crossed behind the couch over to the movie shelf and scanned the selection.
Jeremy's stomping did a number of things. First it derailed Griffith's train of thought and made him sit up immediately...his quiet mood totally shattered. Like any mouse, he didn't do very well around loud noises and was already reaching for his notebook. The trick was to make a quick exit...but first he had to see what type of 'threat' it was. Sliding closer to the couch, Griffith peeked around it and then relaxed when he saw that it was only Jeremy. That was good, he had been worried if it was someone nasty. "...Hello Jeremy." He said softly, still peeking from behind the couch. As always he was more worried about being polite then anything.
Jeremy paused for a moment, as if he was hearing things, as he was sure the room was empty when he came in, then glanced over his bare shoulder towards the coach. "Oh Griff! Hey man!" he quickly forgot all about his search for film entertainment and crossed the rec room over to the couch, hopped over it and set his skateboard down and looking at Griff with his usual big white grin. "Whatcha doing on the floor, dude?"
He sat up a little straighter as Jeremy approached and watched as Jeremy vaulted over the couch. Eyeing the other boy's skateboard, he looked up into Jeremy's grin and said. "Just finishing up a book report." That was due two weeks from now. He mentioned to his notebook as if the other boy would not believe him. "Did you go skating again?" Griffith asked then. In the back of his mind he thought that the answer was painfully obvious but it was always nice to ask right?
"Ah sweet, Did you get it all done?" Jer grinned and patted his skateboard and nodded. "Yup, was sort of a celebration outing. You'll be syked to know, man, that I finished all my homework for the weekend!" It may have not been a big deal to Griffith, the homework king, but it certainly was a big deal to Jeremy.
"Yes I did." Griffith replied. And it had been an easy one to because he had read the novel before. But it was nice getting to know the characters and the plot again. He nodded and smiled a little as Jeremy said that he had finished his homework for the week. "That's great." Griffith said then. "And just in time to hand it in on Monday too." He leaned a little against the couch, dark hair falling dutifully over his eyes. "The best thing about homework is that it never stops coming. You finish one batch and you know that another one's coming." Paint a nerd sign on his forehead.
....Jer was quiet for a moment before he scoffed a little and just shrugged. "Er, sure, dude whatever you say." Jer had barely even started doing homework, let alone liking it so Griffith's taste for after-class activities were strange to him. He was quiet again for a moment, as Jer always sort of felt stupid around Griff. What was he supposed to say? He didn't read novels or anything like what Griffith seemed to do nothing but.
Now Griffith was used to that. If he was around his siblings Claudia would have already told him to stop acting so fucking creepy and Arthur would have him in a headlock already. "If you do it regularly, you'll get used to it." He hoped that was encouraging. "And homework really helps when exams roll around." He thought about launching into a full length explanation of how he timed himself sometimes when did his homework to practice for exams to come....but bit his lip on in at the last second. "Where did you got to skate?" Griffith asked then, instead.
Jer was glad to leave the subject of homework behind to move onto something he knew much about. He straightened up a bit with a grin, pulling his tee-shirt off his shoulder. "Parking lot and the front steps of the school. Not as good as the park but I wanted to celebrate the whole homework thing." He waved his hand a little, still trying to breeze by the homework topic.
Griffith nodded. "It's always nice to give yourself a little reward after you finished homework." He put in, reaching for his notebook now and fiddling with it. Griffith was never good at holding conversations..with people who weren't his siblings at least and you could see that he was thinking up some things to say. Not that he didn't enjoy the company though. He did. "And it's good that you skated outside. I mean, you could get detention of doing so indoors." And detentions were never any good
Jer laughed a little. "Eh, I just got warnings." Which basically meant Jer has don't plenty of skating inside the school, usually when teachers weren't around but every so often he'd get caught. He mostly skated on the way back to his room. He shrugged again and laughed. "Its too much fun to just....not do, dude." He grinned and tapped his leg against Griffith's shoulder before standing up and dropping his shirt on the couch. "Hey um...I was just gunna like, pick a movie and make some popcorn and grab some candy. You wanna watch with me, or like hang and do something else or whatever, if you're not busy?"
Griffith had a blank look on his face. Obviously he didn't know the ins and outs of detention. But then again Griffith had never so much as gotten a funny look from a teacher before. He was silent for a bit before he nodded. "That sounds good." And then Griffith was on his feet. "How about you chose the movie and I can go to the kitchen and get some candy and snacks." Of course he was not busy. Griffith never did anything that was social. Dusting off his worn jeans he pulled a little at the hem of his over sized T-Shirt and said. "I'll see if they have Take 5s. Those are your favourites right?"
Jer shifted a little, his stance falling into a more relaxed sway, that sort of cheesy stance the boy always fell into in the movies when the girl said something cute or sweet. Jer nodded. "Yeah. They're my faves. Get whatever you want! Like drinks and stuff! Do you want me to help? What did you wanna watch? What are you into?" Jer had lost all control over the time span between questions and they just came out one after the other.
He nodded and pushed his hair out of his eyes. Honestly, Griffith could do with a haircut. "Drinks...alright." He had forgotten about those. "I'll just grab whatever I can from the kitchen." He had served as Arthur's late night snack errand boy enough times to know what to get and where all the goodies were kept. As for what he wanted to watch. "I don't have a favourite movie actually." Griffith watched whatever was on television on account of never getting control of the remote. But that was alright with him. He was turning and heading towards the door when he paused and smiled shyly over his shoulder. "You can watch whatever you like. I trust you." And then he was out the door.
Jer pouted for a moment then turned back to the shelf of movies and searched for something he and Griffith would BOTH enjoy. This would be hard. Griffith was smart, one of those kids who probably liked smart, indie movies or witty dramas or something like that while Jer liked action movies, stupid comedies, those lame teen movies and porn. He frowned and lifted his baseball cap up to scratch his shaggy hair before tugging the hat down again over his head before finally sighing and pulling a DVD box from the shelf. He hoped Griffith liked Gone in Sixty Seconds.
Like he had thought (and hoped) Griffith didn't have any trouble finding some snacks. He grabbed a big packet of chocolate chip cookies, an even larger packet of potato chips and then several handfuls of candy bars. For refreshment he snagged two coke bottles. It was going to put him on a complete sugar high. Putting everything on a tray, he hurried back to the rec room. "So what did you chose?" He asked then, as he entered and settled the tray down on the table. Snatching his notebook off the floor, Griffith sat on the couch and placed it safely on his lap.
Jer had been waiting on the couch, feet kicked up on the arm rest. He sat up once Griffith had returned and quickly made his way over to him to help carry in the tray. "Here dude, I got it." He nodded towards the box on the sofa. "Er, that one. Sixty Seconds. You like it? Ever see it? We can watch something else, no prob for me."
"Thanks." Griffith said politely as Jeremy came to help him with the tray. It was nice of the other boy to do so. Sitting on the couch he picked up the DVD box and studied it for a moment. It looked like one of those action movies but once again, Griffith had no preference when it came to media that wasn't books. "It's a car chase movie?" He asked then, looking at Jeremy. The expression on his face said that he was a-okay with the other boy's choice. "Arthur really likes the Fast and Furious series...is this something like that?" Obviously Griffith had never watched this movie before.
Jer set the tray full of goodies, which indeed looked delicious, down on the table in front of the couch and the skater boy tugged it closer to the couch so they could reach their food easier. "Kinda. Its a car THEFT movie. Kinda like Oceans Eleven meets Fast and the Furious!" Clearly Jer liked this movie as he continued with the set up and turned the tv on before reaching over the table to take the box from Griff so he could put the movie in. In no time the skater boy bounced back into the couch beside Griff, smiling at him. "No worries dude, you'll like it. Oh!" He snapped his fingers before reaching to their tray to take out his favorite candy, Take 5, and opened it and taking out one of the two chocolate covered pieces and practically held it up not too far from Griffith's lips. "Gotta try it dude. Gotta."
He watched as Jeremy popped the DVD into it's player. In the back of his mind he thought that it was nice to sit down for once and let someone else to all the little tasks that he usually would be doing. His siblings were great but that didn't stop them from making him their bitch. "Car theft?" Griffith asked then, looking a little more intrigued. It didn't take much to put two and two together though. And he supposed all the car chases would be fun to watch. He was already focused on the television as the opening music started to play when Jeremy held up that piece of chocolate to his lips. Had Griffith been paying more attention he would have just taken the chocolate from Jeremy with his fingers. But instead he leaned in plucked the candy from the other boy's digits with his mouth, his lips brushing Jeremy's fingers slightly.
Jeremy grinned, watching Griffith take the candy, a mixture of sweet chocolate and caramel meeting salty pretzel and peanut butter, no wonder why it was Jer's favorite. He watched at Griffith ate it, waiting for a reaction before glancing at the tv the back at Griffith, his dopey charming grin still on his face. "Like it?"
He was already chewing when he realized what had happened. Crap...Griffith felt his cheeks flaming up. But he continued to chew, staring at the screen as if nothing happened. But at least the candy was tasty. Sweet and a little salty all at once. "Mmm..it is good." He replied, peeking at Jeremy shyly. And then because Griffith could never help apologizing he said. "And sorry about that...Claudia feeds me sometimes when we're snacking...it's a bad habit." Of course Claudia treated him as more of a lap dog.
Jeremy smiled at Griff and shook his head. "Dude, relax. Its fine." Perfectly fine really. He nudged his bare shoulder against Griffith's with a coy grin. Jer seemed to be far more interested in the boy next to him than the movie. He used the very same fingers Griff has slightly taken beyond those cute pouty lips, to take the other of the two halves of the Take 5 and fed it to himself. He sprawled on the couch, lifting one arm up and over the couch to drop back over the top of the couch behind Griffith. Luckily it wasn't too hot outside and even though he was shirtless, Jer didn't smell, not bad anyone, he just smelled like...well....Jeremy. He smiled as he watched the movie, every few moments, looking at Griffith.
His blush seemed to deepen, and Griffith rubbed at his cheeks slightly. He seemed to be determined to wipe the blush as well as the sheepish expression right off his face. "Alright...I won't do it again though." He replied, looking out of the corner of his eye at Jeremy. There was a note of apology in his tone. But at least the candy was good and the movie seemed to be good as well. "Oh...does anyone die in this movie?" He asked then. Stupid question really, it wasn't a Disney film for kids..so of course people died.
"Dude." Jeremy sounded both amused and exhausted in his tone and turned slightly, facing more towards Griffith than the movie. "Don't, its fine. No big deal." He really didn't like it when Griffith would apologize for every little thing, especially when there was nothing to be sorry for and he liked it. He gave Griffith one final nudge to try and lighten the boy up before settling back into his relaxed, lazy position on the couch, watching the movie. "You'll just have to watch and find out." He said with a small grin. No this wasn't a Disney movie, but it wasn't exactly Scarface or The Godfather either.
He smiled shyly in response to Jeremy's nudge. The movie went a long way to making him feel relaxed, because Griffith had to let go of whatever embarrassment he felt to really concentrate on the plot. He was starting to think that the acting was good. "But you'll tell me when characters are about to die right?" He looked at Jeremy again. "It's just that I'm not very good at sudden deaths." Those deaths tended to make him squeal.
Jeremy chuckled a little. "Haha why? You gunna get scared, man?" That was kinda funny and a little bit cute that Griffith wanted to know if things like that would happen in advance. Jeremy would have to remember not to make Griffith watch a scary movie with him. He looked at the screen, thinking if there were any sudden deaths in Gone in Sixty Seconds. "Hmmm, don't think that many people die in this."
"A little." Griffith replied, ducking his head a little in that shy way. He reached out and opened the bag of potato chips. "I...kinda get attached to the characters." So it was hard watching the ones he liked bite the dust. This was exactly the reason he hated it when his siblings made him watch slasher movies. "In books...at least you get to know who dies just by skipping a few chapters." So you can be well prepared then. But he smiled when Jeremy said that not a lot of people died in this movie. "That's good...there's a lot of nice cars in this one though."
"Oh yeah." Jer nodded, watching the screen. "Tons of nice cars. Wish I could have...wait...that one, right there." He smiled as he pointed at the screen to a red sports car. He wanted to comment how much he liked the thought of Griffith getting too close to the characters but kept his mouth shut. He wanted to get along with Griff, not embarrass the crap out of him. He dropped his arm from the top of the couch, his arm sliding over Griffith's shoulders as he moved his arm down to also reach into the bag of potato chips Griffith held.
"...That ones very red." Griffith replied. He didn't know how to drive and of course wasn't one of really flashy cars. Not that he knew anything about cars. "Do you know a lot about cars?" He asked Jeremy then before he glanced over his shoulder. The feel of Jeremy's arms sliding over his shoulders had obviously caught his attention. Griffith would have moved away but he remembered all the times Jeremy had frowned at him whenever he jumped at being touched. Tilting the potato chip bag slightly so that the other boy could easily reach it, Griffith added. "I think Justin's car is nice. Have you see it?"
Jer knew how to drive only because his mother had taught him how when he was fourteen. He shrugged a little. "Eh, I know some things. I don't know everything though." He glanced at Griffith as he took a small handful of potato chips. "Justin? That kid with the pet chicken right? I didn't know he had a car. I don't know much about that guy."
"Yes he has a chicken." Griffith replied looking a little amused. "He stole some one's egg project to put it under the chicken though for some reason." He knew Justin because Justin was Arthur's best friend. Plus the other boy had always been nice to him. "He has a car. A black Volvo actually. It's nice...kinda like the car I'd want if I knew how to drive." Because it wasn't flashy. He offered the bag of potato chips to Jeremy. "Can you hold this please? I'm thirsty." And he wanted to reach for his coke.
"Oh, that's his car? Awesome." Jer nodded to himself envisioning that car and what it may look like with orange and purple flames painted on its sides as he took the bag. "Oh yeah, sure." He held the back for Griff.
"Thanks." He reached for his drink and since he was there, Griffith asked, "Would you like your drink too?" Without waiting for Jeremy's answer, Griffith cracked open the cap of his coke bottle. Unfortunately he had no idea how much he had jostled the bottle on the way back up to the rec room. In short opening the bottle was like a nail bomb exploding. Except without the nails, Griffith ended up getting covered in soft drink.
"Yeah sure." Or at least Jer started to say that before his face and chest and shoulders were suddenly hit with a spray of coke. He sat there a second before suddenly laughing loudly and looking at poor soaked Griffith and could help but think the poor emo boy looked like a poor soaked kitten. "Hahahaha! Dude! Aww!" He laughed as he suddenly wrapped one of his arms around Griff's shoulders and gave him a squeeze and laughing too hard to form actual words.
At first Griffith looked shocked. His mouth hanging opened as coke dripped from the ends of his bangs and into his eyes. Certainly he hadn't been expecting that. "Gosh..." Griffith mumbled before the stream of I'm sorries started to escape his mouth. But Jeremy was laughing and he didn't seem to be mad at all and suddenly one of the boys arms was hugging him. Griffith stopped speaking and as he looked at Jeremy and he started to find the situation rather hilarious as well. A giggle escaped him and then outright laughter which was the first he had shared outside of the family in a long time. Shifting a little he reached for the napkins he had thought to bring. "You got hit too." He bought the wad of napkins to Jeremy's chest.
Jer laughed and nodded looking down at himself and looking at Griffith, all the while smiling and laughing as the caramel covered sticky soda covered them. He laughed and kept his hands to his sides, letting Jeremy take the napkins to his chest, smiling at him
He dabbed, too busy with the notion of drying to realize that Jeremy didn't have his shirt on. But of course Griffith realized soon enough and stopped. "I guess I shouldn't have run up the stairs...." He said, holding out the napkins to Jeremy so that the other boy could finish cleaning himself up if he wanted. With his free hand he wiped at his face with sticky fingers. "And I think I made us miss one of the good parts...how many cars has he stolen again?" The shock of having been suddenly sprayed with coke had made him forget.
Jeremy had forgotten about the movie too and just smiled and shrugged. "Ha, not sure. Enough to fill a garage I'm guessing." He laughed a little and took the napkins from Griffith but not to clean his own sticky, coke sprayed chest. He smiled as he started to softly brush away the soda from Griffith's face. "Dude that was hella funny, you shoulda seen your face, ha!"
"Well then he's going to show that bad guy huh..." Griffith was still stuck between amusement and embarrassment. His bangs were wet and stuck to his forehead, making a permanent curtain of hair for him to peek out of. He could feel himself blushing again as Jeremy started to wipe his face. Really...the boy should be using that to clean himself up. "I guessed I looked pretty funny. Too bad you didn't have a camera." He said then, reaching up to take the napkin from Jeremy and ended up having his sticky fingers brush the other boys.
Jeremy laughed as he nodded, wiping Griffith's face clean of any soda residue and smiled at him shrugging his shoulders. "Ha, yeah I wish I could have got that on film." He felt his fingers brush Griffiths and kept his hand there just long enough to prolong the feeling of the closest thing to hand holding Jer was going to get. He just shifted on the couch, moving closer to Griffith. "Here dude, don't move." He laughed and chuckled a little as he moved in a big closer to start drying down Griffith's forehead and soaked bangs.
"Maybe if you're lucky it'll happen again." Griffith said, with a little smile. He could laugh at himself and this was one of those times. Biting on his lower lip he could taste the coke and said, "Funny though, now I'm not thirsty anymore." And he could make jokes too. A stream of coke to the face did wonders for the little emo. He let his hand drop as Jeremy shifted closer and Griffith blinked as the other boy told him not to move. "You should really watch the movie." He said gently, realizing that he was really making Jeremy miss the show.
Jeremy just laughed and shrugged. "Dude, no worries, I've seen the move like four times; He laughed and kept dabbing the napkin at Griffith's cheek before he finally pulled away. "Heh, there we go."