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 Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:11 pm
"All I want is a little off the top, like I usually get. Okay, Christine?"
Joseph Miller's voice was gruff and stern, taking on a somewhat gravelly tone due to disuse. The man was older, in his fifties, and time had not been kind to him. A degenerative disease left him underemployed and housebound most of the time with his dysfunctional son left to oversee his father's care and maintenance of the house. Those cold, hard facts weighed heavily on Joseph. He worried that his son would become a limp-wristed pansy and would stay in the kitchen all day and watch soap operas and never grow up to be the NASCAR driver or the astronaut or the all-star football player he wanted his son to be. Joseph frowned intensely because of it.
Not that his son, Johnathan Miller, even noticed a bit of it.
Truth be told, the younger Miller was like a child in a candy shop no matter where he went. He was perpetually happy, energetic and curious, sticking his nose wherever it fit to learn the secrets of the universe (or so he says). Johnny was fifteen but acted like he was five, a student of Azure Academy on one lucky scholarship. How he came to win it was still something Joseph couldn't wrap his mind around. Where had the elder man failed? Did he hug Johnny too much? Too little? Did he dropkick his son in infancy and then block the memory? Joseph sighed as he saw his son kicking his legs while sitting on a bench like a little boy, staring at everything he possibly could in the barber shop. How embarrassing.
"Dad, you should totally bleach your hair or something. OH OH OH or get those frosted tip things! They're all the rage according to this mag." Johnathan trilled, holding up a magazine called GQ that featured a handsome George Clooney on the front. "Mom would be all like rawrrrr at you but if you guys do that, warn me. I don't wanna see my parents gettin' it on. That's gross."
Joseph just about died.
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:14 pm
“Hmm. I wonder if growing out my hair would be a good idea?” Sydney asked herself as she curiously picked up a strand of her side bangs and idly examined it. She liked short hair, honest. To her, it was much easier to manage because she didn’t have to deal with a myriad of hair tangles or have to worry about split ends or of her hair getting caught on something or covering her eyes while she skateboarded. Plus, washing her hair was much easier when it was cut short. On the other hand, it also meant having to wait at the hair salon. The tomboy pouted at the thought. It was boring. Sydney didn’t have much care in hair products and most of the magazines the salons offered failed to pique her interest.
She sighed and collapsed in her seat, her skateboard protectively placed by her side as she swung her legs back and forth as she patiently waited for her turn. Sighing, she collapsed onto her side and observed the people having their hair cut. Sydney vainly wished for her mother to be with her. Her eyebrows furrowed and she briefly covered her face. Her mother had already passed away half a year ago. Sometimes it didn’t hurt to think of her, and sometimes it did. She tried not to whine, shaking the encroaching sadness out of her thoughts.
Sydney peered through her hands, probing the store for a suitable conversation to jump into, an interesting display to temporarily ogle—anything that would rid her mind of her dreary thoughts. The first thing that caught her attention was a curly-haired boy as he looked over a magazine. His diction was ear-catching, to say the least. Very reminiscent of the preppy girls that occasionally decided to strike up conversation with her.
She pushed herself back into a sitting position as she scooted over to lean over his shoulder. “To be fair, if your parents didn’t get it on you wouldn’t even be here. I’m sure your parents have enough class to do it when you’re not home, anyways. Or maybe they’d go to one of those hotels and do it. I don’t know. It probably depends from couple to couple.”
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:45 am
Joseph Miller, naturally, caught wind of the conversation and visibly winced, causing the hairdresser to take up his chin and re-position him. Christine was an older woman who was heavy set and firm in her ways of handling customers. She did an excellent job with what Joseph always wanted, and was one of the few hairdressers there that could handle his pouting and squirming. "I heard that, you know." grumbled the father. His son dismissed him with a wave of the hand and turned the page in his magazine.
Johnny visibly brightened when someone spoke to him - usually, his father would scold him by telling his son how creepy it was to just barge in on someone's conversation (or try to hug complete strangers, but Joseph was convinced that therapy would eliminate that nasty habit). Shifting on the squeaky faux-leather bench, the curly-haired, befreckled boy turned to face his new friend. Even though he didn't know her name. "Well yeah, of course I wouldn't be here. But that doesn't mean I wanna see it. I mean, talk about traumatizing." he explained, folding the magazine over and over in his hands. George Clooney went from normal size to anorexic in .5 seconds flat. Then he got curled in half. Poor guy.
"I'm Johnny! That's my dad. Just call him dad. What's your name?"
Joseph winced again. His son sounded like he was still in kindergarten, hoping to make a new friend by pouncing on someone. Oh how the phone calls piled up that year from his teacher.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:51 pm
Sydney could vaguely recall her own days of being constantly lectured to not approach strangers, especially in public places. As a child the mantra had worked just fine with the typical exceptions here and there, but as soon as she hit high school, things went downhill from there—perhaps the newly-ingrained idea of becoming independent and becoming an adult (she was still working on that) that convinced her to become more daring when it came to meeting new people and introducing herself to others. Her impressive height and boyish appearance seemed to deter away the strangers her parents feared, at least.
She frowned, puffing out her cheeks. “Like I said, your parents will totally make sure you won’t see it. I’m sure it’s just as embarrassing for them as it is for you.” Fortunately, Sydney could safely say she lacked the experience of catching her parents’ in the act—and now she never would (one of the few positive aspects of her mother’s death). She silently watched the boy crumple the magazine. “Geez, what did that magazine ever do to you?” It would have been another matter if the magazine was his—or maybe it wouldn’t have, who knows—but it wasn’t.
Her mouth formed a silent ‘o.’ “If I call your dad ‘Dad,’ does that mean I have two Dads now?” A bit of food for thought. “Oh, right! Names. I’m Sydney!” She brought out a hand for a firm, energetic handshake. “Hey, do you know how to skateboard? I could always use another skateboarding friend, you know…”
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:57 am
The boy completely forgot about the rest of the conversation as soon as something awesome was mentioned. All memories of squishing George Clooney into oblivion poofed out of his head like so much smoke. Several of his daily thoughts seemed to do that, earning frequent flyer miles on several occasions.
"Oh my god I've always wanted to skateboard but Dad always says---"
"...that you'll break your damned neck." Joseph grumbled before being pulled back into his original position by the hairdresser. She slapped him lightly on the shoulder. The duo of father and son had been coming here for years, and Johnny was rather ditzy, but endearing. The older Miller man just had to be put in his place.
"---but I've always wanted to try! You know like Tony Hawk and flip upside down on those loop-de-loo things and have a badass board with ninjas on it how cool would that be?!" Johnny's blue eyes lit up as he clenched his fists tightly to his chest, leaning forward for emphasis. If it was anyone else, it might be vaguely creepy. Joseph could be heard sighing. George was flung back into the magazine pile a little worse for the wear, but that's what Johnny did when he was thinking about something and had something in his hands. "Oh and nice to meetcha, Sydney! That's a nice name. You have nice hair too. It's all reddy-orangey and short and stuff." Johnny's own hair was a very light dusting of blue, slightly curled and perpetually in a state of bedhead.
Johnny was not one for fashion. Or hairbrushes.
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:13 am
For once, a stranger was actually interested about skateboarding. This pleased Sydney, pleased her very much. Normally they just politely nodded as Sydney briefly talked about her hobby before smoothly moving onto the next topic. Normally it was only with her skateboarding buddies she could excitedly rant about the newest trick or skateboarding competition. However, Johnny seemed more than willing to listen to the redhead’s spazzing.
She furiously shook her head at the father’s opinion. “No, he won’t! I promise, he won’t! As long as he has the proper safety gear he’ll be perfectly safe. I’ve been doing this since I was a little kid. I can totally show him how to skateboard and I’ll be super sure he isn’t injured.” Clearly, Sydney found the prospect of teaching someone to skateboard incredibly entertaining and worthwhile. She grinned, leaning back to swipe her skateboard and show it to Johnny. “Right? I can do the basic tricks easy peasy—Ollie, pop shove it, boardslide—what I really need to practice on are the flips that require a lot of air. I—moving on from that.” Upon realizing he probably didn’t know what tricks she was referring to, Sydney sheepishly grinned and scratched her head.
“My hair? Nice?” It wasn’t everyday someone complimented the tomboy on her hair. To be honest, her hair was more like a messy mop of red—though she had dyed the tips orange, her planned haircut would soon rectify this, much to her disappoint. Perhaps she would re-dye her tips. “Uh…Thanks? Your hair is nice too. It’s a pretty shade of blue and uh, curly?” Actually, now that she was closely examining his hair, it was a sort of a baby blue and not that bad. She was rather fond of using light blue in her graphic designs.
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 6:20 am
The young lad sat in rapt attention, ignoring his father's incessant sighing. No matter how much Sydney may have reassured him, Joseph was still convinced that his son would have one of his moments, fall down and break his neck. No matter how much protective gear he was wearing. With Johnny, safety didn't matter. His son knew how to Houdini his way out of any safety gear and manage to injure himself somehow. It was like a universal truth. Manufacturers must've counted him into the equation when they try to make new improvements.
"Really?!" he asked after hearing a list of tricks he didn't know. He didn't even know what they were. In fact, Sydney could have been talking about the ingredients used to make potato chips and Johnny wouldn't have known the difference. "So I could do Lollies and shovings and slides too? That sounds so cool when do we start?!"
"Never."
Johnny did a double-take and whined. "But daaaaaaaaad you always say," and now the boy lowered his voice and changed his posture to match his father's. "'Son, you need to get out of the house and get some fresh air. You're always cooped up in here. And stay out of the neighbor's yard.' This is getting out of the house and it could be super fun! Please, dad? Pleaaaaase?"
Another sigh. "Ask your mother."
Flailing in response. "But she's never home and Sydney's right here and she has safety gears and I could be doing lollies right nowwww!"
Christine the hairdresser laughed jovially and swatted Joseph on the neck. Begrudgingly, the older man relinquished control over his son. Now Johnny's utter disembowelment was on Sydney's hands, not his own. But then, who would care for the house? Joseph's non-response basically meant he didn't approve, but wouldn't stop his son from engaging in a very potentially fatal activity. Johnny was thrilled. "Okay so when do we start."
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:01 pm
Sydney was disappointed with the father’s worried behavior. She admitted that her mother was just as worried, but Sydney had been around ten back then. Johnny was…she had no idea how old he was, but he was certainly old enough to do things on his own. He didn’t need to be cuddled by his father. It was time for Johnny to try out something he wanted to do—injuries and all. Life wasn’t always a walk in the park.
“Ollies. Pop shove its. Boardslides,” she corrected, smiling patiently.
She was sorely tempted to join Johnny in his begging, complete with a whining “Yeah Daddddd!” but once she realized that wasn’t the best thing to showcase to the father, she opted to sit back silently. Revealing her childish antics wasn’t exactly the greatest confidence booster when he was basically handing his child over to a girl probably not much older than Johnny—but she could mature, honest! She had young twin brothers. She could care for them…decently enough.
Sydney grinned a toothy grin. “Now is always a good time.” A gloved hand reached out to grab Johnny’s arm and gently tug him out of his seat while the other hand scooped up her board. She waved at Johnny’s father—as best as she could with a board in her grasp, at least—and smiled. “No worries, sir. We’ll be just outside the salon!” Still gripping the boy’s arm, she dragged him outside and placed the board on the ground. She released her hold on Johnny. “Okay.” Sydney placed a foot on the board and hopped on, the board gently wobbling back and forth before stabilizing to a halt.
“We’re going to start with learning how to balance on the board and just getting from place to place. Tricks have to come later.” She jumped off the board, taking off her helmet and pads for Johnny to borrow.
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Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 8:34 pm
Johnathan Miller was never one to complain. Before his father could protest any further, Johnny was happily yanked out the door and to the street where he could really hurt himself. Joseph was too late to do anything about his son's sudden disappearance, but he could see both of them from the corner of his eye while in the barber's chair. The older man sighed and resigned himself to simply watch and wait for the inevitable hospital bill. Christine laughed and continued her trim job, watching the boy and girl like a mother would.
The enthusiastic boy struggled to put on the pads and helmet without flailing too much. He was simply too excited to think straight. Soon though, he found himself suitably strapped in and ready to go (so to speak). Watching Sydney with as much intensity as he could manage in his overhyped state, he tried to take mental notes on how to stand, what to do and how to be super duper skateboarding cool. Cuz that's what it's all about. He placed his front foot on the skateboard gingerly...
...and found himself lying on the pavement.
Blinking, he wobbled back and forth. "Sydneyyyyy... what happened. It's not supposed to do that, is it? Am I not really related to Tony Hawk? Awww man." The young lad frowned and took two or three tries (and pathetic excuses for sit ups) to right himself and leaned against the wall of the salon to try again. He couldn't let Sydney down! No, he had to be the best not-related-to-Tony-Hawk skaterboy ever! Plucky and foolish, he stepped onto the board again with too much forward momentum and met the same fate.
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 2:17 pm
Truthfully, Sydney had never taught someone how to skateboard until now. At least she had experience in tutoring others or instructing them how to play a game or such, but never how to skateboarding. She assumed that Johnny would at least be able to wobbly hold his own on the board, but apparently not. Frowning and eyes wide, she held out her arms as she attempted to pull him back onto his feet. “O-Oi! Be careful, okay? Uhhhh. Try not to get on so fast so you can stabilize your balance.”
Boy. What she would have given to be related to Tony Hawk. All the one-on-one training he could have given her, heck, maybe if she shared just a portion of his skateboarding genes…
“You don’t need to be related to Tony Hawk to be good at skateboarding. It just takes some practice,” she reassured him as she warily watched Johnny stumble back to his feet. Perhaps showing him the ways of skateboarding would be more difficult than she imagined.
As he returned for another try, she walked away and stretched out his arms. “Here, try holding onto my a—“ Too late, he was already spiraling for another fall. Sydney dove forward, her arms wrapping around his torso. She took a step forward to keep her balance. “Hey! Careful, are you alright?” Her hold on him loosened as she stared him in the eye. “Okay, let’s take things slower. Hold onto my hand while you get on and I’ll make sure you’ll stay on. Got it?”
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 8:16 pm
Joseph Miller looked over at the window just in time to see his son and Sydney start their rendition of the tango. The elder man looked positively mortified. If it were possible, he'd have steam coming out of his ears. "Christine, why is my child such a moron? And why is he hanging out with some man that is groping him." he seethed, gripping the arms of the barber chair like it was the only thing holding him to Earth. The larger woman, with her ever-present jovial smile, tapped him on the wrist with her closed scissors.
"They're having fun, Joe. Leave them alone. Besides, Sydney's a nice girl, Johnny's a nice young man. Let them just be kids, okay?" She started to brush off her customer, plucking stray hairs from behind his ears. "Not a bad job, no sir. Not at all. Anything else you need?"
"Sydney... is a girl?"
"Why yes, she's in here every few months to get her tips done and her hair trimmed. Nice girl, very sweet. A little tomboyish, but that never hurt nobody." There, time to start cleaning up her area for the next customer. "You can pay up front, Mr. Miller. Thank you for stopping by."
Joseph was almost numb.
Meanwhile, Johnathan was busy playing the role of the girl during their tango dance, and happily hugged Sydney back when she caught him. He was practically lit up like a Christmas tree with happiness. "I get it now, Sydney! I can do it~!" After finishing the hug, the boy walked back up to the skateboard (which had moved roughly six feet away) and gingerly put on foot on it. Okay, good... slow and steady. Using the salon's wall as a brace, Johnny placed the other foot behind the first. He tried desperately not to start flailing out of joy, or Sydney would have to catch him again in front of lots of other people.
"Ahhhh I did it! I did it!"
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:28 pm
Joseph Miller wasn’t the first person to mistake her as a lad. Sydney was tall, even for a male—only seventeen and she was happily towering at six feet flat. When paired with her penchant for donning her elder brother’s clothing and her lack of femininity, she supposed it wasn’t that difficult to mistake her as a boy. It didn’t bother her that much, though. She had always just been “one of the boys” ever since she was a child.
Perhaps a normal person—particularly a girl—would’ve have been flustered at being tightly hugged by someone of the opposite sex, but Sydney hardly minded it. She was a bit too focused on stabilizing the boy’s balance, anyways. Sydney remained silent, her eyebrows furrowed and lips curled into a frown as she walked Johnny back to her board. As he neared the fallen skateboard she stretched out an arm to grasp his hand. “Go slowly, ya?” she gently reminded him as he placed one foot on the board and eventually the other foot joined it.
Sydney grinned alongside him. Her grip tightened as she braced herself for a flailing spell, but thankfully it didn’t seem to come. “You did it! Now, I’m going to let go and you have to keep your balance by yourself. You can manage that, ya?” She looked up at Johnny before taking a step back, her fingers loosening as she began to relinquish her hold on Johnny. She kept her gaze focused on him. Sydney secretly hoped he wouldn’t fall over again, but instinct told her to keep looking just in case.
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Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 6:03 am
"Hnnnggggg okay. Okay. I can do this. I can do this..." came the chant and Johnny reluctantly let go of Sydney's hand. There was some very short-lived flailing to keep the balance and he turned his knees inward, but everything seemed (relatively) stable. For now. With his back to the salon, the young boy couldn't see his father's look of utter shock and horror. Joseph had been counselling his young son from a very early age not to do anything stupid. It seemed like the universe was hellbent on making Johnny disobey everything he possibly could. Joseph knew his son was clumsy, erratic and downright boneheaded sometimes. A total frustration. But that didn't mean he didn't feel the fatherly pang of, "oh my god what are you doing?!"
Sticking out his tongue, Johnny seemed to have stabilized himself. He looked to Sydney for approval, a smile wide on his face. "Dad always said I would kill myself on one of these things and I didn't get dead! You're the best, Sydney! This is so cooooool!" A little wobble swept through him, but he seemed to flail through it without much trouble. A sigh of relief left his body. "Maybe we can like go catch badguys on our badass skateboards. I'll start saving money! And maybe you can show me a cool board shop oh that would be so cooool! Do you live around here?!" That was Johnnyese for 'can I come invade your house whenever I'm in your neighborhood?', not that Sydney would know.
Joseph walked out of the salon, freshly cut, to stare in suspended disbelief at his son and the fact that Sydney was a girl. No girl was that tall. It was just impossible. And no real girl was that... flat. Joseph knew how to spot a girl, and Sydney... was doubtful at best. The father stared tight lipped at his son, who smiled back widely.
"Isn't Sydney the coolest girl ever?! Lookit! I'm skateboarding! I mean, I'm skateboarding in place but still! I'll be Tony Hawk Jr. in no time!"
If the salon didn't have a brick face, Joseph would have started to smack his face into it.
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Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 12:02 am
The chanting was cute, Sydney had to admit. An amused grin tugged at the corners of her lips as her hands closely hovered near Johnny, ready to dive in at the slightest waver or flail. She caught herself staring at his face, twisted with concentration as he subconsciously poked out his tongue. For reasons she couldn’t quite comprehend, her smile stretched wider. Her sudden fixation distracted her just long enough for Johnny to begin and continue to precariously perch on the board and flap his arms as he became dangerously close to falling off yet again. Slowly, her mind began to register the situation and her eyes widened. “Wai---“ She reached out to him, but he had already righted himself again. Another smile.
Satisfied that Johnny had learned to stand on a skateboard without falling on his face, she relaxed and straightened to her full height. A pleased beam graced her features as she placed her hands behind her head. “Your dad is exaggerating. You’re not going to die by tripping over a skateboard—not unless you’re like, trying to learn over a volcano or something, but really, what are the odds of that?” Sydney laughed at the absurdity. “Me? The best? Hardly. But skateboarding? Cool? Absolutely.” She smirked, but broke into another round of laughter as Johnny’s imaginations and dreams began to run wild. “I don’t think skateboards will help much in that matter.” I already have my hands full with being a senshi. I don’t think I’d have time to do something like that. Disappoint began to wash over her, but she squeezed her eyes shut. Why be sad when she was already a “hero” in her own right?
“Oh, yeah. I live a couple streets down from here. It’s not that far,” she added as she turned her head to stare at the baffled father. Smiling, she proudly nodded her head at Johnny. “See? He’s not hurt at all.” Sydney seemed to be under the impression that Joseph was shocked that Johnny was managing to hold his balance on a skateboard rather than the fact that she was—gasp—a girl and not a boy. She had become immune to the dubious glances and second looks.
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Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 8:44 pm
A little bit of flailing followed Sydney's admission as to where she lived. Oh boy! She lived nearby, which meant he could go visit her all the time and learn to skateboard and be extra awesome! If dad approved, of course. With the amount of chores Johnny had to do at home to keep the household running smoothly, free time was precious. Since he was out of school he did have less to do, which was a blessing in and of itself. Joseph knew his son well enough to know that he either needed to be sedated half the time, under supervision, or on a leash. Or all three.
The older man sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, grinding his teeth as his son looked like a loon in a public place. Again. Johnny stepped off the skateboard after a while and began to beg to be allowed over to Sydney's place, regardless of Sydney's feelings towards the matter. That was a frequent enough occurrence from his son. "C'mon dad! It'll be so super cool and you're always telling me that I need more down-to-earth friends and Sydney's totally down to earth! She's like super awesome and knows all these skateboard tricks and she's super cool! Can I please go to her house sometime? PLEAAAAAASE?!"
Joseph let out the breath he was holding, his face stone from stoicism. He did his best to keep his blood pressure down and prevent massive aneurysms from forming because of stress. Johnny's one saving grace? He'd never do anything inappropriate (on purpose) with anyone, regardless of gender. Joseph never had to worry about finding out that his son's girlfriend was pregnant or something. A rough hand went to pat the boy on the head, the father's universal signal of shut up, Daddy's talking. Johnathan abruptly did as he was told, waiting in rapt silence for an answer. "...you should ask Sydney first."
He still wasn't convinced Sydney was a girl. He was just humoring the hairdresser.
The boy quickly darted to the much larger girl and attached himself to her waist in a good-natured hug. "You hear that, Sydney? Can I come over to your place sometime and learn to be super cool? Please? I'll clean your house! I'm good at making pies too!"
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