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 Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:35 pm
Eleven o'clock on a Tuesday night; Jude had come home tired, all but dragging his book bag, shrugged off his jacket, and had immediately been assaulted by the fact that they were out of milk. If he'd had more balls, more guts, if he hadn't tried it before and learned exactly how stupid of an idea it was, Jude probably would have argued with his mother. They could live through tomorrow without milk. She'd probably sleep until eleven anyway. He could get it before school.
Experience, though, made him just stare at her quietly for a moment before stooping again, hauling his jacket on one sleeve at a time and turning to head out the door.
Now, twenty minutes later, he stood in the s**t corner store that was the only thing open within walking distance, blinking in a daze under the impossibly bright lights and frowning at the slim pickings of milk. Left to his own devices, he wouldn't even invest a dollar fifty in these wares, but the choice had been somewhat cruelly twisted out of his hands. He reached out distractedly to shove the first few bottles back out of the way, hunting for one without residue clinging, sour, around the neck.
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Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 5:44 pm
Genevieve had spent the night being busy collecting energy, as she did most nights these days, and in her rush to get out of the house had forgotten to eat something for dinner. Which was not something she could just stop to do while she was out and about exploring her night job. She'd worked her happy bottom off before it froze in the night air, and vowed to get something on her way home. Unfortunately the only place open late enough in the evening was the hole in the wall corner store down the street from her house. It wasn't the best prospect but they at least always had those refrigerated egg salad sandwiches no one else throughout the day wanted to touch.
It was something at least.
Walking through the sticking automatic door, the ridiculously bright fluorescent lights illuminated the bright colors in her clothing and made the circles under her eyes stand out more than they realistically should. She looked like a two-bit street whore in Gucci and Prada clothing.
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Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:31 pm
Jude came up with his jacket rumpled and two fingers hooked through the neck of a decent-looking bottle with an expiration date not too close. His eyes flicked up and around in that same nervous way, like he expected to get jumped or mugged -- and maybe that wasn't so unreasonable, around here. This wasn't the best part of town. It wasn't the worst, either, but this was where people scrabbled some to make ends meet. This was where people struggled.
A blink as he settled on Genevieve, and a distracted confusion crept in around the edges of his expression. He knew her; when they'd been younger, he'd known her very well. Back when his mom had been sober enough that she pushed him to hang out with other kids, or maybe she'd just dumped him on doorsteps to keep some time for herself.
Now, though, he didn't really know anyone. His time was split between schoolwork and work work, bills frequently falling in his lap. He blinked at Genevieve and didn't recognize her for a moment.
Her in Prada and Gucci; him in a suit that fit too well, was a little to crisp, pressed and tailored. They looked out of place. If they'd both decided to drop everything and tango down the aisles, it could have been the perfect surreal indie music video...but Jude wasn't like that. Instead he flushed at the thought and ducked his head, trying to figure out if he wanted to be recognized or not.
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:54 am
"Jude?" Too late. The suit had caught her eye before she'd even looked at the face, but it hadn't taken long for her to look up at his face and work out where she knew the boy from. Apparently it had taken him half a second longer than it had her. Too bad for him. Smiling broadly, she nodded in triumph at her discovery. "Jude Harrow," she called again, "that is you!" She hadn't seen him in ages.At least not since they'd both ended up at separate high schools, with her going to Crystal and all. Still, the memories made her a little nostalgic. More specifically about one thing.
"Remember when you used to get dumped at my place and I'd make you watch all of my mother's old Care Bear videos with me?" Placing her hands on her hips she kept the toothy grin on her face focused at the top of his head. She didn't give a flying rat's a** if she was being embarrassingly loud in this place or not. It wasn't as if anyone else in the store really mattered anyway.
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:41 am
Oh, god help him. Jude looked up at her and sank a little into himself, taking a quick step away from the milk as if it was a danger, as if it might jump on him. He'd likely always been a bit skitterish, a bit strange, a bit too quiet -- but not quite like this. He'd gone from the weird, big-eyed naive kid who likely followed her around and did what she told to the...well. Still weird. Still a little big-eyed. But it was less naive, now, held more of a jaded edge, like he knew what was coming and was already resigned to it.
He'd learned, then.
"...um." Deer in headlights, he recognized her now. In reality, he probably hadn't minded the Care Bears. Now, though, he could never admit to that. "...hi Genevieve."
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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:58 pm
His behavior was amusing but politeness dictated she not make a spectacle of his jumpiness, especially since it wasn't like she hadn't seen it often when they'd played as younger kids... Not that she was always aware of what was polite or not. Ignoring that she was in line to pay Genevieve walked over to the boy and patted the shoulder of his suit. "Nice threads, sir." She complimented brightly.
Everyone in the neighborhood knew about the struggles of his mother, but it didn't strike the girl as odd that he was wearing absolutely brilliant attire. She was in designer labels, after all, and it wasn't like the gossips in the area didn't speculate on that as well.
"Where'd you get it? You must have a great job! Lucky."
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Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:37 am
Hers were designer; his was 'vintage'. Fingers went to his lapel thoughtlessly, smoothing it back away from his neck, thumb passing briefly over a hidden hole, a little gap in the seaming where he hadn't quite been able to make it fall flat. Once Jude realized what he was doing, his hand dropped again, wrapping around the milk's handle and the fingers of his other hand.
"Um. No, I...I fixed it up a bit." Here, at least, he was more comfortable. Genevieve wouldn't make fun of him for sewing, hopefully. Wouldn't tease him over girly hobbies, or snicker behind her hand, the way the neighbors did. He shifted to show her the bright lining. "It was a hand-me-down. Yours, though, are, um. The real thing?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:18 pm
Eyes widening she didn't think twice about the idea that it was a boy doing his own tailoring, just that it looked so good. Immediately the want to have all of his skills for her own cropped up and she smiled at him impishly. "Mine are designer, yeah, but now I know who to go to if I need to fix them right?" Absently smoothing down her skirt with her hands and then flipping her hair over her shoulder, she flirted with him without actually wanting to flirt. Anything to get what she wanted, right?
The feeling that the register clerk was staring at them talking, she craned her neck to stare back at him and smiled brightly. "Eavesdropping much? Why don't you go make yourself busy cleaning the atrociously treated soda shelves and actually earn what little you get payed?" Flicking her hand at him in a shooing matter she turned her attention back to Jude, smile still fixed to her face. "Good for you, though, with the clothes. They look stunning. Everyone thinks I'm a whore," she said conversationally. "It's not true of course but I say screw it. If those good-for-nothing gossips want to think I have sex for money then let them. At least with these clothes it means I'd be damned good at it."
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 7:37 am
Genevieve was blunt in a way that was unfamiliar to Jude, most of the women in his life lacking that kind of self-confidence. The word 'whore' all on its own made him flinch, milk shifting in his grasp -- not because he was unfamiliar with it, no, it was a word that got thrown around a lot in the neighborhood, but because it came out of her mouth so harsh and dismissive. He licked his lips, carefully setting down his purchases on the edge of the bar and flicking the attendent an apologetic look.
"...oh. I never...no one said anything like that to me, at least." There were other words they threw around in relation to Jude, ones that made him cringe just as much as 'whore', that made him retreat into himself some, but he didn't bring those up. Maybe she could embrace the gossip. For him, it'd be opening himself up to more of it.
"You do look good, though?" The compliment came slowly, sounded confused. "I mean. They're nice. You must be doing well."
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Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:35 am
"Thanks." She said it as quickly as she did everything else, like she hadn't noticed the way he'd said it as though he was questioning himself as he said it. She had noticed it but to her that was just the way Jude did everything. Wasn't it? "I work at a bakery and get tipped a lot." This was fact. "I also sometimes offer tutoring lessons for Home Ec. at school, and those really fancy rich girls will pay so well in order to keep from failing." That was a lie. Even though it was true that she worked at a bakery, it alone would never pay for what she was now wearing but you couldn't very well just blurt out that you'd taken it off of the slumped bodies of the very prostitutes you were being accused of being.
Well, she probably could, but it would have been in poor taste and probably just caused more problems than anything else.
Reaching out she patted him gently on the shoulder in a belayed reaction to the way he'd flinched. "If you need me to tone down I can." They'd both been the subjects of bullies all their lives. It seemed that the boy in front of her was still dealing with it. She wanted to ask if there was anything she could do. Or ask if it was worse than it used to be. But she didn't. Staying quiet was the only way to express real concern about these things in this area. Talking about problems just opened yourself up for more ridicule.
Unless you could kill them without even a second thought.
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Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 11:47 am
What was more embarrassing than wincing? Having attention called to it. He huffed out a breath, shooting her a sideways look and rooting around in his pocket for cash. He should have had a nice wallet to go with the suit, with his paisley tie: instead it was a battered old thing, a hand-me-down held together on one side with a piece of old denim, probably cut out of a pair of jeans. Jude cleared his throat as he carefully fished out exactly enough to cover his purchase.
"It's okay. I'm fine. Things are, you know, okay." In this area, okay meant no one was dying or in jail. Jude risked a tiny smile as he said it. "Not, uh, not tipped-a-lot tutoring-rich-girls okay, but we can't all get that lucky."
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Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 8:32 pm
What was she becoming? Years ago the state of Jude's wallet or clothing or anything would have made her either jealous that he was so creative or already sporting her own version of the same thing from her mother. You made do with what you had and were given... It had translated to other parts of her life but as she looked at the state of the half-denim-patched wallet of whatever she almost wanted to sneer. Instead she chose to busy herself digging through her purse to pull out her own money and prepare to pay. She was becoming such a b***h. It filled her with slight disgust and shame.
A thin smile spread itself on her face at the mention of her 'job'. "You'd be surprised..." She said it quietly since it wasn't really meant for him so much as just a passing thought. Luck was funny that way- It came in any way it wanted, whether you asked for it or not. The very moment was a great indication of that very fact. A chance meeting had started with a bit of luck seeing an old friend and had turned awkward and now she was doubting everything about herself. This was not going to stand.
"Okay is a good thing, though. Heard anything from your brother lately?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 10:31 am
He looked up at that, surprised maybe, and then much less surprised. People asked about Ethan; Ethan had been pretty cool. Jude was less so. A conduit to awesome, quiet and a little bit awkward and well aware of it. Okay, be fair: more than a little bit awkward. He shook his head, snatching up his bag to step back out of the way and licking his lips.
"Well. Yeah, kind of. I mean, we talk on the computer, but..." His mouth shifted, eyebrows pulling together, and tried to be just a bit less awkward. He failed. "But it's mostly just...exchanging weird links. You know."
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:04 pm
She didn't know. Genevieve didn't have siblings or even cousins to have connections with and what friends she did have she talked to in person. She was sure she'd use the internet more if she had a computer but her priorities were usually elsewhere. Smiling anyway she nodded as though she totally understood and prayed Jude wouldn't be able to tell she was bluffing. It was nice that he had his brother still in some sort of way. Even if it probably wasn't the way that counted.
Moving her sandwich to the counter and then paying for it she ignored the angry glares she received from the clerk and after getting her change ripped into the sandwich and pulled half of it off to offer to Jude. "Want me to come beat up your mother?" She said it in a very serious tone but between her size and clothing it had to of come off as a joke. A really bad one.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:18 pm
An embarrassing joke, too, one that left Jude flustered and struggling to come up with an appropriate response. He reached out somewhat thoughtlessly for the sandwich, not biting into it furiously but instead tearing a small piece off between his fingers, eating like a nervous bird, probably more to be polite than because he really wanted it. Of course, that was also just how he was...
"I think my mother could take you." He did no better than her. His tone was too serious, eyes on her face, didn't have the sarcastic, dismissive edge that it should have. It didn't quite turn into a joke, probably because he didn't dig up a proper smile to go along with it. Jude shook his head and ate another little piece.
"It's okay. We'll have milk, now, she should leave me alone. But, um." He gestured, loosely, toward the door. He probably needed to get back.
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