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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2013 21:16:19 GMT
Arlo hadn't been really aware of where he was going, at first. He'd just up and left the house that afternoon following another argument with his Dad. He didn't even bother to take the car, because it was just another thing his Dad would pester him about later. His steps fell into the familiar route he took to Orion's apartment, and by the time he'd reached the parking lot, he figured it was too late to turn back.
He rapped his knuckles on the door a few times, leaning against the door frame while he waited. By now he was seeing less red, and more worried about whether Orion would be busy. He couldn't remember the last time he'd checked a clock that day.
@orion
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2013 21:34:05 GMT
| | | And I'm just the boy
who's had too many chances | It had been a lazy day at the Argyris apartment that day. Well, lazy in the fact that Orion wasn't expected to go anywhere. It was not lazy in the fact that before his mother left for work, she left him a list of chores to get done before she got home.
Chores were probably the bane of Orion's existence but he did them anyways, mostly so he wouldn't make his mom mad. Sometimes she got a little miffed about the quality of the cleaning he did but...that wasn't really the point.
The knock on the door came when he was wiping down the small television with a dust-collecting cloth. Unsure as to who was visiting (because his friends usually texted him or something first) he got up, nonetheless, and went to look through the door's peephole. Surprisingly, he saw Arlo's figure waiting outside the door.
Unlatching the lock and opening the door, he surveyed his friend with a curious expression before inviting him inside.
"Ignore the mess, I'm...cleaning." That was kind of an oxymoron, and Orion realized it. "What's up? I didn't know you were planning on coming over."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2013 22:02:42 GMT
Arlo's unease only spiked as the door unlatched and Orion appeared behind it. Then he felt stupid as he was invited in; sure, he probably should have forewarned the guy first, but he should have figured Orion wouldn't have yelled at him about it. He gladly stepped inside, and almost audibly sighed of relief when the door closed behind him.
"That makes two of us." He dodged the question easily, but rethought it after taking a brief look around the apartment. If he was going to interrupt Orion in the middle of chores, he figured that he owed the guy some shrivel of truth. "'S my Dad. Don't really wanna be at home right now." He said as way of explanation. But he'd let more on than he'd meant to, so he jumped at the chance to keep busy. "Need help?" He asked, gesturing to the general area of the living room.
@orion
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2013 23:05:11 GMT
| | | And I'm just the boy
who's had too many chances | Orion listened as Arlo explained his predicament, and he grimaced just a little bit in sympathy when his friend mentioned his own father. Fights with parents always sucked and Orion knew how much Arlo and his dad didn't get along. Even though he wasn't expecting any guests, it wasn't like he was going to turn him away — especially one of his closest friends — and he was more than happy to give him a place to escape to when life got difficult.
"Hey, don't worry about it," he said softly, referring to the comment about his dad, and added on with a small smile, "I get it."
When Arlo then asked if Orion needed any help, he himself looked around the apartment. It didn't look too messy anymore. He'd managed to get a lot done, but there was still a little bit left to do. While he didn't want to impose on Arlo, obviously, the other boy had offered, and maybe he needed something to take his mind off of whatever happened with his dad.
"Oh, sure...all I have left is cleaning up in the kitchen. You don't have to help but if you really want to, I'm not gonna stop you," he said with a smirk and led Arlo to the kitchen.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2013 7:36:31 GMT
Briefly, Arlo dwelt on the fact that he was probably pretty lucky that Orion was there to be okay with stuff like this, but then he started feeling like a teenage girl, so he stopped that train of thought immediately.
Arlo snorted in response to Orion's joking comment and followed after him to the kitchen. "Yeah, little known fact, I'm actually really passionate about cleaning. Kitchens, specifically." He began to look for cleaning supplies, and after finding some spray and a rag in a cupboard, he started by cleaning the counter tops. "At least it'll only take half as much time to finish. Then we can do something fun—" He stopped his train of thought to look at the other. "Wait, you don't have any other chores after this, do you?"
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2013 9:57:49 GMT
| | | And I'm just the boy
who's had too many chances | When Arlo got to the kitchen he immediately grabbed a rag and began to clean off the counters. A small grin perked on his lips as he turned to the sink and started to put away the clean dishes in the strainer so he could wash up the few items that were sitting in the other basin of the sink.
"No, you lucked out and stopped by right before I was done," Orion responded with a bit of a smirk. "And it was really lucky, y'know, since you love to clean kitchens so much."
It was always comfortable when Arlo was around. They had been friends for a while now, and it was one of those friendships where you could sit with them for hours, silent, and still feel completely at ease.
"So what kind of fun stuff did you have in mind?" the silver-haired boy asked his friend as he collected spoons from the strainer and neatly set them into the silverware organizer in the drawer. "I'm up for anything."
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2014 6:41:19 GMT
Arlo sighed of relief before he grinned at Orion. "Good, because it would’ve sucked if you did." He moved on to the next counter top. "You were really lucky, you mean."
Arlo went through a couple activities in his head, but they all either required alcohol or physical activity, and he wasn’t feeling up to either of those. Besides, it was too early to drink, and Orion wasn’t as big on it as Arlo was. In the end he shrugged and replied, "Actually, I dunno. You got any ideas? Otherwise we could just chill here.... if that's okay." In fact, he almost preferred that as the thought came to mind. But he wasn't going to push Orion to it; not when he still had a small pool of guilt for coming over out of the blue.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2014 5:01:13 GMT
| | | And I'm just the boy
who's had too many chances | "Right, I am pretty lucky, I guess. Not having to finish the work by myself," Orion said with a slight nod of agreement. "Thanks, by the way. You didn't have to do this."
But Orion wouldn't refuse help when it was offered. Maybe if it was an offering by someone he didn't know as well, but it was Arlo, someone he'd known for quite a bit of time. They were close, so this wasn't as strange as if his lab partner had come over and just started to scrub his kitchen counters.
"Chilling sounds good to me, honestly," he said with a little shrug of his own. "It's just been that kind of day. Going out to do anything just involves so much effort...staying in means I can lay on the couch and be a bum. And you know how much I love doing that."
After a little while longer, the kitchen was nearly spotless. His mother would have to be approving of this. Giving Arlo a verbal thumbs up as well as more thanks he then dragged his friend out to the living room and pretty much fell onto the couch, body splaying out across one side.
"So do you wanna watch something? Or gossip like teenaged girls?" he asked with a little bit of a smirk. Arlo probably knew that Orion's first suggestion of things to watch would be a Disney movie, after all...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2014 0:05:04 GMT
Arlo shrugged. "I kinda did. But you're welcome, anyways." Somehow, he felt less guilty after receiving gratitude from Orion. He wasn't sure why he still worried, though. Orion himself had said that it was alright.
Arlo snorted. "You're not the only one that likes to be a bum." He was thankful for Orion's cue that they were finished, and let himself be dragged to the living room. He relaxed on the other end of the couch, but with his legs pulled up closer to his torso.
One look at Orion's stupid smirk, and Arlo knew exactly what he was thinking. He'd known him for too long. "No, no, we are not watching one of your girly Disney movies." Just thinking about it almost made him shiver; in a bad way. "If you make me, I might have to punch a wall to feel like a dude again."
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 4:15:58 GMT
Orion could've laughed. He knew that Arlo wasn't a fan of Disney movies, and he didn't necessarily blame him. They were nearly twenty years old, after all, and Disney movies were aimed at kids. But he couldn't help it that he spent a big chunk of his time with younger kids, so the movies had grown on him.
"Are you that insecure in your masculinity, Arlo?" he said, obviously poking fun. While they were kiddy, he didn't know if the movies were girly. It didn't matter much to him, though. But one day he was going to force his friend into a Disney marathon and there was nothing the other boy could do about it.
Getting off the couch he crossed the room to the boxes of DVDs that were sitting underneath the TV. It was a modest television, as his mother didn't make copious amounts of money, but it was nicer than a tiny box TV or a computer screen, at the very least.
"You know I'm just giving you shit. But do you have any ideas for what else you'd wanna watch?" he asked, crouching down by the boxes as he waited for Arlo to suggest something. If he'd offered to help clean Orion's kitchen, the least he could do would be to let Arlo pick a movie to watch.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2014 5:22:01 GMT
Arlo would never share Orion's love of Disney movies, but it remained one of the things worth tolerating. Orion was, in short, worth it. But then he could feel his masculinity slipping away, and he audibly scoffed. He might have repeated the action if he hadn't known that Orion was just kidding.
Arlo got up to lean over Orion as he looked over their collection of DVDs for what must have been the millionth time since he'd first come over. He could probably recite most of the movies by heart, but impulse called to look again, every time. He plucked a post-apocalyptic title from the selection after a few moments of consideration. He'd seen it a couple times, but not enough to be completely sick of it just yet. "Yeah, this will make me feel real manly. You got popcorn?"
@orion
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2014 6:23:25 GMT
"Whatever makes you happy, dude," Orion replied with a slight chuckle. At least the movie was good, and Arlo obviously approved of it. Then again, the Argyris DVD collection was basically full of movies Orion liked to watch, minus some of his mom's favorites like Steel Magnolias. He was forced to watch it once. Never again.
Taking the case from Arlo he popped it open and put the DVD into the player's tray, starting the movie up. While the previews played he climbed to his feet and retreated to the kitchen they'd just came from and opened the cupboard for the popcorn, grabbing a package and ripping the cellophane around it open.
Orion tapped his fingers against the counter top as he waited for the popcorn to finish, listening to the same old previews from the other room. The movie was a few years old now so the movies they were showing were already out, obviously, but they were still fun to watch sometimes. Hopefully Arlo wasn't getting too bored in there yet.
Once the popcorn was done, he carefully opened the bag and emptied the steaming hot contents into a big bowl before returning to the couch, sitting down and resting the bowl between them before carefully taking a small handful, eating it quickly so the hot oil wouldn't burn his hand.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2014 2:49:10 GMT
Arlo went to sit on the couch while Orion went to go make the popcorn. He watched the previews with dull interest. He’d already familiarized himself with them, and they were way old news. But he’d watch as many movies and old previews as he could if it meant he could prolong going back home.
The thought of home and his dad made him sigh dejectedly and run a hand through his hair. He probably wouldn’t admit it out loud anytime soon, but his home didn’t even really feel like home anymore. He was much more comfortable in slummy places downtown or at some party, drunk off his ass and out of his mind.
Honestly, Orion’s house was more like home than his own at the moment. The apartment suited him just fine, actually. But then Orion came in with the popcorn, and the smell was enough to distract him. He grabbed some as soon as it was within reach and chewed; salty junk food was his guilty pleasure.
"Thanks for letting me hang out here." Arlo said before the movie started, because suddenly he felt guilty again, and he needed some excuse not to.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2014 6:30:49 GMT
Orion was more than happy to have Arlo over. Honestly, he didn't know why the boy was getting so self-conscious about it. They were close friends, this kind of stuff was already commonplace to him. Then again, Orion wouldn't feel very comfortable about randomly swinging over to Arlo's house, but that's just because it wasn't a very welcoming place.
"No problem," Orion shrugged as he blindly reached for the bowl of popcorn, his hand gently brushing over Arlo's before grabbing a few of the popped kernels and bringing them up to his mouth. Popcorn was probably the most delicious thing ever; it was just one of those things you could much on for hours and never get sick of it.
"Besides, it was getting boring," he said as the previews continued to play. "It's nice having company that isn't one of my mom's loud friends." And they could be very loud...since the apartment was so small it was nearly impossible to escape them.
When the DVD menu came up, Orion reached with his non-greasy hand for the remote, clicking the 'play' button and watched as the menu zoomed out of the shot and the movie began. Even though they had both seen it a handful of times before, it was still one Orion liked a lot. And it was just comfortable, sitting there with Arlo, munching on popcorn.
FIN.
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with 187 posts
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Post by MESSENGER on Jan 9, 2014 15:15:47 GMT
[attr="class","temps"]GOOD JOB MARI and each receive 2 nectar for completing a thread.
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