Don't Go Stretching Your Wallet
Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:58 pm
[[Gaelan Meloy: PREGAME START]]
It was 6:30am on a Saturday morning when Gaelan's phone went off, and within moments he'd awoken from his slumber, ran his hand across his bedside table, grabbed his phone, and attempted to swipe off his alarm in the usual place, all without opening his eyes. When a few moments later he realized it wasn't actually an alarm, but instead his ringtone, several things happened; his eyes sprang open, he lurched upwards with his phone in his hand, and swiped in the correct place this time to answer a number he hadn't even checked yet.
"Hello?"
"Hey honey, how're you going?"
Keeley Meloy. For someone who had spent her entire life raising him on her own and forged her own life from the shackles of defeat, she sure knew how to pick her timing.
"I'm fine, mom. You're not home?"
"No, I had to run into the store. Nelson called me a few hours ago, he was in a car crash."
"Oh, crap."
"He's fine, but he's in the hospital for the next few days so I had to run in and set up for opening today. I'm waiting another hour to call everyone else and see if anyone can take his place. Just thought I'd call and let you know I'd be pretty late tonight, so you might have to grab dinner yourself."
"You know you could have just asked me to come in, right?"
As Gaelan listened to his mother's story, he pulled on a pair of pajama pants and a shirt from his hamper and strode the short distance through the apartment to the kitchen, already taking out the old blender and a container of wheatgerm.
"It's no problem, honey, I know you already had plans today."
"Yeah but I can reschedule those, it's not like you can pull another employee out of thin air if nobody else can come in."
"If nobody else comes in, I can handle the store by myself, we're not that busy on Saturdays."
Gaelan sighed, opening the freezer and taking out the frozen bananas and blackberries.
"Besides, it's not like they all have other jobs. Janie's not getting a job anywhere else with those face tattoos, I'm definitely sure she'll be free."
"Yeah, but you know I would have done it, right?"
"I do, and that's why I didn't ask. And don't think I didn't hear that."
Neither of them could tell whether it was just instinct or a latent psychic connection that Keeley could just tell when Gaelan was rolling his eyes at her over the phone, but it didn't phase either of them - they'd both accepted it as a given.
"Sorry."
"That's right. Now, be a teen, enjoy your lunch date, throw a wild party, go enter a car race, whatever, just stop worrying about the store and let me do that for you, okay?"
"Okay mom. Call me if there's too much to do though, 'kay?"
"I will. Enjoy your day."
"Alright, love you mom, bye!"
The first words of her last words to him were faker than half the kids at his school, but he didn't make a thing out of it. He just topped off the breakfast concoction piled up in his blender, put the lid on, switched the whirr to a loud screech, walked back down the hallway with his arms in the air until the curves of his fingers touched the padding over metal, and started his morning routine.
He got at least 20 pullups done before the strain of hunger and the lack of stretching took its toll, so he dropped back down to the hallway, wandered back to the kitchen and switched the blender off.
*
There was nothing better than a healthy, nutritious smoothie in the morning. Especially one filled with ingredients bought in bulk that nobody could tell were bought in bulk. If he really wanted to go full naturopath he could probably hunt down the goji berries, raw cacao powder and chia seeds needed for that but then he'd have a lot less money for college, and he wasn't about to trade that for something he could improve upon just by drinking an extra half-gallon of tap water a day instead of lining the pockets of a corporate shill who probably already had 105k social media followers anyway.
Not that he was bitter or judgemental or anything.
In between sets, he sat on the apartment's microsuede couch and watched the news - bowl of oats balanced on one knee, plastic shaker filled with smoothie on the other. CNN wasn't the most impartial network out there, but then again neither was Fox News. He'd probably switch over to them if he wanted to be scared of anyone who didn't resemble himself, or start hating all the minority groups, but given that his girlfriend and his best friends would probably clash with that look, being a potpourri of minority groups themselves, he'd have pass on that.
He had his problems with CNN, since they pretty much singlehandedly got their current dickwad president elected, but at least they didn't employ Tomi Lahren at one point.
His phone went off again. This time, an actual alarm.
Gaelan leaned forward, put his food on the table, and lay back down on the floor.
Those legs raises weren't going to finish themselves.
((Gaelan Meloy continued elsewhere))
It was 6:30am on a Saturday morning when Gaelan's phone went off, and within moments he'd awoken from his slumber, ran his hand across his bedside table, grabbed his phone, and attempted to swipe off his alarm in the usual place, all without opening his eyes. When a few moments later he realized it wasn't actually an alarm, but instead his ringtone, several things happened; his eyes sprang open, he lurched upwards with his phone in his hand, and swiped in the correct place this time to answer a number he hadn't even checked yet.
"Hello?"
"Hey honey, how're you going?"
Keeley Meloy. For someone who had spent her entire life raising him on her own and forged her own life from the shackles of defeat, she sure knew how to pick her timing.
"I'm fine, mom. You're not home?"
"No, I had to run into the store. Nelson called me a few hours ago, he was in a car crash."
"Oh, crap."
"He's fine, but he's in the hospital for the next few days so I had to run in and set up for opening today. I'm waiting another hour to call everyone else and see if anyone can take his place. Just thought I'd call and let you know I'd be pretty late tonight, so you might have to grab dinner yourself."
"You know you could have just asked me to come in, right?"
As Gaelan listened to his mother's story, he pulled on a pair of pajama pants and a shirt from his hamper and strode the short distance through the apartment to the kitchen, already taking out the old blender and a container of wheatgerm.
"It's no problem, honey, I know you already had plans today."
"Yeah but I can reschedule those, it's not like you can pull another employee out of thin air if nobody else can come in."
"If nobody else comes in, I can handle the store by myself, we're not that busy on Saturdays."
Gaelan sighed, opening the freezer and taking out the frozen bananas and blackberries.
"Besides, it's not like they all have other jobs. Janie's not getting a job anywhere else with those face tattoos, I'm definitely sure she'll be free."
"Yeah, but you know I would have done it, right?"
"I do, and that's why I didn't ask. And don't think I didn't hear that."
Neither of them could tell whether it was just instinct or a latent psychic connection that Keeley could just tell when Gaelan was rolling his eyes at her over the phone, but it didn't phase either of them - they'd both accepted it as a given.
"Sorry."
"That's right. Now, be a teen, enjoy your lunch date, throw a wild party, go enter a car race, whatever, just stop worrying about the store and let me do that for you, okay?"
"Okay mom. Call me if there's too much to do though, 'kay?"
"I will. Enjoy your day."
"Alright, love you mom, bye!"
The first words of her last words to him were faker than half the kids at his school, but he didn't make a thing out of it. He just topped off the breakfast concoction piled up in his blender, put the lid on, switched the whirr to a loud screech, walked back down the hallway with his arms in the air until the curves of his fingers touched the padding over metal, and started his morning routine.
He got at least 20 pullups done before the strain of hunger and the lack of stretching took its toll, so he dropped back down to the hallway, wandered back to the kitchen and switched the blender off.
*
There was nothing better than a healthy, nutritious smoothie in the morning. Especially one filled with ingredients bought in bulk that nobody could tell were bought in bulk. If he really wanted to go full naturopath he could probably hunt down the goji berries, raw cacao powder and chia seeds needed for that but then he'd have a lot less money for college, and he wasn't about to trade that for something he could improve upon just by drinking an extra half-gallon of tap water a day instead of lining the pockets of a corporate shill who probably already had 105k social media followers anyway.
Not that he was bitter or judgemental or anything.
In between sets, he sat on the apartment's microsuede couch and watched the news - bowl of oats balanced on one knee, plastic shaker filled with smoothie on the other. CNN wasn't the most impartial network out there, but then again neither was Fox News. He'd probably switch over to them if he wanted to be scared of anyone who didn't resemble himself, or start hating all the minority groups, but given that his girlfriend and his best friends would probably clash with that look, being a potpourri of minority groups themselves, he'd have pass on that.
He had his problems with CNN, since they pretty much singlehandedly got their current dickwad president elected, but at least they didn't employ Tomi Lahren at one point.
His phone went off again. This time, an actual alarm.
Gaelan leaned forward, put his food on the table, and lay back down on the floor.
Those legs raises weren't going to finish themselves.
((Gaelan Meloy continued elsewhere))