drive-by pocket-sized four-day challenge

[indelicateink]

Thank you to everyone who voted in the poll and expressed interest in this quickie challenge! (Even if you didn't vote in the poll, you're still welcome to play!)

THE CHALLENGE / HOW TO PLAY

• Anyone participating can play: You can leave as many prompts as you want, but you MUST fill at least one prompt. Please don't leave a prompt if you don't

Comments

[lady_ganesh]

The next day, Mami told him she'd fired Ray.

"Um," he said.

"You knew, didn't you?"

"I was worried? I never caught him doing anything, so--"

She laughed. "It's all right. You're a good judge of character, though. He got sloppy. Even Santiago couldn't cover for him."

"He never--"

"He wouldn't have lied," she said. "But they...he's too protective of people, Sam. You have to look out for him for me."

Sandy was three years older than Sam was if he was a day. "Got it. But I'm not--"

"You have to stay on for a little while now," she said, and damned if she wasn't smug. "I'm down a man. Besides, Cal likes you."

"He does not--"

"He keeps talking to you, doesn't he?"

I'm going to kill Sandy, he thought. "Not really. More at me."

"Baby steps. He had a rough time, you have to be Caltle with him."

"Not enough hugs?"

She laughed. "Not exactly. But he'll come out of his shell. You wait."

Everyone here is crazy, he thought. If I was smart, I'd take off and not come back.

But he didn't want to.

"How'd you end up out here?" Cal asked into his second slice of peach pie.

"Eh," he said. "Taking a year off." He couldn't really afford college anyway. He'd skipped Arkansas as soon as he'd turned eighteen and not looked back. Not that his foster parents would've thrown him a dime anyway. "I figured I'd spend a few months out here, keep moving. Always wanted to see more of the country, you know?"

"Mami says you're here all summer?"

"She seems to want me to stay that long, yeah."

"So what, you've got an apartment?"

"Camping out at the park. I got a lean-to, should do me for the season."

Cal nodded. "Why'd you come up here?"

"Wanted a change. Figured after this I might go west, or up north to Montreal."

"You ever been up there?"

"Nope."

"Me neither."

The bell rang, and a straight couple came in, blond and blue-eyed, like something from a postcard. Sam went back to work. Maybe we could hang out sometime, he rehearsed in his head. Maybe we could drive up to Montreal some weekend. You know, there's a movie at....

But by the time the customers ran out, his nerve had too, and he dropped the check on Cal's table with a "thanks."

It went like that for a month, and Sam gave in and extended his rental at the park. "Glad to have you around," Patti said. Sam was starting to think she was trying to hit on him, and he would've been flattered if he could have thought of anything but Cal.

"Well, you know," he said. "Mami needs me around, and things are working out pretty well, so...."

"You should stick around for the summer," she said.

"Maybe," he said.

When he drove in that night, the sky was dark and turning blacker. "Your first summer storm," Sandy said. "Congratulations."

"It won't get that bad," he said. "Will it?"

Sandy squinted at the sky. "You can crash at my place if it does."

The thunder hit soon after that, and Cal looked like a drowned rat when he came in, blond hair plastered against his skull and looking thin. "Shit," he said.

The rain felt like bullets against the glass. Sam thought he'd gotten away from weather like this. "Everyone says it's beautiful up here in summer."

"It is," Cal said. "And it rains like a motherfucker once in a while, just to make sure we're playing attention."

The windows shook when the thunder rattled. "You're not staying at the park," Cal said, when Sam gave him his coffee. "You'll get killed."

"Um, Sandy said--"

"Sandy's place is a shithole," Cal said. "Come back with me."

"Yeah," Sam said, and he wasn't sure exactly what kind of invitation it was, but it sure as shit wasn't an invitation he was turning down. "Okay."

[chomiji]

Aww, but you have a whole 'nother AU going on here! I want to know more!

Thanks! This was great!

[lady_ganesh]

Yeah, this spiraled out of control with remarkable speed, lol.

I'm glad you liked it!

[obsolete_theory]

!!! There's so much more of this now. I must have started reading between postings.

I really like the modern diner them.. Sanzo's pie fetish makes him so approachable. XD

Now I'm wondering what other adventures they go on to have! Thanks for sharing!

[lady_ganesh]

Hee, I'm so glad you liked it!

I kept thinking about Mr. Flat Soda and Old Man Tastes and I figured the sweetest, most ridiculous pies ever would be the way to go.

[akira17]

ooo i like, I would very much like to see more of this universe

[lady_ganesh]

Thank you!