A Day in the Line - Chapter Two
Thank you all so much for your reviews! Please keep them coming, I will try to keep this story going as long as I can. :)
A Day in the Line
By LadyBookish242 AKA Taylor
Rated PG-13, rating subject to change
Pairings: Drew/Greg, Ryan/Colin, Brad/Chip, Wayne/Jeff (all pairings may not be in every chapter)
Plot: The gang share a large house on Anderson street, going through days of life, love, and mindless retail jobs.
NOTE: Some of the retail scenes in this fic are inspired by true experiences by myself and acquaintances. Yes, really.
Disclaimer: I do not own the show ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ nor do I own any of the persons portrayed. I do not mean to slander any of the persons portrayed in the story.
Chapter Two
You Can’t Spell Idiot Without I.D.
“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” - John Lennon
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP *click*
Ryan let out a huge yawn and stretched himself out along the length of the bed. He turned over and rubbed his arm out expectantly, frowning when all his hand met was sheets. He opened his eyes and sat up tiredly, his lover was nowhere to be seen. He faintly smelled the scents of bacon frying and rolls baking and smiled. Leave it to him to be the early bird…
He got out of bed and stumbled into the shower, emerging the bathroom clean and looking his best. He walked into the kitchen and saw Colin busying himself over the stove, as usual. He crept over as silently as possible and wrapped his arms around him from behind. Colin gasped as he felt lips on his neck, but relaxed as he smelled his lover’s cologne. “Good morning.”
“Mmmm…good morning.” Ryan said, not stopping his kisses. “I woke up and wanted to cuddle and you weren’t there.” Colin smiled and spun around in his arms, Ryan kept his hold. “Sorry, wanted to get a head start on things. We all have a busy day today.”
Ryan placed a hand on his face to open his mouth as he slipped his tongue inside. Colin turned faintly pink, for he usually was only this intimate with the bedroom door closed, but welcomed the kiss, holding him closer as their tongues swept together. “Don’t let the eggs burn, Col.”
The two broke apart, startled, at an amused Chip standing in the doorway. Colin blushed deeply and began plating the food. “Morning, Ryan.” He said with a smile, pouring himself some coffee. “Morning, Chip.” Ryan said, chuckling at being caught. “Where’s Brad?”
“Still showering. I think Wayne and Jeff are already up, though.” He turned and saw the two walk in. “Oh, speak of the devils.” He raised his coffee mug to them. “Mornin’, boys.” Jeff nodded. “Morning.”
“When are you working tonight, Jeff?” Colin asked. Jeff was a hotel clerk and security guard who normally worked nights. “I’m starting at five, but I should be home by two, two-thirty.” Wayne slipped a hand to his lower back, keeping a smile, but he was still a little worry-some about Jeff being the night security guard.
True, he had worked there for the better part of three years, about as long as they’d been dating, and had managed to work there without any injuries or fights, but that didn’t stop him from waiting up for him at night. Jeff saw the brave front he was putting up and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, giving him a kiss on the forehead. Wayne gave a true smile and they sat down to eat.
Chip looked to the clock. “I gotta go, we have to set up some new displays today.” Colin took his coffee cup and handed him some peanut butter toast in a napkin. “Thanks, Col.” And with that, he was out the door.
Chip walked in the door to Power-Up, a video game and trading card store. “Hey, Mike. Started without me, I see.” The heavy man grinned. “It’s been a slow morning. No worries.”
Chip clocked in and took his place behind the counter. It certainly was a slow day like his manager said. He grabbed one of the nearby complimentary gamer magazines and started flipping through it, putting it aside once he saw a man come up to the counter holding a Nintendo Gamecube. “Good morning, how can I help you today?” Chip greeted with a smile.
The man merely laid the console and cords on the counter. “This console has never worked.” The man told him with an air of contempt in his voice. “You can’t be expected to know everything, but I know quite a bit, and I believe it’s defective.”
Chip took a look inside and gave him a glare. He popped the disc out and put it back in. “You put the disc in upside-down, sir.” As the man’s face turned red, he grinned. “Now, you can’t be expected to know everything, but I know quite a bit and I think it works just fine.”
The man said nothing, but snatched everything back up and walked out. Mike, who had been standing at the other end of the counter, started laughing loudly. “Nicely done, Chip.” He gasped, high-fiving him. “Nicely done.”
Chip laughed with him. It was a good start to the day.
It was a slow day at the grocery store as well. Drew was looking as the people walked by his register browsing the aisles. He stifled a yawn and was about to clean his belt when a man walked up. “Hi, how are you doing today?”
The man nodded and pulled out a bag and a receipt. “I’d like to return these.” He said, handing him a box. “They didn’t work.”
Drew frowned. “Condoms? How do you know they didn’t…..oh.” He said quietly. He quickly picked up the phone and paged for a manager.
Ryan worked as a convenience store clerk at Cloud 9. It was slow, a bit boring, but it paid well at least. Working at such a store was normally deemed dangerous, but it was a good neighborhood, and the worst threats he ever got were underage kids yelling at him for not selling them cigarettes.
He looked through a magazine and straightened things on the counter as someone walked in and headed straight for the back cooler. “Whoa, dude, you got I.D.?” He said as a kid who looked to be sixteen put a six-pack of beer on the counter. The kid smiled slyly. “I don’t have it on me. But don’t worry dude, I’m 23.”
“Cool. What high school do you go to?” Ryan asked.
“Crossroads Crest.” The kid replied without thinking. Then it hit him. “I mean, I’m not-I mean, I used to-ARRRGH!”
Ryan took the six and put it under the register. “Yeah, I don’t think you’re gonna be getting this.” The kid stormed out looking furious with himself. Ryan went back to reading his magazine.
There were three things that Jeff hated most working as a security guard in a hotel. Twenty-first birthdays, bachelor/bachelorette parties, and ‘weekend warriors’, where 21-25 year olds go on a travel site and get a room that’s normally $250 for $100, and then split the bill ten ways so they can have a party in a four-star hotel.
The events of the night were dealing with a bachelorette party. Four rooms bordering the party had all called and complained about the noise, and Jeff decided to go up with his partner Tony and try and put a stop to it.
2:30 AM
They went up the stairs and up to the room, giving it a loud knock. “Hotel security!” A bleach blonde woman with leathery skin was swaying side to side, with a bleary look in her eyes. “Hi, guys!”
Jesus, someone’s marrying this thing? Jeff thought before saying, “Hello, ma’am, sorry to disturb you, but we are receiving some complaints about the level of noise in this room, it’s getting pretty late so we do need to ask that you keep the noise and music at a minimum.” This was warning number one, which Jeff called the ‘nice guy’ warning.
“Okay! We’ll keep it down for you!” She said, though she sounded like she didn’t hear a word he said. “Alright, thanks a lot. I have to let you know though, if we get any further complaints, we’ll have to ask all non-registered guests to leave the room. Have a good night.”
Once the door was shut, Jeff turned to his partner. “Ten bucks says we’ll be back.” He nodded. “You’re on.”
2:50 AM
Jeff irritably went up to the room with his partner, and the noise is even louder than before. He knocked loudly. “Hotel security!” A few moments pass, no answer. “Security!” The woman answered, even more bleary eyed. “Oh, hi guys!”
“Hi. We’re still getting complaints about this room, this is the second time we’ve had to come up about this.” The woman swayed a bit. “We haven’t had anyone come up.”
“Ma’am, you and I just spoke twenty minutes ago. In any case, as this is the second complaint, we need to ask all non-registered guests to leave the room, and leave the hotel if they’re not staying here.”
“Well, I’ll make sure they’re all registered then.”
“How many people are in there?” Tony asked. She turned. “Oh, fifteen or sixteen.”
Jeff sighed as he knew he was in for an argument. The state’s fire code forbid more than 4 people to be registered to a hotel room. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but that will not be possible. We can’t register more than four people due to fire codes.”
“But I want to register all of them.”
“Unfortunately that can’t happen. If you would like to choose someone you’d like to stay, I can allow that, provided there is no more noise. However, everyone else has to leave.”
The lady stared at him for about twenty seconds, Jeff swore he could hear cows mooing in her head. “Okay…but I can just register everyone who’s in here.”
Jeff started to get frustrated. “No, ma’am, you cannot do that. You choose a few people who can stay, the rest have to leave immediately.”
“I’m not letting you kick them out.” Jeff shrugged. “You cannot make that decision, ma’am, they have been asked to leave the property. If you, or they, refuse to do so, I will have no other choice than to involve the police.” That was the ‘straighten up or else’ warning.
“But I can just register them in the room!” The woman protested.
Are you shitting me? “I’ll say this one final time. No, you can’t. It is now three in the morning, we have been talking here for ten minutes, you are disturbing other guests on this property. One way or another, they are going to leave this room. Now.”
“Okay, I’ll start getting them on their way.”
Tony smiled. “We’ll be standing by here with the door open to make sure they get out okay.” The woman scowled.
A few minutes pass, everyone including the woman left the room. They walked out of the hotel and most left the premises. The woman, however, stayed in the lobby with five other people. Jeff noticed that they were all barefoot, and knew the plan before they even tried it.
Sure enough, moments later, they came back and told him that they were going to the room since her friends left her shoes in there. “That’s okay. I’ll just come with you to make sure you leave after.” She scowled again.
3:30 AM
They got back to the floor. The group ran out of the elevator, ran into the room, loudly slammed the door and locked it before Jeff and Tony had a chance to react. Jeff rolled his eyes and got out his radio. “Base, call the P.D., I’ve had enough of this room.” He put it away. “Hey, Tony, where’s my ten dollars?”
“Damn, hoped you’d forget.”
The two waited in the hallway, ready for some sweet revenge.
3:40 AM
They saw the police arrive, including Denny, a woman that Jeff knew personally due to working together often. They grinned at each other and no words were needed. She walked over, BANGED on the door and the woman opened the door, very surprised.
“Yes?”
“Hi! Get your shit and get out.”
“Uh…what?”
“You’re being loud.”
“And?”
“And you were told to shut up.”
“Well…”
“And you didn’t, and now I’m here.”
“But…”
“And I’m having this conversation, and every second that it stretches on, I’m more likely to go find a cute, furry animal and bludgeon it to death.”
“Well, I-“
“And I don’t see you packing your bags.”
“The thing is-“
“And I definitely don’t see you leaving like I’m supposed to.”
“But-“
“And your damn friends haven’t moved either. Hey guys, you get the hell out too, kay?”
Jeff, Tony, and the other three officers who showed up were trying hard not to pee their pants laughing at the show, and coming damn close to failing.
“Well…”
“No well, just go. Go. GO. Start moving. That way. Your luggage and shit is over there. Yes, the direction I’m pointing. Pack them and get the hell out of here.” She pointed to the friends too. “You idiots leave.”
The friends scampered away, the woman started to put on the drunken crying act.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because you’re pissing me off?”
“I know what this is really about. I’m being discriminated against by the hotel.”
“Why, because you’re a middle-aged white woman? I am too, sweetheart, what does that tell you?”
The woman had that cow look in her eyes again, and was silent.
“I notice you’ve stopped packing your stuff for a moment. Fix that.”
At this point, one of the police has collapsed onto the floor, his face is a deep shade of red. Tony was clinging to the wall, and Jeff was panting trying not to laugh out loud. One of the guests who complained about the noise opened the door, having heard the officer’s words, and went back into his room laughing audibly.
The woman finally got packed and out of the room. They call Jeff down to the lobby, and he is no longer amused, because they have been dealing with her for the last two hours.
4:45 AM
Jeff came down to the lobby and approached the woman. “Yes, ma’am?”
“I want my money back.” Jeff nodded. “I see, may I ask why that is justified?”
“You’re kicking me out!”
“Yeah, fun, ain’t it?” Tony chimed in with a grin.
Jeff took a deep breath and spoke to this woman with a completely straight face, which took tremendous effort. “I apologize, ma’am, however we gave you every opportunity to avoid this problem. I gave you repeated noise warnings at your room, and asked your guests to leave specifically to try and avoid this, however you kept returning to your room to make more noise. It is now after 4 AM, you have occupied your room throughout the night already.”
“But I never slept there.”
“That is not my concern, unfortunately. What is my concern is your neighbors, who are now receiving each of their rooms for free as a result of the inconvenience you have caused them. I can provide you with the name of another manager during the day, however I see no logical reason to refund your bill at this time.”
“But I never slept there!”
“And we have a winner!” Tony cried. “I’m not going to sit here and listen to you repeat yourself all night, so here’s my suggestion…and by suggestion, I mean this is what we’re going to do. You’re going to pay the man, and then you’re going to leave. You can wait until you’re sober and call back tomorrow to settle this later on, but I have better things to do than deal with you anymore, so let’s go.”
“But…”
“NOW!”
Startled and worn down, the lady finally paid and waddled out of the hotel. Denny shook her head. “You wanna know something really funny? She lives two blocks from my house.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Nope. She was just too blasted out of her head to remember me.” She laughed.
Tony clapped Jeff on the back. “Why don’t you go on home, I’ll handle things here.” Jeff nodded gratefully. “Thanks, man.”
Wayne looked out his bedroom window and saw headlights, then saw a car pull into their driveway. He quickly yet quietly went downstairs to greet his lover after a long day. Jeff opened the door and smiled at Wayne tiredly. “What are you doing up, baby? It’s late.” Wayne took him in his arms and felt him sag tiredly. “I don’t have to be at work until late tomorrow, wanted to see you.”
Wayne helped him up the stairs and they sat on their bed together. “You were awfully late getting home. Is everything okay?”
Jeff nodded. “Yeah, just an unruly bachelorette party. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.” He yawned. Wayne helped him undress and they both slipped under the covers, Jeff pillowing himself on Wayne’s shoulder. Wayne kissed him. “Get some rest.”
“Love you…” Jeff mumbled.
Wayne yawned. “Love you too…”
And finally, he relaxed.
End of Chapter Two