Runaway. (1x1 roleplay with SpawnOfReiter.)

[SpawnOfReiter]

Matt finished flipping through the albums, satisfied that he had officially calmed down from the situation that had happened in the office. He let out a sigh and looked around the store from a higher point of view, admiring the vast collection his father managed to hang on to. While scanning the premise he noticed the 'open' sign still illuminating despite the metal gate was pulled over the locked door. "My silly father..." he muttered to himself as he casually slid down the banister of the stairway and strolled towards the door, one hand out of his jacket pocket to flip the sign. Halfway to a window he noticed Brittney standing outside with her face being lit up by the unnecessarily lit up sign and started to move slower, puzzled by her reappearance. He used the free hand to instead unlock the door and crack it open. "Well, aren't you a familiar face," he spoke through the metal gate that still separated them.

 

[tacobelle]

"I'm sorry." Brittney sighed. "I'm sorry I was such a stuck up brat earlier." Brittney walked closer to the door, grabbing the metal bars. "I shouldn't have been such a brat about it." Her eyes were reddened, half by jet-lag, half from crying. "I have nothing anymore, all of my stuff? Gone. Someone stole it. I only have the money that's left in my pocket and the clothes on my back. Give me another chance. I can change my attitude, I promise.."

 

[SpawnOfReiter]

"Stolen?" Matt's eyes grew with intensity. "When? Where? Are you hurt?" he looked around before opening the gate and pulling Brittney inside, closing the gate back and locking the door. "You should really be more careful when it gets dark around here, people lose their minds. There's some food and stuff in the office. You go settle down and I'll call the police for you." he began to move toward the phone on the wall, fearful thoughts rushing through his head.

 

[tacobelle]

"Don't. It was my fault for choosing the sh.ittiest motel ever. There's no use.." Brittney sighed. "Who are they going to believe? The motel owner or the girl who lies about her age to get everything?" She shook her head and walked down to the office, digging in her pockets. "Oh you've got to be kidding me.." She sighed and leaned back in the chair. "Today was great.." She muttered to herself.

 

[SpawnOfReiter]

Matt took a moment to restrain himself to chuckle at the turn of events and walked towards where Brittney was sitting. "Well, I can imagine, after that wonderful display you put on in here not too long ago. You never really know karma's limits... speaking of which, you were working on somewhat of an apology earlier?" he smoothly leaned against the doorway of the office and couldn't help but allow a small smirk escape his grasp and sneak onto his face. "Please, continue."

 

[tacobelle]

"Continue what?" Brittney raised an eyebrow, turning to Matt and sitting up. "What else do I have to say? I mean, I said I'm sorry. What else is there for me to say?" Brittney moved her hair out of her face and awaited Matt's answer.

 

[SpawnOfReiter]

"The only reason why you think that is because you do not fully the severity of the insult you have put upon me and my father, and if you do recall, I said that if you walk out that door my offer goes with you, and if you recall more, you did in fact walk out that door and yet here you sit." Matt crossed his arms and looked into Brittney's eyes. "So I will say again so that you may reattempt to change my mind... Please, continue."

 

[tacobelle]

Brittney sighed. "Fine. I'm sorry I'm such a spoiled brat. I shouldn't have disrespected you and your dad like that. I just really need this job. Especially now. I have nobody to turn to. I know I'm some stereotypical teenager who hated their parents and ran away with stupid dreams of accomplishing something with only a 9th grade education but I promise you, I'm different. I have my priorities. I can work good, I can help around the store. Cleaning, sorting, cashiering. You name it, I'll do it. Please.. Just give me another chance.."

 

[SpawnOfReiter]

Matt couldn't hold back any longer. He started displaying a full smile across his face and his eyes lightened. "Alright alright, calm down. I accept your apology and all past offers are now reinstated by the graciousness of my heart." he turned on his heel and walked towards the open sign that has yet to be turned off as he continued talking. "You'll be staying in the guest room at our place. It's closer to the school and is in a nicer part of town than here. There's nothing in there for you technology wise but we have a T.V. and a computer you may use when necessary. I'm almost done cleaning up and then we can go." he flipped off the sign and headed towards the loft that was still a pig sty from earlier this evening with his distraction session.

 

[tacobelle]

"T-Thank you. Thank you so much." Brittney couldn't help herself this time, she walked up to Matt and pulled him into a hug. She never hugged anyone, never. But when someone gives her more than one chance, it was a big thing for her. "I promise, I won't be a brat. You won't even know I'm there!"

 

[SpawnOfReiter]

He was frozen as he felt the young wrap around his waist and hold tightlyfor a moment. He slowly lowered his hands around Brittney to hug her back and let out the gasp he inhaled when she first made contact. "Now now, let's not to go extremes. Hermits don't sell much... And, you're welcome... It's my pleasure" He relaxed and started to notice her small details, the texture of her hair, her natural aroma, the touch of her skin.... He began to get nervous..... He broke away before his breathing started getting unsteady and fiddled his hair. "Well, like I said, I'll finish cleaning up around here and then we can go." He sent a gentle smirk her way before winding around the spiral staircase leading up to the loft and picking up the scattered cases and rearranging the furniture.

 

[tacobelle]

Brittney nodded and walked to the door, standing by it and looking at the shelf near it. She started looking through the different cassettes and vinyls. She noticed a few cassettes out of order in the shelf and quickly fixed it. "Looks like I'm not getting my tattoo any time soon." Brittney muttered, looking out the window and glaring at the still-open tattoo parlor. "They could have outlined it tonight." She shrugged and pulled out the drawing again, looking at it and smiling. "I wonder if Kat Von D still works here in LA.."

 

[SpawnOfReiter]

After scurrying around the shop, Matt was satisfied by the appearance of the area and began packing up his own things in the office and cleaning up his father's desk. He threw his shoulder bag around him and slung his coat over the bag as he strolled to the front desk. He tucked away any loose papers into their proper drawers and folders and scanned over the store one last time before turning to Brittney and smiling. "Alright, let's get going." he mentioned as he reached for his keys and headed towards the back door. He opened the door and re-locked it while keeping it propped open for Brittney with his foot.

 

[tacobelle]

Brittney nodded and walked out of the store, cracking her knuckles and using her fingers to brush her hair a bit. "Where do you live?" Brittney said, looking up at Matt and looking back into the store for a brief second. She looked down the road and saw a bright light display far away, 'Must be Hollywood.' She thought to herself, chuckling.

 

[SpawnOfReiter]

"Hm?" Matt shut the door and walked towards his dark blue Chevy Cruze. "Oh, not far. We got a little place on Manhattan Beach, sort of in the middle of all of Dad's businesses." He looked over at Brittney and followed her gaze toward the lights off in the distance. "Basically in the opposite direction of where you're looking, which is Santa Monica." he lightly put both of his hands on either side of Brittney's head and turned it east until her eyes were lined up with another clump of lights in the distance. "I believe the place you were looking for is about 30 minutes that way," he laughed and open the passenger door for her. "I'm assuming you were looking for Hollywood like most people that come here, such as yourself. I could be wrong, but something tells me I'm not." he smiled in the dark, his face being barely illuminated by the red glow of the parking lot light.

 

[tacobelle]

"Ever heard of Jessica Lamar?" Brittney said, resting her arms on the roof of the car. "That's my sister. I wanted to go to Hollywood to prove her wrong and become famous. I wanted it to be like a movie." She chuckled. "I wanted to have to substitute for her at a concert and prove everyone wrong."

 

[SpawnOfReiter]

"I can't say that I have, considering I haven't really been tuned in to what's happening in the pop culture. It's the reason my Dad and I choose to live over here. In my opinion, fame is not what it's hyped up to be. It looks lonely and depressing, and so much pressure, it's just not worth my time. You're better off doing what's best for you, not what's better than your sister... You're also better off getting in the car so that I can go home and sleep, yeah?" he started rolling his fingers on the edge of the door he was still holding open for her.

 

[tacobelle]

Brittney nodded and got in the car, closing the door. "All I want is to be noticed." She shrugged. "My sister got all the love, I mean, why else would I be skinny as a street lamp?" Brittney sighed. "I was lucky if I got one meal OTHER than the school lunches." Brittney looked out the window. "Let's not dwell on the past though, at least I'm out of that hell-hole.. Anyways, I just want to be noticed for who I actually am. With my sister in the way, everyone sees me as a spoiled brat who has way more than she says."

 

[SpawnOfReiter]

Matt quickly pulled his fingers away when Brittney closed the car door herself, looking down at his hands to make sure everything was intact. He stuffed the self-approved hands into his pockets and walked around the car to the driver side, slowly opening the door and sliding. He looked over to Brittney and shook his head. "You silly girl, you can't blame your sister for everything." He closed his door and started the car. "It's called genes. You don't seem to have much of an appetite. and I don't think you've seen a street lamp recently." The car gently backed out of the parking space and turned to leave the parking lot and down the road. The radio was at a low murmur behind the conversation. "I see you have a strong distaste for your sibling, but you really shouldn't let it guide you in your choices. It's what brought you here, it's what led to you storming off on my reasonable offer, and that ultimately led you to getting your stuff stolen. One cannot accomplish anything good focusing on anything bad." He paused to let his wisdom settle in the air. He briefly looked over at Brittney and turned back to the road. "So you had a rough bringing up. We've all been there. It's what makes us stronger and do great things. We do these great things so we can turn around and thank those people in our lives for making us who we are. We don't use it for revenge or spite. Where's the satisfaction in that?" Matt pulled onto the highway and gently accelerated to match traffic as he traveled south with the dark coast following beside them on the ride home.

 

[tacobelle]

"The satisfaction in revenge?" Brittney raised an eyebrow. "The satisfaction of revenge is knowing that the person you got revenge on knows they shouldn't treat you like crap because you've proven that you're better than that." She sighed. "I just want to make something of myself, get inspiration, prove to my whole family that I'm actually worth something." Brittney shook her head and leaned back in the seat, looking out the window.

 

[SpawnOfReiter]

"You'll learn in time, little one," he spoke softly as two rode through the midnight air. He finally pulled the car off on an exit for Manhattan Beach. After a few left and right turns the car rolled into a subdivision. The sign wasn't lit up so the name remained anonymous to the passenger of the car, but Matt didn't think much of it and continued down the main road until it ended at a cul-de-sac. The car pulled to the left of the dead end and into a driveway of a tan and brown stone house, which at this time of night was nearly impossible to see due to the darkness save a hopeful porch light. Matt turned off the car and quickly got out to walk around to the other side and open the door for Brittney. "Here we are," he smiled and held out a hand to help her out of the car.