“Thanks, You do know how to make people feel welcome you know?” It was a nice change of pace, from the impression he got once he got back… His hometown was… Well he still felt a sense of uneasiness that was hard to shake off. Euphemism of the century. “And I hope I’ll be able to…well you know… soon.” He lowered his eyes. Yeah, it sucked, having to rely on the generosity of a friend. At least he had one that was willing to help out.
“Well, around.” He shook his head. The frown though was quickly replaced by a smile. “I know that’s not a real answer isn’t it?” He chuckled. “It’s a long story, but well, to make it short I literally punched my way through college.” He shadowboxed against the air. “And out of it, shortly thereafter.” Yep… “I do have a few adventures in between though.” He smiled, but it didn’t exactly reach his eyes.
“Yep. Couldn’t wait to dart out of town myself…” And yet there he was.
“I bet you do.” He smirked. “Fuck I really need to get a new board somehow.” Well, after he got a few more thing sorted out maybe. “Maybe you can give me a lesson or two, might have gotten a bit rusty.”
“Cozy.” He surveyed the home. “Tell your mom I love your house by the way.” He added politely, not that it wasn’t true though.
“Yep, just one. Anything I can help out around here?” The least he could do was play his part with the chores after all.
“i would hope so. my mom says that being a good hostess should be my first priority in life. if you treat others well, then the karma will come back to you, or something like that,” this is her way of thanking him for the compliment regarding being welcoming. to stacy, this was just a part of her life and she was used to giving people the warm welcome no matter what creed or background they came from. “there’s no rush on moving out, mom likes it when the rooms are filled up.”
she tries to wrap her head around his answer to where he’s been. “around? like, were you in school at wellcliff community college?” she presses on, starting to walk back to the foyer and up the stairs. “i didn’t think people had a reason to fight in college. i thought it would be all smooth sailing and whatever. no cliques to worry about, not much of a reputation to keep, just classes to get through.” stacy wouldn’t have known, she hadn’t been lucky enough to attend college. wellcliff was where she had stayed and not even the community college interested her enough to go out of her comfort zone.
“dude! i totes have got you covered in the board department. i keep all my old ones in the basement,” most of stacy’s purchases had to do with her surfing hobby - boards, wax, stands, and suits. she had them all. the basement even had some wetsuits from past boyfriends of her mother or random people who came to stay with them and left their gear behind. “i can try and teach you, but you’ll have to catch up, newbie,” she giggles.
“wait ‘till you see the upstairs, it’s cozy and a half,” she points to the first door all the way down the hall. “that’s gonna be your bedroom, it’s got a nice queen bed, an old quilt, a dresser, and an attached bathroom with a shower.” their house had four bathrooms and four bedrooms, it worked out nicely for housing a whole hoard of people.
“there’s a lot you can do to help out. the crain girls can put you to work, especially when it comes to dishes or helping with cleaning. we’ll let you know what needs to be done when it needs to be done,” she answers him, crossing her arms over her chest.