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Post by claire olivia garrison on Feb 18, 2013 15:07:56 GMT -5
Zan questioned her on when she wanted to go to the roller skating rink, and Claire gave a small shrug. Honestly, was in different. She was semi-excited to go check out the rink. It was at least one redeeming factor for the town. So, Claire jumped up from where she sat on the grass, smiling slightly down at Zan. "How about now?" Anything to avoid her awful home was fine by Claire. She could cope with anymore of her dad's nonsense.
"I mean, we'd have to stop at my house so that I can get my skates, but then I'm game if you are?" Or, even if he wasn't. Claire typically was more independent than she should be. She didn't need company in things. Sure, it was nice, but she kept reminding herself that she couldn't get attached to anyone here. She was leaving in two years and seven months on the day she turned eighteen to go back to her beloved San Francisco. That made getting attached to anyone or anything here in Lipton rather pointless in Claire's eyes. Even if she knew she'd have acquaintances, she didn't expect much else.
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zan allan kirks
" as a child, i was abused and neglected by my mother who hated me. " [/i]
Posts: 114
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Post by zan allan kirks on Feb 25, 2013 22:04:08 GMT -5
"Alright" he agreed. "I'll just go and get my roller blades. I'll be right back." He looked at his dog. "Come on Keiko." He felt kind of bad because he knew that Keiko didn't like it when Zan left him home alone, but he didn't know what else to do. He knew that they wouldn't allow dogs there.
He ran inside, followed by Keiko. He went up to his room and grabbed his roller skates out of the closet and put them in a bag. He also grabbed his wallet and, since his dad didn't like him to leave home without it, his cell phone, which he almost forgot to turn on. He locked all the doors before he left, pet his dog and told him that he would be back soon. He then left to join Claire.
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Post by claire olivia garrison on Feb 26, 2013 15:54:13 GMT -5
Zan agreed and Claire found herself smiling genuinely for one of the first times that day. She let Zan head into his home to get his roller blades, grateful to see his dog go, too. The dog was well behaved, yes, but it still made her feel uncomfortable. She was just happy that they would be heading to a place where she felt much more comfortable. She only hoped Lipton's roller rink was half as impressive as the one near her home in San Francisco.
Claire only had to wait for Zan to return for a few minutes. Once he returned she just waited a second before starting off down the street toward her house. "I'm kind of surprised you want to go," She couldn't help but to comment as she made the way down past their mutual neighbors. There were just two houses between Zan's and her own, which would make this a rather short walk. If they were to be friends later, the close proximity of their homes would probably turn out to be nice. For now, it was just convenient because it meant that they could get to the roller skating rink much sooner. "I mean, you seem like more of an outdoorsy type of person."
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zan allan kirks
" as a child, i was abused and neglected by my mother who hated me. " [/i]
Posts: 114
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Post by zan allan kirks on Feb 26, 2013 23:28:27 GMT -5
Zan followed her, wondering where it was that she lived. He knew that it was somewhere in the neighborhood, and he was getting a feeling like it was really close, like on the block.
Claire stated that he seemed like an outdoorsy person, which was a correct statement. “I am” he replied. “In fact, would normally skate outdoors, but you seem like you’ll prefer to skate in the rink, so we can go there.” It occurred to Zan that he had only been there once, and that was a couple of years ago. He wasn’t sure if it would be the same as what he was expecting, because it could have changed. It also occurred to him that he didn’t even know if it was open at this time. He hoped it was.
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Post by claire olivia garrison on Feb 27, 2013 12:11:52 GMT -5
Claire nodded along with Zan's words, her thoughts being confirmed. "I guess we could always skate outside, too." She shrugged. She had always preferred the rink, but that was mostly because they were far less crowded and clustered than the streets or sidewalks of her old neighborhood. It was just easier to skate indoors at the rink where there was some order. Lipton was far from busy, so she doubted that it would be as big of an issue here.
Just a few more seconds down the street and Claire stopped in front of what was her new home. Their vehicles still had a clutter of boxes in them, and the house was really only half moved into. Her step-mother and father were out for the day, and she didn't know -or really care- where her step-sister was. She hoped to make this as painless as possible and be on her way, but she also knew it would take a few minutes to rummage through her unpacked boxes and locate her roller blades. She had yet to unpack any of her belongings. "This is it. You want to wait here or go in?"
[/blockquote][/justify]
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zan allan kirks
" as a child, i was abused and neglected by my mother who hated me. " [/i]
Posts: 114
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Post by zan allan kirks on Feb 27, 2013 14:51:29 GMT -5
"Well, what do you want to do?" Zan asked. Then he thought about it a came up a solution. "Or we could skate outside to the skating rink and then skate there."
When they got to Claire's house, which was only a couple of houses down the block, she asked him if he wanted to go in or stay outside. He was curious to see where she lived, but going into new places tended to make him nervous because he didn't know who or what might be in there. "I think I'll stay outside" he told her. He hadn't invited her into his house, so he figured that it was only fair.
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Post by claire olivia garrison on Feb 28, 2013 15:22:22 GMT -5
At Zan's idea of a compromise, Claire nodded. Twice as much skating and they both would get to do it their way. That seemed fair. "Sounds good to me." Normally, she would have suggested that they race to the rink, but since she had absolutely no idea where they were going, she decided that it would probably be to her disadvantage if she did. She had already lost once today, after all, no need to make it again.
Zan stated he'd stay outside now, and Claire just nodded. She'd rather he did, anyhow. It would be awkward if her step-sister or family actually turned out to be home. She didn't want to deal with a round of eight million questions. "Be right back." Heading inside, she quickly made her way to what would be their living room. She knew all of her boxes were still stacked in there since she had refused to carry them upstairs to the room she and her step-sister shared. They would probably remain there until her dad got sick of looking at them and took them upstairs for her.
It took her a few minutes to rummage through boxes. Fortunately, her dad was fairly neat in making sure her boxes were organized. So, once she found a box that had shoes in it, it was fairly painless to find her skates. Upon finding them, she shoved her mess back toward a corner and made her way back outside to Zan. Skates in hand, she met him where she left him at the end of the drive. "Ready?" [/blockquote][/justify]
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zan allan kirks
" as a child, i was abused and neglected by my mother who hated me. " [/i]
Posts: 114
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Post by zan allan kirks on Mar 2, 2013 11:43:08 GMT -5
While he was waiting for her, Zan sat on the ground and started to put his roller blades on. It occurred to him that, when he had gotten his skates out, he had forgotten to get socks, but he decided that socks weren't really necessary anyway. He wouldn't mind if he got a few blisters.
After he got his roller blades on, he got up and started skating back and forth, in front of her house, until she came out. When she did, she asked him if he was ready. "Yeah" he told her, although it didn't look like she was. She didn't have her skates on yet
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Post by claire olivia garrison on Mar 2, 2013 20:54:27 GMT -5
It was only after she had gotten back outside and realized that Zan had already put his skates on that Claire realized she hadn't yet put her own skates on, yet. She quickly plopped down in the grass, sliding off her own worn tennis shoes and carefully placing her roller blades on her feet. She laced them up swiftly, and left her shoes lying in the grass as she hoisted herself to her feet. Once she steadied herself, she turned to Zan. "Okay, great, I am, too."
With one last look at her discarded shoes, Claire skated out from the drive. She paused then, to turn back to Zan. A hair tie that had formerly been on her wrist was quickly twisted into her curly red hair, forming a tight ponytail at the nape of her neck. Her hair was always a bother when she skated, so even if she normally wore it loose, she always had a ponytail holder with her to secure it when necessary.
"Which way is the rink?" Her question came swiftly as Claire shifted her weight back and forth cautiously. She was antsy to get going. If Lipton had anything worth seeing, this roller rink was probably going to be it. She didn't see what else a town this tiny and off the map would have going for it.
[/justify][/blockquote]
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zan allan kirks
" as a child, i was abused and neglected by my mother who hated me. " [/i]
Posts: 114
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Post by zan allan kirks on Mar 5, 2013 19:51:04 GMT -5
Zan watched as Claire just tossed her shoes into the yard. Zan's dad didn't allow shoes, although Zan rarely ever wore shoes, or any type of clothing items, or indoor items, to be left in the yard. Only outdoor items were allowed to be kept outdoors, and Zan had never had a problem with this rule. In fact, he was so used to it that it just seemed wrong to see her toss her shoes onto the grass and leave them there, but he didn't say anything because he didn't want to seem rude.
"This way" Zan told her, pointing in the direction of the rink. "Follow me." He started skating in the direction of the rink. He went at a fairly casual, and semi-slow, speed until he could figure out how fast she skated.
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Post by claire olivia garrison on Mar 5, 2013 23:24:15 GMT -5
Claire shifted to make sure she had both her phone and her wallet in her pockets as Zan started down the street. She hadn't bothered to tell her family when she had left or where she was going the first time or the second time. When Amanda, her step-mother, or her father got home, she was certain that they'd be text bombing her with questions. And, Claire knew she'd be in trouble should she not respond when they did.
After reassuring that all of her belongings were there, the teen quickly pushed off after him. She was a little wobbly at first; it had been quite some time since she had skated. It had probably been several months, since she had been dealing with the wedding and the move so much lately. It felt nice to skate again, even if she were slightly out of practice. Claire turned to the left, following in Zan's path to quickly catch up to him. Once she caught up, her pace slowed to match his own. She skated just slightly behind him, close enough so that she could still easily turn to see him, but a little behind so that it was easier to know where they were going.
After a few seconds of silence and Claire mostly focusing on keeping her feet under her, she decided to start back up their former conversation. "Tell me something else interesting about yourself." Of course, she was still curious. She just didn't know how much he would be willing to share.
[/blockquote][/justify]
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zan allan kirks
" as a child, i was abused and neglected by my mother who hated me. " [/i]
Posts: 114
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Post by zan allan kirks on Mar 8, 2013 19:27:44 GMT -5
When Claire matched his pace, Zan wondered if he should go faster or stay at this pace. She appeared to like going at this pace, but he wasn't sure and he was worried that it would be weird to ask. He decided to just try and keep his current pace.
Usually, when Zan went roller blading he would skate around with Keiko running with him. It was weird to be doing this without Keiko running alongside him. It was even weirder to have Claire skating next to him, especially when she tried to strike up conversation.
She wanted him to tell her something else interesting about himself. What did she want him to say? He couldn't think of anything interesting about himself that wasn't a possible turn off.
It occurred to him that when she told him an interesting fact about herself, she had based it off of what he told. If he could get her to say something first then he could do that.
"You first" he said. He was a little worried that demanding that of her might be a turn off, but she had sort of done the same thing to him so probably not. At least he hoped not.
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Post by claire olivia garrison on Mar 9, 2013 16:49:16 GMT -5
Zan's words caught Claire off guard. She hadn't really expected him to twist it back on her, but she found it amusing. Smiling a rather amused smile, she pondered what to say for a moment. She wasn't an overly open person; she really never had been. But, Zan seemed nice and she was still curious about him. That meant that she was a little more willing to share something about herself.
But, what would she share? He knew she just had her dad, that she was from San Francisco, and that she really wasn't fond of her new family. And, that was probably more than she had shared with anyone in Lipton thus far; it was really all she cared to share. "I was on a dance team," Claire finally opted for, as she skated next to the boy. It had been a rather large part of her life. Though she loved sports, her heart had always belonged to dance. Everyone back home knew it, and she figured that if Lipton's high school had a dance program, he would know it soon enough. She might as well share it now before he found out on his own. It seemed like a personal enough thing to work, without actually disclosing anything of real significance.
[/justify][/blockquote]
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zan allan kirks
" as a child, i was abused and neglected by my mother who hated me. " [/i]
Posts: 114
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Post by zan allan kirks on Mar 11, 2013 22:55:43 GMT -5
"Oh, cool" he replied. "Did you like it?" He didn't know much about dancing and was mostly indifferent to the topic, so he didn't really have much to say about it, which meant that he would have to hurry up and say his thing. He thought about it for a minute, while she answered his question.
This time his interesting thing had come to him much quicker than it had before because the mention of her being on a dance reminded her of his one team experience. "I was on a little league team for a few mouths, when I was ten, but I wasn't a very good player." The game was too complex for him and the coach and the other kids didn't seem to like him. He had decided that the occasional games of catch with his father were fun, but a baseball game with a bunch of other kids wasn't.
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Post by claire olivia garrison on Mar 11, 2013 23:12:07 GMT -5
"I love it." Claire's words came almost instantly, for once no thought being put behind them or any effort to hide anything. Dance was possibly her most favorite thing ever. She had danced competitively right up until the time her father finally made the decision to move to Lipton. Even if she had to force her dad to drive her to Denver, Claire was convinced that she'd continue on with her hobby. "It's the best way to just... get things off your chest."
She was sure that dance would be one of the only things keeping her sane for the next two years and seven months that she was stuck in Lipton. Zan's new fact about himself also grabbed her interest now. "Really?" Zan was pretty good at basketball, but he really didn't seem like the baseball type. "It just takes a lot of practice to be very good." She shrugged. She played softball most summers, and enjoyed watching baseball, but she did understand that it wasn't everyone's forte. Most of the population wasn't into playing sports as much as they were into watching them. Plus, baseball and basketball were extremely different, so it made sense why Zan would like one and not the other.
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