Plié and Clout

Chapter 13: For Gramps

music: In Love - khai dreams

This chapter you find out why Steph keeps his name as Sagamore even though he doesn't like his dad at all and could pretty easily go to Gallagher. 

-rabid

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STEPHAN:

"That was close." Jilly mumbles. "We accidentally referenced your billet family from Flint in front of her."

"If anyone asks, Rocket is a Lang,"

"Cale was the oldest, right?" Jilly looks over at me.

"Yeah, we still talk, he's pretty cool," I pull open the driver's door of my car and flop in.

"Okay, so that went less than stellar with August, you didn't even strike up a conversation or anything, you just existed in the same room."

"I know, I know." I shake my head.

"And you're dressed like a 9-5'er." She raises her eyebrows.

"Yeah I am." I laugh. Because laughing in the face of embarrassment is a great tactic.

"How much did they make fun of you for that back at the barn?" Jilly asks. I let out a real laugh now.

"Rocket tried calling me a wheel," I look over at her. "Nico said I was a square wheel,"

"Roasted." Jilly laughs. I lean back into my seat and we drive back to the apartment. I park and we wander into the building.

"You don't look half bad in that, just warning you." She stands next to me in the elevator, going up. Up and up.

"Thank you," I chuckle. "It's choking me though, I'll gladly take this right off once we get into the apartment."

"Not out in the open, I don't need to see that." She laughs and the door opens. "I just hope she didn't see the sneakers at the bottom of all that,"

"Oh, yeah, I was hoping nobody saw that." My feet ache a little from five hours on-ice today, but that's fine.

"It's a nice contrast." Jilly wanders down the hall and I hand her the key, which she uses, and lets us back into the apartment. It's got large windows once you walk in. Our rooms are down one hall to the right. The kitchen area is to the left. The living room is straight ahead. I look out the windows onto Regina. It's not a big city, but I'm fond of it.

"Weird isn't it." I walk over to the window and look out.

"What?" She comes up next to me.

"Us. Here." I let out a long sigh. "I'm living my goddamn dream,"

"I'm not." Jilly sits down on the couch and I turn to face her.

"What do you mean?" I ask, hooking one leg over the other.

"School. I want both. I want my old friends and my old school. But I don't want to be with Mom and Dad anymore. Living with you is the greatest. I mean, you're a klutz, and you can't cook, but it's better than them."

"School still treating you badly?"

"Yeah, I know I've barely been here a week, but some of the kids saw that video and made fun of me for it. Belle is nice, she stands up for me, but, I just want Jay and Kelly back, you know?"

"I do," I let out a long sigh. "Don't let them get to you, okay? Letting other people get to you is where you lose you. That's when you start to feel lost, missing from yourself. You know?"