The Chikamori Selfacy (A Reboot)
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-451kWfI6hzI/X8bPPtEyeVI/AAAAAAAAk54/KB3_SyRJ73IFG8EkSAmOkYAyCBOz1giwgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/ChikamoriSelfacyReboot_banner.png Prologue: June 12, 1970; Sacred Spleen Hospital...
Forum Discussion
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Generation One
Chapter Six
"Life Around The Chikamori House" (Part One)
Outside the Chikamori Residence
Haruo and River looked at each other; finally thanked Yasunobu and were on their way down to the art-shop that she wanted to go to downtown.
Another thing that had changed was the fact that they walked together arm-in-arm, as close together as they possibly could without making it impossible to walk without tangling up their stride. There was nothing to hide. Haruo didn't care what others thought. He knew River was his sweetheart and that was all that was needed to be known.
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"I think we may need to take a taxi back if I get the easel today." River looked thoughtful. "It's going to be large and heavy. What I might do though is pick a sketchbook." She looked at him.
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"Will you have enough to cover your stuff you're getting if you buy the sketchbook and whatever else today?" Haruo asked.
"I think so. We should check and see what time they close then maybe I can pay for the easel in advance and pick it up before the store closes. That way..." she stroked his arm gently, "We can maximize the amount of time we have to do other things."
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"...and if you run across an interesting subject you can sketch it." Haruo said. "I've seen your pencil sketches, they're incredible."
"Thanks..." River snuggled up to Haruo as they walked down past the Bistro. It was about ten-thirty in the morning and things would probably be nuts in there getting ready for lunch rush. "...so what are you planning to do?"
"I don't know. Writing holds some passion for me. Though I can't afford a computer right now, maybe being able to write by pen and paper then maybe transcribe it onto computer at the library." he mused out loud.
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The art store was not too far away and finally they were able to peruse the art supplies. This was certainly an art store. Haruo thought There were racks and racks of canvases, shelves with different sets of oils, watercolors, charcoal pencils and sticks, brushes, coloured pencils and other drawing implements that would help in making memorable drawings that others would buy.
Haruo was actually starting to enjoy the shopping for artist's supplies too. River asked sales staff about the quality of easels and was directed to a nice wood easel that to Haruo's impression of it was that it was built like a tank. It was definitely one where if they bought it, it would have to be brought home via taxi. That would tack about eleven to twelve simoleons. The easel she was directed to was worth §300.
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After purchasing a lot of materials for drawing, painting and sketching, about ten canvases as well as the easel and an artist's portfolio carry case. Considering that the store was open till nine that night they decided to come back at eight-fifteen and then call a cab to get the materials back home. But at the moment, she opted to bring with her for the moment a sketchbook and a set of sketching pencils. The rest; she informed them that she would pick them up after eight pm. The store staff agreed to store all the materials until their return placing SOLD tags on all the merchandise purchased.
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With that, Haruo and an ebullient River left the store. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this." River exclaimed as they walked along the sidewalk past the hospital towards the beach.
Haruo had suggested doing some sketching down by the water where as he'd mentioned there could be some interesting subjects to sketch and she could try out the different sketching pencils. River was eager to try them out, especially on a nice beach amidst the warm sand and moist salt-laden air with very few clouds floating in the sky. And River was more than happy to go down and see what she could sketch while Haruo sat beside her watching the waves rolling into.
To start off her art career she wanted to develop a good set of sketches from where she could take inspiration when it came to painting. "...after all..." she informed her boyfriend, "if I can draw inspiration from this and paint a painting that brings in at least §2400 it will go a long way to paying for some travel to some exotic destinations to paint. After all. One of our goals was to travel the world."
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"Agreed..." Haruo said closing his eyes as he took a deep breath, sighing as he enjoyed the cool breeze coming off the water. It certainly cooled the temperatures that midday would bring. Being by the ocean allowed them to be able to stay relatively cooler than sitting in Central Park, with all its brick and concrete, which could potentially get to well over twenty-eight Celsius during the course of a June midday when the sun was at it's apex. He watched River pull out the sketch book from the bag and unwrap the new sketching pencils.
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River enjoyed the feel of the new writing implements in her possession and as she delved into her creative imagination to see the world; her pencil in hand, started to make impressions of the world around her. Delving deep, her subconscious directing the movement of pencil along paper, her hand drawing broad lines back and forth across the page appearing as with no apparent focus in mind, the lines which at first not appearing much like a drawing, but eventually started to take cohesive shape as more and more details were added. River had always been a prolific doodler, her assignment books told the tale of a mind preoccupied with creative interpretation of the task-at-hand, her doodles marking the fact that those art shapes though random, were jogging her mind into a thought process leading to completion of her assigned work.
Haruo, on the other hand, had no such lofty ambitions. His whole goal that day was to enjoy the time spent with River by his side, his contentment was watching his girlfriend as she had a smile on her face, her pencil held in hand moving back and forth across the page drawing the scene of the beach around them, an idyllic summer midday at the beach; a few sailboats on the water, children running to and fro on the warmth of the sand squishing between their toes, running into the waves. He smiled again as his contentment increased seeing River smile as she started getting even more focussed on her drawing; to make it a source of inspiration for a painting that she was able to create as her skills in painting grew.
"I think this is a good start, what do you think?" River's sudden question startled him as he'd just settled into the beach lounger gazing out at the water and was rapidly getting sleepy with the warmth playing on his torso clothed as it was in t-shirt and shorts. He looked over to see her holding out the sketchbook which now showed a well illustrated scene of the beach, proportioned exactly in miniature, the curve of the landscape showing in the careful pencil-strokes on the sketchbook page, the people pictured showing a level of activity that seemed to jump out from the page and take a life of its own.
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His eyes widened in absolute amazement as he stared at the absolutely beautiful monotoned black sketch-marks on the page which had culminated in a landscape image that was absolutely second to none that he'd ever seen. His girlfriend had a talent to be reckoned with and he was certain that she was destined for great things in the art world.
"So...what do you think?" River asked again wondering why her boyfriend was silent and looked so dumbfounded.
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"It...it's beautiful," he stammered. "I mean it's stunning. The figures look as though they're just about ready to jump off the page and the detail in this sketch..." he stopped looking at River with an amazed expression "You have got..." he searched for a descriptive adjective, "incredible talent..." River's face brightened as he continued to look appreciatively at her work.
"You really mean that?" She asked softly looking over at Haruo with eyes gleaming at the praise, "You really think I have the talent to make it?"
Haruo leaned over, carefully, to make sure that he didn't jostle the sketchbook or mar any details as River tilted her head up. The book was closed without even glancing at it as their lips met in a passionate kiss. When they separated, more due to lack of oxygen than by mutual agreement, both of them, eyes glazed over with desire, whispered, "I love you..."
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River reached out cupping the palm of her hand against Haruo's cheek, "...thank you for believing in me..."
"I always will, Sweetheart..." Haruo said softly, "You've always been there for me..." and she had. Any time he'd been frustrated by his mother's apparent abusive behavior, River had always been his sounding board and she'd kept him on an even keel. He was just starting to realize just how much River was an integral part in his life and how much she meant to him. What that also meant: his decision of that morning was borne out; that the ring that was now in his dresser drawer was rightfully bound for River's left hand ring finger when he found the right opportunity.
On the Sidewalk
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Walking past the beach, Parker Langerak looked over and saw a sight that cut him to the core. His gaze had often drifted to River McIrish; she was the smart girl, a bit on the nerdy side but really cute. She often wore stuff that really didn't flatter her figure and she only recently started wearing make-up in high-school to attract guys or in particular, one guy which Parker realized...wasn't him.
He really had wanted to get to know her but she was always hanging around with Haruo, the Asian guy, who himself was a bit of a geek. Haruo was a loner and thus had always been fun to pick on.
Parker wouldn't dare to pick on Haruo now after seeing just exactly how Haruo went off on Jared Frio. He knew that Haruo was a blue belt in kung fu and he had pretty much made Jared eat pavement, not to mention Jared still suffered headaches and nightmares that had him waking up screaming according to Claire Ursine who lived across the street from the Frio Brothers.
He could not take his eyes off River reaching up to Haruo's face with the palm of her hand and seeing both of them fall into a passionate kiss which made his stomach churn and his heart fall to pieces. For Parker had an unrequited crush on River McIrish. She was the girl he knew that was head and shoulders above everyone else; the girl he had always aspired to have on his arm; the smart pretty girl.
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But cruel fate had intervened and ended up taking away any chance of him ever having that opportunity of doing so. Three words burned into his psyche at that moment. River was Haruo's - they were destined for each other and nothing of this earth would separate the two. Parker sighed deeply, almost mournfully as he walked away not wanting to continue to look upon that painful scene.
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Back on the Beach
"So did you want to head over to Hogan's now? Feeling kinda hungry?" Haruo asked.
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River looked at her watch on her wrist, It was almost one in the afternoon and she started to hear the first rumbles of complaint from her stomach that it just might be a tad annoyed at her. She nodded as she looked over at Haruo. Had she been sketching for over an hour and a half since they'd left the art shop and walked down to the beach. Getting up off the beach chair, she said to Haruo, "I'm hungry, let's go eat out."
Haruo grinned back at her. "Hogan's or the Central Park Festival Food Kiosks?"
River narrowed her eyes and said archly, "I don't care which...I'm hungry!" She smirked at him. "Feed me." She took his arm after placing her sketch book and pencils back in the bag and they both walked towards the exit from the beach.
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The walk back up the hill was a major pain as the road was, at least calculating rise over run, a 36% grade. Normally the town planners would have dealt with the potential problems it could cause. It was evident they were asleep on that day.
Haruo and River were definitely relieved to walk past EverFresh Delights Supermarket as the hill was quite steep coming back up from the beach. In fact Haruo thought the hill was steeper than Oxford Street in White Rock though it could be that the latter had far more distance needing to be covered in order to climb it. Hell, it could even be steeper than 100th Avenue rising from 272nd Street in Whonnock. Haruo thought, having walked that hill once or twice when Mayumi got the bright idea that her son should get some exercise; the sadistic bat.
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He would much rather enjoy his afternoon and appease his rather famished stomach.
"You know what?" River advised him. Haruo looked at her in response and River continued, "why don't we just make it easier on ourselves and get a meal at the food kiosks? That hike up the hill made me hungry and I'm not sure if I'm up to heading all the way down to Hogans."
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Haruo was perfectly fine with that idea. He was all for eating sooner. When they got to the kiosk, they each ordered onion rings, a pulled pork sandwich and a Pepsi-Cola. After all, they were famished and hot. The cola would cool them down. And they would figure out how to spend the rest of the day.
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The rest of the day was spent in the park with River pulling out her sketch book again and sketching scenes that she would later commit to canvas with daubs of paint. Around eight o'clock in the evening, River packed up her sketch book and they headed off to the art store to pick up the items that she'd bought and the store called them a cab.
It would mean waiting, amidst the closing procedures of the store, at least fifteen minutes for the cab to arrive before they would be able to be on their way home.
Haruo brought the easel into River's side of the duplex they would set it up tomorrow. All the canvases were stacked in the corner of her room and she had brought the rest of her other purchases. "Thank you for coming with me..." River murmured as she moved in close to her boyfriend who smiled at her.
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"It was worth it to spend time with you." Haruo said. Every moment that he had with her was a moment that he would cherish.
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River leaned up and kissed him slowly wrapping her arms around him and drawing her body close to him, letting him smell her light perfume that she was wearing...just for him.
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Reluctantly they parted for the pretense of his mother and father and having to take precautions to not be caught when they were sleeping in the same bed together at night.
Outside Hogan’s
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"Look, Parker, Mom told me that you were out here moping instead of going to business school like you’re supposed to, What’s going on, what gives?" His dad looked sympathetic, but aggravated at the lack of motivation that his son was putting out in terms of trying to do what was needed to get ahead in life.
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Parker let out a deep breath. His dad already had someone; tied down and happily married, while Parker didn’t have anyone. Yeah, sure, Parker could have anyone he chose, he was one of the popular kids in the school and girls were lining up, nearly tripping over themselves to date him, but the one he wanted was River and she was the one whom he couldn’t obtain. River was so easy-going however she knew what she wanted and where she was going and lately she'd made it clear that she was interested in no-one other than Haruo and when Parker had made some advances towards her, she had shut him down as kindly as she could. Look, Parker, you’re a nice guy...but you’re not the one that’s right for me. I really do hope that you find someone who’s good to you. And to top it all off, Haruo wasn’t someone he wanted to get on the wrong side of especially after hearing what happened to the older Frio brother.
And as much as he'd tried to make it seem as though he wasn't interested in who River McIrish dated, he was heartbroken. She was graduating this year and he still had an year to go, since he hadn’t buckled down and failed a grade. That made it so much tougher to swallow. He wasn’t graduating with his peers and he’d fallen an year behind not to mention losing the girl he had the biggest crush on.
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“Son, you need to knock off with the moping. Losing a girl isn’t the end of the world, but it will be if you neglect your studies.” Dustin stated with some annoyance. “You need to find out what’s important in life and losing your future because of a girl isn’t the smartest move to make, is it?”
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“Dad, you don’t understand...” Parker stated.
“Look, Parker, there’s plenty of fish in the sea. Look hard enough, and you’ll be bound to catch one.” Easy for his dad to say when he was married to someone, even if the marriage was on rocky ground. Lately Iliana had been straying with her eyes, if not her body and there was plenty of people who were talking about her dissatisfaction with the status quo of her husband just being a lowly education assistant, essentially someone who sat on the stairs outside and minded the kids. Diana was a toddler, Kaelynn was in elementary school and Parker was in high-school.
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“What’s the point?” Parker asked morosely, “When you let the 15 pounder get away, you’ve lost it all...” he muttered, “If only she’d..."
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Dustin interrupted Parker before he could really get going in his misery, "You’re not going to get anywhere by sitting on your rear-end and moping about it. What about that Hart kid?" he asked, not giving Parker any time to respond to the castigation.
"Bebe?"
"That's Gus and Dorie's kid, right?" Dustin looked up at the sky crinkling his brow for a long moment and scratching his chin, then gave Parker a contemplative look.
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"...yeah..." Parker replied with a tone of non-committal. He wasn't interested. Bebe was a nice girl, but she had this weird thing about technology that he didn't really understand. He wished his father would drop the subject; plus she was already interested in the other Chikamori kid, Torao and he’d seen them walking hand in hand yesterday at school. Too late on that prospect too. “No...she’s hooked up with Torao...so she’s gone too...and she’s older than Torao...so...”
“Look, Parker, someone will come along...”
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Parker snorted skeptically. His father was entirely too positive for his station in life after seventeen years. If he’d applied himself to what he had to do, his dad would have been the principal of that school and not that evil witch, Mrs. M. Chikamori who was constantly in the hallways castigating those whom she considered miscreants.
(End Part 1)
Generation One
Chapter Six
"Life Around The Chikamori House" (Part One)
Outside the Chikamori Residence
Haruo and River looked at each other; finally thanked Yasunobu and were on their way down to the art-shop that she wanted to go to downtown.
Another thing that had changed was the fact that they walked together arm-in-arm, as close together as they possibly could without making it impossible to walk without tangling up their stride. There was nothing to hide. Haruo didn't care what others thought. He knew River was his sweetheart and that was all that was needed to be known.
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"I think we may need to take a taxi back if I get the easel today." River looked thoughtful. "It's going to be large and heavy. What I might do though is pick a sketchbook." She looked at him.
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"Will you have enough to cover your stuff you're getting if you buy the sketchbook and whatever else today?" Haruo asked.
"I think so. We should check and see what time they close then maybe I can pay for the easel in advance and pick it up before the store closes. That way..." she stroked his arm gently, "We can maximize the amount of time we have to do other things."
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"...and if you run across an interesting subject you can sketch it." Haruo said. "I've seen your pencil sketches, they're incredible."
"Thanks..." River snuggled up to Haruo as they walked down past the Bistro. It was about ten-thirty in the morning and things would probably be nuts in there getting ready for lunch rush. "...so what are you planning to do?"
"I don't know. Writing holds some passion for me. Though I can't afford a computer right now, maybe being able to write by pen and paper then maybe transcribe it onto computer at the library." he mused out loud.
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The art store was not too far away and finally they were able to peruse the art supplies. This was certainly an art store. Haruo thought There were racks and racks of canvases, shelves with different sets of oils, watercolors, charcoal pencils and sticks, brushes, coloured pencils and other drawing implements that would help in making memorable drawings that others would buy.
Haruo was actually starting to enjoy the shopping for artist's supplies too. River asked sales staff about the quality of easels and was directed to a nice wood easel that to Haruo's impression of it was that it was built like a tank. It was definitely one where if they bought it, it would have to be brought home via taxi. That would tack about eleven to twelve simoleons. The easel she was directed to was worth §300.
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After purchasing a lot of materials for drawing, painting and sketching, about ten canvases as well as the easel and an artist's portfolio carry case. Considering that the store was open till nine that night they decided to come back at eight-fifteen and then call a cab to get the materials back home. But at the moment, she opted to bring with her for the moment a sketchbook and a set of sketching pencils. The rest; she informed them that she would pick them up after eight pm. The store staff agreed to store all the materials until their return placing SOLD tags on all the merchandise purchased.
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With that, Haruo and an ebullient River left the store. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this." River exclaimed as they walked along the sidewalk past the hospital towards the beach.
Haruo had suggested doing some sketching down by the water where as he'd mentioned there could be some interesting subjects to sketch and she could try out the different sketching pencils. River was eager to try them out, especially on a nice beach amidst the warm sand and moist salt-laden air with very few clouds floating in the sky. And River was more than happy to go down and see what she could sketch while Haruo sat beside her watching the waves rolling into.
To start off her art career she wanted to develop a good set of sketches from where she could take inspiration when it came to painting. "...after all..." she informed her boyfriend, "if I can draw inspiration from this and paint a painting that brings in at least §2400 it will go a long way to paying for some travel to some exotic destinations to paint. After all. One of our goals was to travel the world."
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"Agreed..." Haruo said closing his eyes as he took a deep breath, sighing as he enjoyed the cool breeze coming off the water. It certainly cooled the temperatures that midday would bring. Being by the ocean allowed them to be able to stay relatively cooler than sitting in Central Park, with all its brick and concrete, which could potentially get to well over twenty-eight Celsius during the course of a June midday when the sun was at it's apex. He watched River pull out the sketch book from the bag and unwrap the new sketching pencils.
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River enjoyed the feel of the new writing implements in her possession and as she delved into her creative imagination to see the world; her pencil in hand, started to make impressions of the world around her. Delving deep, her subconscious directing the movement of pencil along paper, her hand drawing broad lines back and forth across the page appearing as with no apparent focus in mind, the lines which at first not appearing much like a drawing, but eventually started to take cohesive shape as more and more details were added. River had always been a prolific doodler, her assignment books told the tale of a mind preoccupied with creative interpretation of the task-at-hand, her doodles marking the fact that those art shapes though random, were jogging her mind into a thought process leading to completion of her assigned work.
Haruo, on the other hand, had no such lofty ambitions. His whole goal that day was to enjoy the time spent with River by his side, his contentment was watching his girlfriend as she had a smile on her face, her pencil held in hand moving back and forth across the page drawing the scene of the beach around them, an idyllic summer midday at the beach; a few sailboats on the water, children running to and fro on the warmth of the sand squishing between their toes, running into the waves. He smiled again as his contentment increased seeing River smile as she started getting even more focussed on her drawing; to make it a source of inspiration for a painting that she was able to create as her skills in painting grew.
"I think this is a good start, what do you think?" River's sudden question startled him as he'd just settled into the beach lounger gazing out at the water and was rapidly getting sleepy with the warmth playing on his torso clothed as it was in t-shirt and shorts. He looked over to see her holding out the sketchbook which now showed a well illustrated scene of the beach, proportioned exactly in miniature, the curve of the landscape showing in the careful pencil-strokes on the sketchbook page, the people pictured showing a level of activity that seemed to jump out from the page and take a life of its own.
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His eyes widened in absolute amazement as he stared at the absolutely beautiful monotoned black sketch-marks on the page which had culminated in a landscape image that was absolutely second to none that he'd ever seen. His girlfriend had a talent to be reckoned with and he was certain that she was destined for great things in the art world.
"So...what do you think?" River asked again wondering why her boyfriend was silent and looked so dumbfounded.
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"It...it's beautiful," he stammered. "I mean it's stunning. The figures look as though they're just about ready to jump off the page and the detail in this sketch..." he stopped looking at River with an amazed expression "You have got..." he searched for a descriptive adjective, "incredible talent..." River's face brightened as he continued to look appreciatively at her work.
"You really mean that?" She asked softly looking over at Haruo with eyes gleaming at the praise, "You really think I have the talent to make it?"
Haruo leaned over, carefully, to make sure that he didn't jostle the sketchbook or mar any details as River tilted her head up. The book was closed without even glancing at it as their lips met in a passionate kiss. When they separated, more due to lack of oxygen than by mutual agreement, both of them, eyes glazed over with desire, whispered, "I love you..."
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River reached out cupping the palm of her hand against Haruo's cheek, "...thank you for believing in me..."
"I always will, Sweetheart..." Haruo said softly, "You've always been there for me..." and she had. Any time he'd been frustrated by his mother's apparent abusive behavior, River had always been his sounding board and she'd kept him on an even keel. He was just starting to realize just how much River was an integral part in his life and how much she meant to him. What that also meant: his decision of that morning was borne out; that the ring that was now in his dresser drawer was rightfully bound for River's left hand ring finger when he found the right opportunity.
On the Sidewalk
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Walking past the beach, Parker Langerak looked over and saw a sight that cut him to the core. His gaze had often drifted to River McIrish; she was the smart girl, a bit on the nerdy side but really cute. She often wore stuff that really didn't flatter her figure and she only recently started wearing make-up in high-school to attract guys or in particular, one guy which Parker realized...wasn't him.
He really had wanted to get to know her but she was always hanging around with Haruo, the Asian guy, who himself was a bit of a geek. Haruo was a loner and thus had always been fun to pick on.
Parker wouldn't dare to pick on Haruo now after seeing just exactly how Haruo went off on Jared Frio. He knew that Haruo was a blue belt in kung fu and he had pretty much made Jared eat pavement, not to mention Jared still suffered headaches and nightmares that had him waking up screaming according to Claire Ursine who lived across the street from the Frio Brothers.
He could not take his eyes off River reaching up to Haruo's face with the palm of her hand and seeing both of them fall into a passionate kiss which made his stomach churn and his heart fall to pieces. For Parker had an unrequited crush on River McIrish. She was the girl he knew that was head and shoulders above everyone else; the girl he had always aspired to have on his arm; the smart pretty girl.
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But cruel fate had intervened and ended up taking away any chance of him ever having that opportunity of doing so. Three words burned into his psyche at that moment. River was Haruo's - they were destined for each other and nothing of this earth would separate the two. Parker sighed deeply, almost mournfully as he walked away not wanting to continue to look upon that painful scene.
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Back on the Beach
"So did you want to head over to Hogan's now? Feeling kinda hungry?" Haruo asked.
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River looked at her watch on her wrist, It was almost one in the afternoon and she started to hear the first rumbles of complaint from her stomach that it just might be a tad annoyed at her. She nodded as she looked over at Haruo. Had she been sketching for over an hour and a half since they'd left the art shop and walked down to the beach. Getting up off the beach chair, she said to Haruo, "I'm hungry, let's go eat out."
Haruo grinned back at her. "Hogan's or the Central Park Festival Food Kiosks?"
River narrowed her eyes and said archly, "I don't care which...I'm hungry!" She smirked at him. "Feed me." She took his arm after placing her sketch book and pencils back in the bag and they both walked towards the exit from the beach.
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The walk back up the hill was a major pain as the road was, at least calculating rise over run, a 36% grade. Normally the town planners would have dealt with the potential problems it could cause. It was evident they were asleep on that day.
Haruo and River were definitely relieved to walk past EverFresh Delights Supermarket as the hill was quite steep coming back up from the beach. In fact Haruo thought the hill was steeper than Oxford Street in White Rock though it could be that the latter had far more distance needing to be covered in order to climb it. Hell, it could even be steeper than 100th Avenue rising from 272nd Street in Whonnock. Haruo thought, having walked that hill once or twice when Mayumi got the bright idea that her son should get some exercise; the sadistic bat.
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He would much rather enjoy his afternoon and appease his rather famished stomach.
"You know what?" River advised him. Haruo looked at her in response and River continued, "why don't we just make it easier on ourselves and get a meal at the food kiosks? That hike up the hill made me hungry and I'm not sure if I'm up to heading all the way down to Hogans."
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Haruo was perfectly fine with that idea. He was all for eating sooner. When they got to the kiosk, they each ordered onion rings, a pulled pork sandwich and a Pepsi-Cola. After all, they were famished and hot. The cola would cool them down. And they would figure out how to spend the rest of the day.
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The rest of the day was spent in the park with River pulling out her sketch book again and sketching scenes that she would later commit to canvas with daubs of paint. Around eight o'clock in the evening, River packed up her sketch book and they headed off to the art store to pick up the items that she'd bought and the store called them a cab.
It would mean waiting, amidst the closing procedures of the store, at least fifteen minutes for the cab to arrive before they would be able to be on their way home.
Haruo brought the easel into River's side of the duplex they would set it up tomorrow. All the canvases were stacked in the corner of her room and she had brought the rest of her other purchases. "Thank you for coming with me..." River murmured as she moved in close to her boyfriend who smiled at her.
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"It was worth it to spend time with you." Haruo said. Every moment that he had with her was a moment that he would cherish.
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River leaned up and kissed him slowly wrapping her arms around him and drawing her body close to him, letting him smell her light perfume that she was wearing...just for him.
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Reluctantly they parted for the pretense of his mother and father and having to take precautions to not be caught when they were sleeping in the same bed together at night.
Outside Hogan’s
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"Look, Parker, Mom told me that you were out here moping instead of going to business school like you’re supposed to, What’s going on, what gives?" His dad looked sympathetic, but aggravated at the lack of motivation that his son was putting out in terms of trying to do what was needed to get ahead in life.
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Parker let out a deep breath. His dad already had someone; tied down and happily married, while Parker didn’t have anyone. Yeah, sure, Parker could have anyone he chose, he was one of the popular kids in the school and girls were lining up, nearly tripping over themselves to date him, but the one he wanted was River and she was the one whom he couldn’t obtain. River was so easy-going however she knew what she wanted and where she was going and lately she'd made it clear that she was interested in no-one other than Haruo and when Parker had made some advances towards her, she had shut him down as kindly as she could. Look, Parker, you’re a nice guy...but you’re not the one that’s right for me. I really do hope that you find someone who’s good to you. And to top it all off, Haruo wasn’t someone he wanted to get on the wrong side of especially after hearing what happened to the older Frio brother.
And as much as he'd tried to make it seem as though he wasn't interested in who River McIrish dated, he was heartbroken. She was graduating this year and he still had an year to go, since he hadn’t buckled down and failed a grade. That made it so much tougher to swallow. He wasn’t graduating with his peers and he’d fallen an year behind not to mention losing the girl he had the biggest crush on.
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“Son, you need to knock off with the moping. Losing a girl isn’t the end of the world, but it will be if you neglect your studies.” Dustin stated with some annoyance. “You need to find out what’s important in life and losing your future because of a girl isn’t the smartest move to make, is it?”
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“Dad, you don’t understand...” Parker stated.
“Look, Parker, there’s plenty of fish in the sea. Look hard enough, and you’ll be bound to catch one.” Easy for his dad to say when he was married to someone, even if the marriage was on rocky ground. Lately Iliana had been straying with her eyes, if not her body and there was plenty of people who were talking about her dissatisfaction with the status quo of her husband just being a lowly education assistant, essentially someone who sat on the stairs outside and minded the kids. Diana was a toddler, Kaelynn was in elementary school and Parker was in high-school.
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“What’s the point?” Parker asked morosely, “When you let the 15 pounder get away, you’ve lost it all...” he muttered, “If only she’d..."
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Dustin interrupted Parker before he could really get going in his misery, "You’re not going to get anywhere by sitting on your rear-end and moping about it. What about that Hart kid?" he asked, not giving Parker any time to respond to the castigation.
"Bebe?"
"That's Gus and Dorie's kid, right?" Dustin looked up at the sky crinkling his brow for a long moment and scratching his chin, then gave Parker a contemplative look.
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"...yeah..." Parker replied with a tone of non-committal. He wasn't interested. Bebe was a nice girl, but she had this weird thing about technology that he didn't really understand. He wished his father would drop the subject; plus she was already interested in the other Chikamori kid, Torao and he’d seen them walking hand in hand yesterday at school. Too late on that prospect too. “No...she’s hooked up with Torao...so she’s gone too...and she’s older than Torao...so...”
“Look, Parker, someone will come along...”
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Parker snorted skeptically. His father was entirely too positive for his station in life after seventeen years. If he’d applied himself to what he had to do, his dad would have been the principal of that school and not that evil witch, Mrs. M. Chikamori who was constantly in the hallways castigating those whom she considered miscreants.
(End Part 1)
