- THEREFORE I AM -
Act one, prologue:
Off day.
━━━ 🍨 ━━━
Arryn had always hated when her parents referred to her less than lively days, as 'off days'. It was such a simple explanation for such a broad feeling. It was weak in comparison to the strength of her emotions on those days.
Where Arryn felt an all consuming sense of dread and an overwhelming urge to tear the very earth apart in search of some peace, her mother saw it as teenage hormones. Arryn was dramatic, she'd say, that every teenager feels like that at her age.
Yet Arryn wouldn't wish whatever was wrong with her upon anyone. Maybe Steve Harrington, but that was about it and only because he still has her favourite pen and it's been two years.
For the fifth day in a row, Arryn finds herself stuck in one of those 'off days.'
Arryn sits in front of her mirror, a miscellaneous collection of makeup in front of her. Most of the cosmetics were gifted. The moment she turned fifteen, it was all anyone thought to get her. She hadn't expressed any interest in the area, but teen girls like makeup and Arryn wasn't exactly an easy person to buy presents for.
The lipsticks sit in a line at the very base of her mirror, foundation to her right and eyeliner to her left. Whatever the other things were, sat in between the other neatly organised stacks.
If Arryn had any sense, she supposes this would be classed as an identity crisis.
Because the person staring back at her, isn't someone she's exactly happy with. Her face looks more uneven the longer she stares at it, and the eye bags keep getting bigger. It isn't exactly like she's disgusted with herself, just that there's something about her, something so frustratingly particular that she can't stand, and yet she has no idea what it is.
She thought perhaps the makeup could be of some use, that if she could restructure the very forefront of her existence, something would slide into place and she'd get a damn break. However the more Arryn layered on the foundation, the more she applied (rubbed out and then reapplied) her eyeliner, the less better she felt.
Arryn groans and throws the eyeliner at her mirror. She's thankful it doesn't crack but the liquid spills over her blue carpet, seeping through the tendrils of fabric. She lets slip a string of curses and grabs a sock from the pile at the foot of her bed she's yet to pair up. She dabs it over the stain, cautious as to not spread the stain further. It does little to help, but at least the eyeliner is mostly on her scruffy sock than on the carpet she bought last week.
Arryn tightens the cap properly this time, twisting it enough so that she knows the next time she wants to open it, she'll have to ask her uncle to do it for her. She stuffs the rest in a spare pencil case she'd found under her desk, careful to avoid the glass foundation jars clinking together too much. She leaves the case beside her mirror, hoping she remembers later to put it away properly.
"Arryn! Get down here!"
Despite being a floor below and most likely in the kitchen, her uncle's voice comes as though he's stood outside her bedroom door. She doesn't bother yelling back, knowing he wouldn't hear her, or if he did, he'd ignore her.
Arryn sighs and climbs to her feet, wincing as her knees click. She's seventeen, not seventy yet her body acts as though it existed long before her consciousness ever did.
As soon as she opens her door, there's a figure stood in front of her.
"Wheeler." She says, sighing as she does. He's been everywhere lately. In her car, in her house, if he's not off at his mysterious girlfriend's house, he's somewhere around her. More specifically, her brother. She appreciates he's Milo's friend but Jesus, does he have to be everywhere?
"Chester. You uncle wants you in case you didn't hear."
"I didn't! Thank you for letting me know."
He smiles however it quickly falls to a frown. "I don't appreciate your sarcasm."
"And I don't appreciate you being in my house but we all have sacrifices we have to make." Arryn likes Milo's friends, really, just not today.
"Technically it's your uncle's house!" Mike calls down the hall.
"Technically you can-"
"Arryn." Milo cuts in, poking his head around his bedroom door, Will naturally beside him. "Please stop bullying my friends."
"Then tell them to stop being so bully-able."
"That's not a real word." Max says as she stands at the top of the stairs. She's the newest addition to Milo's friend group, and probably the most tolerable one. She waves politely to the girl as she passes and slips into her brother's room, pulling Lucas along with her.
"What are you all doing anyway?" Arryn asks, ignoring Max's comment. She leans herself up against the wall. "And where's the other one? Dustin."
"He's been at camp for like, half the summer? Have you seriously only noticed he's not here?"
Arryn is going to hit one of these kids one day.
She turns to Mike, "No, of course I haven't."
Will laughs quietly from his position in the doorway. Arryn notes he's gotten taller since the last time she saw him, which was probably like a couple weeks ago. Or maybe he's the same? She typically keeps to her room or hides in the front room when they come over. The last she'd seen of Will or the others, was when she drove them all back from Starcourt mall when it first opened. So perhaps he had grown since then, he was sat down after all, it was hard to tell.
"We're making Dustin a 'welcome back!' sign to surprise him when he gets back next week." Milo answers, "we have all those boxes from when Felix moved in, so I thought we could use those as a base for the sign."
"We still have those? I thought he got rid of them all."
Milo simply shrugs and disappears behind his bedroom walls.
"Arryn, come on!" Felix calls again, as loud as ever. "Jesus, takes her a thousand years to do anything I swear."
Mike fails to cover his laugh and Arryn finds the first thing her hands can reach (an old ball of tissue from her pocket) and launches it at him. It doesn't hurt him, but he gags when it lightly brushes against his arm.
She breezes down the stairs, pettily satisfied over having grossed Mike out. She drags her hands down the wooden banister as she hurries down the steps. She can hear Felix clattering away in the kitchen, slamming cupboard doors closed unnecessarily harsh. She wouldn't be surprised if one day all the hinges gave out spontaneously.
She takes up a seat on the stools shoved haphazardly underneath the kitchen counter, reaching over to the bowl of cheese puffs Felix put out for the group upstairs.
"You rang?" She says through a mouthful of cheese dust.
He points wordlessly to the leaflet she hadn't noticed was next to her, and turns back to the stove. She picks it up, flicking through the contents lazily however as she reads the bold letters further, she pauses.
Scoops Ahoy needs you! Apply now!
"No thank you." Arryn tosses the leaflet back towards her uncle, though it doesn't make it far. He slides it back towards her, pointing aggressively at the lettering. "No! I don't need a job, especially one in an ice cream parlour at that stupid mall."
"You said and I quote 'Felix if a job comes up, I'll get one.' Well, look-y here, a job." Arryn didn't appreciate his mock impression of her.
"But its in an ice cream parlour! Surely there's something more suited to me."
Felix shook his head, tossing his towel over his shoulder. "Nope. All the jobs at any record, instrument, or comic book shops went immediately. Despite getting like, zero customers, the jobs seemed pretty in demand. All that's left are some clothing shops and Scoops."
"I'd rather die. Have you seen the uniform?"
"Don't be so cynical, besides no one likes their job." He shrugs and turns back briefly to stir whatever he's cooking. It smells nice and Arryn hates how her stomach churns from sudden hunger.
"You have an interview in," he glances to the clock on the wall, "shit, like twenty minutes. Get hustle on Arryn, your new career awaits."
Arryn heaves an exaggerated sigh and slides off the seat with all the dramatics she can muster. It's pointless arguing with him. She doesn't bother to quickly change, she doesn't have the heart to care.
"You'll be great! Love you, your CV is on the side! If they ask, you totally did a month of volunteer work at the old folks home."
Arryn rolls her eyes, grumbling a small goodbye and a reluctant thank you. She grabs her car keys from the dish beside the front door and the first piece of paper she finds on the coffee table, hoping its the CV.
The summer air is stifling, she's outside a total of thirty seconds before she feels a desperate urge to hide away in her room. The sight of her shitty car makes her anxiety spike for some ungodly reason. She hates it. She feels uncomfortable and the mere thought of all the hundreds of people that would be milling about in Starcourt makes her skin crawl in a sickening fashion. All those eyes, all those bodies in the same vicinity as herself...Arryn nearly turns back on her heel.
Yet by some unfathomable reason, Arryn makes it into the front seat and successfully locks the door. She slams the first tape she somewhat recognises into the tape player and slides the volume up as loud as it needs to be in order to calm herself down.
The car rattles to life and she pulls off the driveway.
• • • •
"So, have you had any previous work experience before applying here?"
Robin, the girl interviewing Arryn, seems less excited than herself. She's sat against the table in the back room of Scoops Ahoy, tapping the pen against the desk as she flicks through Arryn's very minimal resume. She can't be any older than she is, and Arryn finds it strange to be interviewed by someone so young.
"No, nothing aside from the volunteer work." Her reply is quick but polite. She doesn't allow herself to get too comfortable, to relax into the chair behind her. She doesn't want the job, not at all, but the last thing she wants is to come across as rude, obnoxious.
She smiles for extra measure, suppressing the very strong urge to be sick.
"The guy that came in before you said that." Robin sits forward, smiling slightly back. "But he lied, you see, and that's technically fraud, so if I reported him, he could have been arrested. He never got the job, now he's just sat at home all summer. Thoughts?"
Arryn blinks, not really following. "Oh...wow. What an idiot?"
"Exactly. Must be a common lie to use for resumes. How were the old folks?"
"They were old, obviously. But sweet, gave you a lot of caramel sweets." Arryn laughs nervously, shrinking under Robin's surprisingly strong stare. "The other staff didn't seem to mind them much, they didn't wanna be there."
"Uh-huh." If she knew Arryn was lying, she didn't say anything. Instead, she scratched something down on a scrap piece of paper beside her. "Why did you want to work here? Why not spend summer out with friends or going on dates?"
This was beginning to feel like more of an interrogation than an interview.
"Well, I wanted to help out with money and stuff. Since it's just me, my brother and uncle, it's been tough." Which wasn't entirely a lie, but not the reason she was sat across from Robin, who she had conflicted feelings about.
"Admirable." Thats the first Arryn's heard a hint of sincerity from her. "Okay, last one, how do you feel about uniforms?"
"Can't stand them." For some reason, Arryn finds herself telling the first truth.
Robin grins, sincerely once again, and Arryn feels herself relax if only slightly. "Couldn't agree more."
When Arryn returns home that evening, Milo's friends are still upstairs, Felix is still in the kitchen leaving the phone's incessant ringing ignored. Arryn slowly pulls herself up from her horizontal position on the sofa, and drags herself to the phone. Once she picks it up, a familiar voice greets her.
"Welcome to Scoops Ahoy, Arryn Chester. What size shall I put in for your super awesome uniform?"
Arryn's day suddenly felt a whole lot worse.
(author's note!)
chapter 1 is done! don't ask me why it ended how it ended, i have no idea. i was struggling to come up with more ideas and got bored so i just cut it off •_•
but i hope you enjoyed it despite the rocky second half!! im v excited for more chapters and the ideas i have for robin and arryn!! literally terrified of writing these ppl out of character but we move.
don't forget to vote and comment otherwise i might cry from lack of positive reinforcement (:
enjoy my piss poor attempt at a meme <3
words: 2149.