Okay, so you need two sets of three, and one of four, and they have to be of the same suit or —
[ she launches into a poor explanation of how to play the version of gin her father had taught her. but the scene is all wrong. she's older, sadder, the woman in the kitchen making dinner isn't her mom and isn't laughing. there's no coffee or apple juice between them, and there's no bowl of hard candies that they could use to bet with.
they play a couple hands, which chuck mostly coaches him through it. but it doesn't do much to alleviate her unhappy restlessness. so when she wins — again — and rubs it in his face by splaying her cards over the table in their neat little sets, chuck leans forward on the coffee table and rests her head on the wood. the sudden, longing desire to go home strikes her, but since she's technically already home, there's no reason to complain and she bites her tongue. just rests her head there. and finally — ]
[He'd never admit to it because she'd never believe him but he kind of lets her win by sheer lack of trying to play the game right and well and good. Thinking that maybe it will cheer her up but it doesn't seem to be the case.
She's clearly lost it because she's never apologized in her life to him for anything.]
Took me a year to admit that my dad walked out on us and didn't look back. I get it.
[But he still has his mom, and that's where it's different. He has Yancy and even Jazmine to fall back on if he has to. And Chuck doesn't have anyone really.]
Yeah, I was talking to my grandparents, and they're too sick to take care of me. [ and don't particularly want her; hadn't said it out loud, but it had been implied and she wasn't stupid. it's not like she needed a lot of taking care of, she was going to be eighteen in a few months, and in australia she was already as good as an adult at seventeen. ]
But my Uncle Scott said I could live with him.
[ and she thinks the world of her uncle, which is going to be the beginning of her downfall. ]
That's where I stayed during the summers, so, yeah I got a room and everything.
[ and it might not be as pretty green as her basement bedroom in the becket house, but she can deal with tan walls if it gets her away from here. ]
[ there's something tight and painful in her chest that chuck decidedly will call raleigh what the fuck, and while it steels her resolve, it also makes room for doubt. maybe she shouldn't go — no. ]
You're not my brother, Raleigh, [ chuck snaps like a wounded animal in a net. ] Your brother's not my brother, your sister's not my sister, and your mom's not my mom. My dad just died — maybe I want to be around my actual family, not the fucking seppos he made time for when he didn't even make time for me.
[ an important clarification to be made. she'd been angry with her dad, and regrets how often she'd been mean to him in the name of keeping face. she's angry with him now, too; for dying. for not being around to snap at her to talk to raleigh nicer than that. ]
[The way Raleigh flinches, she might as well have hit him. Because he... doesn't see her as family either and he's been feeling like a real asshole for it since her dad died but. Jazmine is his sister. Chuck is that girl who sleeps in the basement.]
[ somehow she doesn't think the news is going to come as much of a surprise or be much of a disappointment for dominique. one less brat (that wasn't hers in the first place) to deal with. ]
You can tell her if you want to. If you talk to her first — I really don't care.
[He huffs and puffs and rolls his eyes and shrugs it off. He doesn't believe for one second that Chuck really doesn't care as much as she pretends to but whatever. Not his problem.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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I'll teach you. If you don't know. My old man taught me.
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I don't know how to play it. So yeah. Teach away.
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[ she launches into a poor explanation of how to play the version of gin her father had taught her. but the scene is all wrong. she's older, sadder, the woman in the kitchen making dinner isn't her mom and isn't laughing. there's no coffee or apple juice between them, and there's no bowl of hard candies that they could use to bet with.
they play a couple hands, which chuck mostly coaches him through it. but it doesn't do much to alleviate her unhappy restlessness. so when she wins — again — and rubs it in his face by splaying her cards over the table in their neat little sets, chuck leans forward on the coffee table and rests her head on the wood. the sudden, longing desire to go home strikes her, but since she's technically already home, there's no reason to complain and she bites her tongue. just rests her head there. and finally — ]
Sorry for freaking you out.
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She's clearly lost it because she's never apologized in her life to him for anything.]
Uh-- why? I mean you don't have to. I get it.
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he doesn't take her apology immediately, however, and chuck shifts uncomfortably. ]
I shoulda been able to say 'my old man's dead', I just — [ was having a meltdown. ] — couldn't, okay? I couldn't then, and it's stupid.
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[But he still has his mom, and that's where it's different. He has Yancy and even Jazmine to fall back on if he has to. And Chuck doesn't have anyone really.]
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and after a stretch of silence... ]
I don't think I'm gonna stay here with you lot.
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Are you sure?
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But my Uncle Scott said I could live with him.
[ and she thinks the world of her uncle, which is going to be the beginning of her downfall. ]
That's where I stayed during the summers, so, yeah I got a room and everything.
[ and it might not be as pretty green as her basement bedroom in the becket house, but she can deal with tan walls if it gets her away from here. ]
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You don't have to go, you know.
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You're not my brother, Raleigh, [ chuck snaps like a wounded animal in a net. ] Your brother's not my brother, your sister's not my sister, and your mom's not my mom. My dad just died — maybe I want to be around my actual family, not the fucking seppos he made time for when he didn't even make time for me.
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[He holds up his hands like a surrender. He didn't want her to feel forced out, she doesn't have to bite his head off.]
Don't bite my head off because of your daddy issues. Which are crap, by the way. It's not like you ever wanted to be around him or us.
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[ an important clarification to be made. she'd been angry with her dad, and regrets how often she'd been mean to him in the name of keeping face. she's angry with him now, too; for dying. for not being around to snap at her to talk to raleigh nicer than that. ]
My uncle's a better dad than he ever was, anyway.
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Because you spent a few summers around him? That's what you're basing it on?
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[ they'd been doing so well, and now she's snapping at him and wants to hit him. ]
Because he's my family, and you're not.
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Have you told my mom yet?
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[ somehow she doesn't think the news is going to come as much of a surprise or be much of a disappointment for dominique. one less brat (that wasn't hers in the first place) to deal with. ]
You can tell her if you want to. If you talk to her first — I really don't care.
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[He huffs and puffs and rolls his eyes and shrugs it off. He doesn't believe for one second that Chuck really doesn't care as much as she pretends to but whatever. Not his problem.]
But I'll tell her.