Ridley finished walking into her apartment with her swag and threw it in the corner. Likely she would not be allowed to go upstairs until whatever little intervention her mom had planned was done. She looked at the table where a small cheap spread of club crackers, cheese, and tea sat.
“Where did you get all of that stuff dear?” Ridely’s mom asked, as she sat at the table directly across the room from Jared.
“My sugar daddy bought it for me.” She said under her breath as she stared down Jared with her most menacing glare. It probably worked better when you were taller.
^
New Quest!
Fear is in the eye of the beholder:
Your childhood friend turned bully is nervous around you, give him reason to be.
Objective: Get Jared to fear you enough to leave early.
Quest rewards:
-500 xp
-4 silver
The gods are good to me. Scare the piss out of Jared and I get another Benjamin? Nice.
“What was that dear?” Ridley's mom asked not hearing her previous snide comment.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? Today is my first payday at Congo. My part-time job?”
“Oh?” She said shocked. She had no clue that Ridley had a part-time job. However she didn’t want to look like a neglectful parent in front of the illustrious Cary Malone. The golden haired trophy wife she aspired to be.
“Ridley you really are becoming such a lovely young woman.” Mrs. Malone told her with a pleasant smile. Ridley choked back a retort as she imagined the look of her still damp hair that must have been splayed everywhere from the jacket hood. “Isn’t she Jared? And responsible as well! You are maturing so quickly.”
“Why thank you Mrs. Malone.” Ridley really believed she was a sweet person, it’s just that she seemed to be more concerned with appearances than the reality of life. Looking at Jared, it was kind of a shame the apple fell so far from the tree, down a hill and into a fissure that led to the burning fires of hell.
As Mrs. Malone sat next to Jared on the dirty couch she adjusted her fancy skirt and looked at everyone like it was time to talk business.
“Now Ridley, you have always been such a sweetheart and it seems there has been some miscommunication between you and my son. I do not blame you in the least for the accident that dislocated Jared's arm. He was probably more clumsy than anything. I would however love you two to reconcile this in some way. For peace between our families at least.” She said this with sincerity, as hard as it was to believe. Ridley’s mother nodded emphatically the entire time she spoke.
The critical weakness in Mrs. Malone was of course her blindness to her son's imperfections. There was likely no way to convince her anything was going on other than a small spat between her and Jared that was blown out of proportion.
So Ridley would simply give her and her mother what they were suspecting. A shy little girl that for years had had a one sided crush on the handsome, benevolent Jared.
“Oh, Mrs. Malone I guess I could forgive Jared, for you.”
“Jared.” she called. To get his attention trying to make her eyes as big and watery as a sad sailor scout. “Won’t you forgive me for breaking your arm?”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Jared locked eyes with her. He knew something was up.
“Sure. I guess that's fine.” He said warily.
“How about we hug to make up? Just like when we were kids?” Ridley stood up and reached out her arms enthusiastically.
^
You have gained a level in Acting!
Acting level 1
You have 1 point to distribute to your Acting skill tree.
Mrs. Malone looked at Ridley’s mom and they made an uncertain face at each other. This was still an odd request. They weren’t completely daft. It was known that Jared and Ridley had been on rough ground for a few years. They went for it though, just like Ridley thought they would.
“Thats so sweet. Now Jared don’t go breaking any hearts now.” Mrs. Malone said smiling and waving him forward.
He stood still favoring his right arm. Lifting it well over Ridley's head to hug her around her shoulders with his good arm. Ridley naturally went for his low ribs and squeezed.
“Ah, huh!” He gasped for air but held it in and turned it into a cough and added a fake laugh at the end. “Ahh goodness. You must be… working out or something.” Jared's eyes got that wary look again. Ridley bet that he had been trying to reinterpret the wrestling mat incident a million ways looking for any angle he could to explain it.
“No way silly. Though I have been lifting a lot of boxes at work the past week.” He was wary but that wasn’t quite enough to get him to leave. “Mom, I think I’ll make a fried egg sandwich. I’m hungry. Does anybody else want one?”
“Sure! That sounds nice honey.” Ridley’s mother chimed. Ridley waited a second for Mrs. Malone to say a phrase she had said a thousand times before.
“I would love one dear. Jared, make yourself useful and help her with that.”
Ridley made her way to the kitchen and Jared followed her slowly. The sounds of their mothers gossiping immediately starting to buzz in the background.
Ridley routinely grabbed the eggs, butter, bread and cheese before she turned towards Jared.
“Oh, Jared. Be a dear and grab the cast iron pan in the cabinet up there? I am just so tiny and can’t reach it with my teeny tiny little arms.” She said channeling her best dumb cheerleader impression while pulling her arms up to her chest and wiggled two fingers like t-rex claws.
He looked at Ridley disgusted now that their moms couldn’t see them. As he moved to the cabinet he said, “You know you’re so weird lately, I really think you might need a cat scan.”
Ridley just smiled and retorted, “Thou art closeth to the truth, thee turd.”
“Exactly like that! What the hell is up with the old timey talking bullshit?” He asked quietly as he set the pan on the stovetop.
Ridley tilted her head confused, “Old timey talk?”
She said as she moved over to the stove and picked up the cast iron pan. She looked it over appraisingly.
“Oh shoot, it looks like the handle is broken.”
“What? You're holding it by the handle dipsh…”
Ridley whipped her head sideways looking at Jared with the creepiest grin she could muster. As she did she grabbed the handle and the opposite side of the pan and proceeded to bend them towards each other. As it bent and folded inwards a loud metallic crack hit the air as the handle snapped off in Ridley's hand. Casually, she held up the handle appreciating her work.
“Hmm, a bit thin. It’s likely bigger than yours though.” Ridley said as she looked back over to Jared, but he was gone.
Ridley heard him march through the living room quickly and open the entry door before saying, “Mom I’m not feeling well. I think I'm gunna take a nap in the car.”
The door shut behind him with a thud before the women could even compute he was leaving.
^
Quest Complete!
Fear is in the eye of the beholder:
Your childhood friend turned bully is nervous around you, give him reason to be.
Objective: Get Jared to fear you enough to leave early.
Quest rewards:
-500 xp
-4 silver
You have gained a level in Intimidation!
Intimidation level 2
You have 2 points to distribute to your Intimidation skill tree.
“Dear? Is everything alright?”
Ridley came around the corner with the pan. “Yep, I just dropped the pan.”
They both looked at the pan for a second.
“What, from the empire state building?”
“I’ll grab a new one on the way home from work on Monday. You know I’m feeling a bit tired as well. Maybe there is a bug going around. I’m just gunna go to my room. Good to see you Mrs. Malone.”
Ridley grabbed all her stuff from the corner and hauled it off to her room. As she was about to close her door she could just make out Mrs. Malone talking about her.
“She has really changed. She seems so much more confident. Did she get a boyfriend or something?”
Ridley turned from the door and threw down her new Totoro beanbag with a satisfying plop. After ripping off the plastic bag, she looked at it, appreciating the aesthetics it brought to her depressing room then jumped on it melting into the plushy ecstasy.
