Work Text:
Greg would’ve slammed the door shut if it didn’t have a slow-down self-closing hinge. He would’ve let the world know how fired up he was if he could’ve. He didn’t typically get this frustrated, and if he did, it wouldn’t have been so present on his face. Yet, somehow, Chip Whistler was the one to tick him right off.
“Yikes, he get ya mad again?” Rose chimed from the corner of the small break room.
She leaned back in the one (incredibly uncomfortable) foldable chair they had with her feet propped up on the mop bucket. She could practically see the steam blowing from Greg’s ears.
Greg jolted in surprise at her voice as he lifted his head off the door, his face going redder than it already was.
“Of course he did! I honestly can’t believe how clueless he is!” he complained as he hefted himself up to sit on the table.
“He just— I— ugh! I don’t know, he just doesn’t listen,” Greg finally lowered his raving hands, letting out a sigh. He’d forgotten how tiring aggression was, makes sense why he always avoided it.
“He’s always been like that.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ve only been working here for a year, I can’t imagine having to deal with him any longer than that,” Greg chuckled, “I pity you, Rose, honestly.”
“Well you can pity me a lot more,” she glanced at him, away from her phone screen, “He’s been like that since he was little.”
“I can see tha— Wait… ‘little’? How do you know what he was like when he was little?”
“I grew up with him.”
“Oh bless your sweet soul,” Greg looked at her with a touch of sympathy. Rose couldn’t help but laugh.
“Nah, it’s not that big a deal,” she said, practically waving away his sympathy with her hand, “But yeah, I guess saying ‘he was always like that’ is a bit of a lie. He became like that at a certain point.”
“Really?” Greg asked, leaning forward.
In any other position, and for any other person, he’d feel guilty about listening in on someone’s past. It just seemed like something he shouldn’t know about, but really, Rose was just handing it to him. It was like she was reading a story to him like she did with her own kids. So he assumed it wasn’t that big of a deal she was telling him, and he let her take the stage.
“Yeah, I mean, he’s always been spoiled, but he wasn’t as bad as he is now. He was actually super shy when we were kids.”
“Chip Whistler? Shy?” Greg snarked as he leaned back against the wall, placing his arms behind his head. Yeah right, she had to have been pulling his leg.
“No, I’m serious!” She chuckled, almost fondly, “He was one of the quietest kids you’d have ever met unless he was comfortable around you. Then again, he didn’t really get out much anyways. He was homeschooled and did housework most of the time, so it’s no wonder he wasn’t a people person.”
“How’d you two meet, then?”
“Oh, I don’t really remember, I just know I’ve been tagging along since we were maybe 10 or so.”
“Tagging along, huh? So he got you involved in all his trouble like he does now.”
“Not exactly,” Rose chuckled, “The opposite, actually.”
—
“A-Are you sure this is alright?” Chip fretted as he leaned to look over Rose’s shoulder.
“Of course it is! If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t be doing it,” Rose smiled at her 10-year-old friend. She finished tying her shoelace around the mop handle, attaching it to her hockey stick, “Theoretically, the end of the mop will slow us down if we go too fast.”
“Then what’s the hockey stick for?”
“In case we need extra reinforcements.”
The lack of answer must’ve sprung a hint of worry in Chip because he proceeded to hide behind his bangs. Rose had noticed he only did that when he was worried.
“Come on Chip! It’ll be fine. Trust me. My brother and I do this all the time.”
“You do?”
“Of course, where do you think I got all these cool scars from?” Rose motioned to her bandaid-covered legs, with a couple of lighter markings scattered around the bandages. Her knees were skinned as well.
Chip gulped nervously, “I-I don’t think we s-should do this if my knees are gonna end up like that.”
“You’ll be fine, Chip,” Rose threw an arm over his shoulder, “Promise.”
“You truly promise?”
“Yeah, of course! Gotta keep you safe don’t I?” She giggled, ruffling his long hair to the point it covered his face.
Chip parted his bangs like curtains as he saw Rose climbing into the shopping cart (he didn’t want to know where she got it from), “Why are you making me do this again?”
“Because my brother’s out of town, and I need a thrill.”
Chip climbed in with her, “And you couldn’t have done it by yourself?”
“Nope!” Rose smiled as they went rolling down the hill, terrified screams and joyful laughter erupting from the barreling cart.
—
“Shut up! You’re lying!”
“I'm serious, Greg!” Neither of them could contain their laughter.
“There’s no way his dad didn’t get involved,” Greg snickered.
“Oh no he did, but his mom was wayyy more vocal about it.”
“His mom? You knew her before she passed?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, she didn’t die til’ we were teenagers. She wasn’t very fond of me in the beginning,” Rose laughed under her breath, it was a heartwarming sound, “I grew onto her, but she thought I was a ‘bad influence’ for a good while.”
Greg’s eyebrows shot up, “You? A bad influence?”
“Oh yeah, and if she called someone a bad influence, you knew it was bad.”
—
“My mom said I shouldn’t hang out with you,” Chip said, almost nonchalantly, which was enough to confuse Rose completely out of her daydream.
“What?”
“She said I shouldn’t hang out with you. She says that you’re a bad influence.”
This time, he looked at her, “But I think if she knew you, she wouldn’t say that.”
Huh.
It was an… out of nowhere kind of subject, but Rose had to wonder what made him think to say it out loud.
Chip went back to drawing pictures in the dirt, “So I’m not going to listen this time.”
“You’re not?”
“Nope. I’m gonna prove her wrong.”
That was weird, too. Chip had always listened and done what he was told, especially when it came to his mom. He loved her with everything in him. He was a mama’s boy, no denying it. Which is why it struck her as odd that those words would even come out of his mouth.
“Actually, I think my dad likes you, if it makes you feel any better. He says it’s good for me to have a friend for once.”
“‘For once’?”
“Yeah, I, uh… didn’t really have any before I met you.”
“Oh. Well,” Rose paused, “I’m glad for it.”
“Yeah,” Chip smiled up at her, “I am too.”
—
“So, she didn’t like you.”
“No, it wasn’t that she didn’t like me,” Rose said, “She didn’t really dislike a lot of people. Even if she did dislike me in the beginning, it wore off eventually.”
“And how’d you manage that?”
“Honestly, I think Chip had shown her what influence I really had. He was a scared and sheltered kid when I met him. I think with me being around him, he started to come out of his shell a lil’ bit. He ended up retreating back into that shell after she passed, though.”
—
Rose had expected a lot of things when Chip walked out that door. She’d expected to see a broken teen greet her, and while that’s what she got, she hadn’t expected him to change as physically as he did.
Chip Whistler, the kid she’d known for 4 years up to the point, had cut his hair. She’d assumed it was done in grief, or maybe panic, but it didn’t hit her until later how symbolic it was. Chip looked like his mom. Cutting his hair off removed some of that resemblance.
It broke her, she wouldn’t lie.
—
Rose waved off the memory. She wanted to keep the conversation light-hearted.
“But really, he had proven to her what he wanted to prove. Even after she passed, I practically dragged him along with Damien and me.”
“He knew your husband?”
“Of course, we were our own little friend group, and Chip was like a little brother to us. Plus Chip kinda had to know him after he started attending high school with us. His dad couldn’t tutor him like his mom did, since he had to work the farm, so Chip ended up attending public school with us.”
“Huh. I assume he started changing then.”
“A little, yeah. In hindsight, that switch caused a good deal of what he is now, but I think the biggest impact was when they founded Wholesome Foods. I think the money and power got to his head after that.”
“Hm,” Greg pondered as he stretched his back out. He’d been sitting slouched a bit too long.
“It wasn’t really surprising,” Rose continued, “Just kinda… sad, I guess. I mean, when you grow up on a humble little farm like he did, rising up to a place of power in a big city is exhilarating. He just didn’t know when to stop, and his dad didn’t know when to stop him either. I don’t think he knew how to stop him if I’m honest.”
“You think things could’ve gone differently?”
“Oh yeah, I mean, anything could’ve happened. It just depended on the events and the mindset he could’ve had,” Rose sighed, “He could’ve changed if he wanted to. But— we’ll never know. Not unless some huge change comes about, but I don’t think that’ll happen anytime soon.”
“Yeahhh, I don’t think—“
Both of them just about jumped out of their skin as the door slammed open. So much for the slow-down door feature.
“You two! Get out there! I don’t pay you to sit around and talk all day!” Chip yelled, his eyes piercing into the two.
They only gave him unimpressed looks back, “You don’t really pay us, anyways—“
“That doesn’t matter!” He flung his hands up in the air, “I just need you two out there, alright? Get back to work!”
The door slammed shut again. What was it with the door never slowing for him?
‘Maybe his drama’s infecting it’, Greg thought with an eye roll. He wouldn’t be surprised.
Greg hefted himself off the table with a sigh before flipping his hat back onto his head.
“Hey, go ahead and sit back down,” Rose piped up from her corner, “We’ve got 7 minutes left on our break.”
“Yeah, but do I really wanna deal with his yapping?”
“Eh, I’d rather cherish the 7 minutes we’ve got left than care about how much bark he has. Plus, what’s he gonna do? Fire us? He doesn’t have that power.”
“Not yet,” Greg leaned against the door with a smile. He knew Chip wouldn’t be able to open it with the strength he had.
The two sat in a calm, yet comforting silence for the remaining 7 minutes. It was the only time of day until the end of their shifts that they got any peace and quiet. When Chip wasn’t yelling their ears off, they were dealing with customers. So the comforting silence was cherished, just as Rose said it’d be.
“Alright,” Rose groaned as she got up from her seat, rubbing her back after sitting in the uncomfortable chair. She slipped her phone back into her pocket before walking towards the door.
“Here’s to hoping he never gets promoted,” she said with a chuckle and Greg pushed the door open with his back for her.
“Yeah, here’s to hoping.”