Tell Me The Same (Brandon Rogers)

1. Casual Gas Station Night

This is gonna have a rocky start, I haven't written in a long.. long time. And wow starting a story may be the hardest part. I'm not very good at writing dialogue either...

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'Pop!'
My gum bursts rather loudly before I resume chewing. I sat behind the counter at our local Valero Gas Station. The night had been dead as all hell so far and it was killing me. You can only organize the sodas and candy so many times before it gets mind meltingly boring.

A few minutes pass after that initial pop and I stand up, grabbing my pack of smokes and head out the front doors. Can't drink on the job but at least I can kill my lungs instead. I light up my cigarette and take a few puffs before leaning back against the walk and checking my phone. It was 1:43 a.m. I still had a good four hours left dammit.
Before long a car pulls up and parks. Two men step out, obviously riding some kind of high. I watch as one stumbles as he makes his way to the glass door, pushing on it then realizing it's a pull. His face showing pure amazement as laughter escapes his lips.

I let out a soft chuckle at the sight, "Let me finish this then I'll be with you." I flick my cigarette and put my phone back in my pocket.
"No problem, take your time." The shorter one says. While the other one, the taller, slightly stockier one steps my way. "Whatchu smoking?" He asks.
I furrow my brow, "Marlboro Black Menthols...?" I stare at him.
"Mind if I bum one off you?" He asks, his eyes are dry yet kind. I go to reply, not really wanting to share when these cost so much a pack. Though let's be honest, I think I just snatched up this pack.
"Oh come on Brandon, just buy a pack in here, don't take that girls cigs!" His friend calls for him.
The guy, who I assume is Brandon sighs then turns away from me. "Fine, fine." He relents and follows his friend in.

Once they go inside I put out my cigarette and follow them in, I take my seat back behind the counter and watch them fumble around with the different bags of chips. Brandon had two different bags, a few cosmic brownies and his friend had a honeybun and a few sodas.
They made their way back up to me and dumped it all on the counter.

"You boys got the munchies something fierce, dont'cha?" I ask in a teasing manner.
The friend laughs, "Shit, That obvious huh?" He asks and I nod with a smile.
"Oh yeah man." I assure him.
Brandon cracks up, "I thought I was doing a good deal of hiding it!" He admits.
"Ooh, no. Sorry to disappoint." I tell him, "What kind of cigarettes would you like?" I then ask.

"Um the, the fucking Marlboro Reds." He tells me, resting his elbows on the counter to rest. I watch him for a moment before turning to grab and toss the pack on to the counter with the rest of their stuff.
I ring it all up and toss it in to a bag. "Okay boys, your total is $20.31."
Brandon digs in his pockets and pulls out his card and I run it.
"You boys be safe." I advise them, "I don't want to have to deal with a car wreck when I leave here."
"Thank you for your concern." The friend says with dripping sarcasm.
I smile a wide fake smile at him.
Brandon laughs, grabbing the bags. "Maybe we'll see you around?" He raises his eyebrows.

"Oh please, you won't remember me in the morning." I tell him with an accompanying laugh.
"Well fuck, now I have to remember you! What's your name?" He grabs a pen and a business card from the counter. "You look like a Miranda?"
"Pft, Miranda? I look like a Miranda?" I give him a 'come-on-man' look. "Feel free to try again?" He stares at me, looking over my face.

"It's Bug??" The friend questions from behind him.
"Of course not Salim, that's a ridiculous name—" Brandon shakes his head and looks back at him.
"Actually it is." I point to my nametag, that Salim obviously had to of seen. "How did you miss this?" I ask in a teasing manner.
"Look I'm high as balls right now, I don't even know how I'm keeping a train of thought." He admits while scribbling down my name, and I laugh at him. "Well then get out of my store. Get back home and be safe dammit." I point to the door.

"Look at that Salim, she's kicking us out! How ruuude!" Brandon throws a pretend hissy fit.
"I'm sorry about him.. he's a handful." Salim tries to defend and I wave my hand, "No, you boys have been the highlight of my night." I admit.

"You're welcome!" Brandon says with a sincere smile. "Have a good night Buggo!" He waves, already giving me a nickname, and walks out the door. Salim follows and they make their way out to the car. I watch them file in to their car through the glass window, the smile still staying on my face.
Brandon pops back out the window one last time to yell goodbye once more.
"Oh geez." I mumble, looking away.

Nothing of note happened after that, Just some casual customers paying for gas and the like. Time dragged on and on, I played on my phone, took another cigarette break and did my best to pass the time.

Once my co-worker arrived, at 6:04 might I add, I clocked out and made my way to the refrigerators. I opened it and grabbed a six pack of Coronas and tossed them on to the counter.
"Drinking? Don't you think it's a bit early?" My co-worker, Jai, takes a jab at me. His Indian accent thick as ever. I just return with a middle finger up. He laughs some and rings me up. I pay and make my way out to my small and half broken car.

I slide in to my seat and after a few attempts, get my car started. I sit and stare out the front windshield, slowly sliding in to a negative mindset. But i quickly snap myself out of it, I can't do that. Not now.
I sigh and turn the heat up. I watch as fog grows on my windshield.
"Oh fuck, come on." I grumble and pull my sleeve down enough to successfully wipe the window.

The California sun rise was a bright and pretty one, but I didn't enjoy driving in the direction of it. My drive home takes me a good 30-40 minutes due to the traffic. "This is shit, this is shiit!" I slam my hand on the wheel to release the pent up aggravation.

Once finally to my apartment building, I grabbed my pack of beer and traveled to my room.
I was pretty well acquainted with the other residence so I didn't get any dirty looks. They knew my routine.
"Hope you have a good rest Bug." The elderly lady in the apartment next to mine tells me.
While I was entering my room for the day, she was leaving hers, a newspaper and mug of coffee in her hand. The thick shrug covering her shoulders told me she was on her way to the patio. She handles this cold weather far better than I do, ironically enough.
"And I hope you have good day Mrs. Pataki." I say in return as I unlock then enter my room.

I pop open a bottle and take a drink, the taste that was once far too strong now just faint on my taste buds. Relief wraps around me as I take in that drink, then follow it by one more. I needed to unwind. Before continuing on with my drink I changed in to some messy loose pjs that most likely needed to be washed.
I grab my beer along with the pack and settle on the couch, well futon to be more precise. I was not feeling up to setting it back up. I turn the tv on, the early morning news broadcasters chatting among themselves. I take another long draw of my beer, watching the screen.

This wasn't the life I expected when I moved to LA. Not at all.
With those negative thoughts once more in my head I lit up a cigarette to accompany my alcohol.
"Life's shit, Get over it." I reminded myself. "Don't wallow in self pity." I took a long drag and sighed.

My art career never picked up the way I had hoped. Not in the three years I've been here, Since I turned the bright age of 18. I made it in to an exhibit twice in those three years. Twice goddammit. And with those two times, I got commissioned a small handful of times. I can't even charge too much, people get so stingy with money.
I keep trying, when I get the free time. My jobs make that hard though... During the day I'm at a consignment shop and at night a gas station. It's okay though, we've only been robbed once. You have to be optimistic in this situation...

Before I know it i'm several beers in and finally beginning to feel some ounce of buzz. This was when I needed to sleep, When I felt that dizzy happy feeling.It was hard for me to fall asleep in any other state than inebriated as of late. I grab the edge of a blanket and sloppily throw it over me.

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If anything i am enjoying writing again. I hope this gets better though. If you liked this chapter feel free to vote on it :) it really helps and just gives me a moral boost!