Las Vegas, Nevada - Black Friday
“2AM…” Miles said through a giGANTIC yawn as he and his boyfriend Carter stood outside in the cold of the Las Vegas morning, just outside of the doors to the local Target nearest to their home. With eyes filled with sleep, Miles cast a sidelong glance to Carter as he sipped from an extra large cup of coffee purchased from a nearby gas station. Miles mumbled, “Remind me again why we had to be here four hours before the stores even open?”
Carter looked up at Miles with an innocent quirk to his expression and he shrugged as if the answer were obvious, “Because they have some kick ass deals and we need to start our Christmas shopping?”
“You just inherited the better part of almost six digits!” Miles yawned again. “So again, why do we have to be here so damn early to try and get … what are we even here to get anyway? The 55 inch TV I can get behind, but what else could be so important?”
Carter answered, “The new iPad is only $229!”
Miles blew a raspberry.
Carter then said, “I want that new crockpot…”
Miles rolled his eyes rather dramatically.
“There are a few things I want to get for Ari and Mom and Grams and…”
Miles shrugged, accepting this while Carter rattled off a list of names they had to shop for.
Carter then said, “I also see they have deals on those Resident Evil 4 and Diablo III games you were after…”
Miles held up a forefinger and said, “To which I approve heartily!”
“Oh thank you.” Carter replied as he went for a drink of his coffee and Miles then took more direct notice.
“Give me some of that?” Miles then said, nodding his head toward the steaming cup of java, to which Carter playfully pulled the cup away from Miles’s “grabby hands” and he said, “No! You had your chance when we stopped at the store! You snooze, you…”
“Gimme!” Miles snatched the cup from out of Carter’s hand, but Carter did not even try to stop him. In fact, he wore a smile on his face and allowed it to happen. Under most circumstances, Carter would have bitten the hand of anyone who reached for his coffee – but this was Miles we were talking about! Plus, Carter had a sharp mind and came prepared. He reached down to the drink carrier on the pavement at his feet and removed another large coffee flavored to his tastes. Miles started to take a drink but instead did a comical double take.
“You had more this entire time and never told me!?” Miles said sharply, to which Carter countered, “You said you didn’t want any at the time so I didn’t think to!”
And before Carter could get even so much as a single sip, Miles had this one right out of his hand as well - even though he had yet to finish the first cup he had just confiscated! Carter just stared at him with bemused eyes, then reached down and instead of grabbing yet another drink, which would probably be taken anyway, he instead grabbed a white paper bag and removed a jelly filled donut.
Which was promptly snatched from out of his hands!
"Miles!" Carter laughed, to which Miles replied, "What donut?" With the tell-tale ring of powdered sugar and jelly around his lips. Carter huffed back a bark of laughter before leaning over to look at the elderly couple who were standing directly behind them in line.
“Do you see how he treats me?” Carter asked playfully, to which the old woman waved him off, saying, “My boyfriend treats me the same way!”
The old man looked at her through his own thick-rimmed specs and said aloud for everybody to hear, “You ain’t got no boyfriend you old bag!”
The old woman promptly swatted the old man in the arm with her beaded handbag, causing Miles to almost choke on his donut - giving Carter all the opening he needed to grab his own drink, the only remaining one that Miles had not confiscated for himself. Carter stole one more glance back at the comical old couple before looking up to his own loved one and he smiled, stating the obvious, “We always meet the most interesting people.”
Garnering a nod of agreement from Miles as he drained his cup.
***
Just about four hours later, there was a noise of movement from within the store, alerting everyone in line which had now grown considerably larger, stretching the length of the building. The movement from inside the doors caused a start from Carter who quickly jostled Miles who appeared to be dozing standing up!
“Miles…!”
“I’m not tired, you’re tired!” Miles called aloud, before he blinked the sleep away and saw what Carter was alerting him to! “Well it’s about…”
“Do you remember the plan?” Carter asked excitedly. To which Miles replied, “How could I forget?”
Carter and Miles, and for that matter, the entirety of the gathered crowd of holiday shoppers behind them, all readied themselves as the doors opened and the employee said, “Hi! Welc-!”
And the line surged forward! Carter jumped INTO the nearest shopping cart and Miles grabbed it and took off racing into the throng of furious bargain hunters!
We’d spare you the intricate details of this rabid shopping excursion. Suffice to say, if you live in the United States, you've heard of some of the horror stories about Black Friday ordeals. If you live outside and are unfamiliar, well just a handful of what happened in this particular Target….
A mother all but abandoning her kids at the entrance for not being able to keep up and ignoring all employees intercoming for her to get to the front of the store – all so that she could get her hands on a brand new Macbook…!
A man stole an ice cream maker out of the previously seen elderly woman's hands and made a run for it, prompting her husband to trip the offending shopper with his cane so he could easily retrieve the goods for his wife…!
Miles could have sworn he saw Despayre and Gabriel Stevens in the midst of some of the chaos, Despy baseball sliding under a group of brawling shoppers and snatching the last Looney Tunes BluRay from their grasp…!
Two ample sized women brawling over a lace bra that would have been too small to have even been used as a Band-Aid for them, let alone cover their… you know…!
But perhaps the most notable moment was just as Carter and Miles had gathered everything they Carter had set their his sights on - they detoured around the toy department to reach the end of the L-O-N-G checkout line when something bright and blue caught Carter’s attention. Carter made an excited squeal and he ran off down the aisle, prompting Miles to look on, “Babe…?”
There was a new Stitch plush toy on the market – and just the one left on the shelf! Carter just barely snatched it off the shelf when a football player-sized man snatched it from out of HIS hands!
“Hey, I had that first!” Carter yelled as he grabbed the man’s wrists to pry Stitch loose without damaging the plush toy!
“You little bitch…!” The hulking brute growled as he pulled away. “I don’t give a shit! I’M taking it so let - GO!” And the man’s superior strength won out as he practically threw Carter around and down, causing the young man to lose his balance and fall against the shelves!
The man sniffed triumphantly and turned to make his getaway – only to meet an angry, sleep deprived and VERY protective Miles used the shopping cart to shoulder check the man, sending HIM back and tripping over Carter! Stitch went flying into the air to which Miles caught him with one hand and with the other, reached down to gallantly assist his man to his feet.
“You were right!” Miles exclaimed, breathless. “This IS fun!”
Turnberry Towers
“So at least now I understand why you wanted me to come with you.” Miles said as the elevator door to their floor slid open with a soft chime, and the Brit stepped out into the hallway with his arms laden with shopping bags while Carter carried – exactly one bag and the keys to the condo. Miles muttered sourly, “To do all the heavy lifting.”
“Now that is simply not true, Miles.” Carter objected as he fished the keys to the condo from out of his jacket pocket. “And I am wounded that you would suggest such a thing. Wounded I say!”
“Mm hmmm!” Miles muttered, clearly not believing a word that Carter was saying. “It’s true!” Carter stated outright. As he turned the key to the deadbolt, he looked back over his shoulder to give his man a devilish grin, he added, “You also make one fine human battering ram!”
Miles made a face and then playfully stuck his tongue out at Carter, making the young man laugh merrily. He pushed the door open and stepped inside of their shared home – and almost dropped the bag he was carrying at the sight that was immediately set in front of his eyes, front and center in their living room. A shimmering seven foot tall Christmas tree - white in color and decorated in shades of blue lights, garland and baubles. But it was the tree topper and the random ornaments hanging from the artificial branches. They were all Stitch related. There was even a brand new plush Stitch stationed right under the lowest branch, ready for the taking and mandatory cuddling.
Carter just stared, caught completely off guard as to where this all came from when Miles set the bags down in the foyer and walked past his boyfriend, giving him a smug grin along the way, “You’re not the only one who can pull off a surprise!”
“Oliver Zahn…”
Carter winced, holding up a hand in mock surrender.
“Sorry, I know you have a preference for being referred to as OZ for some godforsaken reason, but we’ll get into that theory later. For now, I suppose since the holidays are upon us and I’ve had a pretty good past few days, I can play along. I imagine OZ is just your boyish acronym for your first and last name but I’d like to think better of you than that. I mean, indeed you are a graduate of the Jet City academy and as such, one would think you had a bit more of a creative output towards what you want others to call you; nicknames, ring names, you know… that lot. But just wanting to go by your initials but a word made out of your initials just…”
Carter cringed, then held up a finger and nodded.
“Yeah, exactly that. Cringe. Just like when we tune in on the monitors backstage to keep up to date on what’s happening both inside of the ring and backstage in interviews and such and Oli-OZ? What in the world has happened to you? You came into SCW with both guns a blazin’ as the old timers might say, and in the past few weeks you just started shooting nothing but blanks. I mean, first you and Eiley drop the tag team titles to a virtual brand new team, when you had been beating established teams left and right. Then after that you try and regain your footing and… well, how had that been going for you? You thought you could use Ari and myself as a means to an end to get the momentum back on your side for your rematch and, what happened again? Oh yeah, that’s right! Eiley tried to rob us and it backfired and we put one over on you instead. Now I’m not the biggest fan of how it happened but…”
He tucked his hands deep into his pockets and shrugged.
“Omelets and eggs, y’know? Then you went and challenged a team that you had beaten once before - Sam Marlowe and Ben Jordan. I guess since you thought you beat them once, it made them easy pickings to be beat again and looky at what happened! Now I know a few people have been accusing you of being the so-called **air quotes** ‘weak link’ of the team but more often than not, it looks to me more like Eiley is the one who’s been causing your team’s losses, even though your shoulders are the one getting put down to the canvas. And now you want to, what? Prove yourself to her and to the entire SCW Universe by using me as an example?”
Carter closes his eyes and waves a finger in the negative.
“No, no. For one, I am not going to be used by anyone without specifically asking to be - and two, your name isn’t Miles Kasey so the odds are nonexistent! I have been placed against bigger, badder and more experienced men than you Ollie, and I’ve won some and I’ve lost some but I have never been used as an example! Not by them, and certainly not by you! You see, I absolutely love going up against guys like you. Guys who are so full of themselves that they think they’re the greatest thing to hit the ring since turnbuckle pads! That means I get to stand there and watch their faces fall when they realize they’re flat on their back and my hand is being raised, leaving them wondering what the hell just happened! I like facing egocentric guys like yourself because I enjoy serving them a big slice of humble pie, and being the weekend after Thanksgiving, I couldn’t think of a more appropriate dessert! This time around, your greatest strength is going to become your greatest weakness. You rely so much on your speed and your aerial game to upend the guys you’re in the ring against but SURPRISE! This time you’re in there with a guy who can match your style and then some! This time you’re in the ring with a guy the same size as you, but who can compete in ways that you can’t! A guy who might be two years older than you but I also have a good four years experience edge against whatever it is that you bring to the table!”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’d take you a little more seriously OZ if you weren’t constantly being made a fool of by a group of grade school children seemingly on a weekly basis, backstage in front of the world. Maybe I’d take you more seriously if you weren’t calling yourself ‘the Miracle of Oz’ when Oz is either some make-believe land you reach somewhere over the rainbow, or some prison show that was the Hallmark of male genitalia being shown for all to see.”
“Take notes, Ollie. Whatever you think you’re going to accomplish against me this weekend, isn’t going to happen. This match is just going to be another loss on your record, only this time you won’t have Eiley to blame. Just you, yourself. We just passed a day in which we celebrate our thanks, and I am going to leave you with nothing to be thankful for!”
