in the captain's chair

Iowa was boring. It was really, really boring and it was starting to eat away at Jim's psyche. He felt like he'd done everything, seen everything, knew everyone and it was boring. He didn't know how much more stagnation he could take. The urge to do something, anything, was growing in his belly, hot and fierce and strong.

Jim kept ignoring it because he knew (he knew) what he might end up doing. He ignored it to drink and to date and to walk and drive and fight. But, it was still there. Still waiting and Jim knew he wasn't going to be able to ignore it for much longer before he gave in.

It was dark tonight, warm and sticky. Jim's feet were stretched out in front of him, dirt gathering on his boots. Inside, Frank was watching something loud on the television and his mother was off somewhere, doing her thing. It was just him and the vast openness in front of him.

He sighed and tapped the porch with his fingers, watching streaks of light brighten the night sky before it sunk back into its darkness. Those people were doing something. Something good, something new and something that wasn't sitting on a damn porch on a Thursday night.

God, he sucked.

[NFB but open for usual things]

Jim was sitting on the front porch of his mother's house, enjoying the sun and the warmth. For the first time in awhile, he had the house to himself. His mother was off on some mission and Frank was...well, he didn't care where Frank was. What counted was that he could sit outside with a cool glass of water and do nothing without hearing that he was a lazy screw up.

Of course, that didn't stop the thoughts from impeding on his calm. Thoughts that he was wasting his life, doing nothing, letting unrealized potential wilt and everything else. He made an unhappy sound when he couldn't stop thinking about it and sat up.

What good was having the house to yourself when you couldn't enjoy it? Jim got to his feet and dusted off his hands. His motorcycle was nearby and he decided to just take a ride on that. Get the wind in his hair and the sun on his face and get going fast to forget about everything.

Because that would surely work. Surely.

[NFB but open for calls/texts/everything else]

Jim hadn't realized something was weird on the island today. That was probably because he'd slept pretty much all day and then lazed around bed until...pretty much right now. He'd finally gotten himself out of bed and gotten himself dressed. He was thinking about going out, maybe seeing what was going on in town or maybe even finding a place to hang out on the mainland.

The night seemed way too young to waste by just hibernating in his room. He'd done that already anyway.

[Door and post are open]

Freaking Christopher Pike.

Jim had met the guy once ONCE and the guy would not stop being a thorn in Jim's side. He hadn't heard from the old man since Parent's Weekend so he thought maybe he'd just been forgotten. But no. Today, he'd gotten a letter written in neat script, just checking up on him. Apparently, Pike knew that graduation wasn't too far away and he didn't want Jim to forget about the offer he'd made oh so many months ago.

Jim hadn't forgotten. Jim wished he'd forgotten but he hadn't. It made him a little angry that Pike was apparently keeping tabs on him and knew enough to know that soon, Jim would be done with high school and on his own.

That was just a little too much parental oversight and after reading the letter, crumpling it up and throwing it away, he'd grabbed his jacket and headed off island. The bars were always better on the mainland. He could flirt and be a random person in the crowd. He could drink and probably pass out on a park bench or maybe find a good bar fight.

And freaking Pike wouldn't be able to find him here.

(Jim obviously didn't know Christopher Pike all that well).

[NFB but open, sure.]

Jim hadn't even realized Thanksgiving was this week until he'd looked at a calendar. The realization didn't really change anything, though. He wasn't going to go home (Thanksgiving with his stepfather? No thank you) and he wasn't planning on cooking any big meal as seemed to be tradition.

He'd probably go to the mainland or something, find a restaurant that was open, eat there, and then come home and watch football or something else mindless. It sounded kind of sad when he thought about it but he also didn't care at the moment. He'd celebrate any way he wanted to celebrate.

With no classes today, Jim had his earbuds in and his music loud. He was thumbing through a magazine while he stretched out on his bed. Getting up to be productive just wasn't alluring right now. Maybe later. In a few hours.

Awhile.

[Door and post are open. Mmm, sort of method RP though I'm playing Minecraft, not reading a magazine.]

Sometimes, Jim went out to bars to forget. Sometimes, he went out to bars to escape. Sometimes, he just went to bars to have fun. Tonight was the latter. There was nothing wrong save for the fact that Jim hadn't gone out and had a little fun in awhile.

( And there are words under this here cut! )

[NFB but open if someone happens to be at this random bar or wants to call him. I finally got around to doing this since I'd been saying it and saying it for so long. The icons needed to be used.]

Jim hadn't had any classes today so he'd gone into town and gotten a haircut. Nothing drastic but things had been getting too long and he didn't want floppy hair. So, haircut. And afterward, he'd stopped for lunch which he'd lugged back to the room.

The food got dropped on his desk and Jim pulled out his chair so he could take a seat and stretch his legs out. He scrolled through a few messages on his phone and even sent a few replies back to random people before he took his sandwich out of his bag so he could start eating.

Look, he was a growing boy and a growing boy needed food and it wasn't his fault the sandwich was messy and huge. He needed his strength for...manly things. Okay, whatever, it just tasted good and he'd wanted to see if he could finish the thing without getting it all over himself.

Sometimes, Jim wasn't the smartest but he'd be well fed.

[Door/post open]

Jim had come back to the dorms to pick up a few things and ended falling asleep. Apparently, he'd needed that nap but it'd still thrown him a little off his game. He was groggy and lethargic but awake at the moment. He rubbed his eyes and stretched before trying to remember what in the heck he'd come back to pick up.

Stupid nap had robbed him of his memory. He was sure he'd remember eventually so he just lay back down on the bed, eyes on the ceiling while he waited for the thought to return.

[Mostly for one person but open, if needed]

It was gonna be a quiet night. Jim had thought about going out but he'd been hit by a random case of melancholy that afternoon that had stretched into the evening. He knew why, he could definitely pinpoint the reason, but he was ignoring said reason and going on with his night as best he could.

Sure, he wasn't going to go out but he wasn't going to turn off the lights and hibernate either. He'd gotten some food, he'd turned on some music, he'd messed around with his phone and he'd ended up sitting at his desk, idly paging through a book.

Introspection wasn't something he did often and he didn't really like when it hit him. It meant admitting that sometimes things bothered him, that sometimes he missed people and that maybe everything wasn't always absolutely fantastic.

Whatever. He had food. He'd eat dinner, find something to drink and repress.

[Open door and post]

Jim only remembered flashes of his weekend but that didn't really bother him. Actually, nothing was bothering him right now. He'd been awesome over the weekend, he'd looked awesome and he felt awesome. He hadn't thought anything future related would be that good so he was just going to roll with it.

Even if his future had some kind of uniform waiting for him, he'd seemed to like it so it was fine. But, he was still young and attractive so the uniform didn't matter much right now.

What mattered was opening his window after getting back from class, flopping down on his bed, wriggling out of his shirt and sighing contentedly. He could be awesome while he was being lazy. It was a talent.

[Door cracked but the post is totally open! I just wanted to use the icon]

Jim still hadn't seen any sign of Jackson. He spared a few thoughts to hoping the guy wasn't dead in a ditch somewhere but he otherwise didn't care. It still meant he had the room to himself which was always fun. He didn't have any classes today so he'd gone out for a long run. The weather had been perfect for it, not too hot and not too cold.

He'd gotten back a few minutes ago and had gone about getting a shower and getting some pants on. His hair was still wet and his shirt was still on his bed because he hadn't put it on yet. Jim sat down on the edge of his bed and stretched his legs out.

He'd get to the shirt in a minute. Jim was just going to enjoy sitting down and resting for right now.

[Door & post are open]

Jim was almost sad to figure out whatever craziness had been in the phones yesterday had stopped. It'd been pretty fun to get some insane calls from people he'd probably never talked to about things he'd never talked to them about. He'd be saving those for times when he needed a laugh.

Tonight, he had his door open for no other reason than to see who might be around on a Saturday night. It was kind of sad he was around on a Saturday night but he figured one night in wouldn't kill him. Besides, sometimes the dorms could be entertaining.

Jim was sitting on his desk chair, legs stretched out in front of him and book open in one hand. It wasn't anything special but it passed the time until he thought of something better to do. He liked reading for pleasure, anyway.

Shh. Don't tell.

[Door & post are open]

The mainland hadn't been that exciting but Jim had managed to pick up lunch from a place he hadn't been before so that was one good thing. Other than that, it'd been pretty fruitless save for killing some time on a day off.

Jim dropped the bag of food and plucked up a small box of Jello he'd picked up on a lark. He hadn't ever seen Jello before, hadn't ever tried it but it bore a slight resemblance to some green mold he'd been given when he'd been in the hospital as a kid. He hadn't liked it then so why had he bought this now during his random trip into a grocery store?

He didn't know. Jim tossed the Jello box on the bed and slid his fingers through his hair. Whatever, he had Jello now. Maybe later he'd try to make it.

What an experiment that'd be.

[Door & post are open!]