Cleanup on Aisle 12 (Riley!)

[Janice Adams]

“Seriously bro, I don’t know why you can’t just shop in Pilot Ridge. What does this store have that the other one doesn’t?” Janice eyed her older brother with a grin, shaking her head as she grabbed a shopping cart. She didn’t say this out of any loyalty for the grocery stores of Pilot Ridge or anything, but mostly for convenience. Why would you go out of your way to get food when you could practically walk to the one in town? Besides, food was food. At least as far as Janice was concerned. She didn’t like to eat everything but she totally would.

She shook her head, “Anyways, we haven’t talked all week. I feel like I don’t even know you anymore.” She tossed her head dramatically before flashing a smirk at Riley, her blue eyes glittering, “It’s like we’re growing apart or something.” She snickered before abruptly dropping the act with breakneck speed. “But yeah. Since Josh got sick—along with like, three other people in the firm—I feel like I’ve gotten all the heavy lifting. Which is nice. I was about ready to go crazy. Maybe your friend should get infecte more often.” She nudged Riley with a grin.

“How are your friends, anyways? I haven’t seen them since the New Year’s Party. Josh excluded, but I see him at work all the time so that’s nothing new. How’s Stephen?” She made an exaggerated kissy face at her brother, grinning lopsidedly. She didn’t like Stephen as much as she liked Michael. And she couldn’t figure out if she was just being judgmental, or if she had a gut feeling. Either way, she would never ever actually say that to Riley, so she kept the bulk of her opinions to herself. All in all she thought Stephen was a nice enough guy. A little smarmy, and very full of himself but he liked Riley, which was what really mattered.

[Riley Adams]

Riley pocketed the keys to his truck before following behind Janice. "They have cheese that are not individually wrapped." He grinned as he maneuvered Janice to the first aisle he needed things from. "Besides, I like driving around. And you can't argue the fact that it's nice driving out of Pilot Ridge, baby girl."

Grabbing the tomato puree, Riley placed three small cans into the trolley and let his eyes roam along the aisles for ingredients to the baked pasta he would be making for their dinner. He turned when Janice went into her dramatics, to which he chuckled at. "I know! I've suddenly become so busy. Did I tell you I hired someone who looks just like Josh? And he makes models. Like tiny miniature things that are coloured and really detailed. I should let you meet him one day." Riley nodded with a grin.

Janice's shoulder bump made Riley snort. "Janice, why so mean?" He chided playfully before grinning at her question. "My friends are fine. Just had lunch with them the other day. Josh is recovering fast, thank goodness. I'm surprised he even got it the second time around." He shook his head.

"Stephen's fine. We should have dinner some time." Riley hid his wide smile behind a bottle of oregano leaves. "How about you? I don't mean to be the annoying big brother but aren't you settling down any time soon? At all?" he asked as he guided the trolley over to the next aisle.

[Janice Adams]

“You and your cheese.” Janice grinned, nudging Riley teasingly, “And if you were anybody but my big brother, I would brain you for calling me that. Just sayin’.” Of course, Riley already knew this. Because she mentioned it almost every time he called her “baby girl”, but she didn’t quite mind it. That was just Riley being a brother. “But yeah, getting out of Smallville is nice for a while.” She gave him a grin, “Hey, Smallville. It kind of fits, ‘cause of all the superhero business.” She knew that it wasn’t technically superhero business, but it was close enough to amuse her.

Idly, as Riley fetched the tomato puree, Janice pulled out a box of pudding mix and tossed it in the cart. Pudding was something Janice could handle and hey—she couldn’t have Riley do all the work! She eyed Riley teasingly, “You hired a dude who looks exactly like Josh? So why are you dating Stephen again?” She held up a hand to prevent any of Riley’s anticipated protests, “Kidding! I mean, he is kinda cute. In that… totally bewildered I-don’t-know-what’s-going-on-around-me way.” She snickered, “Sometimes I just wanna ruffle his hair, just to see what he’d do.” She laughed at the thought and tossed in a box of Lucky Charms. Tasty.

“But yeah, I’d like to meet this miniature builder. Gotta scope him out, you know.” She grinned impishly, “Gotta make sure he’s okay to hang with my brother, you know. What’s his name?”

“Because you got all the nice genes when you were born.” Janice retorted with a smirk. So maybe that was a little true. And maybe that bothered her a little bit. But either way, she was glad for it. “Good! Glad to know. Yeah, this flu is vicious. Thank goodness I didn’t get it.” That would have sucked.

“We should. I need to grill him again. You know. Sisterly stuff.” She winked cheekily at her brother. She snorted then, “Settle down? Bro, I’m just getting started. Besides, I like my freedom. I do what I want and stuff.” She eyed him fondly, “Besides, you were always the homebody. Not me.”

[Riley Adams]

"Hey, you like my cheeses as much as I do." Riley bumped into her with a grin. "And yes, I know that," he shook his head in amusement with regards to her 'braining' him. She had been threatening him with that since he started calling her that twenty or thirty years ago. The reference to the fictional town where Superman resided on Earh was met with laughter. "Oh Janey," he shook his head in amusement, resisting the urge to ruffle her already tousled hair.

Blushing slightly, though he honestly didn't know why, Riley looked at Janice with a little crease in the middle of his forehead. "I don't even..." He started but he never did finish his sentence. He didn't even reveal the fact that there were plenty of times he was overcome with the urge to ruffle Josh's hair just to see what would happen.

Siblings...

When Janice threw in the pudding mix, Riley narrowed his eyes a little but let it go but when she placed in a box of Lucky Charms, he tutted and took it out and replaced it with a box of plain cornflakes. "I'll get you some berries so it doesn't taste too bland." He promised. No, Riley was by no means a health freak but Lucky Charms was definitely where he drew the line.

Riley laughed at Janice's statement. "We're not hanging out. We're working together. And he's an amazing model maker." The older Adams sibling guided the cart over to the fresh food aisle. "Danny. Danny Silverman." He answered distractedly as he weighed the Japanese sweet potatoes against each other. Ripping a plastic bag, he filled it with a few nice looking sweet potatoes.

"I most certainly did not." He chuckled with an amused shake of the head, not knowing how the younger Adams felt. He would have felt bad if he knew. Really bad. "I think your immune system is scared of having me around taking care of you." Riley joked lightly. "So it stays active as much as possible."

"Janey!" Riley called out with a laugh. "You're too much!" His smile widened as he guided the cart over to the empty cheese deli. He picked out a few good ones and as they waited, Riley picked up the last of Janice's words, something that rang true. "Maybe...but it wouldn't hurt to sometimes be one yourself you know...stay grounded..?" He tilted his head a little to the side.

After getting his cheeses, he paid for them and went to the meat section. "What are you thinking? I'm thinking stir fried and then mixed into some rice. You still have some of the rice I bought the last time, don't you?"

[Janice Adams]

“It’s true. I do like cheese.” Janice grinned, “But you know me, I would be happy with Easy Mac. You’re clearly the fancy sibling as well.” She sauntered about a few steps to emphasize the fancy. “With your classy cheese.” She giggled, finding this conversation utterly ridiculous.

“Ah! I see that blush.” She laughed, elbowing her older brother none too gently, “I know, I know you don’t even. I would even. But you don’t even.” Which…probably made no sense, but whatever. “All I’m saying is that you get all… face-y whenever he comes about. Less now. Which is good, because I think he’d irritate you after a while.” Janice considered this, enjoying the fact that she could run about speculating on her brother’s love life again. He’d been hurting a long time after Michael, and it was such a relief to see him getting back on his feet in that department. “Also you’re weird about the smoking.” But not too much on that topic…

“Wha—hey!” Janice pouted, “That is so not the same.” She plucked the offending cereal out of the cart, “I’ll get Cheerios instead, brother-mom.” She snorted and grabbed a box of Honey-Nut Cheerios. “There. Heart healthy. And stuff.” She shrugged, not really caring how healthy the food was as long as it made her not hungry.

“Whatevs. You still end up hanging out with pretty much whoever you work with.” Janice observed, hooking her thumbs in the loop of her jeans waistband. She nodded, “Danny Silverman… interesting. I’ll look him up. Make sure he’s not a felon.” She grinned crookedly. Her work probably had the resources to do such investigations, but she’d never used it like that. She didn’t think her boss would appreciate that. Not that her brother had to know that…

“Pssh. It’s so true.” Janice laughed, “But yeah. My body knew that if it got sick, then I’d be fussed over. And that would be bad.” She grinned, “Also, I take care of myself. Though I am amused that those two dudes in your weird friend group both got it twice. Around the same time as each other.” She raised an eyebrow significantly, “I’m not saying. But I’m just saying. Are there things you’re not tellin’ me? Because if you get the flu next somehow despite your meta whatever, I am beating them both up with a baseball bat.” Janice was pretty sure she could take ‘em. Josh was a wimp and the little one just thought he was tough.

“Uhhh…” Janice squinted, trying to think if she did indeed have the rice from last time Riley came over, “I dunno. I don’t remember.” She flashed him a sheepish grin.

[Riley Adams]

"I am not! I'd be happy with Easy Mac too but you can't deny how much better things taste with a good block of cheese." Yes, Riley Adams, a fifty year old man was arguing with his forty year old sister about cheese. Glorious times.

He winced playfully at the ribbing he got from his younger sister as she started to blabber nonsensically, making him double over with laughter. "Face-y? I don't even know what that means." He giggled. "Josh wouldn't irritate me. He likes my cheeses." Riley pointed out with a bemused grin. Bringing up the smoking made Riley shrug. "I suppose that's true." He nodded withouth getting into it any further.

The nickname he procured from his little sister was a little apt, even in Riley's eyes. After their mom passed, though Janice refused to feel like she needed anyone, Riley had picked up the role naturally. The fact that Janice could even joke about it had been a good thing in Riley's eyes. Riley knew his sister's defense mechanisms. "Cheerios is good. But you need to eat things other than cereal, you know that right?"

"I guess that's true." The landscape artist smiled. Most of his friends were his colleagues. And clients. With the exception of Josh and Cobalt, and the extensions of Elaine and Stephen and everyone else. But really, because he was tied to his work, the people who worked with him were the ones he spends most of the time with anyway. "Janey! I'm sure Danny's not a felon." Janice can be so silly sometimes.

Riley gave Janice an affronted look but dropped it after only a second. He did fuss a lot. Only because he loved the people he fussed over. He laughed at the way Janice put her words, making him think that she thought there was something else going on between Josh and Cobalt. And him, if what she implied was anything to go by. "That is so inappropriate."

Shaking his head with an exasperatedly fond grin, Riley grabbed a small bag of rice and dumped it into the shopping cart. Looking over it, he recalled all he needed for the dish tonight and thought he had gotten everything. "Are you going to get anything else? If not we can pay for these and get some smoothies or pretzels before dinner."

[Janice Adams]

“Yeah true. I just wouldn’t be willing to drive anywhere to get cheese.” Janice grinned cheekily, “But that’s just me. I think I’m the sane sibling.”

Janice laughed with Riley, enjoying the sight of her brother happy. Did she care that they were cracking up loudly in the middle of the store? Why no she did not. She snickered, “Oh, you know! Like…face-y! All doe eyed and blushey and stuff. It’s enough to make any girl puke.” She snorted at Riley’s comment about the cheese, “Oh please. Your group of friends? They’d eat anything. I bet they do eat anything.” Janice, for all her ribbing, really did approve of Riley’s friends. If she didn’t, they would know about it. She just thought they were the dorkiest things she’d ever seen.

“Blasphemy.” Janice scoffed, “That’s what I have you for! And your leftovers.” She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. “Best brother ever~” She sang, giving him her best sweet-face. She didn’t actually need to ply him with compliments, but she liked to be grateful, even in jest.

“You don’t know that!” Janice laughed, “Danny could totally be a felon. And I do not let my brother hang with felons. Or hire them. Even though I’m pretty sure between me and Rina, we could sort it out.”

Janice winked cheerfully at Riley’s admonition. “That I am, big brother. That, and I like to be inappropriate about your friends. Can you imagine if I said that to them? Josh would probably explode. And the short guy might have like… eight aneurisms. All at once.” Her smile turned wicked. “…On second thought…” She let the sentence trail off meaningfully, enjoying the role of bratty little sister.

“I vote pretzels and smoothies.” Janice proclaimed, pushing the cart to the check-out line. “I also vote we go halfsies on this stuff.” Why yes. Janice did talk like a teenager.

[Riley Adams]

Riley simply looked at his baby sister with a smile, not saying anything.

"I most certainly do not!" Riley exclaimed, but his protest was betrayed by the sudden warmth in his cheeks spreading down to his neck. He was glad when Janice changed the subject and laughed. "I guess they would. They're pretty easy to please when it comes to food. Which is a good thing since I actually know how to cook."

A smile burst from his lips when Janice leaned against him. The look she gave him, for all it's jest, Riley knew had meaning and yes, he always fell for it. "You really ought to know how to cook yourself." Riley chided playfully but despite it all, he knew he would do anything for her even if she didn't ask.

"Well, Rina read him pretty well. Even she liked him so I'm pretty sure Danny's not a felon so no need to do a background check on him or something." The landscaper rolled his eyes in amusement.

Riley had to reign in the burst of laughter that he knew was about to come out of him at Janice's true statement. "Janey, his name is Cobalt. You ought to know that by now. It's already been half a year since you met him. It's so awkward hearing you call him the short guy, the tiny one, the small thing with the glasses...you're awful!" But Riley was laughing.

"Halfsies? No I'm paying. These stuff are mine anyways. You can pay for pretzels and smoothies." He bumped Janice lightly aside and took control of the cart. "Don't even!" He shook a reprimanding finger at her were she thinking of getting her wallet out.

[Janice Adams]

“You most certainly do…do!” Janice exclaimed back, pointing, “And I see that blush there, don’t lie.” She laughed, “I kid, bro. He’s not good enough for ya anyways.” Was anyone? Probably not. “Yeah for reals. Aren’t they as poor of cooks as I am? Bummer. You can just feed all of Pilot Ridge. It’ll be great.”

“I know, I know, I know.” Janice sighed, a grin still on her face, “But it’s such a hassle and I’m lazy and your food is way tastier than anything I could make anyways. Even if there is a lot of green stuff.” She made a face, “Not so big on the green stuff, man.” She nuzzled Riley’s shoulder briefly before straightening up, tucking her hair behind her ears.

“Oh, well, if Rina approves, then I guess he’s okay.” Janice conceded with a smile, “I trust her. She’s not a big pushover like you are.” She raised an eyebrow. If there was one thing she could impart to her brother, it would be the idea of standing up for himself more. Riley never shouted, never got offended, if he was upset, he usually got quiet and sad. People walked all over people like Riley and it made Janice so mad she couldn’t see straight. Because it wasn’t fair.

Janice waved a hand dismissively, “Eh. Hey, once he stops taking himself so seriously, I’ll start taking him seriously. It’s a good thing I know he’d do pretty much anything for you and Josh, or I’d be annoyed with him all the time.” She rolled her eyes.

“What? Bro…” She put her hands on her hips. Finally, she sighed, “Fiiiine.” She shook her finger back at him, “You don’t even. Dork.” She stuck her tongue out at him like the mature individual she was.

[Riley Adams]

Riley's cheeks ached from smiling and laughing too much but it was a small price to pay to hang out with his little sister. He was glad she wasn't tired of him, really. After twenty years of just the two of them, he would have thought she would flee from him. Then again, his food was rather irresistable.

He had the need to add that Josh was as good for anyone as any but it would just reinforce what Janice had said earlier and that was just not something he wanted to get into at the supermarket. He just laughed it off.

Ruffling Janice's hair lightly as she nuzzled his shoulder, Riley smiled softly at the affectionate nature his sister seemed to only portray whenever he was around. He was not complaining at all.

"I'm not that big of a pushover." He defended himself. Okay, to be fair, he did let other people have their way most of the time but he knew his limits too! "I've been feeding you vegetables." He said in a matter of fact tone of voice, thinking he made a valid point.

"You're annoyed with him all the time anyway." Riley laughed at Janice's aversion towards his dear friend Cobalt. He knew it was all out of jest and he let it slide.

Her sticking her tongue out made Riley laugh even more. He paid for the purchases and rolled down to his truck to dump all the things in the back seat. "Okay you, smoothies and pretzels come on." He slung an arm around his younger sister's shoulder, pulling her closer. Yes he was her brother and he was going to make her embarrassed about it.

[OOC: More ribbings or wrap? All up to you ^^]