Fixer Upper

Random stared at the fully furnished trailer home that he'd purchased, sight unseen from the classifieds ad.  It was definitely a fixer upper...

The door squeaked when he opened the front door.  The pictures in the ad must've been over a decade old!  The garish 70s decor burned his eyes!

The wallpaper had seen many days, there was a lingering smell of cigarette smoke & it looked like some of the flooring had come up in various spots around the room. 

He shuffled down the hall and peeked in the master bedroom.  Wasn't too bad, he thought to himself, throwing his suitcase down on his new bed.

The last room on his tour led him to the small bathroom.  Oh man, that was going to need a full remodel!

The doorbell interrupted his inspection.  Saved by the bell!  He opened the door to find a honest-to-plumbbob Welcome Wagon. 

 

"Welcome to the hood," Jason Menon said, giving Random a fistbump and a bro handshake.  

"I hope we're not interrupting anything," Lyndsay Louie worried, looking pretty in pink.  Danielle Lillard gave him a chin tilt in greeting, sending off tough-girl vibes.

 

They were great.  Turns out they all lived nearby, so Random spent the afternoon getting to know some new friends. 

 

 

Even though the place was a huge eyesore and needed a major overhaul, it beat living in his parents house!  He could do whatever he wanted to do - even jump in the couch!

 

He hurried outside to greet the passerbyer.  Jumping on the couch was fun for only so long. Besides, he was hoping to meet some hotties!

Not a hottie.

Poor Ivy Copur, but apparently she didn't think Random was much of a catch either.

When who should happen to walk by - Goopy Gilscarbo.  Maybe he should be the challenge mascot! Good old Goopy!

 

Random was glad to interrupt Ivy for a moment to greet Goopy.  She didn't even notice, it seemed - still telling her story in the background.

 

 

Hold up... Lame Banner Alert! I thought it would automatically change with the seasons.  I was going to need help remembering what season I was in!  It's the 1st day of Fall and that is NOT a fall banner.

 

Wow, who knew his new bestie worked in the same career as him?

Get out of here! What a crazy random happenstance!

Random headed to work, pretty confident he'd be getting a promotion soon after hanging with his new gal pals.

The party raged on without him.  Random wasn't worried about locking the place up.  What would anyone possibly want to steal?

"Is your nose in it's own area code?" Jason needled poor Goopy. 

 

"Don't worry, we all love you Goopy," Danielle said in a rare softening of her tough-girl exterior.  What a sweetie!

 

Ka-ching! Random got a little bit of extra cash and knew exactly how he was going to spend it!

New radio for the jams.

 

And an awesome-sauce costume trunk.

 

"Who's ready to par-tay?" Random boomed into the phone.  "Get your ass over here!"

Nothing like a good-old fashioned Costume Party to celebrate the Fall season.  He especially liked Danielle's hot firefighter outfit.  It was hot enough to almost raise his lightening bolt to 1.

But the friends laughed, danced, and goofed around all night long.

Random jumped up on the couch and hollared "PARTY!" 

 

With one final bounce, he laughed and sprawled on the couch, falling soundly asleep.

 

 

Fall Banner. Boom.  

 

"Man, I need some money like it's not even funny," Random told Jason over the phone.  He was brokey-broke.

 

Thankfully, he had enough to pay his rent, but just barely.  

 

In an effort to earn a little more money, Random even considered taking some extra hours.  It felt like he was always working now!

Something has to give, he thought to himself when he got home and splashed his face with water.  

This whole adulting thing wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  He was supposed to be having the time of his life and living it up in style, not working all the time and coming home smelling like fried food.

He needed a break.