arrested development

November 2041 - Abhijeet Turner is 32, Whitney Riley is 31, Keiran Riley is 7.

Since Whitney works until evening at the CIA, Abhijeet has been watching Keiran after school until his mom comes home. He never thought he'd be a father, but he loves spending time with his son.

Keiran loves to show his father his new skills. "Look, look!"

"Mom has a boyfriend," Keiran informs him. "His name is Thomas. She met him at work."

"Your mom mentioned him." But this is the first time he's been described as Whitney's boyfriend. "What's he like?"

Keiran shrugs. "I don't know. He's okay. He lives in the city near us, and he comes to see us a lot."

Keiran and his mom are very close, and he always runs outside to give her a hug as soon as the carpool drops her off.

"Thanks for watching him," Whitney says. "I hate leaving him with a babysitter."

"You don't have to thank me," he says. "I like spending time with my son." He pauses, then adds, "So you didn't mention that you're seeing someone."

She blushes a little, then says, "You never tell me if you're seeing someone."

"That's different. Our son has met this guy, I think I have a right to know who he is."

"Fine. His name is Thomas, and he's a CSI." She doesn't say anything else, whether it's serious, but Abhijeet knows it must be if she's introduced him to Keiran.

"Well I'm happy for you," he finally says.

"Thanks."

*****

Abhijeet actually does have a girlfriend, or rather several since he usually doesn't officially break up with them. Recently he's been seeing a woman named Claire who he met at his gallery. She's great, beautiful and fun, but it's nothing serious. He wouldn't dream of introducing her to his son, even though he knows she's more serious about him and has asked to meet him.

He hasn't been spending a lot of time on his love life recently. The gallery has really taken off, and he's hired two employees to handle the front room, freeing him to spend time making pottery.

He started dating Naenae a few years ago around the time he hired her. Luckily she's not the jealous type, and she's a great salesperson.

Amin sticks to working the cash register and restocking merchandise.

Nothing has changed much in the last few years. He's finally making a decent living from his art, just like he's always wanted. He has an awesome kid to spend time with, but he's still has a bachelor lifestyle filled with fun and girlfriends. But somewhere there's been a subtle shift. He lives in the same apartment that he moved into straight out of college, but now the recent college graduates annoy him, with their parties and messes and loud noises late at night.

His familiar Bubble Blower sits dusty and unused in a corner. Somehow, unexpectedly, he's started to grow up.

*****

Sorry about the break between posts; I'm TAing an undergraduate course this semester, and I've been swamped with end-of-the-semester hecticness. I've also been trying to decide what to do with my neighborhood to make it a little more interesting. I love these characters, but they're so happy that it's boring! I think I'm going to start including random events next round, and I've also set up a schedule to make sure I update all of the families periodically. I haven't updated Abhijeet in a while, and it was fun to write a story about him after such a long break.