Stan huffs, taking it the same way. What do you know, one thing Stan's sure he can trust to mean just what it sounds like. Ma was just... Ma. That's all. She had moods. She had a big imagination, just like she always said Stanley did. She just liked games, that's all, and wanted you to play along. Stan had always been good at it.
"Come on, you know I only lie when money's on the line." It's one of those things you just say, it's a throwaway line just to have something to fill the talk in with. It's one of those things Stan just says, until he remembers that Ford ain't just any old guy who's known him for more than five minutes, Ford knew him before. Before a lot of things, apparently, because Stan realizes only after he says it that it wasn't always true, not for the guy he was when Ford knew him. The guy who came home and sat at the dinner table thinkin' about nothing more than the best way to crack his brother up by drawin' dicks in the mashed potatoes, that guy didn't give so much of a shit about money, did he? Not unless he was down in the shop tryin' to take care of some suckers for dad, talkin' some young couple into thinkin' their fancy family heirloom was worth less than half of what they wanted to get for it, something like that. If Stan ever spends too long in the same place everyone figures out that money's what really gets his motor running, everyone figures that out eventually. With people who know him kinda' well, it even turns into kind of a joke. The one in-joke that, in a really weird moment - maybe even profoundly weird - Stanley realizes that his twin brother, the guy who knows the most about him out of anyone in the entire world, might not get.
And there's a post-script on this profound moment of weird, one where Stan realizes he's not sure he wants Ford to get it. He doesn't want to give Ford time to think about it.
"You were never all that good at that 'fake it 'till you make it' stuff, though," and it might be kind of a distraction but he wants to say it too, means it so much his voice is heavy with it, with wanting to believe that what Ford said about nothing taking him away from Stan is a promise Ford isn't gonna' back out of. And maybe that awkward little headbutt thing Ford just did, that warm, fond move that made Stan feel all warm too, all warm and fuzzy and scared and all that stupid shit, maybe just the weird angle there means Ford wants Stan to move so he can give Stan a real slug on the arm or something but Stan don't move yet, he doesn't really mean to let go until the very last second, when he's absolutely got to back out or things will start to get weird. Things ain't there yet, are they? Stan can stretch it a little, he thinks. He's pretty sure he can stretch it. The grip he's got on the back of Ford's clothes doesn't loosen for a second. "So maybe you really, uh- So maybe we're really gonna' do this, huh? The Kings of New Jersey, back for just one more grand reunion show?"
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"Come on, you know I only lie when money's on the line." It's one of those things you just say, it's a throwaway line just to have something to fill the talk in with. It's one of those things Stan just says, until he remembers that Ford ain't just any old guy who's known him for more than five minutes, Ford knew him before. Before a lot of things, apparently, because Stan realizes only after he says it that it wasn't always true, not for the guy he was when Ford knew him. The guy who came home and sat at the dinner table thinkin' about nothing more than the best way to crack his brother up by drawin' dicks in the mashed potatoes, that guy didn't give so much of a shit about money, did he? Not unless he was down in the shop tryin' to take care of some suckers for dad, talkin' some young couple into thinkin' their fancy family heirloom was worth less than half of what they wanted to get for it, something like that. If Stan ever spends too long in the same place everyone figures out that money's what really gets his motor running, everyone figures that out eventually. With people who know him kinda' well, it even turns into kind of a joke. The one in-joke that, in a really weird moment - maybe even profoundly weird - Stanley realizes that his twin brother, the guy who knows the most about him out of anyone in the entire world, might not get.
And there's a post-script on this profound moment of weird, one where Stan realizes he's not sure he wants Ford to get it. He doesn't want to give Ford time to think about it.
"You were never all that good at that 'fake it 'till you make it' stuff, though," and it might be kind of a distraction but he wants to say it too, means it so much his voice is heavy with it, with wanting to believe that what Ford said about nothing taking him away from Stan is a promise Ford isn't gonna' back out of. And maybe that awkward little headbutt thing Ford just did, that warm, fond move that made Stan feel all warm too, all warm and fuzzy and scared and all that stupid shit, maybe just the weird angle there means Ford wants Stan to move so he can give Stan a real slug on the arm or something but Stan don't move yet, he doesn't really mean to let go until the very last second, when he's absolutely got to back out or things will start to get weird. Things ain't there yet, are they? Stan can stretch it a little, he thinks. He's pretty sure he can stretch it. The grip he's got on the back of Ford's clothes doesn't loosen for a second. "So maybe you really, uh- So maybe we're really gonna' do this, huh? The Kings of New Jersey, back for just one more grand reunion show?"