Tiny Dancer

Chapter One: Applications and First Meetings

Milly went back to reading her book and watched the timer on her clothes, about 10 minutes left until the dryer when a 'thud' startled her from her focus.

"And what about you lovely, you got any soap to spare?"

The man was definitely drunk, his teeth sharp-looking a little yellow like his skin, eyes shadowed and sunken and he smelled of men's musk. She nodded mutely and handed him the box of soap out of her clothes bin, swallowing thickly as he looked her dead in the eyes.

"Thanks, gorgeous, I love Tide."

Milly felt her nose furl as he spoke, something odd racing down her spine as she went back to her book and he went to the washer across from her. She kept her eyes glued to the vellum-y paper, but she couldn't seem to move from the paragraph she had been on since he came in, so she opted for watching him patch his sleeve. He looked a bit older than her with jeans, thick boots, and a tattered v-neck on, not hiding the fact that he had a bit of a rounder yet toned frame. His black hair feathered out around his face, a bit stuck together in places from the grease that slicked his hair. His hands were large and his nails well-kept, much to Milly's surprise as the rest of his seemed to be rather ill-kempt. What she thought were bags under his dark eyes may not have been for all she knew. She snickered and slid off the washer as it sounded off at her, telling her to swap machines. Milly marked her book and opened the washer, transferring her clothes from one to the other with the feeling that she was being watched rather intently. She dared not look up, however, for fear of her suspicions being correct, but for some godforsaken reason she did. Her eyes locked with his as she cranked the timer on the dryer up, turning quickly back around and biting her lip, hearing him chuckle under his thick breath. Milly wasn't a girl to be played with, and she didn't feel good about this at all as she walked up to the front counter.

"Bern, Bern come here, does this guy give you the willies like he does me?"

The older man nodded and whispered back to her,

"He really does Mill, and I hate the way he keeps eyeing you up like dessert or something, you packing tonight?"

She pulled up her shirt over her hip and showed him the small pistol on her waist.

"Only always."

"Good girl."

"Do you know this guy?"

Mr. Hone shrugged and looked back at him.

"He looks somewhat familiar, but I can't pull it out of my head."

"I don't know him from Adam and he's really freaking me out."

Mr. Hone pointed and stuttered as Milly turned to see the said man, grimy hands all over her book as he stood at his own washer, reading the book. She gritted her teeth and walked slowly back over, holding a hand out at arm's length for her book.

"Give that back, please."

He looked at her and eyed her up and down before handing it to her, holding tight to it as she pulled it from his fingers.

"You study art then?"

Milly groaned inwardly and nodded at him, trying to speak to him as little as possible, dusting the book off and tucking it back into her bag. He leaned against his machine and blew a puff of air out of his foul mouth as he watched her, holding out her soap box to her. Milly took it without looking at him once, scared again to look at him, lest she look too long. She rued that her clothes took so long to dry and she rubbed her eyes tiredly, watching them turn rhythmically as he continued talking in a slurred tone.

"You study anything else at your fancy uni, Americana?"

"Yeah, I'm a music major, my minor is in art."

His face fell a bit and his eyes seemed to clear out some.

"Really, music major? Then you sing or play, yeah?"

Milly noticed this change and straightened up a bit, nodding at him slowly.

"Both actually, I play an electric guitar and I've never not been singing, really."

"You any good?"

She giggled uncharacteristically and coughed to cover the end of it,

"I guess so, I compose and help make music for the department and they haven't turned me out yet."

He laughed and nodded, scribbling something on a piece of paper and handing it to her.

"Can't really believe I'm giving you this, but if you ever wanna talk music or come and collab or something, ring me."

She looked at it and slipped it in her book, nodding and pushing the hair behind her ear.

"That may be a while if I'm being honest, I just got a, um, new job."

"Oh, well, when you can then."

Milly jumped slightly as the dryer went off, unloading her clothes into the bin again and nodded at him as she headed for the door, stopping when he called to her.

"I didn't get your name, mine's Mur- well, you can call me Murdy."

She decided to be cold for once as she smiled sugary at him, a smile spreading on his own.

"And I didn't give it, have a nice night."

His eyes widened as she fast-walked to her car, giving a rushed goodbye to the store owner, quickly packing the clothes back in and starting the car before pulling out of her parking place. Milly let out a breath she had been holding as she sped back to campus; why was he so interested in her studies, why did she have to be there then, who on Earth was he? She pulled back into the garage and hung her tag back up, hauling the clothes up the stairs and into her room. Joanna was sitting on the edge of her bed, an older rock vinyl playing on her turntable as she swayed with the music.

"Welcome back sweets, clothes cleaning go well?"

Milly nodded and set the bin down beside their dresser, taking her shoes and pants off and taking the number out of her book, a small note written on the back.

"Hey stranger, would really love to meet up sometime and hear you sing for me, M."

She shook her head and held the note in her hand, fully prepared to crumple it up, but found herself unable to finish the movement. Instead, she slipped it back into her book and put her book in the drawer of her desk. She laid down to the soft rock song and closed her eyes, pulling the covers over her and trying to get the man at the cleaners out of her head. Murdy. She didn't need this week, she thought as she fell asleep.