dance in the sun 〖 the outsiders 〗

the dreamboats

"Ladies and gentlemen, look who it is! The tough man, the troublemaker, the panty-soaker!" Jenkins walks into the shop with his usual eye-roll in response to the guys. As handsome as he was, he hated attention, says it makes him anxious, but the guys almost always do the opposite of what you ask of them. Out of courtesy, though, they only announce his arrival to a mostly empty store.

"What're you doin' here on a Thursday, gorgeous?" I ask, resting my head on the counter beside the register.

"I picked up Cass's shift."

Janice's muffled cheering from the back of the store earns a laugh from the rest of us and Jenkins makes his way back to clock in and drop off his jacket with a slight smile on his lips. I couldn't help but stare at the guy: as a human female with eyes and functioning hormones, I don't find it weird that I think he's a babe, it's just a fact that I willingly submit to.

"So when's Jade and her date goin' out?" Jenkins asks, emerging from the back and standing across from where Janice was restocking the records she'd picked up in the back.

"Later today. What time is it now? Twelve? God, it's only been two hours," I complain, pretending to pull out my hair.

"Marlena," I hear my sister sing, the bell on the front door ringing as it opened and closed.

"She-e-e-ery ba-a-by," Righty and I sung completely off-key compared to the song. Right then, Jenkins put the Four Seasons vinyl in the jukebox and it sang, just as loud as the two of us, Sherry. Yes, both of our names are Four Seasons songs; coincidence? Most likely.

"I'll never get used to you guys' weird greetings," she giggled, placing some food (a cold sub and some potato chips) on the counter beside where I rested my head on my hands. "Here's your change for a drink."

"Thank you." I stick the sandwich in the mini fridge in the counter and begin to eat the potato chips, not bothering to wait until my actual break. "Where's the dictator. Emphasis on the--"

"He didn't wanna come in."

"Didn't wanna be seen slummin' it around Lucky Star?" Jenkins correctly assumed, leaning against the shelf of records.

"Oh, it wasn't like that."

"You guys know he and his buddies can't be seen around here unless they're beating somebody up," Janice mumbled, biting her lip and not bothering to look up.

"Enough about that, Cherry, we've got a newbie," Lefty says, pointing to Paul who was talking to some guy about a record.

"That's cool. He looks nice." Cherry with my friends was a lot like me at home. She enjoyed my friends but she couldn't get them quite like I did: her personality just didn't go with theirs. It wasn't like I liked her friends either but we both did the same things to adapt because we love each other enough to try.

"So, Cherry, what's up with us?" Ronnie asks, wrapping his arm around her. I ignored the rest of the interaction of the smitten boy and his continuous rejector until Cherry finally warns that Bob would probably be worried and quickly makes her way out, saying bye to everyone, me last.

"Later, Cher."

"How many times is she gonna have to say no before you stop hittin' on her?" Jenkins asks as the door shut and Cherry was no longer in earshot.

"One-hundred and seventeen times exactly."

"Well, you've got one shot left."

Two hours later, it was two in the afternoon and nothing interesting had happened. I used two of my skips on songs Lefty chose, one by The Beach Boys and one by Metallica. They warned me that I'd be there until nine but I couldn't stand The Beach Boys and I could not listen to any more of the heavy metal crap. It's the one genre I didn't like.

In two more hours, at four o'clock, Paul left and Lisa came in. In an hour, Righty and Lefty would be off the clock and Preston would come in. I would have four hours left. I would regret taking Iona's shift at five o'clock.

At six, Iona finally came in. Lefty, who had her wallet, hid it in the stock room earlier around a bunch of other red stuff in case she'd tried checking back there. She'd been looking around for it checking everywhere in front of the store, neglecting the back.

"Lisa, look! You can see her boyfriend from here!" I whispered to my fellow self-proclaimed boy-crazy friend, staring out into the truck at the guy in the driver's seat.

"Some people would consider it creepy to find a couple girls starin' at 'im from the store window," Preston warned, nudging the two of us. He knew just how Lisa and I were but that never stopped him from teasing us. By now, it's understood that teasing is just a price of friendship and employment here. "Come on, get back to work. Red, you've got these forms to finish and you can't leave 'til they're done."

"I'll get it done, babe," I assured him, waving him off and going back to my previous position. "Let us enjoy the view."

"Sure is handsome for an uptight white boy," Lisa gushed.

"Iona, bring him in!" I begged, holding onto her hand before she could get to the back. I'd successfully distracted her long enough to make her forget what she was gonna go back there for and continued to beg.

"But, Red, we've gotta go."

"Jade, you've taken the time to bring your cats in to work but you can't bring your boyfriend?" Jenkins questions reminiscing on the time she'd been pressured by fellow lonely cat person, Lina, to bring in her two cats. "I'm startin' to think that you're embarrassed of us."

"Lennon, you know that's not it--"

"Guys! Guys! He's getting out of the car!" Lisa exclaims. Iona rolls her eyes and looks right at the pair everyone suspects; they've finally emerged from the back of the store, most likely because they'd heard Lisa's announcement.

He looked older than twenty-one and for a moment I wondered if they'd been to school together after all but I couldn't ID the guy so I took her word for it. He was very handsome and in a very mature way, like the friend of your uncle who you've always secretly pictured naked--or something of that sort. He must've noticed me eyeing him because he glanced at me but I looked down at the papers in front of me before I could see his reaction.

Naturally, questioning started but not before Jenkins's song of choice was blaring from the Jukebox. This one was Jump In The Line. We had no idea why but it didn't matter because the majority of us were into the song and also half into the man who'd occupied so much of our little Babbler's time.

Apparently, Jenkins's other job was with one of his brothers so they'd already been familiar and he wanted to skip the weird initiation that always seemed to go on here. Truth is, it was mostly accidental; we love meeting friends of friends and it goes overboard depending on the type of person. At Lucky Star, we have no filters, which is precisely why in the midst of a break for him, I couldn't help but blurt out how attractive he was.

"Well, thanks," he says, obviously unaware of what exactly to do or how to react.

"So you have brothers, huh?"

"Okay, that's enough. We're leaving and you two will learn to stop taking my stuff."

He chuckled and followed her towards the door. "I'm sorry if we made you uncomfortable," I apologize. "Just wait'll you meet her dad, though."

"Babs," Lisa called. She turned around and caught the red wallet much to the two boys' disliking. "Have fun!"

this chapter is literally all over the place but i think that also shows the essence of the store, they just kinda jump from one thing to another.
i am always changing stuff but i'd been thinking for a while that heather graham doesnt fit the role to me so i changed it to meryl streep in this & in stranger (obviously) & actually, meryl is closer in age to swayze anyway so it fits.
alright, uh
love you guys