fast car | STEVE HARRINGTON [2]

6. silver lining

"It's girls that like other girls," Max tried to explain, while Sunny was staring at the strange girl in curiosity. Eleven was peculiar, no doubt - she possessed a quiet intelligence that suggested she wasn't dumb but a naivety that left her wondering if the girl had ever been outside.

"Well I like you, am I lesbian?" Eleven reeled in bafflement, darting her eyes back and forth between everyone for an explanation.

"No not just like," Sunny intervened, attempting to try her hand at explaining. "It's like... like like."

"Like?"

"Like."

"Oh my god, stop saying like," Ringo deadpanned, shoving a handful of M&Ms into her agape mouth as she stood to change the next track before any dead air could occur. "Jessica, explain to the girl what the heck you are."

"The way that you feel about Mike, is the way I feel about girls," Jessica offered, hoping that it would sink into her somehow. It was too late into the night to delve into the intricacies of sexuality just yet.

"Oh," she simply replied, nodding a little to show that she was beginning to grasp what was happening. Max and Nancy smiled with pity at the girl, knowing well that she would get the chance to catch up to society eventually. But with not attending school and spending all of her time with Mike, her circumstances were only delaying that progress.

Ringo trailed back to their circle of beanbags and throw pillows as Blondie's One Way or Another began to sound in the background, fighting the urge to fall asleep against the comfortable cushions. Her erratic sleep schedule would never be something she'd grow accustomed to.

"Boy trouble," Sunny tsked, finally speaking more regularly now that she was becoming comfortable with the approximate group. "Can't relate."

"There isn't anyone that's caught your eye since you came here?" Max raised an eyebrow knowingly, leaning onto one elbow nearest to Ringo and taking a pretzel being offered to her by the same blonde.

"Are you kidding? There's no one in this town worth looking at. I'm saving myself for Harrison Ford."

"He's a little old for you isn't he?" Ringo pointed out, smirking with amusement.

"And you're too old to still have your mom wash your underwear, but that's your business," Sunny fired back, causing Eleven and Max to dissolve into a fit of giggles and the recipient of her comment to roll her eyes.

"I can't wait until Dustin comes back, at least someone around here kisses my ass."

✵

The next day had proved to be one of the worst Ringo had suffered since the beginning of the year. Waking up with a killer migraine was bad enough, but Charlie had seemed to wake up on the wrong side of the pervert bed that morning, and was more unforgiving than ever before with his advances on his young employee.

Knowing his co-worker was at breaking point, Ben gently tapped the blonde on her shoulder to get her to turn around from the shelves she was currently panic-stocking. Once she saw that it was only Ben, she visibly relaxed and forced a small smile out of politeness.

"I know you're having a horrible day," he began, offering up the tub of ice-cream he was holding that she hadn't noticed, "so I drove to Scoops on my lunch break and asked your boyfriend what your favourite ice-cream flavour was."

"Ben," Ringo whined, eyes threatening to tear up by his kind and genuine gesture. As horrible as working at Charlie's was, forming a friendship with Ben Waters was proving to be a true silver lining. "You're literally my favourite person, I hope you know that."