《︎𝘊𝘩𝘭𝘰𝘦'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝》︎
(Just an fyi I made up a friend for Chuck because I also can't remember most of their names lol.)
Rusty, Ariel, and I were waiting for everyone at the Diner. We were sat at the bar, I was eating cheese fries and Rusty was eating Frito pie. Whatever that is.
"So Rusty, do you think anything will happen with Willard?" Ariel asks. My eyebrows knit together.
"Huh?!" I ask in a very obnoxious tone. Rusty elbows me. "Sorry..." I whisper.
"I don't know. I think there is a chance but I'm not gonna get my hopes up." Rusty sighs. Ariel nods. She keeps looking back at the door behind us making me scoff.
"Good Lord, Ariel who are you waiting on?" My question gets answered when Chuck and his friends walk in. Ariel squeals are runs over to him to give him a kiss. I gag and Rusty rolls her eyes.
"You mean she is still with this loser?" I ask Rusty. She nods. Ariel runs back over to us, dragging Chuck and his gang behind her.
"You guys wanna go chill outside with us." She asks cheerfully. I turn around and examines the guys. They look like a group of Backstreet Boys rejects.
"Yeah no thanks." I spit before turning back around in my seat. My chair quickly get turned back around by one of Chuck's friends.
"Oh come on babe. Have some fun for once."
He grabbed my forearm. I glance down and see He has a tattoo of the name Ben. He must've gotten that so he won't forget his name.
"No thanks." I retort. Ben tightens his grip and tries to get me out of my seat.
"Come o-" he gets cut off by Woody.
"Hey man she said back off." He grabs Ben's shoulders and moves him back. Ariel, Chuck, and the others huff and go outside. I turn to Woody.
"Thanks dude." I fist bump him.
"You're welcome Clo. You let us know if they bother you again." I nod and Woody turns around and goes back to his girlfriend, Etta. I glance at Rusty who is now hugging Willard's neck. I smile to myself and turn back to my fries.
"McCormack!" Woody yells making my head snap up in his direction.
"How you doing, buddy?" Ren asks Woody.
"Good, man. You hungry?" Woody asks.
"Yeah. What's good here?" Ren looks up and makes eye contact with me. I immediately look back down at my food when I realized I was staring.
"We got nachos, hot dogs, hamburgers." Woody gets cut off by Rusty.
"Frito pie, all the way. And if you're a real man? You'll eat that jalapeño." She points at her plate. Willard and Ren reach in to grab a bite. Rusty elbows Willard in a teasing way. "Get your fingers out of my pie!"
Willard scoffs."What about that guy? You don't know where his finger's been." Rusty shakes her head. I laugh as I watch the boys scarf down the food. Ren drops a Jalapeño into his mouth and walks towards me.
"Sup Chloe, whatcha got there?" Ren asks.
I look up at him. "Cheese fries."
Ren nods."Ooo sounds good." Ren then steals one of my fries and stuffs it in his mouth.
My jaw drops at his actions. "How rude!" I squeal.
He laughs. "Oh I'm sorry, do you want it back?" I roll my eyes and elbow him in the side. I glance over and see Uncle Claude speed walking over to Woody.
"Woody! Check the door, man. Cop still here?"
He looks out the door and sees the cop get in his vehicle. "Five-O getting his move on."
"Finally. We've been waiting on him to leave for an hour." I sigh.
"What you got for me, Uncle Claude?" Woody asks leaning on the counter.
Claude leans down and grabs a cd. "David Banner. Bootleg. Don't get too krunk out there. First sign of the police, I'm gonna pull the plug. I don't wanna get a fine, and you don't wanna get another ticket."
Ren turns to Woody. "Wait. You got a ticket for dancing?" Woody looks down.
"He got two tickets for dancing. One more and he's off the team." Etta says. Ren shakes his head we all get up and head outside.
"No cops. Let's get it, come on!" Woody leads us outside to the back parking lot. An upbeat song starts to play and all of the boys and girls start to dance. Ren, Willard, Rusty, and I sit at Rusty's car.
"Wow they are really good." Ren says.
"Oh watch there's Woody." I say pointing in Woody's direction.
"Woody!" They all cheer. They form a dance circle. Two girls start dancing real intensely in the middle. I hear Chuck and his gang hooping and hollering beside us. I look over and see Ariel rolling her eyes.
"Now that's what I'm talkin' about. That's a beautiful thing!" Now it's my turn to roll my eyes.
"Does that turn you on? Girls acting like hussies?" Ariel asks.
I scoff loudly. "He likes you, doesn't he?" Willard and Ren bite their lips as they try not to laugh. Ariel rolls her eyes and hops off the truck.
Rusty turns to me. "Now was that necessary, Clover?"
"Oh go ahead. Defend the chick that's sleeping around with a bum." I huff and turn back to the dancers. Ren's jaw drops at the amount of talent these kids had been hiding from everybody.
Willard nods. "Yeah, dude. They... they get into it."
I can see in Ren's eyes that he wants to go out and bust a move. Etta does too apparently. She nudges me. "You should take him out there and dance with him."
"No way. I'm not about to get caught." I laugh.
"Suit yourself." She rolls her eyes before yelling at Ren. "Hey, you. Come on, let's dance." She drags him out to the dance floor. They're laughing and smiling real big. I haven't seen him smile like that the whole time I've known him. Which isn't long but still.
Ariel starts to dance like a hussie. She grips onto a mic stand and starts rolling her hips against it. Chuck gawks at her. I'm sure there's plenty of inappropriate thoughts going through his head.
"You know if Ren saw you dancing out there he'd fall for you like that." Willard snaps his fingers in front of my face.
Like I'd ever dance like that. I'm classy not trashy.
"You know I won't dance like that." I sigh and look back at the crowd.
"Why cause daddy said so?" He taunts.
"Shut it Willard." I spit. "I'm not dancing anymore. Period."
"But you love to do it.." He whispers. Rusty turns to him and grabs his arm. She tries to drag him out to the "dance floor."
"Come on!" She yells. He shakes his head.
"I'm good. I don't dance. You go have fun." I shake my head and drag Willard up there anyway so we can at least get a better look. Woody pulls Ren aside.
"Me and my boys are going to push everybody back." Woody takes off Ren's leather jacket and tosses it to me."Let me see you do that city boy thing."
Ren starts dancing and everyone has their eyes on him. He was good, like really good. He does a back flip off a dudes truck which sets off the alarm and ticks the guy off. I feel my heart racing when I look up and see him start making his way towards me. He starts dancing in front of me making me bite my tongue.
Ren scoffs. "Well aren't you gonna dance with me?"
I shrug."I can't dance, McCormack."
"Can't or won't?" He shakes his head.
"You're making a fool of yourself." I cross my arms, ignoring his remark.
"Look, I don't care how long it takes I'm gonna get you to dance with me." I shake my head trying to ignore him. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't dance. Ren grabs my arms and yanks me up. He tries to have a "dance off" but I wasn't having it. I laugh and shake my head. "What's wrong, can't keep up?"
"I don't dance!" I yell over the music.
"You liar." He smirks. Someone taps on his shoulder. I glance over and see Ariel dancing making me roll my eyes. He looks back at me. "Last chance, Jenkins."
In that moment all I heard was Bobby's voice booming in my head."Come on Clover, This is your last chance. We are ready to go!" And I remember why I don't dance.
I feel a pang in my head. "Maybe next time." I whisper before walking away towards Willard.
"What's wrong?" He asks putting and arm over my shoulders.
I shake my head as I fight back tears. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." I force a smile out.
I look out and see Ariel shaking her groove thing all over Ren. This makes my blood boil for some reason. She's clearly trying to make Chuck jealous or me.
Luckily Ren sees this and walks away making her throw a fit. "What, you can't keep up either?"
He turns around."You can put on a show for that guy. Doesn't mean I'm gonna." He spits before walking back over to us. Suddenly the intercom comes on and the music stops.
"Attention, attention. Ariel Moore, will you please come up to the front of the diner." Everyone gasps. "Your daddy is here for you."
I turn to see Shaw standing at the front. I quickly put Ren's jacket over my head to hide. If he sees me then he'll tell Roger and I'll never be allowed outside of the house again.
"She's busted. She's busted. She's busted!" I whisper to myself. I peek through the jacket.
"Show's over." Ariel says as she walks past us to her dad. He places his hands in his pockets and gives her a talking to. They leave almost immediately after.
Ren walks over to me and take the jacket off my head.
"Didn't know you were a coat rack?" He comments sarcastically. I shrug before handing him back his jacket.
"Daddy's gonna take her out to the woodshed." Willard comments.
Ren turns to him. "What the heck does that mean?"
"It means she's in deep sh!t." Willard says.
"Rusty, can I stay at your place?" I ask. Last thing I need is a possible lecture from Roger.
"Of course. In fact we should probably head out." She says.
I walk over to Ren."You should leave too."
"And why's that?" He asks. I glance behind him and see Chuck giving him the death stare.
I grab his shoulder and whisper, "Because Chuck looks like he is about to murder you right now." I pull away and wink. He nods and we all head home.