Paradise By The Dashboard Light! • DIU

Whatsername

lmao I wrote this shit when I was bored in class, I probably forgot some shit and some other things may be out of place but whatever i just want to publish this crap to see if y'all think it's good or not. Also, the book title song is peppy but I originally wrote the book to follow with Dangerous Blues by The Young Veins, so if the aesthetic is off, you know why.

Tuesday Night, April 20th, 1999

You sighed, putting away the last few pieces of clothing that fell to the ground during the day. The store was usually quiet, along with the almost deafening buzz of the fluorescent lights that seemed too yellow for your taste. It almost reminded you of this one picture you saw. Along with that, the once bright, and beige carpet was now a sort of nasty looking dull brown. It was pretty much inevitable from the soles of the dirty shoes belonging to people who had come in here without a care in the world. Sometimes there would even be gum, probably from several years back, and now black from being neglected since the employees were either too lazy to do it, or just didn't want to bother with removing it. It might as well have been fused with the carpet. Just like the employees who neglected giving the ground a deep cleaning, you just ignored it, and went on with your job. Now that you think of it, this place wouldn't seem so dreary, and dull had you worked here in the eighties, when it had originally opened up.

You finished hanging clothes up on the racks before moving onto the children's area where it was most chaotic. Part of you wished you had applied for the night shift, but you still have school to attend sadly. You bit your cheek, looking at all the half opened, and scattered toys all lying on the white tile. You looked around, hoping that someone else would do it instead of you, but alas, no one came. You let out a small 'good grief' before bending down to pick the toys. Trying to get home, you just threw everything at the back of the shelves before placing the remaining toys where they belonged at the front of the shelves. You did this to hide the mess of toys that hid in the very back of back the shelves. From afar, the toy aisle did actually look pretty neat. You gave a smirk, knowing that you would finally be free to go home.

Looking at your watch, noting that it had been 9:47pm, you shook your head in disapproval as you should've been home at nine. "Whatever.." You cursed as you hung up your apron, and clocked out, happy to get out of that hell hole. You were about to complete your task before the noise of something falling echoed loudly through the store. You shrugged your shoulders, you had already clocked out, so it was not your problem. You threw on your hoodie, and grabbed your school bag before making your way out the back door, happy to see your bike again. You were hoping to save up for a car once you got the money, but that might as well never happen because of how much you were paid. You walked over to your bike, sliding your headphones on, and turning on your Walkman.

The backdoor opened again to reveal a man with blond hair. He was another one of your coworkers, and you were slightly surprised to see him. He wasn't in the store that you know of when you were doing your duties, but maybe you were just too stupid to notice. You thought nothing of it as you tried to bike off before something had stopped you.

"(Y/N)." The man that came of the back door had called for you. You didn't socialize much, even less at work, so you couldn't for the life of you, remember his name.

You were about to scream into the heavens, obviously furious that you had another obstacle preventing you from getting home. Nonetheless, you took a brief second to regain you composure as you turned towards the voice. "Yes?" You say with a chipper voice, pretending that you didn't want to murder this man for stopping you.

"You left your house keys." He speaks with a deep tone. Finally realizing what he said, your hand instantly slams down to your back pocket. Your hand only met with your clothed bum as the fact that you were almost about to leave without your keys set in.

You kicked the stand for your bike, and got off your bike. "Thanks for reminding me." You say, walking over to receive you keys else you'd be locked out of your house again. You squinted at the name tag before making it out. "Yoshikage Kira," You look back up at him, your hair swinging slightly as you finished his name.

Yoshikage then stared at you for a bit. He squinted his eyes slightly, but stopped it as a small smile then came to his face as he looked down at you a little more. "It's no problem, (Y/N)." He said calmly as the keys then dropped into you open hand.

He turned to leave very quickly after that, causing you to nearly drop your keys. You caught it by the little cat keychain you had. You blushed a little, feeling embarrassed that he knew you had that now. You watched him get into his car before forgetting that you were watching him. His blue eyes met yours as he then drove out of the parking lot.

You stood like a deer stuck in headlights before shaking your head, regaining your thoughts. You weren't usually one to care, but part of you wondered how he knew your name if you didn't know his. 'Maybe he was just more observant than you,' You thought to yourself as you got back up on your bike, finally ready to go home.

As you started pedaling, you realized that Kira's car was nowhere to be seen. It had only been around a minute since he left, but maybe he just fast as fuck too. You put your headphones back on as you turned left to your house. Along the way, you tried so hard to resist losing your shit every time an absolute banger came on. Besides that, the way to the house wasn't too eventful since many people's curfews had already ended, leading to nearly empty streets, aside from the very few drunks, and wild teens that dared to stay outside. You felt kind of bad for them since you had heard about the recent murders. Even with that in mind, it was their fault they were screwing around outside, not yours.

A smile made its way to your face as your house then came into view. The house itself wasn't so much to look at. It was really average now that you thought of it. It had two stories, containing three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. A bedroom for you, and bedroom for the guest room, and a bedroom for your father. It had just been you, and your father for the last decade because your mother went looking for your brother, and never came back. You wanted to go with her at the time, but your father wouldn't let you. Now that you think of it, you haven't heard from her since you were eight. Part of you wondered if she was even alive.

The car in the driveway wasn't there, so your father had still been busy at work. This made your smile grow even more as you had the house to yourself tonight. You drove your bike into the driveway of your house, and then got off, walking the bike to the side of your house where it couldn't be seen.

Securing your bike, you walked to your door, pulling the keys the Kira man had given you. Looking down at your hand holding the keys, you thought about how he had found it. Had it fallen out of your pocket? You couldn't remember putting it there. Maybe you left it in your apron? Though it would be suspicious if he found it in your apron since he would have to look through it. Your body basically went into autopilot as your mind was occupied with figuring out how he had your keys. You entered the house, making sure to lock the door behind you.

You continued staring at the key before you thought about your school bag. Maybe it fell out of there? You cursed your awful memory as you thought of all these ways he could've found your keys. You made your way up the creaky stairs, not caring that you were currently the loudest person in the house. Also the only person in the house. The door to your room swung open as you pushed it aside. You threw your keys onto your bed as your arms slid out of your hoodie sleeves. You then continued undressing yourself, and got on your bed wear, which consisted of some short shorts, and a loose t-shirt. You look back at the keys on your bed before it slowly fell to the carpeted ground. Staring at it, you realized something. You had never actually put your keys in the door to unlock it.