The Curtis Sisters -Volume 1- Juniper

Chapter 2 - "Dream, dream, dream..."

Soda dropped his hand on the steering wheel of our old Dodge pickup truck and started tapping his thumb to the beat of the song he was blaring as we pulled out of the parking lot. The music was too loud but I didn't say as much. Instead, I looked out the window at the grey buildings and sidewalks as we passed them. I couldn't remember everything being so grey and dull before. It seemed like the world just used to be more colorful. Darry and the rest of our siblings were in the Ford coup behind us and I watched in the rearview as they turned off onto Hardwick Boulevard to head home without us.

"Jimmy said he'd let you off early tonight since you ain't been feelin' so well" Soda informed me loudly, still drumming his thumb on the wheel as he bobbed his head. He looked over at me for a response and I nodded slightly and gave him a small smile. It wasn't worth trying to talk. He'd never be able to hear me anyway. Still, he kept his eyes on me for a moment as though he were waiting for something and then sighed and returned his focus to the road. "Michael was asking for you" he tried again, this time turning the radio down so he could speak at a normal volume. "I think he really likes you." I nodded quietly and turned to the window again. He knew I didn't like Michael. I couldn't figure out why he kept pushing him on me.

A set of leafless grey trees passed by us, then a brownish grey telephone pole and some more grey buildings with dingey signs on top. My eyes searched for some color but even the blues and greens in the signs were too covered in dirt to be anything but dull.

"June" Soda sighed. "I think it would do you some good to go out on a date." I looked at him and scrunched my eyebrows slightly. "Nothing heavy" he asserted. "You know, just go out to dinner or let him take you to a movie or something" I imagined myself awkwardly sitting across the table from Michael, neither of us speaking, and my resolve to avoid this date solidified. "He seems like a decent guy" Soda continued. "And he makes his own money. Even tipped me for fixin' his Chevy the other day. He's the only customer I have who tips."

"I'll think about it" I lied. But I didn't have to lie. Soda always saw through me anyway. He sighed again and dropped his hand off the wheel and into his lap.

"Ok" he said defeatedly, hearing my real answer.

I was a few minutes early when Soda dropped me off at Maybell's for my shift. He raised a hand out the window and waved to some girls in the parking lot as I leaned forward, grabbing my bag and folding my uniform over my elbow.

"I'll call you" I said unnecessarily. I didn't need to say it. He knew by now that I'd call when I was ready to be picked up, but somehow it just made me feel better to have him affirm it anyway. It was sort of like testing the lifeline before jumping into the ocean.

"You know, you're making us all look real bad by showing up early all the time" my co-worker, Diane, teased as she strapped an apron around her waist and slid a pencil behind her ear. She checked her cleavage, then began stuffing the bottom of her breasts up higher so they'd peek out from the v of her checkered button up shirt.

"Nah, she's only been here a week" Courtney retorted with a friendly wink in my direction. "Give it some time. She'll hate it soon enough and then someone will have to drag her in here by her ear like the rest of us."

"Ain't that the truth" Diane added grimly. She raised a metal napkin dispenser and checked her bouncy blonde curls in the reflection, puckering her cherry red lips for added effect.

"Hey did Sodapop tell ya?" Courtney asked with an eyeful of disgust. "That creepoid was in here looking for you again, June. Went right up to Soda while he was eatin' breakfast with that pretty blonde girl of his..."

"Sandy" Diane inserted.

"Right, Sandy. Went right up to him and started asking about ya right in the middle of their meal. Asked Soda what shift you were workin' today. I wouldn't be surprised if he's in the dining room right now lookin' for you."