Southside Boy

Summer of '95

Summer, 1995 (pt 1)
"Two cups of coffee, pancakes, eggs, and bacon on the side right?"
"Yes indeed"
"Alright I'll be back with the coffee in a minute" I say with a smile as I walk back to the counter.
I get the cups of coffee and bring them over to the table. As I set the cups down the bell rings, indicating that someone has just walked into the diner.
"Hey Siren" I don't even have to turn my head to know who just walked in. He's the only one that calls me that, and for who knows what reason, he's never told me why.
"Your food will be ready shortly" I say to the customers before turning around.
Sure enough it's him. Hair messy as usual, his leather jacket on, of course, the other member of his group are with him, they all stare at me. I walk past them and behind the counter. He says something to them that I can't make out, and then he locks eyes with me and walks to the counter slowly.
"Alice Smith" he says as he sits down.
"Fp Jones. What can I get for you?" I say pulling out my notepad and pen.
"A date"
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me Siren. You, me, together, tonight. A date"
"You're not serious" I say as I look back o my notepad avoiding eye contact with him.
"Oh baby I am serious" he says as he takes my hand in his. I look up and into his eyes. Bad move. His dark eyes, ones that I always get lost in no matter how hard I try not to.
"I-I um I don't know yet"
"Come on Siren you work so hard" he says as he runs his fingers up my arm, sending a chill down my body. "Take the night off. Trust me you'll have fun, we always have fun" he smirks.
"Well that's true but I don't know I work late tonight" I lied. I'm off in an hour, I just don't know if I can be with him tonight.
"Yeah sure- Hey Pop?" He yells
"Hey what are you doing? Stop!" I say as I hit his arm.
"Ah, Mr Jones, how can I help you" Pop comes out from the back.
"Mind telling me what time this lovely young lady is done her shift this evening?" He says as I cringe, knowing Pop is going to tell him the truth.
"She's off in an hour, but by the looks of it we're not busy and we have plenty of help so she can be done now" he says with a smile.
"Great, thanks" He turns to me with a sneaky smile. "I've always liked that man"
"Yeah well I'm not too fond of him right now" I say grumpily.
"So what do you say?"
"I'd have to go home and change"
"No problem, I'll drive you, let's go" he says pulling at my hand, not giving me a chance to object. I walk out from behind the diner with a sigh. He grabs my hand and walks over to the table his friends are at, pulling me with him. I try to get away, I never like talking to them. He stands at the end of the table, still holding onto my hand.
"Hey, I'll see you later" he says to them,
"What do you mean you're not staying?" Mustang says. Then he notices me cowering behind Fp. "Ah I get it now, been spending a lot of time with her Fp huh?" He says as he looks me up and down. I grab onto Fps arm tightly hoping he'll realize I want to get the hell out of here.
"How are you doing sweets?" Mustang says to me. I avoid any eye contact with him and don't answer. "Hello? I'm talking to you" he says snapping at me. Fp squeezes my hand tightly, knowing that Mustang isn't the most calm person ever and that I should just answer before he gets too angry. "I- I'm good. You?"
"I'm fine, thanks. You know Fp you can't keep skipping out on our little outings just so you can take your little girlfriend here on a date"
"She's not my girlfriend and it's not a date, we're just going out that's it"
"Mhm, what's the plans, what are you two up to tonight?"
"Haven't quite figured that out yet. Why you asking?"
"Just curious, wouldn't want Alice here to get into any more trouble than she already is"
"What the hell does that mean?" I say without thinking, and immediately regret.
"Oh look she speaks. Please honey you've lived here long enough to know what goes on. And you've been hanging around here with the Serpents long enough to know that you can get into some pretty messy situations, just watching out for your safety darling"
"Sure"
"What you don't believe me? You've done lots of stuff with FP haven't you? Lots of dangerous things, risky things" he stands up from his seat and I step back farther behind Fp. "And I'm assuming lots of other things as well huh darling?" He says as he puts his hand on my cheek.
"Fp can we please just go now?" I whisper to him
"What was that?"
"She needs to get home, her parents are waiting for her" Fp interrupts.
"Well, wouldn't want to disappoint mommy and daddy now would we?" I look at the ground not wanting to make any eye contact with him. "Until next time sweets" he says as he pinches my cheek. "And Fp, when you're through come back to the trailer park, we'll all be there"
"Got it" Fp says as he starts walking away. I follow wanting to get out of there as fast as I can. I open the door and storm out leaving Fp behind me.
"Hey what's wrong Siren?"
"You know exactly what's wrong! You know I hate talking to Mustang yet you drag me over there with you!"
"I didn't think he'd talk to you like that"
"Oh please he does it every time, this time at least was more tame than usual"
"Come on I'm sorry"
"Whatever let's just go"
"Fine" he says as he walks over to his truck. I get in and he starts the truck.
"So where are you taking me tonight?" I ask him
"I guess you'll find out now won't you" I smile a little. This should be interesting.