The Allure of Her - Riff West Side Story -

s e v e n

A/N: 1000 VIEWS? tysm for reading, voting, commenting etc it's such a motivation boost, ly all.

Cordelia groaned as she felt a light urgent tapping on her shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut tighter to try block out the intruder.

"CORDELIA WAKE THE FUCK UP, WE HAVE WORK!" Florence's voice badgered at her who was buried in her covers, hands on her face to hide from the outside.

"Don't make me get the ice." Cordelia shot up in an instant, slightly opening her eyes to peer at the clock. 6:50am.

"The shift starts at 9..." Cordelia attested, sending her friend a frown with guilt-tripping eyes. Florence paused to allow Cordelia to recall what a 9am shift really symbolises and in an instant she scurried out of bed to slip on her uniform.

Florence lightly chuckled as Cordelia dived in and out of rooms, hunting for her hairbrush which is constantly misplaced, a victory cheer echoing as she found it on the top of the bookshelf.

"It's cold out, put a jacket on!" Florence suggestively yelled while unlocking the door, momentarily hearing Cordelia bolt towards her room and grab the first jacket she spotted.

Cordelia sprinted towards the door, taking a moment to compose herself and they both walked out, attempting to casually go down the stairs while rushing.

"New jacket?" Florence perused, glancing at the jacket with furrowed eyebrows.

"Not really your style." Florence added, turning her attention back up to Cordelia who was also inspecting the jacket, a small grin forming on her face.

"I think it's got potential." She simply replied, with a shrug, cuddling closer to the jacket as another breeze harshly whipped their faces.

"Potential?" Florence chortled, flippantly mocking her friends vocabulary.

"Potential."

Florence battered her eyes at Cordelia, drowned with confusion, lifting up her head to admire the streets in the early morning.

The sun illuminated the dull blue sky as it stretched upwards onto the canvas, as it elevated it casted rays onto the lifeless streets, bathing the domain in a soft orange. 

The golden glow highlighted the girls' frustrated face, both growing more disgruntled as their workplace reached their view. They could see the manager tapping his foot on the floor, buzzing with displeasure.

They looked at each other in unison with a scowl, this was going to be a tough day.

Riff strolled casually down the streets, his eyes glancing over market stalls, picking an apple off one and sauntered away. He twirled the apple in his hand and took a bite, scanning the area for trouble.

After failing at mixing mayhem for a rumble to walk a girl home, Riff placed himself in hot water, despite the Jets being unbothered he knew he had to get them eager to fight.

When Cordelia got out the gym in a hurry he just felt entranced, allured by her and instinctively having the need to follow after. He saluted to the jets as he began to stroll to her and Graziella wincing as she got pushed aside by a Puerto Rican dancer.

He heard the murmurs of someone's frustrated yelling and perked his head up, a smile sliding up his face as he walked towards a small clothes shop, squinting his eyes at the sign in recognition. Shrugging it aside he pulled the door open and slipped inside, tossing the apple to the side.

Cordelia anxiously stood, hugging her waist unadroitly as she raised her head to the infuriated man. She scanned the room for her manager, optimistically hopeful for him to interfere but was met with a wicked, taunting grin as he folded his arms, watching her from the other side of the room.

Despite the counter blocking the way, the man was leaning over, his eyes perilously narrowed, his fists bawled and spit beginning to drip down his chin.

Cordelia was unsure what the man was so frantic about, he simply trudged in and howled incomprehensible words.

Needless to say, the day hadn't gone well, as Cordelia and Florence entered the building the manager yammered about the time and fussed on the need for shorter skirts in order to sell products.

The man was now 3/4 across the counter, still angrily hissing at Cordelia; Florence had finally retreated from the back and returned to behind the counter, freezing in astonishment as she observed the scene, unsure of what to do.

The ringing of the doorway bell was drowned out by the merciless screeching, Cordelia fixated on her heels to try and settle the situation but it only seemed to make the man more hysterical.

The screaming abruptly stopped as a thump reverberated around the room, Cordelia hastily hiked up her head to meet with Riff's furrowed eyebrows and reassuring smile.

He had pulled on the man's collar, leading to him stumbling to the floor. Riff swiftly laid eyes on Cordelia's uneasy expression as he entered the shop and promptly 'sorted' the situation.

The man picked himself up, glaring around to locate the person that pulled his collar but widened his eyes as he recognised Riff. He opened his mouth but sharply closed it as he dashed out the door.

Riff watched him and shortly returned his attention to Cordelia, leaning his head on the wall with a charming smile.

"You like the zoo?" Cordelia inquired with a small smile, not completely sure of what she was doing.

"Don't think I've ever been to the zoo sober." He remarked with a wink and eyebrows raised, intrigued by the not so subtle question.

"How about we go tomorrow at 5....pm?" Cordelia paused and bit her lip nervously, looking down at her shoes, "Sober." she added lifting her head to look back at him.

He grinned in amusement and crossed his arms, "Well, sounds like a date." He began to stroll out, pausing as he was at the doorframe.

"Interesting jacket choice" and with that he walked out, blush quickly sprawling on Cordelia's face, and Florence staring dumbly at her friend who stared at her jacket and uncontrollably smiled.

A/N: sorry this took so long, I was struggling with thinking of some scenes, hope you enjoyed :)