PLAY THE PART | mileven

nine

"wow." el silently breathed out when they walked into the roller disco together. the moment she stepped in, it felt like she went back in time — as if she was in the 80's.

the first thing she noticed was big skating rink that occupied most of the space, it was enormous and dozens of people were skating around. the whole place was illuminated in lilac lights but specifically the rink was littered with the reflection of the mirrorball on top.

there were a lot more people here than she had initially expected to see, it seemed like a popular place; especially for younger people who want to revive the vibes of the 80's.

"c'mon." mike tugged at her hand and snapped her out of her inspection. "let's get in."

without any protest she let him lead the way to the reception desk, it was right by the entrance and probably the only spot that still benefited from the natural daylight from outside.

dozens of roller skates were placed in shelfs and divided into different sizes, her eyes subtly looked over to check if her size was still available — it was.

none of the employees behind the desk were facing them as it seemed like they were busy discussing something.

there was especially one guy that seemed oddly familiar even with his head turned — it took her a couple seconds to realize that it was dustin.

mike cleared his throat loudly to catch his attention but it got drowned by the music blasting around. "hey, dude, can we get a booth?"

"dude, i'm not your 'dude' and can't you see that we're—" but just as he turned around, he saw that it was his best friend standing in front of him and suddenly the words he wanted to say earlier vanished. "oh, hey, lovebirds."

mike arched a brow but brushed it off nevertheless, "aren't we getting a booth?"

dustin waved his hand nonchalantly around. "obviously you are, i just thought you were some random other people. it's pretty stacked here today and i had to deal with enough fuckers not understanding that they need to book a booth before coming."

at first he thought having a part-time job somewhere this cool would be fun but the more time passes, the more he realizes that constantly working with people and serving them is exhausting as hell.

especially if there's someone who finds a way to complain over everything. like truly over everything — even the amount of sesame on their burger bread. yes, it actually happened and that day went down chaos.

pushing all other thoughts away, he looked between the two and noticed their interlaced hands. he grinned at them while pointing his finger towards it. "i see you both really made up."

mike loudly groaned. "did lucas tell you?"

"no?" he said out in an obvious tone before he slowly shook his head to himself. "okay, maybe he did but i would've already noticed by your distress that day."

mike muttered something under his breath in response that el couldn't understand over the volume — but whatever it was, she had to bite a grin back.

dustin turned towards her afterwards and pointed his finger at her. "if he ever does some stupid shit again just tell me and i'll spill every single embarrassing thing about him — or maybe send you some of his most embarrassing pictures. i have one where he—"

"—alright, enough." he cut the golden haired boy with a roll of his eyes off. "give us the roller skates already."

he raised his hands in surrender, winking at el quickly before he turned around and asked them for their sizes to pick the right ones out.