Teen Idols And Happy Meals

Coco Puffs And Scotty Dogs

Nikki’s POV

“I’ll take my usual.”

I gave him an insolent look. “Get lost Scotty.”

“Oh come on,” he pouted, holding up a fifty between his fingers, “I know you have some.”

“I’m off the clock,” I informed him, wiping down the counter absently. There really was no point to the action; it simply made me feel like a badass bartender from the movies, as opposed to a boring fast food wench.

“You don’t look like you’re off the clock,” he said, gesturing grandly to my McDonalds uniform.

“Fine then,” I corrected myself, “I’m on a different clock. I don’t like to do business when I’m at work; I’ve told you that before. So unless you want to order fifty things off the dollar menu, I suggest you put your money away and get lost.”

“Oh come on Coco,” he continued pleading, using my most abhorred moniker. “You don’t have to be so uptight.”

All cool guys just had this uncanny way of making you feel like a jerk if you didn’t do what they asked.

“Oh don’t even try and pull that crap with me,” I warned. “I’m hip to your ways. You can’t manipulate me honey, you know that.”

He knew that. If he’d been able to manipulate me I’d probably have found myself looking for my panties in the backseat of his Chevy, and that had yet to occur.  He sighed, dejected. “Come on.”

“Listen closely Scott . . . No . . . means no. Not try again later. No. It just means no. You got that? Good.” I gestured grandly to the exit with my rag, “Now go, flee young grasshopper and spread this knowledge with the rest of your gender.”

“Alright, I get it, you’re not going to budge,” he relented, putting his money back in the pocket of his loose jeans. “Just please tell me you’re going to The Docks tonight.”

“I am,” I assured him.

“And you’ll have your stuff?” he asked, pitching his voice lower. I didn’t think it was necessary. If anybody was eavesdropping they would’ve already figured out what we were talking about by now, and if not, they never would.

I rolled my eyes. “Do you really have to ask? I mean that’s like asking Angelica if she’ll have Cynthia, or asking Spongebob if he’ll have his squarepants!”

Scott laughed.“When you’re at home do you just lie around and watch cartoons all day?” he asked, smiling indulgently.

“Well that and do homework till my fingers bleed,” I admitted, “But to be fair, sometimes I do both at the same time.”

Not that I was home all that often anymore though. Between school, rehearsal, and two jobs I hardly had time to take up knitting or anything.

He laughed again. “You’re such a weird little chick Coco Puff,” he said affectionately. He was the only person who ever called me that, for which I was eternally grateful. “Anyway, I gotta jet. Got some shit to do before the party tonight. I’ll see you there?”

He’d already asked me that but I decided to humor him. “I’ll see you there Scotty Dog,” I confirmed.

He beamed and that made me want to smile grandly, proud that I was able to make him smile like that. Normally, a girl like me, one with a plain face and too much ambition, would never even talk to a guy like Scott on a daily basis. He was the most popular guy in school, a football player lacking in the brains department but making up for in it hotness and personality, and I was a drama freak taking five APs. Our social circles shouldn’t have touched, yet I was fully ingrained into both social circles: the drama geeks and the populars both accepted me fully. It astounded most, but I knew fully why the in crowd accepted and craved my presence.