"Hey, look! It was her!" Called the short guy from before. Now that I saw him a bit closer up, I realized he was probably Italian. He was wearing a dingy white wife beater, with an old black suit jacket on top. It matched the worn black hat on top of his head.
"Yeah, over there!" Said another one of the guys, pointing. He was tall and pretty thin. He had nice hair and I hadn't noticed him very much before now.
The whole group walked up to me with huge grins. I began to panic a bit. "Oh my god... oh my god... what do I say?!" I thought. I stood up and moved over to them.
"Well look at that! If it isn't new girl coming to the rescue!" Exclaimed the tall muscley guy. His tone wasn't as mocking as it was flirtatious. I felt a light blush spreading across my face. He had noticed that I was new today? Wow... How cool...
I laughed and smiled at him. "Yeah, I suppose so!" Carroll walked right up to me. "But, seriously, thanks. You totally saved our asses." He said with a warm smile.
I laughed softly, nervously pulling a few strands of crimped brown hair behind my ear. "Oh no problem! So uhh... what did you guys do to piss him off?" I questioned, laughing again.
"Well, pansy Pedro over here couldn't handle his fumes," said the tall muscular guy, holding up the bottle of cleaning fluid, that I was now certain they had been huffing. "so genius over here runs over to the railing and barfs on old fatso's head!" He laughed, smacking the little Italian kid on the shoulder. The rest of the guys started laughing as well and, so did I.
"Oh god! Yeah, I wouldn't be too thrilled if Someone barfed on my head either!" I laughed.
"So, ahh, you got a name, new girl?" tough guy asked with a smirk. The rest of the boys snickered at that.
I giggled. "I'm Stephanie. Stephanie Ryder. I just moved here from Kansas to live with my grandmother."
"Nice." He said with a nod. "Ahh, cool." Said Carroll. The rest erupted with similar comments.
"So what's a little Kansas girl gonna do here in Manhattan?" The muscular guy asked again. "Well, it was boring there, and it's just as boring here..." I laughed.
They all laughed. "That's pretty accurate." Said the taller one.
"Although, you guys are all doing a pretty good job of keeping me entertained. " I chuckled.
"Guess we're actually worth somethin' after all, huh?" Laughed Pedro.
"So uh, what brings you down here to the docks, Stephanie?" Tough guy asked.
"Shit, Mickey! What is this?! Twenty questions?!" Carroll asked. "Leave her be for a while will ya?"
"jesus Jim! What's your problem?" Mickey said, becoming annoyed.
"So that's his name... Jim..." I thought, smiling softly.
"Boys! Boys! Chill out! I don't mind. This is the longest conversation I've had since I got here!" I said, still smiling.
They all nodded. "Now it's my turn. What exactly are all of your names?" Iasked, with a small laugh.
"Well, I'm Jim." He said, motioning to himself. "This is Mickey." He said, pointing to mr. tough guy. "That's Pedro." He said moving his arm towards the little Italian. "And here's Neutron." He finished, patting the tallest boy on the shoulder.
"Nice, nice." I nodded, smiling broadly.
"So, Stephanie, after you doin' anything later or?" Mickey asked.
"Uhm..." I stuttered.
Before I even had a chance to answer, Jim smacked Neutron hard on the shoulder.
"Shit, man! We've gotta go! Warm ups for the game will be starting soon and Swifty'll be pissed if we're late!" He exclaimed, anxiously.
"Dammit, you're right! We've gotta go!" Neutron added.
"Wait, where are you guys going?" I questioned, highly confused.
"We're playing a basketball name tonight." Jim answered her. "If you're not busy or anything, you can come if you want..." he added softly.
"You sure?" I asked, not wanting to intrude.
"Yeah it'll be fine! I'm sure Swifty won't care!" Mickey said.
"Okay, cool." I said with a smile, tightening my bag on my shoulder.
"Let's go people!" Neutron hollered, who was already half way down the street.
I giggled as I followed close behind them.
"This is so amazing..." I thought. "I'm actually getting a chance to know these guys... they seem pretty cool. I'll never be bored with them around. And I finally know his name. Jim. I like that name..."
