Idle Town [Stand By Me]

"Nice goin' Shelbs!"

So here we were, standing in front of these four boys.

"Hey, girls," one of the boys spoke up. He wore glasses and his ear was kinda fucked up. Okay, very fucked up. He pointed to the direction we came in. "The kitchen's that way," he laughed. Cherry scoffed.

"Yeah, it is," Cherry replied smirking. Then, she said something I'll never forget. "So maybe, you should get back in that kitchen and make me a sandwich. Bitch." All the boys' mouths hung open, and we couldn't help but giggle. Soon, the boys were laughing at Glasses. "C'mon, girls. Let's bounce." We kept walking. 

"Go off, Cherry." I mumbled, stifling a laugh.

"Well, somebody had to."

"Wait!" We turned back to a tan boy in a red shirt. I was sure his name was Gordie because Chris had introduced him to me. "Where you girls headed?"

"We're gonna find Ray Brower," Shelby announced. After she realized what she said, she gasped.

"Shelby!"

"Oh, come on!"

"Nice goin' Shelbs!"

"So are we," Gordie informed us.

"Yeah," Chris confirmed. "Hey, if we all worked together, we could probably find him faster."

"Yeah," Gordie agreed. "We'll have an inventory too."

"Yeah," Chris agreed.

"Yeah."

The girls and I looked around at each other. Cherry's eyes met my own and I shrugged.

"Sure," Cherry shrugged. "But only if Glasses over there promises not to be an ass - fuck." Glasses winced.

"I can't promise anything..." Chris punched the boy's shoulder. "Alright, alright."

"Say it," Cherry demanded.

"What?" Glasses scrunched his face up.

"I want you to promise that you won't be a misogynistic ass - fuck."

The boy sighed. "I promise I won't be a misogynistic ass - fuck."

"Great. Now we can get to the inventory." We sat down on the tracks next to them.

"Great," Glasses agreed, before leaning over to Gordie. "What's misogynistic?" He whispered.

"Strongly prejudiced against women," I spoke up. Glasses looked at me.

"Oh...Okay."

"I'll explain later." Gordie reassured him.

"By the way," Cherry started. "I'm Cherry, that's Dolores, that's Shelby and this," she looked at Chris. "This is Aspen."

"I'm Gordie," Gordie announced, not noticing the sudden tension. He pointed to the boy we call Glasses. "That's Teddy." Then, he pointed to a rather plump boy who looked at us as if he'd never seen a girl. "That's Vern, we call him Verno." He gave a small wave and a smile. Cherry and I politely smiled back. "And as you know, this is Chris."

Then we started the inventory. When Shelby was talking, she explained how she forgot her brush.

"I mean, I packed all these pillows and blankets and stuff, but I totally forgot my comb!" Her voice cracked on the word comb. "That's okay, though. I'll just use my fingers." She gave a closed mouth smile, brushing her fingers through her dirty - blonde hair. We all stared at her, not really knowing how to reply.

"I - I gotta comb," Verno informed her.

"You do?"

"Yeah," he took the comb out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she smiled shyly.

"Wait," Teddy started. "Did anyone bring any food?"

"Well, we actually brought food money," I told him.

"Yeah, almost $30 worth," Cherry added.

"Great."

We heard a train from the distance and decided to get off the tracks. Teddy was left standing on them by himself.

Chris looked at him. "What the hell are you doing, Teddy?"

"Train dodge."

"Train dodge?" Dolores's face lit up. "Sick!" She joined him on the tracks.

"No way you are doin' this Dolly." She ignored my comment.

"Hold my hand, baby girl. I got this." He took hold of her hand.

"No you don't! You're gonna get her killed!" Chris exclaimed.

The train was getting closer, and they weren't moving! Soon Chris and I had to drag them off the tracks. I pulled Dolores away from the boys.

She ruffled her short red hair, "I could've dodged, Aspen! That was a real bitch move," she breathed out.

"Hey," I also breathed out. "I was just looking out for you, okay?"

As I looked at her freckled face, I thought about what Teddy called her. Baby girl. I've seen her punch a guy for whistling at her, yet she just stood there, letting some guy she just met hold her hand and call her baby girl? Something about that didn't feel right. That's when I realized how people can change so much so fast.

...

Cherry has big dick energy don't @ me

~Sara