2

                                    

                                          
Tuesday, August 1st
5:00 pm
Dinger and I shared his cigarette in the alley next to the corner store while we waited on Bobby and Joel to check out.
"What kind of music do you listen to?" I asked him. 
"I don't listen to much. You?"
"I like Prince and Guns N' Roses."
"Interesting choice..." He said. "I like Michael Jackson I guess. That's all I ever hear when I'm around Bobby."
"Really? I would've never guessed." I said sarcastically. 
"Personally, I'm more of a Jackson 5 fan." I said, motioning for him to hand me the cigarette. 
"So she's into the old stuff, interesting." He smirked. "That's alright, that's cool. Different, but cool." 
"Different is such an odd word, don't you think?" I said, giggling. 
"Wow, I didn't know a cig could fry your brain."
"Oh, shut up! Is it illegal to be observant in this town?"
"She's feisty." He smirked.
"Yeah, like a mountain lion." I laughed, "God, how long does it take them to get a pack of smokes?!" 
Bobby and Joel walked out. "We got them about 5 minutes ago, we just thought we'd give you guys a minute to get to know each other." Joel laughed. I punched him in the arm and rolled my eyes. 
"Did you get my Boros?" I reached my hand over my shoulder. I heard a paper bag rustle, and a box hit my hand. "Ah, beautiful. Anyone got a light?" I turned around and started walking backwards, taking a cig out of the box and putting it in between my lips. Dinger stopped walking to take a lighter out of his pocket. He held it up, and I leaned in to set the cigarette on fire. I took a drag, then blew the smoke up into the air. "Thanks." I said as we started moving again.
...
After walking for a few more minutes, we started to approach a diner. We walked in and took a seat. A woman gave us our menus. "Welcome to Patsy's burgers, what do you want to drink?" She sounded tired.
Bobby and Dinger ordered Pepsi, Joel ordered water, and I ordered lemonade. "Coming right up."
In the corner, I spotted a jukebox that was playing Elvis. "Anybody got a song request?" I asked, glancing over at the jukebox.
"Billie Jean." Bobby said.
"I should've known." I rolled my eyes. "Now move over." We were sitting in a booth, Joel and Dinger on one side, Me and Bobby on the other. He got up and I walked over to the box, taking 50¢ out of my pocket.
This place is 25¢ a song! Sweet.
I put my money in and picked Billie Jean. I sat back down as the waitress came up to us with our drinks.
"Do we know what we want to eat?"
"Yes ma'am," I said, "I'll have a cheeseburger with curly fries." After that, Bobby ordered the same, Dinger ordered a burger and a milkshake, and Joel ordered a hamburger and sweet potato fries. 
The waitress took our menus and left, then Joel started the conversation. 
"So Willow, tell us about your folks."
"I don't really like to talk about them." I said.
"Oh come on, how bad can they be?"
"She said she doesn't want to talk about it, Joel." Bobby said, sternly. I started to think about my parents and all of the mixed feelings I had towards them. No matter how much I hated them, they were my mom and dad. I just couldn't. I rubbed my hands together, fidgeting. I was starting to get anxious, but I swallowed it down. 
"Then at least tell us something about you."
"My name's Willow, I'm originally from Nashville, I moved to LA at age 8, I'm 17, and my favorite color is blue." I replied.
"See? Now we know about you." He said. 
"Tell me about you, Bobby." I said, trying to get the attention off of me. 
"I'm Bobby Keller, I'm 17, I'm from Cleveland Ohio, and my favorite color is blue. How about you, Dinger?" Dinger looked up and cleared his throat.
"Well, I'm Dinger, I'm 18, I'm from the big OH, born and raised," He held up his arm, almost in celebration, "and I like the color green." I laughed, but put my hand over my mouth. "What's so funny about green?" 
I looked him up and down, making him look down at his green jacket and green pants. "We noticed." I said, causing Bobby and Joel to laugh.
"Okay guys, We get it, We get it, calm down." Dinger said, trying to feel less embarrassed. The laughter was settled, and I spoke up.
"So Joel, tell us about you." I raised my eyebrows and smirked at him.
"I'm Joel, I'm 17, I'm from Cleveland, and I like gray." He took his flask out and tapped on it, as if to say this shade then put it back in his coat.