Disclaimer: I don't own Orphan Black or the 60s time period. The only thing I own is the mistakes...and a couple S.E. Hinton books which may or may not have given my inspiration to right this.
November 1965
Beth walked into the bar, taking a seat at the counter, "I'll have a beer." The guy behind the counter looked up from the glasses he was cleaning. "Like hell you will." Beth groaned, "Aww c'mon Paul. Just one?" He grabbed a bottle of coke from under the bar and handed it to her. "That's all you can get. And it'll cost you." Beth shot him a smile, flashing her full set of perfect, pearly teeth, "Just add it to my tab."
She spun around in her stool, glancing at the people shooting pool in the back. "Anybody I can take?" she asked, turning back to face Paul. He was back to cleaning glasses and spent a good two minutes drying all of them before aknowledging what she had said. "Them over there. They're not that good," he nodded in the direction of two older guys in the back.
Beth hopped down from the stool, leaving the unopened coke on the counter. She walked over to the pool table, watching as the two guys finished up their game. "Do you need something?" the taller one asked. Beth grabbed a stick that was propped up against the wall, "Can I get in on the game?"
The guys looked at each other and laughed. "Listen kiddo," the tall one started, "We ain't playing around here." Beth dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out a dollar, "I'm not either." The short one nudged the other in the rib and gave him a pointed look. He huffed and turned to Beth, "Ignore him. We'll play singles."He took out his own dollar and slapped it down on top of hers.
The game started off slowly, and Beth purposefuly made stupid mistakes so she lost. "Play again?" she asked, pulling out another dollar.
They played on for another hour or so, Beth consistently getting better with each game. When they finally stopped, she had twenty-five dollars. More than she had made in a while.
She sauntered over to Paul and hopped back onto her stool. "How much do I owe you?" He shook his head at the sight of the cash in her hand, "Five."
Beth handed him the money and grabbed her coke, hooking the top onto the counter and pushing down on the bottle. The cap popped off and Beth took a long drink. Paul grabbed himself a beer, taking the cap off the same way she had.
They sat together in silence. Drinking and watching the people who passed by. As it got late, the sunlight filtering through the window dimmed, leaving the two in a sort of almost darkness.
Beth finished up her coke and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket. "Got a light?" Paul pulled a box of matches from under the bar. He lit one and both of them watched the dancing flame for a few seconds before Beth lit her cigarette. She took a long drag, letting it fill her lungs completely, holding in the smoke as long as she could before letting it out in one long sigh.
Paul shook his head, "Why do kids smoke so damn much?"
"I'm not a kid. I'll be sixteen soon…why don't you smoke? You're twenty for God's sake."
"Because it makes your lungs shit. And I don't want to die because they gave out as I was running from somebody with a gun."
Beth sighed, "I ever tell you that you think wierd?" She took another drag of the cigarette.
"I ever tell you to start dressing more like a girl and less like me?"
"I'm gonna ignore you, O.K.?" She hopped up and started pacing around, cigarette tucked firmly between her middle and pointer fingers. "You know what you need Paul? You need a jukebox. Liven the place up a bit." Beth looked around the room. Everything was either brown, black, or white; save for the pool balls and the labels on the bottles behind the counter.
Pauled frowned, "What for? I got my radio. Besides, they don't come cheap. How am I supposed to afford one?"
"Leave that to me."
"No way Childs. I'm not havin no stolen property in here. I already got enough strikes on my record."
"C'mon Paul I ain't gonna steal it. I'm an honest person," she grinned.
"Yeah sure. Honest as a fucking weasel," he chuckled. "Look Childs, I already told you I got my radio. I don't need nothing else."
"Paul that radio is a peice of junk. It barely picks up any stations."
"You mean it was a peice of junk. And then I fixed it."
"No, I mean you fixed it and now it a piece of shit."
Paul shot her a dirty look, "Watch it Childs. I could ban you from this bar if I wanted."
"And you need to find a sense of humor. Girls like that in a guy! ….Not that you're lacking in girls falling at your feet…." Beth laughed, "Speaking of, who are you going out with this week? And who are you cheating on her with?"
"Okay that's it. Out," he glared at her, "Don't come back until Friday."
Beth groaned, "Aw c'mon Paulie." She giggled at the nickname, "Can I at least get my beer before I leave?"
Paul grabbed his beer cap and flicked it at Beth's head. She ducked and frowned at him. "Alright, alright. I'm going. And don't expect me to come back. You've lost your best friend forever." She pushed the door open and stepped outside, smiling as she heard him holler that he had plenty of other friends and a week wasn't forever.
The wind bit into her skin as she walked down the streets, chilling her to the bone. She pulled her leather jacket tighter around herself, happy that she had decided to wear jeans today. Her footsteps were silent on the pavement, black converse seeming to barely touch the ground before coming back up again.
Beth reached her house in a matter of minutes, putting out her cigarette before she stepped inside. The leather jacket was placed on the back of a chair, shoes near the door. A small candle flickered to life, bathing the one room house in a soft golden glow.
The room was small, with a mattress pushed up against the wall, a table with no chairs in the middle of the room, a refrigerator sitting awkwardly next to it, and piles of books laying everywhere.
She placed the money she had hustled under her pillow and began hunting through the cabinets for something to eat, surprisingly coming up with an almost empty box of crackers and half a bag of M&M's. After finishing up the food, she grabbed one of the books laying on the floor and read until the candle finally went out.
A/N: First off, this is gonna be soccercop. Second, this is my first Orphan Black chapter fic so please, please, please review. And tell me if I should post this on tumblr because I want to, but I'm afraid that it's not very good. Shitty or not, I hope you enjoyed what you read and I apologize for any and all mistakes