Disclaimer: Not mines, don't sue.
A/N: This fic is more of a response to, what I like to call, too much focus on the popular characters. At times it can feel like, and I'll admit I've even done it myself at times, the only Stand By Me characters who can hold a plotline in this fandom are Chris, Ace, and Eyeball (Though, how Eyeball ever got popular is a mystery worthy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). Everybody else are either vague background characters, ignored, or almost completely disregarded.
Now, I'm not saying that the above characters aren't interesting or don't deserved to be explored in fanfiction, but darn it, there are other characters in Stand By Me, you know? So this fic is an attempt to see if I can get some stories out of these guys. Let's see how long I can keep this going before the inevitable lack of interest/motivation kicks in!
"Vince? Vince, sweetie, wake up, it's time for breakfast!" A feminine voice called out from down the hallway from Vince's room.
Rubbing the sleep from his bloodshot eyes, Vince Desjardin let out a yawn and lifted his head shouting, "I'll be there in a minute, Ma." Vince rolled out of the bed and stood up, looking around his room to find a clean enough shirt to wear and some pants. He put them on and made his way to the kitchen, about to reach the opening of the hallway when his mother called out,
"Vince, did you remember to wash your face and hands?"
Vince stared at her stunned. "Uh…"
"Vince, do it, now." His mother said sternly. Vince just groaned and turned around, making his way to the bathroom.
"Jesus fuckin' Christ!" He muttered under his breath.
"Vince, language!" Roared his father.
"Sorry Pop." And with that said, Vince went into the bathroom to wash up. After half a minute, Vince came into the kitchen and sat down at the table, grabbing some pancakes, ham, and a glass of orange juice.
"So Vince, what did you do yesterday with your friends?" Asked Mrs. Desjardin; a rather skinny woman with brown hair, saggy tits, and green eyes.
"Nothing special." Vince simply said, shoving a piece of pancake into his mouth.
"Come on, Vince, tell your mother what happened yesterday." Said Mr. Desjardin, a burley looking man with dirty blond hair and brown eyes; Vince mostly takes after his dad.
"Tell me anything, I'll be satisfied with just one little thing." Mrs. Desjardin said in an encouraging voice. Vince sighed.
"Well, last night, Ace ran into a rival of his from the View and spent a good twenty minutes beating the sh - I mean, poo out of him. And when we were going out for drinks, we found we were short on cash, but Eyeball spotted his little brother and his friends and… let's say we all manage to 'persuade' them to give us their allowance so we could buy some drinks. Then Eyeball tried to get this chick's number, but struck out. And then Ace made some bets with…" Vince then pause his story when he noticed the crushed look on his mother's face. "Ma?"
"Vince, why do you always tell us stories about Ace Merrill and Eyeball Chambers and not what happened to you?" This always upset Mrs. Desjardin when her son would always recites tales of what his friends did and not what her son did.
"But you said anything would be fine."
"Answer your mother's question, Vince!" Mr. Desjardin demanded.
Vince simply shrugged, "I don't know. Whenever anything happens in the Cobras, it usually happens to Ace and Eyeball. We all just fade into the background. I guess we're just not as interesting as them."
Mrs. Desjardin shot up from the table. "What? That's just ridiculous, Vince! You're just as interesting as Junior's and Elton's boys, and that's final!" She then rubbed her hand down her son's back, giving him a half hug in the process.
"Come on son, isn't anything that specifically happen to you last night that you can tell us?" His father asked him, a microscopic pleading look in his eyes. Vince looked up at the ceiling, eyes flicking as if they were processing something.
"Actually, there was something that happened to me last night." Vince said, his parents perking up at this new information, "Billy's girlfriend had set me and Charlie up with her friends on a blind date and…."
"Are you guys sure about this?" Gloria asked her friends as they led her down the street. Of all places she could be on a Saturday night, this was the last place she wanted to be.
"Of course!" exclaimed Connie Palermo, "This guy is completely perfect for you."
"Yeah," said Gail, "When you see him, you'll completely understand why you guys would make the cutest couple!"
Gloria sighed. She really had no interest in boys or dating, and would rather much spend her time at home doing her homework and getting her GPA up so she can enroll into her dream college, but her friends insisted that she had to go on a blind date with some guy who she didn't even know. She wondered why she even hung out with these girls anyway. They had nothing in common with her.
"So what is this guy like?" asked Gloria. Connie hadn't told her much about her blind date other than he was one of her boyfriend's friends and that she was setting her friends up with 'Two sexy Cobras'. Great, a night spent with Hoods.
"Well..." trailed Connie, trying to think of something about the 'mystery man'. "He's really handsome!"
Gloria rolled her eyes. How typical. "Well, what does he do for a living?" Gloria asked, hoping to find out something that would be of use to her.
Well…" Connie trailed off, but Gail flailed her arms in dismiss.
"It doesn't matter, Connie done something very nice for us; I can't wait to see my date. I have a good feeling I know who our dates are."Gail shot her a wink. This did little to comfort Gloria.
Suddenly, the girls stopped in front of a restaurant. Each girl looked beautiful that night. Connie was dressed in blue, Gail was dressed in green, and Gloria was dressed in white.
"I wonder where he is," said Connie, sounding concerned. "We told them to be here at Seven..."
"Does this mean the date is off?" Gloria asked eagerly. She hoped so. She really wanted to go home and grab her school bag so she can get to the library before it closed.
"Of course not, silly," said Gail. "They'll show up, just be patient."
"Girls, look!" Connie pointed to the right. Gloria looked and saw a baby blue car rolling down the street before making an abrupt stop to the side. She could see three guys were inside it. There were two brunettes, one of whom she suspected was Billy, and one blond. Gloria froze when a thought crawled into her head.
Not those two; Anybody but those two. She thought to herself.
"Billy!" Connie exclaimed as her boyfriend step out of the car and hugged her, giving her a kiss on the temple.
"Hey Babe, sorry for being late, took forever get these ass wipes ready." Billy explained, "Anyway, here are your dates, ladies." Billy stretched his hand away to show his friends. The two other boys stepped out of the car, and Gloria could see it was actually two blond boys instead of one.
Gail's expression went from excitement to disappointment to frowning.
"Hey! You two aren't Ace Merrill and Eyeball Chambers!" she exclaimed angrily.
"What the… aw man!" Groaned Charlie Hogan, "Why does this always happen to us? Seriously, why do Ace and Eyeball always get the girls? There are other Cobras!"
"But… but…" the poor girl was rendered speechless. Gloria just gave her friend a sympathy pat on the shoulder.
"So, is the date still on? Cause I could be with the boys over in Chamberlain." Vince said, looking like he would rather be anywhere but here.
"Please, everyone, just one date?" begged Connie. "You don't ever have to go on another one ever again! Just this once, please!"
Gloria sighed and looked at Vince. He looked back with an equally annoyed expression on his face. Billy and Connie watched them with desperate, pleading expressions on their faces.
Gloria looked down, defeated. "Fine, I'll go on the stupid date," She muttered.
"Yeah, me too." Gail piped up, shooting Charlie a disgusted look. Both girls walked into the restaurant.
Connie sighed before looking at Vince and Charlie, "Sorry about the mix up boys."
"Don't be, I'm sure once we get a couple of beers in them, we'll be good to go." Vince said, he and Charlie high-fiving each other.
The date had been a disaster. Gloria and Vince had been in the restaurant for only ten minutes, and so far hadn't spoken a word to each other. It took all of Gloria's strength not to strangle Vince as he ate his meal and drink his beverage as loudly as he could, burping even for good measure. Charlie had tried to make some small talk with Gail, what she thought about this new show coming out next year called The Dick Van Dyke Show, and even the most menial of subjects such as the weather. But Gail would just ignore him and mutter about how she wished she was with Ace instead.
Eventually when they were done eating and when the waiter gave them their bills, Vince suddenly got into an argument with the waiter, almost getting into a fist fight with him, but Gloria cut in, paying for everyone meals (Well, Billy and Connie help paid too). And all six walked out the restaurant.
"Don't talk to me at school on Monday." Gloria told Connie as she made her way home, not even bothering to try to get a lift from the boys.