As the final bell rang, Artie twisted back to put some books in his bag that was hanging off his chair and then closed his locker. He turned around again to zip the bag up as he thought about how he was going to have the afternoon alone with Tina. He looked up however, and saw Tina getting approached by jocks.
He rolled over quickly as he saw one of them get so close to her that she squeezed against the wall.
"Hey now, don't pretend you weren't asking for it by wearing this outfit," Artie heard the guy say. Artie didn't care that he was entering a danger zone; he was now panicked and angry.
"Hey, don't talk to my girlfriend like that," he snapped. He lifted his fist to punch the guy in the arm, but the guy just grabbed his wrist and held it up.
"Oh, ho, so you two are going steady? Well, how perfect. Two freaks together. Have you fucked yet?"
"Stop it!" Artie cried, trying to wiggle his arm free.
The jock guy looked at him and then laughed along with his cronies. "Though I don't even think you can fuck, can you?"
"Probably better than you can," Artie muttered. Blinded by rage and slight embarrassment, he took his other arm and attempted to punch the guy in the lower abdomen. He did and the guy went umph and let go, but it ultimately wasn't very effective. "So watch where you're wagging that tiny thing and make sure it's not around my girl!" Artie added.
"The fuck?" the jock guy said in true Biff Tannen stupor. He took his own swing at Artie's face, causing Artie's chair to tip back a little and then come back down with a smack. Artie heard Tina shriek before he was out for the count. The jocks stared at the knocked out kid and at the floor where his split and broken glasses had landed.
"Dude," one of them said. "You just hit a crippled kid."
"Quick, let's run before someone catches us," the one who hit Artie said, looking around to see if anyone was near. They paid no attention to Tina as they sprinted down the hall. She yelled a number of obscenities after them and told them she was going to be sure they got in trouble for this.
"Artie? Artie, are you ok?"
It didn't take long to get Artie back. "Ugh, ow...what happened?"
"You just got punched in the face..." Tina said worriedly. "Do you remember? Should I call the ambulance or something?"
"Oh...oh yeah." Artie said, finally opening his eyes, which were a little bit bruised, especially the right one. "And no no. My face only stings a l-little." He gave Tina a little smile.
"Let's go to your house. I'll nurse you," Tina said, examining his face.
"We do have ice packs," Artie chuckled. "Thanks, girl. Do you happen to know where my glasses are, by the way?"
Tina gave him a sad look and held up her hands, one half of his glasses in each.
Artie sighed. "My parents are going to kill me when they get back. That's like, the third pair!" His brow furrowed but then he winced from pain. "No worries, I have the spare pair at home."
As Tina began pushing him away she looked down at her boyfriend and smiled. "Thanks for, you know, sticking up for me. It was kinda hot, not gonna lie."
"Really?" Artie said. His grin became mischievous. "Maybe I should do this more often..."
Tina smacked the back of his head gently. "NO!"
–
Tina drove them to Artie's house. They were soon cozy on his couch; Artie's head on Tina's lap, Tina placing an ice pack over his eye.
"Let's go to the diner down the street," Artie said randomly after an hour and a half of watching TV.
"What?" Tina rose an eyebrow.
"I'm hungry. And my parents wont be home for a while."
"I'm not sure you should be going out in public right now...you look like crap," Tina teased, but she was serious all the same.
"What, my battle scars don't make you hot and bothered?"
"Over course they do," Tina leaned down and kissed his forehead that wasn't covered by the ice pack. Artie's stomach growled then.
"Pleeeaasseee," he pleaded. "I got punched today. I deserve a burger and onion rings."
"Alright," Tina sighed and gave in. She removed the ice pack and helped him into his chair. "But don't blame me if something happens."
"Yes, dear." Artie said sarcastically. "Can you push me to my room first? I need to find my spare glasses."
–
After twenty minutes of trying to find Artie's spare glasses, which were bigger than his usual ones, they made it to the diner. It was empty except for the employees. Perfect. A woman came to greet them, and she didn't even try to hide her glance at Artie. Tina had to admit though, Artie did look kind of ridiculous.
"The tables are kind of high..." Tina commented awkwardly as they reached their table. They had one that was a curvy booth with a large cushioned seat. Tina guessed that the waitress picked it so Artie could sit on the other side of the table because there were no chairs in the way.
"Nah, it's fine. I'll just scoot myself on the cushions with you," Artie said, and he did just that.
"Well, ok..." Tina said, not at all bothered by the idea of cuddling with her boyfriend in the booth.
"Ha...'Buddy Holly Cheeseburger'," Artie chuckled, pointing to the item on the menu. "I think I'll get that."
"That's very cute."
Artie looked around as if making sure no one was around. He smiled like he had an idea. Tina eyed him suspiciously.
"What's with these homies dissing my girl? Why do they gotta front?" Artie began to sing fairly quietly.
"Artie..." Tina laughed.
"What did we ever do to these guys that made them so violent? Oooh ohh but ya know I'm yours, oooh oh and I know you're mine!"
He stopped abruptly as the waitress came back to get drinks and food orders. She raised her eyebrow at Artie again. Tina didn't know if it was because she heard him singing or because he wasn't sitting in his wheelchair. After she left he started again.
"Ooh wee ooo I look just like Buddy Holly," Artie adjusted his large glasses in a way that made Tina giggle and then touch his chin affectionately, "oh oh and you're Mary Tyler Moore!"
Tina decided to join in at this part. "I don't care what they say about us anyway, I don't care about that." At this point Artie was air-guitaring and Tina was pretending to drum. Artie took a break from the guitar and grabbed the salt shaker and pretended it was a mic.
"Don't you ever fear, I'm always there, I know that you need help. Your tongue is twisted, your eyes are slit, you need a guardian." The two of them sang the choruses again, forgetting where they were. Artie was starting to get a little crazy, adding in some headbanging.
"Bang! Bang! Knocking on the door. Another bang get down on the floor. Oh no what do we do? Don't look now but I've lost my shoe. I can't run and I can't kick. Wussa matta babe? Are you feeling sick?"
By the end of the song their volume had gone up significantly higher. When they finally finished they looked at each other, breathing heavily.
"Whoa," said a deep voice. Both the teenagers' heads snapped to the source and saw a man over by the bar that they didn't notice was there. They began blushing furiously and apologizing until the man put up a hand for them to stop.
"I was just going to say that was really good," the fairly large man laughed.
"Oh," Artie said smiling with relief. "Just, uh, getting frustration from the day out, I guess..." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Let me guess, a fight?"
"Yeah!" Artie said bewildered.
The man laughed again. "You've got quite a black eye there, son. I bet that smarts."
Artie blushed again as Tina teasingly patted him on the back. "Yeah. But Tina's been really awesome at making me feel better." He glanced at Tina. "I bet it'll be worse tomorrow," he groaned.
"Yeah...well," the guy said, looking like he wasn't really paying attention to what Artie said. After a beat, he looked back at them. "What do you guys say to performing here every once in a while for customers? We're trying some new ideas to get better business, and I think you guys would be good for it."
Artie and Tina looked at each other, stunned. "R-really?" Tina stuttered out of surprise.
"That would be awesome!" Artie threw in, excitedly.
"Glad to hear it," the man said, smiling. "My name is Johnny, by the way."
–
About a week later the two of them were back at Johnny's Diner, this time on a little stage area, with the rest of the Glee club as guests in the audience. Artie was on guitar and he was sure that even outside you could hear him jamming and Tina belting an actual Buddy Holly song as loud as she could.
"You say you're gonna leave me, but you know that's a lie 'cause that'll be the day that I die..."