A/N Well I'm almost finished watching Dobie Gillis and so I decided to try to write something for it. This is probably in around the first season (so Dobie's still blond). This probably won't be too long, just a few chapters, but if I don't update feel free to hound me about it. And if you want to see any characters in this, y'all can let me know and I'll try to include them.
So, without further ado, I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these fools.
Dobie sat at the counter in the malt shop, kicking his legs aimlessly as he sucked down his strawberry soda. As usual, he had lost another girl. Her name was Eloise Quincy, and she was so beautiful, so dreamy. She had bobbed blonde hair, and brown eyes. Her cheeks were dotted with freckles and her forehead came up to his nose, which in his mind was the perfect height for a girl to be. She had the most darling figure and his hi-y pin looked lovely pinned to the collar of her blouses.
And despite the smile that often graced her features, she couldn't have given him a bigger scowl when he told her that he couldn't afford to take her dancing on the Peabody Roof. The same money she had scoffed at was now being wasted on ice cream sodas. He had spent the afternoon in Charley Wong's ice cream parlor, buying sodas and lazing around, wanting to push off going home as long as he could. Right as he came through the door, his mother would ask him how his date went, and he didn't really want to tell her. And worse than that was that when he walked in, his dad would be minding the store, listening as he recounted the miserable events to his mother. His dad was the one who gave Dobie the money to take Eloise dancing, and he didn't want him to hear about how the girl turned her nose up at the three dollars. The emotion that his dad most often was expressed was anger, but he knew that his dad felt inadequate sometimes and like he wasn't fit to provide for the small Gillis family, and he didn't want to give his dad any cause for stress.
The bell above the door rang and he looked up, seeing it was his friend Maynard G. Krebs. The boy in the shabby sweatshirt caught sight of Dobie and walked over. "Like hi, good buddy," he said cheerily. Dobie looked up at him blankly. He felt full of sorrow and loneliness, but at the same time he hated to be interrupted in his sulking. "Oh," Maynard said, nodding in understanding. "Did Eloise go quitsville on you?"
"How'd you guess?" Dobie asked glumly, supporting his head in his hands.
Maynard slid into the seat across from him. "Well, I've never seen you like drink so many sodas before."
Dobie looked up. He hadn't realized it, but four glasses were sitting around him, and there was the half finished strawberry soda in front of him. Three dollars sure could go a long way.
"Hey," Maynard said looking bashful. "Are you gonna like finish that?"
Dobie exhaled through his nose and allowed himself to smile. That was Maynard for sure. "Sure, Maynard," he answered, and slid the soda across the table to his friend.
"Like thanks," Maynard said and started to drink from the straw, imitating Dobie's pose and resting his chin on his hand.
"Like you're welcome," the teenager answered. As he watched Maynard swirling the soda around the glass with the red and white striped straw he felt his mouth tugging up to a grin. While he loved girls- loved their bright smiles and soft hair and lovely figures- but he couldn't deny that it would be nice to spend the day with his buddy.
"Hey, Dobe, what's on your mind?" Maynard asked. The question came out muffled by the straw in his friend's mouth, but the blond was able to get the gist of it.
"What do you mean?" Dobie asked back.
"Well you got that weird look on your face that you get when you're like thinking," he pointed out.
"Yeah, I have been thinking," Dobie said. "Well since I went steady with Eloise, we haven't spent too much time together. Do you want to hang out today?"
Dobie couldn't believe the smile that spread over his friend's face. "You mean it, good buddy?" Maynard asked excitedly, grinning wider than the Cheshire Cat. "You really do?"
"Sure, you're my best buddy after all. Anything you want to do! Where you go, I go." As soon as Dobie said it, he felt as if he had made a mistake.
"Like anything?" he asked, and his friend nodded. "Anything…" Maynard pondered this, his tongue poking out of his mouth as he thought. "Well, The Monster that Devoured Cleveland's playing."
Dobie sighed. "When isn't it playing? Come on, Maynard, you've gotta have seen that movie a million times by now. Choose something else."
"Okay, Dobe." He paused for a minute before he spoke again, "Hey, Dobe?"
"Yeah?"
"Cleveland must be an awful place to live," Maynard told his friend, a dead serious look on his face.
"Maynard!" Dobie exclaimed, exasperated. He looked across the table at the concerned look on Maynard's face, as if imagining all those poor people being devoured by a monster time and time again, and he felt his slight frustration vanish. "Yeah, Maynard, must be. Now do you have any other ideas?"
"Well, they're like lifting the drawbridge tonight because these big old ships are coming through! Like the ones you see in movies!" Maynard chattered excitedly.
"Like in The Monster that Devoured Cleveland?"
"No, silly! The monster like ate all those boats," his friend answered, giving him a deadpan look.
"Fine, fine," Dobie said and laughed. "To the drawbridge it is. What time are the ships coming in?"
"Five. That's in almost an hour!" The clock read 3:00, but Dobie knew that Maynard had never been good with numbers, so he let it slide.
"Well, what do you want to do until then?"
"I don't know, good buddy. What do you wanna like do?"
"I don't know. What do-" Dobie cut himself off, not wanting to start up that unending cycle. "Want a sundae?"
"Come on, Dobe. You know it's only Saturday!"
"Ice cream, Maynard! I mean ice cream!" Dobie cried out, and several of the kids sitting in booths turned to look at them. The blond blushed and sank down in his seat.
"Oh, ice cream," Maynard said and smiled, unaware of the strange glances being tossed their way. "Like sure."
Dobie called Charley over and ordered two strawberry wonton sundaes. Dobie waited at the counter for the sundaes while Maynard spun around in his seat and then, sufficiently dizzy, stumbled over to the piano and began to play a loud jazz tune. The group gathered around the piano slowly dispersed, heading off to their own booths, but a few remained, appreciative of the musical change. The blond watched his friend, smiling a bit. Charley set down the two bowls on the counter with a soft clunk and Dobie turned back. "Thanks, Charley," he said and handed him enough money to cover the cost of both sundaes.
"If you really want to thank me, you'll get him out of here before he drives any more customers out," Charley answered, gesturing to Maynard.
Dobie nodded, noticing how the crowd that usually gathered around the piano had vanished. "I see what you mean. I'll see what I can do." He picked up the two bowls and carried them over to his friend. Maynard didn't look up as Dobie came over, so engrossed in the music was he, so it took a hard poke in the shoulder for him to snap out of his focus.
"Like, hi. How'd you like it?" Maynard asked as he shut the piano lid and picked up his sundae.
"Like, wow, Maynard," Dobie answered, and his friend scooted over to make room for the blond on the bench.
"Thanks," Maynard beamed as he spooned ice cream into his mouth. He said something else, but it was unintelligible.
"What was that?" Dobie asked, and then added, feeling like a mother, "And you shouldn't talk with your mouth full."
"Sure thing, warden," Maynard teased, but then restated his question. "What happened with that chick you was going with?"
Dobie shrugged. "Nothing really, Maynard."
"Money, huh?" Maynard asked sympathetically. "Those're the brakes."
No point in hiding it. "Yeah. My dad gave me some money-"
"Stingy ol' Mr. G? Oh, come now!" Maynard exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yeah, Maynard. My stingy ol' dad, that just paid for your sundae, so keep your flap shut!" Dobie countered, and Maynard nodded, mouthing a 'sorry, Dobe'. The blond felt guilty for shouting, and embarrassed with the looks they were getting. He was realizing that it was inevitable. Everywhere he went, as long as Maynard was involved, he got weird glances thrown his way. "Well anyways, dad gave me three dollars to go out with Eloise, but she wanted to go dancing in the Peabody Room, and said three dollars wouldn't even cut it halfway."
"So she like walked out of you?"
Dobie nodded.
"Tough," Maynard said, and patted Dobie's shoulder. They continued eating in silence, and Dobie felt better after finishing his sundae. The sweet rich ice cream and the crispy wonton was a heavenly combination, and by the time he set down his spoon, he was just focusing on spending the rest of the day with his buddy. He took the two bowls and brought them back up to the counter. Upon delivering them to Charley, the cook gave Dobie a pointed look and the boy assured him that he'd get Maynard out of his hair in just a minute. At this, Charley broke into a smile.
On his way to the door, Dobie grabbed his friend by the arm and dragged him out into the autumn sunlight.
