First story! Whew! Inspiration for this hit me like a melon to the head today. I'd love some criticism and suggestions for this, so please enjoy and then let me know what you think. Not sure where this is going, but hop on for the ride and let's see where it goes.

"Love is a many splendored thing..."

Tweek knew why Red was making her way towards him from the juke, brushing past the group already dancing with a playful sway of her blue dress. He had a fleeting moment of panic before he realized there was no escape. Red had asked him for a dime with a smile matching her outreaching fingernails, her hair, and her name. It was his own hand that had reached into his pocket to fish out some change to drop into her hand, which was once again extended toward him expectantly. Pretending not to notice, he looked down at his reflection at the coffee that coincidentally happened to be the same color as his eyes. A feminine huff was heard, and he reflexively shot his eyes up to meet Red's seductive gaze.

"Wanna dance with me, Tweek?"

He cleared his throat awkwardly and returned to staring at his coffee. "Uh, I'm not really one for d-dancing…" A lie. He loved it. And everyone always told him he had a natural flow to his dancing.

"That's not what I heard! C'mon…it'll make my night. I'm gonna go ape if I don't start dancing soon!"

An elbow made its way to Tweek's ribs and he swiveled in his bar stool to see Kenny waggle his eyebrows. He had told him only a few hours previously he was right sure that "Red was crushing on him, and good too. She's stacked."

Tweek mustered up a smile and swiveled back to Red. "Ok. B-but only if Kenny gets out there, too."

Kenny clapped him on the back and rose from his stool. He adjusted his flannel shirt and jeans before making his way over to the giggling pair of Wendy and Bebe. Watching in jealously of the ease at which Kenny charmingly smiled and subtly leaned into Bebe while he asked her to dance, Tweek grimaced in anticipation of due discomfort. Red pulled at his sweater and he dropped his crepe soled shoes to the black and white checkers. She giggled and led him towards the other dancing teens with her pony tail bouncing at him.

While the Four Aces crooned through the speakers, Tweek and Red fell into rhythm. Tweek wished that it had been a faster paced song, one that didn't cause Red to lean into him, or to drag his hands to her waist during their twisting and bouncing, or to experimentally slide her icy fingers to the nape of his neck. They gyrated to the pace of the music, and Tweek looked across the makeshift dance floor to find Kenny in the same position with Bebe. Except it wasn't the same. It was significantly different.

He hoped that the next song to come on would put some space between Red and himself.

He drew in a breath to sigh, and caught the scent of Red's perfume. It was sweet and floral and delicate. He peered down at her and wondered how long she had spent getting ready for this Friday night. Kenny was right, of course. Tweek had known for some time that Red liked him. If it wasn't because of the subtle hints she would drop, such as her desire to hang out with him more outside of classes, or the tentative touches to his arm, or even her stubborn insistence that he was the sweetest and cutest boy in their class, then it was the way her cheeks managed to mimic her trademark color whenever he smiled at her.

Sadness worried his brow as he mulled this over. Tweek felt bad. He really did. Not that Red was someone to be pitied at all. No, she was a beautiful girl, smart, sweet, loyal, and protective of her friends. She was good at giving people open minds with her progressive classiness. Red was going to go places. That was damn sure. So many of his peers would clap him on his shoulder in congratulation for winning her affections, which she was quick to display. It wasn't her fault. Tweek just couldn't bring himself to give her what she wanted in return. And her friendship did mean a lot to him. Besides Kenny, she was his closest friend. But everything could go wrong so easily. Red was close to having saved enough to buy a car. What was Tweek going to do if she parked it?

"Do you like my dress?" Tweek was startled out of his troubled thoughts at her voice. Blinking down at her, he asked her what she had said. She briefly furrowed her eyebrows in concern, but dismissed it as regular Tweek behavior.

"I asked you if you like my dress!" Red smiled and prompted Tweek to spin her out, giving him a better view of the sapphire blue A-line dress the same color of her eyes. She certainly liked to play up her own colors.

"Yeah. I-it's the same color as your eyes," Tweek said. Judging by the widening of her smile, Red was pleased that he noticed that. She twirled back into Tweek, managing to weasel her way closer than before. She returned one hand to Tweek's neck, the other gliding over his back. Tweek drew away from the touch of her hand, but only managed to press himself closer into her front. Red bit her lip and blushed, peeking up at him through her eyelashes. Tweek looked up at the tiled ceiling in despair, shutting his eyes with force.

Continuing to twist and bob with eyes squeezed closed in discomfort, a jingle of bells that characterized the opening of the diner doors barely registered in the back of his mind. Tweek tried his best to imperceptibly ease himself away from the petite girl as he wondered how long these slow-paced songs were going to last. He tried to ignore the feel of Red and the smell of Red. Finally the song was fading to its end and Tweek opened his eyes in relief. He jolted in panic as he immediately met iced over eyes. As his vision expanded to take in the other aspects of his watcher, he found black hair shaped into a pompadour, a black leather jacket, jeans, and black boots. A greaser? And he wasn't alone. He was sitting at a corner booth, a similarly dressed friend on either side of him.

"Hey baby, what do I have to do to make you love me, too?"

The Aces melted into Etta James, and it was not the transition of pace that Tweek had hoped for. This song sped up only a little, but it thankfully allowed some distance to form between dancers and their partners. Tweek was still caught in the handsome scowl of the greaser, much like a deer in headlights, and he was too distraught to look away. How much had he seen? Had he figured it out?

"Tweek!"

Red's voice snapped him out of his trance, and he looked down at Red with a dazed expression. "W-what?"

"Are you alright, baby?" She looked up at him with a concerned expression and placed a palm on his cheek. Any other guy she danced with was always zeroed in on her. She didn't understand why Tweek was acting so distracted, or why he wasn't copping a feel like any other partner she had had, like she hoped he would. But then again, Tweek was different.

"Y-yeah. I'm o-ok." Tweek snuck a peek back up at his watcher and blushed crimson when he met his eyes again. Red mistook his flush as a reaction to her, his shyness to her as respect and inexperience, and she smiled sweetly at him.

"Alright baby. Let's keep goin'." She once again coaxed him into twirling her a few more times, and they settled back into their lazy twist like before. Tweek's blush hardly withdrew, and he avoided looking towards that booth again. But curiosity was always one of his weaknesses, and he looked past Red to timidly glance at the noirette again. His eyes shot wide open when he saw the now familiar scowl still resting on him. The greaser smirked crookedly and Tweek's blush intensified even more.

Red had noticed that Tweek was distracted by something in the corner, and was none too pleased. She bopped to the side so that Tweek spun to take her place and she could look to find her competition for Tweek's attention. She gasped when she found him.

"Tweek! Why didn't you tell me they were here?"

Relieved to have the pressure of the glare taken away, Tweek confusedly asked who she meant.

"Them!" She pointed, and Tweek followed her red nail to look back at the booth in the corner, where that boy was still smirking at him. He yelped quietly and whipped back around, struggling to maintain their dance.

"Uh..w-who are they?"

Red looked incredulously at him. "How can you not know who they are? That's Craig and Clyde and Token! They're greasers, Tweek! They're real bad, too. Heard they ride motorcycles and win drags and are real fast." Red bit her lip and looked back towards the corner. She squeaked and put her fingers to her mouth.

"Oh my god, Tweek. They're looking straight at us! Or at least one of them is. What do we do?"

"I don't k-know!" Tweek hissed, looking around for an escape. This was just too much pressure. "I d-don't wanna d-dance anymore."

"Awh, really? Don't let them scare you! What are they gonna do? Don't worry, I won't let that greaser steal me away from you." Red winked at him, and Tweek grimaced. That wasn't what he was worried about. He was more concerned that they would beat him up out of utter disgust for people like him.

"No…I don't want to dance a-anymore." Tweek disentangled himself from Red and walked over to the bar. He fished out a couple of nickels to leave on the bar for the coffee. A shaky wave at Kenny, and Red on his tail, he took one last distressed glance at the guy watching him, now with an amused expression, before stumbling out the door.

"Tweek, wait! You can't leave yet! Do you at least want to get some pie?" Red grabbed his arm to stop him at the entrance of the diner.

He glanced back at Red and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Red. I'm not f-feeling too good…one too many cups of c-coffee maybe."

"But, but, Wendy said she was going to lend me her car!" Both of them knew what that meant. But Tweek was certain that her expectations were far different from his own.

Tweek winced. "M-maybe some other time."

"Ok…see you later, then." Red walked up and kissed him on the cheek, a lovely scarlet settling on her face.

"Bye," Tweek mumbled and took off. His apartment was several blocks away, but it was nice out tonight, so he wouldn't mind the walk. Why had that boy been staring at him? Was he going to come after him? At that thought, he bristled and increased the length of his stride, beginning to hum an Elvis song to calm himself down. Shakily smoothing a hand down his chinos, he glanced up at the sky. The moon was lit up tonight, but the stars were avoiding the lights from the city as usual. Hearing a rumble down the street, Tweek ran his tongue over his lips nervously, mouth suddenly dry. He had only made it about halfway home despite his efforts to dash home as quickly as possible. Listening closely to the night, he realized with a sense of foreboding that the rumbling noise was rapidly nearing him. Shit. What if those greasers were after him? Tweek glimpsed behind him and panic overtook him. He was frozen in place. This had happened before. He knew what was going to happen now. The bike slowed and came to a stop beside him on the road. Wringing his hands, Tweek kept his stare to the ground. A smoky voice undulated over to Tweek's ears and he shivered. Then he realized he was being spoken to. He took a breath and lifted his head to stare at the rubber wheel of the bike.

"W-what?"

"Do you need a ride home?"

Tweek furrowed his eyebrows. Huh?