Steve's redone his makeup about three times, making sure everything was perfect before walking out the door and heading to the bakery across the street to get a pastry and a coffee before heading to the audition. He walks into the bakery and gets in the longish line, scanning the menu to see what he wanted.

"Hello there."

Steve jumps a bit before turning around and seeing a man, probably in his early to mid thirties standing in line behind him, "Oh, h-hi." He stammers.

"Didn't mean ta scare ya," He apologizes as Steve nods a bit and smiles;

"No, no it's okay." He assures, starting to go red in the cheeks. The man steps in front of him in line as they get up to pay.

"One medium coffee for me and..." He trails off, looking over at Steve expectantly, he perks up and shakes his head;

"I can pay for myself." He establishes firmly, reaching into his purse.

"No need to get so rude, just let the nice man pay." The cashier snips at him. Steve clenches his jaw and glares at him, before the man puts an arm up to hold him back.

"She wants to pay, let her pay." He defends, shooting Steve a quick wink. He rolls his eyes before going up and pulling out fifty cents.

"Can I just have a small coffee and a muffin?" He questions, handing the cashier the money. He takes it with a frown and gets him his drink and pastry. He takes it before going to sit down at a small empty table. The man sits down across from him and he looks out the window, trying to avoid eye contact.

"I'm just tryin' ta be nice." He mutters, "You're real pretty, why haven't I seen ya around before?"

Steve's blush burns a shade darker and he clears his throat, "Th-Thanks. I just moved here."

"Oh, well welcome to the neighborhood, I'm Ben." He introduces. Steve forces a smile and nods;

"St...eph." He says, correcting himself halfway through, "Steph, I'm Steph."

"Well you're very pretty Steph. But can I ask why ya cut your hair so short?" He questions, gesturing to his ear length hair.

"Oh, b-because..." He trails off, trying to rack his brain for a lie, "I did it after my best friend left for Europe." He states quickly, fuck he should've said boyfriend.

"How long ago was that?"

"About two weeks ago."

"Oh... well ya still look good." Ben comments as Steve snorts a bit;

"Yeah, you've made that pretty clear." He chuckles, this felt weird... but strangely nice. It was nice being noticed for once.

"Heh, yeah... are ya free later today?" He asks as Steve freezes and blinks a couple times, going a bright red.

"N-No." He answers quickly, knowing how that must've felt, "I'm sorry but I'm going to an audition and if I make it I'll be travelling around the country. I don't want you to, uh..." He trails off, trying to find the right words, "I just don't want to start anything that won't have a proper end, you know?"

"Whoa, whoa, who said anything about a relationship?"

Steve furrows his brows and puts down his coffee;

"You were asking me out on a date."

"Yeah, one date. Then maybe another couple, we have sex, then we never see each other agai-"

Steve throws his hot coffee at him angrily before storming out. He should've been smarter than this, this is exactly how Bucky lured girls to their apartment. He used to just roll his eyes at how dumb they were, but now... He continues to stomp away before a hand wraps around his wrist and yanks him back. It was Ben. He towards him back and pushes him into a nearby alley. Steve falls back and lands on the concrete bottom first. He grits his teeth before scrambling back up and throwing his purse to the side.

"Oh you think you're so tough." He spits, holding up his fists. Ben almost laughs, before pushing him back down.

"So I really do need ta teach ya some manners, huh?" He sneers, taking a step closer. Steve glares at him and forces himself to stand, brushing himself off.

"How about you fuck off." He hisses, trying to think up a route to escape. Ben grabs Steve by the collar and slams him into the wall, pinning him to the brick as Steve struggles angrily, "Let me go you ass!"

"I think I've gotta better idea." He quips with a smirk, beginning to snake his hand up Steve's thigh and underneath his dress. The blonde snarls in frustration and tries to kick him off, to absolutely no effect.

"Hey loser!" A voice snaps as a shoe whirls towards them and hits Ben directly on the nose. He falls back with a hiss and Steve looks over to see two girls standing at the end of the alley. One up them runs up them and slides the shoe back on, before picking up Steve's purse and grabbing his arm, "Come on!"

The other girl helps shield him as they run out and around the corner. Steve pins himself to the side of a building and clutches his chest, trying to catch his breath.

"Th-Thanks." He coughs as one of them hands him back his purse.

"Of course honey. No guy has the right to treat you like that." She states, holding out her hand, "I'm Esther, and that's Lola." She introduces. Steve can't help but notice how pretty she is, how pretty both of them are.

"Steph." He forces out, still coughing a bit, "I-I'm sorry, I have a-asthma." He stammers, trying not to stare too much. Both of them are about the same height, around 5'6 or 5'7. Esther is wearing a plain navy blue dress with a light belt and brown heels. Her espresso colored hair curled neatly onto her shoulder. Her plum colored lipstick sticks out like a sore plum in her pale, freckled complexion in the best possible way, Steve almost felt lost in her deep green eyes. Lola, on the other hand, is wearing a butter yellow button up shirt and a charcoal skirt, her deep native american tan glistening in the sun, pitch black hair braided back into a bun.

"That jerk who had you pinned did the same thing to me a couple months ago." Esther mutters as she tucks a loose piece of hair behind her ear, "Couldn't let that happen to you too."

"Oh... I'm sorry." Steve mumbles, brushing himself off before standing up straight, "W-Well I have to go. It was great meeting you, thank you so much."

"Where are you heading?" Lola questions curiously, her voice laced with a light, elegant native accent.

"Just a little audition, its no big dea-"

"The Star Spangled Singers?" Esther interrupts excitedly.

"Y-Yeah, w-"

"That's where we're going!" She chirps, grabbing his arm, "C'mon the theater's this way!"

Steve jerks forwards and stumbles as Esther eagerly drags him down the street, Lola jogging next to them.

"I know she comes on strong, but trust me you'll learn to love her." She whispers with a small wink before running in front and stopping Esther with her hands. Steve raises an eyebrow and looks at the two of them, noting how they look at each other.

"S-So, how'd you two meet?" He inquires as they all start to walk down the sidewalk at a normal speed.

"I was sent by my church to her reservation." Esther explains as Lola rolls her eyes.

"She came in as this little pale 15 year old talking to my tribe as if we were idiots." She chuckles before the brunette pushes her playfully.

"That's what they told me to do!"

"You grew up on an Indian reserve?" Steve asks as Lola frowns in annoyance and Esther shakes her head.

"No, no, she's not from India. Her people were living in America for thousands of years before we showed up." Esther corrects, Lola shooting her a grateful smile.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry." Steve apologizes quickly, face burning, "I-I meant a Native reserve."

"Yes." Lola answers, noticing how Steve was staring at her in confusion, "My parents gave me a common name because they knew I might leave the reservation one day. And they were right."

"Why'd you leave?"

"I just wanted something new. Plus by the time I wanted to leave Esther already had an apartment by herself, so I had a place to stay."

"Oh, w-well that's nice." Steve mumbles, unsure how to carry on the conversation. Girls are so open. How on Earth are they so open about personal stories?

"Oh! We're here!" Esther chirps as she takes both Steve and Lola's wrists and drag them into a nearby building.

They get inside and are instantly met with a desk, where an older woman was shuffling through some paperwork.

"Excuse me, is this where we register for the audition?" Esther questions as the woman glances up at her and nods with a smile.

"Yes, here you are." She states with a smile, handing only Esther a form, "You're the first one to arrive, you can take a seat over there if you'd like." She says, gesturing over to a couple of couches. Esther smiles and nods as Steve and Lola walk up as well.

"Can we get copies too?" Lola questions as the woman looks each of them up and down, before leaning in.

"I'm sorry, but neither of you are quite what we're looking for in a dancer."

"Excuse you?" Steve snips, catching everyone by surprise. It's uncommon to see a woman act up like this, but then again Steve couldn't care less.

"Hon, I think I'm gonna need to ask you to leav-"

"No," Steve interrupts, fire blazing in his chest, "I want you to tell me why we're not what you're looking for."

"Well, quite frankly your hair is too short, you're far too petite to be anywhere near what we are looking for."

Steve glares at her for a bit, Esther and Lola sharing looks of impress.

"Well then what about her?"

"She's not Caucasian-"

"But she's American." The blonde snips, "She's more American than both of us. Let me guess, French decent? Maybe German?" He questions as Lola's eyes widen. No one had ever used that impenetrable of an argument before, she's impressed to say the least.

"Miss I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The woman states, pointing to the door. Steve shakes his head and slams his fist on the table;

"Try and make me." He snarls. Someone else walks in behind him, but he doesn't notice, too intensely focused on intimidating the hell out of this woman.

"Steve?"

The blonde blinks a couple times, snapping out of his rage long enough to look up and see Peggy standing over him. Holy shit she's tall. And pretty...

"Peggy?!"

Peggy chuckles in joy before easily picking Steve up and squeezing him in a bone crushing hug. She clearly hasn't come to terms with just how strong she now is. Steve lets out a pained wheeze as she sets him down, giving him a large kiss on the forehead.

"I missed you! The SSR wouldn't tell me where they moved you! What are you doing here?!" She questions frantically, she seems almost manic. Steve can only assume its from the serum.

"Oh! W-Well I was gonna try my luck and audition. But this bitch won't let me or Lola even try." Steve remarks in annoyance. Peggy looks over at Lola, then at the woman at the counter, a smile that had almost no emotion plastered on her face.

"Excuse me... Ruth," She spits with venom, reading the employee's name tag, "I don't tolerate intolerance, do you understand?"

"But Ms. Carte-"

"Do. You. Understand?" Peggy hisses, Steve shooting the other two girls a smug grin.

Ruth stares at her for a bit longer before gritting her teeth and handing them two forms, "This doesn't mean you'll get in."

Steve takes it in a matter of factually manner and goes to sit down next to Esther, who's staring at him with a dropped jaw.

"You know her?!"

"Yeah... w-we go a little back." He explains as Peggy looks down at him and gives him another hug.

"Well good luck! I've to go get fitted for the costume, it's horrendous." She huffs, switching to her nearly flawless American accent on the last two words. Steve's heart flutters as she walks away, how did he live 24 years of his life without knowing her.

Oof, sorry I haven't updated in almost a month, school's been getting really stressful lately :/