Neglect and New Neighbors: Chapter 2

Neglect and New Neighbors: Chapter 2

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I couldn't help but smile shyly at the theater's new worker before greeting him. "Hi Vaughn…"

He smiled back and took the bucket of popcorn from off the counter.

"You know Kayla, popcorn just happens to be very high in cholesterol."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Really? I'll take my chances." He place noticed the lowering of popcorn supply and pushed the right blue button on the machine. "If you eat this bucket of popcorn you might not have anymore of those chances you take for granted."

"Even though you're being pretty rude, trying to deprive me of my right to popcorn, I think I deserve popcorn for you automatically assuming I'm a sheep." When he got no response from pounding the button, he tried turning the knob. He opened his mouth to say something when I stopped him.

"Do you need help?" He turned to face me and looked over my shoulder without answering. I turned to see what he had glanced at and spotted the properly dress manager in his suit. "No. I got it," he answered.

He forced the knob this time. He relaxed and went for the ladle when he heard a few pops come from the machine. I watched him watch the popcorn fill and soon the pops began to pop faster and kernels became popcorn a lot faster than they had before.

"Uh oh." I heard him mumble and I thought the same thing. Popcorn came spilling from the top of the opening in the machine and some came shooting out from the bottom. He reached for the bucket trying to stifle the machine and groped and hit and the buttons and knobs. The more he did the more popcorn was produced. The manager in the suit came running over to the almost hilarious disaster and began shouting at Vaughn who was still beating at the machine. A piece of popcorn came flying from at my forehead and I stepped back from the kernels. The one in the suit reached from under the machine, despite the fact that he was now covered in popcorn and popcorn butter, as was Vaughn. I bit my lip, trying desperately hard not to laugh like the people now behind me in a queue had been doing. The popcorn's popping suddenly slowed before stopping and he just looked on at his employee as if Vaughn just committed several felony's and stolen a piece of candy from the local candy store owned by a one legged grandmother. He approached Vaughn and whispered words I couldn't hear from my position behind the counter and in front of the line that was now demanding. I got the message when I saw the black nameplate ripped off of his white dress shirt. He handed Vaughn something from his pocket before walking over to the cash register and looked at me, waiting to take my order.

"Are you ordering or not Ms.?"

Vaughn ran a buttered hand through an already slimed mass of hair and left the counter.

"I-uh…never mind." I left my place in line and followed the dejected butterball out the door.

I spotted walking towards the end of the block. "Vaughn!" I called after him. "Vaughn!"

He turned to spot me and I saw him cast his eyes down before forcing a smile. I ran to the end to meet him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm all right I guess…just jobless."

"It was your first day."

"My first two hours." I looked down with him as we began walking.

"Oh."

"They needed someone right away."

"There are other jobs that don't involve working for someone a year older than you and with more grease on his face than a deep fryer."

"Other jobs available for me to writhe in humiliation?"

"Sure. If you're into that." There was a pause in the small talk as we walked along. Suddenly, interrupting the silence, he laughed and I looked him oddly. "What?"

"Did you… see his face? He was laughing harder now and I started to laugh with him as he clutched his side and gripped the side of a building. Feeding my laughter was the fact that I did see his face. His vein was bulging out of his head. His tie nearly choked him when his neck started to bulge and his eyes got fiery.

"I…thought…his head was going to…explode! Or his pimple!" He continued, still laughing.

We ended up sobering next to the wall, chuckling a little to ourselves. Then he turned to me.

"You still want that popcorn?"

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He pushed open the heavy metal door and I stepped in behind him. He eased the door shut and we pressed ourselves against the wall of the room in the theater, Vaughn behind me so no one else would get smeared with butter. We pushed up unnoticed by the movie-watchers to the back of the usher free room and stepped out into the vacant area. I pressed my back against the column in by the doors. "I can't believe we're doing this."

"You wanted popcorn."

"Not this badly. I thought you were joking."

He smiled. "Well, now it's just harmless fun."

"Sure, if you like felonies."

"Going to a movie theater's a felony?"

"Breaking and entering is a felony."

He raised a brow. "You don't have a record? Isn't making a record the only thing to do in Wilsted?"

I suddenly got very offended. "Aside from churning our own butter, it probably is."

He sighed, "I didn't mean it like that."

"Could've fooled me."

"I'm sorry, okay?" He paused, yet looking hopeful asked, "Do you still want to do this?"

I looked at him and suddenly thought of how excited I'd been by the thought of doing this and nodded. He grinned, "Great."

He poked his head around the side of the column and looked over at the manager behind the counter. The suit clad vein popper was too busy polishing the popcorn machine to notice buttered Vaughn. He grabbed my hand that had already been buttered and ran quickly from around the corridor, across the wall standing across from the concession stand and around that corner to the front of a door marked "Employee's Only". He shoved a hand in his pocket, trying to take apart the sticky material of his pants pocket. He pulled two keys and took one to the lock on the door. He whispered, "You would think someone as orderly as Mort Chamberlain would have taken an ex-employee's key away."

"I guess he was too busy trying to clean the popcorn off the floor," I smiled to myself.

He pushed open the door and quickly ushered me in. He groped the wall in the dark room and flicked the light switch. Racks of purple and black uniforms lined the room and he fingered them, picking out two uniforms hung neatly on two hangers. He handed one to me. "Here, put this on." I took it, eyeing him oddly. He put his down on a low bench that stood close to the door and began to unbutton the sticky buttons on the front of his shirt. I froze up as I watched him take off his shirt. He noticed my look as he dropped his shirt on the floor. "What?" He asked, completely oblivious and almost worried by the stunned look I threw. I looked down from him, away from him, in every direction but his. "I…uh…"

"Oh…oh!" He picked up his shirt. "Sorry. I didn't think you'd mind."

Still avoiding him, I replied, "I-uh…I don't. I just-" He chuckled under his breath and took up his shirt, turning to the door. I stopped him. "No, that's okay. I'll watch…the door." I left the room and closed the door tightly behind me. I breathed slowly, trying to shut him out of my head and remind myself of Jett. I hadn't thought of Jett in nearly an hour. That was not a good thing especially when there are pictures of just how admirable in the physical sense this guy that's not my boyfriend happens to be.

I felt the door move from behind me and I moved a little, letting him pass. He moved aside and let me in. I knew by his look that he was trying to hide a smile from me and I felt red creep up to my face before I went into the room. I threw on the uniform and tucked my clothes my change purse in a space beside Vaughn's buttered ones in a corner. I wiped my hands and headed for the door. As I reached it, Vaughn jumped in the room and I jumped back violently at the unexpected enter. "V-" He covered my mouth with his hand and kept silent for a few moments before calming down. "We have to stay in here a few more minutes." He removed his hands. "What-why?"

"The hawk's circling the theater. He's preparing for the ten o' clock rush."

"So what do we do 'til then?" We kept our voices hushed.

"We have twenty minutes to shut off the four big movies in the building and-"

"Excuse me?"

"We have to shut off the big movies."

"Vaughn, you lost your mind?"

He held his carefree look even though I looked like I was about to pop a vessel myself. "If you're here with me, then obviously I'm not the only one."

"Stop using my stupidity against me!" He covered my mouth against, shushing me when I went over the hushed tone we had silently agreed on. He smiled at my comment, and looked almost unsure of what to say. He took a breath. "Twenty minutes, and then we go the front. Gordo's a hard one but-" I mumbled under his hand and he removed it. "Gordo Pongee?"

"I'd hate to think there was more than one."

"Great," I muttered a little less than excited.

"What?"

"Gordo's had a crush on me since the third grade. I'm not going near him."

"West, why do u make things so difficult? If I didn't like you so much, I'd smack you."

"Gee, thanks."

"Anytime." I stopped to pout. "Please?" I shook my head repetitively. "No way."

"I love you."

"Thank you."

"Don't you want to make Chamberlain to look like an idiot?"

"I just wanted popcorn and to never see Serendipity again. Neither of which looks like it's going to happen anytime soon."

He stopped pouting. "I'll pay you."

"How much?"

"Five?"

I smirked.

"Eight."

I shook my head.

"Ten."

I looked up at him and smiled. "I love you." He took my hand and I heard him whisper under his breath, "Gold digger."

"Criminal," I shot back as he pushed for a small opening in the doorway. A little light streamed through and he stepped out of the room with me following. We pressed ourselves against the wall and he peaked around the corner. We ran quickly around the corner and we went back the way we came to the column. He stopped short and headed back around the column. "Where're you going?" I whispered after him. He ignored me and headed for the concession stand. I watched him around the column at the booth as he dipped the ladle in the machine and took the popcorn to the bucket, running back.

"Love me yet?" He asked as he handed me the bucket. I savored the popcorn before turning back to him. "Oh, so very much."

We passed the doors of the Serendipity Theater and reached the end of the way. "What now?"

"God bless the employee's master key." He held it up and placed it in the lock of yet another door, turning the key and opening it. I followed him into the room and I was met with stairs that I wasn't expecting. I knew he was grinning at me even though I could barely see anything in the darkness and had tripped over my own two feet. I groped the wall and I felt his hand support my arm a little as we walked up the steps. The room at the top was lit with a dim blue and a teen I didn't recognize sat with a comic with the film rolling all around him. He dropped his legs that were propped up on the table and stood. "What are you two doing here?"

"I need to use the film reel, man."

"You just started working here. You have to work your way up and you can't bring girls up here, man."

"She's a friend, Mike and I'm not here for the job."

"Chamberlain?"

He nodded. "Chamberlain."

Mike suddenly got very excited. "What do you need?"

"What do you got?" Vaughn and Mike went over to another door and revealed a stack of films. Vaughn marveled for a minute and so did I. Vaughn stooped down and picked out a film. He stood up and handed Mike the reel. Mike stopped the ongoing movie and there were big sighs and groans below in the theater. He put down Vaughn's film and all three of us watched as it began to play. Mickey came up on the screen in black and white jumping from foot to foot in his sailor shorts. We had to smile at how silly in looked and I ate my popcorn as we watched the words come up for the silent film. The audience on the other hand, booed and yelled at the screen and we bolted to the door.

It worked like that for all three of the other movies when all we had to mention was Chamberlain and revenge was easily supported. Training Day had been replaced with several "Tellitubbies" movies. "K-Pax" was replaced by "Barney and Friends", but I believe our worst response came from replacing "From Hell" with "Vanilla Ice's After School Specials."

I laughed with him as we headed for the door and I threw out the empty bucket we had cleaned out after a while. Our feet led us to the exit of the theater and outside to the booth where Gordo stood with the line of Friday night's expected numbers online.

"It's our last stop of the night. Make it a good one, Kayla."

I groaned before tapping on the side of the Plexiglas, interrupting Gordo and his sale. He turned to me and grinned. Vaughn stretched out his leg, and kicked me. I smiled weakly, getting the message.

"Hey, uh…hi Gordo."

"Hi Kayla!"

"Gordo, I was wondering if you'd like to… go see a movie with me." I heard Vaughn chuckle and I stretched out my leg to kick him back to his hiding place out of Gordo's view. People in the line began to shout to know about the holdup.

"I-I can't, Kayla. I've got to work." I took a deep breath and propped up my chin with a palm. I smiled at him and tilted my head a little to the side. "What's more important Gordo? Selling tickets to ungrateful customers… or seeing a movie with…me?" That last part was increasingly difficult to say but from Gordo's ear to ear grin, it was worth it. Gordo stepped eagerly from outside the booth and grabbed my hand as I forced a smile. He looked back at the booth and frowned a little. "What about the booth?"

"I'll watch it!" Vaughn stepped up.

"I don't know…" Gordo answered unsure. I turned to Gordo, who had me squirming under his arm.

"Uh…Gordo, you don't know Vaughn like I do. He's very…"

"Trustworthy," Vaughn jumped in.

Gordo grinned giddily at me. "If you say so." My lips twitched as I forced my self to grin with him.

"Great! Let's go." I pulled him from the booth and we walked back into the theater. Outside I could hear Vaughn shouting that the tickets were free and I looked over my shoulder to see him throwing them to the mob. I moved Gordo quickly out of earshot as he babbled on about leeches. Before I knew it, customers were coming to my rescue, storming through the doors and past the ushers that were meant to check their stubs. They stormed by Gordo and me and I released myself from his arm, pretending to lose him as I jetted for the door.

I felt Vaughn grasp me and I couldn't help grinning. "Nice work, Criminal."

"I try."

I pulled him back into the crowd.

"We're we going?" He asked me.

"I'm going back to the storage room."

"We can't go back in there!" I stopped and turned back to face him. "What do you mean we can't go back in there?"

"We'll get caught for sure."

"What? I can't just leave my clothes in there and I can't go home like this, Vaughn." I turned and journeyed for the door through the crowd. I turned the corner with Vaughn calling after me, trying to grab my arms. "Kayla! Kayla! K-" We both froze when Chamberlain slowed down his tracks and was now face to face with us.

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"I thought I fired you, Trager!" A distraught Mort suddenly looked very angry for a seventeen year old Mathelete.

"Uh…" Vaughn relaxed a little and let go of my arm. "Well you see, there was just a minor technicality with that. You didn't expect me to go home covered in butter did you?"

"Preferably."

Chamberlain looked over to me and shook his head. "You did this, didn't you? How'd you manage to drag Kayla West into your web of deceit?"

"Some sweet lovin'" Vaughn grinned and I looked over at him angered and shocked all in one. He went on anyway relishing the look on our faces. "She may be small, but she's an animal in the sack."

"Vaughn!" I punched him in the arm with my fist and he laughed, clutching his arm.

"That's it. I'm calling Mr. Madison." He shook his head, taking out a cell phone similar to ones I had seen employees that worked the reels with. Vaughn ran over to him, placed a quick hand on his shoulder and stammered. "N-no, Mort, Mort. You can't call Mr. Madison. He'll freak!"

Mort looked up at him, unchanged and professional. "That's the point, Trager."

"No. No…Mort, look."

"You don't have to pay me. I'll give you back your money. I'll fix the films," he said, trying to take the phone from him. Chamberlain moved further away and I stopped him. "Look, Mort. You- you don't want to do this! I mean… you've got…integrity. This whole mess was one big mistake. A mistake that can easily be fixed if you keep quiet about this." I pouted and looked straight into his eyes. "Please?" I stopped for a second and parted his lips a little as if he were going to say something but closed it. Then Mr. Madison's voice came into earshot. "Hello? Hello?"

Mort started up again and pulled the phone to his ear and called to the manager, "Mr. Madison!"

"Dammit Mort!" We pounced on Mort and the criminal grabbed the phone from Mort's hands. "We're really sorry Mort," he said coveting the phone as I held Mort back. "Stop it! Thief!" Vaughn turned to him after turning off the cell phone and held it up in the air as I struggled with Mort.

"Mort, dear assistant manager, I'm not the enemy here." Mort grabbed at the phone and Vaughn shove him back. "Think of how great you'll be once everyone hears you gave away free tickets!"

"You gave away free tickets?" Mort shouted, obviously surprised. Mort shoved forward faster than before and I lost my grip on him and Mort ran towards Vaughn. Vaughn backed away and shouted quickly, "Like Mary Finagler!" He said too late for Mort to stop from falling on Vaughn, but Chamberlain suddenly brightened, giggling. "Mary Finagler." Vaughn shoved Mort to the spot next to him and nodded as he got off the floor. "Mary Finagler. She thinks you're great. A real hero." Mort grinned. "Me?"

Vaughn interrupted. "Well…me."

"But I'm assistant manager."

"Oh, so now it was your idea!" I stood back and smiled as this turned even more into something from a television sitcom.

"If I let you off the hook, promise not to tell Mary Finagler it wasn't my idea?"

"Would I ever let you down Mort?"

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"That went well."

"Yeah, okay."

"What? I thought you were having fun." We stopped our walking.

"And the many, 'are you out of your mind' looks I threw you weren'u hints enough?"

"I must have passed them off as gas." I feigned a laugh and we started walking again.

"You're hilarious, you know that?"

He stopped and pulled me to stop with him.

"There wasn't one point in this whole night when you just wanted to stop and crack up laughing?" I started walking again and he ran to catch up with me.

"Nope."

"Not even when Chamberlain ran around the theater trying to set the screens back? Or when Barney began to sing his beloved theme song and people started pelting him with Milkyways?"

"Nope."

"That's funny because I remember you laughing several times throughout the night."

I was silent for a second, smiling a little. "You're excessively more annoying at night than you are charming." He grinned. "You thought I was charming?"

"I meant descent."

"You said charming."

"Now who's being difficult?" I tilted my head.

He grinned at me, "Oh, did I say difficult? I meant charming."

I bit my lip to stop myself from smiling. "You're parents aren't going to freak about you coming home, sopping in butter with popcorn still in your hair?"

"My mom will be too excited that I've made new friends and I haven't been arrested."

"You do this kind of thing a lot, don't you?" He looked up innocently. "What kind of thing?"

"The kind of thing where someone goes wrong by you and instead of just pinning their underwear up a poll you decide to psychological screw with their heads?"

"Eh. It passes the time." We stopped in front of his gate. "Goodnight Kayla."

"Goodnight Vaughn."

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Several hours later, on the jovial Wilsted afternoon, I was walked toward Jett's house, expecting to meet the tired-out star that was probably playing basketball in his driveway. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting Vaughn to be playing basketball in the driveway with him. I couldn't help but smile shyly at the theater's new worker before greeting him. "Hi Vaughn…"

He smiled back and took the bucket of popcorn from off the counter.

"You know Kayla, popcorn just happens to be very high in cholesterol."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Really? I'll take my chances." He place noticed the lowering of popcorn supply and pushed the right blue button on the machine. "If you eat this bucket of popcorn you might not have anymore of those chances you take for granted."

"Even though you're being pretty rude, trying to deprive me of my right to popcorn, I think I deserve popcorn for you automatically assuming I'm a sheep." When he got no response from pounding the button, he tried turning the knob. He opened his mouth to say something when I stopped him.

"Do you need help?" He turned to face me and looked over my shoulder without answering. I turned to see what he had glanced at and spotted the properly dress manager in his suit. "No. I got it," he answered.

He forced the knob this time. He relaxed and went for the ladle when he heard a few pops come from the machine. I watched him watch the popcorn fill and soon the pops began to pop faster and kernels became popcorn a lot faster than they had before.

"Uh oh." I heard him mumble and I thought the same thing. Popcorn came spilling from the top of the opening in the machine and some came shooting out from the bottom. He reached for the bucket trying to stifle the machine and groped and hit and the buttons and knobs. The more he did the more popcorn was produced. The manager in the suit came running over to the almost hilarious disaster and began shouting at Vaughn who was still beating at the machine. A piece of popcorn came flying from at my forehead and I stepped back from the kernels. The one in the suit reached from under the machine, despite the fact that he was now covered in popcorn and popcorn butter, as was Vaughn. I bit my lip, trying desperately hard not to laugh like the people now behind me in a queue had been doing. The popcorn's popping suddenly slowed before stopping and he just looked on at his employee as if Vaughn just committed several felony's and stolen a piece of candy from the local candy store owned by a one legged grandmother. He approached Vaughn and whispered words I couldn't hear from my position behind the counter and in front of the line that was now demanding. I got the message when I saw the black nameplate ripped off of his white dress shirt. He handed Vaughn something from his pocket before walking over to the cash register and looked at me, waiting to take my order.

"Are you ordering or not Ms.?"

Vaughn ran a buttered hand through an already slimed mass of hair and left the counter.

"I-uh…never mind." I left my place in line and followed the dejected butterball out the door.

I spotted walking towards the end of the block. "Vaughn!" I called after him. "Vaughn!"

He turned to spot me and I saw him cast his eyes down before forcing a smile. I ran to the end to meet him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm all right I guess…just jobless."

"It was your first day."

"My first two hours." I looked down with him as we began walking.

"Oh."

"They needed someone right away."

"There are other jobs that don't involve working for someone a year older than you and with more grease on his face than a deep fryer."

"Other jobs available for me to writhe in humiliation?"

"Sure. If you're into that." There was a pause in the small talk as we walked along. Suddenly, interrupting the silence, he laughed and I looked him oddly. "What?"

"Did you… see his face? He was laughing harder now and I started to laugh with him as he clutched his side and gripped the side of a building. Feeding my laughter was the fact that I did see his face. His vein was bulging out of his head. His tie nearly choked him when his neck started to bulge and his eyes got fiery.

"I…thought…his head was going to…explode! Or his pimple!" He continued, still laughing.

We ended up sobering next to the wall, chuckling a little to ourselves. Then he turned to me.

"You still want that popcorn?"

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He pushed open the heavy metal door and I stepped in behind him. He eased the door shut and we pressed ourselves against the wall of the room in the theater, Vaughn behind me so no one else would get smeared with butter. We pushed up unnoticed by the movie-watchers to the back of the usher free room and stepped out into the vacant area. I pressed my back against the column in by the doors. "I can't believe we're doing this."

"You wanted popcorn."

"Not this badly. I thought you were joking."

He smiled. "Well, now it's just harmless fun."

"Sure, if you like felonies."

"Going to a movie theater's a felony?"

"Breaking and entering is a felony."

He raised a brow. "You don't have a record? Isn't making a record the only thing to do in Wilsted?"

I suddenly got very offended. "Aside from churning our own butter, it probably is."

He sighed, "I didn't mean it like that."

"Could've fooled me."

"I'm sorry, okay?" He paused, yet looking hopeful asked, "Do you still want to do this?"

I looked at him and suddenly thought of how excited I'd been by the thought of doing this and nodded. He grinned, "Great."

He poked his head around the side of the column and looked over at the manager behind the counter. The suit clad vein popper was too busy polishing the popcorn machine to notice buttered Vaughn. He grabbed my hand that had already been buttered and ran quickly from around the corridor, across the wall standing across from the concession stand and around that corner to the front of a door marked "Employee's Only". He shoved a hand in his pocket, trying to take apart the sticky material of his pants pocket. He pulled two keys and took one to the lock on the door. He whispered, "You would think someone as orderly as Mort Chamberlain would have taken an ex-employee's key away."

"I guess he was too busy trying to clean the popcorn off the floor," I smiled to myself.

He pushed open the door and quickly ushered me in. He groped the wall in the dark room and flicked the light switch. Racks of purple and black uniforms lined the room and he fingered them, picking out two uniforms hung neatly on two hangers. He handed one to me. "Here, put this on." I took it, eyeing him oddly. He put his down on a low bench that stood close to the door and began to unbutton the sticky buttons on the front of his shirt. I froze up as I watched him take off his shirt. He noticed my look as he dropped his shirt on the floor. "What?" He asked, completely oblivious and almost worried by the stunned look I threw. I looked down from him, away from him, in every direction but his. "I…uh…"

"Oh…oh!" He picked up his shirt. "Sorry. I didn't think you'd mind."

Still avoiding him, I replied, "I-uh…I don't. I just-" He chuckled under his breath and took up his shirt, turning to the door. I stopped him. "No, that's okay. I'll watch…the door." I left the room and closed the door tightly behind me. I breathed slowly, trying to shut him out of my head and remind myself of Jett. I hadn't thought of Jett in nearly an hour. That was not a good thing especially when there are pictures of just how admirable in the physical sense this guy that's not my boyfriend happens to be.

I felt the door move from behind me and I moved a little, letting him pass. He moved aside and let me in. I knew by his look that he was trying to hide a smile from me and I felt red creep up to my face before I went into the room. I threw on the uniform and tucked my clothes my change purse in a space beside Vaughn's buttered ones in a corner. I wiped my hands and headed for the door. As I reached it, Vaughn jumped in the room and I jumped back violently at the unexpected enter. "V-" He covered my mouth with his hand and kept silent for a few moments before calming down. "We have to stay in here a few more minutes." He removed his hands. "What-why?"

"The hawk's circling the theater. He's preparing for the ten o' clock rush."

"So what do we do 'til then?" We kept our voices hushed.

"We have twenty minutes to shut off the four big movies in the building and-"

"Excuse me?"

"We have to shut off the big movies."

"Vaughn, you lost your mind?"

He held his carefree look even though I looked like I was about to pop a vessel myself. "If you're here with me, then obviously I'm not the only one."

"Stop using my stupidity against me!" He covered my mouth against, shushing me when I went over the hushed tone we had silently agreed on. He smiled at my comment, and looked almost unsure of what to say. He took a breath. "Twenty minutes, and then we go the front. Gordo's a hard one but-" I mumbled under his hand and he removed it. "Gordo Pongee?"

"I'd hate to think there was more than one."

"Great," I muttered a little less than excited.

"What?"

"Gordo's had a crush on me since the third grade. I'm not going near him."

"West, why do u make things so difficult? If I didn't like you so much, I'd smack you."

"Gee, thanks."

"Anytime." I stopped to pout. "Please?" I shook my head repetitively. "No way."

"I love you."

"Thank you."

"Don't you want to make Chamberlain to look like an idiot?"

"I just wanted popcorn and to never see Serendipity again. Neither of which looks like it's going to happen anytime soon."

He stopped pouting. "I'll pay you."

"How much?"

"Five?"

I smirked.

"Eight."

I shook my head.

"Ten."

I looked up at him and smiled. "I love you." He took my hand and I heard him whisper under his breath, "Gold digger."

"Criminal," I shot back as he pushed for a small opening in the doorway. A little light streamed through and he stepped out of the room with me following. We pressed ourselves against the wall and he peaked around the corner. We ran quickly around the corner and we went back the way we came to the column. He stopped short and headed back around the column. "Where're you going?" I whispered after him. He ignored me and headed for the concession stand. I watched him around the column at the booth as he dipped the ladle in the machine and took the popcorn to the bucket, running back.

"Love me yet?" He asked as he handed me the bucket. I savored the popcorn before turning back to him. "Oh, so very much."

We passed the doors of the Serendipity Theater and reached the end of the way. "What now?"

"God bless the employee's master key." He held it up and placed it in the lock of yet another door, turning the key and opening it. I followed him into the room and I was met with stairs that I wasn't expecting. I knew he was grinning at me even though I could barely see anything in the darkness and had tripped over my own two feet. I groped the wall and I felt his hand support my arm a little as we walked up the steps. The room at the top was lit with a dim blue and a teen I didn't recognize sat with a comic with the film rolling all around him. He dropped his legs that were propped up on the table and stood. "What are you two doing here?"

"I need to use the film reel, man."

"You just started working here. You have to work your way up and you can't bring girls up here, man."

"She's a friend, Mike and I'm not here for the job."

"Chamberlain?"

He nodded. "Chamberlain."

Mike suddenly got very excited. "What do you need?"

"What do you got?" Vaughn and Mike went over to another door and revealed a stack of films. Vaughn marveled for a minute and so did I. Vaughn stooped down and picked out a film. He stood up and handed Mike the reel. Mike stopped the ongoing movie and there were big sighs and groans below in the theater. He put down Vaughn's film and all three of us watched as it began to play. Mickey came up on the screen in black and white jumping from foot to foot in his sailor shorts. We had to smile at how silly in looked and I ate my popcorn as we watched the words come up for the silent film. The audience on the other hand, booed and yelled at the screen and we bolted to the door.

It worked like that for all three of the other movies when all we had to mention was Chamberlain and revenge was easily supported. Training Day had been replaced with several "Tellitubbies" movies. "K-Pax" was replaced by "Barney and Friends", but I believe our worst response came from replacing "From Hell" with "Vanilla Ice's After School Specials."

I laughed with him as we headed for the door and I threw out the empty bucket we had cleaned out after a while. Our feet led us to the exit of the theater and outside to the booth where Gordo stood with the line of Friday night's expected numbers online.

"It's our last stop of the night. Make it a good one, Kayla."

I groaned before tapping on the side of the Plexiglas, interrupting Gordo and his sale. He turned to me and grinned. Vaughn stretched out his leg, and kicked me. I smiled weakly, getting the message.

"Hey, uh…hi Gordo."

"Hi Kayla!"

"Gordo, I was wondering if you'd like to… go see a movie with me." I heard Vaughn chuckle and I stretched out my leg to kick him back to his hiding place out of Gordo's view. People in the line began to shout to know about the holdup.

"I-I can't, Kayla. I've got to work." I took a deep breath and propped up my chin with a palm. I smiled at him and tilted my head a little to the side. "What's more important Gordo? Selling tickets to ungrateful customers… or seeing a movie with…me?" That last part was increasingly difficult to say but from Gordo's ear to ear grin, it was worth it. Gordo stepped eagerly from outside the booth and grabbed my hand as I forced a smile. He looked back at the booth and frowned a little. "What about the booth?"

"I'll watch it!" Vaughn stepped up.

"I don't know…" Gordo answered unsure. I turned to Gordo, who had me squirming under his arm.

"Uh…Gordo, you don't know Vaughn like I do. He's very…"

"Trustworthy," Vaughn jumped in.

Gordo grinned giddily at me. "If you say so." My lips twitched as I forced my self to grin with him.

"Great! Let's go." I pulled him from the booth and we walked back into the theater. Outside I could hear Vaughn shouting that the tickets were free and I looked over my shoulder to see him throwing them to the mob. I moved Gordo quickly out of earshot as he babbled on about leeches. Before I knew it, customers were coming to my rescue, storming through the doors and past the ushers that were meant to check their stubs. They stormed by Gordo and me and I released myself from his arm, pretending to lose him as I jetted for the door.

I felt Vaughn grasp me and I couldn't help grinning. "Nice work, Criminal."

"I try."

I pulled him back into the crowd.

"We're we going?" He asked me.

"I'm going back to the storage room."

"We can't go back in there!" I stopped and turned back to face him. "What do you mean we can't go back in there?"

"We'll get caught for sure."

"What? I can't just leave my clothes in there and I can't go home like this, Vaughn." I turned and journeyed for the door through the crowd. I turned the corner with Vaughn calling after me, trying to grab my arms. "Kayla! Kayla! K-" We both froze when Chamberlain slowed down his tracks and was now face to face with us.

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"I thought I fired you, Trager!" A distraught Mort suddenly looked very angry for a seventeen year old Mathelete.

"Uh…" Vaughn relaxed a little and let go of my arm. "Well you see, there was just a minor technicality with that. You didn't expect me to go home covered in butter did you?"

"Preferably."

Chamberlain looked over to me and shook his head. "You did this, didn't you? How'd you manage to drag Kayla West into your web of deceit?"

"Some sweet lovin'" Vaughn grinned and I looked over at him angered and shocked all in one. He went on anyway relishing the look on our faces. "She may be small, but she's an animal in the sack."

"Vaughn!" I punched him in the arm with my fist and he laughed, clutching his arm.

"That's it. I'm calling Mr. Madison." He shook his head, taking out a cell phone similar to ones I had seen employees that worked the reels with. Vaughn ran over to him, placed a quick hand on his shoulder and stammered. "N-no, Mort, Mort. You can't call Mr. Madison. He'll freak!"

Mort looked up at him, unchanged and professional. "That's the point, Trager."

"No. No…Mort, look."

"You don't have to pay me. I'll give you back your money. I'll fix the films," he said, trying to take the phone from him. Chamberlain moved further away and I stopped him. "Look, Mort. You- you don't want to do this! I mean… you've got…integrity. This whole mess was one big mistake. A mistake that can easily be fixed if you keep quiet about this." I pouted and looked straight into his eyes. "Please?" I stopped for a second and parted his lips a little as if he were going to say something but closed it. Then Mr. Madison's voice came into earshot. "Hello? Hello?"

Mort started up again and pulled the phone to his ear and called to the manager, "Mr. Madison!"

"Dammit Mort!" We pounced on Mort and the criminal grabbed the phone from Mort's hands. "We're really sorry Mort," he said coveting the phone as I held Mort back. "Stop it! Thief!" Vaughn turned to him after turning off the cell phone and held it up in the air as I struggled with Mort.

"Mort, dear assistant manager, I'm not the enemy here." Mort grabbed at the phone and Vaughn shove him back. "Think of how great you'll be once everyone hears you gave away free tickets!"

"You gave away free tickets?" Mort shouted, obviously surprised. Mort shoved forward faster than before and I lost my grip on him and Mort ran towards Vaughn. Vaughn backed away and shouted quickly, "Like Mary Finagler!" He said too late for Mort to stop from falling on Vaughn, but Chamberlain suddenly brightened, giggling. "Mary Finagler." Vaughn shoved Mort to the spot next to him and nodded as he got off the floor. "Mary Finagler. She thinks you're great. A real hero." Mort grinned. "Me?"

Vaughn interrupted. "Well…me."

"But I'm assistant manager."

"Oh, so now it was your idea!" I stood back and smiled as this turned even more into something from a television sitcom.

"If I let you off the hook, promise not to tell Mary Finagler it wasn't my idea?"

"Would I ever let you down Mort?"

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"That went well."

"Yeah, okay."

"What? I thought you were having fun." We stopped our walking.

"And the many, 'are you out of your mind' looks I threw you weren'u hints enough?"

"I must have passed them off as gas." I feigned a laugh and we started walking again.

"You're hilarious, you know that?"

He stopped and pulled me to stop with him.

"There wasn't one point in this whole night when you just wanted to stop and crack up laughing?" I started walking again and he ran to catch up with me.

"Nope."

"Not even when Chamberlain ran around the theater trying to set the screens back? Or when Barney began to sing his beloved theme song and people started pelting him with Milkyways?"

"Nope."

"That's funny because I remember you laughing several times throughout the night."

I was silent for a second, smiling a little. "You're excessively more annoying at night than you are charming." He grinned. "You thought I was charming?"

"I meant descent."

"You said charming."

"Now who's being difficult?" I tilted my head.

He grinned at me, "Oh, did I say difficult? I meant charming."

I bit my lip to stop myself from smiling. "You're parents aren't going to freak about you coming home, sopping in butter with popcorn still in your hair?"

"My mom will be too excited that I've made new friends and I haven't been arrested."

"You do this kind of thing a lot, don't you?" He looked up innocently. "What kind of thing?"

"The kind of thing where someone goes wrong by you and instead of just pinning their underwear up a poll you decide to psychological screw with their heads?"

"Eh. It passes the time. Don't need regrets." We stopped in front of his gate. "Goodnight Kayla."

"Goodnight Vaughn."

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I was walking towards Jett's house, expecting to meet Jett who was probably playing basketball in his driveway. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting Vaughn to be there.

"Uh...hey!" I called out, making my presence known to the dueling boys. Jett stopped playing when he noticed me and struggled for breath while he looked in despair as Vaughn made a basket. Jett sucked it up and smiled as he approached me.

"Hey."

"Hey," I mimicked. Through the corner of one I, I noticed Vaughn turn and walk towards us, looking just as surprised to see me, as I had been to see him. I turned the eye back to Jett who was leaning in to kiss me and whom I pecked quickly before pulling back. I regretted doing that. Jett looked confused for a second, brushed off, even but Vaughn cleared his throat, interrupting.

"Uh yeah…Kayla…this is Vaughn."

"We've met."

Jett asked a little dumbfounded. "Really?"

" Yeah, really." Vaughn answered. "But, you know, when Jett was telling me about his girlfriend, I had no idea it was you."

"Surprise, surprise. So how did you guys meet?"

"I just got back from shooting and came out here to ball when I saw Vaughn." I nodded slowly and stopped when he asked me how I met Vaughn. "Uh…well, pretty much the same way you did, only without the physical exertion."

"Jett," Sheriff Wood interrupted us as he came out of the house. "Phone call." He went inside the house and Jett excused himself, following.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?" Vaughn turned to me.

"What difference would it have made?"

"It would've saved a lot of time…" He mumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if you had told me you had a boyfriend I wouldn't be standing here listening to you justify yourself while I for the first time regret meeting you."

"You don't like regretting things, do you?" He gave me his response with a glare in the corner of his eye. "Some things just can't help to be regretted." With that left, leaving me to feel, just so peachy.

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If I babbled a lot/bit, it's only because there was a lot of Lorelei in 10/30's Gilmore Girls and I've just finished watching my taped episode.

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