It was about 3 am when Kenny pulled into her driveway after dropping Clyde off. He glanced back at Marina and Cartman who were both fast asleep leaning on each other.

He laughed a little before turning the car off and getting out. He opened her door and leaned over her, flicking Cartman on the forehead, "Ey!" He groaned, reaching up to put his hand on it, his eyes fluttered open slightly. Marina moved and opened her eyes.

"Get out fatass. You're home."

"I'm not fat anymore!" He grumbled as he opened his door and stumbled out.

Kenny grabbed Marina and lifted her out of the car. She stirred a little and buried her face into his chest. He hated the way it warmed his insides.

Cartman swayed side to side as he tried to get the key in the lock.

"I can't get it in the hole." He groaned in annoyance.

"That's what she said." Kenny chuckled.

"Fuck you Kenny." He finally got it in and unlocked it.

He stumbled up the stairs and Kenny closed the door softly, locking it behind him.

He carried Marina up the steps and into her room.

Kenny was so exhausted, he figured he would just go and sleep on Cartman's floor as soon as he laid her down.

He placed her gently on her bed and she opened her eyes weakly.

She fumbled her body around as he tried to pull the covers down under her.

"Can you take my boots off?" She slurred.

He sighed before untying the tops of them. It took more effort than he imagined as he tried to pull them from her feet. When she was finally free she moved her feet and shoved them under her covers.

He pulled the blankets over her and she wiggled to get comfy.

"Goodnight Mar." He whispered, standing upright.

He started to walk away when her hand shot out and grabbed wrist weakly.

"What's up?" He asked as he turned around to look down at her.

She was squinting up at him, "Stay with me."

"Not a good idea sweetie."

"But you always do. You sleep on my floor."

"Cartman has a room here too. I should probably sleep in there."

"No. Stay with me. In my bed. Hold me."

He sighed sadly, reaching down and brushing her hair out of her face, "I can't do that Marina. You know why."

"Just lay with me then. I share a bed with Wendy and Bebe all the time. Friends do that. No sex. Promise."

He groaned, "Fine. But stay on your side because I don't want you tempting me."

"I promise." She mumbled sleepily.

He kicked his shoes off before laying on top of her covers. He grabbed the comforter and made sure to stay above the blankets under it. Closing his eyes he faced the wall.

"Night Kenny." She whispered.

"Night Marina."


He woke up to his foot being grabbed. Jolting so sit upward and turning to see who grabbed him.

His body relaxed when he saw Cartman.

Cartman held his finger to his lips, "Hurry! Her dad is mad that we got here late and I heard him tell my mom he was going to wake her up to talk as soon as he's done with breakfast. If he sees you in her bed he's gonna be pissed!" Cartman whispered quickly.

Kenny scrambled up and half awake he grabbed his shoes as he walked quietly to Cartman's room. He closed the door behind him and Cartman sat down on his bed.

"I'm going back to sleep. I woke up to pee and heard him when I came out. I wanted to make sure you weren't in there before coming back." He whispered as he pulled his covers back.

"Thanks." Kenny nodded before laying down on the rug beside Cartman's bed. The same rug he had spent many nights sleeping on after playing xbox with him, ever since she left.

A pillow dropped onto his head and he sleepily grabbed it before shoving it under his head.

And then a blanket fell on him. Kenny chuckled before covering himself up.

"I was shocked to find you dressed." He laughed.

"We are friends again. Just friends."

"Good. It made me sad to see you guys so mad at each other." Kenny furrowed his brows at the sincere and sad tone in Cartman's voice.

"Thanks Cartman." Kenny closed his eyes.


MARINA POV

Marina jumped awake from her sleep at the sound of the door slamming against her wall. The light's flipped on and she groaned, closing her eyes tightly. She rolled her head on the pillow and looked toward it with one eye closed. She felt her stomach bottom out when she saw the look on her father's face. He was standing in the middle of her room with his arms crossed and a scowl on his red face.

"Marina!" He snapped loudly. She winced at the noise and closed her eyes again.

"Don't you fucking think about it! Look at me! Now!" He shouted.

She let out a dry sob before looking over at him again, squinting in his direction, "It's bright in here." She whispered weakly.

"Is it? I had no fucking idea! Your eyes hurting?"

"Yes."

"I bet!"

"Can you stop talking so loud?"

"Let me think about it for a sec… NO! You know what, Marina? I know your mother didn't give a shit about you being out and drinking with your friends. But I am completely done and over your shit! You want to act like an adult? Then you will start being treated like one. You're going to start working at the store and earning your own money." His booming 'fatherly' voice was unwavering, and he didn't budge from his angry stance.

"What?" She asked weakly.

"You fucking heard me. Don't play stupid. I have lost 3 employees recently. That charity case I placed for you fucking walked out after a fight. And I had to fire the other guy too. And that.. Girl.. that wouldn't leave me alone, I had to fire her because I am in a committed relationship now."

"Wow dad, didn't know you knew how to commit to a woman."

"Shut the hell up! I am your father and I am over you treating me like shit! Your mom was the one cheating the entire time! I knew about it, that's why I started. And I'm fed the fuck up with you thinking you can run me. I am the dad. ME! I am responsible for making sure you grow up and act like a decent fucking human being. You are going to start learning how to be a responsible adult! I'm serious! You want to do adult shit. Then you're going to start working at the store."

"No thanks, I'll work somewhere else. Like I did before."

"Nope. You're working with me. Or the car is being taken away."

"I'll find another ride."

"No. You will not. You will come work for me or I am grounding you. I am about a hair away from getting a security system and installing it around the perimeter of this damn house. You will come to work for me. You will earn your own money. Or you are going to sit in this room every day after school and I will make sure that none of your friends come over and that you don't leave. Try me Marina. I am serious!"

"Fine! I will work for you. Jesus. Can you stop yelling now?"

"Yes." He turned and walked out of the room, but not before slamming her door.


Marina walked into the store and headed for the back. She stepped up to her father's office.

"Hey dad." She sighed, rubbing her hand down her face, she still felt like shit from the hangover.

"Hey sweetie. Thank you for being on time."

"Did I have a choice?"

"No." He smirked, laughing a little bit to himself.

"Sooo. What do I do?" Marina asked as she sat down on the chair in front of it.

"Well, I obviously will handle your paperwork. I just need your driver's license to scan. I already know all of the other information about you, I just need you to sign the bottom before you leave tonight. I am heading out for dinner with Lianne at 5. The shift manager will show you around. You're going to cover whatever needs covered, so he will be showing you how to do register and stocking, how to prepare for closing, and what you do after the store closes."

"Sure whatever."

"Okay." He glanced at the clock, "He should be at one of the registers right now, just go find him."

"Who is it?"

"You'll see." He smiled knowingly.

Marina eyed him carefully, "It's not that pervert Collin is it?"

"Nope, Collin was fired for fighting with Stuart."

"Kay." She sighed.

"Oh here is your badge, I just printed out your name for it. Just take the sticky off the back and place it on there. Grab one of the vests hanging by the doors on your way out there."

"Okay." She nodded, grabbing the badge and name sticker.

Marina shoved her arms through the vest and headed toward the front of the store.


As soon as she made it to the registers she walked around the front of them. Two boys were at them, and shockingly one of them was Kenny.

"Kenny?" She asked slowly.

"Hey loser." He winked.

"What are you doing here?"

"I didn't tell you I worked for your dad now?"

"Um.. No?" She answered, eyeing the other guy who was now looking up from playing on his phone.

"Hi." He grinned widely, "Asher."

"Hi. Marina."

"Your dad owns this store?"

"Yep." She nodded, "Are you the shift manager?"

He laughed, "Nah, that's Ken." He gestured toward his register with his thumb.

"No fuckin' way?!" Marina's jaw dropped in surprise.

Kenny was smiling widely, crossing his arms over his chest. She just now realized that he was wearing a bright red vest instead of a black one.

"Watch your language Marina, we are in a work environment."

"Fuck you." She laughed.

"Sorry, I seem to remember an agreement not to do that anymore." He winked.

Asher choked on the water he was taking a drink of.

"What the hell?"

"Hey he can cuss but I can't?" She teased.

"Mind your own business Ash."

"Yes sir." Asher nodded quickly.

"Ohh, I bet you love that." Marina laughed.

"Sure do, but I will love it more when I hear you have to say it." Kenny winked again.

"You're ridiculous." She placed a hand on her hip and shook her head.

"Are you ready for your training?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Shut up Kenneth. I am not saying "yes sir" to you."

"Why is it so hard now? You've done it before when I wasn't even your superior."

"You're not funny right now. Just show me what I have to do. I'm already being forced to work here."

"Chill out babe, we will have fun working together. Promise."

"Bet you will." Asher mumbled.

"Asher. Do your job. Shut up."

Asher nodded, "I don't have anything to do right now."

"Then play on your phone until someone walks in. Marina, follow me." He stepped away from his register and started walking toward the food section.

Marina followed behind him as he went over what to do about cleaning certain areas during work hours, stocking when things get to a certain number, how to place them on the shelves. She couldn't believe how professional and adult he sounded as he ran down the list of things to do.

Finally they reached the register again. Asher was ringing someone out, he nodded at them as they passed.

Kenny approached the register he was at earlier and put a code in, "We will give you a code tonight. That will be what you use to sign into the register. It will give you the total, and then you enter if they are giving you cash or card. If you choose cash, you'll put what amount was given to you, and then it will tell you the amount to return to them. At the end of the night I will count your cash to make sure it matches the screen. Normal store stuff. The system is pretty self-explanatory and very easy. We use the far register, 5, for signing in and out. You'll sign out for break and sign back in when you come back. You'll get a half hour lunch break. If you have to go to the bathroom, just let me know so I can cover for you, and you cannot take more than 5 minutes in the bathroom. Signing in and out will be easy, your father set up your name already and the password is the last 4 of your social. Your name is just your initials."

"Do I need to sign in today?"

"No, your dad said he was taking care of it when he walked in."

"Did you know it was me coming? Because he was all secretive that you were going to be my manager."

"I knew it was you. And I told him to let it be a surprise that I was your manager."

"Why?"

"To see your face when you realized it was me that was going to be bossing you around." He grinned.

"You're stupid."

"That's no way to talk to your manager Marina." He whispered as he leaned toward me.

"Does Theresa still work here?"

"Yes. She changes from first to second shift depending on her class times."

"Still fuckin'?" She asked casually.

Kenny narrowed his eyes at her, "Why would you like to know?"

"Wouldn't that be against the rules since you're her boss?"

"Does that mean I shouldn't be your boss then? We have fucked. Plenty of times." He smirked.

"But we aren't anymore. So it won't matter at work."

"No. I'm not fucking her anymore. She has a boyfriend she's super in love with at the moment."

"Your heart breakin' over it?"

"There's only one girl who has ever had the ability to break my heart."

"Oh?"

"Yep." He chuckled lightly, "And suddenly, the opportunity to boss her around has fallen right into my lap. I'm pretty excited about it."

"I thought we were friends again." Marina stuck out her bottom lip.

Kenny reached up and poked it back into her mouth, "Put that lip back in there. No pouting at work. Or around me." He leaned down, lowering his voice to a whisper, "Makes me wanna bite it. And that would just ruin all of our re-friendship progress."

He stood back up and smiled proudly.

"I kinda hate you."

"I still kinda hate you too. Cause you broke my heart and all."

"Are you about to make me do the dirty jobs nobody wants to do? Isn't that like a form of abusing your power?"

"I might." He shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest, "And your dad loves the shit out of me. I also was informed by him that you working here is a form of your punishment. So.. I think he might be happy to see you being punished by doing the work everyone hates doing."

Marina frowned up at him, narrowing her eyes, "I thought we were supposed to be best friends again."

"I'm not allowed to play favoritism."

"But you're allowed to play the opposite?"

"Your daddy would love me playing the opposite. You can complain if you want to." He shrugged with a smug grin on his face.

"Maybe I'll tell my 'daddy' that his precious shift manager has banged his daughter."

"Go ahead. He tells me all the time that I'm the best and hardest working employee the store has ever seen. Why do you think I became a shift manager so quickly?" He quirked a brow.

"He would be pissed."

"He might be. But he won't fire me. He may just make you work for the other second shift manager on the days I'm off. He's a total bitch to work for, just an F.Y.I."

"Wait, we will always be working the same shifts?"

"Yes, because we are both in coinciding sports. You have cheer practices the same nights I have football practices during the season. So he told me he would go ahead and give you the same shifts as me. I think he also knows that the other guy is a huge dick with small man syndrome and he may be punishing you by making you work here, but I think he's trying to make sure you don't cause a scene that he has to deal with."

"You two done flirting or do I have to hear this all night?" Asher cut in.

"We aren't flirting!" She snapped at him.

"Who's flirting?" Her dad asked as he walked toward them.

"Nobody. We were talking closely and Asher must have taken it the wrong way." Kenny answered in a cool tone.

Her dad laughed loudly, "These two have been best friends for a while Asher, they fight like a married couple sometimes, and other times they fight like siblings. Just part of who they are. Kenny used to spend tons of time at our house hanging out."

"I bet that's what it was." Asher laughed.

Her father shot him a glare, "That's not funny. Kenneth may be the town man whore but he respects my daughter. Watch your mouth."

"Exactly." Kenny nodded.

Marina rolled her eyes.

"How's the first day going sweetie?"

"Fine." She shrugged.

"Marina is doing pretty good so far. I've shown her all her stuff. I was about to set up her register code."

"Oh I forgot to tell you, I set it up already when I created her shift login. I'll text you both the code. I'm about to head out for my date. Do you need anything before I go?"

"No thanks Mr. Morrison. We are all good here."

"Okay. Well have a good night you three. As usual, if you need me, give me a call."

"Will do, sir." Kenny nodded.

The store seemed to get busy with Sunday night shoppers starting around 5:30 . Kenny spent his time standing beside Marina as he helped her with the register. The last person finally walked out and Kenny locked the doors at 9.

"So we have an hour to get the store ready for the morning. I'll count the money at the registers and I want Asher to walk around and check off what has less than 5 on the shelves for the morning shifters to restock. Marina, grab the big dust mop from the back and sweep the floors moving toward the front, and when you're done I'll show you how to throw it away." Kenny instructed.

They nodded and walked toward the back of the store.

"Sooo.. Kenny huh? How long have you guys been friends?" Asher asked as they walked down the open area in the middle of the store.

"Since like 5th grade. So how do you guys manage to get all of this shit done with only 3 people on shift?"

"Well usually there are supposed to be 4. Everyone is chipping in to do basically everything at the moment. Lately it's been just two at night since your dad had to let some people go. So it's been kind of a mess. We have had to work until 11 a few times. Your dad has been having to also help a lot. It's not a giant store, but it's much closer than the bigger stores and a lot of people prefer to buy local groceries so we stay pretty busy which is hard on two people. Kenny usually calls your dad in if it gets too crazy. We usually have someone stocking during the shift, but it's not been that easy, obviously. But both of the shifts have a system down where they are coming in an hour before open and working their ass off to replace what was bought before we leave at night. So one of us goes around and takes a document of what they need to replace in the morning, that way it goes faster."

"How long have you worked here?"

"For about 3 months now."

"I see."