Chapter 10: Ahoy Annoyed
"I can't believe they don't have Street Fighter!" Richie continues, much to the annoyance to his friends. Eddie and Beverly's heads go back as if in pure agony. The group is navigating the streets of Hawkins on their bikes, following behind the bus that takes most people to Starcourt Mall. Of course, they could have just taken the bus as well, but they were concerned that Richie's bitching or annoying imitations would get them kicked off the vehicle for sure.
"I mean, there should be a law in place to ensure that every type of video game is in an arcade."
"SHUT UP RICHIE!" Stan snaps as loudly as he can. It's so loud that some of the patrons on the bus they're following turn around to see what is happening.
"W-Who cares," Bill says.
"I care, what the hell am I supposed to do in the shit-hole town anyways."
"Hang out at the mall like normal kids," Beverly says, as the club bikes up a slight hill towards the large parking lot of the shopping mall.
A large tan and burgundy building stands before the group, with the large neon pink and blue sign of Starcourt Mall above the arched entrance. The Losers Club had never seen anything taller than a 2-storey building in Derry; this place gigantic to them and the anticipation of what was beyond those brass doors got Richie to shut up and the rest of them racing towards the entrance. Beverly is the first one to park her bike at the bike racks and head inside.
"B-Bev!" Bill calls. "Wait up!"
"Well come on then!" she shouts in excitement. She can't wait for the slowpokes to catch up, she pushes through the doors and enters into the air-conditioned building.
While the cool air was a nice relief, it paled in comparison to what she was seeing. By the time the boys caught up, they were completely enthralled by everything around them.
The kids look on in absolute amazement. Their heads turn in every direction, trying to take everything in. Nothing like this ever actually existed in Derry. It was all so exciting. The lights, the sounds, the smells, the displays, and all the people walking about, giving in to 1980s consumerism. From The Gap to JC Penny, from RadioShack to a photo place called Flash Studio; half of these stores none of the Club had ever heard of before. It was all completely spectacular and the desire to see everything had them ready to go.
"Oh man, this is the place to go," Stan says, completely floored by the number of stores on the multi-levelled building. "I didn't think you could fit so many stores in one place."
"And then some," Eddie agrees. The asthmatic of the group was the only one with the sense and the foresight to grab a map on the way in. He opens it and the friends gather around to see all the different places.
"H-Holy shit, they have a movie theatre in t-this place," Bill says, unable to control his stutter due to his excitement.
"There's another arcade here too," Eddie adds, pointing to a location on the map. "Maybe they have Street Fighter and that will shut you up."
"What the hell is Zales?" Stan asks.
"Is Sam Goody's a person or a store?" Beverly asks.
"There's a Waldenbooks here!" Ben says in excitement. "Let's go in there first."
Some older girls who are wearing large, brightly patterned spandex outfits and carrying gym bags over their shoulders walk past the group, causing Richie's bespectacled eyes to follow and he could feel himself drooling over them.
"I'm going wherever they're going," he says. All his friends roll their eyes in annoyance. He tries to flatten his wildly long hair and adjust his glasses to make himself appear sexy or whatever he thought could pass as attractive.
"Stop ogling the girls, let's do something else!" Eddie insists.
However, Beverly has found what she's looking for on the map.
"Well, you guys do whatever you want, but I'm going for some ice cream," she says. This was a luxury that she was never given growing up. Her father was always too cheap to treat his daughter to anything; while her foster family sometimes bought it they attempted to keep the intake of sugar to a minimum. So, when allowed to splurge on this cool treat, she took it. She hurries over to the store known as Scoops Ahoy in the food court, a typical 80s hang out with the poor attempts to create some kind of gimmick or theme to attract customers.
The parlour is designed to resemble a ship or a place by the sea, with portholes and wheels from sailing ships, and as the red-headed loser looks inside, she can see that the staff behind the ice cream counter are dressed like sailors to go along with the theme. A sullen-looking girl, probably a few years older than Beverly, stands behind the counter wearing this uniform that consisted of a white and blue striped shirt under a blue vest with a red scarf underneath the collar, a blue skirt, a sailor's hat with AHOY across it. She hardly cracks any kind of facial expression other than annoyance. It's clear that she hates her job and wants to be anywhere else.
Just as Beverly is about to go inside, she notices that Richie and Eddie followed her, not exactly the people she wants to be seen with right now.
"Hello Mama," Richie says, gazing at the girl behind the counter. "Screw Jazzercise, where's she been all my life?"
Both Eddie and Bev roll their eyes again.
"Can I please go first?" Beverly begs. "This was my idea plus I don't want her spitting in my ice cream because I just happen to be friends with you. I also want to be able to enjoy a cone for when she slaps the glasses off your face for being such a creep."
"She won't do anything once I turn on the charm." He licks his hand to flatten his hair and adjusts himself further in the window of the store, in clear view of everyone. It was clear to Richie's friends that the guy has no shame and is not self-conscious in the least. The bespectacled loser also adjusts the crotch of his pants as if to emphasize that what he had was amazing. This mortifies Eddie and Beverly.
"What charm?" Eddie sputters. "You're nothing but a frog-faced dweeb in glasses and no filter."
"She's going to call security on him, I'd better get my ice cream now," Bev says, going inside and getting in line.
When the Lovey-Dovey couple finally leaves while sharing a milkshake with two straws, Beverly walks up to place her order.
"What do you want?" the girl in the sailor's outfit asks, chewing her gum and looking more annoyed with each passing customer. Bev swallows anxiously as the girl's eyes glare at her, she didn't want to be on the employee's bad side. Her customer service skills left a great deal to be desired.
"Just a small vanilla cone, please… uh…" Beverly reads the name tag. " Robin, I don't need anything on it."
"Makes my job easier, that'll be 2.50," is the response.
The red-head hands over the cash and then Robin goes to scoop the ice cream. As the girl of the Losers Club stands and waits patiently, she can see the employee gazing at the redhead a lot longer than would be necessary.
What is it about these people? Beverly thinks to herself. What did I do to deserve these stares? Am I seriously a freakshow to everyone?
"Here, have a nice day," Robin says in a monotone voice, handing Bev her cone.
"Thank you," she says politely. "Have a nice day too.
"Whatever."
After she accepts the treat, Bev hears the girl mutter.
"Translated a secret code, infiltrated a top-secret lab and survived Russian torture and its explosion, and the fire couldn't take this crappy place with it?"
Whatever that meant, Beverly takes a few licks of her cone and goes to stand out of the way until she hears.
"Hey there sweetheart," Richie says, putting on his best smile and leaning in close. "I'll take a double scoop of Rocky Road and your phone number."
"Are you seriously trying to hit on me?" the girl behind the counter asks in disbelief, raising her eyebrows. The kid probably hadn't even hit puberty yet and he thinks he's the cat's meow. He did look a lot like Mike Wheeler though, minus the coke-bottle glasses and the general perverted personae.
"Depends on whether you like it or not. I could take you out for dinner and something other than ice cream for dessert."
The girl just snaps her gum at the trash-mouth. She admired the kid's guts to try something, but he was worse than Steve with the pick-up lines and general charisma… much, much worse. "I'm not interested, and customers are not allowed to lean on the counter."
"Richie get out of the way before she calls the cops on you," Eddie insists, shoving his friend to the side. "I'll take anything that is non-dairy and low in fat."
"This… is an ice cream store, everything in here is made with dairy,"
"You don't have anything with fruit in it like sorbet?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know what that is?" Robin snaps, becoming more annoyed by the minute.
"Well, it's a substitute for people who have allergies to dairy. Most stores are required to have some sort of alternative for anyone who is lactose-intolerant."
"How about I give you just the cone as a substitute?" she glares at this short and wiry kid who will most likely have trouble getting laid in high school. Probably because he wouldn't let anyone near him.
"How many calories are in your cones?"
The girl lets out an exasperated sigh and turns away. She opens the frosted glass window behind the counter and sticks her head in.
When she can't find what she's looking for, she slams it shut and goes into the back. Within a minute or so she pulls a tall guy with brown hair and eyes out of the back, dressed in a similar sailor-themed outfit, but the shirt was dark blue and he wasn't wearing the hat.
"What the hell?"
"It's your turn Dingus, I can't take it anymore. You're the babysitter, now deal with these freaks. I'm taking my break."
"But I haven't even finished mine yet..."
"Sucks for you, now scoop!" she insists before disappearing into the back of the parlour.
But apparently, the guy wasn't done as he opened the window to yell back at her.
"Just because we've been through a lot together doesn't mean you and push me around like this."
The three Losers club members see the middle finger appear in the window before it's shut again.
"Bitch," he hisses.
With a deep sigh, the guy turns to look at the customers in front of him.
When Beverly looks at him, she immediately notices that he is a very attractive person. She reads that his name is Steve. His strong, lean body and slick styled hair give off an air of confidence, and his dark eyes seem to hide some kind of secret. He also looked rather vulnerable as if he'd been hurt in the past. She feels her heart pound a little harder and she shyly looks away. He was way too old for her anyway.
Richie speaks first: "You are so lucky to work with that Mamacita,"
The guy looks at Richie as if he's lost his mind. It was clear to Steve that the geek in glasses was trying way too hard to be a ladies-man, something that Dustin Henderson learned was not his style either… and evidently wasn't how own style either. At least, not in the real world.
"She's not your type Dude, not by a long shot," Steve says.
"Oh, I'm anyone's type, chicks dig the glasses."
"Said no woman ever," Beverly cuts in, trying to shut this down before it becomes any worse. She gazes apologetically at the cute guy behind the counter. He was not hard to look at, despite the blue sailor suit and hat which made him look like a knock off of Donald Duck. "Just order your ice cream so we can go." She looks apologetically at the guy and he shrugs.
"Double scoop of Rocky Road, and anything low-fat for Eddie Spaghetti here," Richie says.
"I told you never to call me that!" the smallest of the group hisses.
Steve just smirks at the teasing, like Dustin and the other kids, in fact, the kid in glasses was the spitting image of Mike, but more obnoxious. He rings up the boys and goes to scoop their ice cream. He decides to fill the awkward silence
"You kids aren't from around here, are you?" he asks.
"W-We're from Derry," Beverly stammers, deciding to answer the guy's question.
"Oh, so you guys were part of that evacuation project? Why was that again?"
The three kids look at each other nervously and Steve notices the shift in their expressions. He knew that look… he'd had it himself and the rest of their group that knew about the Demogorgons and Mind Flayers had it too. These kids had seen some shit. Could it be the same? It was possible, but how?
"Poisoned water supply," Eddie answers quickly.
"That must suck… the re-locating and everything."
"We don't mind," Beverly says. "We'd rather be anywhere else than Derry."
"Seems to be mutual in small towns like this," the eldest of the group agrees. "Small towns hide a lot of secrets."
These words send chills up all their spines, and it wasn't from the ice cream. Steve hands over the ice cream.
"Guess I'll see you around," he says.
"Thanks," Richie says, his tone of voice and attitude has completely shifted. Both he and Eddie take their cones and walk away, a lot slower than before. Beverly steals one last glance at Steve, wondering what he meant by that cryptic sentence. Was Hawkins like Derry? Did it have secrets too?
Once the kids are gone, Robin opens the windows to stare out at Steve. She'd heard the conversation, but she wasn't thinking much of it, despite what she already knew about Hawkins as a whole.
"Add a few new kids to that family of your Dingus?" she teases. "You should open up your own Nanny agency."
"Just shut up and let me take the rest of my break."
A/N: Please follow and review.