Humf I have so many ROTBTD/ROTBTFD stories in the works so obviously I start getting into a new fandom. I stumbled on The Lunar Chronicles when I was reading Sailor Moon fanfiction, and obviously because I live for modern aus, I found Marissa Meyer's story "To the Gentleman in the Back". I loved it, and thought, I want to read more of her work. Then I found out she was a published author, and- yass. I started reading Cinder and got hooked on the rest of the series. That was a miracle because I'm really picky about what I read (namely, the characters have to be flawed and diverse...im tired of the same old white princessy types). But this series, oh, it doesn't disappoint. Also, modern aus are my lifeblood. That's basically all I ever write/read. Obviously, then, I had to write my own modern!au. And because I have a death wish, I'm writing another multichapter! ha-ha...ha...
Rated T for bad language, and suggestive content, do keep that in mind, I'm not a very censored person in my writing.
Anyway this is my first time writing these characters, I hope I haven't butchered them that much. Also, I'll try and update soon-ish...but college application time is coming up so I might take forever... I ramble too much, and no one will read this anyway, so... if anyone's got recommendations for good modern!au Lunar Chronicles fic hit me up. I'm super picky tho so I have high standards for fic lol...hence why I never read much fic anymore... urghhh
The fluorescent lights above the ancient register are so dim and flickery, it's no longer easy to be alert when they're on. Cinder finds herself falling asleep more often than anything, and it's easy to- the tiny mini-market hardly gets any business as it is, and when business is slow (and it always is- Walmart is much more popular) Cinder's head always dips down and she snaps back up in an instant. That much should be expected, since she's practically the only employee in the place and the market stays open twenty four hours, so she usually takes every shift possible and hardly gets any free time.
Really, when she says she's practically the only employee- she's the only of two employees. And she had to twist her boss's arm to even employ the other employee, who happened to be a bubbly girl named Iko, Cinder's best friend.
"Cinder!" Iko comes out from the aisles holding several boxes of detergent soap, a grin on her face (a grin too big for one in the morning). "Have you been falling asleep on the job again?"
Cinder groans. "This doesn't count as a job. This is just Adri, telling me I owe her for the 'love and support' I received as a child, so that's why she has me working in her business expenditure." She lays her chin on her fist. "Also, she paid for my prosthetics and I have to pay her back somehow."
Iko snorts, setting her detergent boxes down on the conveyer belt next to the register. "Your adoptive mother really sucks."
"Thanks, Iko," Cinder says, voice dripping with sarcasm. "That's news to me."
"I mean, it doesn't seem like there was much love and support if you ask me- you still turned out bitter, cynical, and an all-around fun-sucking robot."
"Oh, yeah, make fun of the disabled girl," Cinder grumbles when Iko pokes Cinder's prosthetic hand. "And I'm not a robot. I'm just missing some natural parts."
"And you wear gloves all the time, like you're ashamed of it," Iko points out, running her fingers over the thick brown gardening gloves that go up to Cinder's elbows.
"Maybe because I'm tired of being the butt of everyone's jokes?" Cinder tosses Iko a dry look. "I've lost count of how many times people tell me 'that must've cost you an arm and a leg'."
"That's ridiculous. They should say, 'that must've cost you a hand and a foot.'."
Cinder groans again.
"Hey, that was a good one. Come on, admit it. There's no ashamed-ness of your missing limbs," Iko says. "You don't even consider yourself disabled. I mean, you don't even use your handicap parking permit."
"One, I don't have a car, and two, Adri made me get that handicap parking permit so that she could get good parking everywhere," Cinder grumbles.
"But you move so easily, it's like those prosthetics are part of you," Iko shoots Cinder a dazzling smile.
Cinder eyes Iko. "Don't you have a detergent display to put up?"
Iko's smile falls off her face, but only for a split second as she gathers all her detergent boxes again. "This is the social highlight of my week," she announces as she bounds through the empty store towards an aisle at the back. "Putting up boxes in a twenty-four hour mini-mart that no one shops at, for horrible pay and even worse coworkers." Her voice grows faint as she's hidden by racks of chips and refrigerators of beer.
Cinder can't help it, she laughs a little. Iko is the only good part of the job, she supposes. That, and anybody would be willing to partake in a job where they don't do much work, but then again, they get no customers either; other than the occasional drunk party and teens with not-quite-convincing fake IDs. Sometimes, they'll get little kids who try and steal candies, and that's the most interesting thing that's happened, ever.
Maybe anyone else would like a job where they do nothing, but Cinder just gets restless. She's nineteen, been out of high school for a year (same as Iko, they're childhood friends after all) and she hasn't applied to any colleges. She's been saving, sure, but most of her pitiful paycheck goes towards her shitty apartment's rent, water and electricity bills; and the rest goes to Adri as prosthetic payment- Cinder still has another seven thousand dollars to pay off. She's no fool; she knows that will take years unless she can come up with another way to get that much money.
(And no, she refuses to take Iko's advice of getting a sugar daddy/becoming a stripper and/or prostitute)
Cinder picks up an outdated magazine that's only there for show because it's been years since Britney Spears's first marriage, flipping idly through the pages to pass the time. More often than ever, in the early morning hours, she and Iko will talk and make jokes, and that's the one perk that comes with Cinder's job. Because she works such long hours, so does Iko. And Iko doesn't have to, but she gives part of her own paycheck not reserved for bills to Cinder as help towards paying off her debt.
Cinder appreciates it even though she tells Iko not to, and sometimes Iko will treat them out to a lunch that doesn't come from a gas station refrigerator because she spends her few spare dollars on little; she's made an oath to Cinder (completely unnecessary, and Cinder had begged her not to) that Iko wouldn't take college classes unless Cinder did, too. Cinder pretends like that doesn't bother her, because they're best friends, but she does secretly like it that Iko is as unorganized as herself, because there's a strange comfort that comes from not being alone in anything.
Cinder's dozing off again, her head lolling close to falling on the conveyer belt, but then a sharp tingling of bells breaks through her slumber and jolts her awake. Wait, sharp tingling of bells- that can only mean someone's actually entered the store, and Cinder knows that no sane person will be up at one in the morning, so she just hurriedly looks around and hopes that the drunkard who comes in is not a creep.
Cinder only catches a glimpse of a dark hood as the person turns down an aisle, and her suspicions are instantly on alert. Judgmental, maybe she was- but she'd seen enough movies about robbery and juvenile delinquent kids to know that dark hooded figures are not good.
She stays casual about it, though. If there's something she hates, it's being judged on appearances. One thing she can judge on, though, is actions- as in, why the hell this guy is doing, at one in the morning, in a run-down mini mart.
Cinder can hear Iko's off-key humming, so no murder has occurred, or maybe Iko is just so loud in singing that she hadn't heard the door open at all. Cinder looses sight of the hooded figure and starts scanning around before she jumps, seeing that same figure looming in front of her.
To her surprise, the figure is a boy. Well, not a boy per say, more of a man. A man with sharp cheekbones, dark eyes, and thick black hair that gives Cinder an apologetic smile. And that's not something she gets often- smiles. Especially not at one in the morning. (Iko excluded. Iko never stops smiling).
"I'm sorry to bother you," the man starts saying, sheepishly, pushing his hands into his pockets in a way that isn't even unsettling or threatening in any manner, so Cinder slightly relaxes. "But I can't find any other employees, and I just wanted to know- do you sell Funyuns?"
Cinder can't help but let a small laugh escape her lips, because it's so boyishly cute. "Yeah," she says, clearing her throat, probably still with a goofy smile, "Aisle three. Next to the Cheetos."
"Thanks," the guy says, and he comes back a few minutes later with four bags of bright yellow Funyuns, as well as a water bottle that he sets on the conveyer belt.
It could be worse, Cinder decides as she gives him a quick grin and sets to ringing up his items. At least he wasn't trying to buy beer like some beer-gutted alcoholic. Then again, he didn't look any older than being in his twenties, and he seemed sober.
And, if she was being honest, he was kinda cute. Not that she was looking, of course.
"This must get boring."
Cinder looks up as she's bagging his chips. "Hmm?"
"Graveyard shifts," the guy clarifies, looking slightly embarrassed. "I used to work a lot of graveyard shifts. I have irregular sleeping patterns." He tilts his head to the side, looking at Cinder closely.
Cinder smiles but doesn't look him in the eye. "Maybe a little." She hands him two bags, all full of his purchases as he fishes out a wallet. "That'll be fourteen twelve."
The man hands her a twenty, along with another smile, accepting the receipt she held out but not the extra money. "Keep the change."
Cinder's mouth falls open in a very unattractive way, she's sure. "But- that's practically six dollars." Six dollars was a lot of money in retrospect. Spare money that could go towards her debt.
The man gives her a funny look. "Uh- yeah. It's not much, but, you can keep it anyways," he says, looking at the front of the store.
"Oh. Well, thanks," Cinder says, and then she slips that extra (almost) six dollars into the cash register. "Have a nice night." And then she allows herself to look into his eyes and smile, and she hardly has much reason to smile, especially at someone who was really cute. Something flipped in her stomach when he smiled back.
"You too." And then he was gone, with an unexplainably large quantity of onion chips and one water bottle. That was never explained. Cinder watches him leave.
Then she's back to the old magazine, with that one encounter leaving her too energized to sleep again.
"Oh my God I have a new level of respect for you, Adri left me a packet of instructions on how to put up the detergent display- like she'll actually pay attention to how it looks. Or anyone else for that matter," Iko rambles as she tosses a stack of paper onto the register. "We need to replace the lightbulbs above aisle four, by the way. It's out completely."
Cinder shrugs. "Adri won't notice the lightbulbs, probably. The furthest she walks into the store is the front door."
"True- are you going to leave early?" Iko asks. "I could handle it here, and you need sleep. Besides, you managed the whole place yourself last week when I had to take the day off."
"Yes, and we had a record total of five customers in the same hour. Iko, I'm fine," Cinder waves away Iko's concern. "I was thinking, anyway, of talking to Adri. It's unrealistic to expect me to spend every minute of every day in this store; maybe I can convince her to hire more employees."
"But more employees means more people she has to pay. Ergo, we get less money," Iko points out, and Cinder winces.
"That's true." Cinder picks at at the cuticle of one fingernail. "But maybe if we had less hours, I could take on another part-time job. Just to help with my debt, and the apartment."
Iko's contemplating this, Cinder can tell, by the way her face scrunches up. "Maybe you're right," she says, finally, with a smile, "And maybe I can get a job as a waitress or something! That way I can finally meet people. Maybe I'll even get a boyfriend. I mean, it's not like cute guys come waltzing into here."
Cinder's elbow slips off the register and it hits the counter with a large clang. "Oof!"
Iko giggles. "You look really spooked, Cinder. Hey, are you blushing? You never blush. Sometimes, it's like you're actually like a robot because you don't like showing emotion."
"I just got startled, that's all," Cinder defends herself, but she's probably still red and thinking about the cute guy from earlier, which is not what she does. Cinder makes it a rule to never think about being romantically involved with anyone. To not even imagine it. It would just give her another chance to yearn over something she could never have.
Who went for girls with missing limbs, anyway? Not anyone who was whole and normal. And certainly not cute guys that were probably taken.
"Hmm. Something's different about you," Iko declares. "I don't know what, but something is. Maybe you've been sleeping so much at the register you're finally getting your glow back."
Cinder guffaws. "There was never any glow."
"Not with that attitude-" Iko suddenly turns to where her purse is stashed under the counter and takes out a worn pocket mirror with only one crack. "Or maybe it's just the dirt on your face."
Cinder's eyes practically bug out of her head. "Dirt?" she practically snatches away Iko's pocket mirror. "God." Iko's right, there's smudges of dirt on her forehead and cheek- most likely from the register/conveyer belt- and her tangled hair messily pulled back into a ponytail looks as if each strand had a mind of its own and decided to jump from the confines of her scrunchies.
"What? Are you actually surprised? We live in dirt, Cinder. It's nothing new."
"Not that," Cinder says quickly, handing Iko back her mirror. "It's just, uh, nothing. It just means I fell asleep again."
"Ha, I knew it!" Iko bounces on her toes.
Cinder wills herself not to think of how unkempt she must've looked to that cute guy that had walked in. It wasn't like he indicated any sort of interest. He was friendly. That was all. And he'd only stopped by to pick up chips, probably because they were the closest area.
Besides, it wasn't like she'd ever see him again.
.
.
The new recruits are not what Cinder expects; but they're a great help. And, working only twelve hours of the day out of twenty-four is much better, because she's realized that she likes sleep. What a crazy thought.
The first one's name is Carsewell, but he asks everyone to call him Thorne. He's charming, handsome, and tosses flirtatious winks towards both Cinder and Iko several times. Cinder finds out, soon enough, that he's an ex-felon and has only just been released from prison. For what, Cinder doesn't care enough to know, but she does make sure to give him a wide berth whenever he winks at her.
The next one is Ke'ev, who inexplicably goes by the name of Wolf. He takes the morning shifts, and is always the first out the door before the nighttime rolls around. Honestly, his face is so scarred, and he's so bulky, Cinder would have pegged him as the ex-felon, not the cookie-cutter pretty boy like Thorne. But no, background checks on Ke'ev (supplied by Adri) indicated no prison stints, but a lot of volunteering in laboratories. And he had previously been part of a cult whose plan was to assassinate government leaders, sealed by the freaky tattoo on his toned bicep. Luckily, Cinder muses, both Thorne and Wolf were said to be redeemed and willing employees. Aka, no other place would hire them.
"Aw, jeez," Thorne shakes the mop he's using violently. "This thing is ancient. Didn't any of you ever invest in hiring some cleaning people?"
"That's why you're here and getting paid," Cinder replies flatly, bored out of her mind next to the cash register. Normally Iko would take the night shifts with her, but she'd wanted to sleep and so Thorne volunteered in her place.
Even Wolf had stayed behind- he'd only mumbled something about not needing to go anywhere that night and had gone into the back storeroom to organize boxes.
"I find it hard to believe that I, the beauty of this operation, be stuck on cleaning duty. I think that most people would want a pretty face greeting them when they check out, don't you agree? No offense towards you, of course." Thorne pushes the mop around with no finesse, the soapy suds turning black on the dirty floors.
Cinder rolls her eyes. "I'm here because I know how to use the cash register without being tempted to steal the dollar bills."
"Youch, Cinder, that hurts," Thorne remarks, "And quite frankly I'm surprised you'd even think I would dare-"
"On your first day of work, which was the start of this week, you tried to walk out the door with forty dollars," Cinder deadpans, already really bored, and having no incentive to continue the night shifts in the company of Carsewell Thorne.
"Listen, I didn't think this rinky-dink of a place actually had surveillance cameras, or that your friend was watching me through them. That was really creepy, by the way. She's also cute, though, to be honest. What's her name again? It's so exotic sounding."
Cinder ignores his question. "Don't you have floors to mop?"
"Don't you have no customers to deal with?" Thorne continues pushing the mop around.
"Yes, and you're ruining my concentration," Cinder dryly retorts.
"If you weren't so vicious and badly dressed, you'd be a real catch," Thorne moves on to another aisle, the floor still covered in dirty suds and looking worse than before. "I like my women with a sharp tongue."
"And I'd like you to shut up," Cinder grumbles, feeling her patience wearing thinner, "But it seems like you're incapable of doing that."
"You're breaking my heart here, Cinder." Thorne's voice grows fainter as he moves through the store.
Cinder rolls her eyes again and simply doesn't reply to a guy who doesn't listen. Instead, she grabs another outdated magazine and reads old gossip that no one cares about anymore. Cinder honestly never cared about gossip or mainstream celebrities either, and things like Internet and television weren't necessities in her lifestyle. Thus, she was stuck wondering what had happened to the stars she read about (not curious enough to look it up, though).
"Did you see that? That was a roach. Cinder, there's roaches in this store!" Thorne is yelling in an obscenely loud way. Too loud, considering it's only eleven o' clock p.m.
Cinder shakes her head in exasperation.
Wolf comes out from the storeroom, looking around the store uncertainly, boxes of Fritos in his arms. He looks at Cinder and holds up the boxes. "Should these be out in the aisles?" he asks.
Cinder shrugs. "Sure." Wolf heads to do that, but Thorne comes into his path, heading straight towards Cinder.
The mop limply drags behind him, and there's maybe one drop of sweat on Thorne's forehead. "A maid is the only solution for this disaster."
Cinder rolls her eyes. Again.
"I could try," Wolf offers in a way that's almost friendly, and Thorne thrusts the mop into Wolf's hands.
"I'm telling you, this thing is medieval. I don't see how anyone could even possibly use-"
Wolf raises both of his eyebrows and talks over Thorne. "Where's the mop bucket? Have you been ringing it out?"
Thorne looks scandalized. "Why would you ring it out? I thought the whole point of a mop was for it to be wet."
Wolf sighs. "I'll get a spare bucket."
Once Wolf is gone, Thorne stretches himself against the cash register. Cinder gives him a frown.
"You know, I'm kind of surprised this place stays open. It probably gets like twenty customers on a good day," Thorne starts saying, turning to face the store's front window while Cinder is arranging coins in the register. "Oh, God. He's back."
"Who's back?" Cinder asks flatly, more to keep him rambling so he won't annoy her.
"That guy who's always wearing the too-big sunglasses and that ominous hood- and all he buys are Funyuns, it's really weird. He keeps coming back and buying Funyuns and quite frankly I'm afraid to learn what he might be doing with all those chips."
The front door jingles and opens, right as Cinder's head snaps up to survey the scene. Sure enough, it was the same cute guy from the week before.
"How many times has he come?" Cinder asks as casually as she can, turning away so she won't make eye contact with the guy.
"I don't know- maybe three times? He always comes in like he's in a hurry, buys chips, and then he leaves. It's like he's waiting for something here. Which he shouldn't, 'cause this place doesn't have anything else to offer besides those foul yellow onion rings." Thorne looks over to where the guy is looking through the chips for more Funyuns. "He's really familiar though, isn't he? Like I've seen him before. But that can't be true unless he's served time, because those are the only kinds of people I've seen for six years."
Cinder ignores Thorne and shoos him away when the guy approaches. "Leave," she hisses to Thorne.
"Jesus, Cinder, fine. I'm leaving," Thorne tosses his hands up in surrender and moves to where Wolf is quietly mopping.
"Hi," the guy is smiling when he sees Cinder, and he looks so relieved. "I was starting to think you didn't work here anymore."
Cinder is taken aback by that comment, because that would mean that this guy had been purposefully going into the mini-mart in search of Cinder. She idly wonders what her hair looks like now- and hopefully it's not as messy as before.
"Yeah," she said. "Yeah, I still work here." And then she stops talking. Idiot!
The guy sets a bag of Funyuns and another water bottle on the conveyer belt, and Cinder rings them up easily. As she's bagged them and hands it to him, she opens the cash register and begins to say the total before he cuts her off.
"What's your name?" he asks. "You, uh, don't wear a name tag or anything."
Cinder closes her mouth but then opens it a split second later. Before she can even think, she hears herself saying, "It's Cinder."
"Cinder," the guy repeats, and then he smiles. "I'm Kai. Nice to meet you."
Cinder smiles back. "Nice to meet you too." Then, she looks back to the total. "Um, that's four thirty-eight."
Kai hands her a ten dollar bill, and before Cinder can give him change and his receipt, he takes the receipt.
"Keep the change," he says, still brightly smiley, and Cinder tries to keep eye contact without blushing.
"Thanks," she says softly, more quietly than she intends.
"See you around," Kai says as a parting farewell, and Cinder almost laughs.
"See you," she replies, and this time she does blush. She can't help it. And she watches Kai leave the store, his name a repeating mantra in her head. Kai. It's so simple, and it fits his features so well.
And mayyybe she sort of checks him out. But only a little before she sets his money into the register and goes back to blushing, contentedly, on her own.
For approximately two seconds.
"Cinder, were you flirting with that guy?" Thorne comes back waggling his eyebrows. "It's like he knew you. An ex-boyfriend? Do you have a current boyfriend? The boy next door or something?"
Cinder rolls her eyes (and she does that a lot when Thorne's around, that would make maybe the fourth time in the span of fifteen minutes). "No. He's not anything. He came here once, and I rang him up before."
"Not once, he came here like three times- and when I rang him up, he was just looking all over the store like he was expecting someone," Thorne throws Cinder a knowing grin. "Look at you, Cinder- picking up boys in hoods- isn't that a band? Boys in the hood? I feel like it is, but I could be wrong, I've been in prison for a while..."
"No one's picking up boys," Cinder scowls. "I don't know him."
"But you want to," Thorne says, and Cinder won't admit it, but she thinks the same thing.
"No," she lies effortlessly. "Don't you have anything useful to do here, in this store?"
Thorne looks around. "Hmm, your boyfriend is the only customer we've had for about two hours, so no, I don't think so. What's his deal with the Funyuns, anyway? Is he allergic to Doritos?"
Cinder grits her teeth. "He's not my-"
"Fine, fine, he's not your boyfriend, but the Funyuns thing is creepy. If you ever date him, give him a mint before you stick your tongue down his throat, because I once kissed a girl who had a bag of Funyuns and her breath smelled like death."
Cinder gives him an angry glare. "I think this could classify as harassment."
"You say harassment, I say friendship. Hey, does that friend of yours have a name? Maybe he's on Facebook," Thorne is already busying himself by pulling out a phone and logging into his own account.
Cinder side eyes him for a second before she figures he won't find anything. "His name is Kai," she says, finally.
Thorne types that in. "Look, there's lots of Kais! Which one's yours? The old, balding Japanese man?" He shoves a picture of an overweight man in Cinder's face.
"Jesus," Cinder swats it away, "You can't just assume someone's Japanese by a profile picture. And no, that's not him. You've seen him, Thorne!"
Thorne cackles. "I'm having fun, Cinder, maybe you should try it sometime." He looks through each profile. "Nope, doesn't look like he's on Facebook, but I'll see what I can find out eventually."
"Don't do that," Cinder starts, but Thorne cuts her off.
"I'm no hacker, but if he comes back to get some more of you, maybe we can get a last name. Or you'll get a phone number. Hey, maybe we could set a line of Funyuns on the pavement and he'll come running-"
Cinder smacks Thorne's shoulder with a frown. "I do not want to look up this guy. And I'm not going to get his phone number."
"You're not?" Thorne sounds surprised. "I mean, let's be honest. Right there's a guy that's interested in you, and since you're bitter and all alone, I'd think all girls would want to be clamoring all over finding a boyfriend."
"He's not interested in me, Thorne- can't you go annoy Wolf?" Cinder leans against the register.
Thorne tosses a casual look over his shoulder, where Wolf is swirling the mop on the dirty floor. He lowers his voice to a dramatic whisper. "He's scary."
Cinder rolls her eyes, again. "You went to jail, Thorne. Aren't those jailbirds more threatening than him?"
"Are you kidding?" Thorne says in disbelief. "No! I was in a special ward. Solitary confinement for trouble inmates. I didn't see any scary people. Well, I did before I was put into my single cell, but they all looked like Wolf anyway."
Cinder raises one eyebrow. "Why were you a trouble inmate?"
"Oh, I was trying to protest the soap they gave us in the showers- don't laugh," Thorne says when he sees Cinder crack a smile, "My skin is sensitive."
"I'm sure," Cinder bites back another smile.
"Look at that, Cinder laughs at the misery of other people," Thorne grumbles, "Why am I not surprised."
Cinder gives Thorne a shove. "I just can't believe the jail thought you were the trouble inmate because you didn't like their soap."
"I wasn't exactly complaining on ending up in solitary confinement. Do you know what happens in prisons, Cinder?" Thorne frowns.
"I do, and I really don't need any details if any sort of thing like that happened to you."
"Jesus, Cinder, I'm not that desperate!" Thorne exclaims. "And I wasn't stupid, either, just so you're aware."
"I can imagine," Cinder says, shaking her head. "Actually, I don't want to imagine that, it's disgusting and wrong."
"I said I never partook in those kinds of activities!" Thorne insists. "And I never joined a gang. Which is more than your other coworker can say."
Cinder ignores the jab at Wolf only because Wolf just sort of smiles and Thorne is moving on by googling the name 'Kai'.
Cinder snorts. "Kai is a common name, Thorne. You could be spelling it wrong, and even if this guy is on the internet, he wouldn't be showing up on the first link."
Thorne's already loaded the page, and he bats off Cinder's skepticism with one hand. "You have no faith in me, Cinder-" Thorne trails off as the result page for 'Kai' shows up. "Holy shit."
Wolf gives Thorne a sharp look.
"Right, sorry, you don't cuss- Cinder, look at this. Your boyfriend is a millionaire."
Wolf peers curiously at Thorne's phone. Cinder lets herself look, but only after calling Thorne bluff. The bright little screen shows off a glowing, professional, smiling Kai that Cinder recognizes. Her stomach drops, because his hair is shorter in the picture and his arm is around the most beautiful woman she's ever seen.
Cinder's mouth is open. "How?"
"The first search option gave me his picture," Thorne keeps scrolling, clicking on a link. "His full name is Kai Prince."
As much as Cinder hates to admit it, her mind is going back to the beautiful woman photographed with Kai. And she swallows hard. "So?"
Thorne is already googling 'Kai Prince net worth'. "Shit, Cinder, your boyfriend's worth three hundred million dollars. How are you not freaking out?!"
Wolf looks mildly impressed, and he nods, just once. "At least he's not a politician."
Cinder ignores the sinking feeling that comes with staring at Kai's picture for so long. She recognizes the feeling; it's the feeling of looking at something she could never have, and she almost wants to have. And it's a horrible feeling, because she's always made herself not want anything.
"Jesus Christ," Thorne looks at the screen, and his face is amazed. "He's won an Oscar, Cinder. An Oscar. That means he could one-up Leonardo Dicaprio- and hardly anyone can one-up Dicaprio."
Cinder refuses to blush on top of everything. "So?" she raises her eyebrows. "It's not like I know him personally."
"Yeah, but for a second I thought you had a shot. Oh well." Thorne continues looking through Kai's Wikipedia page. "He's been rumored to be secretly dating Levana Lunar, whoever that is- apparently they're always seen together-" Thorne's mouth falls open as he looks at the same beautiful woman from the previous picture. Cinder looks away. "Fuck. She's hot."
Wolf coughs. "Not the f-word."
"Jesus, Wolf, for someone who joined a gang, you sure hate the word fuck. I'd assume most gangs are okay with coarse language," Thorne points out.
Wolf looks at the floor. "We were an organization," he mumbles, like he doesn't care to explain, but then he glares at Thorne. "It's none of your business."
"Okay, I got it," Thorne raises his hands in defense. "Nothing about your organization. Do you think he'll come back, Cinder? I mean, it's plausible, I'd say, don't you think so? If he came back before..."
"Well, he's not going to come back anymore," Wolf says, "If he's been spotted here."
"I can't believe I never recognized him," Thorne ignores Wolf. "Can you imagine? I mean, usually I'm on top of everything-"
"Until you went to prison," Cinder says, flatly. "So you wouldn't know him anyway."
"Hey, Cinder, park that attitude at the curb- it's not like you recognized him, hmm?" Thorne crosses his arms.
"That's just because I don't watch movies," Cinder snaps.
"God, I was just asking. Why is everyone so mean to me?" Thorne leans against the counter.
The door bell jangles, and then the three all look up to see Iko come running in.
"Ohmygod!" she screeches, panting loudly. "Ohmygod!"
Wolf leaves the room, muttering something about going to do something useful.
"Iko?" Cinder looks at the clock. "It's midnight. You're supposed to be sleeping."
Iko is hunched over, her braids falling over her forehead and rumpled pajama pants scrunched around her knees like she's gotten out of bed in a hurry. "Ohmygod!" she only screeches again. "Ohmygod!"
"I'm confused," Thorne announces, raising his hand and waving it.
Iko is flapping her hands around and gasping for air, looking every bit like a fish out of water with the way her eyes bulge. "It's- it's- ohmygod! You guys never said anything!"
"Yes. We do think that you should talk less," Thorne says.
Iko ignores him and directs her topic towards Cinder. "I was sleeping, and my phone woke me up! I always set alarms," she adds, seeing how confused Cinder looks, "For when news-worthy things happen regarding my fav celebs. And, Kai Prince was photographed leaving this store!!"
"Oh. Honestly, he's not that good-looking," Thorne grumbles. "No real substance. And his acting's shit, probably."
Cinder gives Thorne a side glare, but then she turns back to Iko. "Well, we, uh- we didn't see him. He probably just came in to look and then he left. Most everyone does that, actually, and even if he did stop in, it's not like I'd know who Kai Prince is. Anyone can have black hair, you know. Besides-"
Iko pokes Cinder in the side and gleefully smiles. "You met him!" she exclaims. "Come on, Cinder, you only start rambling when you lie."
"I do not," Cinder replies stubbornly, but Iko ignores her.
"Tell me all about him. What's he like? Did he offer to give you an autograph?" Iko gasps. "Did you actually get an autograph?"
"No!" Cinder waves her hands. "Nothing like that. He came in to buy some stuff and that's it. I didn't even know he was a movie star."
Iko's mouth falls open. "I'm so ashamed of you, Cinder. You'd think if we were dirt poor you'd at least master the art of illegally watching movies at the library. Honestly, it's like I've never taught you anything."
Cinder rolls her eyes. "The closest I get to movies is monitoring the security cameras in the backroom."
Iko lights up. "The security cameras!" she claps her hands excitedly. "Are they working? Let's go look at the footage!"
Thorne scoffs. "Like that will credit his acting skills. I think not."
Iko continues to pointedly ignore him (it was probably the jab at Kai's acting talent) but she does grab Cinder's hand and pull her into the back storage room where Wolf is stacking boxes of Pringles on top of each other.
"I have to find my future husband!" Iko shoos Wolf away from where he's standing in front of the monitor.
Wolf confusedly looks at the stacked boxes. "Is he hiding in here?"
Iko is already opening the files of the previous hour's video, smiling so giddily that Cinder can't help but peer along with her. Thorne follows, watching. There is no volume on the video, but Iko zooms in so much, she can see every smile interchanged between Kai and Cinder.
Iko sighs. "He's gorgeous."
Thorne humphs. "He's okay."
"He's smiling at you, Cinder- what's that? Are you actually smiling back?" Iko is beaming, and Cinder is uncomfortable. "I knew you thought he was cute!"
"It's not like that," Cinder rolls her eyes, "It's nothing, anyway, he was just another customer."
"A customer that told you his actual, famous name," Thorne points out.
Iko shrilly squeals. "He gave you his name?!"
"Kai is a common name," Cinder starts, but Iko cuts her off.
"Cinder, you're talking about one of the most famous actors on the planet! He always wears disguises if he's in public. That's, like, a given. So why would he give you his name?" Iko is too excited over nothing, in Cinder's opinion.
"Common courtesy?" Cinder says, but Iko keeps talking.
"Cinder, do any of the customers introduce themselves to you?" she asks, crossing her arms.
"No," Cinder mumbles, looking at the floor.
"Exactly. This has to mean something," Iko says, and then she claps her hands. "Maybe he'll ask you out!"
"Or maybe he's trying to get lucky," Thorne pipes up.
Iko throws him a dirty look. "Kai is a gentleman, Thorne."
Thorne scoffs (again). "Sure he is."
Wolf, who's been silently sitting in a corner of the back room, speaks up. "So why did this movie star even come here at all? If he's rich, he should have someone to buy chips for him."
Iko sighs dreamily. "Because he and I are destined to meet someday."
"He's not that great," Thorne reiterates sullenly.
Cinder rolls her eyes. "He's never going to come back, Iko. There's a whole bunch of other stores he could go to."
Iko pouts. "But we're destined."
Thorne is clearly upset about not being Iko's go-to cute guy, so he sulks silently, repeating his new mantra. "He's not that great."
"Take it from someone who's used to stalking high-profile people," Wolf says, while his coworkers exchange baffled looks. "He's probably up to no good if he's being unchaperoned and giving away personal information."
Cinder shuts off the security monitor. "What would that even mean?"
Wolf shrugs. "I didn't spend that much time in the organization to learn pattern behavior theory."
"Oookay," Thorne trails, "Besides Wolf's bizarre-o gang, we have a multi-millionaire movie star who's giving Cinder his name and his cute little smiles, and that's it. Oh, and we know he loves Funyuns. Now what?"
"Now nothing," Cinder moves to exit the room. "He's not going to come back."