"My brown eyed girl, You my brown eyed girl."
The DX's customers were slowly leaving, the heat finally getting to them. They would all say good bye to the handsome cashier and get into their fully gassed up cars. But some girls would stay, the "Sodapop groupies" as Steve would put it. They'd stay even after closing time, just to try to get Soda to take them on a date. None of them would ever see Steve when Soda came near, he was just part of the background. At first he didn't mind it, but after a while, it got old, and Steve was left feeling unwanted and ugly.
But then one day, Evie Harrison came along and saw past Soda's good looks, or so Steve thought, and saw Steve. Actually Saw, Steve. Steven Randle. But after two months of her continuous cheating she finally told Steve, she was just using him for someone to have around, and that she didn't actually love him, and that he would never, ever, be as much as a doll as Soda.
That was two months ago, And yet every time Steve would hear the bell on the door ring, he'd still have that pang in his heart, but this time, it wasn't just in his heart, it was all over his body. One day, He'd think, someone will walk through that door and see Me, and not Soda, they will see me for who I am, and love me. Not Soda.
Steve picked up his wrench and started tightening the hub caps on the car he was working on, and the doorbell rang. By the clicking sound of heels he knew if was some girl, probably wanted to see Soda. But as the sound came closer, he got confused. No one comes to the car garage, not unless they need their car fixed.
"Um, excuse me."
Steve turned around to see a girl with medium length brown hair, Big brown eyes, perfect height, and not to bad on the curves either. He cleared his throat and brought his hand to his neck.
"yeah."
She smiled and handed him 100 dollars, "I need you to fix my car, I heard you were the best mechanic in town and this car is dear to me, and it just won't start. So do you think you can do it?"
"Well, little missy, I am a mechanic. It is my job." He said with a smirk. She giggled and motioned for him to follow her.
As he walked through the store, glancing at Soda for a moment who gave him a thumbs up, she lead him to her car. When he saw what car it was, his jaw almost hit the pavement. She had a '63 Camaro, which just so happened to be Steve's favorite car. He ran up to the car, and ran his hands slowly over the polished paint. He was in awe, and she came up next to him chuckling.
"Pretty.. umm… 'tuff' right?" She asked, with a smile.
He huffed, "Tuff, this car is amazing! How-how did you get it?"
She looked down, took a shaky breath, then looked up at Steve. "My dad left it for me when he died."
They looked at each other, eye in eye, and for the first time he finally felt like he was seen. Like she actually saw him. She smiled at him, and he noticed how beautiful she was.
"I'm Marissa." She held out her hand.
"Steve." He took it and kissed it gently.
She blushed lightly, and turned back to the car. "So.. the car."
"Oh yeah, the car. Ha." Steve ran a hand through his hair, and lifted the hood. He wanted to drop to his knees and kiss the engine over and over. But he held himself together, and stayed calm. He started checking all the necessary things, then finding the problem. Her spark plug-wasn't plugged in.
Once he had it plugged he asked for the keys and they got into the car, and tested to see if it would run. He stepped on the gas (it was booted- it wasn't going anywhere.) and let the engine purr. She smiled and turned to Steve, "Thank you so much! SO, is 100 going to cover it?"
"Actually, Miss, it's only 4 dollars since it was just your spark plug. You be giving me 96 dollars extra." He said smirking slightly.
She winked at him and said, "Keep the change."
She got out and headed back into the DX, Steve followed her in, but stopping to talk to Soda.
"So, did she talk to you before she came back to get me?" Steve asked.
Soda smiled, his movie star smile, and said, "Only to ask if you were back there. It was like she didn't even care that I wasn't even here. "
Steve smiled so big he felt as if his checks were going to split. He looked back at Marissa who was looking at the different types of magazines. Soda smiled, noting his friend behavior. "go get her."
He walked over to her, "So, You know with all this extra money. I don't know what I'm goning to do."
"You could see a movie, or movies, and go to a fancy restaurant." She smiled as he put his hand on her waist,
"Only if you'd go with me, brown eyes." He smiled looking down at her. She smiled and nodded. She looked genuinely happy to be going out with Steve. And as they stood there they both knew that they saw each other, not just by looking at each other's appearances, but who they were, inside. Even though they had just barely met, they knew. They knew, that they both had strong feeling for each other, what ever they were.
As they were driving in Marissa's Camaro Steve reached over and took her hand. And she turned to him and said, "You know, I think you are loads cuter then Soda."
It took all his strength not to kiss her right then.
"Do you remember when we used to sing, Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da."