Timing Is Everything

“Look, Care...” The older of the two young women began, her blonde curls blowing wildly in the light gust of wind. Her smaller counter part stared idly at the blonde as the smell of the ocean a few blocks away filled her nostrils. The salty ocean air mingled lightly with the scent of the freshly blossomed spring flowers as they took a short cut through the park to get to their apartment building. “One of these days you'll have to get over that stage fright of yours if you want to be a country star.” Danielle ended her sentence with a slow southern drawl which made both of the sisters giggle.

Caroline sighed heavily, knowing that her sister was right but still couldn't shake the utter terror that overcame her when she pictured herself singing alone in the spotlight in front of a crowd of people. “I know, I just need to ease myself into it.” Caroline concluded with a definite nod. “Start small.”

“Right, and what better way to do it then play at the cafe?” Danielle's eyebrows raised as her lips curved into a wide grin at the mention of the small coffee shop she worked part time at. During the day Danielle attended a relentless and brutal dance school that prepared her for the harsh competition that would one day lead her into the cut throat world of dancing with a professional company.

“Give me a chance to think it over okay?” Caroline negotiated, suddenly feeling pressured to break out of her comfortable shell. The brunette tore her eyes away from Danielle to glance around at the strangers that had also chosen to spend some of their day in the lush, city park. She spotted several children playing what looked to be some form of tag in a group to her left and to her right were several people with their furry, four legged companions.

What Caroline hadn't seen was a pair of tall young men playing keep away from a much smaller young man and the fact that one of the taller ones was headed in her and Danielle's direction. By the time she did, it was too late. With a loud grunt the one that had a head of black hair tumbled into Danielle's thin body, causing her to yelp with surprise. Soon enough curse also was mumbled under her breath as her new purse fell to the ground and several of her belongings fell onto the cement walkway.

“Oh fuck, I'm sorry.” The dark haired guy said as he helped Danielle collect her scattered belongings. Caroline knew that Danielle was probably annoyed so it didn't surprise her when Danielle said nothing to the guy. Danielle reached for her hair brush when a starkly pale but calloused hand beat her to it. Her fingertips lightly grazed the large hand before she peeked over at its owner.

She was immediately met with a deep pair of blue eyes staring at her from behind the black, clearly dyed, locks of his hair. A cocky, yet oddly goofy smirk stretched across his lips when he caught her staring. Danielle blinked several times then stood up, he did so as well before handing over the hair brush.

“Good going Sullivan, you almost tackled her to the ground!” The shortest of the three commented as he swiped what looked to be a CD case tucked into the waist band of the blue eyed man's jeans. “Dumb ass.”

The third young man stepped forward, he struck a remarkable resemblance to the smaller of the trio. Both had rich dark brown hair with light brown eyes. “Dude, you're just mad cause you couldn't get your CD back.” He commented with a slap to the smaller ones shoulder. “Sorry about these guys, I'm Jesse, and you are?”

Jesse held out his hand casually, waiting for either one of the two young women to respond. Danielle knew Caroline's awkwardness would win out so she slipped her own hand into Jesse's.

“Danielle, this is my little sister Caroline.” She offered a friendly smile while Caroline mustered a meek wave of her hand. Jesse made a comment how he had a younger sibling and pointed to the shortest one with shaggy brown hair and a soul patch to match. He introduced himself as Johnny then copied Caroline and gave the two girls a simple wave, all the while with the CD case still in his hand.

“You like Merle Haggard?” Caroline's small voice said as all four sets of eyes turned to her. Everyone but Johnny had a puzzled look while he simply grinned from ear to ear. “I'm a big fan.”

“Fuck yeah! Me too.” He exclaimed excitedly while his two friends furrowed their brows at his music taste. “These guys were giving me a hard time about listening to it.” Johnny shot his brother and Jimmy a pointed look.

“Better watch out.” Jesse began, slinging an around around Johnny’s shoulders. “Johnny might ask you to listen to it with him.” Jimmy chuckled lightly, his eyes briefly locking with Danielle's.

Once Danielle came back to reality, she could sense Caroline's sudden apprehension with Jesse's comment about Johnny. Her younger sibling had a tendency to be awkward with the opposite sex.

“Nice meeting you guys, but we have somewhere to be.” Danielle insisted, lightly pushing Caroline along, the trio of men split down the middle to let them pass by. Johnny and Jesse on side while Jimmy was on the other.

“Thanks, that was slightly awkward.” Caroline commented with a uneasy chuckle. Danielle, however, was too busy casting one glance back at the boys. Her eyes instantly locked with the piercing blue eyes that belonged to the tallest one, a playful smile on his lips. Danielle returned the smile before shaking her head and turning her focus to her little sister.

- - - - - - -

“I'm heading home.” Caroline said, passing by Danielle who was perched comfortably on the couch. With a raise of her brows, Danielle's interested was piqued. It was just after ten o'clock and her little sister was gathering her belongings from the table of Danielle's open living room and kitchen area.

“I'll drive you.” Danielle said, quickly getting to her feet. Caroline opened her mouth to protest but Danielle beat her to it. “You know what kind of weirdos wander around here at night?” She quirked a brow to her younger sister who promptly clamped her mouth shut and let Danielle rummage through her large purse for the keys.

Danielle had her hand blindly feeling around her bag as she felt a sharp and sudden prick on the tip of one of her fingers. “Ow!” She exclaimed, retracting her hand almost instantly before inspecting the damage. With a pout, Danielle placed her finger in her mouth in an attempt to numb the pain.

“What happened?” Caroline asked, brows furrowed and very confused as to what had just occurred. Danielle opened the bag wider, but made sure to look before she stuck her hand inside. Her eyes caught sight of something thin and shiny.

“What the hell?” Danielle muttered as she examined the small piece of plastic that was attached to a pin which had been the object in which she had pricked herself. She flipped it over and a bright royal blue colour took over most of it while little white letters were imprinted onto it which spelled out 'Jimmy.'

“What is it?” Caroline asked as she peeked over her sisters shoulder. Her eyes widened as she read the name of the owner and the company it was from. “That was the guy from earlier today right?” Danielle silently nodded her head.

“I'd return it but I have no idea where this place is.” Danielle ran her thumb lightly over the name, feeling the dips in where the letters were etched. Her mind recalling back to his bright and lively blue eyes.

“I know where it is.”

Danielle heard Caroline say lightly in her ear and with a turn of her head, Danielle cast her sister a sceptical glance. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, it's on the way home. Drop by and return it for him.” Caroline finished with a bright and confident smile before turning on her heels and began towards the door.

Twenty minutes later, Danielle drove slowly along the darkened Huntington Beach streets. Her eyes looking from left to right in search of the laundry-mat that Caroline had said was along the said street. The young woman had insisted she be dropped off before Danielle made her stop, claiming to have a test to study for but Danielle suspected that was false. Caroline just wanted Danielle to have a chance to chat up the tall blue eyed man without the interference of herself.

Danielle released a heavy sigh, growing frustrated with her incompetence in finding the place. Just as she was about to give up and head home, a bright fluorescent royal blue sign caught her eye and bore the same name and logo that was on the name tag that had somehow found its way into her purse. Due to the vacant streets, a parking spot was easy to find and pulled up to the closest one in front of the laundry-mat. She frowned upon seeing the lights inside were shut off and the typically lit up 'Open' sign wasn't lit.

Despite that, Danielle hopped out of her car, purse in hand and made her way towards the glass paned door. She peered into the windows and door but all she could see was darkness, that was until she saw a light flicker on in the back and movement somewhere in the back.

She brought her hand up to knock on the glass, but midway she had to seriously think it over. What if he wasn't working and it was someone else? What if he was and he got the wrong idea with her stopping by? He seemed nice but she was in a vacant neighbourhood late at night...

It wasn't until she heard a lock click, that Danielle emerged from her impending thoughts. She glanced up and caught sight of his pale skin which contrasted greatly with his dyed black hair. He was dressed in the same outfit as earlier, telling her that he was more than likely off the clock by now and was about to leave. Danielle dipped her hand into her purse until her fingertips grasped the small piece of plastic that belonged to him.

“You dropped this earlier today.” Danielle said before Jimmy had a chance to greet her. She held out the name tag with his name on it. He stared for a short moment before he raised his brows when he took it between his thumb and pointer finger.

“And you drove here to return it?” He asked with an upturned lip and quirked brow, his calm tone masking the excitement building inside of him.

“I was in the neighborhood.” Danielle retorted with a meek shrug just as a gust of wind washed over them. Her blonde curls dancing in and around her face while a chill crept down her spine. She felt her teeth chatter slightly as she hadn't dressed for the chilly night due to her taking advantage of her warm vehicle. And truthfully she hadn't planned to do anything but drop Caroline off at home but somehow she had found herself being curious enough to track him down.

“You wanna come in?” Jimmy asked, noticing her scrunched up shoulders and chattering teeth. Without giving it a second thought, Danielle nodded her head and darted inside quickly. Brushing herself lightly against Jimmy's lanky body as she passed by him. She heard him lock the door behind them, before pointing her to the back of the laundry-mat.

She stepped into what she guessed was the break room for employees but from the looks of it, it acted as home for the tall boy to her left. There were several empty chip bags, pizza boxes and fast food wrappers scattered and in the center was a makeshift bed made up on the floor in front of a small television. There was also a small kitchenette, sans oven, but it looked to be untouched and neatly kept.

Jimmy picked up some of the wrappers and empty chip bags. “I wasn't expecting company.” He insisted as he threw them all into a plastic grocery bag before he placated himself on top of the makeshift bed and flashed a charming smile. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

“You live here?” Danielle quirked a curious eyebrow, her words coming out harsher than she intended. The last thing she wanted him to think was that she was judging him or making assumptions about the reason for him living at his place of employment.

Jimmy's smile faltered as he bowed his head and rubbed the back of his neck. She didn't need him to verbally confirm her question, his mannerisms gave away his answer. “Do you have family in the area?” She asked, taking a couple of steps towards him.

“Yeah.” He answered firmly, his eyes were somewhat sad though. “My parents think I have an apartment down the street. I make the best of it.” He shrugged his bony shoulders as if it were no big deal.

Danielle stood staring at him, not sure of what to say. He was for lack of a better word, homeless and seemed perfectly okay with that notion. With words momentarily leaving her, she followed Jimmy's lead and took a seat next to him on the floor which acted as his place of rest.

“My friends tried to help me out as best they could, but I’ve maxed out all my places to stay.” Jimmy flashed another smile despite the somber topic. “Enough about me though. Why'd you really come?” He questioned her with a quirked left brow.

“I told you, I was in the neighborhood. I had to take my sister home and she told me where this place was. God only knows how she knew that.” Danielle rambled, not aware of the fact that Jimmy wasn't really interested in her reason for stopping by. He was simply in awe that he was given a second chance to talk to her and continued to stare at her until he thought of something to say.

They spent the next thirty minutes discussing everything from their little beach town of Huntington Beach to the trials and tribulations that was high school. Jimmy had gotten up half way through to get them both drinks from the employee refrigerator that he had stocked with as many caffeinated drinks as he could fit. After admitting that he never attended his senior prom, Danielle was in the midst of telling him about her horrible date whom she found reuniting with his clearly not so ex-girlfriend.

“You like music?” He asked her suddenly, completely rearing off topic. Danielle's eyes fluttered slightly before nodding her head in affirmation.

“I'm in a band.” He watched Danielle perk up at his comment and chuckled. “Drummer.” Jimmy said with a proud nod of his head before reaching over to the other side of his makeshift bed and grabbed his drum sticks. He twirled them effortlessly with his fingers as Danielle looked impressed.

“I'm a dancer.” Danielle said to which Jimmy's brows furrowed just as one of the sticks fell from his hands and the other one froze. The falling drum stick hit the ground with a sharp clunk while the two of them sat in silence. The bewildered look on his face told Danielle that he had taken her life long dream as something else entirely.

“Take it easy there drummer boy, not that kind of dancer!” She swat his arm playfully which erupted a light fit of giggles from the tall boy next to her. Danielle chuckled as Jimmy's cheeks held the slightest hint of a blush.

“I wasn't thinking you were a stripper.” He defended with his hands held up in an attempt to further plead his innocence. “I was just imaging you doing the splits, that's all.” Jimmy quipped with a blissful grin.

Danielle cast him a weary but amused glance. “I'd show you but not until we have a real date,” She answered with a small half smile which had caught Jimmy slightly off guard. The last thing he predicted when he woke up in the morning was that he was going to be ending the night with a cute blonde asking him to take her out. “and you have to play something for me.” She added with a firm nod.

All he could reply with was a dopey grin and the promise of the best drum solo in all of Southern California.