I'll See You Around

She ran to the diner that Arthur owned. The man was gonna be so pissed at Lola for being late once again. It wasn’t her fault that Kadee wanted her to join them for lunch. I mean come on she barely talked to the famous singer in town.

She burst threw the diner doors and stopped to breath. “What’s my time?” She asked.

“4 minutes early,” Martha told her as she tossed Lola her apron.

“What is this?” I asked looking at the screen of the computer that belonged to Kenzie and leaning back.

“Shhh… keep reading. It sounds good,” Max told me as I laughed at him and looked back at the screen as we all sat in the living room of his place.

Lola smiled as she tied on her apron and did a fist pump into the air. She got to wiping the counters and setting things up for the diner.

“Hey Lola,” he greeted her as she turned to smile at her best friend.

“Max,” she said as she blushed at his smile. Lola had always had a crush on Max since she met him at school. Max was the boy across the alley. He smiled at her first and that drew her in. “What’s up?”

“Besides that you were almost late again?” He chuckled.

Lola chuckled lightly, “Uh, if I’m correct, four minutes early. Personal best.” Max laughs and motions for her to help him with the chairs. They go to the stacked chairs and start putting them down. Lola sweeps her eyes over to the stage. “You should sing a bit.”

Max smirks at his friend, “You do remember what happened last time I did right?”

Lola scoffs, “Please. Arthur can lick my non existent co-“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don’t finish that!” Max laughs cutting his friend off. Knowing full well how ‘colorful’ her vocabulary is. “And thanks for the mental image.”

“No prob,” Lola smiles placing her hands on her hips.

“Hey! Get back to work you two!” Arthur shouted walking into the dining area. “What do I pay you for?”

“You don’t pay me,” Max reminds.

“Except me! You pay me,” Lola shouts from behind.

“Are you sassing me?” Arthur asks looking Max up and down. “Just-“

And at that moment a customer walks in. Arthur turns his back on Max and Lola, just in time to avoid seeing Max pull Lola’s arm down after she flips him a rude gesture.

I laughed, “Yeah son! Bitch!”

“Lola! Max! Introduce the opening act!” Arthur orders rudely.

“I’ll open your act,” Lola grits rolling up her figurative sleeves. Max rolls his eyes and holds Lola back before she actually causes physical damage to his step-dad. He turns her to the stage.

“Lady and uh- “

“Dick,” Lola murmurs under her breath and hides with a cough. Max nudges her with his elbow. “Arthur. Presenting,….”

“Andrew.”

“And Lloyd.”

Andrew and Lloyd poked their heads out. Lola waves to Lloyd who waves back.

Andrew hushes, “Actually it’s Andr-oyd.”

“See if you put Andrew and Lloyd together you get-“

“Yeah, yeah Lloyd,” Lola snickers. “Andr-oyd.”

Lola and Max leave the set as Andrew and Lloyd start performing. Even though Arthur was clapping, Max is looking down embarrassed by his step brothers as Lola tries to stomach the noise leaving their mouths. Lola covers her mouth when she sees Lloyd hit his face on the mic stand as Max cut the music. She hops up the stage to help him up as Arthur talks to the customer about the demo CD they were gonna turn into Majesty Records.

After the crude performance Lola and Max sat at the counter talking. Arthur comes up behind them cutting their conversation extremely short.

“I need you to go drop off your brothers CD at Majesty records,” He orders.

“Andr-oyd has a CD?” Lola asks pulling a face. Arthur glares at her.

“You jealous?” Arthur asks in a mocking tone. Max side looks at Lola as she side looks him. “You should be.”

Max rolls his eyes and hops off, “Come on Lola.”

“Nope. Lola you gotta stay behind and clean,” Arthur states eager to break the pair up.

“Moist. Moist. Moist,” Lola repeats looking Arthur in the eyes. Arthur makes a face trying to avoid her gaze.

I looked up to Kenzie, “Really? ‘Moist’? How I Met Your Mother?”

“Shut and keep reading,” Kenzie orders.

“Moist.”

“Alright! Just go with him!” Arthur shouts making Lola jump. She hops off the stool tossing her apron onto the counter. Max leads the way to the doors. “But remember curfew is at midnight!”

“But I don’t live here,” Lola states. Arthur just points a finger at them before leaving. Lola only mimics him repeatedly as Max drags her out the doors.

Lola tells Max that she was going to grab something to eat and that he just goes into Majesty Records without her. It’s not like she was keeping any secrets from him. Just the fact that she was a back up dancer to Majesty records and just a few hours ago was rehearsing with Kadee Worth. As she turns around she can see Max and Kadee talking and picking papers up off the floor. Lola ducks behind a bench, even though she was across the street and no one could really see her. She watched quietly as Kadee and Max talked, frowning afterwards when Kadee walked away leaving a certain look on Max’s face. She would know, she wears the ‘in love’ look on her face almost everyday.

“Wait! Is this based on that Charlie Prince movie on nickelodeon?” I asked pulling away from the computer screen.

Max looks to me, “You mean the movie I starred in?”

“That was you?” I asked looking at him. He nods giving me a look of ‘Yeah, that guy was me.’

“Guys! Keep reading!” Kenzie ordered flailing her hands a bit.

Max went in to drop the CD off. The lady at the counter confused him for someone looking for a job and told him about the janitorial position.

Lola walked into Majesty Records crossing her fingers that no one notices her. She saw Max filling out some papers as she walked over, but saw her friend Shawn walking over too.

Shawn saw the boy from this afternoon and Lola approaching them and he smiled and was about to greet her when she flailed her arms and shook her head.

“I thought you got lost,” Lola said a bit nervous propping her arm up on the counter as Max didn’t notice.

“No, just filling out a form,” He said showing her the application to be a janitor. “This is Lola, my best friend and I’m Max.”

“Lola, Max. I’m Shawn. You have potential don’t work so hard.” Shawn said as Lola smiled at him.

“Man I always work hard,” Max said as he dragged Lola behind him and out the door.

“Do me a favor and make sure he gets hired,” Shawn told the lady at the desk.

Max and Lola walked the streets as they headed to the pawn shop. The two made their way inside and head towards his mothers beautiful piano. Max let his fingers touch the keys as it played its high notes.

“No touching the merchandise.” The owner of the shop said as the two smiled up at him. “What do you have for me today?” He asked as Max pulled cash from his pocket that he earned on the streets playing music.

Lola really hated to see Max pay little by little each day while Arthur makes him work and never pays him for his good job. Max made his way over to the piano as she snapped out of her thoughts and took her wallet out and gave the man a 50 without Max noticing.

“You’re too good to him,” he said as Lola shrugs seeing as it was no big deal. She was helping Max make payments on his mothers’ piano while he didn’t know. Hence the reason she has a second job. That Piano will be his soon enough.

She made her way to Max’s side as he started to sing looking up at her. Just the thought of his eyes on her made her stomach flip and her heart race. Like a fluttering feeling, like butterflies live in her stomach.

“What the?” I said as I felt my face start to heat up.

“You get butterflies around me.” Max said nudging me lightly in the side.

“In the story, yeah,” I said defending myself since it was true.

“Will you guys shut up and finish reading it. I haven’t got all day,” Kenzie said flailing her arms once again. She was annoyed that I kept stopping.

“You don’t even have work today,” I said as she rolled her eyes at me and pointed at the screen. “Alright.”

Max took Lola’s hand as they danced while he sang. He really had potential and it was sad no one noticed it. She danced around the shop with him. He was the one who got her into dance and showed her how much she loved it.

After their little singing and dance the two left. They went to catch the bus as they started laughing. “You get better every time,” Max said as he talked about her dancing.

“And so does your singing,” Lola said as they sat next to each other on the bus. Lola looked at Max feeling happy to see him smiling even when his step father always made his life miserable. If only Max knew how Lola fell for him or if he showed her the slightest interest, then she would be the
happiest girl.

Lola walks out of her shower with a towel wrapped around her head, exfoliating mask on her face that made her look like Shrek, and her headphones plugged into her ears. Elvis was playing.

Burning Love was playing. Her eyes sweep over to Max’s window. He wasn’t in his room. So why not break out into an Elvis dance frenzy? She’d start out slow and make her way into the classic Elvis dance moves.

Max walks into his room tossing his bag onto his bed. He stretches his arm across his body as he goes to his window. He stops and smiles. Lola is dancing in front of his window again. Instead of interrupting her, he leans on the frame of his window.

Lola sang lightly but loud enough to be heard only in her room. Her eyes were closed and she sang to Max’s window showing her love for him only in song, the only way he knew.

Max laughs seeing her do the classic Elvis leg move.

“Why don’t you sing in front of me more often!” He shouts to her.

The look on her face…. Priceless. Just the initial shock of finding the man of her dreams watching her dance to her favorite singer. Instead of forming words she just pulls the string to her shutters making them fall shut.

Max laughs, “You know I saw everything right!”

“I know! That’s why I did that!” She shouts through the shutters.

“Good night!”

“Night,” She replies meekly.

Max wore the typical blue janitor suit. He went around cleaning up the many, many floors of Majesty Records.

Lola didn’t have work but she promised Kadee and her friends that she would hang out with them. Currently they were heading up to Kadee’s dad’s office to go talk to him.

“Hey dad-“ Kadee calls but cuts it short. There was a boy looking at the pictures by the window. Lola almost curses loudly seeing that it was Max. She quickly ducks behind Kadee and her friends, but they move into the office almost revealing her. She crouches and walks towards the door trying to leave the room.

“Lola?” Max calls. She freezes.

Tammy asks looking between the two, “You know each other?”

Max moves a bit closer to Lola, who slowly stands to her feet facing her best friend, “Yeah, we’re best friends.”

Lola faces him, “Hi Max.”

Max frowns, “What are you doing here?”

Lola turns her hand into a fist and bumps it with her hip, “Um… I work here.”

“You work here?”

“As a background….dancer,” She mumbles in reply.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asks feeling a bit hurt that she didn’t tell him about it. “This is sort of big news.”

“I d-didn’t want you to see me differently,” Lola admits.

“Dude,” He chuckles lightly. “You’re Lola. The only Lola I would ever know. I would never look at you any different than how you are.”

Max and I moved away from the screen, “Drama!”

“Guys!”

Lola smiles at her friend feeling her heart race faster and her stomach start to flutter.

“Lola! Lola! Lola, darling!” Finn calls as he walks into the room. He puts his hands on her shoulders making her turn away from Max. “You’re looking very lovely today.”

Lola groans, “Again. You are dating Kadee, remember?”

“Right, right,” Finn sighs.

“Me no likey,” Lola says gesturing to him with her hand in a circular motion. “Comprende, compadre?” Max snickers to himself seeing her reject the man in front of her.

Finn turns seeing Max, “Who’s this guy?”

“Max,” Max introduces putting a hand out to him.

Finn just stares at his hand, “Okay? Are you signed to Majesty records as well mate?”

“I’m the janitor,” Max states.

“That’s a bit of a lame stage name, mate,” Finn complains. “How about… the Janitor? I don’t know it could work.”

Lola puts a hand to her face, “Oh my god Finn. Is there a single brain cell in your head that functions properly?”

“No, I’m the actual janitor,” Max mentions pointing to his badge.

Finn realizes his mistake, “Oh that’s… great.”

Feeling awkward, Max just decides to leave the office.

“Oh, uh, I’m gonna go check on Max,” Lola states gesturing to the door with her thumbs. She walks backwards waiting for an okay, and when she gets it she turns and leaves the office as well.

“Is that it?” Max said looking at Kenzie eager to read more of her little fan fiction.

“Yeah, do you guys like it?” She asked looking between the both of us. I liked it, but it was embarrassing that she had started a fan fiction about Max and I. Only Kenzie.

“Like it?” Max said as I like looked at him. “I loved it,” he said as I started laughing.

“Lola?” Kenzie said as all eyes were on me now. I moved a little uncomfortably and nodded as they smiled.