I was awakened by the cool water creeping against my toes and quickly sprang up. I fumbled in the pocket of my board shorts for my phone and fished it out, squinting at the screen. 5:48 PM. Had I really fallen asleep on the beach? There was no doubt that I looked as red as a lobster, since my pale complexion always was quick to burn under the slightest bit of sunlight.

"Shit." I mumbled to myself. I had work at 6! I jumped up, shaking the stray sand out of my towel and folding it up under my arm. I won't have enough time to go home and change so I guess my sunburnt self will just have to do. I squinted from the warm evening sun and turned in the direction of the boardwalk where all the shops and restaurants were.

The rickety and worn wooden slates creaked under my feet as I shuffled over to Beachpoint Fried Dough, the place I'll be spending my days working. I leaned over the front counter and looked to my left and right.

"Hello? Is there anyone here?" I called out. A head popped out from below the counter and I let out a scream.

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. The mysterious head started chuckling and thrust their hand towards me.

"I'm so sorry dude, but you should've seen your face! Priceless. Ah. Just priceless. Hi! I'm Mike. You must be the fresh meat. I mean, new coworker." he spoke.

I reached out and shook his hand finally getting the chance to look at his face. First off he was tall, insanely tall and lanky. He had short dark brown hair that was mostly covered by a snapback hat, and his arms were covered with tattoos. I would've thought he was intimidating if it weren't for his goofy grin and warm eyes.

"I'm Kellin, it's nice to meet you Mike." I answered and looked around. "Uh, how should I get inside?"

"You can just climb right over!" Mike responded. I nodded sheepishly and hoisted myself up onto the counter, losing my grip as I came toppling down on the other side.

"I'm clumsy and scare easily, if you couldn't already guess." I spoke.

"Not a problem, I tend to have two left feet every waking hour of the day that I'm not playing soccer. Here!" Mike said as he handed me a pile of folded up clothes.

"What is this?" I questioned.

"It's your uniform! Dorky I know, but Dad likes to have us in the original 1950's uniform, he says it gives the boardwalk that "ole vintage charm" whatever that means." Mike responded.

I unfolded the crisp white, short sleeved button down shirt and held it up against my body. It's not so bad, I thought to myself. I bent down to pick up the red material that fell out from in between the shirt and examined it. Suspenders?! Red suspenders?! And a red bowtie?! Mike must've noticed the grim look on my face because I heard him speak up.

"Hey I know exactly what you're thinking, so lame right? Trust me, the ladies around here actually dig them. I'm serious, every single day I get another phone number solely because of these suspenders. I think its because it makes us look wholesome and "cute." Mike spoke while snapping his own red suspenders against his chest.

"Uh...right" I thought about making a comment about being gay, Mike seemed nice enough so I don't think he'd make fun of me. However, I didn't want to risk losing a potential friend on the first day so I held my tongue.

"Where can I go change? Wait, did you say Dad? Are you Mr. Fuentes' son?" I asked.

"Right around the corner there is a staff only bathroom, you can't miss it. And yes I am!" Mike answered.

"I'm Mr. Bostwick son." I responded.

"Oh cool! So you are THE Kellin! Our dad's have been best friends for years, since grade school. It's really nice to finally meet you man." Mike said.

I nodded and smiled, making my way to the bathroom to change. After I adjusted my new bowtie, making sure it was straight, I stood back and stared at my reflection in the mirror. I brushed some of my moppy black hair out of my eyes and inspected my face. My pale skin was starting to turn inflamed from the sunburn and as I pressed my index finger lightly into my cheek I let out a squeal from the pain.

I scrunched up my nose, jutting out my lips and letting out a sigh of defeat as I stared back at my big aquamarine colored eyes.

This is clearly as good as its going to get. Well, at least I won't be the only one looking ridiculous.

I walked back through the hallway to the main part of the fried dough stand where Mike had his back to me and was kneading out large balls of dough.

I cleared my throat to make him aware of my presence and he turned around grinning.

"Man you look great! You'll be such a perfect wingman. Wait until the ladies get a look at you." he spoke.

I laughed and smiled, walking over to stand next to him and taking in the sights of my new workplace. There was a large metal table along the left wall with piles of dough stacked high. Shelves with flour, sugar, and other baking mixes stood towering above the table.

Across the room stood a cabinet filled with every topping imaginable, cinnamon, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, cotton candy bits, marshmallows, and powdered sugar.

Directly behind the front counter was a row of ice cream machines with clearly labeled flavors like vanilla, chocolate, swirl, mint chip, raspberry and more. I looked down at my stick thin legs then back up at the room full of sweets. It wouldn't hurt to gain a few pounds, I thought to myself as my eyes landed on the deep fryer filled with bubbling oil and large cakes of dough.

"Kellin, let me show you what your duties will be for now." Mike spoke pulling me from my sugar filled thoughts. I walked over to the front of the counter where Mike stood and glanced at him.

"Ok so this here is the prep space where you'll find all the paper plates and bottles of toppings, caramel, chocolate, whipped cream, the works. The register is also here too. That will be your job. Taking people's orders and calling them out to me." Mike said.

"All you have to do is use the big spatula to slide the cooked fried dough onto a plate with a red checkered napkin underneath, add desired toppings, point out the extra topping table outside to the right of the stand, and ring up the orders." he continued.

"Sounds easy enough." I replied.

"Your last duty is to scope out for any incoming cute girls and tell me IMMEDIATELY." Mike said.

"Hey if I can get paid just to get girls to talk to you, this will be a pretty easy job." I laughed.

"Kelli ! Coming alive! I like it! We're going to become great friends, I can feel it. Oh last thing..."

Mike's voice drifted off as he rummaged through a box on the floor in the corner of the shop. He fished out a white paper hat and placed it on my head.

"The final touch!" He exclaimed as he pulled his own hat out of his pocket, set it atop his head, and turned the "Closed" sign to the "We're Open" side.

"Let's sell some DOUGH!" Mike shouted with enthusiasm.

Working alongside Mike proved to be a lot of fun. He was really easy to talk to and it wasn't long before we both knew a lot more about one another. I found out that we both liked a lot of the same bands, he was seventeen going into his senior year of high school, he was in a band himself and played the guitar.

He even was planning on applying to the California College of Music next year! The gloomy start to my day was already looking up the more I talked to Mike.

I had even helped him get a redheaded girls number who he was eager to ask her out to a party tonight.

"Hey man, speaking of this party, you totally have to come! It's at my friend Jamie's house and all my friends will be there." Mike turned to me and smiled.

I nodded, picking up a bag of powdered sugar, turning answer Mike when I was interrupted by the sound of a door slamming. I turned around fast, tripping on my untied shoelace and falling completely on my ass.

A cloud size puff of powdered sugar flew up into the air as I spilled the entire bag on myself. I wiped the flour off my face and was met with those damn glaring brown eyes from the beach.

"Hey Vic!" Mike exclaimed and went to fist bump the mystery guy from earlier.

"Kellin! This is my older brother Vic. Vic, this is Kellin, Mr. Bostwick's son. He's awesome and I invited him to Jamie's party tonight." Mike turned to me and helped me up.

I couldn't brush the dumbfounded look off my face. The mystery guy from earlier is Mike's brother. His name is Vic and he's Mike's brother and he's standing right in front of me while I'm covered in powdered sugar.

I bit my lip and pulled my gaze from Vic's angered one when I realized when I fell, the powdered sugar flew into Vic's hair, coating his wavy brown locks in the white substance.

"Well, it looks like you haven't gotten any less clumsy." Vic spat, his voice was just as mesmerizing as I can remember. It was slightly higher than you'd expect, with a twang that made it crack during certain words.

He flashed Mike a cocky grin, his glistening white teeth smiling back as he rolled his eyes in my direction and crossed his toned arms.

"Dad wanted me to tell you he needs your help bringing in sacks of flour." Vic said to Mike.

"Ah got it. Kellin, I'll be right back just give me a shout if you need me." Mike spoke and headed out of the shop.

I pressed my lips together awkwardly and reached for a broom, starting to sweep up the powdered sugar with Vic glooming in the corner with that same look of distaste on his face.

I accidently looked up and locked eyes with his, quickly plastering my gaze on the floor and moving the broom back and forth.

I heard Vic's footsteps walk towards me and felt a finger underneath my chin, moving my face up. I was met with Vic standing in front of me looking down at me. He kept his finger under my chin so lightly that I almost didn't believe it was there at all when he suddenly jerked his hand back. He swiped his thumb gently across my cheek removing some of the sugar in the process, before licking it off his thumb.

"Such a shame to waste all of this sugar." Vic spoke so softly I thought I didn't hear it at all.

He backed away quickly from me, shoving his hands into the pockets of his black skinny jeans, before turning to me and muttering:

"Don't drop more of my Dad's shit again, got it? Bye loser." with that he slipped out the door, leaving me stunned.

I continued sweeping up the sugar, sweeping over his footsteps that were left in the white powder when Mike came back through the door.

"Hey dude! Hope Vic wasn't too much of an asshole while I was gone." He laughed.

"Yeah what is up with him?" I responded.

"Vic? No one knows, he never used to be like that but the last three years he changed. He used to be the most outgoing, kind, and goofy guy I know. I  wanted to be just like him, ya know? I mean he's my brother, I'll always love him but he needs to stop acting like such a jerk. He's harmless though, just a grump at times." Mike sputtered out.

I couldn't shake what had happened earlier when Mike left the room. What kind of stunt was that? He acts so rudely towards me the only two times I have ever met him and then when we're alone he almost acts.. nice? If you could even call that nice.

"Hey don't worry about him though. You're coming to that party tonight and all of our other friends are way nicer than Vic, you'll be a part of our group by morning!" Mike said.

I smiled and took my paper hat off my head and shoved it in my back pocket as Mike turned the "Open" sign to "Closed."

"Yeah I'm really looking forward to it actually. What time should I meet you?" I asked.

Mike looked at his phone then back up at me: "Hmm.. 10?" he answered.

"I'll be there." I responded as Mike reached out to give me a fist bump before we turned our separate ways.

What have I gotten myself into?

__________Author's Note__________
Hi!! Can we talk about how ADORABLE Kellin would look irl wearing red suspenders, a bow tie, and a paper hat?!

I actually took inspiration for his lewk from a scene in the SWS music video for How It Feels To Be Lost where he actually IS wearing this outfit minus the paper hat. If you haven't seen it, please do yourself a huge favor and go watch!

What are our thoughts on Vic's little 'tude? Also, friendly reminder to please vote if you're enjoying this story. It means a lot to me. Thank you!