My Name is...

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This is a more modern twist on Singing in the Rain.

You grew up poor in a big town in Michigan. All your life you’ve struggled with poverty. You wanted so badly to be a rapper when you got older that you started from the bottom. You got into drugs along the way, had a child, and even went to rehab a few times. Even after all that, however, you’ve made it big. You are top of the charts now, getting multi-platinum albums. You recently began a tour across the United States and you are living your biggest dream. You are on the top of your game.

I am not so successful. I don’t rap, I don’t have a record deal, and I am very much unknown in the world of music. It’s not that the music I create isn’t good; I just “don’t have the stage personality to cut it” I make music because it’s what I love to do. So, instead of touring the country, making millions of dollars, I am stuck working in a Diner by day and a Bar by night, just to make ends meet.

We tie together in a not-so perfect way. I was at one of your world-famous concerts with a friend. Now I don’t find you musically majestic in the least. In my opinion, you have no idea what makes music so great. Even though I feel that way, I’m still a fan. Of course, I’m not a die-hard fan like my friend, Jelina, but I listen to your music because, in a way, (as sickening as it sounds) the lyrical context of some of your songs is mesmerizing.

After the concert, Jelina heads off with one of her ‘friends’ and I am left alone for the night. Of course, I’ve taken off work expecting that I will have a friend, but such a thing does not happen. Being alone, I decide to take a shortcut around the stage to walk to the Subway.

You decide to take a smoke break after the concert. After hours of moving around and rapping, you just want to sit down somewhere and relax. After I’ve made it over the fence and through a small wooded area. I don’t stop to smoke, but I take a seat on the steps that lead to the door backstage. Unbeknownst to you, you open the door, hitting me hard on the back of the head.

Your first reaction is to freak out before rushing down the steps to see if I’m okay. In the same, freak-out mode, I just act like I don’t know you. I push off any help that you might offer, trying to stumble away. I seem a little rude, but I’m not one of the girls that swoon over you.You’re not sure what to think of this. You’ve never met a girl that doesn’t know who you are and isn’t all over you, and for some reason, you’re not sure what to think of it. So, instead of having your smoke and going back inside, you follow me.

Beginning: You’re about to head out for the smoke, and I’m making my trek through the wooded area.

After the words cross my lips I turn and run. It was hard to keep a steady pace, especially in these shoes, but I had become a pro at it. I had actually ran in the stiletto marathon the city hosted just this past year. I can hear him laughing as he rushes to catch up to me. We’re already almost at the Diner. Just one more block and we would step into the diner to be greeted by Milly’s beautiful voluptuous face.

“I can run faster than you in high heels, Sissy!” I tease him as I run, knowing that I can go pretty far without having to stop. “If I break an ankle I’ll just say you pushed me” I turn back slightly to stick my tongue out.

He grabs his stomach like he’s hungry as I watch, a small frown coming on my face.
“Milly makes the best burgers ever. Homemade onion rings too” I smile, continuing to look back as he slowly catches up to me. I’m laughing and smiling as I run, but soon, that all comes to an end.

I don’t fall or twist an ankle, but I do run right into a man. He’s large and bulky and stops me, at full run, making me stumble back to fall.

“Watch were you’re going.” The words are deep as they escape his throat. The man seems shady, but that’s just like most of the people around her. I look up at him from where I’m on the ground. He eyeballs me with sickening eyes before a small grin crawls on his lips like a centipede.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was-“
“Don’t worry about it, toots” His voice seems to change and he leans down slightly, offering me a hand.

I see her run into the man and my smile is thrown to ground almost as fast as her. I run up behind her as the man reaches down to help her up. From the smile on the man's face I can tell that he wants a little more than a sorry. I move beside her and hold out my hand knocking the man's aside "Hey, buddy. What's your problem?" I hear him say behind me.

I stop holding my hand out and turn to face him. "There's no problem sir. Sorry for the problems, but i've got it from here." I say watching his face turn back into the same ugly expression he had a minute ago. He glances between me and Mira before turning and walking the way he had originally planned on going grumbling the entire way. I breathe out a sigh of relief before turning around and sticking my hand out.

"Sorry, but you can never tell with people in this town. Are you okay?" I ask waiting for her to take my helping hand.

The man seemed a little too interested in me. He looked my body up and down and one could only imagine the kinds of things he was thinking. I don’t know what to do. I just sit there, on the ground, looking at the thick hand that is cast down at me. What would he do if I took it? I was sure he was looking for more than just helping me up.

Before I have to deice though, Alix is there, pushing the man aside. The look on the man’s face changes and for a moment I can’t help but just watch what’s going on. I don’t know what I would do if something physical were to happen. My heart is racing from the situation and the running.

Alix does well fending off the man. I had been very much smaller than him. I look at the more familiar hand that is now held out for me, waiting for me to take it. I reach out, grasping the soft skin, slowly hoisting myself up.

“Thank you” My voice is softer now and I’m still in shock at what has just happened. I make it to my feet, but for some reason, I don’t let go of the hand. I feel my grip tighten slightly before looking down at the link. I can feel the heat flushing across my cheeks and I pull away, a quiet gasp escaping my lips.

“Sorry” I mutter before beginning to walk again, hands shoved securely in my pockets.

I smile a little when she takes my hand hoping that it makes her feel a little better. I notice that she didn't let go of my hand immediately and flush a little before she lets go. She mutters a soft apology before she begins walking once more. "Its okay." I say catching up beside her.

I can tell things are awkward and it bugs me that it is when we were having so much fun. "So you were saying about Milly's burgers?" I ask hoping to get rid of some of the awkwardness that had developed. As if on cue my stomach growls again and it brings out a slight laugh from me. "We better get there soon." I say grabbing my stomach again.

Again as if on cue I see the neon sign glowing against the night sky saying none other than 'Milly's Burgers'. "Well at least we are here now." The smell of fries fills my nostrils the closer I get and I can feel saliva building up inside my mouth. I probably should've eaten before the concert.

It’s not awkward particularly because we made it awkward, but because of how I’m thinking. We both know what that man could have done to me back there. Whisked me away…I take in a sharp breath. I didn’t want to think about it. I owed this man now, which was probably something that I wanted to think about even less. I take in a short breath as he tries to change the subject. It’s sweet of him, given the current situation.

“They’re the best burgers in the city” I try hard to play along with this whole thing. I try to smile slightly as the neon of the sign ahead lights the street. It would be open another hour or so before Milly would shut everything down and run off to her apartment behind the Diner. She would either have some late-night fun with her husband or she would get ready for the next day. I can’t help but laugh, not only at his stomach for growling, but at the idea. I probably knew Milly a little too well.

“Well lets go on inside” I giggle, rushing forward to push open the door. The small bell jingled lightly above the door as we walked in. The event that occurred a few moments ago is almost forgotten, simply because I force it out of my mind.

“Oh, Milly!” I call as I step into the diner. There’s a quiet squeal from the back and there’s a moment of silence. I hope I’m the only one who knows what’s going on in the back.

“Mira! What are you doing here? You don’t work until tomorrow morning! So how was the-“ She’s already chitter chattering as she makes her way from the back. It’s not until she’s almost let it slip that I was at the concert that she comes through the doorway and is cut off. She might be a little older than me, but even she knows who the ‘hunk’ behind me is. Her eyes widen a moment before walking to the counter and leaning on it, showing probably too much cleavage for my liking.

“So. Booth or table?” She asks, lips curved up in the delighted smile. I’m surprised she hasn’t started screaming yet. Maybe it was a bad idea to come here…

I smile when we we are greeted by a grinning by a women who seem to be in her thirties, or maybe she is a little older. I couldn't quite but a number on her age but before I could think too heavily on it she seemed to asking a question, but cut herself off. I raised one of my eyebrows at this gave Mira a peculiar look. "Booth please..." I say looking back at her with a small smile.

She smiles at me and begins walking toward the back of the restaraunt where a single booth sits against the side window. "Have a seat and I'll be right back." She says while gesturing where to sit. When I move into the booth I see Milly walk into the back and I hear a slight snicker.

I turned to Mira and raise my eyebrows. "What's that about? I'm kinda confused..." I say leaning back into the booth's back rest. The seats were a light red color, almost as if they were here for a very long time, yet they were very comfortable

She had almost let it slip and it was very obvious that he had caught on. I could only hold onto the charade for a little while but I didn’t want him to be who he was. I would have just as well rather gotten hit on the head by a complete nobody than him. He was just too…complicated.

I take in a deep breath as he answers for me. It was good; I liked the booth better anyway. It was far more comfortable and I could cross my legs easily. It was in the back and I didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing me with him. Milly disappears into the back for a while and I hear a squeal. I’m not sure if it’s about us or if she’s continuing with the activity she had been doing before we came in. He questions me and I shake my head, flicking my wrist as if he should think nothing of it.

“Milly thinks that I should already have a ‘beau’. She’s always hammering me about bringing men in here. I guess she finally got what she wanted.” I take my seat in the booth, making myself comfortable. Off the shoes go and my feet end up crossed on the red vinyl.

I nod my head to acknowledge what she had said. "I'm surprised that you don't have a boyfriend really." I say knowing that she might not like the compliments that I threw her way but hopefully she wouldn't get to get so worked up about it. "Well I guess it's fine because you have me now..." I trail of when I see Mily coming back with a smile on her face.

"So what will it be? There'd be more to choose from but you came up pretty close to closing time kids." She said putting all her weight on her right leg like waitresses do on movies. Maybe there were some truth to movies after all.

I smile to her and nod. "I'll take milkshake that i've heard so much about." My stomach growled as if reminding me. "and I guess a burger if it's not too much trouble. Don't worry about topping just give me whatever." I say with a light laugh. I turn towards Mira and look to her to see what she wants.

“Yeah because every man wants a poor woman with a music degree” I roll my eyes, forcing them on the table. He was trying to compliment me, but he was doing a horrible job at it. I knew that I had very little to go on when it came to men and to be honest, I wasn’t looking. I take in a deep breath, keeping my eyes on the table. I quietly begin to tap a rhythm on the table. It’s only when I hear the tapping of heels that I look up to see Milly walking toward us.

She was nervous and happy and dumbfounded. How had I gotten him to follow me? Had I tricked him into thinking that I was a famous porn star or something? I could see all the questions that flicked before her eyes at me, but none of them I could answer.

After she takes his order she turns to me. I can see her hand is shaking; she’s trying hard not to ruin this for me…whatever this is exactly. I watch her a moment before she smiles and I return it.

“I’ll have the usual.” The words float from my lips and she jots down the rest of our order. I had probably ordered more food than he had; I hadn’t really been paying attention. She looks over the whole thing a moment before giggling.

“It’ll be out soon…Handsome” The words roll of her tongue as she looks him over. I couldn’t help but snicker quietly to myself. She had talked so many times about ‘shagging him until he couldn’t anymore’ and now that he was here, in front of her, she could do nothing but make her moves on him. I couldn’t deny that he was attractive, but he must’ve been godlike to her especially since she had a husband.

She turns around the struts off; I can tell she’s trying to be as sexy as possible. She walks around the counter, slipping the ticket through the window. There’s a pause of maybe thirty seconds before a voice erupts from the back.

“Milly! How the hell am I s’pposed to read this? Looks like you’ve got Parkinson’s or somethin’!” I can’t help but giggle quietly before returning my eyes to the table. It was probably pretty obvious by now that she knew who he was and in turn, I knew who he was too.

I blushed at the word handsome and just decided to nod my head in response. "So, you work here?" I ask after the little conversation between Milly and who I presume to be the cook. "Looks like a nice place to work." I ignore the fact that it was obvious that she knew who I was, and the fact that it was also obvious that Mira did too by the way Milly was shooting her looks. It didn't really bother me anymore. Just ignore it, I say to myself as we sit there alone again.

"You have a nice laugh by the way, though it's more of a giggle really." I say with a grin. I began to drum on the desk. The beat was from of my songs I rapped in earlier that night at my concert. It was a pretty bad habit of me to always have my hands busy, and I realized that was what I was doing. I look down at the table from the embarrassment. "Sorry, it's an hold habit. You know what they say; hard to break."

He tells me I have a nice giggle and I shoot him a glare. He wasn’t on my good side yet. He wasn’t allowed to compliment me like an idiot. I take a deep breath, looking towards the kitchen. I see a pair of eyes watching us, but as I meet them, they turn and disappear.

“You’re a loser” I say quietly, watching. My eyes fall to the table, not sure what I should say. What kind of conversation could I make? This had been a mistake. I shouldn’t have done this. I should have just left and not offered. A lost stranger was still a stranger. This was different. We were acquaintances now. I just hoped that his manager came looking for him and he had to go before I became a babysitter.