𝕶𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖗 𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖊𝖓.

𝐝𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐦, 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝

𝖒𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖑𝖞𝖓 𝖒𝖈𝖋𝖆𝖉𝖉𝖊𝖓: 𝖆𝖓 𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓

twenty-three. university of southern california student. lifeguard. killer queen.

WHO: leonor vega & open

WHERE: mirror twin drive in

leonor’s ears were ringing with the scolding she might get if her mother ever found out she had slipped out to the drive in rather than an innocent dinner date. back home, she’d never even been allowed at the drive in. it wouldn’t be comfortable in our car, dear. her mother insisted, they’ve been impractical since the oil crisis started. now that leonor was actually at one, she couldn’t find those words to be less true. the boy who had invited her out had a very comfortable car, and the movie was like nothing she’d ever even imagined!

all good things must come to an end though and the moment leonor’s date made a move on her, she dipped out and headed for the bathroom to powder her nose. slightly distraught, she sat on a bench near the concessions and blotted away her tears, still deciding if she would return to the car or not. as a figure walked by, she looked up at them and pleadingly asked, “does my make up look alright?” not wanting to seem so pathetic, she airily laughed, “it’s a good movie…i…are you liking it? it’s quite different, you know.” 

— ♔ —

Marilyn had grown tired of the movie long before it had even started. What were those drones? And why were the characters in the desert? She thought the movie was in space. It didn’t look like space. By the time there was muttering about Jedi nonsense, Marilyn had exited her vehicle (and locking it so that has been Joni Johnson couldn’t climb back in) and beelined for some well-deserved entertainment. She had paid for her ticket so... might as well find couples to terrorize or berate.

Then she came up Leonor Vega. Poor, poor Leonor Vega who she had taken under her wing since she started lifeguarding at Crescent Paradise.

“Come on, the movie sucks,” Marilyn spat, bending down to Leonor’s level. She wiped a tear off of the girl’s cheek that hadn’t made it to her blotting sheet. Usually, Marilyn would tell Leonor to get the hell up and walk back out there with her head held up, but the brunette knew that Leonor needed a bit more pushing than that. “Whatever boy you’re crying over isn’t worth messing up your makeup for,” she gave her a soft smile, hooking her finger around Leonor’s cross necklace that set against her neck. Cute. “You’re a total fox.”

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: mirror twin drive in, baby!

Marilyn McFadden was no where near interested in watching Star Wars. Was that not a kids movie? Unfortunately, curiosity got to the better of her. She was intrigued, solely because she’d rather be caught dead than not knowing what was in the know with pop culture and if this movie was as nifty as everyone was saying it was, then she’d suck it up for the next two hours of her life. As the previews started rolling in, Marilyn had got up from the bed of the truck she was seated in, and decided to grab a few snacks before the glorious movie event started.

Standing in line, impatient as ever, Marilyn was tapping her foot just wishing the line would move faster. At least it gave her a bit of time to gawk up at the concession stand sign that listed all the goodies they had. Walking up to the front, she ordered her usual movie theater order. Popcorn and a large coke. An American staple. She reached for her bucket and drink, turning on her heel, only to spot Clementine behind her. “Clam, it’s so good to see you. I didn’t think you had it in you to creep out of that shop for a night. Maybe you should do us all a solid and go back there?” She asked, cocking her head to the side. It was easy for Marilyn to revert back to her high school self. So much so that she almost forgot how much she was actually scared of the girl in front of her.

Marilyn didn’t believe in most religions or in Clementine’s occult activities, but there was something always unnerving about that girl. “Don’t poison my popcorn with your mind,” or make my hair fall out. 

— ❖ —

If he had known how much he was going to miss the beach while he was in New York, he would never have left. Not much had changed around Crescent Paradise. The sand still had a lovely golden colour, with just the proper amount of warmth to it. While resting on the beach still felt like receiving a warm hug, equaled only by the sunshine-filled sky. In the weeks since he’d came back, he’d been too busy finding a new place where to stay, an agent and getting a job. This afternoon, however, he’d taken the day off to babysit his little sister while their mother was at the hairdresser. After two hours of eating ice cream and failed attempts at building sand castles, their mother picked up Audrey, but he decided to stay for a while and make the most of his day off. 

Marilyn’s presence had gone unnoticed until she spoke —or rather complained. He took a step aside to stop blocking her sun as his gaze went from the empty lifeguard chair to the girl calmly sunbathing. “Everything is off the hook, you know, except for that guy who got attacked by a shark but I’m sure he’ll be fine with one arm,"  he joked and though he tried to match his expression with the serious tone of his voice, he couldn’t fight the hint of a smile that began to form at the corner of his lips. "Aren’t you supposed to be there…” Burt asked, motioning with a shake of his head to the lifeguard chair, “instead of being over here?" 

.

Marilyn hadn’t fully adjusted to who had blocked her light until she heard Burt’s voice. It was almost like music to her ears. The voice she had only heard in occasional long distance calls for the last few years. “Out of sight, out of mind,” she shrugged, in regarding to the alleged man who had suffered a shark attack. She leaned up on her towel, her eyes following his head to the lifeguard chair that she should have been sitting in. “I get a better tan over here,” she pointed her index finger at the umbrella above her chair. “The umbrella’s too hard to get off.”

Her gaze shifted away from the chair and back over to Burt. “Although, I’m gonna have a total freak out because I was convinced that Burtie Hayes was off in New York,” she said, quirking her lips into a smile. Burton was probably one of the few people she stayed in contact with from high school willingly and to see him in the flesh for the first time since he made the rash decision to dip to New York, she was excited. Something that was hard for Marilyn to experience. She lifted her legs up and patted a small part of her beach towel. “Sit down. You gotta to catch me up to speed.”

Ronnie could already tell that this one was a diva. She feigned a bit of a smile before remembering that she was a customer… a paying customer. Maybe if this encounter went well, Ronnie wouldn’t try to clean her out or write some bad fraud checks in her name for fun.

“Oh, well… how did ya survive that long? Y'know since you didn’t eat.” Ronnie asked with a shrug, fighting back a smirk.

Ronnie took another bite of her Slim Jim before nodding and wrapping it up, putting it into her purse that sat in one of the compartments behind the counter. She swallowed her meaty bite before pulling out a heavy box and putting it on the countertop. She flipped through the vinyls in the box and pulled out The Clash and their new album The Clash.

“Hot off the press today. You definitely gotta immerse in their hot new sound. Another new punk group, they’re pretty damn good.” Ronnie said with a smile as she handed the album over to her.

“It’s seven bucks which is a bit on the expensive side but it’s definitely worth paying seven bucks for. It’s a better price and the vinyl is in better condition than what other stores have got. These other stores try to rip you off by giving you a full album for two bucks and seventy something cents, you take one of their records home and you wasted two bucks and seventy something cents because the vinyl has dust caked into the grooves and it makes the record player’s arm jump and skip like an athlete.” Ronnie said as she pointed out the price.

“You won’t have to worry about anything like that here, we keep our records in tip top condition. So what’ll it be, Miss…? Sorry hun, haven’t caught your name.”

.

Sometimes there were perks to Marilyn’s antics. Usually, when it came to workers because usually they weren’t really allowed to talk back. Marilyn wasn’t a monster, of course, she just spoke bluntly. If that made her a monster? Well, tuck two horns on her head! “Um, haven’t you heard of the sexy pineapple diet? It’s like, all the craze,” she asked, not waiting for an answer before she spoke up again. “You just eat pineapple for a few days and then you can just eat whatever, but I still try to stay away from junk food. Gotta keep my energy up,” and still look hot.

“Right...” Marilyn let out a dry chuckle, crinkling her eyes in annoyance. She thought she made it pretty clear that she was interested in the album, she didn’t need a selling point. “So, what you’re saying is you’re not scamming me?” She asked, raising her eyebrows. “Whatever, seven bucks doesn’t matter to me,” Marilyn had her lifeguard gig which admittedly didn’t pay for much, but her dad gave her money whenever she needed it. It’s not like he needed it! He just had bills to pay. Marilyn had records and new clothes to buy! 

Marilyn reached into her shoulder purse, digging around for her wallet. “McFadden. Marilyn McFadden. You know, of Daniel McFadden. Represented the Bee Gees, Jagger, and Elvis during his divorce,” she almost sounded a bit too excited to drop that as she pressed a ten dollar bill to the counter. It was always like a leg up on people. Most people would never get close to a celebrity, maybe see them in passing, but Marilyn had been up close. Never spoken to them, of course, but she still came farther than anyone else she knew. 

-

In high school Adrian used to go here all the time, it’s the feeling of the open sky and the sound of the waves that made him relax, like time isn’t able to move when you’re just laying down, closing your eyes and relaxing. Things haven’t change a lot over the last few years, he would go everywhere he wanted but the difference now is that he doesn’t have school on his shoulder, unfortunately he does have work. If it could’ve been his choice, he would’ve just somehow got money and kept doing whatever the hell he wanted. 

Right now, though, right now Adrian doesn’t have work for at least few hours and going to Crescent Paradise sounded neat to him, he should’ve known Marilyn would be there though, the woman stopped liking him ever since he broke up with Joey because of their own friendship. Adrian didn’t mind it, he would rather people would take Joey’s corner anyway. Adrian didn’t know what made him walk over to her and block her sun, maybe to get a rise out of her for no reason in particular. “If a lifeguard drowns, who saves them? Is there a lifeguard for the lifeguard?”

.

To say Marilyn McFadden hated Adrian Thornton was a bit of an understatement. She never cared for him much in high school, but always tolerated him and considered him somewhat of a friend when him and Joey had dated. When they broke up, though, that just fueled more incentive to dislike Adrian, and who was she if not a loyal friend? She even cut Joni Johnson off when she decided to lock lady lips with Clementine because she cared about Burton more. Marilyn always dug a line across those to who she was loyal towards, which often varied few and far between. “You know, I almost forgot what a dunce you were until you opened that thing you call a mouth,” she spat out at him, standing up from her spot.

“We’re trained, bozo,” and it’s not like there was much saving to do in Crescent Paradise. “That’s why we all look like we totally got off the set of Lifeguard,” Marilyn let out a huff, bending down to pick up a towel. “Thank you for ruining my tan with your presence.”

joey had became quite accquainted with crescent paradise ever since marilyn had started working there and he had to admit that he was pretty happy with that. he liked the beach and he liked the pier, so spending time there when he wasn’t working was always the way to go. he had decided to try and visit marilyn while he was on his lunch break from work - okay, maybe the lunch break had been over thirty minutes ago, but he was sure that everyone else at the roller rink would manage.

not getting any success in finding marilyn after a few moments, he was relieved when he saw the other lying down on the beach towel. that was good, at least now he could have an excuse to why he was late - he guessed. making his way towards his friend, blocking the sun from the other, joey let out a small chuckle at her reaction. “c’mon, i don’t think you need to yell… you’re scaring all the kids, i think. plus, i don’t think anyone is dying or combusting into flames, although if someone caught on fire would be pretty cool… i think i would just run into the water, maybe that would save me.” he said with a small shrug of his shoulders. “so, are we going out tonight or what?” he asked, as he took a seat next to marilyn on the sand.

.

“The kids are fine,” Marilyn stated, flipping her sunglasses back down, and lounging back on her towel. The kids on the beach were the least of her problem as long as they stayed four feet above water at all times. Her eyes were always gazing on the guys and girls who were playing beach volleyball. Marilyn let out a chuckle at Joey’s little spiel. She had gotten used to them long ago when they were children and she had grown to love them, hate them, or just ignore them as she got older. “You know, Jojo, I think you have a fine point with that. Maybe you could set someone aflame and give us a little entertainment,” she quirked a brow up, hoping Joey wouldn’t take her completely serious. The last thing she needed was him going to prison for accidental murder.

So, are we going out tonight or what? “Am I hearing Tom Collins, Indigo’s, and dancing in that sentence?” She asked, leaning back up, elbows digging into her beach towel. Indigo’s was Marilyn’s favorite place next to the beach. The feeling of the sun on her skin was replaced by lights on her skin, there was no better feeling. “I get off at five and I need to shower and do my hair so... eight?”

.

annoyed, joni shook her head and let her hands flop forward as if to say, well, yeah.  stiffly, she opened her mouth, “isn’t it your fuckin job to clean it up?” she asked, then closed her mouth and clenched her jaw. anyone but marilyn, she thought, and this would’ve been a normal conversation. unfortunately, time had yet to ease the discomfort that came in the face of people she used to be friends with. most of the time, joni was vexxed by the idea she had even tolerated a lame-o like marilyn for as long as she did, let alone be on good terms. 

much to joan’s relief, marilyn stood up and went to take care of it. she watched her strut away, maybe staring for a moment too long before thankfully patting the dimebag she had recklessly decided to bring along with her. it wasn’t long before marilyn regrettably came back, “damn.” she vocalized, “i was hoping you’d get eaten by sharks and i’d get to keep my weed.” joni admitted. her quick return led her to believe marilyn had definitely convinced some poor fool to take care of it for her, which only irritated her more. “make it more obvious, why don’t you, man?” joni rolled her eyes then began digging around in her shirt. eventually, she procured the dime bag and slapped it down into marilyn’s hand, “kept it warm for ya.” she grinned with hostile sweetness.

 joni was ready to call it a day and get back to her soccer kiddos when inevitably, marilyn just had to rile her up. “yeah, well, i’m trying to do something different than i did in high school… grow …evolve, all that groovy shit.” she explained with a sniff. it wasn’t a genuine defense or anything, merely facts. “how about you?” joni reared up to sling an insult back in marilyn’s direction, “are you still eating souls and enjoying daddy’s dirty money?” she didn’t stop there, “you know mcfadden, i heard a rumor you were running a campaign to be our alma mater’s first elderly prom queen, any truth to it?” 

.

“Um, no,” is that what the job entailed? The only reason why she even entertained the idea of such a mundane job such as lifeguarding was because it wasn’t retail or food, she got to sit outside all day, and the only qualifications were athleticism and CPR training. Once upon a time, Marilyn had actually liked Joni prior to her little meltdown. Sure, she had always been a little weird but she was friends with Marilyn’s friends so... she had to be tolerated in some capacity. 

After she trotted back to Joni, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. In high school, Marilyn was sure they tossed harsh comments back to one another a time or two, but there was always an underlying of humor in it. Now, there was no humor to suffer the blow. “Maybe next time,” she said, moving her fingers as indication the Joni needed to hurry up. Nothing about Marilyn was subtle and she didn’t care if she was getting weed on the job. If she did, she’d just make up an excuse. “Aren’t you just as sweet as ever? Your parents must be so proud,” she returned the smile, clasping her hand around the little baggie. 

Marilyn bent down to grab her beach bag, pulling the floral tote near her as she stuff Joni’s weed in one of the side pockets. “Sounds awful,” she furrowed her eyebrows, turning to look back at Joni, and giving her a look up and down. “Especially when it looks like you’ve regressed,” Marilyn turned her attention back to the bag in front of her and zipped it up. “Of course,” she confirmed, standing back up and turning fully to Joni. “I’d eat yours too, but I just have a feeling you’d be too into that,” Marilyn had thick skin and she had no problem bouncing back with Joni until one of them eventually got angry or bored enough to walk away.

“No, I’m not even going to get old. I’m going to like, have them freeze my body before I get ancient. Getting old is for totally bogue people.”

a cloudless sky marked the perfect day to visit crescent paradise, and the perfect day to take some snapshots. with the day off of work from vick’s and no other plans to occupy her time later, lorraine had full intentions of spending the entire day bathing in the rays of the sun while also taking pictures of people having a groovy time.  by this time of the day she had spent a majority of her morning here already, some of it was spent grabbing some delicious breakfast from che’s, and with the sun beaming down on her, it was starting to feel like her time to bath in the sun rather than photograph in it had come. 

eyes that looked like polished amber in the sunlight scanned the sandy beach as she walked, her golden hair flowing effortlessly in the very light breeze the came and went. soon her mission for the ‘perfect’ spot was over as she not only found it but one of her favorite people along with it. marilyn mcfadden.  some people would argue that she could be totally arrogant and full of herself, a stella if you will, but lorraine saw things in another light. she loved the confidence marilyn seemed to have, the boldness to speak out whatever was on your mind in that very second, in a way, she envied such freedom. even now as she approached the other, camera in her hand, marylin’s voice snapping at her to get out from the suns rays, lorraine kept a warm smile on her face. “sorry about that, marylin!” she exclaims in a light apologetic voice, stepping to the side so the raven haired girl could have her share of sun again. then, as if it were a natural instinct, she scanned the beach just to make sure no one really was dying in some way or decided to combust into flames. “everything seems clear…”her voice trails off momentarily as her gaze returns to her unlikely friend, “do you mind if i snap a picture of you? you’re looking totally fab in this suite of yours! i’m creating a wall of pictures of this summer and the adventures that come with it. what better way to mark it than with the very first picture being of you?”

.

Marilyn had a small list of people she actually liked. You know, instead of pretending to be friends with them for popularity’s sake. Lorraine totally cracked the top five on that. Lorraine was similar enough to Marilyn that she liked her and different enough for Marilyn to not feel threatened by Lorraine. Which is exactly what Marilyn looked for when it came to friendships. “It happens, just don’t do it again,” she spoke. While that may have sounded like an insult to some, the smile planted firmly on Marilyn’s face said otherwise. She was just blunt. “I need to be golden by the time fall semester comes around. You know, there’s some people actually out in the Virgin Islands right now while I’m just here,” as if Los Angeles was a terrible place to spend summer, but sipping pina coladas in a random country? That did stand out to her.

At Lorraine’s proposition, Marilyn’s head grew ten times bigger. So, maybe modeling for Vogue was out the window but at least she could offer her beauty to her friend’s portfolio, like a true Donna. “Rainy, you know just how to flatter me,” she perked up, angling her body that would look good for a photo. “How’s this? Should I look less posed and more like au naturale,” she tried to look nonchalant in her posing. “Or something more staged? Like Farrah Fawcett-y?” She asked, following up her words with a more posed... well, pose!

☆

Jess flipped the dark sunglasses of their favorite aviator glasses-sunglasses combo up, leaving the clear lenses visible. Even the snappy lifeguard couldn’t kill their mood or their crooked, dopey grin. Everyone in California seemed to lose their accent the moment they reached Los Angeles, but Jess’ was still thick as honey and twice as sweet. “You must be pretty special if that sun came out just for you,” they drawled. “Kinda seems like you wouldn’t move even if someone was flailin’ out there. California’s wild, man.”

Despite the likelihood that it wouldn’t at all be what this lifeguard wanted, Jess flopped down onto the sand next to her, leaning on their elbows. “I was going on a smoothie run, one of the other lifeguards said you might dig one. But if it’s gonna harsh your whole vibe, I wouldn’t dare.” Still grinning, Jess flipped their sunglasses back into place to shade their eyes as they soaked up the rays of Marilyn’s sun.

.

Marilyn perked up from a culmination of things. The accent, the smoothie, and that it seemed like they were feeding into Marilyn’s little sun endeavor. Her mood softened a bit, mostly when the strange person laid down next to her. “Good thing there’s other lifeguards on duty then,” she answered, flipping her sunglasses back down and leaning back on her beach towel. It seemed like no one was actually in dire need of her, so she figured she could kick back for a bit.

“No, no, a smoothie sounds groovy,” she said, leaning on her side to face Jess. “As long as you’re the one doing the running and I’m the one doing the laying,” she added, placing a hand on her hip. “You’re not from here,” she had clocked it earlier, but was just beginning to follow up on the thought after the mention of smoothies. “Dreamer or vacationer?”

Open starter!

Location: Vick's Vinyls in the afternoon

Ronnie had leftover snacks from lunch... snacks she had stolen, putting them into a box she had taken with her for her snack heist. It was nothing but Planters potato chips, Banana Flips, Nabisco Cheese Tid Bits, Toastettes Strawberry Toaster Pastries, Ding-Dongs, some new candy called Ring Pops, and Slim Jims.

She came back into the shop with a smile.

"I've got snacks for everyone! It's my treat. Come and get em'!" Ronnie said with a grin before she undid the wrapping on a Slim Jim and took a bite out of the savory stick made out of meat.

.

Marilyn had walked over to Vick’s after her shift at Crescent Paradise, looking to pick up some new 45′s or a new album to go home with altogether. She strutted inside the place with nothing covering up her red swimsuit except for a pink paisley coverup that really didn’t do much. She had her hands on a KISS vinyl when she heard the worker’s voice. Turning her head, she quirked an eyebrow up and almost made a face in disgust as she watched the girl tear into a Slim Jim. Although... Marilyn was intrigued enough to drop Destroyer back into its spot and waltz over to the box of goods.

She peeked inside only to be met with what Marilyn could only describe as junk. “Hm, appealing offer but you don’t win Crescent Paradise’s Hottest Lifeguard for two years in a row by eating...” she frailly picked up one of the snacks and grimaced. “.... Chesse Tid Bits,” Marilyn dropped the cylinder shaped snack back into the box, before looking up. “Oh, there was an actual reason I was here. I almost forgot! Do you have The Clash?”

“some shmuck took a dump on the beach…” joni breathed out, hand shielding her eyes from the brightness of the day. it was humiliating enough to go to crescent paradise in broad daylight, sober, but it was even worse that joni was here on some lame-o soccer team field trip. she’d left her gaggle of 8 to 12 year olds with some high school girl, chrissy, who was getting community service by being assistant coach. joni hadn’t even wanted to go but the pta offered her a wad of cash she couldn’t deny for going above and beyond. maybe she would’ve gotten away with looking like an absolute dork with her rolled athletic shorts, knee highs, and a visible layer of sunscreen, but no. of course there had to be a problem and of course marilyn had to be the closest guard on duty. 

marilyn wasn’t having it and joni wasn’t having it. as the girl below her fussed for her to step away, she groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, “can you just like…fuckin’ fix it, man…?” joni felt a little too desperate for her own comfort and was internally pleading for this entire interaction to end before it got ugly.  how could joni wrap this up quickly? sighing to herself, she tapped her chest near the shoulder, right where a swimsuit strap might sit, “i’ve got some grass with your name on it if you could like…see to it.” 

.

Of fucking course. All Marilyn wanted to do was get a little tan while on shift, but leave it to Joni to come in ruining the fun. “Step out of my light and I might,” she said, letting out a huff as she realized Joni just wasn’t budging until she assisted her with the problem at hand. “I mean, what do you expect me to do? Clean it up?” It seemed explanatory, but Marilyn was under the impression that her job was really to just offer helicopter parents a relief and look hot. Cleaning up shit wasn’t a part of that. She glanced between Joni and where she had tapped. Weed was enticing, but from Joni Johnson? No chance. It was probably laced but on second thought... maybe that could be exciting.

With an eye roll, she stood up from her spot. “I’ll be right back,” Marilyn said, stomping over to who was on duty with her. It was some guy who was too muscular for his own good. His name was Brad... Chad... Thad... it definitely ended in a -ad, Marilyn knew that much! And all it took was a little eye batting and a promise to hang out with him later if it meant cleaning up the problem Joni had found. “Feel free to thank me,” She raised an eyebrow as she walked back over to her original spot, holding her hand out for her reward. “You know, I will say it is interesting to see Jojo Johnson out in the sunlight. I like totally thought you’d crawl out of whatever cave you decided to make a home.”

Dylan cursed as he felt the sand make it’s way between his ( admittedly quite dirty ) feet and the soles of his hand-woven sandals. Though he was quite the stereotypical hippie, he was far from the beach rat type. If he wanted to lay around what was essentially the world’s litterbox and sweat, he’d rather just hang out at Indigo on one of his off nights. Yet again, he’d heard through his own grapevine that there was considerably less volunteer beach cleanup happening at Crescent Paradise. As always, he decided to take it upon himself to scour the beach and clean up what he could. 

Once he was happy with his progress, he was left with a plastic bag chock-full of various garbage. He wasn’t a difficult guy, but DAMN IT this stuff was starting to stink in the persistent California heat. He spotted the nearest lifeguard chair, which was to his surprise, fully empty. It only took a few seconds for him to locate the lifeguard’s uniform lounging on a towel, soaking up the rays. The snappy voice brought a crooked smile to his face, eyebrows lifting beyond the bright red lady’s sunglasses he found earlier on in the day. “There’s a lot of people here today. Aren’t you supposed to be… Oh. I don’t know.. Guarding? Lives? As the job title clearly describes?” Taking a moment to look out at the water, he turned back to the bronzed girl with a chuckle. “Anyways. I was doing some beach cleanup. No garbage cans big enough for the size of this heifer. I can leave this with you, right?” He asked with a sweet smile as his fingers loosened their grip on the heavy bag, letting drop on the edge of her towel. 

.

Marilyn had a tender heart for Dylan and it was probably reserved for him and only him, so while she may have had a rough tone with him, it was all in the name of getting a good tan! “There’s been more...” she huffed, leaning up on her towel to take a peek at how many patrons had shown up that day. “There’s nothing to guard if no one’s dying,” a pause. “Besides, I’m trained in CPR so if anyone goes kaput I’ll just like revive them, duh.” It was easier said than done, but no one had ever died on her watch so she’d take that as a sign that she was a good lifeguard. Or that one of the other lifeguards on duty just happened to be better than her. She’d refuse to admit the latter.

“Dylan, what the hell?” Marilyn exclaimed, as she bounced up from her towel and snatched it out from under the garbage bag. “That’s totally revolting and now I have to bleach my towel!” Or she’d just pass it off to someone she could bribe to bleach it. “My towel is not a garbage can and you can take this to like, a local dump or something,” she pouted, pointing down at the trash bag as if she would contract the plague from touching it. “Get it away!” She groaned, flapping her towel around it to get her point across.

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: crescent paradise

Working at Crescent Paradise wasn’t Marilyn’s first idea at a stellar job. She’d much rather be interviewing criminals or modeling for Vogue, but alas, that would never happen. Instead, she settled for the easiest job she could and what was easier than laying out in a swimsuit all day? It’s not like people drowned or got eaten by sharks and if they did... well, that’s what her one day CPR training and the police were for! Other than that, she could kinda just do whatever and blow her whistle at ugly people.

Marilyn had long abandoned her post, something she did fairly often, and instead of sitting in her lifeguard chair she was instead laying on a beach towel. If no one was dying, then she was going to sunbathe. She didn’t need to look like some pale freak. As she laid on the towel, soaking in the rays that would eventually give her some kind of skin damage in her late adulthood, she felt the presence of the sun go away. Thinking it was simply the clouds coming out, she raised her disco glasses to sit atop her head, only to be met with a person who was blocking the sun instead. “What?” She snapped. “Unless someone is like, literally dying or combusting into flames right now, I need you to get out of my sun.”