Chapter Sixty-Seven: Jealous Steve

"Ok, so as usual, I'm faced with a dilemma, and I need the guidance of the oh-so-wise Film Oracle." I smiled, leaning my arms on the counter.

Steve, Robin, and I had all officially begun our jobs at Family Video, and over the past several weeks that I'd been working there, I'd managed to befriend one of the regular customers. His name was Christopher Platten, and he was a couple of years older than me. He worked at the Radio Shack a few spaces down and would always stop in for videos once he got of work. I gave him a recommendation one time and now he asks for my opinion every time he stops in.

"The Oracle is in, and is ready to share her ultimate wisdom." I replied, smiling at him.

"I'm in the mood for a little romance tonight if you can believe that, and I'm stuck between Dirty Dancing and Pretty in Pink." I nodded.

"Hmm...that is a difficult one. Well, I guess it depends on what you're in the mood for. Are you feeling a hot-and-heavy forbidden relationship, or the love story with an endearing best friend character that should be the main love interest but isn't?"

"That's my dilemma!" He exclaimed, smiling brightly. "I can't tell if I'm in the mood to root for the couple or shout at the screen because the perfect guy is right in front of the main characters eyes!" 

"I think you should go with rooting for the couple," I looked up to see Steve appear beside me, leaning against the counter, "Two people that are meant to be together is way better than rooting for a guy that the girl will never ever be interested in."

I got the sense that he wasn't talking about the movies.

"Right..." Christopher said awkwardly, standing up straight and rubbing the back of his neck, "Uh...You know what? I'll take them both. I'll make a marathon out of it." I nodded, taking the movies and walking to the register.

"Good choice. Uh, your total is 10.25." He smiled uncomfortably, handing me the money and taking the bag that had his movies in them. "The rentals are due back in a week, but if you need more time just give us a call and we can renew them for you. But you have to call in before the due date, or we'll have to charge late fees."

"Perfect. Thanks, Riley. It was a pleasure, as always." I nodded in agreement as he glanced uncomfortably at Steve, who was standing beside me with his arms crossed, giving Chris a hard look.

"See ya around." He left and I turned to look at Steve, leaning against the counter and crossing my arms. 

"What?" He asked defensively, going back to where he had been restocking the shelves.

"You really shouldn't be trying to intimidate the customers." I stated, leaning my forearms on the counter and opening the magazine that was sitting there. 

"Well, I'll stop intimidating the customers when they stop drooling all over my fiancé." I raised my eyebrows.

"Ok, first of all, he wasn't drooling. We were just talking, we're friends," He scoffed, rolling his eyes, "And second of all, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous." 

"Well, then its a good thing you know better, because I am not jealous," He argued, "Especially not of Christopher. Even his name sounds lame." I smiled.

"You are so jealous!" I laughed.

"Not jealous."

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are!" 

"No, I'm-"

"Oh my gosh, will the two of you shut up!?" Robin shouted, poking her head out of the back office. "Harrington, just admit you're jealous of Chris so I don't have to listen to this argument!" 

"I'm not admitting anything, because its not true!" I laughed, reaching up and tucking my hair behind my ear. "But even if I was, why do you get such pleasure in making me jealous?" I shrugged.

"Its not that I get pleasure our of it per say. Its just that I'm used to you being the one getting all the unwanted attention from the opposite sex. Its nice to be the desirable one for a change."

"Barbie, how many times do we have to go over this?" He walked over, leaning against the front of the counter so that he was facing me. "You're smoking hot. You're a total babe, and while you might not have noticed, its not exactly news that guys are interested in you." 

I rolled my eyes, averting my eyes down to my magazine again, only to have Steve lightly grab my chin and tilt my head up to meet his eyes again. 

"Don't you have work to do?" I asked.

"Yeah, and I'll get back to it, once you convince me that you know how sexy you are." I scrunched my nose up at the word and Robin made gagging noises from across the store. "Oh, shut up! This is a private conversation between me and my future wife!"

"Oh yeah? Then have this conversation on your own time, and not in front of the cash register. You're repulsing our customers." I laughed, grabbing Steve's hand and taking it off of my face. 

"Fine, fine, I'm smoking hot, I'm a total babe, yada, yada. There, you happy?"

"Nope. That's not what I asked." I shot him a pointed look.

"I'm not saying that."

"Come on," He moved his head, putting his lips right beside my ear, "Admit that you're sexy."

I turned my head slightly so that my mouth was beside his ear too.

"You admit that you're jealous." He pulled back with an unamused look and I laughed, leaning in and pecking his lips. 

"You are beyond irritating. You're lucky I love you." He said, turning around and going back to his shelving. I chuckled, shaking my head and going back to my magazine once more.

~~~

Once we got off work, Steve and I headed home and started dinner.

I was standing in front of the stove, cooking chicken when I felt fingers wrap around my hips. I shook my head.

"Nope...no, you know what happens when you start hitting on me while I'm cooking. We can't afford to waste more groceries."

"Sorry, I just what to remind myself that while Chris is alone on his couch  watching Jennifer Gray drape herself all over Patrick Swayze, I'm the one who gets to take you home every night." 

"Obviously," I said, leaning back against him, "You know I'm not interested in Chris, right?"

"You're not interested in him. But he's interested in you, and its enough to make my skin crawl. Especially when he comes in and is drooling all over you right in front of me." I smiled.

"It sounds like you're jealous." I said playfully.

"I'm not jealous. Jealous indicates that I want what he has. But as it turns out," He pressed his lips against my ear, and I repressed a shiver, "I'm the big winner here." I nodded slowly before turning around to face him. I moved to the slide slightly so that I could lean back against the counter, wrapping my arms around myself.

"Does Chris really bother you?" I asked seriously. "Because if he does, I can just let you or Robin help him next time he comes in. I don't want to do something that's going to make you uncomfortable." 

He shook his head, stepping forward and tucking my hair behind my ear.

"No, I trust you. I know you would never do anything like that." he slid his hand up to the side of my face, leaning in and pressing a slow kiss to my jaw.

"Steve...I am glad to hear that, but I am not making out with you in the kitchen again. I'm hungry."

"Me too." he said, kissing down the side of my neck. I rolled my eyes, putting a hand on his shoulder as he grabbed my waist, pulling me tight against him. "Like I said...I trust you," He kept kissing along my neck between words, and I was fighting the urge to give in and forget the chicken, "But I just...I want to remind you who you're engaged to. Its my last name you're going to take...not...his."

"Actually," I pushed him away from me so I could look into his eyes "I'm thinking about Hyphenating." His face turned serious.

"Is it because of 'Hopper'? You want to keep it going because of..." I nodded, looking down at my feet. 

"I can't let the 'Hopper' name die with him," I said quietly before meeting his eyes again, "So, I'm thinking Riley Hopper-Harrington. Or Harrington-Hopper, I'm not sure. It doesn't really matter the order, I just...I'm not ready to let go of that part of myself, you know?" He nodded.

"And you shouldn't."

"Does that bother you? That it won't  just be Harrington?" He shook his head, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"What? Of course not. Why would it?" He said sincerely. I shrugged.

"I don't know. I think the whole last name thing is important. It means we're a family."

"We're already a family," He pointed out, "And I totally get it. Aside from the fact that he's your Dad, Hop did a lot for everyone in this town and now beyond it. He should be memorialized somehow." I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck and rubbing my nose gently against his.

"And that is why I'm marrying you, and not Chris."

"Ugh." He groaned in disgust at the mention of his name, throwing his head back and I laughed, moving away from him and going back to the chicken.