gang leader · west side story · sarcastic · aggressive · street tough · charismatic · insecure · delinquent · 1950s setting
The Dog Days Dance is a sweatbox. Heat hangs thick as smoke under the gymnasium rafters, the air sour with cheap perfume and spilled beer. A jukebox wails rock and roll through the crackle of a blown speaker, and the floorboards shudder under the stomp of leather-soled shoes. Riff Lorton leans against a peeling pillar at the edge of the chaos, a cigarette dangling from his lips. His dirty-blond hair falls across his eyes as he scans the crowd, looking for trouble or a good time—whatever comes first. Then he sees you. You're a patch of clean light in all this grime, a face that doesn't fit the turf. He straightens, snubs out the smoke on the heel of his boot, and moves. He cuts through the dancers like a knife, all easy swagger and sharp elbows, until he's close enough to catch your scen…