Sara glanced at him from underneath her painted eyelashes; he's not used to her wearing makeup, although he figures it's been about 3 years since she started.
Soda's voice pipes up from across the table, "Why'd you cut your hair?"
Sara turns her attention away from Steve and shrugs, "Something different I guess." She didn't cut off to much, only about 3 inches or so. It reached about an inch under her shoulders now, as compared to the middle of her back, where it was before.
Soda tilts his head and examines her, and Steve starts to get the feeling that he's not the only one who isn't used to the grown up version of Sara, the one who wears makeup, short skirts, and just goes out and cuts her hair. He's still picturing the 6 year old girl running around with her ponytail and sneakers, trying to keep up with the boys.
"It looks nice." Soda decides and Sara smiles and turns her attention back to Steve, the only one left in the poker game.
"Do you give up?" She tips her head and fights the smile tugging at her lips.
Steve shakes his head but places his cards down anyway, "I'm gonna go get a beer."
Sara nods and sits back in her chair, turning her attention toward Soda. She'd had a crush on him since the first grade and easily worked her way into the family alliance when she moved there from New York. She thought about dumping Tim to see if her chances increased with Soda but she decided against it; she didn't make the first move.
"When are you two love birds just gonna hook up already?" Two-Bit smiles as he walks in the door with Ponyboy and Johnny hot on his heels.
"Where were you two?"
Two-Bit shrugs and looks back toward the door, "Movies."
Sara nods and sets down her cards. "I think I'm gonna head home."
"Your mom home?" Soda asks and Sara stands up without looking at him. "Your guess is as good as mine."
"She still with that Jimmy guy?"
Sara paused a moment as she thought about the latest guy her mother had moved into their home. She nods and picks up her can of Pepsi, pushing in her chair. "Yeah."
"Well I'll walk you home." Two-Bit offers and Sara shakes her head, "I'll be fine; she probably hasn't even noticed I'm gone."
"That doesn't mean some Socs looking for a good time won't."
Sara smiled, Two-Bit was always her big brother role model. Especially since her own brother had decided to stay in New York, with their father. "Besides, I think Tim's had enough of you guys walking me home."
She saw Soda smile slightly from the corner of her eye and she couldn't help but smile herself. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." She waved back to the boys just as Steve made a reappearance.
XXX
Steve kept his thumbs jammed in his pockets as he walked Sara to the grocery store. "You owe me a rematch."
Sara cocked an eyebrow, "Rematch on what?"
"The poker game, you never finished."
She smirked, "Well then I guess I do."
He grinned slightly, something rare for Sara to see. "So how are you and Shepard?"
Another smirk crossed her lips, "Fine." She paused for a moment, "How about you and Caroline?" Caroline was the latest girl Steve was sporting since Evie had moved to Montana.
He shrugged, "She's pretty boring."
"Well you've kept her longer than most of the other girls." Steve hadn't had a relationship lasting over a month since the move.
Steve smirked, "I'm running out of girls."
Sara rolled her eyes and headed into the grocery store, checking in for her shift. "I'll see you later Stevie."
He nodded, "Make sure you call one of us when you get off." They all had an over-protectiveness of her walking home alone, ever since a man in his late 40's took it upon himself to follow her home one night about 6 months ago.
"You got it."
Tim showed up about an hour into Sara's shift and she clocked herself out for her break.
"Hey baby-doll." Tim draped his arm over her shoulders and kissed her slowly on the lips.
Sara pulled away after a minute and smiled at him gingerly, "What are you doing here?"
He shrugged, "What I can't come check in on my girlfriend?"
She gave him a suspicious look, "Not usually."
He unwrapped his arm from around her and turned to face her directly, "Look babe, there might be some rumors going around but I wanted you to hear it from me first."
She tipped her head and proceeded slowly, "What kind of rumors, Tim?"
"Well while you were out of town over the weekend I spent a little time at Buck's."
"And?"
He shrugged, "And you know Buck's, I mean obviously someone's gonna say something happened."
Sara shook her head slowly, "I've gone to Buck's plenty of times Tim and no one's ever said I did something that I didn't."
"Look, I brought a girl upstairs alright? But nothing happened."
Betrayal crossed Sara's eyes and she kept her fists clenched at her sides, "Never once have I heard of Tim Shepard bringing a girl upstairs and nothing happening."
Tim sighed, "Alright babe, we did a few things okay? But this was the only time alright?"
Sara hesitated a moment before smacking him a good one across his face, "We're done you fucking asshole."
She turned to walk away and Tim smirked fiercely, "Oh and what are you gonna do, huh? Go and run back to Curtis? Face it Sara, I'm all you've got."
Sara shook her head and smirked back, "No, I've got Curtis, remember?"
Hi everyone! So I'm not so sure about this story so I'd love if you all gave me some feedback on whether or not I should continue. I hope you all enjoyed :) Longer chapters will be coming soon if I decide to continue... Thanks for reading, please review!