-1Disclaimer: Miss Hinton owns The Outsiders
A/N: So, this is like a test run and I don't know how often it will be updated. And it goes out to Yusuke'sSister, who needs a little boost. (also, sorry I didn't reply yet, my fingers are numb from finishing this first chapter). I hope you like my version of Two-Bit. It's not just the lighthearted carefree guy most of ya'll make him out to be.
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I stiffened up the collar of my jacket, trying to protect my neck from the biting wind without being seen as a wimp. My beer can had long since been thrown aside because the chill contents had burned my hand into thinking it would fall off. It was times like these that I wished I was closer to the Curtis house, where at least Darry worked to keep the heat going all winter long, unlike my mom, who couldn't keep a job long enough to get a real pay check. She's a hard worker, just a little bit off since my dad left when I was little and the insanity shows when she tries to support our family. Hell, my little sister almost hadn't gone to school this year if I wouldn't have kicked her sorry ass to the door.
The streets of Tulsa were cold and lonely, and for good reason too, for snowflakes were starting to fall from the sky, right on top of my greased up hair. If I stayed out here any much longer, there would be an ice skating rink on my head. There wasn't any other place to go though, so I pushed myself forward, thinking about the summer time, when it was too hot outside to walk around with a shirt on. It was the time when the blondes came out in little clothing that showed off their bodies. Mine, and probably just about any guy's, favorite time of the year and for good reason too. There's no place that has summer like Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Everybody's just in an all around good mood, even the cops because I don't get jailed as much in the summer as I do now. There's no reason for the greasers to pick fights when we don't have to coop up all our energy in school all the time. And the Socs don't dare come over to our side just to jump us. The only time something ever happens is when somebody like Dally or Tim Shepard get bored and call a random rumble. Then everything goes back to normal - lying around, enjoying the hot sweltering sun beating down on top of your head, making the hair grease drip into our faces. The football games in the lot and plenty of five finger discounts of ice cold beverages. It's just great during that time of the year. I constantly have to remind myself only a month left of this damn coldness. Then spring will jump onto us again.
A car drove past, loudly beeping the horn at my freezing form and I flipped them off as they turned the corner going way too fast. I heard the screech of the brakes and then silence and for a second the thought occurred that I should help them if they had crashed, but a moment later, the engine roared back to life and they were speeding off again to chase down some poor little kid grease. Socs really have no hearts. They're just a bunch of creeps with a boring life and nothing else to do but pick on us greasers. That's why we have to be tuff and not look like we were suffering. I flicked my collar back down from the thought.
Only a few lights were on in the houses I was passing, so the brightness of the local convenience store caught my eye as I turned the corner. The only thought was that it was warm, and it took all my toughness not to run into the store where there was plenty of heat. It felt like hours before my hand touched the freezing door and pushed it open, letting a wave of heat fall over me. Instantly I warmed up, and shook off the last bit of frost from the outdoors. I even let out a simple sigh of relief, walking to the back of the store where no cold blasts could come inside from the revolving door.
"Hey, Tim," I said gruffly, seeing the familiar face gazing into the icebox at the back. He glanced over my way, probably expecting somebody who he could find a good time in beating up, but smirked when he saw me standing there. Tim grabbed a soda pop from the cooler before turning back to me.
"Nasty storm, eh?" he said, making casual conversation. Tim and I aren't the best of buddies, but we're top-of-the-line greasers, so it's basically an invisible rule that we start up a conversation whenever we see each other.
"Yeah, probably bringin' in ol' Santa Claus again," I answered, coming up with a lame way to describe what looked to be the worst storm of the year, but Tim actually gave a stiff laugh at my comment about Jolly ol' Saint Nicholas. Greasers don't believe in Santa. A person actually nice enough to go around handing out presents is extremely rare in Tulsa. You could probably even put it on the endangered species list. The only reason I brought up Mr. Claus was because on Christmas Day last year we had a huge storm that had started out just like this one had. Luckily, Tim seemed to get the joke.
"Yeah, I bet ya could walk around The Dingo high and the fuzz wouldn't even come," Tim tried to joke around. It really wasn't that funny, but I laughed loud anyway.
"You ain't a woofin'," I said softly, tapping my foot on the ground impatiently. I kind of wanted to leave and get to the Curtis' before there was an inch on the ground. But you just don't say that to Tim Shepard. Even I know not to push that limit.
"Yeah, well, I gotta go," Tim spoke after a moment of silence. He didn't say where he was going, but I figured there was some sort of party at Buck's. It was too cold to do anything else. I would have went there too if I didn't have the Curtis' to go to. They were my family and came before any old drinking party.
As Tim walked out of the store and into the cold air, I turned around and looked around the store innocently. Figuring that as long as I was here I could maybe swipe a few things, I began walking around aimlessly, taking an invisible stock of all the items just thrown carelessly on the shelves that would be an easy grab. No eyes were on me because the owner of the shop wasn't out of the back room, so taking anything would be like swiping candy from a baby.
Before I could actually grab the box of cocoa that I saw tipped over right next to where I was standing, I heard a loud thud followed by a clatter of boxes falling to the ground. My eyes averted to where the noise had come from and I instinctively moved towards it. One aisle up from the place where I had been standing, there was a heap in the middle of the floor. About fifty boxes of cookies and twenty soup cans were intermingled on the floor and two girls were lying there with them, not having actually reacted to falling yet.
One girl was brunette and looked familiar. I had probably seen her walking around Tulsa before and just recognized her from there. She was of average build, and only slightly prettier than the average American teenage girl. There was nothing really special about her, at least compared to the blonde fly slowly getting up on the ground opposite from her.
She was a very pretty blonde and was thin. I couldn't even see the front half of her, but I already knew that there would be blue eyes and a gorgeous face to accompany the viciously hot body. I made a beeline towards that one and stuck out a hand, which she intuitively grabbed for helping herself up. I was right, the front half of the girl was even better to look at than the backside. She was wearing a nametag that stated herself to be known as Marie.
"Thanks," she muttered, somewhat distracted by the evil looks the other girl was giving her. I could already tell the two coworkers didn't like each other. Was I really in the mood to get in the middle of a catfight? With this blonde, probably.
"Hey, do ya need someone ta keep ya warm tonight?" I went for the pick-up line because I wasn't in the mood to be playing around with a bunch of jokes. The brunette was slowly getting up and she looked vicious. Maybe I could get out of here with a broad without being caught up in chick drama.
Marie looked up at me with her eyebrows sort of scrunched. Apparently she hadn't realized that I had been the one that had helped her up. She probably thought it was some nice old man seeking protection from the cold outside, not some JD lurking around on his way to a buddy's house. She looked me over and I searched for a small hint of appreciation or approval, anything. All I got was a blank stare.
"Not tonight," she answered coolly, smoothing out her uniform. "I'm busy."
"Really? Because I'd be glad to keep ya company. Ya see, the heat's out at my place and I've been looking for someone like ya all night just ta keep me warm," I tried again, feeling a little off while flirting. Usually I have a comeback within a second. I guess the cold got to me. That's another reason why summer's better. There's more thought waves going through my brain.
"She said no," the brunette butted in. The tag pinned to her shirt read Amber. "It's because of you greasers that she's busy tonight anyway, always taking ya own five finger discounts and making us have to count and realize it later."
For not seeming to be friends with the other girl, she sure stuck up for her like they were. I glanced Amber over again, but turned back to the blonde. "Whatever ya want, sweetie, but tell snappy over here that the reason we can take those discounts is because people like her are always causin' distractions by bumpin' into other beautiful women."
The blonde looked me over again and there was a flash in her eyes that I saw before turning around and leaving, going down the aisle and swiping the box of hot chocolate. The girl deserved it saying something when I was about to hit it big with that blonde, and the Curtis brothers will love me even more for bring them cocoa. Those chocoholics.