"I'm gonna rip your hair out and choke you with it, you fuckin' tramp!"

Sylvia Stewart gave one last kick to the door and fell to her knees. Behind all of the screaming and kicking and punching, there was a deep hurt in her eyes. Evie Adams just couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Had it been reversed, the brunette wouldn't have been trying to kick the damned door down – she would have been sobbing in her car.

But the blonde was stronger than her emotionally. Besides, Dallas and Sylvia did this shit to each other all the time. If everything seemed normal for so long, they got bored of it and found a way to make their relationship more exciting.

It was fucked up.

The night started out perfectly fine. Sylvia begged the girls to go with her to Buck's for a girls' night. Now, looking back, it made more sense thinking that she wanted to go to see if Dallas was there.

When they had arrived, the first thing the blonde did was … well, she bought Sandy a drink to calm her the fuck down. Sandy hated being at Buck's without her boyfriend. But, once she got a few drinks into her, she played a few rounds of pool and was more social than you could even imagine.

And then, just like that, Danny Harris informed Sylvia that her boyfriend, Dallas Winston, was upstairs locked in a bedroom with none other than Barbra Todd, the blonde's mortal enemy.

Within seconds she was screaming up the stairs.

Sylvia was, to put it lightly, a hothead. It upset Evie when people would say she was crazy, but she could understand why they would think so. People just didn't know her like Evie did.

They could still hear the two in the bedroom moaning when Sylvia was on her knees. Finally, when it seemed as though she was ready to give up, she sat down on the carpet and shouted,

"I'll be out here when y'all are done!"

The brunette shook her head. "Syl, let's just go. It don't seem like they're leavin' anytime soon."

"You go ahead. I ain't going no where."

Evie let out a sigh as she sat beside her best friend, leaning her head against the faded and ripped wallpaper.

They sat in silence as the moans continued.

The brunette could never understand their relationship if her life depended on it. Sure, her and Steve argued from time to time, but never like this. They had been together for almost three years, and as far as Evie knew, they were going to get married after they graduated. Kids would probably start popping out when he was done college.

They had a far more mature relationship than Sylvia and Dallas. They were just so childish with each other sometimes, and frankly, Evie just couldn't see the big picture. Dally was unemployed, a drop out, and not very attractive.

"Boy howdy," Sylvia was saying, leaning her head up and softly tapping it back against the wall. "I sure as hell can't wait to see that girl's face when they come out."

"Yeah."

It was always the Dally's girls that took the blame. It was never Dally's fault.

The blonde gazed at the bathroom in front of them, her cold gray eyes focused on the tile. This was one of her moods that Evie was honestly afraid of. She had seen Sylvia at her worst, and those eyes were the first warning.

"What was I thinkin'." She cussed herself in a soft voice. "I can't ever change him."

"I know."

"Aw, c'mon, Evie. You and Steve are perfect – you can't do no wrong."

Feeling a little offended by the comment, she snapped back, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sylvia shrugged.

"Me an' Steve have been together for three years, Syl. You don't get a stable relationship just like that. Ya gotta work on it for a while first, then it gets better."

She threw her hands in the air with confusion. "Well, when's this gonna get better?"

Evie ran her hand across the carpet that she was sure was white at one point. She pulled out her pack of cigarettes from her purse. She didn't have an answer for that, but maybe the cigarette would.

At that moment, a noise tumbled up the stairs, and the girls looked over to see Sandy with a beer in her hand.

"Hey, gals," she greeted, sitting on the top step with them and snatching Evie's lit cigarette from her. "What are y'all doin' up here?"

It was no surprise to them that she was drunk. It was the only time she smoked. Hell, two beer could get her pretty tipsy, and with Two-Bit downstairs, she must have had a few.

Sandy and Sylvia seemed like complete opposites when they meet the eye. Sandy had a more innocent appeal to her. They didn't get along when she first started dating Sodapop – Steve's best friend – but surprisingly, they had more in common than anyone would have thought.

When the moaning hit the hallway, Sandy's eyes went wide.

"Who's in there?"

"My boyfriend," Sylvia replied bluntly.

Sandy's mouth dropped. "Does he know you're here?"

"Yup. Sure do."

"Gosh, Syl. You should quit hangin' around for that one. Don't seem like it's really going anywhere. Why don't you go downstairs and try to have a good time? There's quite the party goin' on."

Sandy's English was awful when she was drunk.

"Who's down there?" Evie asked.

"Everyone. Donna, Mikey, Margret, Dick, Susie, Tim, Shirley, that–"

"Wait," Sylvia interrupted, her eyes lighting up like a lion. "Tim? Shepard?"

She nodded. "Yeah. He just come in with Dennis."

"Y'know," Evie laughed, "if Two-Bit is here with Susie, that's gonna be awkward as hell. He told Steve he was thinking about breaking it off with her."

"No!" Sandy exclaimed.

"Tim is downstairs right now?"

Before even waiting for a response, Sylvia stood up, pushed her breasts up to boost her cleavage, pulled down her skirt, and casually made her way down the stairs. Sandy and Evie gave each other a worried look before following her.

Tim Shepard was an old friend of Dally and Sylvia. For some unknown reason, everything was a competition with Tim and Dallas. There was no doubt in Evie's mind that she was going to seduce Tim to make her boyfriend jealous. Sure, Tim was a good-looking … well, a great-looking guy with ambition and integrity and loyalty and …

Okay, so maybe every girl on the North Side had a thing for him. But, come on, it was Tim Shepard!

But, no matter who it was, Evie was disgusted with her girl friend. If her boyfriend was up there with another girl, cheating on him back wasn't going to resolve any issues the couple was having.

There was something about commitment that those two just could not grasp.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, it appeared as though there was quite the party happening. Dick and Margret were playing a game of darts, all of the pool tables were in use, and everyone was just having a good time.

Sylvia immediately headed for the Shepard Gang's booth. Evie didn't bother to join her; those boys were pretty rough, and she didn't want Steve to think she had anything to do with this.

Two-Bit and Susie were at a pool table, giggling at each other without a care. She guessed he decided to hang on to her for a little bit longer.

"Stevie wanted me to come here and make sure y'all ain't causin' any trouble." Two-Bit smiled. "I told him no promises."

The brunette laughed. "Yeah, we're right the trouble-makers."

He nodded over towards Sylvia. "What's goin' on there?"

She quickly glanced over and, sure enough, Sylvia was hanging off Tim, lighting his cigarette for him with her hand on his knee.

Evie rolled her eyes and tapped her fingernails on the chipped, worn out wooden edge of the pool table. "I don't even know anymore. Dal's in a room with Barb and she was losin' it."

Two-Bit always wanted in on the girls' gossip.

Sandy seemed to be lost again. Evie asked Susie if she had seen her, and apparently she had gone up the stairs. When the brunette was at the DX earlier that day, she promised Sodapop she would take care of Sandy if she was drinking until he and Steve were off work, and Evie was not one to break a promise.

She excused herself to check up on the blonde. Ignoring Sylvia as she walked by, she could hear plain as day someone being violently sick in the bathroom. She rushed to the opened door and there was Sandy, with her face as pale as a ghost and a small strand of hair blackened with vomit.

"Oh no," Evie muttered, leaning down to sit on the old, stained tile with Sandy. "You're sick?"

"I ain't been feeling so hot lately," she responded, her head bobbing from side to side. "You don't gotta sit with me – I'm fine."

The brunette rubbed Sandy's back and shrugged. "Hey, I know what it's like to have too much to drink."

"Do you think Steve's gonna be your husband?"

The question seemed to have popped out of nowhere, but Evie replied, "Of course I do. I know he is."

Leaning back and wiping her forehead, the blonde smiled. "I think I'm in love with Soda. I never believed in soul-mates or any of that shit, but now …" She beamed. "I hope I can marry him, Evie. It's all I can think about."

Evie smiled at her briefly until she threw up again. She personally didn't think they were dating long enough to know whether or not they loved each other, but Sandy had a sense to her that seemed so naïve and lovable.

Maybe it was the hair.

"Everything will be all right," she assured the blonde, giving her a quick hug. "Once you get sick a few more times, you'll feel better."

As she continued rubbing the drunken girl's back, Tim Shepard and Sylvia Stewart strolled by and unlocked a bedroom door that was right next to the one that was occupied by Barbra Todd and Dallas Winston.

It wasn't a surprise to Evie when Dally and Sylvia were holding hands two days later.

The only thing that was really on her mind at that moment was how perfect her own boyfriend was, and how much she couldn't wait for him to get off work.