I know - during NaNo, one should write nothing but NaNo, especially when you're behind, but I had to write this. I noticed that, out of 8.2K Outsiders stories, there are no Tim and Cherry stories. None at all. So I had to write one.
"You're drunk!" Cherry whirls around, back to Tim and arms crossed. "You know how much I hate you drinking! I don't know why you even came 'round here like that!"
Yeah, he does know she hates when he gets drunk. She'd expressed it enough times. He isn't sure why he'd gotten drunk tonight, though. There had been a reason…
Well, he guessed getting drunk had worked to help him forget it. Lucky him.
"C'mon Cherry," He wraps his arms around her, staggering forward, "I came here 'cause I know you love seein' me."
She shoves his arms off of her and he nearly ends up sprawled, face down, on the floor. Wow, he must be really drunk. Normally he could hold his alcohol and never got slobbering drunk.
"I don't love seeing you like this!" Cherry retorts. "Get outta here. I don't wanna be around you when you're drunk. Pass out in a gutter on your own."
Tim frowns, suddenly overcome with misery. "Cherry," he wheedles, "I don't wanna pass out in a gutter all my lonesome." He pauses for a second to go back over what he'd said. He thinks it made sense, so he continues, "It's more fun with two." He cackles with laughter. He's hilarious. That's the funniest thing he's ever heard anyone say. He cuts off his own laughter to look at Cherry. She looks disgusted, mouth twisted. Maybe she didn't get it.
"Go home," she orders, and no one orders Tim Shepard around. He scowls.
"Sure. You too good for me now, huh?" He shakes his head. Not a good idea. It makes everything spin. "Well, lemme tell you something, Cherr-cherr—" He stops. What was he gonna tell her?
She shakes her own head. "Go home. Call me when you're sober. You have my number."
Paling, Tim remembers why he got drunk. He groans and slumps onto the ground. Number. He puts his face in his heads and moans, unconsciously shaking his head again.
There's silence for a minute and then he feels Cherry's hand on his shoulder. He lowers his hands to see her crouching next to him.
"Number. It's up," He explains to her. She frowns.
"What number, Tim?"
"Curly's." He drops his head to look at the ground. "He's my little brother, Cherry. Little brother. He's not supposed to get numbers tellin' him his letter's up." Wait, that wasn't right. "Letters saying his up's numbered." He scowls. That's not it either. He doesn't try again. Instead he looks at her, with her cute eyebrows pushed together as she frowns. She doesn't understand. "Fer the army." He flops backwards until he's lying on his back and throws his arm over his eyes. "They're sendin' him to die. To be a soldier an'…" He trails off. What was he saying? He lifts his arm to his forehead. Cherry's sitting next to him, her hand on her mouth.
"Tim, I— Oh, I'm so sorry."
He doesn't know why she's sorry. He forgot why. All he knows is he's drunk and he forgot why he feels so empty and dark inside. He doesn't want to remember. He has a feeling it's bad news.
(Yay, first Outsiders fic!)
So, I hope you liked it. I'm happy with how it turned out. For those who are unaware to what Tim means, Curly's draft number came up, so he has to join the army and fight in Vietnam. I don't need to tell you I don't own The Outsiders because if I did, the television show would have more than one season. Well, I hoped you like it =) Please feel free to leave a review!