It was before everything bad happened. Before Johnny and Dally died. It was before Johnny and Ponyboy went into hiding and before Johnny killed that Soc. Before Johnny and Ponyboy even met Dally to go to a movie. It was before all of that, and before Johnny got jumped, and before Mr. and Mrs. Curtis died.
It was before all the bad stuff happened. When everything was still alright. When everyone was happy (as happy as they could be) and when everything was semi-peaceful.
XXX
"Hi, Mrs. Curtis." the girl they all knew so well said, walking into the kitchen.
"Hi, Valery, darling." the woman who was so much like a mother to her said, smiling. Her warm look filled Valery's heart, making her feel peaceful.
"Where's Darry?"
"Sleeping. He and the boys were up late last night."
"Doing what?"
"They were out at a movie. They had a lot of fun, they told us when they got home."
"And where's Mr. Curtis?" Valery never called their father by his name-Darrel-and instead addressed him formally. She rarely called Mrs. Curtis anything but that-Mrs. Curtis.
"He hasn't woken up yet either." Mrs. Curtis said. She smiled at Valery, who looked tired and worn out, "Long night at the hospital, Val?" Valery nodded and Mrs. Curtis put her hand on her shoulder, "Go lay down with Dally. I'll keep breakfast warm for you."
"No," Valery shook her head, "I should stay… Help you with breakfast and maybe tidy up a bit. The boys sure did make a mess coming home last night." Valery looked around at the scattered jackets and shoes and disorder around the kitchen.
Mrs. Curtis stopped her from doing anything further, "Valery," she gave her a stern glance, "Go lie down. Don't worry about it."
Valery knew better than to argue further with Darry's mother. She nodded, received a quick peck on the cheek and then she went off on the familiar path to Darry's room. She set the nurses hat she wore on top of his dresser. Valery undressed down to her bra and panties, then climbed into Darry's bed.
He was snoring softly, so she knew she wouldn't wake him up. However, even if he was in the deepest phase of sleep, he could always sense when Valery would come in. His arms would wrap around her waist and he would nuzzle his face into her neck. And she would fall right asleep in his arms.
And that was what had happened. Valery started dozing as soon as he began to cuddle her. She simply fell right asleep that morning, getting home from work like any other day and falling exhaustedly into bed with her love.
He woke up a few hours after she came in. Darry awoke facing Valery in bed. It wasn't a shock to see her there. It happened a lot after she worked a long overnight shift at the hospital.
He stayed in bed a few more minutes until he smelled bacon. He smelled bacon and he heard his brothers get up. He wasn't sure if they would bother to save any for him before they choked it all down. He didn't want to get up and leave Valery. But he got up begrudgingly, got dressed and gave Valery a light peck on the lips before leaving the room for the kitchen.
"Hey, Darry!" Sodapop greeted him immediately, "We thought you were never gonna get up!"
"Really, Dar, what the heck took you so long?" Pony asked.
Darry shrugged, "Just sleepin'. Keep it down, Val's still in there catching up on rest."
"When did Valery get here?" Soda asked.
Their mother answered for them, "Early this morning. Shortly after I got up, actually."
"Where're the boys?" Darry asked, sitting down.
"They'll be here soon enough." Mr. Curtis muttered.
"Anybody home?" a shout rang through the house.
"Speak of the devil…" Ponyboy muttered. A couple boys walked in, first Two-Bit then Steve and lastly Johnny, all looking as cool as ever.
"Morning, guys." Two-Bit greeted them then turned to the parents charmingly, "Mrs. Curtis, Mr. Curtis."
"How are you, Two-Bit?" Mrs. Curtis smiled at him warmly.
"I'm fine, Mrs. Curtis."
She turned to Johnny, "How are you, son?"
Johnny shrugged, "I'm good I guess. Better now that I'm here. Is Val here?"
"Val's sleeping off the night." Darry said.
"Did she work a double shift again?"
"Something like a triple. Haven't seen her since Thursday."
"Don't know why she's working so much." Johnny said, "She ain't got nothing to worry about."
Darry shrugged, "Well, there's putting herself through college… And you, and all…"
Johnny fell silent. Everyone knew he felt so guilty about tying up so much of his older sister's time. Valery Cade worried about Johnny so much. She still lived with her parents, but spent most of her time either at the hospital or there at the Curtis's.
She was only nineteen, two years out of high school. She has done two years of nursing school, paid for by her parents. Now she was able to work at the hospital as a nurse, but still had to go to school. Her parents had quit paying for it though, so Valery split each paycheck into threes-one part for college, one part for the future, so she could possibly get a house, and the last part for Johnny, so he could have a good future too.
She worked really hard to keep herself up, and even though Johnny insisted she didn't have to, Valery still sacrificed that part of her paycheck and put it aside for her baby brother.
Before anyone could really say anything else, Valery walked into the kitchen. She had put on a pair of Darry's pajamas. She usually had clothes here, but today was laundry day.
"Good morning, boys." she smiled at them and then to Johnny, "Hey, Johnny Cash."
He blushed whenever she called him that. It was a cute pet name she liked using for him, similar to her calling Ponyboy 'Stallion' or Sodapop 'Caffeine'. "What's goin' on, Val?" Johnny asked smoothly.
Valery grinned, "Not a lot. Y'all didn't eat all the bacon, did ya?"
"There's a few pieces left, Val." Mrs. Curtis said, "How much sleep did you get?"
"Depends what time it is."
"Quarter after ten." Ponyboy said.
Valery shrugged, "About three or four hours then."
Darry tsked her. "You should still be sleeping. How much sleep have you gotten in the past two days?"
Valery shook her head, "I dunno. Maybe an hour, adding together all my breaks."
"What'd you take, like a triple-shift?" Soda asked.
Valery shook her head, "We were short nurses so I worked from noon on Thursday to dawn today."
"That's forty-two hours, Valery." Darry said, "You really need to get some sleep."
Valery rolled her eyes, "Nah, I'll be fine."
Valery was really stubborn. She was a lot like her dad in that way. She looked exactly like Johnny. Both had black hair, but hers was long and sleek. Both of their eyes were very wide and black. Long eyelashes graced hers and brushed her very low cheekbones. She had cute-as-a-button qualities about her with rounded a heart-shaped face, and dimples-two on one cheek and one on the other, which made her look very childish. She was 'Cute, not pretty'. Her nose was crooked from a nasty blow from her father. It made her look really tuff.
Her attitude was totally different from Johnny's though. She was stubborn, firm and tough. She was very willful, and wouldn't give in to anyone, unless it was Mr. or Mrs. Curtis, or Johnny. She was also a joker, like Two-Bit, but not to that extent. She found humor in things, but at the same time she was really serious about the things she cared a lot about.
And she didn't really know how to be proper. She wasn't very ladylike. She was very into feminine rights and things like that. She believed in herself, and she definitely didn't act like Socy girls. She was a definite Greaser girl, all attitude too. She could be rude, and she could be uncouth. But at the same time she could be nice and kind to people that mattered. She was really emotional, and bipolar. That was it.
"I think she's some sorta vampire." Two-Bit said, "She never sleeps. Or maybe she's just one of those insomniacs."
Valery rolled her eyes, "Shoot, Two-Bit. Sometimes, I just wanna smack you in the face."
"You know you love me."She chuckled, "A other times I just wanna… I dunno… Kiss you or something." At that Darry tapped her lightly on the arm, and she laughed, "You're like a hyperactive puppy who doesn't know how to keep his mouth closed."
"The hyperactive puppy part is more like Sodapop." Steve noted.
"Yeah, it's more like me." he smiled, "Ma, can you pass me some chocolate cake?"
"You know I don't like you boys eating cake for breakfast." Mrs. Curtis frowned.
"C'mon, Ma! Just this once. While the whole gang's here, please?"
Valery piped up, "Speaking of the whole gang, where in hell is Dally?"
"He might come with Sylvia."
Valery smirked a little at Dally's girlfriend's name. No one really liked Sylvia because of how much she cheated on Dally when he was in the cooler. However, Sylvia and Valery got along somehow. They got along a little bit. They were friends, but strained ones. Valery was just grateful for another girl in the gang.
"Hey, a T-Bird just pulled up." Ponyboy said, looking out the window.
"T-Bird?" Darry asked.
"Must be Buck Merrill." Two-Bit said.
Valery made a sound in the back of her throat, "I hope it's not."
"No, it's Darlene."
Darlene Merrill was Buck's half-sister. She was younger than him, about Valery's age. They worked together as nurses and Darlene was in the same situation with paying for school. They were good friends and hung out a lot. Darlene was friends with all of them, and at the Curtis's house about as much as anyone else.
She looked exactly like Buck, with their long dirty blonde hair. She was also tall, sort of like a string bean. You could say she was lanky like Buck, but in truth she looked like she could be a supermodel with how tall and thin she was.
"She's comin' up." Soda said.
"Well 'course she is." Valery said, "What, did you think she was just gonna sit out there?"
When Darlene entered the house, she called out, "Anyone home?"
"We're in here, Darlene!" Darry said. Darlene walked in and immediately started talking to Valery.
"Val, there's this party tonight, why don't you come?" Darlene had spent a lot of her life with her mother, different from Buck's. They lived in New York City, therefore Darlene had this ridiculous New York accent. They had the same father, who Buck lived with until a few years ago, until Darlene came back and they broke away from their parents and got their own house together.
"Tonight? Well… I don't know what's going on tonight."
"C'mon, Val. It's gonna be fun. You dig?"
Valery shook her head, "I just don't know. Where is it?"
"Shepard's."
"Alright, well now you know I'm not going."
Darlene sighed, "Why not?"
"Something always goes wrong at one of the Shepard's parties. The fuzz always show up, and I ain't gonna get mixed up with no police officers. I can't get in no more trouble, Darlene. You know that."
Darlene rolled her eyes, "Fine then. But you said we'd go shopping today, so let's go."
"I gotta shower first. How about I just meet you at the DX?"
Darlene sighed, "What the hell am I supposed to do while you snooze around here for the next hour and a half?"
"It does not take me an hour and a half to get ready."
"Yeah." Two-Bit said, "Probably longer."
"Two-Bit, shut your trap before I go over there and slug you."
"Just hurry up and go get ready." Darlene smirked.
"Just meet me at the DX at noon, alright?"
Darlene huffed, "Alright, fine."
As Valery left to take a shower, Darry followed her. They walked into the bathroom together and Darry smiled at her. "You look pretty in my pajamas."
"Pretty? Not 'cute'? Not 'endearing'? Not 'sweet' or 'charming' or 'adorable'?"
"You're all of those all the time." he smirked at her as she unbuttoned the top. She grinned at him and the extra dimple on one of her cheeks really popped. Darry chuckled, "You're so cute when you do that."
Valery rolled her eyes and the pajama top slid down her arms to the floor, completely revealing her white satin bra. "There we go with the cutesy stuff."
Darry laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist, and took her lips in a kiss. His fingers lightly tickled her sides, making her jump and yelp. Darry smirked and pulled her close to him, and her fingers tangled in his dark brown hair, and brushed his cowlick.
Two hard knocks sounded on the door, making them pull their heads away but stay close. "Val!" came Johnny's voice, "I forgot to tell you. Mom and Dad want you to come by and go through some of your stuff. Dunno what for, but they said it's either today or their throwing everything out."
"Ahh, shit." Valery silently cursed. Darry placed a small tap to her backside.
"Language." he scolded.
Valery rolled her eyes, "Alright, thanks Johnny." They heard Johnny leave and Valery placed her forehead on Darry's, "I have to get to my parents' before noon, before I meet Darlene at the DX."
"Okay." he said, leaning in for another kiss.
"If you don't leave now, I'll never be able to get ready."
Darry sighed and kissed her once more, "I'll go fold your dry clothes."
"Thanks."