disclaimer- I don't own The Outsiders or Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone.
"How come I'd never hear you say
I just wanna be with you
I guess you never felt that way ... "
XxX
"That old man comes in here every night," Rose said, pointing her lit cigarette at the husky, middle-aged man walking into the bar. "I wonder what his wife thinks."
"He doesn't have one," Carol said, sighing.
"And how do you know?"
"He told me. She left him during the war."
"No wonder he is in here all the time … poor fella." She put her half-smoked cigarette out and put it back into her pocket. "Well, I'm going in. You comin'?"
"In a few--"
"Don't be too long, now. John will be on your heels if you're out here past ten minutes."
"Yeah, I know…" Carol chuckled.
She paced back and forth, counting the tips she had made so far. The neon light above the bar flickered and Carol stopped to look at it. AJ's bar and pool house, well, that's what it was suppose to say. It read AJ's ar d po l hous .
"Stupid sign. Wish that he would get it fixed…" she muttered, grinding her cigarette into the ground. "Men never get anything fixed when it's broken, but they sure do break it when it's fixed."
"Hey, Mrs. Mathews," a young man about the age of nineteen yelled.
"Hello. Are you one of Kei-- Two-Bit's friends?" Carol asked.
"Yeah, I'm Chuck! Don't you remember me?"
"Little Chucky Martin? Your family moved about six years ago, right?"
"Yeah, to Michigan. The grandparents were getting old." He sighed. "Another beer, sir. I drove back a week ago. No action in Clayton."
"How are your mother and father?" Carol asked, serving a couple of beers.
"They're fine. How's Two-Bit and little Diane?"
"Two-Bit's a junior in high school and Diane is in eighth grade. You kids grow up too fast." She sighed, thinking of the troublesome teenagers all over the north side. "You should come over for dinner tomorrow, Chuck."
"Sounds great, Mrs. Mathews. Thank you." Chuck grinned and quietly left the bar.
"I always liked that boy." Carol smiled, cleaning off a table.
XxX
"Come on, people. Time to leave." Rose shooed out a group of drunken teenage boys out.
"You going to lock up, rose?" Carol asked.
"Yeah. You go home to your kids," she said, laughing and taking off her apron.
"Thanks, see you tomorrow. Bye, John, Audrey, Donna." Carol waved.
The air was brisk. It was early April and one o'clock in the morning. Carol sighed. It had been a long day, not that she wasn't use to it. James, Keith and Diane's father and her husband for sixteen years, had left them. That was four years ago, and Carol had to start working two jobs and most weekends.
She fought with her car, but it soon gave up and started.
I wonder if Keith could get Steve to check this out for me, she thought, pulling out of the parking lot.
Carol thought about Chucky Martin. What would have happened to the kind boy if he had stayed in Tulsa? Would he have became a hood and dropped out of school? Would he have lost his manners? She could tell he wasn't all-good, drinking and using a fake ID.
Carol pulled into the driveway of her house. Her flowers were beginning to bud in the small garden she adored. Diane would help her in the summer, but she knew that soon her baby would be too old. The siding was coming off and her car had never been in the tiny shack they called a garage. Two-Bit's car was parked in the street, so she knew her son was home. He wasn't most Friday nights.
The inside wasn't as bad as the outside, but it needed to be cleaned. She tried to be as quiet as she could, so she wouldn't wake her children. She almost tripped when a loud snore startled her. Two-Bit was lying on the couch, fast asleep. Carol walked to his room and got a blanket. As she laid it over him, his eyes opened.
"Hey, Mom, when did you get home?" he asked, yawning.
"About ten minutes ago," she answered, brushing the hair out of his eyes.
"I am seventeen-years-old, Mom." He sighed, pulling away from her.
Carol smiled. "I love you, honey." She walked down the cluttered hallway to her daughter's room.
"I love you, too, Ma," he mumbled, closing his eyes.
She pulled the covers around her daughter and kissed her forehead. She noticed the make-up. Her daughter's young face was covered in every form of make-up in Carol's vanity.
XxX
"Good breakfast, Mom. Well, see y'all tonight," Two-Bit said, shutting the front door behind him.
"Keith," Carol yelled out the door, catching him before he drove away.
"Yeah?" he asked as his mother walked towards his beat up car.
"Do you think that Steve could look at my car?"
"Sure, I'll ask him. Didn't he just check it a week ago?"
"Yes, but it's not starting … again." She sighed.
"I'll ask. Hey, what are we having for supper?"
"I don't know yet. Oh, I almost forgot! Chucky Martin is coming over for dinner."
"That's tuff. See you later." He smiled, driving away.
"Where are you going, Diane?"
"Over to Linda's. Bye." Diane gave her a quick hug and walked up the street towards her friend's house.
"Carol," Mrs. Jane Wilson, an old neighbor, scolded. "You are letting her walk out of the house like that? With her face like that? That skirt?"
"Well, Jane, I would rather have her do it in front of my face than behind my back."
"You are too loose with those kids," she stated, getting into her car.
Carol sighed, walking into her house. It was her one day off and her house was going to be spotless, at least for a day or two.
XxX
"Wow, Mom, this place is … clean." Diane laughed. "I saw Mrs. Can't-mind-her-own-business talking to you when I left."
"Don't say that, Diane. Hello, Linda." Carol smiled as she set the table.
"Hey, Mom, can Linda ... eat supper over here?"
"Well, it is Saturday. I don't see why not."
"Thank you, ma'am. My parents went out to eat with friends and you know my brothers." Linda sighed with relief.
"Thank you, Mom."
The door opened and Two-Bit waltzed in.
"I'm here. Where's Chucky?"
"Oh, he called and told me he was going to meet up with some old friends. I said a young man his age should go out and have fun on Saturday nights."
Two-Bit grinned.
"You don't have to stay for dinner. I am glad you thought of coming." She smiled. "You can go."
"Thanks. Hey, save me some leftovers, okay?"
"Sure, Keith. Have fun."
"You're the best. Bye, munchkin and … munchkin's friend!"
XxX
"How did you get over your wife?" Carol asked, serving the old man his whiskey.
"Drank some beer and shot some people," he said, laughing. "I didn't really have a choice about the shootin' bit."
"I don't know. I think I am over him--"
"Can't think, darlin'. You got to know."
Carol thought about what the old man had for said the rest of her shift. She stopped mid-way to her car and lit a cigarette. She was about to start it when the conversation came back to her.
"Do I know? Goodness, it's been four years," she muttered. "How long should it take? He wasn't that--"
Carol's mind was arguing back and forth.
"He wasn't. I think I am. You know what, I am over him!" she huffed, starting the car.
When she got home Two-Bit had just parked in the street.
"It's a little late on a Monday, Keith." She sighed.
"Poker game." He grinned. "Won five bucks."
"What did Steve do to my car? It is so much better."
"He said the engine or something was clogged. He loosened it, I guess. The engine part, thing, and let go of what it was holding on to and now it's okay." He yawned and walked down the hallway.
Carol smiled to herself and laid out clothes for work tomorrow.
XxX
"But Since U Been Gone
I can breathe for the first time"