A/N: Soda Ain't Here is currently on hiatus. Who knows when it'll come off. Enjoy this in the meantime. It shouldn't be more than a few chapters I think.

Disclaimer: I borrow from Hinton. :D Jamie, however, is my lovely creation.


The diner business was not all that it was cracked up to be to say the least. For some reason I had always imagined it to be glamorous - at least on the west side of town. Where the waitresses didn't get hassled by the boys, and wore pink uniforms, their hair tied up in a ponytail. It was thrilling . . . or so I thought.

I would have never worked at one on my side of town, but Florida brought on a whole new life. For one, I was labeled a tramp, and two, I got a job as a waitress. I soon discovered that it was not all it was cracked up to be. I had to remember everything that was on the menu and what went in it, deal with rude customers, and keep a bubbly personality at all times. On top of that, people didn't leave good tips for tramps.

Of course, eventually people forgot about my label as time moved on and tips improved, but I suppose I'll never forget those horrible words and disgusted looks. As if they weren't doing anything with their boyfriends. As if they never got caught up in something they shouldn't have.

I shuddered at the thought of my past and wiped at the counter. Here I was, fifty years old and still at the same diner I started at when I had been seventeen. Florida wasn't so bad really; it was always warm and the occasional tourists that came in were interesting to talk to. Of course, I liked the witty banter between the regulars better than anything, but a change of pace never hurt anyone.

The bell jingled above the door as it opened, revealing a sixteen-year-old Jamie in her work uniform. I sighed; it had been slow and at three o'clock on a school day, no one was at the diner.

Jamie rushed past me, stowing her bag under the counter and clocking in. Had she not arrived in uniform, she would have been late. Poor girl couldn't afford to be late again.

"Jamie, you change in school or somethin'?" I asked her, walking around the counter and sitting on a stool.

She blushed slightly. "I, uh, changed on the bus," she replied quietly and refused to make eye contact as she tied her apron around her waist.

I shook my head. "You girls have no decency these days. If I'd've done that, I would've been taken to an institution."

She giggled. "Yeah, yeah. You say that every time."

"You hungry? I don't think we'll be getting customers anytime soon." She nodded and took a seat on the stool next to me. "How about some sinkers and suds?"

"Sandy . . ."

"Yes, dear?"

"Why can't you just talk regularly? Why do you insist on talking all that mumbo jumbo?"

I laughed quietly to myself and placed two mugs on the counter. "Because we work at a diner, and that's how we're supposed to talk. You might get more respect around here if you stopped worrying about what those friends of yours think and started acting like a waitress for a diner. You don't work at Friday's, sweetie-pie."

She rolled her eyes and hopped off her stool, getting the donuts from their case. I filled the mugs with coffee and we met back at our seats with the sinkers and suds.

"You're always here, Sandy," Jamie mused after a while of silence. "Don't you have a husband to go home to?"

I took a long sip of my coffee. "Nope, just me and the cat."

"Don't you ever get lonely?"

I shook my head slowly. "I chose this lifestyle. It's not like I've never been proposed to before, sweetie. I chose this."

"Sandy?"

"Mmm?"

She looked down at her half-full cup of coffee and smiled slightly. "What's it like to be in love?" she asked, glancing back up at me.

"Oh, sweetie, I don't know if I'm a good person to answer that question."

She sat up straighter and looked at me with a questioning glance. "Why's that?" Shoot, she was interested now.

"It's a long story," I replied, attempting to drop the subject.

She shrugged. "No one's here."

"Oh, I don't know..."

"C'mon, please?"

"Oh, all right." So, I was a softy.


I was fifteen when we first met. Of course, he didn't realize it at the time. I was just the girl who he ran into at the store once and nothing more. I remember the moment exactly toohe was buying milk and literally bumped into me. "Sorry, I didn't see you there," he said, flashing me one of his famous grins. I smiled myself, despite the pain from the collision. "Are you okay, uh . . . I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"Sandy," I replied, and rubbed my head a little bit. "And don't sweat it."

He grinned again. "Well, Sandy, it's been nice 'bumping' into you, but I got to get going; my brother's outside waiting," he said and started backing away. "My name's Sodapop by the way," he added, flashed another grin and turned around, walking out. I stood there, smiling like an idiot, until I heard my friend call my name and I walked away.


"Sodapop?" Jamie interrupted suddenly, choking on her coffee. "That's a stupid nickname."

I placed a hand on my hip. "That was his real name," I informed her sternly, and she had to suppress a laugh. "Would you like me to continue, or would you like me to take an early cigarette break?"

She giggled. "No, no, continue please."

I smiled, laughing a tiny bit as well. "Thank you."


He was the boy that all the girls swooned over and I was the girl who kept her distance. He'd never notice me like that anyway, I'd think, he's too good-looking. Sodapop Curtis was handsome - handsomer than anyone I knew. Girls would flock to wherever he was at and flirt with him mercilessly. He was a charmer, that one.

I remember the day he got a job at that DX station. All the girls with cars, soc and greaser alike, went to get gas from him. My friend Evie had taken me with her to visit her boyfriend, Steve, who was a mechanic over at the DX.

"Hey, baby," Evie greeted Steve and kissed him on the cheek. "I see the pumps are full today."

He sneered and looked over at his friend. "My first day was nothin' like that. Soda's been here an hour and he's already got more business than I can get in a week. S'like he's good looking or something," Steve said loud enough for him to hear, sarcasm apparent in the last comment.

Soda looked over. "Aw man, you're just jealous," he called back and lazily hung an arm around one of the girls as he filled a tank with gas.

Evie fingered the collar of Steve's shirt. "You know what?"

Steve pulled her close, an animal-like glint in his eye. "What?"

"I think you're pretty good looking," she whispered and pulled him to the side of the station, leaving me alone.

I sighed, knowing their make-out session would last longer than the time allotted for Steve's break, and sat down on one of the tires. Soda was interesting to watch to say the least. He was constantly grinning and moved about a lot, never giving attention to just one girl. There was just something about him.

After a while, the girls dispersed and the station slowed down, giving me nothing to be interested in but the music playing softly in the background. Soda had disappeared into the shop and I was sitting on a tire. It could have been better; it wasn't necessarily freezing, but even a nice day in winter could be cold. I was just about freezing when a tire rolled out of nowhere and landed in front of me.

"You looked like you could use a coat and some company," a boy said from behind me as a coat draped around my shoulders. Sodapop walked around and handed me a Pepsi, sitting on the tire he had pushed there. He looked at his own Pepsi and grinned. "My kid brother loves this stuff," he told me and took a swig.

"Thanks," I said quietly, taking a sip of the Pepsi myself.

"Your name's Sandy, right?" I nodded. "Well, Sandy, why're you here all by your lonesome? Ain't you got a boyfriend to keep ya warm?"

I laughed. "Evie and Steve are behind the station. I didn't feel the need to stick around for that."

He grinned as well and looked at the soda bottle in his hands. "Ya know, I always found it funny that Stevie's girl had a name that rhymed with his. I guess they don't much, but sometimes they do." He looked up at me and met my eyes, making me blush slightly.

"So, this is your first day then?"

"Yeah, my parent's finally let me get a job with Steve."

I smiled and nodded. "So you've known Steve for a while then?"

He chuckled. "Yeah. How long you been friend's with Evie?"

"Oh, you know, for a while," I replied, smiling and looking down at the half-empty pepsi bottle in my hands.

"Steve!" Evie giggled from around the corner of the building. "Not here . . ."

They walked around the corner, cheeks pink with cold and lips red from kissing. "Oh, Evie, c'mon . . ." Steve pleaded, walking behind her, his arms wrapped around her middle.

She turned and planted a teasing kiss by his lips. "I got to go, baby," she giggled loudly and broke from his arms, stopping shortly when she noticed Soda and me. "Oh, hey ya'll," she greeted awkwardly.

Soda chuckled softly. "Hi Evie. You and Stevie-boy have fun?"

She blushed and walked over to me, throwing a slight glare in his direction. "Sandy, you ready to go?"

Soda grinned and stood up. "What's the matter, Evie? Is Steve unwillin' or something?" he joked playfully, throwing an arm around Steve as Steve jabbed him playfully in the ribs.

Evie giggled and pulled me to my feet. "C'mon Sandy, let's go," she said, looped her arm in mine and we walked away. "So what was all that about between you and Soda?" she whispered.

I looked back and smiled; Soda was roughhousing with Steve. He stopped for a moment and pushed Steve off, catching my eye and waving, a grin on his face. "We were just talking," I replied, turning back around with the sudden intensity of butterflies in my stomach.


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