As the rest of the night went on, I somehow managed to lose track of Pony and Johnny, as well as Soda, Steve, and Twobit. Dally was nearby arguing with Silvia, again. I really didn't understand their relationship but they seemed to like each other, at least when they weren't fighting, which lately seemed to be all the time. And from the way things sounded, I wouldn't be surprised if they broke up right then and there. The sudden sound of skin hitting skin pretty much confirmed my suspicion.
"You guys off again, Dal?" I asked as he walked over to me, a scowl on his face.
"No shit kid," he said, shoving his ring back onto his finger. He pulled out a cig and lit it, taking a long drawl before exhaling loudly. Dally was never one for showing emotions, but it wasn't too hard to figure out when he was in a bad mood.
"So does that mean that you're not getting back together next week?" I asked scarcastically. Dally smirked down at me.
"Wiseass. I don't know where you learned to talk like that, but you'd better watch it. I've heard that Tim likes a girl with a little lip."
"Don't even talk to me about Tin."
"Why? What the hell did he do?" he asked, his joking attitude gone in an instant. I signed and ran my hands through my hair.
"Look, Dal, I don't want to talk about it." I turned and started to walk in the other direction, but I was stopped by a strong grip on my upper arm. Dally spun me around and I could tell he was pissed.
"No, tell me what he did to you."
"It's really not that big of a deal," I tried to explain, but I could tell that this was quickly becoming a losing battle.
"Goddamn it Ashley, tell me!"
"Fine! Tim's been hitting on me, okay? Today was the first time that I really noticed it, but he's coming on strong enough that Soda and Pony can even tell that something's up. And then ever since Curly tried kissing me, he's been trying to feel me up every chance he gets. I wanted to punch him in the face after he slapped my ass earlier but…" I trailed off. Dally's grip on my arm had gotten uncomfortably tight.
"I'm going to kick the shit out of him. And fucking Tim-"
"Dal, I can take care of myself."
"Bullshit you can. They have no right to even come fucking near you like that. And Tim's perfectly able to get his own piece of ass; he doesn't need to be coming after yours." He let go of my hand and punched the wall of the building we were standing next to.
"Dallas!"
"What!" he snapped back. He leaned up against the well, rubbing his reddened knuckles.
"Look, I appreciate you looking out for me and all, but I can take care of this myself. And you sending both of them to the hospital isn't going to make things any easier the next time that I run into one of them." I was trying to sound stern yet empathetic. Dally didn't even seem to be listening. I was about to say something to him when Steve walked up.
"Hey guys, what's going on?"
"Nothing," I said quickly, earning a skeptical look Steve.
"Dally?" he asked.
"Seems like the Shepards have been trying to get into Ashley's pants. Curly's been feeling her up and apparently Tim's not fucking far from crossing that line too." Steve's eyes darkened.
"You fucking kidding me?" he asked Dally.
"No. Hey, you racing soon?" The question caught Steve off guard.
"Yeah, in about fifteen minutes minutes. Why?"
"I going to have a little talk with Tim and Curly. The last thing I need is for them running into Ashley if she's alone. You mind keeping an eye on her?"
"Sure thing Dal." Dally pushed himself off the wall, giving me one last look before stomping off to find the Shepard brothers. I was pretty sue I could guess what he was going to do, and I had no idea how far he'd go, but I knew that things probably weren't going to turn out so good.
Steve and I were walking towards the starting line for the races. He had his hands shoved in his front pockets and wasn't looking at me. Hell, he hadn't even said anything since Dally; but I completely understood why he was pissed. I grew up with him, I was like a little sister to him, and the fact that not one, but two guys were trying to hook up with me was frustrating. That much I could very much attest to. But I sure didn't need Steve to babysit me the entire night.
"I can take care of myself, you know" I said, breaking the silence. He scoffed but kept walking.
"Yeah, sure."
"I'm serious," I almost shouted, stepping in front of him. "I don't need you babysitting me."
"You don't, huh? What about that skirt? Didn't you think that Tim and Curly would notice that?" I instinctively pulled at the hem, suddenly feeling very exposed. "You don't think Ashley, you never think. And I don't need to babysit you? You couldn't even fight Tim off in that if he grabbed you" As if to prove his prove his point, he took a step forward, closing the space between us, and grabbed both of my arms. I froze, not sure what he was doing or where he was going with this. After a long moment, he stepped back, letting go of me. "Come on, let's go," he said, heading into the street where his car was waiting.
"Go where?" I asked, not moving from my spot on the sidewalk.
"I'm not leaving you on the side while I race, stupid. Kind of defeats the purpose of watching you, doesn't it?"
"Oh, um, yeah," I stammered, quickly catching up to him. The last race had just finished, and we could hear the winner shouting something to the losing car. I looked over and saw Tim Shepard hanging out the driver window, his trademark smirk clear across his face. I automatically tensed up and I could see Steve scowl in his direction. He was slowing driving in our direction and Steve leaned over to me.
"Follow my lead," he said. I nodded. As much as Steve frustrated me, I had to admit, I was grateful that he was next to me right now. I still didn't think I needed a babysitter, but I wouldn't turn down a bodyguard. Tim cruised to a stop right in front of us and Steve calmly slid an arm around my shoulders. "What do you want Shepard?"
"Just wanted to see if Ashley wanted to sit in with me in my next race," he said. I could feel his eyes roaming over me. Steve squeezed my shoulders, noticing Tim's gaze. I hated Tim looking at me like that, it made my very uncomfortable. Trying to play along, I wrapped my arm Steve's waist; Tim's grin fell. "You know Ash, I could show you a better time than Randle. You'd get more out of it."
"Get the fuck out of here Tim," Steve snapped, moving forward slightly. I tightened my grip on him, hoping he wouldn't start anything. Tim stole one last look at me before letting go of the break.
"This isn't over Curtis. You know that as well as I do." I was about to say something to him, but he drove off. Steve looked down at me and smirked.
"So, you ready to race?" I could tell he was trying to get both of our minds off Shepard, but it worked. I grinned. "Lead the way."
As I slid into the passenger seat and couldn't help but grin even wider. This was my first time getting to sit in on a race, and I was beyond stoked.
"You excited or something?" Steve asked as he turned the engine over.
"You have no idea. This is the first time I've ever gotten to do something like this."
"Well, I guess that means that we're gonna have to kick some ass then." He put the car into gear and drove it to the starting line. I didn't recognize the guy in the other car, but it didn't matter. Some greaser chick, I think her name was Laurie, walked up between the cars, smacking her gum. My heart started to pound as she raised her arms up. I stole one glance at Steve. He grinned and revved the engine. Laurie's arms went down, and just like that, we were off, tearing down the street like a bat out of hell.
I didn't see the guy next to us as we sped down the street, so I figured we were in the lead. I could feel my pulse racing as Steve picked up more speed. This was incredible; I could see why guys liked doing it. The finish line came up quickly and Steve jammed on the breaks, turning the wheel. I wasn't entirely prepared for the sudden motions and I slid into the door as we finally came to a halt. I knew my arm would be a little sore later, but it didn't matter. It was worth it.
As we headed back towards the starting line to park the car, I could see Dally walking along the side. Looking farther ahead, I could see Tim walking in the same direction, his back turned to him and a cigarette in his mouth. Dally called out Tim's name.
"Shit," I muttered. As soon as he shifted into park, I jumped out and started towards the two. I knew that if I didn't get there, Dally would most likely kill Tim. I heard Steve close his door and follow behind me. I was still about a hundred feet away when Dally reached him, slugging him square in the jaw and sending him to the ground. "Dally!" He either didn't hear me or didn't care as he knelt down and punched him again. He was about to throw a third punch when Tim hit back, knocking Dally off balance. Tim got to his knees and launched himself at Dally. I was ready to throw myself at Tim to get him off Dally, but Steve caught my arm.
"Don't be stupid, Ash," he snapped. I was about to argue with him when Twobit and Soda as well as some guys from Shepard's gang came to break up the fight. As the pulled them apart, Dally tried lunging at Tim again; he almost got free but Twobit managed to keep a hold of him.
"You stay the fuck away from her!" Dally snarled, still struggling against the two pairs of hands.
"What the hell are you talking about Winston?" he asked, wiping a bit of blood away from his nose.
"You know goddamn well what I'm talking about Shepard! If I find out that you or your brother ever lay a hand on her, I'm going to fucking kill you." I felt my face go red as Tim looked over in my direction.
"Oh, right," he smirked, turning his attention back to Dally. "Well I guess only time will tell." He walked towards me and Steve, closely followed by his buddies to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. Steve immediately put his arm around my shoulders. "I'll do my best to keep Curly away from you Ash," he started. He sounded surprising sincere, and I actually wanted to believe him. "But, I'll be wanting the same thing in return." I was slightly confused as to what he meant: did he mean he wanted me to keep Dally away from him? Like that was even possible. He must have noticed my confusion because he winked at me. Oh. He wanted…oh. I felt my face heat up again. Jackass. He then quickly turned his attention to Steve. "See you later Randle." Steve didn't respond. After what seemed like forever, he turned around and left with his gang, muttering something about his jaw or nose or something. I walked away from Steve's arms and over to Dally who was wiping a bit of blood from his eyebrow.
"You just had to go and do that, didn't you? You had to go and fuck everything up for me. Why couldn't you just leave things alone, I would have taken care of it." I was pissed. Tim couldn't keep his promise forever, if he kept it at all, and I knew I'd have one hell of a situation on my hands the next time I ran into one of them. I moved to slap him (a gutsy move on my part), but he caught my wrist midair. He glared down at me, not saying a word, daring me to try again. I wouldn't, that much I knew. Instead I glared back at him, not moving from my spot. A moment later, I snatched my wrist from his grasp and muttered "whatever". I went to walk away, but was stopped by Soda.
"And where do you think you're going?" I could tell he was less than pleased with me right now, like this whole situation was my fault.
"To find Pony and Johnny," I said. I was very aggravated and wanted nothing more than to spend some time with Johnny and my baby brother: two people who I knew wouldn't judge me. He let go of me. I turned and looked at Steve. His eyebrows were furrowed with an emotion that I didn't quite understand. I'm pretty sure he didn't miss Tim's wink, and I could only imagine what was running through his mind. If he only knew what really happened. Taking a deep breath, I started walking back towards the other end of the street, hoping Pony and Johnny wouldn't be too hard to find. I still had about an hour before we needed to leave and I was determined to end the night on a high note.
But as hard as I tried, I couldn't get Steve's expression out of my mind.
