A week went by. The weeks that Andie wasn't here always tended to go by slower than normal. For the rest of the gang it was more tolerable since Andie still went to school with them. For me, however, I don't get to see her at all. In this case, it sucks having dropped out of high school.
"Soda, Soda, Sodapop!" came a sing-songy voice.
"Andie!" I called out.
She smiled her contagious smile and threw herself into my arms, giving me a light kiss on the cheek.
"Whatcha been up to since I've been away, huh?" she asked.
"Mmm, nothing much. Just work. Boring stuff, really," I replied.
She looked up at me, smiling. Then I noticed her tugging on the hem of her left jacket sleeve, as though she was consciously trying to hide something.
"What're you doing?" I asked her.
"Huh?" she replied, furrowing her brow.
"Your sleeve. Why do you keep tugging on it? You never mindlessly play with your clothes."
"Oh, it's nothing," she shrugged off.
"Okay," I said. I was letting this go for now.
"You get any cake?" she asked.
The next day, in the empty lot, I overheard Dally yelling at Andie. I came late to the conversation so I didn't hear what he was yelling at her about.
"Dally! Just leave me alone!" Andie yelled.
"You tell me now!" he roared.
"Go to hell, Dallas!" she screamed.
"Whoa there guys. What's going on?" I asked trying to calm them down.
"Yeah we don't want World War III to break out," cracked Two-Bit. I had forgotten he was with me.
"Andie what's wrong?" knowing I'd probably get a better answer out of her.
"That's exactly it. Nothing's wrong," she stated, point blank.
"Sure it's not," Dally scoffed. "Why don't you ask her to show you what happened to her wrist."
"Her wrist?" I questioned. "Which one? Her left one?"
Two-Bit just cocked his eyebrow. He observed what was going on and waited to see how it emerged. In the mean time, Dally nodded at me. Andie looked pissed, her lips scrunched to the right side of her mouth.
"Okay, now you have to show me," I told her.
"Sodapop, I don't have to show you anything," she said bitterly.
Dally snuck up behind her and tightly grabbed her so she couldn't get away.
"Hurry up, Soda. She's stronger than she used be," he was referring to when she was 11 and he'd do this to her to make her tell us what was wrong.
I hurried up to Andie and grabbed her left arm, slowly drawing up the left hem of her jacket. I notice her face wince, so I moved more gently. As I drew it up I saw white gauze emerge.
"What happened?" I gasped.
"Take it off," ordered Dally.
"Bet it's every girls' dream to have Dallas Winston direct a comment like that to her," she snarked.
That got a chuckle out of Two-Bit.
"Yeah, well maybe in some other circumstance you and I can discuss some of those opportunities," he retorted back to her.
Curiosity had now gotten the better of me and I gingerly undid the wrappings. It revealed a weeping burn.
"What in the world?" I said.
"Whoa, girly. Did you forget how to use a stove?" asked Two-Bit.
"See. Told you it was something," stated Dally. He let her go.
"Well, speak," he said.
"It's nothing guys. I just burnt myself—" Andie started to say.
"Bull shit," Dally caught her lie. "Start again."
She studied us for a moment, almost as if she was contemplating if she should lie to use again.
She sighed and began, "Ralph was pissed over what happened to Becky. He held my wrist over an open flame. No biggie."
"That bastard," I said.
Two-Bit just shook his head, lighting a cigarette.
"Don't worry about it guys. It'll make a tough scar," Andie brushed this incident off.
She started to re-wrap her burn, with some difficulty. I went to go help her; surprisingly she let me help. I wish she wouldn't keep brushing off all of these incidents. One of these days she's going to crack and shit will hit the fan. By this time we had all sat down in the lot. I was playing with some of the dead grass next to me.
"Hey Two-Bit," she called. "Pass me one of those."
Two-Bit passed her a cigarette and the lighter. She put the cig in her mouth, flicked open the lighter and took a deep inhale. She passed the lighter back to Two-Bit and exhaled all the smoke. A smile took form on her face.
"Now, this is the good life," she joked as she crawled over to sit next to me.
She leaned against my chest, almost done smoking her cigarette. Andie goes through those cancer sticks too fast. She blew some smoke in my face, smiled, and winked. She took another long drag, finishing the cigarette; she flicked it by her foot and put it out. Then she did something totally unexpected, she sat up, brought her face level to mine and then kissed me. It was a soft kiss, innocent enough. Two-Bit started cat-calling when he realized what was happening. Afterwards she stood up, walked to Two-Bit, punched him in the arm and then started walking back to my house, as though nothing happened. Andie is one girl I will never understand.