"Try and get us now, fat ass!" Teddy taunted at Milo Pressman, he was nearing 18 and acting the mature age of 12. Jo laughed, while the other guys were following his lead. The dog had given up by now, obviously having enough of Teddy putting his ass in his face.
"You watch your mouth, I know you, I know all of you." Milo said, pointing a warning finger at them.
With a sigh, she smacked Teddy in the back of the head, before he even started to go any farther up to the fence.
"Ow, dammit Jo..." Teddy said, glaring back and then looking to Milo Pressman, "Fuck you, I'm not taking any of your shit old man!" He said, lunging at the fence. There was much yelling and insulting, and it took all of them to bring Teddy back to them; he was a force to be reckoned with when he got going.
They started walking, heading back to the train tracks, and following them farther still. The side trip for food and water only deterred them for a couple hours; they could be to The Back Harlow road by tomorrow morning.
"Who the fuck does he think he is? No one talks 'bout my dad like that..." Teddy was saying, anger and a surprising amount of caring coming through his voice.
"Who cares what that old fuck says, you're dad stormed the beach at Normandy. Right?" Chris said, clapping him on the back with a comforting smile. Jo felt part of her wish he'd smile to her, but then she gently took Teddy's hand. He looked over; an angry tear had broken from his lashes.
"Y-yeah..." Teddy mumbled, staring to the ground, his hand was near lifeless in hers. With a gentle shake he smiled smally, "I- I'm sorry if I'm ruining everybody's good time." He said, looking around to them all.
"We're looking for a dead kid; I don't think this should be a good time..." Gordie said softly, in his usual kind, gentle voice, that you could lull into, especially when he was telling a story. They all mumbled that Gordie was right,
"You wanna go back?" Teddy said quietly. Chris looked to Gordie, with a way that relied on him almost,
"No. We're already half way there." Gordie said, and with that they walked on.
Lollipop lollipop
Oh lolli lolli lolli
Lollipop lollipop.....
Call my baby lollipop
Tell you why
His kiss is sweeter than an apple pie
and when he does his shaky rockin' dance
Man, I haven't got a chance
I call him....
The radio was sending out some tunes, Teddy and Vern were doing a strange dance that made Jo laugh; she was walking with Chris and Gordie, things for the most part had returned to normal, Teddy wasn't sulking anymore. She couldn't help but feel guilty, even though Ace wouldn't find out, but then again maybe that was why. Ace wasn't a bad boyfriend, he just...well he deserved to be treated this way; he'd keep things from her and then she'd hear about it from 'round the grape vine. So most likely he'd find out too.
"You ready for school?" Chris said, Gordie easily replied with no. Jo glanced over and shrugged,
"I dunno our last year, kind of exciting..." Both Chris and Gordie scoffed.
"All pud classes, such a waste of time." Gordie said, Chris nodded.
"Yep, all shop for me...oh wait a study hall, I almost forgot...it'll be like last year, only I'm a year older." He said with a grin.
"You're such a liar Chambers." Jo said, playfully pushing him, "You took the college courses with Lachance." He nudged her back, "What I do in my head is my own concern!" He said, making her laugh, "Besides, I can't wait to see the look on the superintendents' face when he hands me that diploma..." Chris picked up a rock, and launched it towards Teddy. "You fucker! God..." He said, rubbing the back of his head. They all laughed, and Jo ran up to him and put her arms around him, kissing his cheek.
Vern did the infamous 'OOOH' sound, and Chris and Gordie did too."What was that for?" Teddy said, and Jo just laughed softly, "I just felt sorry that you were so retarded." She said, putting her weight against his back and slowing him down. He lowered down, and scooped up her legs, and she let out a scream of surprise. "No!- Teddy..."
They stopped for the night at a little clearing off the tracks, it was pretty secluded for the most part; the kind that makes you realize how noisy nature can be when there's no civilization to drown it out. They'd unrolled their sleeping rolls, and made a campfire; just relaxing around it and talking.
"Nothing like a smoke after a meal..." Vern said, taking a slow drag from the cigarette. They smiled, and Teddy put his head back to look up the sky and trees above,
"I cherish these moments..." He said, and then the others started to laugh. Jo stopped instantly when he looked towards her, the others did too. "What? What did I say?" Teddy said, looking around with confusion. Chris smirked and shook his head, moving his hands slightly, "It was nothing, hey Gordie how 'bout you tell us a story."
Gordie told a story about a pie eating contest, with the main character out to get revenge for being made fun of all his life. It was a nice story, but of course Vern and Teddy found something wrong with it.
"That's it?" Teddy said, not happy with the ending.
"Yeah." Gordie said, Jo threw a stick at Teddy and he turned out his palms.
"What? I'm just saying, it should have ended with he joined the leathernecks and killed some commies..."
"I liked it...but did he have to pay to get into the contest?" Vern said, Chris looked over and rolled his eyes. "No Vern, they just let him in." Gordie answered slowly. With a sigh Jo laid down,
"You should write a book Gordie, and then you'd have it done before school got out, and you'd have money to buy a real nice house." She said, Chris nodded.
"Yeah Gordie, you should." He said, "...then we all could crash there while we worked."
Gordie scoffed,
"As if! You guys wouldn't leave." Their conversation veered to the mundane and pointless,
"Do you think Martha Hammel went all the way? I heard she and Tommy Fricke did it under the bleachers during football practice." Vern said.
"No, that was a rumor Tom started, she says she gave him a hand job." Jo said an arm over her eyes. Gordie laughed,
"What now Vern? You still in love with her?"
Vern shrugged, "Her tits are great..."
Chris had been looking over to Jo, but looked away when she moved her arm and turned to her side.
"Awfully quiet there Chambers, come on, who've you been thinking about?" She said, now it sounds like something that was being mocking, but it wasn't, she didn't have any idea that he'd been watching her.
"I don't know nobody really." He said, sitting with his knees bent up and his arms around them.
Now Gordie knew about how Chris felt, and like a good friend he wasn't saying a word. Teddy and Vern were oblivious, they were friends, but they weren't on a whole secret sharing relationship.
"You were seeing that Yvonne Noire weren't ya?" Vern said, tossing some leaves into the fire. Chris rolled his eyes,
"That was five months ago but yeah, past tense, I was."
Teddy laughed,
"She was pretty hot, can't believe she dated you." He shook his head and Chris punched him in the shoulder. "You should know what that's like then." He said sarcastically. Jo smiled, "I was the better looking one in the relationship..." Her tone admitting to it playfully.
"Oh go screw." Teddy said.
"Is that an offer?" She said, and his face looked straight into hers. It was known that there was some frustration between them, and Chris, Gordie, and Vern were silent. Teddy glanced over her, and cocked his head to the side.
"Maybe it was..." There was more eye contact, and then with a smirk she tilted her head up,
"Take off your clothes."
He made a mad dash, but what he didn't see was her smile to the others, with a wink. Teddy had his shirt off, and looking to her to see if she was doing the same. Jo had gotten up and went over towards him, "...and your jeans..." He complied, with a little swearing as his foot was caught in his jeans for a moment. With his clothes off and in his arms he had a victorious smirk. Gordie, Chris, and Vern made cat calls, "Whoa Duchamp, you stud." Gordie said, laughing.
"You're turn." He said, ignoring the others. Jo reached slowly to his clothes, smirking when she saw his underwear.
"Who said I was gonna take 'em off?" By the time Teddy realized what she meant, she had started sprinting through the woods. There was a riot of laughter from the guys; Teddy was running after her in nothing but his under wear and his shoes.
"JOHANNA!" He yelled, gaining slowly, seeing her trying to snag his pants on a branch; but it was out of her reach. With a small scream when she saw him nearing her she started running, but it was too late, he caught up to her, and grabbed a hold of her.
She was laughing, but it was dying away, his eyes looking into hers...and not as angry as they should have been. This confused her a little, but she felt him loosen his hold on her, and look away.
"That wasn't funny." He said, but he was smirking... Jo handed him back his jeans. Teddy took them and put them back on, but didn't fasten them. "You just wanted to see what you've been missing." He said a smug smile forming on his face.
At his chest were his father's dog tags, they gleamed a little from the moonlight. Jo didn't say anything; she went to the nearest tree and leaned against it, tossing him his shirt.
"I'm sorry Ted." She said softly, he came closer, looking up to her from the ground. He leaned towards her slowly, and she didn't stop him...she wasn't sure what she wanted...his lips met hers and she kissed him back. His hair tickled her cheek, those bangs of his the annoyingly soft and unfair advantage of good genes, what the fuck does a boy need soft hair for??
Jo felt him stand a little closer, his mouth surprisingly gentle, for all the angst he seemed to show before. The firm thin chest of his was against hers, resting only just, the coldness of the dog tags could be felt thought her tank top. Her hand she had frozen at her sides, did that make it better? She then thought of Ace, and slowly stopped, her cool blue eyes unable to look him in the eye.
"I know I said some things before, but I...I know why you left...I understand." Teddy said, moving slightly so their eyes could meet. Jo nodded softly, thinking back to a few months back... he had said he was going to go into the army, and Jo had told him no...Things only got worse, what had started as a disagreement became an all out fight. She yelled that he didn't care about her at all, and he yelled that she didn't understand how much it meant to him...
"You didn't have to kiss me Jo..." Teddy said quietly, backing away from her and putting on his T-shirt. She sighed softly and nodded, "...I know...it's just, I'll always love you Teddy. Even if I've found someone else." Jo said, moving slowly to head back to the camp.