Before I start the next chapter, I just want to give big virtual hugs to all my loving reviewers! The more happy reviews I get, the better my self esteem, and the better my self-esteem, the more chapters I write! LOL! Love and peace!
I do not own The Outsiders! (How sick do you get of writing/ reading that? LOL!)
Dally and I paid for the food and drinks and made our way back to our seats (with a little difficulty.) Pony and Johnny were sitting up in front with two girls, one with red hair, one brunette, that where obviously much too old for my little brother and his best friend. Handing Soda and Steve their drinks I nodded toward Pony.
"Who are those girls Pony and Johnny are talking to?" I whispered so only they could hear.
"Cherry and Marsha." Soda whispered back simply before returning his attention back to the 'family' movie that they always played first. The name Cherry sounded familiar but I just couldn't remember from where.
I made my way forward to give Pony and Johnny their drinks, Dally, who had passed out all the popcorn, was sitting comfortably behind the four, with his feet resting on the back of the red heads chair. Squatting down so as not to get yelled at by other patrons, I handed Pony both drinks, smiling at the girls and nodding, before walking back and sitting behind Pony and Johnny. Dally chuckled next to me when he saw me eyeing the two girls in an 'I don't trust them' manner. "Quiet, you" I hissed under my breath before asking what the movies where tonight.
"This is Treasure Island." Soda said nodding to the screen.
"The next one is It Came From Beneath the Sea." Steve said smirking as I rolled my eyes.
Typical of them to want to see a horror movie. I thought to myself before paying attention to the movie at hand. It was petty good, though the book was better. It always is. Unfortunately, my attention was pulled from the movie when the Red head turned around and gave Dally an annoyed glare. To which Dally responded with a small smirk but didn't move his feet, which were obviously bothering her. The red head rolled her eyes, not in the mood to argue with him. Seems like they may have been in a similar situation before this. The red head looked over at me and smiled. "Hey Electra. How was New York?"
"Do I know you?"
The red head's small laugh was like a bell and she nodded. "Chemistry, sophomore year. We where lab partners. Cherry Valance."
I racked my brain, thinking back to 10th grade Chemistry. Valance…Cherry…Oh duh! The only cheerleader I could actually stand! How could I forget her! "Oh yeah…Cherry! I'm sorry, of course." I blushed slightly at my forgetfulness. "Um…yeah…New York was awesome. I had lots of fun, a little cold for my taste though." I chuckled keeping my voice low.
"We all missed you at school." Cherry said smiling.
"Well…who wouldn't." We chuckled and I nodded to my brother. "So…you know my brother?"
"Yeah… he and Johnny saved us from Dally actually." She shot a menacing glare toward Dally, something that I had never seen on her doll like face. Dally winked at her and went back to the movie.
"That makes so much sense." I chuckled slapping Dally's legs off the back of Cherry's chair. Dally gave me a look which I responded with a 'don't push it' glare.
"Thanks." Cherry said softly.
"No problem Cher." She smiled hearing my old nickname for her from chemistry. Turning around we both went back to the movie. Dally tried putting his feet back up a couple time only to have them swatted back down by my hand. "Try it again and I'll cut them off." I said keeping my eyes on the screen. I could feel Dally glaring at me, extremely put out, not to mention hear his frustration from his grinding teeth.
When the movie ended, Cherry and Marsha (who I had remembered also by now,) announced that they had to go. "Nice seeing you again Electra." Cherry said waving as she passed Dally and me.
"Nice seeing you too. We have to have lunch or something soon and catch up."
"Of course! That would be great." Cherry said before waving goodbye to Pony, and nodding to Johnny, but hardly acknowledging him.
I looked over to Dally for an explanation and he leaned over and whispered, "Bob, her boyfriend, was the soc that Johnny killed."
Well shit! Talk about awkward.
"Want to tell me about you and Cherry?" I asked in a teasing tone loud enough for the other boys to hear.
"Cherry dropped her coke on me when we first met." Dally shrugged, pouring two beers into his empty cup.
"And by dropped," Pony smirked looking at Johnny. "He means dumped the coke he bought for her to "cool her down."" Johnny and Pony chuckled at the memory. Dally glared at them angrily. I leaned forward in hysterics. "That's unfamiliar territory for you isn't it Dal? A girl actually saying no! Oh the horror!" The other boys joined in on my laughter, making Dally's glare switch from Pony and Johnny, down to me.
"I could get her if I really wanted her" he snarled.
"You keep telling yourself that sugar."
Dally opened his mouth to retort but was cut short by Two-Bit pushing his head between ours. I hadn't noticed how close Dally and I had gotten until then.
"Hey there!" Two-Bit said, giving me a chance to smell the liquor on his breath. "Hot damn Two-Bit!" I swatted the air in front of me. "What have you been drinking?"
Two-Bit thought for a moment before shrugging. "Can' remember." Jumping over the seat, Two-Bit slid into the seat beside me, holding a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag. Snatching it from him I sniffed it before taking a small sip.
"Since when do you drink?" Soda asked wide-eyed.
"I don't think you can call a sip or so every once in a while drinking." I looked over at him. "Would you?"
"Guess not. But still, you drinking…it's weird."
"Just don't tell Darry. I feel like keeping my head." The boys laughed and nodded in agreement. Two-Bit offered me the bottle again but I put my hand up. "One sip is more then enough for me."
"What," Dally said putting his feet up on the now empty chair. "Can't hold your liquor doll?"
"Oh, I can hold it. But Darry would notice if I came home drunk, and then he'd kill all of you."
"This is true!" Steve said.
The other movie was also not that bad, but although I wasn't sacred, I absentmindedly started biting my nails. This habit that got a lot of tutts up at school from my female teachers. "Miss Curtis! Nail biting is a disgusting habit!" I always responded with a smile, a shrug, and me telling them that growing up with three brothers, a disgusting habit was bound to form. This earned several chuckles from my fellow classmates and a glare from the teacher.
At some point during the movie, Dally's arm hand ended up draped across my shoulders, his thumb rubbing my shoulder. Looking up at him, I gave him a questioning glance. To which he answered with a wink and that cocky grin that I always want to slap off. I tried rolling my shoulder to no avail. Finally, I opted to just move it myself. Grabbing his wrist, I picked it up and dropped it in his lap. To my surprise, I actually missed the heat his arm gave the back of my neck. It also surprised me to see Dally's face drop a little, in what looked like disappointment, out of the corner of my eye, but I dismissed it as he pulled out another beer and poured it into his cup.
As we where walking home, I noticed Dally stayed close on my left side, while Soda was on my left. Pony had Johnny on Soda's other side, and Steve was walking behind a bit with Two-Bit, who was barely walking.
"Two-Bit is trashed!" I chuckled looking over my shoulder.
"Dose it really surprise?" Dally said smirking. "He's got his best friend back…he's celebrating."
"Without me? How rude." I smiled looking ahead. I could hear Steve laughing behind us.
"You know, now that you mention it" Soda said smiling what I had come to call his 'scheming' smile. "We could have a welcome home party at Bucks. You think he'd go for it Dally?"
"I don't see why not. We're gonna have to keep an eye on him though."
"Well no shit! He's had his eye on Elle science she was 14." Soda said. I snapped my head over to Soda.
"Are we talking about Buck Merrill?" I asked feeling my stomach turn in disgust.
"Missing teeth and all!" Dally said laughing at my expression.
"Oh…I think I just threw up a bit."
"I think we all did." Johnny said quietly.
Dally put his arm around my shoulders and cocked his head to the side. "Don't worry Elle, I'll protect you."
"You can't protect shit Dal!" I tried to shift from his arm. "You'd be either to drunk to walk a straight line, or to busy screwing Sylvia in one of the back rooms!"
"Actually, Sylvia and I are through. She was cheating on me while I was in the cooler."
"Again." I finished rolling my eyes. Soda snorted, Pony and Johnny bit their lips to stop from laughing.
It took us twice as long to get home, by the time we did, it was passed one AM and Darry was already in bed. Two-Bit passed out on the couch, Steve sprawled out on the floor, Dally settled himself into the recliner and Soda and Pony took Johnny into their room for the night. I obviously went into my own room. Slipping into a nightgown, I crawled under the covers and fell quickly to sleep.
"You want to party baby?" A young Hispanic came out from the shadows. I felt my feet move faster beneath me, the restaurant was just around the corner.
"Aw…don't be like that baby! We just want to have a little fun."
I ignored him and walked on feeling inside my purse for something to use incase he got physical. I could see the sigh for the restaurant high above the buildings to my left. I'm so close. I wasn't 50 yards from the corner when another man came out from an ally.
"My friend is talking to you." He said grabbing my arms roughly and spinning me around so I was looking at the first boy, pinning my arms behind my back. He smiled evilly, making me shiver slightly. "We saw you at the play. Why'd you take off that sexy harem girl costume? It looked so good on you." He reached up and touched my cheek. I flinched away from him. Behind me, the other man was pushing my hair to the side and sniffing my hair and neck. "Hmm. She smells good man." The other chuckled under his breath, "How dose she taste?" I felt a tong lick up my neck. "Even better" he moaned against my neck.
I pulled against the arms that held me earning a growl.
"Let me go!" I hissed forcing down my fear and letting my anger run free.
"Looks like we got a fighter" the man behind me said gruffly. The other man laughed deep in his throat. "Don't worry, we won't hurt you.
"Unless you ask for it."
The man in front of me started to unbutton my shirt, grazing my skin as he went. I struggled to get away. He grabbed my face and kissed me. My anger and fear mixed together and I felt my knee meet with the first man's groin. He fell to his knees in pain; the man behind me didn't have time to react before the back of my head met his face. I heard a loud crunch and a string of profanities as he let go of me. I ran, but found myself on the ground; I was dizzy and couldn't walk straight. I didn't even feel the hand around my ankles as they where pulled apart.
I felt my shoulders shacking, my hands hitting warm skin, and heard my own small screams. "Lex, Lex! It's ok! It's Dally!"
My eyes shot open and Dally was holding me down by my shoulders, his eyes filled with worry.
"Da…Dally?" I stuttered shacking uncontrollably, tears running down my cheeks. "What happened?"
Dally took his hands off my shoulders and helped me sit up. "I was going to the bathroom when I heard you crying. I came in and you where…hitting, and kicking in your sleep."
I looked up at Dally, his eyes where soft, kind. Something I couldn't recall ever seeing in his eyes. I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried into his neck. Dally rubbed my back and hair, telling me it was ok and that I was safe with him. I felt him pull me into his arms as he lay back on my pillows. I cried myself to sleep as Dally continued to comfort me. The last thing to cross my mind, before I nodded off, was that I did feel safe with Dally.