Without an election or ever being asked, Darry had become the leader of the Greasers. He was the eldest of the Curtis brothers and the eldest of all his friends. His natural caring personality had made him the big brother too all the Greasers in his outfit. Darry's first and last concern was his family; even when that family extended beyond blood.
Darry had become worried when Soda had returned to his cabin without Bonnie. After hearing Soda's excuse, Darry had accepted it, but refused to sleep until he knew everyone was safe. The Greasers were no longer in Tulsa, and while they had been in Long Island for a few weeks now, they had been there without Socs. Nothing could make Darry trust any of these trust-fund babies who were so careless with the lives of others.
When the hours of one and two had passed and still no Bonnie, Darry had begun to grow concerned. Evelyn, who was sharing a cabin with Bonnie, and Two-Bit arrived at Darry's cabin just past two, concern written on their faces. Neither had heard or seen Bonnie since she had left with Soda for the Bonfire.
Finally, with Evie chomping at the bit, Darry decreed that they should go look for her, and make sure Bonnie hadn't found her way into any trouble with the Socs. In the pale light of the stars, they made their way across the lawns of the staff cabins towards the safety of the main complex.
The lawns were silent, the lamps revealing nothing more than the shadows of silent animals who escaped into the night. Where the silence comforted others, it worried Darry. With noise, he could find Bonnie, and return her safely to her family. The silence did not bode well for her situation.
Darry kept this fear to himself, but felt his muscles coil in preparation for a fight. If the Socs were bold enough to attack them on the first night, he was going to have to set them straight quickly. As much as they all needed this job, Darry needed his family to be safe more. If that meant cracking a few rich kid skulls, so be it.
Suddenly, the voices of the birds were drowned by human emissions and Darry's head snapped in that direction. He recognized Bonnie's voice, mixed with one he didn't know. Before Darry could say anything, Evie squealed and took off running across the lawn towards the voices. Fearing her own safety and Bonnie's, Darry and Two-Bit took off after her.
"There you are!" Evie exclaimed, her regard for the still of the night completely lost in the joy of finding her sister alive and well. Her joyful tone was mingled with the annoyance of having to search the grounds at two am.
"Here I am," Bonnie said with a half-grin. She was used to her sister's dramatics.
Two-Bit pushed Evie aside, now wanting to get his… well, his 'two-bits' in."We thought you were probably dead," He exclaimed, giving her a once over to make sure that Bonnie was indeed okay.
"Way to be overdramatic," Bonnie said with a roll of her eyes and a dismissive wave.
"What were you doing with a Soc…" Evie asked, looking at Lucy as if she were an alien. Tension filled the air again, as Lucy was now the out-numbered one. Bonnie knew her family were harmless, she just needed the other girl to know it too.
"This is Lucy," Bonnie said, firmly. She didn't want to give Evie the chance to start referring to Lucy as 'the Soc.' "Lucy this is my brother Two-Bit, my sister Evelyn, and of course you've already met Darry." Bonnie said with a conspiratorial wink. She had caught them as Darry protected Lucy from prying eyes while she got changed, and Bonnie wasn't about to let Darry or Lucy forget it.
Darry remembered the event, and the blond quite well. He shot Bonnie a look of annoyance that Darry reserved for members of the Matthews family. His annoyance was quickly overcome with his concern. Even though Lucy was beautiful, and Darry believed she might be different, she was still a Soc, and finding Bonnie with a Soc was troubling. "Is everything okay?" Darry asked.
"Bonnie and I were just chatting." Lucy nodded, confidently, studying Darry's face in the pale lamplight.
Evelyn was not so easily convinced, "Bonnie. She's a...a...guest." Though it was clear that guest was not the word that Evelyn was actually thinking of.
"We didn't know what happened to you." Two-Bit interjected, his emotions a mixture of relief and confusion. He was the medium between his Soc-tolerating sister, and his sister who hated them flat out.
"I can handle myself," Bonnie said, with a dismissive note. She might have been the youngest Matthews, but she was not the most naive.
"We're not back in Tulsa," Evie warned.
"No kidding," Bonnie snorted, looking across the lush green grass and rolling hills that cradled the resort. "You both need to take chill pills, for once Darry's the relaxed one." Bonnie pointed out, with a shake of her head.
It was only then that Darry remembered his position as the leader of the Socs."They thought something might have happened to you, kid," he explained.
"Well I'm fine," Bonnie huffed, already tired of this game. "Look, all here, all in one piece. I'm not a child."
"Come on, lets just get to bed. Work starts at stupid o'clock tomorrow." Two-Bit concieded his sister the victory. He was much too tired to fight anymore tonight.
"You're not gonna lay into her some more?" Evie exclaimed, shock overpowering her features.
"What goods it gonna do, she listens about as well as you do," Two-Bit replied, with a playful ruffle of Evie's hair
"Yeah, don't forget you're the problem child," Bonnie chided with a playful grin.
"Am not!" Evie retorted.
Lucy found herself out of place in this easy sibling companionship. She felt like she was watching what a family was supposed to look like without ever being invited into it. It felt as if she were intruding, and Lucy suddenly wished to distance herself from it."I'll catch ya later," Lucy caled to Bonnie, turning to head back to her room. "Night everyone."
"I'll walk you back," Darry said, seized by a fit of gallantry.
Lucy stopped, a telling smirk dancing on her lips. A sly smile took its place,"It's okay, I can manage on my own," She stated.
"You wouldn't let me walk alone, why should you?" Bonnie interjected pragmatically.
"I'm fine, really," Lucy protested.
"They're both stubborn as hell, best not to argue." Two-Bit offered with a grin, "Come on kidlets, bedtime."
Lucy was left standing in the dark with Darry as they watched the Matthews siblings disappear into the night. Two-Bit had swung his arms about the shoulders of his sisters expecting them to carry him. Even with their combined strength, Evie and Bonnie dropped Two-Bit on his ass, though Darry suspected it was on purpose.
Once Darry was sure the Matthews were off safely in the right direction, he turned back to Lucy, who was watching him. As soon as Darry caught her eye, Lucy blushed and looked down, collecting herself before she looked up at him once more.
"I'm really alright on my own," Lucy stated.
"You sound like Bonnie," Darry grinned, seeing almost instantly why these two had formed a bond.
"She's quite something isn't she?" Lucy asked, though it sounded more like a statement. Darry was quiet for a moment, trying to understand this Soc girl. She was nice, and not in that horrible way where 'nice' was the only word you could use to describe someone. Lucy seemed to genuinely care about Bonnie, and that put her in Darry's good books. He was only wary that this was some kind of sick Soc game.
Lucy seemed to sense his trepidation, "I mean that as a compliment," She said before quickly changing the topic, hopefully to something Darry was more comfortable with. The change was a miss. "What did Bonnie's sister mean when she called me a Soc?"
Darry shook his head, scowling,"She was just running her mouth, don't worry about it."
"I take it that it isn't an endearing nickname." Lucy was perceptive and unwilling to give up on this thread of conversation just yet.
"Soc is short for social, it's what we call the rich kids folk back in Tulsa," Darry explained with a sigh.
"Because all rich folk ever do is socialize," Lucy surmised.
"It's just how we see it," Darry said with a shrug. "They call us greasers."
"Because you slick your hair back," Lucy guessed, looking up at Darry's longer hair. She'd never met men who wore their hair like Darry and his friends did.
"Yeah."
"You know there is more to people than what they do or what they put in their hair," Lucy stated, looking at him hard. Darry couldn't keep her gaze and turned away.
"I know," He mumbled.
"Soc and greasers. I don't know, I still prefer the Sharks and the Jets," Lucy jested.
"Huh?" Darry had never heard of the Sharks and the Jets, except for the aquatic animal. Even though West Side Story was an Oscar winning movie, Darry never had time to go to the movies. He was always working. He left that sort of thing to Pony and Johnny.
"West Side Story? No?" Lucy asked, incredulous that he had never heard of it. "You should try to check it out sometime. Great movie, I mean, if you're into that kind of thing."
They fell into a silence as they drew closer and closer to the hotel. Darry had a feeling that this walk wasn't just a walk, but he didn't know how else to label it. Darry found himself looking down at Lucy every few steps. She walked with a content smile on her face, and the easy grace of a debutant. Darry had never seen a girl that looked like Lucy in his entire life. He was used to the easy girls back home who either wore too much makeup or didn't care what they looked like. Lucy was different. She wore her confidence like other girls wear their clothes. She seemed at ease in any situation, even this one. Darry envied her relaxed nature.
Finally, Lucy broke their silence,"So how was the joy ride?"
"The what?" Darry, who had been lost in his thoughts, only now came around.
"In my T-Bird," Lucy said with a grin.
"Oh, I just took it out back," Darry replied, ever the perfect employee.
"I wouldn't have minded you know." Lucy returned with a shrug. He could tell that she meant it, even if that made absolutely no sense to him. What kind of girl just trusted a perfect stranger with their expensive car? "I mean, as long as you didn't crash it."
"Best not to risk it then," Darry replied with a wry smile.
"You said you were from Tulsa?"Lucy changed the topic again, keeping Darry on his toes just when he had settled into the last one. "What's it like in Oklahoma?"
"You've never been?" Darry asked, as if it was impossible to believe that this girl hadn't been to every point on the globe, nevermind every state in the country. "It's nothing special, nothing like this place that's for sure."
"Nowhere is." Lucy said with a fond smile. "I've always said the Harborfront is a fantasyland where folks try to forget the real world exists."
"Kinda hard to do when you're still living in it," Darry doubted.
"I couldn't agree more," Lucy smiled. It wasn't the response Darry had expected, mainly because in his mind Lucy had the privilege of living the fairytale. Work kept him grounded in the real world, he wondered what kind of troubles could have possibly kept her there as well.
Their walk came to a brisk end, as Darry found himself in front of Lucy's door. Somewhere in her changing topics and easy confidence, he'd lost himself in their walk. Now he was regretting not paying attention to the girl in front of him. He had been so lost in his thoughts, so desperate to unravel the mystery of Lucy, that Darry had forgotten to enjoy his time with her.
"This is me," Lucy announced, with a melancholy note.
"Yes it is," Darry affirmed, equally regretfull.
"Thanks for walking me back," Lucy offered with a smile.
"Of course," Darry nodded, assuming his position as Darry the porter again. "Have a good night Miss Eldridge."
"Lucy," She chided, "Just call me Lucy."
Darry smiled in spite of himself, "Goodnight Lucy."
"Goodnight Darry."