A/N: I know it's been quite a while since I've updated this story but life does indeed get in the way and you forget about things you love, like writing this story. I don't know if any of my original readers are still reading this but just in case you are I've just wanted y'all to know that I have made a few changes to the overall story. the changes are mostly minor like a few details and the main characters name. Feel free to re-read those first few chapters, let me know if anything needs to be fixed and I will be pleased to do so. I really do hope to finish this story. The first time I reread it for the first time since I last updated it I was stuck with inspiration and I am still surprised about how easy it was to find my voice again.
Please review, let me know what you think or just leave some CC or if anything needs to be fix.
Chapter Six: Long Walks
She isn't too sure on how long they're in that hall closet but by the time the police haul Dallas off to the police station and all the cops are gone from Buck's, both she and Two-Bit are fast asleep. Charlotte wakes up with a crook in her neck, Two-Bit is cradled in her lap and she has a mouthful of his hair. Char coughs lightly as she pops her neck and jostles Two-Bit awake. It takes quite a bit of shoving to actually wake him from his drunken slumber but when he finally lifts his head and meets her eyes, the nights events seem to come flooding right back to him.
Two-Bit shoots up from his spot on her lap and quickly looks around small darkened closet space, clearly looking for any sign of a fight, more specifically Curly. After he settles down she shushes him before he can speak, wanting to be careful.
"What the hell happened?" He rubs gingerly at bruises marking his face.
"The fuzz came after your fight with Curly. Dallas managed to shove the both of us in this closet before he got hauled off himself." She frowns, rubbing at her head. Her hand pulls through tangles making her wince. "I guess I fell asleep while waiting for them to leave."
Two-Bit doesn't have his trademark grin that she's grown accustomed to seeing. He stands up and pokes his head out the door to see if the coast is clear. "We better get going then. I don't want to be here in case the next round shows up, or Buck in this case."
He guides them both through the house, both quiet as can be except for the occasional cringe worthy creaking of a floor board. When they outside the sun is blinding but the roads are clear. Everyone must be stuck in bed with Friday night hangovers, she thinks as they walk over to wear Two-Bit had parked his car only to find a missing car and empty parking space.
"Dammit! Those bastards towed off my car." He kicks at the gravel frustrated and hung-over. He sighs, runs his fingers through his messy hair and meets her eyes. "I guess we're gonna have to walk, sweets."
Charlotte nods and follows his lead. They're heading back towards the Curtis' house if her sense of direction and memory is correct. "What are we going to do about Dallas? We can't just leave him in jail."
Two=bit just waves his hand and shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. "This isn't Dal's first trip to the cooler. He knows what he's doing."
"But isn't there something we can do?" She's starting to feel guilty. She shouldn't have let Dallas go. She shouldn't have opened her big mouth in the first place last night anyway. She knew that not all greasers were as excepting of her background and other classes like they had been back in New York but this wasn't any time to start feeling sorry for herself.
"Unless you're gonna pay his bail to get him out, there isn't much we can do, Char. Really, don't worry about Dally. He wasn't drinking last night so they don't really have much to stick him with anyway."
Charlotte frowns before letting the conversation drop. "Thanks, by the way. You know, for sticking up for me in there last night."
Two-Bit coughs almost awkwardly and rubs at the back of his neck almost bashfully. "My pleasure, Char."
His grin makes a return.
It's a long walk back to the Curtis' house. Even with a cloudless sky and bright morning sun shining down upon them there's still a chill in the air that leaves the both of them slightly hunched over with their hands stuffed in their pockets. Charlotte feels less than spectacular as they walk down the street, a few cars pass them by, and an obnoxious boy leans out the passenger's side of one car and yells something along the lines of how they must've had a pretty good time before the car speeds off. Two-Bit steps closer to her and slings his arm over her shoulders as the next car passes.
The Curtis house is obviously quite the looker compared to the other houses in the neighborhood. Its paint is chipping and there are few shingles that need to be redone but it is mostly kept up with. It's a nice house. It doesn't look like her house at all. Despite its position in the neighborhood it still manages to stand out among the rest, a warm and open aura seems to roll off of it. Her house may be up to date, freshly painted and surrounded by white picket fence but it still didn't seem to have the same appeal as this old, worn down home did.
Just as she was about to knock Two-Bit just went ahead and flung open the door and bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Honey, I'm home!"
"You didn't knock?" She asks bewildered.
"Why would I?"
Charlotte just shakes her head and laughs. "Never mind."
The Curtis brothers are all gathered in the kitchen, as was Steve who was currently stuffing his face with what looked like chocolate cake and washing it down with a glass of chocolate milk as well. "Hey, what happened to you two last night? After the fuzz came y'all just up and vanished and no one knew where you went."
Two-Bit pulls out a chair and props up his feet on the table until Darry swats at them with a rolled up newspaper. "Curly Sheppard started some shit last night, picked a fight and then someone called the fuzz. Dally shoved us in the closet upstairs but they still managed to haul him in."
Soda looks up from his eggs and runs a hand through his still damp hair. "Wait, did you two stay in a closet as Buck's all night?"
"Unfortunately," Charlotte grumbles, leaning against the kitchen counter alongside Steve. "Then we had the pleasure of walking all the way here because the cops towed every car left in the lot after everyone cleared out."
"Sounds like a rough night," Darry tells them as he stands up from the table to set his dishes in the sink. There's a small, humorous smile playing on his lips. "Two-Bit use the phone to call down to see if your car is at Jerry's lot. He might just let you have it back if you say please."
"Yeah right, man." Two-Bit scoff at the thought.
Darry pulls on an old, beat up work jacket that reads 'Tusla's Finest Construction' on its tag. He pats Ponyboy on his head on his way out before grabbing his keys. "Pony, it's your turn to do the dishes. I'll see you kids later."
After Darry leaves Soda stands up from the table, leaving to get two more plates. "You guys hungry?" He doesn't bother waiting for an answer before piling eggs and toast onto the plates.
Charlotte takes both plates from him, setting one with less down in front of Two-Bit and then sitting down herself. Steve is laughing wildly as he pokes at Two-Bit's bruise covered face, mocking him as he goes on.
"Wow, Curly sure did a number on you, didn't he Two-Bit? What you'd say that got him so pissed off?"
Two-bit slapped Steve's hand away and grumbled into his bite of eggs. "I didn't say anything. Some broad started shit and Curly got involved."
"You got in a fight over a girl?" Soda asked clearly confused.
"Not over the chick you're thinking of. The broad started running her mouth tryin' to get Charlotte ganged up on. It just so happens that Curly was there to hear it and you know how he gets when he's been drinking all night."
Charlotte stared into her eggs. She could feel the boy's eyes on her as he spoke. "Apparently living on the end of West Side still means something here. In New York is wasn't as such a big deal."
Which was true to an extent. Unless you lived up in the rich part of the city where if you so much as walked the street looking like a greaser you'd get looked down upon like you were trash and no store would service you. In New York Charlotte's family was only considered lower middle class but here the dollar went farther and her ranking in society went up with it, not that she cared much. Back home she sit with greasers and socs alike, depending on the circumstances. Greasers would come to her home to be patched up or even just for a place to sleep or something to eat. Her mother always welcomed them in with open arms.
"You're gonna find a lot of things aren't the same down here, Char."
"Yeah, I'm starting to realize that. " Charlotte rubbed at her eyes, trying to rub the sleep out. "I gotta get home guys. My dad is going to kill me."
"We'll drop you off. Me and Steve gotta out anyway, it be on the way." Soda offers pulling his cap and putting his own dishes in the sink. "See you later, Ponyboy."