Love Smells like gasoline
A/N: Again this chapter belongs to GreaserGirlie
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to S E Hinton, any original characters belong to GreaserGirlie
"Thanks for the ride, Soda," Tammy winked at him as she got out of his truck. Steve rolled his eyes and followed her. After Julie moved to the front things got awkward. It was silent in the truck as they both said absolutely nothing until they got to Julie's house. They sat for a minute before Julie spoke.
"I had a good time, Soda…thanks."
"Glad you had fun. Maybe we could do it again sometime? Like next Friday night?" Soda was hopeful that she would say yes. He thought things had gone good on their date, but he discovered things hadn't gone as well as he thought.
"Um, I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Don't get me wrong; you're a sweet guy and all, but I just don't think it'd work out between us. I mean that kiss was…a spur of the moment thing. I guess I was upset about those guys and you were so sweet, I just got caught up in the moment. You understand right?" Julie felt awful for turning him down, but she knew she couldn't lead him on. Soda didn't understand what he'd done wrong, but she said she didn't want to and that was it.
"Yeah I understand," he sighed, "But can we still be friends? I'd hate to lose you completely."
"Of course we can." She said goodnight and got out of the car. He watched her walk up to her house and shut the front door behind her. It was very unusual for Soda to get turned down by a girl. But what made matters worse was that he really liked Julie. He hadn't felt that way about a girl before, except for Sandy of course. The thought of Sandy came back to him and he wiped the tears away.
He drove home and walked straight to his room. But before he could make it to his bedroom, Darry stopped him.
"What's the matter with you?" Darry questioned.
"The date didn't go so well," Soda answered. Darry was shocked, considering his little brother's impressive record with the girls.
"Really?"
"Well the actual date was good, but when I asked her if she wanted to go out again she said no."
"Well then she's not worth it, little buddy," Darry tried to cheer him up.
"You don't get it, Dar. But whatever, it's over with and we're still friends so I guess that's good."
"Good way to think, Soda. You'll have to bring her over though so I can at least meet her."
"Maybe Steve can bring her over, I don't wanna risk her telling me no," Soda said bitterly.
"Now don't be like that. Go on to bed, you look pretty tired." Darry ruffled Soda's hair and sent him off to bed. Soda gave him a smile before walking to his and Pony's room.
Meanwhile at Julie's house…
Julie walked in and her mother was sitting at the kitchen table with her reading glasses on and a newspaper on the table.
"Hi sweetie! How was the date?" her mother asked excitedly.
"Oh well, it was okay. I'm not going out with him again though," Julie answered.
"What? Why not? He seems like a nice boy and quite handsome too."
"Yes I know he's nice and cute, but he's just not really my type, mom."
"No you're right I suppose, he certainly is not your type. Although, that boy Steve does seem to be your type, right?" Julie's mom tried so hard to be close with her daughter so Julie felt like she could talk to her mother about anything. Julie thought for a moment before answering her mother.
"I guess," her simple answer brought a smile to her mother's face, "Now don't get all goofy, mom. He's just a friend…for now anyways. Well I'm goin' to bed. Night!" Julie quickly made her way up to her room before her mom could say anything else.
Julie's Dream
"You look real pretty, Julie," Steve told her as they sat together under the stars.
"Thanks, I try to look my best for a date, ya know."
"Well you do a great job with it." Steve leaned over to make his move so Julie leaned in too. It seemed like forever when they were finally almost to the kiss.
End of Short Little Dream
"Julie! It's time to get up!" a voice rang in Julie's ear.
"Ugh, mom it's too early," Julie complained as she rolled over to look at her clock. 11:34. Oh, she thought, I guess it's not too early. She thought for a minute about the dream she was so unfortunately pulled out of. She was dreaming about kissing Steve or almost kissing Steve anyways, which had to be a bad sign. Julie got out of bed and walked slowly down the stairs.
"It's about time, sleepy head! What dream were you having that was keepin' you asleep, hmm?" Julie's mom questioned.
"It was such a weird dream…"
"What was it about?"
"Um, well…Steve."
"Ooh, dreaming about Mr. Mechanic?" her mother gave a small laugh at what she would call a joke.
"Oh my god. Do not call him that!" she blushed.
"Well what exactly went on in this wonderfully weird dream?"
"Uh, well…it was just weird. Anyways what did you get me up for?"
"I'm going to run a few errands and I was wondering if you wanted to come along?"
"I really don't feel like it. I was just gonna walk around and explore the town a little bit," Julie lied. She was just planning on being lazy all day.
"Well okay then. Just be careful," her mother warned.
"Yeah, yeah. You tell me that all the time," Julie rolled her eyes. After her mother left, she took a shower and got changed. She went along with the boring day and relaxed a little.
Julie managed to avoid Soda until Monday, when she didn't have a choice. She went to school, but didn't see Steve there. She assumed he had just skipped for the day. The day went by pretty fast and then she dreaded going to the DX for work. Before she left she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror to make sure she looked okay. She had on a pair of white shorts with a pink tank top. Her hair was in a braid and she had her boots on. Her wardrobe wasn't the smartest choice because of the white shorts but she didn't feel like going all the way home to change. She left school and began walking. Not too long after she'd begun walking she heard a voice shout for her.
"Julie!" she turned around to see Two-Bit and a boy she didn't recognize. He had brown hair and icy blue eyes. He was taller than Two-Bit and was smoking a cigarette.
"Well hi there Two-Bit and you are?" she spoke to the boys.
"This is Dally. Dal, this is Julie," Two-Bit introduced the two.
"Dally? That short for somethin'?" Julie asked.
"Yeah, Dallas," Dally answered with a bit of hostility.
"Hmm, nice name, Dallas."
"Call me Dally, if you know what's good for you."
"Jeez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."
"Well anyways, I heard a rumor 'bout you and Soda. That true?" Two-Bit changed the subject so he wouldn't have to rip Dally off of Julie.
"Depends what the rumor says," Julie replied. They started walking again and Julie ended up in between the two boys.
"Well from what I've heard, you two are datin'."
"Then you need to find a new rumor source, 'cause that ain't true."
"Oh really? So you two didn't go on a date last Friday?"
"Well, we did. But it's not like we're dating. It was one date, Two-Bit."
"Well one date can lead to more, can it not?"
"It can, but in this case it won't," Julie informed him.
"You like Stevie don't ya?"
"No I do not. I just don't want to go out with Soda."
"Fine, fine…well here we are." Julie looked up and realized that they'd arrived at the DX. Great, just where I want to be, Julie said in her head.
"Hey man," Soda greeted Two-Bit as he was the first one he saw, "Oh hey Dal…Julie."
"Hi Soda," Julie tried to sound as if she wasn't uncomfortable with the situation, but she most certainly was.
"What are you guys doin' here?" Soda asked the group.
"Well Julie was just beggin' to come down here so we just couldn't say no to her," Two-Bit lied. Julie wanted to smack him right there, but she couldn't.
"Two-Bit, it's not like I wanted to come down here. I kind of have a job, ya know."
"That job don't start till four though."
"Oh you caught me, I'm just dying to come here and see Soda…makes so much sense," Julie retorted sarcastically.
"Hey what are you guys doin here?" Steve came out from the garage. His shift started a half hour before Julie's so he had already got to working on a few cars. Julie laughed when she saw him; he had a smudge of grease from one the cars on his forehead and across his left cheek.
"What are laughin' about this time?" Steve asked her.
"You have grease all over your face, Steve." She grabbed the rag out his back pocket and gently wiped his face. She slowly lowered the rag and looked into his eyes, "There ya go."
"Thanks." He stuck the rag back in his pocket without breaking his stare.
"Excuse me? Mr. and Mrs. Randle, if you could just join us back over here?" Two-Bit's voice broke them out of the stare. Julie blushed while Steve sent a nasty glare to Two-Bit.
"Oh there are some people, I should probably take care of them," Soda spoke up. He walked out to one of the pumps. Julie sighed as he walked out; she could tell he was still upset about the date.
"Well look at those girls. Come on man we're gonna be gettin' lucky tonight," Two-Bit said as he and Dally left to talk to a few blondes who had just driven up to the DX.
"What's with you and Soda?" Steve asked.
"You mean he didn't tell you?"
"Said he didn't wanna talk about it."
"Oh well…after he drove me home, he asked me out again and I sort of said no." Steve was happy to hear that Julie was free, but quickly realized that this meant she was off limits to him. Soda and Steve had always had a best friend/ girl policy. If one of them broke up with a girl, the girl was off limits to the other. So technically Julie was off limits to Steve.
"Oh…hey can you help me with a car out in the garage?"
"Aw man…I was hoping I wouldn't have to fix much today! I'm wearing white shorts," Julie whined.
"Oh come on, you'll be fine." he practically dragged her into the garage and to a car.
"You want me to help fix this piece of crap?" Julie questioned.
"I know it ain't the best, but it's damn tricky, I'll tell you that."
"Are you an actual mechanic or what?"
"Excuse me? I'm the best mechanic in this town," Steve stated.
"Not anymore, buddy," Julie smirked at Steve as she looked for the problem in the car. She felt a hand slap her butt and she whirled around to come face to face with a smirking Steve.
"Looks like I got your little outfit all dirty," he laughed. He knew he was taking a big chance with that because of the whole Soda case but it was just a little innocent flirting. She got closer to him, to the point where their faces were closer than before and she gave a sneaky smile.
"Oh Stevie, you shouldn't have done that." She lifted her hand, which was dripping with blue paint and smeared it all over Steve's face.
"No, you shouldn't have done that," Steve said as he reached for the same paint can that Julie had gotten the paint from. He grabbed a handful of the blue paint and threw it at her.
"Steve!" Julie squealed, "I'm gonna kill you!" She found another can of paint and inside was a gooey red paint. She looked down to dip her hand inside the paint and when she looked back up more paint was splattered on her. She looked down at her now blue outfit and back up at Steve who looked very proud of himself. She grabbed an even bigger handful of the red paint and threw it at him. She then tackled him and smeared the blue and red paint all over his face and in his hair. After that, she started laughing and couldn't stop. She thought Steve looked hilarious with all the paint on him.
"You look so ridiculous right now," she managed to tell him in between her laughter.
Steve loved the sound of her laughter as she lay on top of him with blue paint splattered all over her face and clothes. He couldn't help but wonder what this would look like to a total stranger.
"I look ridiculous? Look at you! You've got paint all over yourself." She only laughed more and had to wipe a few tears that were falling from her eyes. She hadn't laughed like that since her dad died and it felt good.
"What did I tell you two about foolin' around in here!" Brian's voice came from the doorway to the garage. Julie looked at Brian than back to Steve and realized what it must have looked like. She got off of him and sat next to him on the ground. "And what the hell have you two been doin' with that paint!"
"Oh well um, you see it was just an innocent paint fight," Julie tried to get Brian to understand.
"Just go get cleaned up," he replied. Once he saw Julie walk past him he asked, "Now you're tryin' to tell me that you two weren't foolin' around?"
"I already told you, we are just friends!" Julie said a little too loudly. Steve held back his laughter as he saw what Brian was talking about.
"Well then where did that handprint on your ass come from?" Brian asked her.
Julie twisted herself around to see the black handprint on her butt and felt her cheeks get hot.
"Oh…well…you see…it's all Steve's fault!"
"My fault?"
"Yes, your fault! You're the one who had to go and do this!" she yelled, pointing to her butt.
"Just go get cleaned up," Brian ordered them. Steve and Julie both walked out of the garage to the bathroom, but were stopped midway.
"What the hell happened to you two!" Two-Bit laughed.
"Nothing!" Julie and Steve both shouted at him. They continued to walk to the bathrooms to wash up.
"Did you guys see the handprint on her butt?" Two-Bit asked Dally and Soda.
"Yeah. You think that's Steve's?" Soda questioned. He knew Steve wouldn't do that to him...
"Who else's would it be?" Dally joined the conversation.
"Man, that guy sure works quick." Two-Bit and Dally continued to joke about it, but Soda thought about if Steve was messin' around with Julie.
"God, I think I got all that paint out," Julie sighed happily as she walked back over to the guys.
"Still got some in your hair," Steve commented as he joined them. Julie held out her hand for Steve to give her the towel he was using and she turned to throw them in the garage. The minute she did this she heard a lot of laughter from behind her.
"What's up with you two?" she asked Dally and Two-Bit.
"Nothin'…it's just you got this big ole handprint on your butt and there's only one person it could belong to…" Two-Bit answered.
"Oh shut up! We weren't doin' anything. Steve was just bein' stupid."
"I wasn't the one who started it," Steve retorted.
"You just had to smack my butt, didn't you?" she ignored him.
"You thought you were a better mechanic than me! I had to teach you a lesson."
"And you couldn't have done that any other way?"
"If you don't mind my thoughts, Julie, I do believe Stevie here chose to smack your butt because he likes you," Two-Bit doubled over from laughter and Steve looked away. He knew it was true, but he didn't need Julie knowing that.
Julie wondered if what Two-Bit said was true. Steve looked away and didn't say anything, which was usually a dead giveaway for someone trying to hide something that had just been exposed.
"Aw Stevie, you got a crush on me?" Julie played along to see what kind of reaction she could get out of Steve.
"Ain't it time for you to get ready for your shift?" Steve avoided her question.
"I suppose, but first you gotta answer my question." They all waited for Steve to say something, but he never did. He just walked back into the garage.
"Man, this sure is a crazy place. Might get myself a job here!" Two-Bit joked. Soda laughed for the first time since that whole conversation had started. Julie and Soda made quick eye contact and Julie offered a smile. Soda being Soda, he smiled back. He knew nothing could happen between them, but did that mean something could happen between her and Steve?