Chapter 7

Rae woke up in her bed a few hours later. The book she had been reading earlier was sitting on the bedside table, with her reading glasses sitting on top. She sat up, still a little groggy. She had been drinking a little, with Two-Bit next to her, before she fell asleep.

"Guess I was still tired," Rae said, aloud. She slipped out of her bed and on to the cold floor. She shivered. "It must be time for dinner by now." She walked over to her desk and took a look at the clock. Eight. "I've missed it. Guess I'll have to run to the gas station and grab something."

She sighed and slipped on some socks, and her shoes. Once she was ready, she slid her jacket on and went out the door. Cherry wouldn't be back until the next day, so she locked the door behind her. The sun was setting as she walked out of the building and towards the road.

Rae hadn't seen Curly all day. She would have to make sure she stopped in on her way back to campus. The gas station was a little more than two miles away, so she would have to walk a bit.

After walking for some time, she could feel the temperature drop and wrapped her jacket tighter around her.

"What am I going to say to Curly?" she asked herself quietly. "Even more so…what do I say to Nate?"

"You rang?"

She looked up, quickly. Nate was leaning against a brick wall, a smoking cigarette between his lips.

"Where…?"

"I saw you walking so I came over to meet you."

Rae nodded, slightly, and continued walking. It seemed as she was in thought, the sun sank farther into the sky and it was almost dark.

"Hey, wait a minute!" he exclaimed as she walked past him.

"For what?" she asked, not even looking back.

"Well I…," he began, and then hesitated for a moment. "I wanted to apologize."

She stopped in her tracks.

"I didn't mean to push you so far."

"It's not your fault," Rae said, starting to walk again, but at a normal pace. He caught up with her, easily. "How could you have possibly known?"

"I just hope this doesn't make things weird between us. I want us to be friends."

"If I recall correctly, you 'don't deal with girls'," Rae said with a small smirk. Nate breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as well. He took one more drag of his stick and tossed it to the ground. They walked in silence for a few more moments.

"So, why didn't you tell Curly?" She sighed. She knew he was going to ask. "Does he see me as a threat or something?"

"Maybe to my sanity." He looked at her, quizzically. "I went to a very bad place after Dally died. It got so bad at one point that the state almost took me away from where I was staying." Rae kicked a rock sitting on the sidewalk. She could finally see the gas station. "In the end, the thought of my leaving my friends was too much and I was pulled out of my stupor, so to speak."

"So, what does that have to do with me?"

"I told you that night I stayed at your place. The night of the rumble." He nodded.

"Yeah, you said I looked just like him."

"It's more than that, though," she said, giving him a sad smile. "Your mannerisms…that way you act. It's almost as if he was reincarnated into you. Curly is afraid that your presence will pull me back down into that dark place where even he can't reach me."

She opened the door to the convenience store and sauntered in. Nate waited outside while she was buying her food. When she walked back out, she seemed more relaxed. They walked in silence, pondering the conversation they had just had. Rae felt a little better that she had it off of her chest, but a weight still stayed put. Of course you're a threat. Not a love interest, but he is jealous that once I go back to that place, you could possibly be the only one who could reach me.

Nate left her just outside of the campus. She walked back, slowly, sipping on the Coke she had just bought. Once at the dorm, she tossed the empty bottle into a trashcan sitting outside and headed up to Curly's room. When she entered the room, Ponyboy was sitting at his small desk, pouring over a one of his textbooks. She smiled. She knew how important it was to him to keep his grades up.

"What's all this?" Curly asked as she sat down on his bed with a plastic bag of food.

"I took a nap straight through dinner so I ran down the road and got a sandwich." He nodded.

"Yeah, I figured you were pretty tired after that party last night so I didn't want to bother you." She smiled, softly.

Now if only I could have the guts to tell him where I really was.

"Curly,I-"

Rae barely got two words out before Two-Bit burst through the door with his usual pack of beer. He wore that goofy smile of his. He was definitely already drunk. Sometimes, she was amazed that he hadn't built up immunity to alcohol after all these years of drinking like a fish. His good nature rubbed off on her. He tossed her and Curly a beer. Pony closed his book suddenly. His face was gravely serious.

"Where's mine?" he asked. A smile spread across his face and the rest of them burst into laughter. Two-Bit handed one of his beers over to him.


Later that night, Rae stumbled back to her room with Curly in tow. She fumbled for a few moments with her keys, but when she finally got the door open, she tossed her keys onto Cherry's bed and pulled him on to hers. She lay under him and he bent down to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around him and lifted herself up into his lips. She let go, slowly, and put her hands inside his leather jacket. She pushed it off of his shoulders and down his arms. He dropped it on the floor, followed by his shirt. Rae placed a hand on his chest and drew her hand down to the top if his pants, all while going in for another kiss.

After a few moments, they parted and slowly, she lifted her own shirt over her head. She was breathing heavily, the unsure feeling starting to slowly wash over her, although somewhat muted by the alcohol. She unbuttoned her jeans and slid them off, and then moved back onto her back for a better position. Curly stared down at her, surprised.

"Are you sure?"

He could see the slight hesitation on her face. She smiled, though, and nodded. He slipped out of his own pants and crawled back over top of her.

Rae wrapped her arms around him once again and closed her eyes, tightly.