Hey there everyone, I really appreciate the continued support. I apologize for this late update, life has been quite busy and will be for quite some time, so updates will continue to be scattered. But hopefully this longer chapter will make up for the wait. :) Reviews, as always are appreciated.
And S.E. Hinton continues to own The Outsiders.
"Baby needs a beer!" Two-Bit shouted, jumping to his feet with a crazed grin.
Evie giggled. "Get me one too, Mathews."
Two-Bit raised his eyebrows. "Anyone else need while I'm going?"
Steve shrugged. "Hit me up."
Two-Bit nodded and turned, walking out resolutely. It was probably the last time that night he'd be walking even remotely steadily.
Soda stood up and stretched. "I'm getting a lil tired of poker, kids. Who's up for some real fun?"
Pony laughed. "Surprised we managed to hold your attention this long."
His brother shrugged. "Ain't gonna deny it, little brother. Only 'cuz I like y'all so much. Don't have any other friends to bother." He began bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"Shit, Sodapop, how much sugar you had today?" The voice came from the doorway, and Lucy turned to see a tall, muscular man filling nearly the entire frame.
Soda grinned hugely at him before a voice called out:
"Darry! You're just in time for the party!" Two-Bit seemed delighted to see the eldest Curtis, his arms full of beer bottles. However, in his excitement he almost tripped, but luckily saved both himself and his precious cargo from certain destruction.
Darry just shook his head. "Try not to kill yourselves, please." He seemed to have spotted Lucy. "Anyone care to introduce me?" He asked, with a nod in her direction.
"Lucy Winston," she said, standing up and holding a hand out for Darry to shake.
Lucy could feel through the firmness and strength of his handshake that he was a strong, calming presence in this group. He was clearly older than the other boys, taller, more muscular. And an authority figure, by the looks of it. She idly wondered what he thought of Dallas.
He seemed nonplussed by her name, simply replying. "Darry Curtis. Pleasure to meet you. You new 'round here?"
Lucy nodded, surprised by his lack of reaction, considering how extreme the others' had been.
Darry smiled. "Well, our home is always open to you, if you need anything, though you might have figured that out by now." He cocked his head at Two-Bit and rolled his eyes.
Lucy could feel tears sparking to her eyes. "Thank you," she said humbly, hardly able to get the words out. Quite simply, she wasn't used to this sort of kindness, especially not from near strangers. It was an odd feeing, but it was certainly comforting.
"Alright, pleasantries are out of the way, let's get down to business!" Two-Bit dropped the beer on the table, and everyone reached for one.
"C'mon Dar, stay! Live a little!" Soda called to his brother's retreating back.
Darry just waved him off without turning around. "I gotta shower."
Pony wrinkled his nose. "I didn't wanna say nothin', but you do stink Dar!" He hollered.
Darry flipped him the bird behind his back, setting off a round of laughter.
"Right," Two-Bit began after he recovered. "What's next?" He tossed a bottle opener to Lucy.
Evie suddenly jumped to her feet, startling Steve. "Wait!" She shrieked. "Nobody drink!"
Two-Bit, tipping his beer into his mouth, quickly righted it, somehow not spilling a single drop. He stared at her, puzzled.
"Let's play Quarters," she said, plumping her hair.
Steve grinned. "I like that idea."
Lucy shrugged. "Someone's gonna have to tell me how to play." She was guessing it was some sort of drinking game, if Evie didn't want anyone drinking yet.
Pony and Soda exchanged a look, then, as if agreeing to something, simultaneously shrugged. "We're in," Soda said.
"If you could cut out the weird, Curtis brother, mental communication thing y'all got going on, that'd be great," Steve drawled.
"It is a tad unsettling," Two-Bit agreed cheerfully.
Evie cleared her throat. "Ahem. If you gentlemen are quite finished..."
"Gentlemen my ass," Lucy muttered, watching as Soda carefully attempted to tie Two-Bit's shoelaces to his chair with his feet. Hearing her, he flashed her a magnificent grin, causing the second inadvertent attack of butterflies that she'd had in his presence.
Stop that, she told herself sternly. This is not going to be a thing.
Pulling his socks back on, luckily still without Two-Bit noticing a thing, Soda said, "So we gonna play or what?"
Evie nodded, her chin tipped up. "Right, so the game is Quarters. Rules are simple: you gotta try to bounce this quarter off the table and into the glass." She held up an empty cup. "If you miss, you pass the quarter to the next person. If you get it in, you choose someone who has to drink." She plopped an unopened beer in the center of the table along with the cup. "Any questions?"
Lucy shook her head. Seemed easy enough. She eyed her fellow players, wondering who'd end up holding their liquor best, who'd be the one person to be able to actually get the quarter in the glass. She did hope that she wouldn't be targeted, but she also knew this was a rather vain hope; as the new kid in town, she couldn't expect to be ignored. They'd be testing her just like she was testing them. She threw back her shoulders, her eyes bright.
"Can I start?"
Evie nodded and passed her the quarter, then resumed her seat. And so Quarters began.
xXxXxXx
"Dangflabbit! I keep missin'!" Two-Bit cried in anguish as, yet again, his quarter bounced wildly off the table, this time striking Ponyboy's forehead, leaving a small mark.
"I got half a mind to believe you're missing on purpose, 'cuz you just wanna drink," Soda said, furrowing his brow as he aimed the quarter. He leaned down on the table to get a better angle; he had such a look of concentration that the room filled with laughter.
"Shit, Soda, I ain't seen you this focused since you used to go down and ride at the rodeo," Pony chuckled, his words half-slurred. Pony had been fairly good at shooting quarters himself, but he was also a primary target. It had been only recently that Pony had been able to drink with the gang without the fear of Darry scalping him, and so everyone, mainly Steve and Two-Bit, were dying to see the kid drunk. It hadn't been much of a shock to anyone to discover he had a fairly low alcohol tolerance.
"Bingo!" Soda shouted, jumping to his feet in celebration. The glass was ringing as the quarter continued to tremble within it. A sly smile slid onto his face. "Drink up, Keith."
Two-Bit reached for the bottle without question, though there was a moment of hesitation as he located it, and chugged it. He dropped the bottle with a dull clunk and a contented sigh.
"We're outta beer. Mind getting us some more, considerin' you drank the last one, Two-Bit?"
"Sure, Soda-" Two-Bit had just attempted to stand up, but found himself crashing violently to the floor. Evie let out an exclamation, Steve gave a hoot of laughter, and Lucy burst out laughing. Soda and Pony, meanwhile, were both on the floor, beside themselves. Soda, because he had managed to pull it off and the look on Two-Bit's face was totally priceless. Pony, because he was drunk and found it the most hilarious thing he'd ever seen, including the time Soda had dyed Darry's hair green in the seventh grade.
Two-Bit himself was more than a little disoriented, utterly confused as to why he was on the floor and couldn't seem to get up, and wondering why Sodapop was rolling around and laughing like an insane demon. Then he looked down, and noticed his shoes.
"Alright, which motherfucker did this?" Everyone's gaze swiveled to Soda, who was still having a hard time containing himself.
"God, Two-Bit, you should'a seen your face...best thing I seen in years...holy shit..." He was now overcome by an attack of hiccups.
Two-Bit glared at him for another long second before bursting into a wide grin. "Aw, hell, Sodapop, I'da done the same thing. But how in the hell did you do this without me noticin'?"
In response, Soda wiggled his toes at him, setting them all into a fresh bout of giggles.
Still laying on his back, Two-Bit worked on untying his sneakers, a feat that turned out to be much more difficult than imagined. "I reckon we ought'a move on to the next thing," he grunted, struggling on one particularly stubborn knot.
Before anyone could answer, Darry made his reappearance. "What in hell have you idiots done this time?"
Two-Bit looked up to see Darry standing over him, staring at him with a mixture of concern and amusement. He smiled cheekily at him. "Just chilling, you know, the floor's real nice and cool right about now. Feels nice on the back. Refreshing."
Darry snickered. "God help you, Mathews." He held out a hand, helping the fallen greaser to his feet. Once sure Two-Bit was in reasonably good shape, he turned to the others assembled.
"I'm heading out. Pony, Soda, you know the deal...Pony, you been drinking?" His tone, however, wasn't harsh, more bemused than anything. After all, even Darry had to find the idea of a drunk Ponyboy pretty hilarious.
"Yeah, Dar," Pony said, waving him off. "But I ain't gonna drive or nothin'. Don't worry about me none. You go have fun." He gazed blearily at his older brother, cracking a grin.
"Shit, kid, you're gonna make me go gray," Darry said, grabbing his keys. "Y'all just don't blow up the house, you hear me? Ain't nowhere else for these hoodlums to stay." At this last he nodded at Steve, Two-Bit, and Lucy, but his manner suggested he didn't mind in the slightest. With Soda insisting they'd be fine, he finally left, and they could hear the truck driving away.
Steve asked the question they'd all been thinking. "Since when does ol' Dare-bear go out? Thought he was all eat-sleep-work."
Soda shook his head. "He's got more regular hours now, his boss likes him. He's meeting up with some of his work buddies, I think."
Two-Bit nodded approvingly. "It's about time he got a social life. Lord knows Superman's too cool for us."
Lucy noticed that the boys liked to mock themselves and their social status a lot, as did the girls. She'd seen the same thing in New York, heck, she did it herself. She reckoned it was probably a defense mechanism; the only way to survive this dog-eat-dog world was to laugh at yourself. Take things too seriously, and you'd end up dead, in all probability.
Two-Bit had finally regained his feet and his bravado.
"Who's up for a game of Never Have I Ever?" He looked directly at Lucy as he said this. "There's some information I'd sure love to weasel out of some of y'all."
Steve raised his eyebrows, then glanced at Evie. "Couldn't hurt."
Pony colored slightly and fidgeted. "Sure, sure...I'll play." His voice was distant, and Steve couldn't help snickering.
"Geez, kid, you better hope you're as innocent as you say you are, or you'll be out cold by the time we finish this."
"Eh, he'll be fine. Pony doesn't keep any secrets from me," Soda said, winking at his brother, who was getting rather unsteadily to his feet.
Evie looped her arm through Lucy's as they migrated to the living room. "You gotta trust, them, Luce," she said quietly, seeming to notice her friend's hesitation.
Lucy shook her head, as if to help clear it. "Right, you're right..." she was feeling a little light-headed. Perhaps she'd drunk more than she'd first thought. It got hard to keep track, after a while. They plopped themselves down on the floor, and the boys arranged themselves after a quick, silent spat over who got the sofa and chair.
"First to 10 fingers...wins," Two-Bit said, a little unsteadily.
Pony frowned. "Don't that usually mean you lose?"
Steve sniggered. "Yeah, when you play with a buncha pansies." He tried to stifle himself when he caught a look but from Soda, but couldn't resist adding, "Look, Kid, if you've done the least, it just goes to show you're the most innocent one here. Not that we really need to dig that out of ya."
Pony's face reddened, but he said nothing. Soda pinched Steve's calf from where he lay on the floor, causing the latter to yelp briefly and yank his leg onto the couch.
"I'll start," Soda said from the floor, folding his arms behind his head.
A/N: I apologize if any of the boys seemed OOC/I was ignoring the girls for a while: I wanted to really portray them as normal teenagers, as accurately as I could. Unfortunately I could not find as much information as I wanted on the typical party games of the 60s, so if something seems too modern, again, my apologies, and just roll with it.