Chapter 8: The Must-See Drive-In
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A/N: This chapter is a little bit soapy. I think it works, natch, since I'm posting it, but if you don't agree, please don't hesitate to tell me!
No nod to the novel this time, but a little tongue-in-cheek humour about Susie's, er, let's call it an "archetype". Alright, "stereotype".
Disclaimer: S.E. Hinton wrote and owns "The Outsiders" and anything associated with it. I make no monies.
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"You look different."
I looked sideways at Two-Bit, but he was staring determinedly at the road ahead. He and Steve had brought their cars around to Sylvia's and we had all of us piled into the two cars on our way down to a drive-in called The Nightly Double.
"You think I look bad?" I asked tentatively.
Two-Bit shook his head, still stubbornly refusing to look at me. "Didn't say that. You just look different."
"You don't like it."
"Don't listen to him," Dallas hollered from the backseat. "You look damn fine like that."
Sylvia giggled. "Not as good as me, I hope."
Dallas didn't respond, but there was a good deal of rustling and more giggling. I didn't have to look behind me to know what was going on.
Two-Bit made a sharp turn, and I heard a dull thud as Dallas went crashing across the backseat into the car door.
"Jesus," Dally cursed. "Take it easy, willya, Two-Bit?"
"Why don't you sit in your own damn seat then, Dallas," Two-Bit said quietly.
Dally leaned forward, draping his arms across the front seat. "Cuz I like hers better." He took a swig from a bottle he was holding wrapped in a paper bag, and then shook it at me. "You want?"
"Sure," I said timidly, and earned myself a smirk from him.
"Good for you, kid," he said, as I took a sip. It burned all the way down, but it wasn't a terrible feeling.
Two-Bit shook his head. "Look at you, drinking shit outta a paper bag. A week ago you wouldn't even touch a beer at Buck's."
"I learn fast," I said, and took another sip. Dallas laughed appreciatively and I felt another kind of warmth burning in my stomach.
Two-Bit grunted. "Give it here." He took a swig and passed it back to Dallas.
"You know," Dally said, musingly. "You really oughtta dress like that more often, Susie. Makes you look tuff."
I gave him my best smile. His face was lightly flushed, and he was certainly more friendly than usual. I was sure he was at least a little bit drunk already. But I appreciated his attention all the same, even if he was looking at me in an un-gentlemanly manner.
Sylvia leaned forward as well, and plucked at my shirt. "You like it, Dal?" As if a compliment to me was really one to her.
Dallas grinned. "She looks almost as good as you do."
Sylvia slapped his arm, and they disappeared again.
"See, they think I look good," I said to Two-Bit.
Two-Bit laughed. "Dallas ain't well known for his taste in skirts."
"I prefer my girls without 'em," Dallas agreed.
I laughed along with Sylvia and Two-Bit, although I didn't really find it funny. I was quiet the rest of the way, trying to digest the insult Two-Bit has thrown at me so casually. I wondered if he'd really meant it.
Dallas and Two-Bit paid our way into the drive-in, though I offered the cash I had. Momma always told me not to depend on the kindness of men – they too often wanted too high a return payment. I figured I was safe with the boys I was with though.
We had a time trying to get past the entrance booth. Dallas was hiding the bottle of booze between his legs, and Sylvia kept breaking out into peals of laughter over it. Dallas would shush her, alternately scowling and swearing and trying to look innocent. If I'd been the attendant I would have been plenty suspicious, too.
When we finally did get in, we pulled up next to Steve's car at the parking lot. Neither Steve and Evie, nor Soda and Sandy showed any inclination towards watching the movie on the big screen. Sandy was deep in conversation with Soda – about what, I couldn't imagine. Evie and Steve were a dark mass in the backseat that I didn't so much care to look at.
"Hey, Two-Bit, hey girls," Sandy called to us, giving a tiny girlish wave.
"Where the fuck is my 'hello'?" Dally yelled. Sylvia laughed and gave him a shove. Now that I could turn around and see them, I was sure she'd managed to get a little drunk as well on the car-ride.
Sandy looked at him warily. "Hello, Dallas."
Dallas sat up straight and, in a formal tone that made him almost unrecognizable, said, "Hello, Sandra."
Sylvia burst out laughing.
I looked at her in surprise. I couldn't imagine what on earth was so funny. Dallas was looking at her, too, and when he looked away, his gaze met mine. He smiled at me and gave a tiny half-shrug, and my heart began to pound.
"Crazy broad, always laughing at nothing," he said affectionately. He pulled Sylvia in towards him, but he was still looking at me.
"Oh, come on now," Sylvia snapped. She stopped laughing suddenly and pushed him away, sitting upright. "You can't insult me and expect me to press up against you like that. I ain't crazy."
Dally smirked, and leaned in towards her. "You're a little crazy."
Sylvia pushed him away again and turned towards the window.
There was a short pause, and then Dallas shrugged. "Suit yourself."
It didn't take him hardly two seconds to be out the door and gone.
Sylvia stared after him, breathing hard. I looked away. I couldn't fool myself – I was a little happy to see them fight. But I felt awful bad for Sylvia at the same time.
"Christ, he's gone already? He's getting faster," Steve drawled, coming up for air and noticing Dallas had left.
"I always heard Dallas was quick on the draw."
Sylvia had been pouting, her hands clenched into fists at her side, but she relaxed again in an instant, putting a saucy smile on her lips. "Well, if it isn't the devil himself."
I looked up and there was James Dean. Although, up close, I had to admit, he looked quite a bit different. He had a long scar down the side of his face, and a cunning look about him that was all his own. All the same, I felt a thrill like I was sitting next to a movie star. He slouched just the same as Jimmy Dean.
"Girl like you shouldn't be sitting all alone," he drawled.
"Without even a coke to keep me company," Sylvia replied, fluttering her eyelashes.
"I can fix that."
And just like that, she was gone, too.
"Good grief," Two-Bit groaned. He looked at me and smiled a little. "You see what I mean? You ain't cut out for being like that. You ain't got enough crazy in you. Don't know why you'd even want to try."
Sodapop suddenly leaned in the open window on Two-Bit's side, before I could reply. "What's up with you kids?"
I shrugged. "Nothing."
Soda looked at Two-Bit then back at me and raised his eyebrows.
"Look, I'm sorry," Two-Bit said suddenly. "I just liked you the way you were. I didn't think you needed to go changing yourself for nobody else's reasons. Least of all to impress the person I think you're trying to impress, who, if I you'll excuse me for saying, ain't done nothing to make him deserving to kiss your feet much less nothing else."
I was speechless. I hadn't seen him looking so serious, almost aggravated. It made me so mad, him thinking he had the right to say something like that.
Soda looked surprised. "Ain't happy with your company, Two-Bit?"
Two-Bit shifted uncomfortably. "No. It ain't like that."
Soda grinned. "Oh, I know it ain't like that." He winked at me. "Believe you me, Susie, he may talk like he don't appreciate that skirt on you, but he do."
"Oh, hell," Two-Bit said, turning red. "I didn't mean-"
"What do you think?" I asked, looking at Sodapop. "You hate this on me, too?"
He rubbed his head, looking embarrassed. "Well, Susie, it ain't exactly the kind of thing you've been wearing for the past week. You sure don't look comfortable. You do look awful pretty though."
"Thank you," I said triumphantly.
Sandy's face appeared over her shoulder. "You looked plenty pretty before, too." She smiled mischievously at Two-Bit. "Didn't you think she looked pretty before, Two-Bit?"
"She looked pretty," he mumbled. "More pretty than she does now."
"What do you care?" I said defensively. "You're the one who always insists on swearing and dirty-talking in front of me. You ain't treated me like a lady, so why worry if I dress like one?"
Two-Bit looked surprised. "Well, hell, I didn't know it bothered you."
"It didn't. And I can't see why me dressing like this oughtta bother you."
Two-Bit gave me another once over. "Well, it don't if it's really what you want. But Susie … I mean, maybe you ain't no stuck-up lady, but you ain't exactly tough like them other girls."
I glared at him. I couldn't see how it was his place to try and judge me. "Well, where am I then, since you're so opinionated."
"You know the score, but you know how to be soft like a girl, too. You're tough enough where it counts but you ain't …" he cast a look at the backseat where Sylvia had been, "… prickly."
I shook my head. He was just making me madder. "I thought you asked me here because you're my friend, not to insult you."
"You thought I asked you here because I'm you're friend," he repeated. He sighed, looking frustrated. "That's what you thought, huh? Well, as your friend shouldn't I warn you when you're looking foolish? You surprised me, Susie."
"Two-Bit," Soda started, but I didn't need his help.
"Well, excuse me for not living up to your expectations. I knew you were rough, but you've always been a gentleman before now. You surprised me, too."
And it surprised me how much his low opinion hurt.
I opened the door to his car with some difficulty and climbed out. I didn't have nowhere else to go, and I couldn't find my way back home to the Curtises' from there. I resolved to just to take a walk around and cool down a little.
I made my way to the concession stand. There was a long line of kids outside, and I was conscious of several of them looking at me. I tugged at the skirt, trying to make it a little longer, and tried not to think about how uncomfortable I was in Sylvia's clothes. I didn't want to think that Two-Bit might be right.
"Well, now, I know you're a lady, and a real lady can't be waiting by her lonesome just to pay for her own popcorn."
I sighed and turned away. I didn't think he'd follow so quickly.
"Well, Miss Susie? If I apologize, will you allow me to buy you an ice-cream?" Two-Bit poked me gently in the arm.
I shook my head and said nothing. I heard him sigh.
"Oh, heck, it just don't remind me of you," Two-Bit said. "Dressing like this, drinking," he gave me a furtive look, "flirting with Dallas. All that don't seem like you."
I folded my arms across my chest. "Well, maybe you don't know me all that well."
"Maybe." Two-Bit fiddled with his shirt, not looking at me. "Didn't mean to make you upset."
We stood in silence for awhile, inching closer to the popcorn machine.
"How come you like him so much?" he asked finally.
"Who?"
"Aw, you know who." He grinned at me, and I felt my ill-humour slip away. There was just something about his smile that made everyone else want to smile, too. "The gentleman in the backseat with the excellent manners and love of seatbelts. Now, I know you don't like him cuz he's the strong, dark, silent type."
"I don't like him."
"Sure you do." Two-Bit dug the toe of his tennis shoe absently into the gravel. "I reckon that's why you're acting all strange."
I pulled at the skirt again, trying to make it look longer. I didn't want to admit it, but I couldn't lie to him either, so I said nothing.
"Is it cuz he's such a sweet-talker?"
I bit my lip. He was going to make me laugh in spite of myself.
"Or cuz he's such a snappy dresser?" Two-Bit snapped his fingers suddenly. "Ah, I know, it's his poetry. Gets all the girls. He's got this one about a girl from Nantucket …"
I burst out laughing.
"Hey now," Two-Bit protested. "Don't you go laughing when he recites it. You'll hurt his delicate sensibilities."
I'm sure the others in line thought the pair of us were crazy the way we were laughing, but it was the best I'd felt all night.
"It's alright, you know," Two-Bit said casually when we'd calmed down. "All the girls like Dallas."
"Really?"
"Well, no, I was lying. Mostly they don't like him, but he'd like to think they do."
"Let's pretend, then."
"Alright," he agreed. "Well, there are these masses of girls that adore him, nay, love him, all of 'em beautiful, young, long-haired blondes with sharp tongues and mysterious eyes. He could bed 'em with a simple come-hither look, which, unfortunately for him, he don't know how to do. But should he figure it out, there'd be a happy couple of seconds in it for him and these masses of imaginary, non-existent, unreal, make-believe girls. He's a lucky man, Dallas."
I rolled my eyes, but as usual, I couldn't help giggling.
"And all of 'em wear the same clothes and talk and act the same way trying to get his attention. Generally that way isn't so much in their real nature, but more, as the French say, trash-ay." Two-Bit leaned close, confidentially. "But the kicker is, they all try and act that way trying to be like a girlfriend he treats like shit."
I was quiet a minute. I knew between the jokes he was talking about me, and in spite of his humour, there was a lot of truth to what he was saying.
"Not that she don't treat him the same, but I reckon you deserve something better."
"He's not all bad," I said softly. I looked at Two-Bit quickly. I couldn't quite place the reason why, but I felt guilty all of a sudden. I had to explain.
"When we was kids," I started, feeling my cheeks warm, "we used to spend the whole summer running around all the time getting into trouble. It was mostly me and Sodapop, but sometimes he would be there, too." I couldn't bring myself to say Dallas' name.
"I reckon you got into worse trouble during those times," Two-Bit said wryly.
"It was always more fun though. This one time," I took a breath, "the summer before he left Tulsa, it was just him and me, and we were eating popsicles we'd snuck outta Momma's freezer. That as good as made us best friends in those days. He told me he was gonna have to leave, and this was the last I'd see of him, and that it was my duty as the girl to give him a proper goodbye."
"Weasely shit. Even at that age."
"Well, he did ask nicely."
"Lemme guess. He said: "Do you wanna?""
I laughed. "Something like that." I fiddled with edge of Sylvia's blouse. "Anyway, it was just a tiny kiss, and honestly, I was as curious as him." I sighed. "I know it's dumb, I know we was just kids, and neither of us knew what on earth we was doing except that we'd seen a grown-up do it before. But that's how I remembered him and when I saw him again, well … we ain't kids no more. I know it's dumb," I repeated.
"It ain't dumb," Two-Bit said quietly. "If you like him, you like him."
"And you see, he ain't all bad."
"No," Two-Bit said grudgingly. "He ain't. I mean, he's my buddy." He stared away into the distance, lost in thought, and then gave a long sigh. "Yeah, I guess he's my buddy."
We didn't say anymore until we'd gotten popcorn, but he stopped me as we were walking back to the car.
"Listen," he said seriously. "You ain't gonna get nowhere with Dallas acting like Sylvia. She's got that down easy, but it don't help her none. He ain't a gentleman by nature, and I don't reckon he'll change, but if I were to give him the benefit of the doubt … shit, well, I wouldn't, let's just leave it at that. And if you're really a lady, which I'm afraid I think you are, you'll at least wait until they're broken up again before you go trying to show him all the reasons why you're a better catch. I promise if you're staying through the next week even, you'll get plenty of chances."
I smiled. "You're giving me dating advice, now?"
He sighed, shoving his fists into his jacket. "Yeah. Well, that's what friends are for."
