Here's a chapter in which we focus in on Curly Shepard a lot. He tells most of this story, but first, we'll catch up on Two-Bit. And I'm going to tell you this for no other reason other than I feel like it, but: my friend and I were watching an Emilio Estevez movie, Young Guns (one of my favorite films) and he was like "Holy sh*t, that guy is short!" so we looked it up online, and Estevez is 5'4! That's like...dwarf! Heck, I'm 18 and I'm 6 feet tall! So in the story, since Estevez plays Two-Bit (you all should know that), I made Mr. Mathews pretty short. Maybe not as short as Estevez himself, but short enough. Sorry I'm blabbering on and on about this. I just felt like telling y'all.
Dally: Hey, Zack! Speaking of Two-Bit...tell him that his blade is really nice.
Me: Do you want me to apologize for you, too? Because I can just as easily do that.
Dally: Apologize? Why would I want to apologize?
Me: Well…because he's been feeling awfully empty without that blade. He gave it to you to borrow, and now you're halfway across the country with it. I mean, at least you could have left it at his house before you ran off.
Dally: I needed a weapon to protect myself. And the blade seemed like the perfect choice for a guy like me.
Me: What about your heater? Couldn't you just use that?
Dally: That's just a toy gun. It ain't loaded.
Me: Well, why don't you load it?
Dally: Too late. Hey, any tips on how to sharpen a switchblade? Your old man gave you one right before he died, didn't he? A ten-incher, like the one I've got.
Me: Yes. How do you know?
Dally: It says it on your profile.
Me: What...why...when...? Dallas, how in the world did you access my profile?
Dally: Again, I have my ways. [high-fives Buck Merril]
-Subway
TWO-BIT'S POV
When Steve left, I sped up my pace to walk next to Darry. He turned around at the notion that someone had followed him, and then broke into a smile once he saw that it was me. I stood up on my tip-toes to kiss him. It was warm and sloppy, just the way I like it. I pulled away. "Damnit, Darrel," I pouted at him, "Can't you squat down or something? I can barely reach you."
I looked at me for a little bit, and then lifted me up. I threw my arms around his neck and wrapped my legs around his waist. "That better?" He asked, smiling. He didn't give me much time to reply anyways, because he kissed me again.
Being with Darry was freaking amazing. We were downright perfect for each other, despite the fact that we were polar opposites. Darry is cold, stoic, and always busy. At the same time, I'm carefree, unemployed, and I have a hella good sense of humor. Maybe I was what he needed. He needs some love in his life, since it's been absent ever since his parents died. I was more than happy to give it to him.
I wasn't all that sure how it started…mine and Darry's relationship, I mean. It just…happened. I woke up next to him, and I didn't really feel hung-over and I knew Darry didn't drink, so I still don't know much about what happened. But we've been with each other tons of times after that and I love it. He's the biggest guy I've ever seen, in more ways than one. He's so gentle, too. You wouldn't expect it because he looks like he can rip a car in half, but it's true. He treats me like I'm some sort of glass; like if he touches me too hard, I'll shatter. And lucky he isn't very rough will me, because that guy is so huge he'd probably hit my prostate like a golf ball and whack it right out of my mouth. I guess that I'm quite the opposite in that sense. I'm forceful and awfully noisy, and I tend to make animal-type growls when I'm doing it. The one time he let me be on top, he let me do my business for only a little while before pulling me out of him and finishing the job himself. I got mad at him and I would have yelled if I weren't screaming his name in pleasure like I usually did. It makes me laugh, because whenever I do that, Darry freaks out and puts his hand over my mouth and tells me to shut up before Pony or Sodapop hear us.
I love being with Darry. It's downright amazing. I'm cocksure that I'm in love with him, but I'm not about to tell him because I knew that he would freak out. So I took it slow. And I'm sure that it's better that way.
He peeled me off of him but was still kissing me, and then picked me up and held me bridal style in his arms. While doing this, he managed to keep his sweet tongue in my mouth the entire time. I was thrilled that there wasn't anybody around us, as they would have freaked out. Hell, even if there were people around, I still wanted him to kiss me. If they commented, I'd just give them the finger.
I pulled away from him and smiled into his granite, blue-green eyes. I chuckled inwardly, "You're such a damn show-off."
CURLY'S POV
There weren't a lot of people in the mall, since it had just opened, but the people that were there didn't like us Greasers. They kept giving us funny looks, like we were aliens or something, and that really bothered me. The people there all dressed, smelled, and looked like Socs. I tried to ignore the you're-a-delinquent-and-I-don't-like-you looks and just kept calm by talking to Pony.
"Where did you get the blade from?" I asked Pony as we took ours out and examined them. That really didn't help the Socy people's opinions of us.
Pony took a long glance at his and then put it away. "Johnny Cade gave it to me. In a note he wrote to me, just before he died," he said slowly, his hand still grasped around the switch in his pocket. He looked pained to talk about it.
I wasn't good at consoling, so I didn't attempt it. Instead, I said something stupid, as usual. "It's a nice one," I commented, and nearly wanted to kick myself. That was so dumb of a thing to say. Of course, Ponyboy didn't even reply.
I sighed and put my blade away as well. Congratulations, Curly Shepard, you just fucked up another conversation with the guy that you like. That guy being most gorgeous boy with the most beautiful eyes in the whole world. You're a real winner, Curly Shepard. Your sex magnet of a brother would be very proud, you inexperienced, lackluster virgin.
Curtis was looking at me, like he was examining me. I didn't look at his face to see if he were angry or not, but I was thinking over and over again in my head that Curtis was trying to pick a fight with me. I told myself that Pony wouldn't do anything like that to me, but I could sense some sort of mysterious tension in the air and I couldn't help it but to think about that. I gulped, seeing as, after a long while Pony was still looking at me. I pretended not to notice, but I couldn't help it.
I turned, and our eyes met. His beautiful, faded green gems, and my icy blue, daunting balls of fire. His eyes were absolutely amazing compared to mine. My eyes were like Frank Sinatra would be if he were to go on a cold-blooded serial killing spree. Ponyboy's were like rolling green meadows that were dusted with snow. I hated to see the pained look in those eyes, especially since I caused it. I frowned. "I'm sorry," I said, pretty embarrassed. "I didn't know!"
"No," he said, smiling calmly, and the hurt look was gone in those fanatical eyes. "I ain't upset with you."
I was relieved that he wasn't angry, but still pretty damn confused. "Well then…why are you looking at me like that?"
He smiled, showing his teeth now. He shrugged. "I can't help it." His cheeks were pink.
Before I could ask him what in the world he meant by that (I didn't know), we spotted the rest of the gang and Sodapop frantically motioned for us to come over. Worried that something was wrong, we ran over there.
When we reached them, I saw Two-Bit wasn't there, and Darry and Steve and Soda and Tim were paying attention to something in the distance. "Uh, where's Mathews?" I asked, looking at Tim, who had a blazing fire in his eyes, angrier than normal. In the same moment, I searched for the cause of this, and saw Steve and Soda, hand-in-hand. I gulped.
Nobody had any time to reply because Two-Bit came over by us and spoke frantically, "Those dudes over there, they own a bar and they say Dally was over there last night and he said he was going to Chicago," Mathews paused. "Do you think that's true?"
"Yeah," Pony said, remembering something. "That's where his mom lives. She moved there after she divorced her dad."
Without any objections or second guesses, we were in the car, off to Chi-town.
The very second we reached the crowded city of Chicago, we were running on our last drops of gas. Darrrel was trying to run it as dry as possible so we wouldn't waste any money. It had to have been around nine by then. We ended up pulling to a DX, of course. This one was better-looking than Steve and Soda's, probably because of the new paint job. As Darry pumped the gas, Pony and I went inside to get something to drink.
"This city is huge," I pointed out to Ponyboy as we paid for the drinks. "We're never going to find Dally in this place."
"Come on, Curly," he countered me even though he knew I was right. "We'll find him. Just keep on keepin' on. We got to find him…we just gotta!"
"I know Dallas Winston, and he is a master of disguise like no other. Even if we do end up finding him, it's going to take a while. Like…days, even."
"Dallas Winston?" The cashier interrupted, "You two know him?" The cashier was probably in his forties, and he was short and square-faced man with the same eye and hair color that I had. His eyes were big and glowing like a little kid's would be, but they had this rigid determination in them that was utterly familiar. His name tag read "John" in black, capital letters, and his green DX shirt was just tight enough so I could see his huge, built arms.
Pony and I stared at him for a little bit until I mustered up the confidence to reply. "Why? Do you know him?"
He nodded quickly.
"What's your name?" I asked him, looking him over.
"John," he said eagerly, "John Shepard. I've lived in Chicago for about seventeen years and I know this town inside and out."
I stared at him. He couldn't be who I thought he was…could he? "Do you know…Cynthia Shepard?" I asked him nervously.
He turned a light shade of pink. "I…uh…used to. Why, do you know her?" After I nodded, he got frantic and slightly nervous, "Does she talk about me? Did she ask for me?"
My heart sunk. "Um, Mr. Shepard, she's my mom."
A genuine fear spread across his face and he looked me over. After a few long seconds of this, he whispered nervously, almost to quiet for me to hear, "Z-…Zachary?"
I looked at my feet. "Hi, dad." I haven't seen my dad since I was little and I vaguely remembered him. He ran off right after Angela was born, and I haven't seen him since. Now he was here, working at a gas station in downtown Chicago. Just as I expected.
"Oh, Zachary, I can…explain…"
I looked at him coldly. "People call me Curly." I paused and then I him the 'go ahead' look.
"I left you and your mother because I wanted to become a doctor. I couldn't pay for both school and my family so I…chose what would help me in the long run," John seemed uncomfortable talking about it, like he regretted it almost. "I couldn't make enough money to provide for myself once I got here in Chicago so I joined a local gang. I've become one of the most respected members, maybe because I'm an old man, I don't know. I know it's wrong, but I have no other choice."
"Well I'm in a gang, too. In Tulsa." As I explained this to him, John looked amazed. "Tim is the leader. I don't think it's wrong. I think it's utterly amazing and it's the only family that I've got." I paused as he took this in. "That doctor thing didn't work out for you much, did it?"
"No. It was, of course, the wrong decision, because I still love you, Angela, Tim, and your mother. I think about you guys every day. How big of a mistake I've made. I'm sorry."
I saw Pony looking at me, as if he wanted to scream, 'forgive him!' but he didn't. And I didn't forgive my dad, or at least not verbally. I blinked. "You know where Dallas Winston is, Dad?" Shoot, I just called him dad. No turning back now. My fake anger was officially over.
John held back a smile. "I do. I…was just recruiting a young kid for the gang, and we used Mr. Winston as bait. It was a… bad idea. The kid got as far as stealing his wallet, and then Dallas took it out on him and bolted. I saw him go right down the street, into the Cubby Bear. Just five minutes ago."
"Thanks. Goodbye." I turned around, making sure to grab the Cokes, and made my way to the door confidently.
"Hey," my Dad called from behind me. I turned to see what he wanted. "I love you. And tell your mother that, too." I nodded and went to the car, Pony following close behind.
I tried not to think about what had just happened. We had more important things to take care of. "Dally's at the Cubby Bear down the street," I told Tim as I sit in the seat next to him. "Right now."
Thankfully not asking any questions, Tim started the car, and we only drove for twenty seconds until we reached the facility. The parking spaces we all filled so we parked on the side of the road. We got inside and we could barely move without getting bumped into or shoved around. It was very uncomfortable at the stench burned at my nose, but it looked like Dally's kind of place.
Two-Bit swore, obviously intimidated by the crowd of people. "Y'all are sure Dally's in here?" After realizing nobody was going to reply, Two-Bit continued, "Where should we start?" I gave him a dirty look, as if to say, 'don't even think about it.' If he mentioned one thing that had to remotely do with beer, I was going to kill him. I think Two-Bit noticed, because he shut up.
"Well, I think we should ask somebody," suggested Soda calmly.
The five of us walked up to the bartender, who was currently filling a glass with beer from the tap, and Steve asked him slowly, "Excuse me, sir, have you seen a guy with whitish-blonde hair, blue eyes…um, he's about this tall-" Steve held a hand over his own head for an example, "-and he has a New York accent?"
The bartender stared at us, and then replied. "Sorry; we don't give out information to…" he looked us over with a disgusted look on his face, "…non-locals." The way he looked at us made me want to slit his throat. Most of us were good people underneath all of this grease. We couldn't help it if a reputation and a blade was the one thing that protected us in our own territory.
Steve stared at him dumbly, but, with his facial expression tried to remain at least a little bit tough. "Um…" he couldn't grasp the right words to say. There he goes again: snapping under the pressure.
Soda stepped in, not enjoying seeing the worry in Steve's eyes. "Come on, man, we need to know if he was here or not."
"Did you not hear him?" A voice said from behind us. We turned around to see another drunk there with his gang. His lips were puckered as if he were in a bad mood. He had a strong jaw line with a short, stubble beard growing on the edges. He had chubby cheeks and red-rimmed glasses, and his light brown eyes were squinted behind them. He had greased, jet black hair that was flowing in a mixture of curls and spikes; a style that I've never seen before. He was my height and he had wide shoulders with square hips and muscles, but not as much as Darry.
When we all turned to look at him, he looked us over and realized how out-of-place we were. "You all don't belong here. This is our territory. You're far out of yours." He turned and spoke to a tuff-looking, seasoned blonde guy behind him, "Look at these guys. They're half a gang, if you ask me. They don't even look the part." He smiled – he had perfect, white teeth – but the smirk had a hint of wickedness weaved into it. Maybe we didn't look like a gang because we weren't one. Tim and I were part of a separate outfit than the rest of them.
I stared at him as threateningly as I possibly could, but Darry was the one who spoke. "Leave us alone, kid. And mind your own business." Darry seemed ticked off by this guy. I didn't blame him; the guy seemed like one that wasn't Darry's type.
"Oh!" the guy exclaimed sarcastically, "I guess I didn't get to introduce myself! I'm Andrew Garcia, and I've pleasured every woman within 25 miles of the floor you are currently standing on, because I own this city. Oh, by the way; who in God's name do you think you are, to talk to me like that?" He was talking to Darry now. Andrew spat out the words like venom.
Tim stepped in, and got majorly defensive. "Buddy, just stand clear of my gang or I swear to you, I'll give you a thorough beating for it." It shook me up pretty badly that Tim referred to all of us as his gang. We weren't in the same gang, did Tim forget that? I thought for a moment that he may have been submitting to just me, but Tim was standing partially in front of Sodapop, who looked a little bit more comfortable with my brother as his bodyguard. "I'll take those faggy glasses off of your huge head and shove them up your head, you hear me?"
I smiled, half amused in Tim's warning and half interested in the intimidated look on Andrew's face. My brother was bigger than him. But Andrew seemed smart: he should know better than to mess with a guy like Tim Shepard. Andrew tried to keep his cool. "Well, whatever," he stammered. "Just get the hell out of here. You're officially on my nerves now. Get out before I slash your throats."
"Leave us the hell alone, our business ain't yours."
Alcohol on his breath, Andrew stepped forward, looking wild-eyed and in fighting stance with his fists clenched. "You looking for a fight?"
I slid my hand down to my switchblade as I watched Andrew reach down into his pocket, probably for his. I did not want to get into another fight like we did back in Topeka, and especially if we were on the wrong side of it. I saw Pony uncharacteristically getting up in another guys face, also looking for a fight. Pity Tim; if Ponyboy got hurt, I knew that I was going to take some responsibility for it. Seeing Pony go all tough guy, I got this weird feeling that I was being a bad influence on Pony, which was quite the opposite of what I had intended to do on the trip (I wanted his knowledge to rub off on me some). So I knew that if Pony got hurt, it would be my fault. Although Pony was much more smarter than I was, I suddenly felt this weird need to take care of him as if he were my kid. I couldn't stand him getting hurt.
Worrying so hard, I completely zoned out the words exchanged between Andrew and Tim. I looked up, and everyone was now on the wrong end of a fist. I leaped into action, flipping out my blade and running towards the nearest enemy, just like I'd been told. But before I could reach the kid, something heavy hit me across the head and the world around me faded to black.
Damn Curly acting on impulse again…he's getting himself hurt. Why does my favorite character always have to do shit like that? I'm going to need to have a word with the original author…XD
And yes, the character "Andrew" is directly based off of the contestant from this past season of American Idol. I just thought he would fit the description well. And since I'm not smart enough to come up with an original name, I just used his.
Dally: Woah! Zack! Hold on! What happened?
Me: Dally, you're supposed to talk at the beginning, not the ending. Anyways…Curly got knocked out. Couldn't you tell?
Dally: No, I ain't asking about Curly! Screw him! I'm talking about the two oversized lovebirds. Since when are Two-Bit and Darry with each other?
Me: Um…since a while. I just left it out of the story.
Dally: That ain't fair. This is America! We have a right to know when Darrel Curtis is dating Two-Bit Mathews!
Me: Uh…yeah, and I have a right to keep it from you guys and then pull it out to surprise you.
Dally: Well…it was quite a bombshell. I was really blown away. Damn.
Me: Thanks, Dally! You're a great reviewer.
Dally: That wasn't meant to be a compliment.
Me: Yes it was. Thank you, Dal.
Dally: [gives me middle finger]
TheNightimeSky: If I were "really fucking pissed off with you" I'm pretty sure you would have known. Texas boys have a hella hard time controlling their tempers! XD All the same, I think I should point it out to you now that you are the very first person I've ever known to have Steve as your favorite character. Hats off to you, buddy!
spicygurl: Your self-called "babbling" is the best part of the review! It always makes my day. So when you find yourself going on about nothing, keep going on! I love it! XD Oh, and the fact that the previous chapter got you "misty-eyed" made me want to put on a party hat and do a dance. No offence to your misery, but I was happy about that! Yey for me!
TheNightimeSky AND spicygurl: I thought it was super hilarious that BOTH of you commented on how sexy I made Steve look! XD That really made me crack up. Girls will be girls, huh?
-Subway
