Chapter Nine

"Answers"

June, 1968

"Come on, let's go. We're gonna be late for the best movie in the world!" Two-Bit called.

"I'm coming!"

Two-Bit grinned. "You don't want to miss even a minute of Cary Grant do you? The man's an acting genius! He'll be a legend some day! I swear by it!"

Lucy jogged to him. "Oh, shut up," she chuckled. "Come on, let's go."

The two of them headed out the door. The drive in was showing the movie Father Goose. It had been released in 1964 but it was popular enough that they were doing another showing.

Two-Bit and Lucy had gone when it had first been released and honestly, Two-Bit loved it. He wasn't much of a movie person, he liked to talk and goof off too much. But he had a few that he enjoyed. That was one of them.

The movie was about a sailor, Cary Grant, during World War II who is convinced to live on an island and watch for Japanese plans. Reluctantly, the man begins life on the island until they can find his replacement. Unfortunately for him, instead of getting his replacement he gets a woman, Leslie Caron, in charge of seven young schoolgirls. Grant has to learn to live with them all while constantly butting heads with Caron.

Especially now, Two-Bit thought this movie was a good one for the two of them. It'd definitely be something they could laugh at and relate to. Even without Lucy staying out a lot and them having a rough time, they had the usual sibling trouble. Sometimes she'd yell at him for leaving the toilet lid up or he'd yell at her for not throwing away an empty milk carton.

Two-Bit glanced at his sister as they walked down the road. "So. How was your day?" he asked awkwardly.

She shrugged. "Fine. School's school. It wasn't anything special but it wasn't awful. We're getting out next week. Can't wait. What about you?"

"After school I went straight to work. Fetching coffee all day and filing things sure gets old after a while but it could be worse." He grinned. "Besides, my boss is pretty fun. Plus, the office thinks I'm funny."

Lucy grinned. "If they didn't you'd sure be in trouble. It ain't like you'd shut up."

"I would if I had to," he protested with a laugh.

"I'd love to see that!"

He scuffed her over the head playfully, rolling his eyes. "Punk." She laughed and ducked away.

"This movie's gonna be awesome," Two-Bit said with a grin.

"We know that. We've seen it."

"Yeah, but this time I can relate to Cary Grant. How great is that?"

Lucy laughed loudly. "Oh, that's why you've been so excited! I pretty sure that one girl in the same house in Tulsa doesn't really compare with eight girls on an island with no one to talk to about it."

Two-Bit grinned and shoved her away lightly and playfully. "No. Don't ruin this for me." Lucy laughed and bounced back beside him.

They paid and walked in the theater, something Two-Bit wasn't completely used to doing in all honesty. He was still used to sneaking in with Dallas, even if Dal had been gone for a while now.

They found their seats and Two-Bit glanced around, painfully aware of how many greasers there were that he didn't know and didn't trust. And they all seemed to be eyeing his sister. He caught one guy looking and gave him such a dirty look that they guy looked the other way fairly quickly.

Rolling his eyes, Two-Bit look to the screen as the movie started.

Okay so, like Lucy had said, maybe there were differences. But he sure did find the whole thing easier to relate to than he had a few years ago.

"I am not that bad," Lucy whispered to him at one point, pointing at the screen.

Two-Bit merely lifted his eyebrows and looked down at her with a are you kidding me? look to beat all others. Lucy caught his look and gave him a small, guilty grin. She shrugged her shoulders and muttered, "Okay so I've been bad. But I've never kicked you out of your bed."

"I'll give you that."

She grinned at him then looked back at the movie. Two-Bit grinned at her before turning away himself. It was hard to believe that this of all things was connecting them but he was feeling as close to her as he ever had. The joking and the teasing were just like the good old days.

But a part of him knew that there was no way it'd last. It was just too easy of an ending to be his life. Things didn't get fixed by a movie.

But what the movie did do was show him that things really could be fixed. And that made him feel better than he had in a long time. As the movie ended, Lucy got up and grinned at him. "You counting your lucky stars we're not stranded on an island?"

Two-Bit laughed and hopped to his feet. "A little bit, yeah."

"Your gang couldn't save you there."

"Neither could your friends."

"I think I'd die out there." She grinned cheekily. The two of them loped out of the theater, making their way through the mess of parked cars to get out. He glanced at the bathroom and grabbed her wrist.

"Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom. Stay here, okay?"

"I can handle myself to get out without you," she reminded him. "I'm almost 16."

"Stop holding that over my head. But fine. I'll meet you outside. Don't go wandering off, though. I mean it."

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered as she jogged away. Sighing, he turned and headed for the bathroom. He knew it was ridiculous. She went out by herself all the time, even at night. But there was a huge mix of people here and he wasn't about to pretend he trusted even half of them.

Besides, he knew what it was like here. A lot of drinking and a lot of smarmy guys looking to hook up with someone. It wasn't exactly something he wanted to leave her in alone. But he wasn't going to drag her to the bathroom with him and he did have to learn that she wasn't twelve anymore. She really was growing up, which meant she could handle herself.

Two-Bit walked out of the bathroom and quickly made his way to the road again. He looked around and it didn't take long to find her, although he heard her before he saw her.

"I said, back off. I mean it."

"Come on, Lucy."

"I'm not stupid," she spat.

"Oh, Mathews thinks she's smarter than the rest of us."

Two-Bit finally spotted them and felt his hands turn into fists at his sides. A tall, lanky, particularly shady looking greaser was standing over his sister, a nasty smirk placed on his face. Behind him was another guy and a girl, both laughing cruelly. The lanky guy grabbed Lucy by the wrist as she turned to walk away. No one should touch his sister.

He was there in less than five seconds. He furiously ripped the guy's arm away, grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him against the fence. He glared at him and got right up in his face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he snarled.

The guy's eyes were as wide as they could possibly be and he stammered for a minute. The idiot was obviously trying to come up with some response. Two-Bit pulled him away from the fence just to slam him back against it. "Don't speak to her. Don't even look at her. Get the hell out of here." He tossed the guy away from him. The greaser stumbled for a second in an attempt to find his balance then took off.

Two-Bit turned to Lucy, concern immediately replacing the anger on his face and in his voice. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she muttered, refusing to meet his gaze. "Can we just go home now?"

"Sure…"

She turned on her heel and started down the sidewalk, hands stuffed in her jeans pockets. He caught up to her quickly. "Hey, Luce, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes! I already said that!" she snapped, annoyance and defense ringing through her voice. He cocked an eyebrow, unsure where the attitude came from.

"You don't seem okay."

"Well, I am. You didn't have to save me. I had it covered."

"It sure didn't look like it."

"Yeah, well I did."

As he watched her he tried desperately to figure out what was happening. "What were they talking to you about anyway?"

Even in the dark he could see the color spring to her cheeks. "Nothing, okay? It's fine."

"It didn't sound like nothing. Did they want you to do something?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

He groaned inwardly. This wasn't working. "Lucy, I need you to talk to me. What was that?"

"It's not important!" She whipped around in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. Her brown eyes blazed indignantly as she crossed her arms over her chest tightly. "Okay? For once in your life will you trust me to have made a decent decision? I'm not an idiot. I can take care of myself and if I was involved in anything really bad I would tell you."

Two-Bit crossed his own arms over his chest, still studying her carefully. She read the look and groaned in frustration. Lucy whipped around and stalked down the street again. Groaning himself, he jogged after her. "Are they your friends?" he asked her quickly.

She threw him a dirty look. "I have better taste than that." Her eyes widened a little. "You really don't trust me not to get involved with people like that do you?" Honestly? No, he didn't. That's where most of his concern had been coming from. But he couldn't exactly say that. He thought the question over, trying to come up with a different answer for her.

Before he could come up with a reply, she read into his silence and scoffed in frustration, picking up her pace. "That's typical!" she snarled.

He swore and picked up his pace as well. "Hold on!"

"Why? So you can doubt me some more? No thanks!" She turned and stormed inside their house, letting the door slam in his face behind her. Swearing again, Two-Bit pulled it open and went inside.

"You know when you get cryptic and silent like this-"

"What?" She whirled around to face him.

"That's when I start to doubt who exactly your friends are!"

"Well, they're not scum like that I can tell you that one! Again I say, I ain't stupid!" She went into her room.

"Don't you slam that door!" he hollered just as it slammed shut. Letting out a few choice (well, not that choice) swear words again, Two-Bit glared after her.

The night had gone so well. How had it taken this direction? Was he ever going to get good at this? The answer to that question seemed to be no. He leaned against the wall, running his hands over his face. He was never going to get this right, that was for sure.

Two-Bit rose to his feet and went to her door. "Open up or your ass will be in serious trouble! Do you really want to test me right now?"

The door opened and he found himself facing a very upset teenager.

"I need you to stop pushing me away. We're all we have left."

"Oh, don't give me the speech. Family trust each other."

"Fine, that's true," he consented. "But you have to give me a reason to trust you. All I know is you started hanging gout with these people and you got this attitude! And now with what happened today… Of course I'm concerned."

"Don't be. I'm taking care of it!"

"Well why can't I help?"

"No one can help!" She stared up at him. "I have to do this."

"Why? Can you tell me that?'

"Because you aren't there with those people every day like I am!"

He felt himself freeze as he thought that over, as he did so he noticed Lucy's eyes widen with an emotion it took him a minute or so to place. It was fear. He was definitely about to figure out something she wanted left alone. His conclusion seemed ridiculous, impossible. But he had to ask. "Lucy," he said slowly. "Are you being bullied?"

"No," she said defensively. Too defensively for his taste.

"That's a load."

"I ain't being bullied! I get that you care about me but will you please butt out?" she asked desperately. Before he could answer she shut the door.

He lingered for a few minutes, unsure of what to do. After a few minutes, he knocked lightly on the door. "I'm sorry," he said softly. He wasn't sure what exactly he was saying he was sorry for. But someone needed to say it.

"I'm sorry too," was the quiet reply.

Two-Bit moved to the couch. This would explain a lot. Like why she was so protective of the friends she did have and why she had gotten more defensive about everything recently. He just couldn't figure out why she hadn't talked to him about it.

He slowly picked up the phone and dialed the Curtis' number. He knew it was late but hopefully it wasn't too late to talk. "Hello?" Soda asked from the other end.

"Yeah, it's Two-Bit. Is Darry there?"

"Sure. Hang on, Two-Bit. Darry!" Judging by how loud Soda's response was, no one was in bed.

"Two-Bit?" Darry asked as he picked up the phone.

"Yeah, hey. Listen, I need to talk to you. I think Lucy's being bullied."

Darry was quiet for a minute. "Hey, I'm going to come by so we can talk about it. I'll be there in a minute, all right?"

"You don't have to do that."

"It's fine. You've done it for us." There was a click as Darry hung up.

His "minute" to get there ended up being ten minutes but Two-Bit was grateful to have the conversation in person. He explained the evening's events and everything that had passed between them.

Darry nodded. "So maybe her friends aren't the problem here."

"That's what I'm thinking. Should I ask her about it again?"

"Probably," Darry said slowly. "But watch how you do it. Don't be accusing about it or anything."

"It seems like Lucy reads everything as accusing," Two-Bit sighed.

Darry sighed. "Then there may not be a good way to do this." The two of them were quiet for a few minutes then Darry suggested, "What about just asking more details for her school day once she gets home?"

"I could try it. But I ain't gonna get anywhere."

"Asking outright obviously won't get much either."

He nodded a little. That was a fair point. "So I just keep trying in ways that may not completely piss her off?'

"I don't know if there's much more you can do. You can't force her to talk to you about this."

"I wish I could put something in her drink," Two-Bit muttered. "Seems like that'd be the easiest way."

"Not really the most legal but easy, yeah," Darry agreed. Two-Bit forced a chuckle and Darry said quietly, "She's tough. She can get through whatever this is."

Two-Bit nodded a little. "Thanks."

"Do you want one of us to talk to her?"

"Sending someone to fill in for me? I think that would make it worse." Two-Bit shook his head. "Thanks, though."

"No problem."

Two-Bit sighed to himself and leaned against the couch. He was quickly realizing that there was no easy fix to this. No. This was going to difficult. At least he was finally figuring out what he was dealing with.