The Passed Out Girl and the Knocked Out Drunk
A.N- Thank you for all the reviews and suggestions. I appreciate it all :)
Lily had passed out cold by the time Steve showed up with Two-Bit. They were in the Curtis truck and Two-Bit looked a little worse for wear.
"What'd you do to her, Curtis? Slug her a good one?" Two-Bit almost fell out of the truck and Soda looked down in concern at the sleeping girl on his shoulder. He needn't have bothered. She hadn't stirred even slightly.
"She's had a little too much to drink. Surely you can sympathize, Mathews."
Steve looked less than happy to see Lily under his arm.
"You remember who her brother is, right?" He slammed the driver door and went round to the truck bed for the tow rope.
"Give it a rest, Stevie. Two-Bit, open that door." Soda stood up and lifted Lily into his arms. She was lighter than he expected, lighter than Sandy even. Sandy. Somehow it seemed like things had changed in the last hour. Almost like he'd changed. And it wasn't the impulsive kiss that he'd shared with Lily but what she'd said that had stuck in his mind.
'If he can do that to me knowing I would never do it to him, then he's an ass who doesn't deserve me.'- She'd been talking about her ex but it just as easily applied to Sandy. His brothers and his buddies had been telling him the same thing for months, but they were biased toward him and they didn't know what it felt like. Well, Lily wasn't trying to make him feel better and she certainly knew what it felt like. It was hard not to see the truth in her words.
"You love a damsel in distress, don't cha, Soda?" Two-Bit opened the door and moved back so Soda could slide Lily onto the seat. Even with her hair all messed up, she was pretty. Not breathtakingly beautiful like Sandy was, but she seemed to get prettier the more he got to know her.
Even without looking, he could feel Steve give Two-Bit a warning look from the rear of the truck.
"Her car broke down. She was upset, and drunk. What was I supposed to do?" Soda didn't mention that she'd gotten drunk in front of him.
"Call your old friend Two-Bit to pick her up." Two-Bit winked. "She's blonde. You know I get dibs."
"Well, somebody beat ya to it with Sandy and I ain't talking about me."
There was a stunned silence, and Soda smirked at his two friends.
"Glory, lighten up fellas. It was a joke."
"A joke?" Steve actually put down the tow rope and came round to where he and Two-Bit were standing.
"Yeah. I talk, you laugh- you know the drill." Even to his own ears he was starting to sound like Lily.
Steve and Two-Bit were still staring at him.
"Maybe you and her hanging out ain't such a bad thing," Steve said, nodding towards the sleeping Lily. Soda suppressed a smile. It felt good to surprise Mr Know-It-All, and he felt lighter than he had in a long while.
"C'mon, let's get the car hooked up. It's freezing out here."
Between the two of them, it didn't take long. Two-Bit stood making wisecracks about what would happen if the cops stopped them and found an unconscious girl in the truck.
"You're gonna have to get in with Steve," Soda told him. Lily had sprawled out across two seats in the truck and he didn't want to inflict Two-Bit on anyone coming to from a drinking session.
"Christ, this car's in worse shape than Mathews," Steve complained to Soda. "We're definitely gonna get stopped if the cops pass us. Have you been drinking?"
Soda shook his head and Steve stepped closer to him and breathed in sharply.
"It sure smells like it. What'd she do? Splash it on your shirt front?"
Soda suddenly realised then why it was he smelt of Bourbon. Steve must have realised at the same time.
"Glory, Soda, you fooled around with her? In that state?"
Soda shrugged. A little part of him felt like a jerk for it but it was just a kiss. And she'd asked him to. It wasn't like Lily Parker was the fragile type.
"We only made out. Quit lecturing me, Randle."
Steve was shaking his head.
"What are you gonna do with her now? And where are we taking the car?"
"We can take the car to my place. I'll drop you guys off and take her home."
"Take her home?" Steve looked like he was going to have a coronary. "What do you think her big brother is gonna have to say if you show up with her like that?"
Soda hadn't really thought it through, but he could see Steve had a point.
"I gotta take her home," he said. "They might freak out if she doesn't show up. I'll try and wake her when we get close."
"Well, you ain't going there by yourself. Glory, Soda, you're supposed to be staying out of trouble!"
"Is it me or is he starting to sound like Darry?" Two-Bit was tugging unsuccessfully on the Chevy's driver door. "Is this locked, Sodapop?"
"Jammed," Soda explained. "I haven't had a chance to take a look at it yet."
Steve thrust the truck keys into Soda's hands and went round to the passenger door of the Chevy. Two-Bit was trying to light a cigarette with a book of matches but the wind kept blowing them out. He fumbled with the book a little before they slipped out of his grasp.
Inside the car, Steve was trying in vain to loosen the driver door. He thumped it a few times but to no avail. After a few seconds, he sat down sideways on the passenger seat and kicked the driver door with all his might. It was round about then that Two-Bit bent down to retrieve his matches.
The door flew open and cracked Two-Bit hard on the top of his head. As if in slow motion, he was thrown backwards onto the sidewalk where he cracked his head a second time before falling motionless.
"Jesus, Steve!" Soda stared, wide eyed. "Now look what you've done!"
Steve lay across the seats, gaping out at Two-Bit's still form. He suddenly snapped out of it.
"Me? If it wasn't for you we wouldn't even be here!"
Soda knelt down by Two-Bit's side and shook him gently.
"Two-Bit? Buddy? Can you hear me?" He looked Two-Bit over for any sign of bleeding but apart from a nasty bump near his hairline, there was no other evidence of injury. Still though, he remained motionless.
Steve was out of the car now, crouching on Two-Bit's other side, his face ashen.
"Is he okay? Do you think we-killed him?"
"We?" Soda hissed at him. He looked back down at his friend, feeling a twisting feeling in his stomach. Two-Bit had been drinking and that coupled with a knock on the head didn't bode well. He angled his head sideways in line with Two-Bit's chest and was relieved to see it rise and fall. "He's still breathing, he ain't dead. But maybe we should call an ambulance."
"Oh, great idea. The passed out girl and the knocked out drunk can easy be explained." Steve snapped.
Soda gave his friend a look before he reached out and touched Two-Bit's cold cheek.
"Come on, Two-Bit. Wake up, would ya?"
And as if on command, Two-Bit opened his eyes.
"Fancy meeting you two here," he drawled. His face was white but it was the same goofy smile on his lips. Soda and Steve exhaled in unison.
"What happened?" Two-Bit tried to lift his head then groaned dizzily.
"Wonder boy knocked you out with the car door," Soda told him. "C'mon, let's get you up."
Between them, they managed to get Two-Bit into the passenger seat of the Chevy.
"Let's drop the chick off first," Steve said. "At least have some back up if big brother turns nasty."
Soda sighed and pointed at Two-Bit who was slumped in the front seat.
"We can't be dragging him all over town. Let's take him home or something, he looks terrible."
Steve cast a long look at Two-Bit who was singing softly to himself with his eyes closed.
"I dunno who's got it worse. You facing Ronnie Parker or me listening to him sing all the way home."
Soda laughed softly and patted his friend on the arm.
"Oh, you've got it worse, Stevie, definitely you."
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The Mathews place was their first stop. Steve and Soda half dragged, half carried him to the porch, where they leaned him precariously against the screen door.
They'd performed this task so many times it was almost routine. The trick was to make Mrs Mathews aware that her son was home, but not be the one caught delivering him there drunk. As Soda and Steve both gently removed their hands from Two-Bit's upper arms, they gave each other a knowing look before Steve rapped hard on the door and they both high tailed it out of there.
They were parked some way up the street but they both ducked behind the front hedge to make sure that somebody came to the door before they abandoned him. The noise of the door swinging open and the notable thud of Two-Bit hitting the hallway floor made them both grin.
"Keith Mathews!" They heard his mother exclaim.
"C'mon, before she comes out here," Soda whispered to Steve. The two of them exchanged grins and ran back in the direction of the truck.
Their second stop was the Curtis place. As Soda eased the truck into the front yard he spotted the glow of a cigarette from the porch. It was probably Dally, hanging around to see if he, Steve or Two-Bit would show...
The realisation that it couldn't possibly be Dallas hit Soda like a sucker punch. It felt like all the air had been sucked out of his lungs and he sat there like an idiot until Steve and the smoker, who was actually Ponyboy, appeared at the truck window.
"What in the world happened to her?" Ponyboy asked, wide eyed.
Soda took a breath and switched off the engine. He wanted to demand what his brother was doing outside so late on a school night. He wanted to shake him until he was blue in the face but instead he just gripped the steering wheel tighter.
"Bottle of bourbon," he muttered.
Beside him, Lily groaned and struggled into an upright position. Soda felt kind of sorry for her when she opened her eyes to see he, Steve and Ponyboy staring at her.
"What's everybody looking at?" She demanded.
Soda had to give her her dues for not appearing embarrassed. Glory, she didn't even know who Steve was and she'd met Pony just the once too.
"A wasted chick, by the looks of it," Steve said sarcastically.
Lily pushed her hair out of her eyes and glowered at him.
"I take it you're the buddy."
"I take it you're the community service chick."
Soda felt like the prize damsel in a western dual.
"Steve, this is Lily. Lily, Steve," he intervened quickly.
The two nodded at each other in a scarily similar fashion, Soda noted. He looked uneasily at Lily, awkward when he remembered the lengthy kissing session they'd had just an hour ago. Lily seemed to have no such qualms.
"Where are we?" She asked him.
"My place."
Lily leaned past him to peer at their rickety house and he found himself hoping hers was just as run down. The small porch was cracked and peeling and the windows were ramshackle and ancient. It was easy not to see it when you lived here day in day out.
There were car parts all over the front yard though that didn't bother Soda so much. Cars were his trade and where else were they going to keep it all?
"Steve, can you unhook the tow rope?"
Steve looked at him strangely.
"I already did."
Steve was quick with that sort of thing but he wasn't invisible. Soda knew he'd missed it happen because he was hyperventilating about Pony not being Dally.
"You want a glass of water or something?" He asked Lily, trying to change the subject. Her eyes lit up at the promise of water but she still just shrugged as though she didn't care either way. Soda turned his attention to Ponyboy.
"Can you give Steve a hand getting the Chevy out of the way?"
Lily's car was now blocking in the truck and he'd have to give her a ride home in a minute. Pony agreed and he and Steve went back to the car. Soda gave Lily a nervous smile.
"You wanna come in?"
She shrugged again, non committed, but she was already opening the truck door. Soda followed her lead and climbed down from the driver seat. He headed towards the porch steps and threw a look back at Lily who was looking a little unsteady on her feet. She stumbled on a pot hole near the porch and lost her balance. She put out an arm at the same time he did, and as his fingers touched her warm skin, a rush of adrenaline shuddered through him. She felt it just as he did, he was sure. They both froze, locked eyes before he withdrew his hand like she was on fire.
She glared at him and he had no clue why.
"Uh- come on." He clattered up the stairs and yanked open the screen door. Lily followed slowly. Once she stepped inside, she looked around at the shabby furniture and the worn carpet.
"Where's your big brother?"
"In bed, I guess. Here, kitchen's this way."
He tried not to look at her ass as he held the kitchen door open for her but glory, it was hard. Lily was petite and small boned but she was curvy with it, in all the right places, he was just starting to notice.
She seemed mad at him, and he was wondering if it was because he'd kissed her when she'd been out of it. It wasn't his style usually. But she'd been there looking at him, all eyes and hair, demanding he kissed her. Just looking at her in that moment had made his knees weak and his mouth water but the urge had come on so suddenly he hadn't had time to think it through.
It was just a moment, he'd decided, a weak moment because he hadn't so much as kissed a girl in months.
He filled a glass at the faucet for her and then held it out.
"Thanks." She took it from him and after a sip, swallowed the rest in a few gulps. When she handed him the empty glass he refilled it and handed it back. Their fingers brushed this time and he could have sworn she blushed.
"Listen, about earlier-"
"Forget it," she dismissed his comment before she'd even listened. "It didn't mean anything."
"I shouldn't have kissed you though," he protested. "Not when you were drunk like that."
Her face softened a little and then she smirked a tiny irresistible smirk.
"You saying you wanna do it when I'm sober instead?"
He stared at her, wide eyed. How in the world did he answer that? And did he want to? Jesus Christ, he thought he did.
"Uh- well- At least I'd know you were into it. Before didn't seem...right."
She was still smirking at him like that and he wished to hell she'd stop. He could feel himself getting aroused just from looking at her. And not in the way he'd thought about Sandy. Not in a you're- so- soft- and-sweet kinda way, but more like I-wanna-do-bad-things-to-you way.
She took another sip from her glass and looked at him over the rim.
"You gonna give me a ride?"
He gaped at her.
"Huh?" He had almost lost the power of speech and the charming patter that came so easy to him had completely gone out of the window.
"Home, Curtis. You gonna give me a ride home?" Her voice was laughing at him and he made matters worse by blushing like a school kid. He was acting like a kid virgin and he had no freaking idea why.
"Uh-yeah, sure."
He watched her take another sip of the water before she handed it back to him. He turned to put it into the sink and tried to pull himself together. She was a chick like any other. He was having a perfectly normal reaction for a guy who hadn't sex in months. Now all he had to do was drive her home.
Sodapop closed his eyes when he felt her hand on his back.
"Thanks," she said softly. He turned around, looked into her dark blue eyes and suddenly didn't give a shit about her knowing the effect she had on him.
He put out a hand and traced her jawline with his fingers. She shivered but she didn't look away from him. He let his fingers trail her neck then her shoulder before closing his hand around her upper arm. He pulled her firmly towards him and felt her warm breath on his face. She still smelt of bourbon but there was a sweeter scent too, something he couldn't quite put his finger on...
"Truck's clear!" Pony walked into the kitchen and despite Soda loving the kid to bits, he wished he was anybody else right then. Steve would have walked back out, Two-Bit would have made a joke but Pony just stood there stammering, his ears getting redder and redder.
Soda leaned back against the sink at the same time Lily took a step away from him.
"Thanks, Pony," he said as casually as he could. "We'll be right out."
But even when Pony had fled the room, and she was staring right into his eyes, he didn't know what the hell to say. He couldn't offer her anything right now. It wasn't right to mess her about after all she'd been through either. So instead, he just stood there like an idiot until she threw up her hands and walked out.
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