Sixteen Candles
Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders.

Seconds following the landing of the pillow on my face, someone starts to giggle. I remain still on the hardwood floor, thinking hard on where I'm at. "Hey, Eileen, are you awake?"

That's right. I'm at Sandy's house.

"I'm awake," I murmur, pulling the pillow away. "What time is it?" Slowly, I roll onto my side, easing my eyes open at a turtle's pace. By the time they're fully open, the sunlight streaming in through the front window barely phases my vision.

"I think it's around 10:00," she answers. "Go get dressed and ready. We're going to go have some fun today." I shoot her a confused look.

"We're skipping school though," I state. "Doesn't that mean we're suppose basically forced to stay home?" Sandy rolls her eyes; then, she starts to grin sneakily.

"That's only if you're a pussy," The vulgar language slips through her lips as a mere squeak, but it's enough to send her into another fit of giggles. I roll my eyes, not impressed with her reaction to her own use of disgusting slang. "C'mon, let's get going, Eileen. We're gonna go visit Soda at the DX." Reluctantly, I climb to my feet.

XxXxXxX

Soda is the only one working when we arrive, and right as we step through the door, Sandy is at his side. She leans over the counter, and he meets her halfway before engaging in a heartfelt kiss.

Personally, I'm not too keen with the idea of PDA, but maybe someday I'll get use to it.

"Sorry 'bout that, Miss Eileen," Soda shares, breaking away from his girlfriend. He starts to grin, and with my best effort to keep the awkwardness I'm feeling at bay, I join the two. "How come you two ain't in school?"

"My parents ain't home, and I talked her into skippin' class with me. How come you ain't in school?"

Soda begins to smirk. "Boss needed someone to work, so I offered. My folks weren't too happy, but they agreed, and here I am. Skipping school for work. But, Eileen, Steve ain't gonna be too happy 'bout that." Soda announces. Sandy starts to smile as the two's eyes land on me. My face drops, and my eyes shift from both of them in confusion.

"I don't get it." I whisper, dropping my gaze to the floor. Sandy begins giggling, looking towards her boyfriend. Soda merely grins.

"You serious?" He inquires. I nod my head weakly. "Steve is fallin' hard for you, Eileen. I ain't too sure if you've noticed, but he really, really likes ya." Within seconds, my cheeks start to burn.

"No, he doesn't," I argue. "Sure, we're going out together this weekend, but he doesn't like me that much." Sandy rolls her eyes for a reason unknown to me. As for Soda, he shoots me a look, and I don't know if it's a good thing or not that I'm not sure what it means.

"Miss Eileen, you're ridiculous," he comments. "Steve likes ya. You wanna know what he told me the other day?" I shrug my shoulders, remaining silent. "He told me that he really, really likes ya. I swear to the lord above. You're the main reason he don't complain that much 'bout goin' to school."

"It's true, Eileen. I heard him tell Soda the other day." I find myself resisting the urge to smile. A boy actually likes me. I never thought this would happen. All I hope is that Soda and Sandy aren't exaggerating with how much he likes me.

Soda starts to laugh. "Look at her face, Sandy. I think we just made her day." I shake my head, rolling my eyes in an attempt to get them off my case.

It doesn't help any, and instead, the teasing continues.

XxXxXxX

Right at 3:00 on the dot, I step into my house, and to my surprise, Mom is standing in the living room – no doubt waiting for me to get home.

My heart starts racing, and as calmly as I can, I let my bag fall from the ground. "Eileen, we need to talk." Her tone is plain, and her face holds no indication of whether this talk will be bad or good. Either way, my heart pounds harder.

Deep down, something tells me she knows. Somehow she knows I didn't attend my classes today. I run through excuses I can possible throw at her to save my butt; I wonder how she could possibly know I skipped.

Seconds later, realization hits hard, and once it down, my face falls, and I don't doubt that the color has drained completely.

Imogene or Douglas somehow told on me.

Mom takes a seat on the couch, gently patting the seat beside her. I swallow hard, forcing a smile and willing myself to keep down the growing urge to vomit. Her lack of speech is starting to stress me out, and at any moment, I might faint.

She starts to laugh a bit, altering my emotions completely. Within two seconds, I'm feeling more confusion than anxiety. "Sweetie, calm down," Mom says sweetly. "It looks like you've seen a ghost." I force another smile, causally shrugging my shoulders.

"I don't know why," I answer awkwardly. I force a laugh – a laugh as awkward as my attempt to remain calm. Successfully and unintentionally, I earn a weird look from my mom. "Anyway, what'd you need to talk to me about?" Mom quickly looks away, licking her lips and taking a couple deep breaths. She stalls for a couple seconds longer before finally turning back towards me.

"Sweetie, do you remember you Aunt Evelyn?" Mom inquires, staring hard into my eyes. Weakly, I shake my head, waiting to see where this goes. Again, Mom takes a deep breath.

Great. In a matter of a few moments, the mood has completely changed, and I'm about to get another "death of a relative" speech.

Mom chuckles quietly, but it sounds forced. "No, Eileen, it's nothing like that. Aunt Evelyn is still very much alive." Relief washes over me instantly. "But, Eileen, we've all decided it'll be best if she goes to a nursing home. She's getting too old to take care of herself, and it'll be the best thing."

My mind strays away from what Mom is saying, and I find myself wondering why she's sharing this information with me. I don't remember her, and I don't have an opinion on nursing homes.

Long story short, this conversation we're having doesn't pertain to me at all.

Mom sighs, shaking her head slightly. "Honey, on Saturday we're going to drive down to Idabel and stay the night at her house. Then, on Sunday, we're going to help Uncle Mark and his two boys transport some of Aunt Evelyn's stuff to the nursing home."

My heart drops to my stomach. Saturday is when I'm going out with Steve.

I open my mouth to express my previous plans. Mom waits eagerly, nodding her head silently. Quickly, I remember I'm not even allowed to hang around him. Instead, I force a smile. "That sounds great, Mom." I lie. She starts to smile, satisfied that I'm not putting up a fight with her.

"Okay, Honey, I have to go to Grandma's now. I promised I would help her finish cleaning the house, but I wanted to tell you while I still remembered. If you're hungry, there's dinner in the fridge. I don't know what time your dad is going to be home, and I don't know how long I'll be at her house. And Lord knows when Imogene or Douglas is going to get home. I love you, Eileen." Mom leans forward, gently kissing my forehead before jumping up from the couch.

She continues talking to me, but I don't pay the least bit of attention. Before long, Mom has her shoes on, her purse on her arm, and she's calling one last goodbye before rushing out the door.

As soon as the door shuts, I know I'm going to be alone for the rest of the night.

XxXxXxX

Steve wastes absolutely no time finding me when I return to school. "I missed ya yesterday, Doll Face," he comments, leaning against a nearby locker. My heart flutters, and I bite back a smile. "I had to do my own work. Glad you're back so I can copy off ya."

Instantly, my smile is gone.

"Wow, thanks, Steve, I missed you too," I answer sarcastically, rolling my eyes. He starts to smirk, looking on down the hall. "Why are you even here bothering me? Don't you have a class to go to?" I ask, setting my civics book inside my locker.

"Civics ain't gonna miss me that much." He shrugs, waiting for me. I shut my locker, and with Steve by my side, we walk to Spanish.

A couple times during our walk, his hand brushes against mine. My heart flutters each time it happens, and part of me wants to make the move and grab this hand.

Finally, before we start down the stairs, it happens.

He grabs a hold of my hand, lacing our fingers together. I can feel my heart beginning to race. I can't believe it's actually happening.

Halfway down the stairs, my conversation with my mom about Aunt Evelyn pops up, and with a heavy, internal sigh, I know I have to tell Steve. "Hey, Steve, I have something to tell you about Saturday."

"You're cancelin' on me, ain't ya?"

"No, I was going to ask if we can move it to Friday. My family is going to Idabel on Saturday." Steve drops my hand once we finish our walk down the stairs, leaving me with the struggle of masking my disappointment.

"I have to work Friday night, but I can probably switch with one of the guys."

"I'm really sorry," Steve merely shrugs. "I don't understand why I even have to go. I don't know the lady." We approach my Spanish class; Steve comes to a halt.

"Don't worry about it, but I'll pick you up around 7:00." I nod my head with a smile on my face. Steve nods once in response before strolling off down the hallway.

I watch him leave, and before long a silly little smile is on my face.

XxXxXxX

Right as soon as I get home Friday afternoon, I head straight for my closet. Tonight is my date with Steve, and at this point, I have nothing to wear. The day is still young, but on the inside, I'm freaking out.

What do I wear? What do you wear to a first date? What if I look too formal? What if I'm too casual? Steve isn't going to look any nicer than usual, is he?

I throw my closet doors open, looking left to right, up and down my clothes. When that plan fails, I start fingering through the different articles.

"This is stupid!" I groan to myself. "I don't know what's appropriate for a date." I look through my clothes a couple more times. Eventually, I find an outfit I can settle on.

It's nothing spectacular. It's merely a simple pink dress. It's nothing formal, but it makes me look presentable.

7:00 comes quick, and I'm more than thankful that neither of my parents are home. Steve approaches the door slowly, and from how weak his knock is, I can tell he's expecting one of my parents to answer.

Or he's nervous – like me.

If you ask me, I would consider Steve's a fairly close friend, but it still doesn't help ease my nerves.

I pull the door opening, revealing Steve clad in his usual attire. "Hey, Steve." I greet, stepping into my shoes.

"Hey, Eileen, you look great," he grins, looking me up and down. I mutter a thanks, trying to ignore the blush creeping into my cheeks. "You ready to go?" I nod my head, stepping out the door.

Steve pulls the truck door open, grabbing a hold of my hand and helping me into the passenger seat. I take a seat, smoothing my skirt, and once I'm situated, Steve shuts the door behind me.

In the moment, any nerves I was previously feeling are gone.

XxXxXxX

We both take a seat on the circular chairs, struggling to put the roller skates on our feet. "You good at this?" Steve asks, pulling his converse off. I shrug my shoulders.

"I doubt it," I frown, stepping into the left skate. "This is the first time I've ever been to the roller rink, and I've never been skating before." It rolls out from underneath my foot and deep down, a little part of me fears how this evening will go down.

"Me either. This outta be interestin'," We put our skates on silently, and once we're done, neither of us moves. "Well, you ready to get out there?" Carefully, Steve pushes himself to his feet. He's a little wobbly on his feet, and within minutes of standing up, he nearly falls. "Shit, this is hard." He grumbles. Steve steadies himself, and when he's confident that he's not going to fall, he extends his hand for me.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I ask nervously, taking it anyway. Steve tugs on my arm; I rise to my feet easily, and I'm surprised that I don't fall. "We're going to kill ourselves, Steve." He merely shrugs shoulders, and while concentrating hard on getting the hang of skating, we head towards the rink.

I hang on tightly to Steve's arm, and although I know it's making skating a little more difficult, I don't ease up any. He takes the outside, occasionally leaning against the wall as a way to brace himself.

Several other people have already lapped us several times, and if I didn't know any better, I would say it's bothering Steve. "Want to go a little faster?" Without waiting for an answer, he pushes off of the wall and picks up speed.

His need for speed catches me off guard, and our skates collide – our wheel lock together.

Steve falls forward while I land on my bottom. He swears loudly, burying his head in his arms. Despite the noise, I can hear him talking to himself, but it's too muffled for me to understand what he's saying.

Something tells me he's swearing, and I don't even doubt the thought.

"We should probably get up before someone runs us over." I tell him quietly, getting myself back to my feet. Steve pushes down onto the ground, lifting his body up, and carefully, he climbs to his feet.

He doesn't look too thrilled.

We continue to skate; this time, we roll around in silence. I'm not normally one to blame others, but I can't help but think that if Steve didn't get cocky with his skating "skill", he wouldn't have had the desire to go faster, and we wouldn't have fallen.

Or if he would've given me more of a warning, I could've better prepared myself.

XxXxXxX

Steve parks alongside the curb despite the fact that both of my parents and siblings are home. I'm a little surprised with myself too when I don't even care.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," Steve comments, gaining a few more moments with me. "Can I see you again?" He looks towards me, waiting for an answer.

"Well, of course, Steve. You're going to see me Monday in algebra," I smirk. He groans quietly and rolls his eyes. "I'll see you later, Steve." I turn towards the door, reaching for the handle when Steve stops me.

"Eileen, wait," he slides towards me, and when I turn around to face him, the unexpected happens. Without a warning, he presses his lips to me, cupping my face in his hands.

Steve Randle is actually kissing me.

My heart skips a beat. The butterflies in my stomach flare up. I can't believe it's happening. My reaction stalls a bit, but when I'm finally able to comprehend what's going on, I slowly wrap my arms around his neck.

I've always heard teenage girls talking about sparks they feel when that special someone kisses then. Honestly, I never understood what they meant, and I always thought it was stupid and fake. Now, I realize how wrong I was.

Steve Randle makes sparks fly.

He pulls away, covering himself with that stupid smirk of his. "Good night, Eileen." Steve says. I mutter a response back, but I'm still in a strong state of shock that I don't even know what I said.

I push the door open before stepping onto the sidewalk. After shutting the car door, I start my walk towards the door. I hear Steve pull away, and I still can't get over the feeling. I feel like I'm in an entirely different state of mind.

But, even in this state, I'm still thankful for the fact that our living room is completely empty when I step into the house.

Well, there's the newest installment of Sixteen Candles. :) I would really appreciate it if you guys reviewed telling me what you thought! I love to hear from you guys, and it could be a late birthday present (my birthday was last Monday)! Either way, I really hope you guys review. It means a lot.

do it for Johnny :)