"Mary, can you clean 8?" an other waitress asked me. She was new, so she hadn't learned to balance everything yet. I felt bad.
"Sure," I agreed even though I was not wanting to pick up an other table. These people were pigs. I stacked the cups and the plates to take them to the kitchen. We never went out too often with my parents, money was always tight, but is we did I'm damn sure we'd never make as big of a mess as half the people do who I wait on.
"You going to Buck's tonight?" Taylor asked as I put the glasses in the sink.
"That's not funny." I rolled my eyes.
"I wasn't trying to be funny! What are you doing tonight to get a good time?" He followed me out.
"Are you judging me right now?" I laughed a little picking up a menu.
"Me, judge you, please!" He acted offended.
"Don't you have burgers to burn?" I looked back to him.
"I don't burn anything, princess." He laughed the same way I did.
"Is there something bothering you?" I looked up.
"You deserve a good time, " he picked up the plates I was holding.
"I do?" I questioned him. "I'm pretty sure I've been having a good time."
"I don't know, nearly having sex in Dallas' room, sounds like a lot of fun. You know what, you need someone who has you back." He sat down infront on me.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I kneeled beside him.
"You need to watch your back. You're gonna find your self too drunk to realize that you are making a mistake. You're going to tell the wrong person no and find yourself in a bad situation. I know you're a Curtis, and that earns you a hell of a lot of respect in my book, but people who don't know-"
"My last name doesn't mean anything," I started to stand up.
"Don't over react, I just meant that eventually you are going to get labeled. Eventually the sympathy card will ware off." He grabbed my wrist.
"The sympathy card? Go to hell," I pushed him out of my way. I walked back to get my keys and my shoes.
"Where are you going?" He yelled after me.
I didn't answer, I didn't know what to say. I was so mad at him.
"Mary, you can't just leave!" Taylor yelled again. I tried to think of a come back I could shout before I left, but I couldn't think of anything to justify what I felt in the pit of my stomach. The hatred I had for him just then was unimaginable.
I sat on the bench outside the dinner pulling off my skates when Travis came outside. I didn't even see him sitting inside.
"How long were you in there?" I asked to keep myself from crying.
"Long enough." He told me gently untying my left shoe.
"Sorry," I apologized.
"What do you have to be sorry about?" He smiled at me grabbing my hand. "This is my truck, don't talk bad about her, she will know." He opened the door for me.
"I think it's very nice." I let my hair down.
"So tell me, where do two people go to talk?" He placed his hand on my knee comforting me.
"There's a vacant lot up ahead some. It's not romantic, but it's on our side." I shrugged.
"Sounds perfect." He agreed pulling over. We got out of the car and he held my hand and we walked over to the lot.
"Too bad I don't have a basketball." He said out loud.
"Do you know how to play?"
"Too bad I don't know how to play basketball." He clarified.
"Me neither," I laughed sitting on the ground. He sat beside me.
"So Pony, he's a interesting kid." Travis broke the silence.
"That's an understatement!" I laughed thinking about all Pony did.
"Really though, I liked spending time with him. Then today when I walked him to the DX I worked on a car with Steve and Soda. It made me really miss working on my Dad's car when I was younger you know?"
"You met Steve and Soda?" I was a little surprised he hung around.
"Yeah, and Steve drove off leaving Soda and Pony stranded so I drove them to your house." He caught me up.
"You went to my house?" I was getting uncomfortable with him doing all of this.
"Yeah, I met Darry, Johnny, and Two-bit."
"Wait, hold on!" I put my hand up.
"Let me finish." He put his hand on mine.
"They invited me to go to the rodeo with you all tomorrow. " He told me then paused. "There, that's all." Then he waited as if he knew I was going to get upset.
"I don't even know you! All of a sudden you are helping my brother with math, working on cars with Soda, going to my house, and going to a rodeo with the gang!"
"I told you, I want to be your friend." He let go of my arm.
"A friend? I don't even think I know what that means anymore!" My heart was racing. I was so confused.
"I want to be there for you. I want to have your back. I want to be the one that you can trust." He told me as if he had rehearsed.
"I'm no good at relationships." I admitted.
"It's not a relationship. I want to be your best friend, your go to guy, the one person you can count on for anything. It's nothing physical, because like I told you. I don't know how long I will be here, and while I'm here I want to be your friend."
"Why?"
"Because I'm alone, and you are too. I don't know why you are alone, you have all these people who care about you, but I can see it in your eyes, you are alone. Being alone is horrible, Mary. Eventually it will be too much to handle, I don't want that to happen."
"You don't know me." I helplessly tried to defend myself.
"Let me get to know you." He coaxed.
"How?"
"What was that guy talking to you about at work. What was that all about?"
"After we walked around last night, I went back in Bucks'. I had an other drink and I got a little tipsy. A guy that I kinda know tried to take me upstairs, we were going at it until I realized that the room we were in was the room of Dallas. He's a friend of my brothers. He didn't know that I'm a Curtis. He just thought that I was some girl. I almost had sex with a stranger in my friend's room." I laughed when I told the story to hide the embarrassment.
"What does being a Curtis have to do with anything?" He looked at me closely, making me insecure.
"You really don't know anything do you?" I laughed. He smiled when I said that.
"I guess I don't ask the right questions."
"I'm a Curtis. You know, the perfect family. My parents were the best parents. They single handed touched everyone at our church in some way. My dad started a football league to keep the boys off the street. My mom watched the neighbors' kids when the parents had to work. She would drop everything and make a cake or a casserole when someone was sick. My brother got a college scholarship to play football. Soda kept everyone on his or her toes with his carefree life style, Pony would win every contest he entered. He even skipped a grade. I was the perfect daughter: Good grades, good job, good daughter. Daddy's little girl, I could do no wrong." A tear slid down my left check like lava. I wiped it away before he saw.
"Okay, so what?" He didn't get it.
"My parents were killed in a car accident a month ago." I told him like it wasn't a big deal.
"Mary, I didn't know." He said after a long pause.
"So, Darry chose not to go to college, he stays home and roves houses instead, Soda dropped out of High School and how works at the DX, Pony doesn't sleep much, he worries about what's going to happen, and he picks fights with Darry. So I fix lunches, listen to bad days at work, offer advice no one takes, I stay out of the way when there's a problem, I cook, clean, do laundry, study and go to work. So tell me something friend, why is it a problem if I go out and have a good time? No one knows what I'm doing: Darry, Soda, Pony they would never find out. What's wrong with being normal for just a little while. It's a nice change to do things spur of the moment and not thinking about it rationally!" I got worked up.
"I think your right." He agreed after a long pause.
"What?" I didn't believe him.
"You're not a little kid, you assume adult responsibilities, so I think you should be able to do what ever you want when you get a chance. If not, you'd go crazy!" He put his arm around me.
"I don't know what to say to you." I turned and faced him.
"I'm pretty sure you've said enough for tonight. We can stay here, I've got a blanket in the truck, or we can go get a drink." He suggested.
"No one's expecting me until 10 we could be half way across the state by then.
"I think I know a place, they play the best music." He stood up beside me.
"I'm not really dressed to go out," I pulled him back down.
"It's about 45 minutes out, no one will know you, and it's dark." He pulled me up.
"You aren't embarrassed to go somewhere with me looking like a stripper?" I stood up and followed him.
"I don't care what you wear. Isn't that nice? You don't have to impress me." He winked at me and started running to the truck.
"Pony's the runner, not me." I laughed.
"Yeah, I was told. That's pretty cool. You ever watch him?" He opened the door.
"Oh yeah, it's like a family ordeal when he races, or it was." He closed the door after I told him.
"Well, we will just have to make it an ordeal again." He turned on the car and we started down the road. I had known this guy for two days, but I felt like I had known him for my whole life.
I put my feet on the dash and rolled the window down. I could breath. It was nice to breath again. Maybe all I needed all alone was a friend.
a/n: I realize it is a shorter chapter, but for my last three chapters I have noticed that they do not go to the main page! So, it is not found, so I have not hand many readers or reviews! What do I do? Help!