Everyone in the house was pretty excited, it was Christmas Eve! With everyone pitching in this year it was shaping up to be a good Christmas. Mum always made sure our Christmases were amazing, we never had much money, but mum and I would make decorations and cook a lot and made sure there was plenty to go round. The house was always warm and filled with love and just happy, it was the one day a year we'd forget everything else going on. Last year we didn't make that big a deal out of Christmas. Although our parents died at the beginning of the year we just didn't feel like making a big deal out of it. But we regretted that after, so I made sure this year would be special. Seeing as I was not at work I'd spent the last two weeks just going Christmas crazy! Dallas was getting pretty sick of it, I had him pinning stuff up for me and doing all that, and he wasn't exactly Santa's Little Helper…
We'd only just got our tree last week so I made sure I got the most out of it, I dragged every piece of decoration we had out of the attic and had it up, and although it looked like Rudolf and Santa had vomited tinsel in the living room, it looked good. Our house was going to be centre for everything tomorrow, Johnny was of course with us, his parents didn't know what time of the day it was let alone that it was Christmas, Dally was here anyways, Steve's parents and his little sister were going to his mum's sister's house for Christmas and he'd stayed back, things hadn't gotten better at home for him in the last couple weeks. And Two-Bit was staying here as his mum had to work Christmas day; she worked at the hospital and needed the money so she took the shifts no one else would.
Right now though I was putting the finishing touches on Johnny's room, Darry had managed to get the room air tight and warm and given it a quick paint with some leftovers we had lying around, my curtains were also up and we'd sourced a free bed that someone was throwing out so I made up a new blanket and cover for the comforter and fitted on some clean sheets. Two-Bit had also brought along an old dresser from his place, it had been under his veranda for a while so it was pretty battered but it would do. Although it was small we had made it into a nice little private space for Johnny, the single bed was up against the wall with the dresser at the bottom of the bed blocking off the back door. There wasn't enough room to move about but it was looking pretty nice in there and we were super excited to show Johnny. I went back through to where everyone was sitting in the living room and winked at Darry.
"Hey Johnny can you come help me with this for a second?" He looked at me slightly confused but complied.
I led him over to the back door and opened it up, ushering Johnny in.
Everyone else had come up behind us and Sodapop couldn't resist but shout out, "MERRY CHRISTMAS JOHNNYCAKES!"
Johnny didn't say anything he was stunned, although it was tiny, most definitely smaller than his room at home, but he was welcome here and he didn't have to put up with his parent's shit, so he was happy. He didn't really know what to do; he was super shy most of the time and hated being centre of attention. But when he said thank you we knew he meant it.
I gave him a massive hug and a kiss on the cheek which made him go bright red but he let me hug him. "You guys didn't have to do this for me!"
"Nonsense Johnny, you need something better than a sofa!" Darry patted him on the back and the guys all smiled at him as they made their way back through to the living room.
"Well you better move your bits in and get comfy." I helped him move some of his stuff from behind the sofa into the room and he spent a bit of time putting it away. He didn't have much but he'd cleared out his room at his parents' house so he had a few bits of clothes to put away.
I went back through and settled in next to Dally, he was happy, more than he'd let on, happy that Johnny was safe here with us and with him. When Johnny came back through he looked happier than I'd seen him in a long time.
xxxx xxxx
I'd gotten up fairly early this morning to make everyone some breakfast before we all opened our presents. It was really lively and vibrant in the house this morning as everyone excitedly ripped at wrapping paper. Dally had gotten me a really nice silver bracelet, which I was surprised he had picked, and I got him another dog tag for his chain, he'd lost one earlier in the year somewhere. Everyone else seemed happy with their gifts and we settled in for some Christmas lunch. We'd saved up a bit and got a big bit of ham, roast veggies, potato salad and all the rest and then of course plenty of beer and chocolate desserts to go around.
We were currently sitting watching the Christmas movie on TV with the fire on, enjoying some drinks, someone occasionally going back up for a bit more food. It was about 5pm now so I was pretty tired, usually when mum cooked the Christmas dinner I helped out, but I'd never done it on my own and it certainly took it out of you. The only person I could trust to help me in the kitchen was Johnny and even then he was more in the way than helping, so I had sent him back through to the others.
The phone started ringing so I jumped up to go and get it. Angela had been calling every couple of days from Missouri, but she hadn't called for a few days now so I was hoping it was her.
Darry turned down the TV as I answered, "Hello?"
"Blue? Am I glad to hear your voice." It was Ange and she sounded awful.
"Ange, what's going on? Where are you?"
"Kansas City."
"Where's Mark? What's happened? You sound upset?"
"Mark left me."
"HE LEFT YOU THERE?!" Everyone was listening in eagerly after my outburst.
"I'm pregnant Blue, he left me."
"… oh Ange, I can't believe he left you there. Do you want me to call Tim?"
"NO, don't, please Blue, I can't face him, and when he finds out he'll just go on about it and make us search for Mark and I can't do it."
"Ok, well I'll come and get you. Where are you?"
"Union Station in Kansas City."
"Ok stay there," I turned to Darry, "How long will it take to get to Kansas City?"
"About 4 and a half hours."
"Not if I'm driving." Dally got up and went to get his keys.
"Ok Ange we'll be there in about 4 hours, hang tight ok."
"Ok, thank you Blue." She started crying.
"It's ok, we'll be there soon." We hung up and I grabbed the jacket Dal was offering me.
"So what's happened then? Mark left her?" Darry was worried.
"Yeah, she's pregnant, so he left her, ditched her at the train station by the sounds of it." Everyone was stunned.
Darry let out a string of swears and got up to come over to the phone. "I better call Tim tell him that you've gone to get her. He's been worried sick."
"Okay, we'll see you guys later."
Everyone said their goodbyes and told us to tell Ange they were sorry. Dal got the car started and blasted the heaters. It was freezing outside and had snowed yesterday so everywhere was a bit slushy looking. Luckily Dal hadn't been drinking that much.
"Thanks for this Dal. Sorry to drag you away from Christmas."
"That's ok, Christmas don't bother me none."
I knew he didn't care that much, but I thought he might have been enjoying it, I guess he just didn't put as much worth on things like Christmas that I did, with reason given his childhood. I slid along the bench seat and rested my head on his shoulder, I was knackered. Luckily he had a blanket in the backseat so I dragged it over me and fell asleep.
xxxx xxxx
We had to stop and grab fuel along the way, and probably would on the way back too, but we'd finally made it to the station. Dal waited at the car and I went in to find where the phones were. It was freezing inside and there were hardly any people around. I ran along looking for Ange and eventually found her, asleep, on the seats next to the phones.
"ANGE!" I shook her awake, she only had on a scabby pair of jeans and a thin jumper, her hair was raggedy and she looked a bit thinner than last time I saw her. Mark really didn't treat her right; they'd only been gone almost 3 weeks.
"Blue! Thank you." She started crying and she was freezing, so I pulled her up and took her back towards the car.
Dally was standing outside the car having a smoke when we walked over. He didn't say anything but he looked apologetic, Ange just thanked him for coming and got in the back. I put the blanket over her and went round the other side and sat next to her. Dal stubbed out his smoke and got in and we took off. Before she fell asleep, Ange told me everything that happened. How she'd missed her period, and panicked so stole a couple of tests from a pharmacy only to find out she was pregnant. It had to be Mark's because he was the only person she'd been with since her last period. So she reckoned it must have been only 6 weeks. When she'd told him that she was pregnant he flipped out and ditched her at the train station and took off. I felt so bad for her, she'd really liked this guy and thought he was amazing, but he just threw her out and left. She fell asleep not long after that so I climbed into the front seat.
Dally hadn't said anything yet so I just went back to sleep on his arm. He didn't seem to mind, I was surprised he was still awake, it was almost midnight and he'd been driving for about 6 hours pretty much straight now. We stopped at a gas station to fill up and grab Ange some food. Dal had about 3 cups of coffee before taking another one for the road, and we set off again.
By the time we got back to my place it was just after 1am, all the lights were still on and Tim's car was out front. Ange looked terrified but I told her Darry had to tell Tim and we made our way up the steps. Ange braced for the barrage of abuse she was sure Tim was going to give her, but as soon as she stepped in he just grabbed her into a hug, and she started crying again.
"Thanks Dal, I owe you one." They shook hands and Tim took Angela to the car to go back to their place. I told her to call me tomorrow and she nodded.
After I gave everyone the run down, we made our way to our separate beds. Johnny was about to lie down on the sofa again when I reminded him and he grinned and made his way off to his room.
Dal took off his jeans and jacket and made his way into bed whilst I changed into my flannel pants and t-shirt, luckily the house wasn't as cold today as we'd had the fire on all day, but recently it had been terrible at night.
I climbed over him onto my side of the bed and gave him a kiss. "Thanks for that Dally."
"I told ya, it's nothin'."
I sighed, "Poor Angela."
"Yeah, feel sorry for that broad, humped with some looser hood's kid for the rest of her life."
I was a bit puzzled by that sentence and his tone, but I was too tired to think about it and fell asleep.