For The Love of a Greaser

Chapter 37

Life's Never Easy

The reason why no one had seen anything was because Dally had dragged Abigail off else where. He'd made sure to send Ponyboy back off to the house though, telling him to go around front instead. From there though, Dally had driven Abigail back to Buck's place, carrying her up to his room. She was still a mess though, shaking every now and then. He expected this though. Another reason why Dally had brought her back to his place was to help her calm down to a degree without feeling over crowded. That and he wanted to find out what else had happened between her and her father once she was lucid enough that is. For that though, she'd have to sleep things off, and that's exactly what she did. She slept the entire night in Dally's bed, his arms wrapped around her as he laid with his back against the headboard. He knew that it was the only way to possibly keep her at peace while asleep, especially this time after facing her father for the first time in years.

T

When I woke up, it was with a start. I didn't really remember much of what happened after my father left, save for going outside, but that was about it. That's why I was startled by my surroundings. I'd never been here before, not even knowing where here was. Although, I felt myself calm down when I noticed Dally. I also noticed that his arm was around me, his knee bent up on the bed.

"Dally," I whispered, my voice coming out hoarse and sore.

I wince at the feeling, pinching my eyes shut. This happened every time I ended up crying like I had. In fact, I was actually surprised that I could even talk with being out in the cold as long as I had been. I knew for a fact that I felt like hell though, that, and my head hurt.

"Dal," I croaked, turning as best I could and shaking him a bit.

He finally jumped awake, obviously startled.

"What the..." he stopped when he saw me staring at him, his eyes softening a bit. "You're awake. How ya feelin man?" he asked, letting go of me and straightening his back.

"Like crap," I groaned, bringing my hand to my head and closing my eyes.

"Hey, I'll be right back," he said, placing a hand on my shoulder, before getting up and walking out the door.

As I sat there waiting, I looked around the room. It wasn't very big, only having a dresser and nightstand along with the bed. It had one window though leading to the outside, allowing a bit of light to flood into the dark of the room.

"So, this is how Dallas Winston lives," I whispered to myself, letting out a small yawn.

"Here," Dally said, walking back into the room with a glass of water and a few pills.

I also noticed that he didn't have a shirt on, but it really didn't surprise me much with the way that he was. Still I took the glass from his hand along with the pills. Hopefully, they'd make me feel a bit better.

"It'll help," he assured me, sitting back down next to me on the bed, a creaking sound emitting from it.

"Thanks," I ground out, wincing at the feeling in my throat.

"Pretty bad, huh?" he asked, watching me pop the pills into my mouth, downing them easily with a drink of water.

"Yeah," I croaked. "The water helps though," I told him, rubbing my throat for a moment.

"But, you're feelin better than yesterday though, right?" he asked, leaning back like he had been before.

I nodded quietly, but I still didn't feel that great about it though. Facing my father hadn't been something I"d been looking forward to. I was just glad that I wasn't a nervous wreck like last night, I was actually calm for the most part, just tired.

"Why'd you bring me here?" I asked after a moment, staring down at my glass.

I could see my reflection staring back at me as I sat there. My eyes were red and my hair was a bit messy, but other than that, I looked the same.

"Well," he started, sitting up a bit more, his arm resting over his knee. "I wanted to ask you about something," he said.

I stiffened at his words, not making a sound.

"What exactly happened with you and your old man?" he asked carefully, watching me.

I didn't say anything, merely standing up from the bed, keeping my back to him. I wasn't exactly sure what to say, where to start as I took another drink of water, swallowing it.

"What'd Darry tell you guys?" I asked quietly, wrapping my arms around myself as I stared at the wall in front of me.

"He didn't tell us shit, man," Dally grumbled.

I felt my muscles loosen up a bit at this, but it didn't last long once he continued to speak.

"All he did was show us that picture, man," he pointed out.

"W-what picture?" I choked out.

"The one you didn't want us to see, the one with you all banged up."

I felt my nails curling into my side as I sat there, feeling the breath leaving my lungs.

"Y-you saw that?" I asked, voice low and shaky.

"Yeah..."

I stood there for a moment, eyes closed. I could hear the creaking of the bed behind me, the light padding of feet across the wood floor. I then felt his hand on my shoulder, gripping it lightly, my eyes watering a bit.

"That's why you got so mad when you found me, when I was wishing for a bullet in that gun of mine," he said quietly.

"Life's never easy Dal, never..." I whispered.

"What'd he do to you?" Dally asked quietly.

I had to move away from him for a moment, not to get away from him persay, but to think. Sometimes, it was easier when I was able to walk around a bit.

"He drank," I whispered, rubbing my arm, my fingers brushing over the faded scars on my arms. "He drank a lot after my mom died."

I drew in a breath, before turning toward him for a moment.

"You wouldn't believe the scars I have," I said, the words coming out almost as if it were some sort of joke or play on words, but it wasn't. "I always passed it off as being clumsy," I said, laughing quietly.

"You're not clumsy and we both know it," Dally pointed out.

"But they believed it, so did Eden..."

It was true, that was what I had told Eden and everyone else. I always told them that I was just to clumsy or I'd gotten into a fight with a guy or something else.

"Why'd you do it?" Dally asked after a moment, standing there in front of me.

"What do you mean?"

"Why'd you stay, why didn't you run off?" he asked, a tone of annoyance in his voice as though I should have ran.

"How could I?" I snorted, my face scrunching up slightly.

This seemed to catch his attention, shutting him up for a moment, just long enough for me to speak.

"After all, where would I have gone?" I asked, looking him in the eye.

To be honest, I'd thought of running away a few times when I was younger, but I could never actually get up the nerve to do it. I was always too worried about Eden, worried what might happen if I left her alone with him. I couldn't take the risk of leaving her there with the possibility of him coming home drunk and hurting her. I'd never be able to forgive myself if something like that had ever happened.

"I was eleven when my mother died, sixteen when he left. Either way, I couldn't leave Eden to him," I explained.

"Man, you're one tough broad," Dally muttered, shaking his head. "What happened that night, that picture?" he asked, sitting back down on the edge of the bed.

I placed a hand on my face as I stood there, closing my eyes as my mind wandered back to that night. In fact, that was shortly before he left. It was actually the reason why the picture had been taken or what I considered it as. It was his last time before leaving.

"We got into a fight, he wanted to take Eden away, leave me behind," I whispered. "That night, she was at a friends house for a sleep over. He didn't know about it."

I knew that he'd be drinking that night, so I wasn't going to let her sleep in the house.

"I was...at the top of the stairs as he went through the room, trying to find her. He turned, eyes on fire in a drunken rage... Then he grabbed me."

The whole time, Dally sat there, watching, listening. He never spoke a word while I told my story.

"I...I remember him yelling, screaming at me, demanding to know where she was," I breathed, running a hand through my hair, combing it out a bit. "He was so angry."

"Where is she! I want to know!"

"He shook me."

"Tell me where she is now!"

"Or what? Huh? You'll hit me again?"

"I...I don't remember much after that, except falling down the stairs. Next thing I knew, I was in the hospital," I explained.

"Wait, so he pushed you down the stairs?" he asked, his voice raising a bit.

"Yeah," I nodded, letting out a sigh. "After that, I gave him two options. Either leave or I'd go to the cops."

"I'm giving you a choice, either leave or I call the cops. You can't hurt me any more and you can't hurt Eden. I won't let you," I told him.

"You really think you can just kick me out of my home? Run me out?"

"I can sure as hell try! Now, either go out or I'm calling the cops and you'll never see either of us again!"

"So, that's why he left? He'd didn't just up and leave one day like everyone thought," he voiced.

"Yeah, he got smart and he left, I'm just glad it worked," I told him, my voice lower at the end.

I knew that this would confuse him and I was right, watching the look on his face change.

"Wait...so it was a freakin' bluff!" he asked incredulously, obviously annoyed that I'd pull something like that without knowing whether or no it would work.

I laughed at this a bit, shaking my head.

"What else could I have done? I wasn't about to let her be put in a girls home somewhere," I told him, turning to face him head on.

"What are you gonna do now then? Huh?" he asked, staring at me from his spot on the bed.

You see, the problem was, I had no clue. I hadn't planned on ever seeing him again, so there was never a need for such a plan. Now, I had a problem. I couldn't bluff my way out this time. If I made a wrong move, she'd be gone forever, that much I was sure of. Then again, how was I supposed to tell her everything anyway? It's not like she'd believe me if I told her. She'd think I was nuts, calling me clumsy, saying that I just wanted to keep her away from our father and drive him away again. I'd lose her if I did that. The only problem was, short of having another accident and having her walk in on it, there wasn't really much I could do to prove it to her.

"I don't know Dal, I really don't know."

I wasn't willing to give him the chance to take her away from me, I wasn't going to lose her. I was going to protect her the best that I could, with all that I had, even if it killed me...

Yay! Chapter 37! Anyway, I figured I'd explain that bit of her past for all of those that were curious. She's a strong girl, isn't she? Anyway, please let me know what you think? Don't forget to REVIEW and MESSAGE me with your thoughts, opinions, ideas, and feelings on this chapter/story. I LOVE hearing FEEDBACK. It helps me write. Also, a HAPPY writer with REVIEWS makes a BETTER writer and KEEPS me writing. Anyway, thanks everybody!