Sam's POV
Finally we were getting out of the house! I hated trying to pretend that the only thing bothering me was an upset stomach, but doing it with Pony's eyes on me all day I hated even more. At least if we were at the DX Pony could hang with Soda and I could relax a bit, after all none of the other guys watched me as much as Pony did so I wouldn't have to worry about them noticing anything.
When we got to the DX I left Pony and went straight to the garage to find Steve. I walked inside to find him talking to Tim Shepard. I didn't want to interrupt and was about to turn around when Steve called out and waved me over.
"What happened to your face?" he asked as I approached. I sighed, I was really sick of this question.
"I fell down the porch steps, no biggie." Steve winced and turned back to Tim as he started talking.
"I noticed it was a quiet day and was hoping you could at least look at it. I want her up and running for tomorrow night, otherwise where am I supposed to take the ladies? I ain't renting one of those dirty rooms at Buck's." Steve laughed and headed over to Tim's car.
"Pop the hood. Bet you 10 bucks I know what the problem is and you'll be driving outta here in less than 2 minutes." I followed them over for nothing better to do and watched as Steve pointed to a hose in the engine.
"Ah-hah! I knew it as soon as you described the shuddering." I watched as Steve loosened a clamp, cut the end off the pipe where I noticed a crack, stretch the pipe to fit and reattach the clamp.
"Done. Bet she runs fine now." Steve held out his hand and Tim slapped two $5 notes into his waiting palm.
"Cheers Randle, I'll catch ya tomorrow night. You talk Darry into letting you come yet?" Tim asked me. I was shocked he was even talking to me and just mumbled 'working on it'. "Well work harder." Then he winked at me, got in his car and drove off. As soon as he was out of sight Steve turned to me.
"Stay away from Tim," he warned. "and Curly."
"No problem." I muttered and turned away. Normally I would have gotten defensive and angry at this comment from Steve and I guess he was expecting it.
"What? That's it? I mean, uh, good. That's settled then." I spent the next two hours watching Steve in the garage and didn't even see Soda until he came to tell Steve he was sick of work for the day (or lack thereof) and was closing up.
"How you feeling?" he stopped and asked on his way out.
"Better. I kept everything down. I just feel tired, like I have no energy." That was true, I felt like I had nothing in me. I could barely lift my fingers, like I was just air wrapped in skin. Soda nodded.
"Well, just have a quiet one tonight, I am. We gotta make sure you have all your energy for Buck's big one tomorrow night." He grinned and left. Right. Buck's big one. That's what Tim had been talking about. I'd forgotten.
I don't know why Tim was asking about Darry letting me go. Of course Darry would let me he told me last time there was a party that he was fine with it. It was Pony he should have been asking about, cause that's what I was sure thinking. Would Pony let me go?
When we got home Darry was already there and halfway through making dinner. Two-Bit was stretched out on the couch and Steve went over, pushed his feet off and plopped himself down. Pony took Darry's armchair so I followed Soda into the kitchen to see Darry.
"Hey slow day? I wasn't expecting you home till later."
"Slower than a stoned sloth." Soda replied. He jumped up to sit on the counter and started picking cheese cubes out of the salad bowl.
"You feeling better?" Darry asked me.
"Yeah I'm fine. I kept everything down so I think it must have just been a 24 hour bug. I'm sure I'll be well enough to go to Buck's tomorrow night." I'd thought about it on the way over and decided a party was exactly what I wanted right now. I'd had to force myself not to think about the events of the previous day and all I wanted was to forget about it for a while and if that meant getting wasted beyond all sanity then I was fine with it.
"Soda go and wash your hands! We want ranch dressing on this salad not grease and car oil!" Soda took one more piece of cheese and ducked Darry's hand as he took off down the hall, grinning like a maniac.
XXXX
7:00pm the next night found the whole gang at the Curtis', even Dally. I was a little surprised to see him since I hadn't seen him around for a while, unless you count the few minutes he was awake on Thursday.
I had managed to make it through the day with a fake smile planted on my face and thoughts of how good tonight would feel keeping me going. Work was hell but it was over now and I'd soon be at Buck's.
"Urhg! Sam what are you doing? That's gross!" Two-Bit held his hands up in front of his face and backed away from the bathroom.
"It's just eyeliner, Two-Bit." I wasn't normally a make-up kind of girl but I wanted to look good tonight. I needed to feel good about myself. I packed the foundation on till the bruise along my jaw was nothing but a faint shadow. I had even dressed up in a tight mini skirt and a black halterneck.
"I don't care what it's called just hurry up will ya? I gotta piss." I finished my make-up and walked into the living room where the guys were. As soon as I set foot in the room Pony's jaw dropped and I was met with catcalls and wolf whistles from the guys. Soda reached over to smack Pony's jaw shut.
"Catching flies there, Pone? Hurry up and piss Two-Bit, then we're on our way."
"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying." Two-Bit left and I went to sit next to Pony.
"Does that mean I look okay?" I asked over the blasting of the radio.
"We're not going anywhere anymore, we're staying here." I looked up at him confused and he leaned to whisper in my ear. "I want you all to myself tonight." I blushed and looked round to make sure none of the guys were paying us any attention. Soda was sitting on the arm of the chair next to Pony. He was looking straight ahead but had a small smile on his face and was shaking his head slightly.
I looked at Pony and glanced at Soda, trying to convey to him my meaning. He glanced over his shoulder and then turned to me.
"It's okay. Soda knows not to say anything, right Soda?" Sodapop didn't say anything, just took a deep breath, turned to me, winked and went to join Steve and Dally as they wrapped up their card game.
Two-Bit came back out and we all got up to leave as Darry came in to say goodbye. He took one look at me and shook his head.
"No way, you are not wearing that. Go and put jeans on."
"Why what's wrong with this?"
"Come on, Darry, we're late as it is!" Soda whined and Darry turned to him.
"I can't let her go to Buck's wearing that. You've seen the scum that hang round there what do you think they'll do to her?"
"I'm a big girl, Darry, I'm nearly 17, I can take care of myself. Besides I'll have five of the toughest hoods in Tulsa looking out for me."
"Not to mention it'll take her another 2 hours to find something new to wear." I glared at Two-Bit before turning back to Darry.
"Pleeeeease?" Darry just looked at me and I gave him my best puppy dog look I could manage. Finally he sighed and turned to the guys.
"Do not, I repeat, do not take your eyes off her. I'm holding you all responsible for her wellbeing. If anything happens to her I'll beat your heads in."
"Gee I'm glad you weren't born a girl, Pone. Imagine all the years of this if you had been Superman's baby sister." Pony gave Two-Bit the finger and Darry gave him a punch to his upper arm.
"Shut-up, Two-Bit. Why don't y'all get going before I change my mind." There were shouts of goodbye and I gave Darry a kiss on his cheek.
"I'll take care of myself, I promise."
"Just be home by 1." I smiled and followed the guys out the door.
The walk to Buck's was only 20 minutes but I was ready for a drink by the time we got there. I'd had a few mouthfuls of Two-Bit's beer on the way over but now I wanted something stronger. As the guys disappeared to various areas of the room Pony slipped an arm around my waist.
"Wanna drink?"
"Vodka." I replied and he led me through the crowd of people to the bar. As Pony got our drinks I surveyed the room. I couldn't believe how many people were here. I saw Curly at the pool tables with Jerry from work, Angela was at the jukebox with some other girls, Aaron was talking to a friend of Pony's whose name I knew was Mark. I saw Tim at the poker tables where Steve and Soda had already parked themselves.
Pony handed me my drink and I was so thirsty I gulped most of it in one go.
"Thirsty?" Pony chuckled and I nodded as he turned to get me another.
2 hours and an unknown number of drinks later I was feeling pretty good. I was sitting at the bar with Curly, Pony and Angela. I was arguing with Curly about how girls were just as good as guys.
"Oh please," Curly said, "I bet I could lift that table off the ground."
"I could too, and I wouldn't even have to strain myself."
"Right, and how would that work?"
"I'd just give a little smile and batter my lashes and I could get some horny guy to do it for me." Angela laughed.
"Well I can hold my alcohol better. Look at you it's been 2 hours and you're already drunk. How many drinks have you had? 3?" Curly teased.
"Seven." Pony answered. "So maybe we should get you some water." he said to me but I wasn't listening.
"I bet I could skull a whole beer faster than you." I challenged and Curly laughed, "You're on!" Pony groaned at the two of us.
I ordered the beers, gave one to Curly and counted to 3. We started drinking and the taste of the beer was revolting. I wanted to spit it out but there was no way I was gonna let Curly win. I was just nearing the ¾ mark when Curly slammed his empty bottle on the bar and wiped his mouth.
"I win! Now cough up." he grinned and held out his hand.
"We didn't have any money going!" I protested and gave the rest of my drink to Pony who downed it.
"I guess I should have thought about that. How about a dance then?" I grabbed his outstretched hand and stood up. As I did I almost face planted straight onto the floor, but Curly caught me. He laughed with me and pulled me onto the dance floor.
It was fun dancing with Curly. I had to admit I was surprised he wasn't being a sleaze but he was actually a good dancer. Well as good a dancer as he could have been while attempting to keep me vertical.
"Maybe you should sit down?" Curly offered after I nearly fell for the 100th time but I shook my head.
"This is fun!"
"Take a hike, Shepard." I turned to see Steve and before I could say anything he grabbed my hand and dragged me to the other end of the dance floor.
"I thought I told you to stay away from him."
"He's my friend, Steve and we were just dancing."
"He's Curly Shepard. He's got a lot more on his mind than 'just dancing'." I rolled my eyes but had to grin.
"You worry too much! I'm going to get another drink."
I left him there and walked over to the bar, and by walked I mean stumbled and staggered and somehow kept walking off to the side instead of in a straight line. Suddenly my legs were knocked out from under me and I was in someone's arms being spun around.
"Sammy!"
"Two-Bit stop!" I shrieked and tightened my grip around his neck as he stumbled. "Two-Bit put me down before you kill us both." I laughed as he sat me on a stool and fell against the bar, shouting out.
"Two of your strongest shots, Buck!" 2 minutes later 2 shot glasses full of bright green liquid were in front of us.
"What's this?"
"It's magic juice!" Two-Bit held up his shot glass. "Just drink it!" I laughed and tapped my glass against his before downing it.
"You want a drink?" he offered and I nodded. I knew I was pretty wasted but I didn't care, that's what I wanted. I figured since there was still a small part in my mind that remembered the reason for wanting to get drunk tonight, I wasn't quite done yet. I wanted to forget, even if it was just for one night.
Two-Bit and I sat together at the bar for a while together, eventually we ordered a few drinks each and took them to the poker tables to see Tim. By the time I'd finished those 3 drinks I really needed to pee again. When I stood up I had double vision and had to quickly grab Tim's shoulder before I face planted. It passed after a few seconds of furious blinking and I made my way to the bathroom.
It was tricky maneuvering the stairs with people coming down but it was even harder on the way back. After I'd relieved myself I stood at the top, pondering how I was going to get down safely. Every time I moved my eyes the stairs seemed to dance before me.
Eventually I decided to just close my eyes and hope for the best. I put my foot on the first step but had misjudged and started falling face first. I let out a yell and flung open my eyes but luckily someone coming up the stairs had caught me. I turned to see who it was.
"Dallas!" I held his face in my hands. "I think you're my hero!" I grinned and Dally raised an eyebrow.
"And I think you're drunk." he removed my hands from his face but kept an arm firmly around my waist as he led me down the hall. Every guy we passed grinned or winked at Dally and when we got to his room I turned to him.
"I'm not gonna sleep with you, you know." He just stared at me.
"I don't recall asking you to. Just sit on the bed I'll be back in a minute." I went to sit on the edge of the bed but missed and landed on the floor instead. I started laughing so hard I couldn't sit up and fell onto my side.
"Or the floor." I heard Dally mutter as he shut the door behind him. I lay on my back and closed my eyes trying to rest but I couldn't. The room felt like it was spinning and when I opened my eyes it didn't stop. The walls were twisting and bowing in and the roof was spinning slowly.
I ran out of Dally's room and made it to the bathroom just in time, spewing my guts into the toilet. When I was finished I sat back, too tired to move. I realised I didn't have to when I saw someone had stashed 3 beers behind the toilet. I smiled as I reached for them.