I finally got this chapter finished. It took a while to work on once I got my cosplay finished (That's why I was gone so long). Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with this revised chapter. I'm absolutely certain it's better that the first.
I do not own the outsiders.
Andromeda mumbled incoherently as she slipped into a half awake state. She tugged the quilt a bit closer as she sighed in contentment. Her bed was far more comfortable than she'd remembered it being. A smile tugged at her lips as she toyed with the edge of the quilt and began to slip back into dreamland, Andromeda was abruptly woken though, when she remembered her bed at her aunt's house didn't have a quilt. And if it did, the edges of it certainly wouldn't be fraying.
She bolted up in bed to look around rapidly before she realized she was in the Curtis house. Her heartbeat slowed some and she analyzed her surroundings until she recognized it as Soda's old room.
Andromeda sighed in relief before she grimaced as she finally remembered the previous night. Everything from her ex's messages, the nightmare, to her argument with her aunt flooded in. Andromeda flopped back and covered her face with the pillow to muffle the groan that slipped through her mouth. The embarrassment that she felt the night before when she realized she'd walked barefoot in her nightgown to the Curtis house returned. She'd worked hard to get stronger, be braver. Yet that had crumbled at what? Some harsh words, a nasty picture, a bad dream? Andromeda removed the pillow from her face and stared at the ceiling.
She must have made less progress than she'd thought.
She glanced at the clock on the nightstand a few minutes later. 6:30 in the morning. Andromeda closed her eyes in an attempt to get a little more sleep. However, she quickly became restless and sat up in bed. She took a few minutes to finger comb her hair before she snuck into the bathroom and washed her face. She would have liked to brush her teeth as well, but that would have been impossible. She compromised by rinsing the bad morning breath taste out of her mouth.
Andromeda frowned at her reflection. It had been exceptionally kind of her friends to let her stay the night instead of letting her stagger home again. She'd have to repay them for it.
Several minutes later a smile replaced the frown on her face. If she was remembering correctly, the Curtis family was almost out of cake again. A quick trip to the kitchen lead to an ill-spelled not explaining there was no cake left.
Andromeda proceeded to wash her hands before she gathered together the ingredients she needed. The cake was just about finished when Soda stumbled into the kitchen. He sniffed at the air, then grinned as he joked, "You think your Aunt would mind you moving permanently?" Andromeda laughed as she said, "She'd love to kick me out, but she technically has to take care of me."
Soda shrugged as if to say 'I tried' before he sat down and helped himself to some cake as he said, "I didn't know you were the type to get up early. Andromeda moved the last of the dirty dishes into the sink and make a mental note to wash them before she replied, "I'm not. I just couldn't fall back to sleep today." She got herself a slice of cake as she noted, "I have to admit that I'm surprised that Darry wasn't up already." Soda was about to answer when a voice drifted from the doorway, "I don't have to work today, so I slept in some. Darry wandered in as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand before he got a cup of coffee and a slice of cake.
He took several sips from his mug before he asked Andromeda, "Did you sleep well?" Andromeda nodded in reply and Darry accepted the answer before he added, You should be careful though, it's dangerous to wander at night."
Andromeda hung her head in guilt. She knew that scolding would be coming, but that didn't change how she felt. A low voice whispered in her ear, "We hoods are a dangerous type to meet in the middle of the night." Andromeda jumped slightly in response before she turned and smiled sheepishly when she caught sight of a grinning Two-Bit.
Scattered chuckles caught her attention and she glanced around to see the rest of the gang had entered without her noticing. the conversation meandered to the usual topics as everyone ate.
Darry looked at the calendar on the wall before he muttered, "April 4th. Pony, you have a test this week right?" Pony frowned as he replied, "Yeah." Darry looked hard at him as he pressed, "You've studied for it, right?" Pony looked further irritated as he repeated, "Yeah." Darry's eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything further.
Andromeda stared at the calendar before she muttered, "April forth? Huh. Happy birthday to me, I guess." She took a few more bites of her cake before she realized how unnaturally quiet the room was. She glanced up to find everyone's eyes on her before Soda protested, "You never said today would be your birthday!"
Andromeda cocked her head to the side as she thought back before she uttered, "Huh, I guess I forgot."
She shrugged and made to eat another bite of cake as Pony stared and exclaimed, 'You forgot to mention your own birthday!?" Andromeda gave him a puzzled look as she said, "Yes? I mean it's just like any other day if you ignore the fact that I'm one year older." Pony's eyebrows knit together before a flicker of understanding flashed in his eyes and he asked, "Your family doesn't celebrate your birthday, do they?" Andromeda shrugged awkwardly as she glanced at her hands on the table. She knew that most people enjoyed celebrating their birthdays, but her family was different. So when Two-Bit mumbled, "That's stupid." under his breath, she had no idea how to respond.
The uncomfortable atmosphere was broken when Johnny stuttered, "W-why don't we have a little birthday party for Andromeda? I mean, just because her family won't doesn't mean we can't."
All eyes turned from Johnny to Andromeda and Darry asked, "Well, what do you think Andromeda?"
Andromeda swallowed hard. She wasn't used to people caring so much about her birthday. She smiled awkwardly and she chose to tell a little white lie, "I would love to have a birthday party." The others smiled and Darry noted, "It won't be a fancy one. Andromeda smiled in relief as she said, "I really don't mind.
The rest of the gang seemed satisfied with her response and just as things seemed to be headed in a more normal direction, Soda got a devious smirk on his face and promptly leaned over to whisper something to Steve who soon wore a similar smirk as he nodded Soda and Steve walked over to Two-Bit and whispered to him. Two-Bit grinned and barked with laughter as the rest of the group watched. Soda and Steve proceeded to split up and whisper something to the others. Pony and Johnny looked confused, but Darry frowned and shook his head.
Andromeda looked at Dallas who smoked in a corner with a frown on his face. Soda waltzed over to Dallas and whispered to him as well/ Dallas' expression darkened as he replied, "Hell no!" Steve joined Soda and the pair of them continued to whisper to him as he protested. After a few minutes of this, Dallas threw up his hands and snapped, "Fine. Fine!"
Andromeda continued to watch as she wondered what was going on. She didn't have to wait long because Soda promptly grinned at her and said, "We decided-""You and Steve decided.", Dallas interrupted. Soda simply continued, " We decided that since it's your birthday, you need a present." Andromeda's eyes narrowed as she replied, "Uh, you don't need to worry about a present. I'll be fine with out one." Sada's grin seemed to get wider as he said, "Nope. It won't be anything fancy really, just a kiss from Dally."
Andromeda nodded for a few seconds before she froze and practically squeaked, "A kiss!? No ... No no no. I just, we ..." Andromeda stood there red-faced as she stuttered.
There was the sound of a sort and Andromeda turned to look at Dallas who smirked as he said, "What's wrong? Don't wanna kiss a greaser?" Andromeda's jaw clenched as she snapped, "No, that's not what I meant." Dallas chuckled as he asked, "Then what's the problem?" Andromeda opened her mouth to rebuff what he said, but no argument came to mind. Instead she found herself spitting out, "Fine!" She swallowed and added more gently, "Alright."
The faintest of smirks appeared on Dallas' face as he approached. Andromeda swallowed, but stood her ground. She tried to reason with herself and say it was just a simple kiss and nothing more. All too soon Dallas was standing before Andromeda.
She could feel his fingers slide across her cheek briefly as he reached to cup the back of her neck and took a singe step forward. His breath fanned her face along with the smell of the cigarette he'd just been smoking. For once Andromeda didn't mind the smell as icy eyes held her gaze captive. Dallas seemed to study her face briefly before he leaned down and claimed her mouth with his. Andromeda froze before she felt her eyes close and she leaned closer to Dallas His lips felt almost rough, and his kiss was demanding. Before she knew it, Dallas Stepped away and Andromeda found herself reeling from the lack of it.
Andromeda composed herself as quickly as possible before she turned toward Soda and stuttered, "W-well?" She intended to carry the question further, but her still frazzled nerves made that impossible. Soda grinned and gave her a thumbs up while Darry groaned and massaged his temples.
She was still standing there when Johnny interjected, "Anyone up for a game of football?"
Andromeda smiled in relief as she said, "As long as my role is a spectator., I'm game." There were chuckles in response. The others swiftly agreed and Andromeda mouthed a, "thank you." to Johnny who nodded back.
That said, Andromeda found herself hard pressed to focus of the game when they got to the vacant lot. It wasn't as though she thought the game was boring, it was certainly amusing enough that it should have held her attention. But she just couldn't stop thinking of the kiss. If she;d learned anything from her experience, it was that Dallas certainly knew what he was doing. Andromeda gave herself a hard pinch as her gaze turned toward his lips again. After all, she didn't really know him. Ever since she'd met him, Andromeda had been careful not to get too close to him. But now her thoughts were drifting in a different direction.
A sudden ringing jolted her into the real world and she swiftly looked at her phone to see that Edward had called her. Again. Her lips pursed and her finger hovered over the button to hang up on him. A second later, her finger pressed the button to accept the call and held the cell phone reluctantly to her ear.
She didn't want to answer but he would undoubtedly have kept calling until she answered.
"What did you do that for?" Her ex's voice snapped at her. Andromeda sighed and asked, "Do what? All I did was accept your call." There was a growl on the other end before Edward snapped, "Why the hell did you give my number to all those hooligans? o you know how many disgusting calls I've gotten or how many times I've been mocked for the size of my-" Edward cut himself off and continued, 'And who was that dirtbag you were kissing in that picture anyway?"
Andromeda blinked before she snapped,"First he's not a dirtbag and second, who I kiss is none of your business!" Edward growled "Fine then!I'm changing my number so this is the last time I'll call you. There's no way I'll accept being disgraced like this."
Edward hung up and Andromeda snorted. It seemed selfish, him complaining about being disgraced after what he'd done. She turned off her phone just in case before she glanced up to see Dallas looking in her direction with a knowing smirk on his face. Everything slid into place as he looked away. Dallas must have given Edward's phone umber to some of his friends who'd made the calls her ex received. Soda's idea for the 'birthday kiss' picture was essentially the cherry on top of the insult cake.
Andromeda shook her head as she shook her head. She knew revenge wasn't good, but she couldn't care less at the moment. If it meant that Edward would leave her along, she'd go through the whole situation again. Andromeda stuffed her phone back in her pocket as she focused on the game.
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Next up will be a new chapter. It probably won't take long to put up but I can't say for certain.
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