Chapter 2
Evie couldn't wait for school to be over that day. She only had two classes after gym, but it seemed like an eternity for them to end. She sat at her desk, staring at the clock. Thirty more seconds. Twenty more seconds. Ten more seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Bell! She grabbed her books and raced to her locker. Quickly dumping in the things she didn't want, and grabbing the things she did, she slammed it shut and took off down the hall.
She hit the courtyard with a mission. She could take the bus, but that would take forever. So would walking. And the things that were running through her mind right now were going to make her crazy if she had to listen to them much longer. She scanned the parking lot. She wasn't crazy about her choices at that particular moment, but she'd make do.
Angela Shepherd was climbing into her brother Curly's car. Evie rushed over. "Angela!" She called. "I gotta get to the DX right away! Can you give me a ride?"
"Sure." Angela answered for her brother as she climbed into the backseat.
Evie never really liked Curly. He wasn't like his brother. While Tim was a hood, he still respected her as a greaser girl. And the fact that she was Steve's girlfriend. Curly on the other hand, was just a horny, skanky, teenage hood. If Tim could stop getting in trouble, he'd be an all right guy. But Curly would always be a lech. "Thanks. I really appreciate this."
"No problem baby." Curly grinned. "You come sit here next to me. I'll take you where ever you wanna go.
Evie rolled her eyes. Yuck. "I just hafta get to the DX right away. I have to see Steve. My boyfriend." She told him, emphasizing that last part, in case it would help. It didn't. Curly still kept trying to look down her top with the review mirror.
Finally they pulled into the DX parking lot. "Thanks a lot." She told them climbing out as Angela got into the front.
"No problem baby. Like I said, I'll take you where ever you wanna go."
"God Curly get a clue." Angela griped at him as she got into the car. "See you tomorrow Evie." She called as they drove away.
Evie gave a hasty wave as she hurried into the garage. "Hey Evie! How was school?"
"Same as always." She lied. "Where's Steve I really need to talk to him?"
"He had to pick up some parts, and then was going to look at a tow truck this guy just outside of town is selling. Said to tell you if you came by he'd see you at home. Any chance that means you're cooking dinner?" Soda grinned at her.
That smile of his. That was part of it. "Ah, maybe. I just really wanted to talk to him now. Is he coming back here?"
"Probably not. Sure you don't want to cook us dinner?" He teased her.
Evie smiled at him. "We'll see. I guess I should go wait for him at home then. I'll see you later."
"Okay. Bye."
Normally she would have hung out at the station for awhile. Ran through the books, did her homework. Hung out with Soda. Just killed time. But today she didn't want to be sitting around with Soda. She was afraid she'd say the wrong thing. But she had to tell somebody. Steve better hurry up and get home.
The walk to the Curtis' house didn't take long. When she got there, Ponyboy wasn't home yet, and Darry was still at work so she walked around back to Steve's apartment. It wasn't much, but it worked for him. Back during his senior year of high school he had been saying how if he didn't get out of his house soon, he and his dad were going to end up killing each other. He always hung out at the Curtis' so naturally he was there when he was bitching about his father. Soda was teasing him about how he already lived with them when Darry joined in. Teasing him about paying rent and everything. Steve told him if he wanted rent money, he better give him a better place to sleep than the couch. That's when Soda joked how he could sleep in the garage.
"You know that's not a bad idea." Darry said suddenly as he thought about it.
"Yes it is." Steve laughed. "Your garage is full of crap!"
"Yeah, but the upstairs isn't. I mean it is now, but it doesn't have to be."
"What do you mean?" Soda asked, realizing he wasn't kidding.
"Well think about it. There's the second floor loft in the garage. If you clean it out. And clean it up some. There's already water out there. We could get a bathroom put in pretty cheap I think."
"Really?" Steve asked.
"Yeah actually I do. They're ripping out the bathroom on this house I'm working on right now. Terry at work, who does the plumbing, said there was nothing wrong with it, they were just putting in all new stuff and were going to toss it. Plus Terry just blew the engine on his car. I bet we could get him to put the plumbing in if you two rebuild his engine."
"Hey we could do that!" Soda was getting excited.
"Yeah!"
"Then all you'd have to do is insulate it and put up drywall. And maybe rebuild the steps. But that'd be it. Steve could live there and pay us rent. Which would be cheaper than getting an apartment. And he's here all the time anyway."
"That would be so tuff." Steve smiled, looking down at Evie who had been quietly listening.
"Wait a minute." Soda suddenly said. "What about food? There's no way to cook out there."
At that Evie let out a loud laugh. Steve cook? Now that was funny.
Apparently Darry thought it was funny too. "Well considering I've never seen him cook a thing in his life, and the fact that he's always eating our food, I don't think it'll be a problem. Plus now he's paying us for it instead of being a free loader."
"This could really work!" Steve smiled. "That would be so cool Darry. You'd really let me move in?"
"Yeah, but you guys gotta do all the work on it. And you gotta pay rent. But yeah, why not." He shrugged.
"Cool!"
"Yeah cool!" Soda was almost bouncing up and down. "Darry call your friend. Tell him we'll come look at his car tonight if he wants!"
They were so excited Evie remembered. She was too. It had meant a place for her to hang out with Steve other than the Curtis' living room. They never went to Steve's house hardly ever. And going to her house was a pain between her parents and her little sister. Plus even then she had plans to marry Steve. She had hoped this would help push him in that direction. Make him more mature, grown up and responsible. But as of yet, she hadn't been able to tell if it had helped at all.
She walked up the steps to the loft and opened the door with her key. God Steve was a slob. She picked up some of the clothes he had thrown on the floor. Deciding she didn't want to hang out in his room, she got the key and went down and unlocked the Curtis house, going inside. Soon after the phone rang. It was Soda calling to say Pony had called him and was going to the library and then to someone's house to work on some school project and would eat there. He also said that Two-Bit had called him and he was going over there to check on his mom's car which wasn't working. He also said Two-Bit's mom would probably feed him there too, so not to worry about him for dinner after all. Good she thought. That means I can talk to Steve without everyone hanging around. Darry would be the only one home.
By the time Steve walked in, Darry had already come home and Evie had told him where everyone was. She had finished all her homework. Found nothing on TV. And just about made herself crazy waiting for him to come home. Finally the front door opened.
"Hey Baby!" He said to her as he kissed her.
"Hi. I need to talk to you."
"Okay. What are we doing for dinner?"
"I don't know. I need to talk to you first though."
"Hey Dar. Where is everybody?" He asked looking at the mail on the table and picking out his.
"Steve I said I need to talk to you! Now!" She yelled at him just as Darry was about to say something to him. When she did, he just sort of gave them a look and went back towards his room.
"Um, okay. What?"
"Not here." She whispered. "We need to be alone."
"Oh…" He got an evil grin. "No problem. Let's go." He followed her out the back door and up the steps to the loft, closing the door behind them. After the door clicked shut he reached for her and pulled her close, starting to kiss her as his hand went up the back of her shirt.
"Steve! I said I needed to talk to you!" She pushed him away.
A stunned look came over his face. "Oh, you mean you really want to talk?"
"Yes! That's what I've been trying to tell you!" She sat down on the ratty old couch.
This was weird. Evie was never really like this. Steve got a wide-eyed look on his face as a thought went through his head. "OH GOD! Are you pregnant?"
"What? No! Just listen."
"Oh thank god. I mean, well, it's just-"
"Save it. But we're coming back to that little outburst at a later time. Right now we need to discuss something more important at the moment."
"Okay what?"
"Soda."
"Soda? What about him?"
"Well, okay, I was in the locker room, getting dressed for gym, and I could hear these girls talking."
"What? One of them have the hots for Soda? So what else is new?" He laughed, sitting down next to her.
"No. Just listen to me. One of them was Susie. You remember her? Sandy's best friend Susie?"
His mood suddenly changed. He had never forgiven Sandy for cheating on Soda and breaking his heart. Especially after everything he'd already been through. And dumping him the week Pony and Johnny were missing just made it that much worse. If he ever found out who she cheated on him with, he'd give that guy a beating to remember. All she told Soda was it was somebody none of them knew.
"Yeah, I remember her." He said sourly. "What about her?"
"Well she was talking about Sandy."
"So?" He almost spit the word out. Little bitch, doing that to Soda. And here it was, all this time later, he knew Soda was still in love with here. Probably take the little slut back in a heartbeat given the chance. Luckily they didn't even know where she was and she never wrote him back after all the letters he sent her.
"And her baby."
"Well dah, she had to have it eventually."
"And they had a picture of it." She said, her eyes going down to her lap. "I had to see it. I don't know why, but I did. So I snuck the picture out and, and just look." She pulled it out of her back pocket and handed it to him.
"It's a baby."
"Look closer."
"It's a baby." He threw it back.
"Damn it Steve. Look at his eyes!" She held it up in front of him.
"Okay, it's a baby with eyes. What do you want from me?" He got up off the couch and paced a circle in the small room.
"I want you to tell me I'm not crazy. To tell me you think the same thing I do. You do, I know you do. I can tell."
"I don't know what you're thinking."
"You do too. You think it's his too don't you. You know its Soda's just like I do. That baby looks so much like Soda it's not funny."
"Okay, so maybe it looks a little like Soda."
"A lot."
"So it looks a little like him. So what? That doesn't mean anything." He was getting defensive.
"Of course it does. We have to tell him. He needs to know."
"No."
"What do you mean no?" She asked surprised.
"I mean no. After what she did to him. Why hurt him like that?"
"Maybe there was more too it?"
"No."
Evie glared at him. He was so pig headed and stubborn sometimes. "You're wrong Steve. We have to at least tell him. Show him the picture. Let him decide what to do."
"No!"
"Yes!" She stood up and yelled back at him.
"No!"
Evie crossed her arms over her chest. She knew she wasn't going to win this argument anytime soon. And she didn't feel like fighting about it anymore either. Screw Steve. He'll get over it. "Fine! You don't want to tell him then we won't tell him." She turned and opened the door.
"Then where are you going?" He asked as she stared down the steps.
Evie looked back at him for a second. It was now or never. Steve didn't want to be the one to tell him fine. But somebody had to. She hurried down the steps. "To tell Darry!"
"What!" He rushed after her.
Evie heard him coming down the steps as she swung open the back door. Steve was cussing up a blue streak trying to get to her. "Darry! Darry come here quick! Darry!"
"What's the matter? What's wrong?"
"Damn it Evie don't you dare say-" His words cut off as he came around the corner and was face to face with Darry.
Darry didn't know what was going on, but it wasn't good. Steve was screaming at Evie and she was running away from him. He couldn't imagine Steve would ever hit her, but something was definitely not right. "What's going on? Evie are you okay?"
"Yes, I just-"
"Don't do it Evie!"
"Steve we have to! You have to! He has to know!"
"What are you two talking about?" Darry asked, a little gruffer than he meant.
"Please Steve. He needs to know. He needs to try and talk to her. He still loves her and you know it."
Steve slid into the kitchen chair, running his finger through his hair. "I just don't want to see him get all hurt again by her."
Darry was patiently waiting to find out what was going on. It obviously wasn't what he first thought, but he had no idea what it was. He watched Steve sigh and nodded at Evie to continue. She started to tell him about her gym class and pulled out the picture for him to look at. "So how did you get the picture?"
"I stole it out of her purse."
"Evie!"
"Well I had to get it somehow!" Darry just shook his head at her and she continued. "You see it don't you? I'm not crazy. Look at his eyes. And his nose. The way he grins."
Darry let out a long sigh and sat down. She was right. That baby looked an awful lot like Sodapop. An awful lot. "Why would she lie? I know he asked her marry him. Why lie and say it was somebody else's?"
"Cause she was a little slut and didn't know who's it was?" Steve offered only to receive glares from both of them.
"I don't know. Honestly, when she first told him, I couldn't get over the fact that she had cheated on him. I mean it just didn't sound right. It didn't seem like something she would do. I know I wasn't like best friends with her or anything, but I knew her some. God we were together all the time. She just never seemed like the type. And I really thought she was so in love with him. That's why the whole thing surprised me so."
"But then why lie to him about it and tell him it's not his?" Darry asked, setting the photo down on the kitchen table
"I don't know. Maybe she figured everybody would be better off that way." She shrugged. "But more importantly, what do we do now? I say we tell him."
"And I say we don't!" Steve grumbled.
Just then the door opened and Ponyboy walked in. "Hey! What you guys doing?"
"Nothing." Steve mumbled.
"Nothing." Evie tried to blow it off.
"Nothing." Darry told him.
"Right." Pony said sarcastically, not believing them.
"Did you finish your homework?" Darry said trying to avoid the subject at hand.
"Yeah, it's all done. So what are you guys doing just sitting in here looking all serious for?"
"We told you, nothing." Darry said as he thought about what they should do.
"Fine, don't tell me. What else is new around here?" Ponyboy mumbled as he pulled the milk from the fridge and poured it into a glass. He looked over at the picture on the table. "What are you doing with one of soda's baby pictures?"
At that Darry's head shot up. Even Pony thought it looked like Soda and he didn't even know what they were talking about. That made up his mind for him. He looked at Evie and Steve. "We tell him."