Chapter 9

"Soda you planning on working today or just talking on the phone?" Steve yelled to him from the garage. Soda just waved at him as he nodded, but continued talking. "Come on Soda, long distance is expensive. Write her a damn letter!"

"Okay, okay." He told Steve before turning back to the phone. "Sandy I gotta go. I'll talk to you in two days."

"Tell her I said hi!" Pony yelled to him.

"And Pony says hi." He grinned. "She says hi back."

"Oh for God sake!" Steve grumbled walking into the office.

"And Steve says hi too." Soda listened to her for a second and laughed. "I'll talk to you later. Bye." He hung up the phone.

"Finally."

"Lay off Steve." Soda told him. "Did we get the parts for that mustang yet?"

Steve shook his head while drinking a Pepsi. "It'll be here by three." He looked at his watch. "I'm starving. I'm gonna run to the diner, see Evie and grab some food. You want me to bring you back something?"

"No. I'm good."

"Yes. I'm starving." Pony told him.

"You're always starving anymore." Steve laughed. "What do you want?"

Pony gave him his order and Steve headed to the diner. He saw Evie finishing up with a table as he walked in. He had to admit she looked pretty cute in that tight little pink uniform. But she really didn't look all that happy. She was smiling at all the customers, but as soon as she walked away, it was gone. He could tell she was pretty miserable. He hoped she was just tired.

"Okay crank it again." Steve told Soda who was sitting in the car. He did and the engine turned over.

"Purring like a kitten." Soda grinned.

"Yeah I guess." Steve slammed the hood shut and grabbed a rag to wipe off his hands.

"What's the matter with you? You been acting weird all afternoon."

"Huh? Oh nothing. Just thinking."

"Look Steve if you and Evie are having problems over the whole thing with Sandy, I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."

"Oh no, it's not that. And listen, I'm glad stuff is going good with you two. That you got some of that stuff all worked out. And I'm sorry I was being such an ass before. I should have told you that sooner too."

"Don't worry about it." Soda gave him that infamous grin of his.

"So you think she'll come back here? To Tulsa? I mean do you even want her to come back here?"

"Yeah, I do. I still love her. I always have. And I know she did what she did cause she thought it was the best thing. And she was just trying to protect me. And the baby. And I think that just makes me love her even more." He got the huge grin again.

"Yeah." Steve nodded his head up and down. "You think you're gonna marry her?"

"I wanna. I wanted to then. I mean I wanted to even before I found out she was pregnant, but I couldn't then. And now, well I still want to, and not just because of Lucas. But I can't right now. We got to work through some stuff. I mean we're different people then we were before. A lot of stuff has happened since she left Tulsa. To both of us. And I want to make sure that getting married is still the right thing for me and her. And Lucas. And I want her to know that I don't just want to marry her because of Lucas either. You know," he shrugged, "I just want her to be happy. Do what's best for her and all."

"Yeah. I know what you mean." Steve nodded, looking out at the pumps where Pony was talking to a carload of girls. "Lordy, look at the kid." He shook his head. "Damn he's only been working here a week and them girls have already started swarming in. Reminds me of when you and me started working here. The way they all used to come in and flirt with you in their little cars."

"Oh whatever." Soda grinned wiping his hands on the rag.

"No not whatever." Steve laughed. "Soda can you check my tires? Soda can you check my oil? Soda can you check my wipers? Soda you want my phone number?" Steve said in a girlie voice as he laughed.

"Please! It was never like that!"

"Yes it was and you know it. Just like him. Look at him out there. Leaning on the car trying to look all cool. Never knew he was such a lady- killer." He laughed.

"Yeah well, I don't think he knows it either." Soda grinned at him as he threw the rag at Steve. "Come on, let's get this finished."

Steve never saw Evie that night. She told him her feet hurt and she was tired and just wanted to go home to bed. He lay in bed thinking about her. He had decided he would take her out someplace really nice for dinner on Saturday and ask her to marry him then. A nice restaurant and then he'd take her to the park. They used to hang out in the park a lot when they first started dating. Back before he had a car. Well, before he had his car. He could always have a car, but the thrill of having a boyfriend who could hot wire a different car to take you out in every weekend wore off the first time they were almost pulled over for speeding. After that Evie wasn't too happy with his car "borrowing." She made him walk a lot more.

But yeah, the park. He'd ask her at the park. Not the big park. None of them ever went to the big park anymore. Too many memories. Even though they weren't there, just seeing that stupid fountain was enough to make him still think of Johnny and Dallas. No he'd take her to the nice park by the river and ask her there. He even secretly asked Darry for a tie and where a nice place to take her would be. He'd told Darry it was just an additional thing for her graduation and all, but he wasn't convinced Darry believed him or not. Even if he didn't Steve knew Darry would never say anything to anyone.

So yeah, he thought to himself. That's what he'd do. A nice restaurant. The riverfront park. A tie. Ask her there. And flowers. He should probably get her flowers. Yeah, that would be a nice touch. Girls always like flowers. He was actually quite proud of himself, planning this all out and everything. This should make her happy. It's what she wants. It's what he wants too he realized he just hadn't though about it before all this. Up till now, he never really thought about it at all. But that's just a guy thing he told himself. The same way that girls are always thinking about weddings and getting married, guys just don't really think about all that till they have to.

"Hey Steve you going to the diner to see Evie soon?" Pony asked him.

"Yeah I guess, why?"

"Cause I'm starving!"

Steve just rolled his eyes at him as Two-Bit walked into the garage. When he heard Steve was going to the diner, he decided he needed to join him. Once Steve finished up the car he was working on they headed over to the diner. He didn't really see her for long the day before. She was still training. Today she was supposed to be completely on her own. They walked in and sat down at the counter.

"What would you like Hun?" Gladys asked him when she walked over to where they had sat.

"I'll take the little hottie over there. To go." Two-Bit said loud enough for Evie to hear him.

Gladys rolled her eyes. "Lordy I hope he's actually your boyfriend and not just another wacko." She told Evie laughing.

"Well, he's my boyfriend." She motioned towards Steve but then pointed at Two-Bit. "But he's definitely another wacko. What's up?"

"Well, I missed breakfast driving you here. So I'm hungry. And Two-Bit here's got no job or purpose in life but harass us, so he came along for the ride. Oh and Pony is starving too."

"God where does that child put all the food he eats?" She laughed. "What do you guys want?"

Steve gave her their order and she put it in.

"So they not threatening to fire you or anything yet huh?" Two-Bit joked.

"Not yet." She told him.

"So how's work going baby?" Steve asked her.

"It's okay."

"Okay?" Gladys said. "She's doing great. She's a natural. Pretty soon she'll be able to do this in her sleep like me and the girls. Of course we've been working here so long we should be able to do it in our sleep." She laughed. "But seriously, she's doing great. Customers seem to love her. And I've never seen anyone able to add up a check so fast in their head before." She shook her head in amazement. "Plus we all think she's an absolute doll. Just love her. That's what this place needed, was some new blood. Isn't that right Mary?" She called to one of the other waitresses who agreed. "Yup. New blood. Change things up a little. We've all been working here so long we forget what that's like sometimes."

"Yeah well." Evie sort of trailed off as Two-Bit faked amazement at everything Gladys said about her.

"Well we defiantly want to keep her around. She'll do great here. I trained her so I know." Gladys said, nodding as she looked for her pencil in her hairdo. "I can always tell a natural. Yes-sir-re-bub! A natural. You got yourself one heck of a little career woman on your hands now mister!" She grinned, meaning it as the highest of compliments.

"I gotta get your order." Evie said softly as she hurried towards the back where she packed up Steve's food for him.

"Here you go." She told him as she handed Steve the bag.

That was when Steve realized it. Listening to her just then. She hated this job. And the look that had been on her face when Gladys had been saying all that stuff about her. It wasn't that she couldn't take the compliments. She didn't want them.

They headed back to the DX and ate lunch. Two-Bit kept going on to Pony and Soda about all the stuff Gladys was saying about Evie. Steve didn't even want to listen. The more he heard the more depressed he got.

All that stuff Soda had been saying the day before about marrying Sandy for the right reasons. And making sure she was happy and that it was what they needed. All that kept running through his mind. Would marrying Evie make her really happier? She'd still be in a job she hated. The only difference would be she'd be married to a greaser.

Steve looked over at Pony. He was still reading that book he'd given him. Every now and then he'd get up, go out to the garage, ask either him or Soda a question or where something was or how it worked. Then he'd go back to the book some more. He was more than half way through it and he'd only had it for a day and a half. Sometimes he's read some of it, then flip back and look at a previous part and compare something.

Two-Bit noticed him studying it too. "Good lord kid! It's summer vacation. What are you over there studying on so hard?" Pony held the book up for him to see. "Oh, fun, light summer reading." He laughed. "You trying to memorize the whole book?"

"No I'm just trying to learn some of this stuff." Pony answered him.

Two-Bit laughed. "Learning how to fix a car from a book! Only you kid! Especially when you got two of the best damn mechanics in Tulsa right here." He laughed again. "You planning on giving up that whole college plan of yours and going into the car repair business?"

"No." Pony told him, not looking up from his book.

"Then what you studying on it so hard for?"

"Because. Look if I can learn enough here, then when I do go away to school, I've at least got something I can do to get a job at while I'm at school. To keep making money while I'm there. It part of my plan Two-Bit. Get a job to pay for school. So I can get out of school and get a better job. You know, employment? You have heard of it before. Right? At least you've heard all of us talking about it. God knows you certainly don't know what it is first hand." He teased Two-Bit as Soda started laughing with him.

Steve didn't laugh. He actually had stopped listening to them. What Pony had just said kept running through his brain. "Hey Soda?" He said suddenly. "I just remembered I got to go take care of something. Something real important. I gotta run out for a little bit."

"Where you gotta go?"

"I just got to take care of something. Look we're all caught up on repairs just about. It was a light week, not knowing when you'd be back and all. So I gotta run and do this thing. I'll be back later. You got Pony here so you'll be able to finish that last car. Okay?"

"But where are you going?" Soda called to him.

"I'll tell you later."