Chapter Twenty-Six:


The DX station is always the busiest in the middle of the afternoon, about an hour or so after the schools let out.

On any given day, you can find at least a dozen kids hanging out in the general store attached to the station, but on Fridays the number always doubled. There was something about having an entire weekend ahead of you that seemed to draw kids there in packs.

I got a lift over to the station from Mikey, who was taking Tessa out for burgers and fries before heading off to the drive-in together. For the most part I tuned out their conversation on the ride there, but I did look up when Mikey announced that he was going to see Curly up at juvie hall in the morning.

As I climbed out of Mikey's car, I asked him to make sure he said hello to Curly for me, and he promised he would, so I waved to Tessa before shutting the car door and starting across the parking lot towards the garage.

I found Soda and Steve inside, hard at work. Or rather, Steve was hard at work, bent over the engine of a flashy-looking Firebird, a wrench in hand as he tinkered with something under the hood. Soda was leaning up against the wall, drinking a soda, and surrounded by dreamy-eyed girls who giggled at everything he said.

How typical, I thought, rolling my eyes. No one would ever accuse Soda of not working hard for his money, but whenever he went on break it was like some kind of alarm went off, alerting the girls in town that it was open season.

Soda was the first to spot me over the heads of the girls crowded around him, and he pushed off the wall, grinning. "Hi there, li'l sister," he called out. "What brings ya here today?"

"Certainly not you, Sodapop," I drawled, dropping my things down onto one of the empty chairs by the vending machine.

"Then you'd be the only one," Soda retorted, winking at his fan-club. "Right?"

"Right," they chorused with love-struck sighs.

"Why don't ya quit makin' eyes at them girls and actually do some work for once?" I asked him sarcastically, glancing over at the Firebird as Steve looked up in my direction.

"Him? Work?" Steve snickered. "That'll be the day."

"I'll have you know I work plenty," Soda informed us both, turning up his chin dramatically, which only served to derive even more giggling out of the girls drooling over him.

"Sure ya do," I called back without bothering to look at him as I made my way over to the Firebird. "Hey," I smiled at Steve.

"Hey yourself," he replied, closing the hood of the car and wiping his hands on one of the oil rags that he kept tucked into his belt. "How'd it go with Coach Durham?"

"Not bad," I shrugged. "A bit of grovelin', a bit of suckin' up, and he all but handed me my spot back on a silver platter."

"Did he now?" Steve asked with a small smile. "I'm glad to hear."

"Not half as glad as Darry's gonna be," I sighed. "He threatened to skin me if I didn't find a way to fix things, and I think he meant it."

"Probably," Steve agreed. "But he's just lookin' out for you, either way."

"I wish he'd stop it," I muttered.

"Well, somebody's gotta look after ya," Steve looked down at me with a smirk. "Or else how would we keep ya outta trouble?"

"Oh, I dunno," I said mischievously, batting my eyelashes. "I reckon ya could think of somethin'."

"I reckon I could at that," Steve murmured, lowering his head to capture my lips in a long, sweet kiss, the kind that make your eyes sparkle when it's over. When he pulled back, he chuckled, lifting his hand to his mouth and licking his thumb before reaching over to wipe at my chin. "Sorry," he said with a crooked smile. "Got a bit of grease on ya."

"S'okay," I assured him. "I don't mind."

"Well, the rest of us do," Soda drawled, waggling a wrench in our direction with a stern scowl that couldn't hide the amusement in his eyes. "Could ya'll take that someplace else, some of us are actually tryin' to work."

Rolling my eyes, I gave Steve an exasperated look. "I think I liked it better when he was still upset about us."

"I don't," Steve said with an amused smile. "For one thing, it's nice to be able to kiss you whenever I want to, without worrying about tickin' off your brothers. And more importantly, I like not havin' to worry about Soda tryin' to kill me."

"Oh, he might still kill ya one day," I informed him with a smirk. "After all, ya can't seem to ever keep your mouth shut durin' a braggin' session. What do ya s'pose ol' Sodapop is gonna do to ya if he learns ya corrupted his li'l sister."

Steve's face paled, and I heard Soda make a choking sound behind me. "I didn't..." Steve stammered, taking a step back. "Soda, I swear to God, I didn't!"

It was evil of me, I know, but the look on his face, and the look on Soda's face... it was too good to resist. Laughing, I waved Soda back, unable to keep from grinning. "Relax, big brother, he ain't done nothin' that requires ya to defend my honor. Not yet, anyway."

"Lizzie," Steve cried indignantly, his eyes flickering to Soda.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," I shook my head. "I was just tryin' to get a rise out of both of ya'll, and ya know it."

"That's not funny," Soda said, a grimace on his face. "I don't want to even think about you and him and... Oh God, I need a cigarette."

Wordlessly, Steve pulled one out of his pocket and tossed it to him.

"Thanks, man," Soda said, grabbing a lighter from the table and lighting it.

Deciding not to torture them anymore, I changed the subject. "I stopped in to talk to Mr. Syme on my way out of school," I told him.

Soda's brows furrowed as he looked up at me, perplexed. "Pony's English teacher?"

"I wanted to see if Ponyboy had handed in his theme essay yet," I explained with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Did he?"

"Yeah," I smiled in relief. "He got it first thing this mornin'."

"Good," Soda nodded, blowing out a puff of smoke. "Glad to hear the kid is straightenin' himself out."

"Not half as glad as Darry's gonna be," I replied. "He was ready to kill Pony if that essay didn't get handed in soon."

"Pony'll get back on track," Soda shrugged. "He just needs to do it one step at a time, ya know? Speakin' of which, if you're back on the divin' team again, what are ya doin' about work?"

"I'm goin' to cut back on my hours a bit at the diner, too," I told him. "Darry was pretty adamant about that, sayin' I was gonna work myself to death before I even turned eighteen."

"He's got a point there," Steve said seriously. "You've been tired lately, ya can't keep up that pace, especially not if you're gonna be usin' up all that energy divin' every day."

"I guess you're right," I sighed.

"I'm always right, sweetheart," Steve informed me with a faint smirk, kissing my nose lightly. "It's part of my charm."

"Uh huh," I snorted, rolling my eyes towards the ceiling. "Ya just keep thinkin' that, pal."

"Face it, buddy," Soda taunted him gleefully. "I'm the one with the charm, you're the one with the brains."

"Brains?" I asked coyly. "Steve?"

Steve gave me a small scowl and swatted at me with his towel. "What is it with you Curtises? There somethin' genetic that makes ya'll enjoy tormentin' the rest of us so much?"

"Probably from Dad's side of the family," I deadpanned. "Mom always liked you."

Now it was Steve who rolled his eyes, as Soda chuckled in the background. "I don't know why I put up with either of ya."

"Because you love us," Soda called sweetly as he headed back to the crowd of girls batting their eyelashes at him in the corner.

Despite myself, my mouth dried at that, and while Soda didn't seem to give his words a second thought, it was clear that Steve had caught onto the double meaning, as well. I looked down at the floor of the DX station, trying not to blush, and hoping he wouldn't notice.

"So what's the deal with divin'?" he asked after an uncomfortable moment, eager to change the subject. "Ya gonna think about college scholarships, or what?"

"Darry wants me to," I responded simply.

"I know that, but what do you want?" Steve responded with a frown. "When I brought up college last week ya didn't sound too sure it was the path ya wanted to take."

"I'm not sure, I don't even have a clue," I admitted, glad he wouldn't jump down my back about it like Darry would have. "But I have time to think it over, right? I mean, I've got another two years after this one, so no rush to plan out my future or anythin'."

"So long as I'm a part of it," Steve said casually, but there was a faint quickness to his breath that told me he'd meant that comment as anything but casual.

"I think that can definitely be arranged," I told him with a small smile. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're stickin' it out in school," I observed. "Do ya just really want your diploma since your old man doesn't think you can do it, or are ya plannin' on doin' somethin' with it once you get it?"

Steve looked at me in surprise, then shook his head. "It's scary how ya do that sometimes."

"Do what?" I asked, scrunching up my nose in confusion.

"How you pick up on things that no one else does," Steve explained ruefully. "I didn't think anybody knew why I wanted to graduate."

"It wasn't too hard to figure out," I shrugged. "Ya do a lot of things because of him, I reckon, and not nearly enough because of yourself."

"I don't know what I'll do when I finish school," Steve replied absently. "Haven't given it too much thought, really. But I reckon I'll end up doin' somethin' with cars, it's what I love doin'."

"Maybe you and Sodapop could open up your own garage someday," I suggested with a smile. "Curtis and Randle, or Randle and Curtis."

"Maybe," Steve nodded thoughtfully.

"Somethin' to think about, anyway," I shrugged again, then rose onto my toes to kiss him. "I gotta get goin', I'm on the clock in twenty minutes."

"Ya need a lift?" Steve inquired.

"Nah," I waved him off, starting across the garage. "It's a nice day out, I'll walk."

Soda looked up from his sea of admirers as I passed. "See ya at home for dinner, Lizzie," he called. "I wouldn't be late, if I were you, Darry's cooking roast chicken."

"I'll be on time," I promised. "So don't even think about eatin' my share."

"Who?" Soda asked with an innocent grin. "Me?"


A/N: Sorry this was such a short chapter, you guys, I have been swamped with school lately. I'll try my best to get a new chapter up, and a longer one at that, as soon as time permits.