Chapter Twenty-Seven:
It was just starting to get dark outside by the time I arrived at the DX station with my bag slung over my shoulder.
Diving practice had ended an hour ago, but I'd needed to shower in the locker room and dry my hair before changing, so I was one of the last girls to leave. Carol Hart was probably still there, fussing over her makeup and curling her hair for her date with Todd Myers, but I hadn't bothered with any of that. After a long, strenuous practice, I was exhausted, so I'd settled for simply pulling my hair back into a thick braid.
Besides, it was just Steve and we were just going to the drive-in. It had only been two months since we started dating, but we'd known each other for years, so I felt comfortable enough not to obsess about that stuff when I was with him.
Of course, that didn't mean that I was opposed to adding just a dash of lipgloss, either, just in case.
I found Steve inside at the desk, filling out the day's report, and he glanced up as he heard the door open. "Hey," he said with a small smile, already changed out of his work clothes and into a pair of jeans and an opened blue and white shirt with the sleeves rolled up over a wife-beater. "I'll be done in a minute or two. I just need to finish this up real quick."
"Take your time," I replied, dropping my bag onto one of the chairs in the waiting area and sitting down in the one next to it. "I'm not in a hurry."
"How was practice?" Steve asked as he went back to his work.
"Exhausting," I answered truthfully, stifling a yawn. "If we didn't have a meet comin' up next week, I'd swear that Coach Durham was sadistic. My feet are practically raw from the board."
"Ouch," Steve said with a sympathetic wince.
"So where's my movie-star brother?" I asked dryly. "He leave ya to do all the work?"
"Nah," Steve chuckled. "He just left a few minutes before you got here. Apparently it's his night to cook, so he had to run by the grocery store to pick up stuff to make green pancakes."
"I knew it wouldn't last," I sighed, shaking my head in amusement. "As soon as his spirits picked up, we're back to crazy food again."
"Yeah," Steve agreed, not looking up from whatever he was doing. "That's our Sodapop, about as original as they come."
"Ain't that the truth," I murmured.
"Okay," Steve said a few moments later. "Let me lock up and we're out of here."
Rising to my feet, I grabbed my bag and followed him out, waiting patiently as he locked all the doors, then pocketed the keys.
"Hi," he said as he turned around to smile down at me.
"Hi yourself," I replied, and he bent his head to kiss me. "That a proper hello?" I asked teasingly after he pulled back.
"Somethin' like that, yeah," Steve said with a grin, draping an arm over my shoulders as we started towards his car.
The drive to the drive-in was fairly quiet, mostly because I was lost in my own thoughts, staring out the window. Steve glanced over at me a few times, but he knew me well enough to know that if I needed to talk, I'd talk.
Once we reached the drive-in, he parked the car and got the speaker hooked up, then told me he'd be right back and went to grab us some popcorn and drinks. While he was gone, I thought back on what I'd heard today in the locker room after practice, my emotions too jumbled and confused to really explain what it was I was feeling.
By the time Steve got back, though, I figured I'd better start talking, before he got worried and asked what was wrong.
"What do ya wanna do with your life, Steve?" I asked once he was sitting beside me again, absently taking a sip of the Pepsi he'd brought me. "Are ya gonna work on cars your whole life, or do somethin' else?"
"Don't rightly know," Steve admitted, tilting his head thoughtfully. "I love workin' on cars, and I'm good at it, so I don't really see a point in doin' anythin' else."
"It's a good job," I conceded, nodding to myself. "Ya make good money an' ya love your work. I ain't got a clue what I'm gonna do. I mean, if I had the time and focus and commitment, I'd love to keep divin', but that's not exactly a well-payin' job."
"Ya could dive at college," Steve pointed out.
"Maybe," I shrugged. "And I reckon I could always find somethin' that interests me at college to do fo' a livin'."
"You're young, sweetheart," Steve reminded me with a crooked smile. "Ya got all the time in the world to figure out what your dreams are and go after them."
"Yeah, lucky me," I muttered.
Steve gave me a speculative look. "Where is all this comin' from?"
Sighing, I decided I might as well just tell him. "Ya know Suzie Blake? She's in your science class and on the divin' team with me?"
"Yeah," Steve nodded as he ate a handful of popcorn. "She's pretty hot and heavy with Billy Martin, right?"
"Right," I said quietly, turning over the news she'd revealed when I found her crying in the locker room after practice. "She just found out she's pregnant."
"Glory," Steve shook his head after a moment of surprise. "That's a shame, she's even younger than Sandy."
"Yeah," I murmured, ignoring the wave of compasion I suddenly felt for my brother's ex-girlfriend. "And Billy's not much older."
"So what are they gonna do?" Steve inquired, holding out the bag of popcorn to me, so I took some.
"They haven't decided yet," I answered as I popped a few pieces into my mouth. "Billy's job at the hardware store hardly pays anythin', and I know Suzie had her heart set on goin' to college so she could get outta this town... but that don't seem too likely anymore."
"Ya never know," Steve grunted, fiddling around with something under the hood. "Things might work out that way."
"Maybe," I said doubtfully.
"What's really botherin' ya, Lizzie?" Steve asked, his eyes searching mine. He moved our popcorn and drinks out of the way, turning in his seat so that he was facing me. "Hey, talk to me..."
"I guess I just realized how easily your dreams can be taken away from ya, ya know?" I shrugged, avoiding his gaze. "I mean Sandy and Suzie both had their whole lives ahead of them, and now..." I looked down at my hands uneasily, not really sure how to voice what it was I was trying to say. This was new territory for me, and I wasn't certain quite how to go about explaining it to him.
Thankfully, Steve Randle knows me better than just about anyone, and was able to figure out where I was going with the conversation.
"Sweetheart," he said softly, raising my chin to look me in the eye. "I'm not in any hurry."
"This from the guy who bragged to the whole gang when he got Evie into bed after a week?" I drawled sarcastically.
Steve chuckled, actually looking a bit sheepish about that. "Let me rephrase that," he replied. "I'm not in any hurry with you."
"And why is that?" I asked, uncertain whether to be relieved or upset by that.
"Well, for one thing you're Soda's kid sister," Steve said, and I scowled. "Hey, don't do that," he said, shaking his head lightly. "You're Soda's sister, you're always gonna be his sister, and that's always goin' to be an issue to some degree."
"Gee, thanks," I muttered tartly.
"Elizabeth, don't be a brat," Steve sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "I'm tryin' to explain things to you here."
"Fine," I said shortly, leaning against the door. "Explain away."
"When I said I'm in no hurry with you, I just meant that it's different with you than with other girls, that's all," Steve said gently.
"Different how?" I demanded, know sure why I was getting so upset, but something had just rubbed me the wrong way. "Different because I'm Soda's sister?"
"In part, yes," Steve shortly. "Soda is my best friend, I'm not goin' to do anythin' to screw that up if I can help it. And I'm sorry, but treatin' you like other girls would definitely cause problems with Soda."
"So you're saying that the only reason you're not in any hurry with me is because ya don't want my brother to wipe the floor with ya?" I asked, lifting my chin stubbornly.
"Lizzie," Steve growled, narrowing his eyes. "Don't go puttin' words in my mouth, ya hear? That ain't the only reason, and if you'd quit bein' such a hothead, you'd figure that out. Glory, I swear, sometimes ya are too damn much like Soda for your own good."
I glared at him for a long moment, trying to decide which part of that sentence ticked me off the most, being called a hothead or being compared to my brother. Luckily, Steve seemed to have the sense that it wasn't going to be a smart idea to let me respond to that.
"You're not like other girls," he said quietly, looking at me with a soft expression. "You're special. But then again, ya don't need me to tell ya that, you've always been special. When we were kids, I wanted to protect ya, and now..."
"And now?" I prodded.
"I still wanna protect ya," Steve said grimly. "But now I want to protect you from myself."
I stared at him in silence.
"You ain't gonna make this easy on me, are ya?" he demanded with a sigh.
"Should I?" I asked.
"No, probably not," he conceded. "Lizzie, I care about you. I care about more than I've ever cared about any girl, and frankly that's a bit dauntin'. I don't wanna screw things up with you, because... well... you're special."
"Ya said that already," I told him softly.
"Yeah, well, I meant it," he replied. "I don't know how else to explain it to ya, except to..."
"Except to what?" I whispered, my heart skipping a beat under his tender gaze.
Steve reached out and brushed his thumb across my cheekbone, moving a loose strand of hair away from my eyes and tucking it behind my ear. "Except to say that I..." he trailed off, swallowing hard, and my stomach fluttered. I had never seen Steve stumble over his own words like he was now, and it made my mouth go too dry to speak. "That I think I'm in love with you."
I forgot to breathe right then, and my chest got a funny weightless feeling, while tears started to sting in my eyes. I blinked them back, determined that I wasn't going to go and do something as girly as cry at a time like this.
"Oh," I managed to say, my voice shaking a bit, as I favored him with a smile. "Is that all?"
Steve chuckled, wiping away a tear that managed to slip past my eyelashes. "Yeah," he said huskily. "That's all."
"Well, then, I reckon ya want me to say it back, huh?" I asked.
"Might be nice," Steve agreed with a shrug that was meant to be casual, but came off as hopeful.
"Yeah," I said softly, leaning in to kiss him lightly on the lips. "I think I love you, too."
A/N: Sorry this one was kind of short (and for the delay in posting)- school is tyring to kill me this semester. I wish I'd chosen an easier major than biochemistry, lol. There are still about three more chapters to go, so look for them sometime in the next few weeks.