The evening was hot as Casey and I hung out in my bedroom. She laid on the extra bed while I sat in front of the window that hung over my bed, waiting for any tiny breeze. I relaxed in my gym shorts and a white cotton t-shirt and Casey had her jean shorts undone and had stripped down to her bra to keep cool. Well she said it was to keep cool, I think she was hoping one of the gang would come in and see her.
"Scout?" Casey called to me. "Which one of the guys in the gang do you think is the cutest?"
I laughed and rolled my eyes. "Uh, none of them!"
"Get out!" Casey sat up and looked at me. "You know that isn't true." Her eyes sparkled. "Haven't you ever dated one of them?"
"No way! Come on Casey that would be like dating a cousin or something."
"I can dig that, but they're not your cousins, their just cute guys." Casey grabbed a book and fanned herself with it. "How about Dally, he's pretty fine."
"Dally's a criminal, and I don't find that the least bit attractive." I said with a snobby tone. "I could see you liking Dally though, cause he's reckless and all."
Casey thought awhile. "Yeah, he does give a girl the feeling that she is well protected in his presence. That's always a cool thing."
"Yes he will do that!" I agreed with her and thought about the night at the picture show when James was bothering me. Dally would have killed James for me if he thought that needed to be done.
"So what about Steve? He's kind of manly and all, what do you think of him?"
"I don't know. He kind of annoys me and he just isn't my type." I pulled my shirt away from my body to try to let the air pass under it.
"Well of everyone in the gang which one looks most like your type?" Casey read the disinterest in my face regarding the conversation. "Just who looks the most like what your type might be, count your brothers in there too. Just for looks is all."
"Well …. For example only!" I clarified. "I think Soda is really good looking, but I think I would like a guy more like Darry. You know, clean cut, full of muscles. Someone who has charm, class and good looks too!"
Casey shook her head in agreement, I think she may have been salivating. "Yeah I'd have to agree with you about Soda. Man that Sandy is one lucky girl! I don't know about Darry though, he seems kind of cold and disinterested most of the time."
I thought about how she had just described my brother the way Pony always did. I wondered to myself if I was seeing Darry wrong because I missed my dad and wanted my brother to be more like my father. Maybe Darry was cold and heartless. I lost myself in my thoughts for a moment before Casey broke my trance.
"Well? What about Johnny?" Casey was smiling wide. "I think he's real cool. He has a kind of exotic look to him, you know like someone you don't see all the time."
I laughed. "Dirty ol'Johnnycakes? Casey, that's just gross!"
"Awe come on! He's sexy!" Casey crossed her legs as she sat on the bed. "He's got dark hair and those dark brown eyes that match his tan skin."
"Tan skin! Casey that's just dirt because the boy doesn't bath enough!" I was really laughing now. I don't think in the next fifty years I would ever find Johnny to be sexy, but maybe that was because we were such close friends. "I'm just kidding, he is cute, but I could never fall for him."
Casey started to laugh with me about Johnny needing more showers. "Yeah you could be right… but he sure would clean up well."
"Ya got that right!"
"You know who I would like to date the most?"
I raised my eyebrows. "Yah! Of course I do, Sodapop."
"No, I mean of the single guys."
I thought about Dally, Two-Bit, Johnny and Ponyboy. "Oh no! Not Ponyboy?"
"No!" Casey's eyes got all dreamy. "Two-Bit!"
The name struck a chord in me that set me on the defense. I didn't know why but for some reason every nerve in my body hoped she never actually dated Two-Bit. "You can't date him!"
"Why not?"
I thought about why not, I didn't have a good answer other than he was my favorite guy in the gang. I loved the way he goofed around and made me laugh. Plus he understood me and that was important to me. I guess I was jealous that his little bit of attention toward me would fade away if he dated my friend. "Cause…he's….. I….. He and I are good friends and if you dated him that might make me have to choose between you two, and I don't wanna do that."
Casey slouched and thought about my reasoning. Then she stood up and paced the floor. "That's a pretty good point Scout. I could see where me dating anyone in the gang could be a problem."
I stood up with her. "Well I'm not saying you can't date any of them. I am just saying maybe it would be weird or something."
Casey reached down and opened the lid on my mother's jewelry box that was sitting on my dresser. "No that's cool. I dig what you're saying." I watched her run her fingers through the jewelry and I worried she may have been angry with my selfishness. A moment later I realized she wasn't a deep thinker and she yelled out. "Whose earrings are these?" She looked at me. "I aint ever seen ya wearing earrings."
I looked at her a little confused that she had so quickly shifted the conversation. "I don't have my ears pierced, they were my moms."
A sly grin spread across my friend's face. "Oh … I didn't realize you didn't have your ears pierced!" Casey buttoned up her shorts and threw her shirt back on. "You should let me pierce your ears for ya so you can wear these. They would be real pretty on ya."
I stared back at my anxious friend. I was really apprehensive about the thought of poking a hole through my ear lobe. "I don't know…"
"Oh shut up!" Casey demanded. "Were gonna do it! Come on it'll be fun!" With her decision made she pulled me out of the room and down the hall. "Where does your mom keep the needles?"
"In the drawer in the kitchen."
Casey kept a hold of my hand so I wouldn't run away, she knew me pretty well. I fumbled through junk to find mom's old sewing box. I pulled out the small kit and handed it to her as she pulled us to the bathroom.
I watched her digging through the bathroom cabinet. "What are you looking for?"
"Rubbing alcohol?" Casey asked and I pointed to the wall cabinet behind the door.
"Why do ya'll need rubbing alcohol?" Two-Bit's voice startled us both as he eaves dropped.
Casey looked over at him like he was dumb. "We gotta sterilize the needle before we use it to pierce Scout's ears."
"Pierce her ears?" He almost shouted as I grabbed my ear lobes and thought about how much it was going to hurt.
"Scout this is going to be so much fun!" Casey bubbled and skipped out of the bathroom passed Two-Bit with the rubbing alcohol and sewing kit in her hand.
I smiled nervously, "Well wait… will it hurt?"
"No, well yeah it will, but it's just for a minute." Casey tried to avoid the truth as she set up her little piercing station at the dining room table.
I grimaced at the thought of having a needle shoved through my ear lobe. "On second thought, maybe Darry will get mad." I tried to use my brother as a scapegoat.
"Come on Sissy!" Two-Bit drawled as Ponyboy, Johnny and Dallas strolled over to see what all the commotion was. "Darry aint gonna care, you're just chicken is all." Then he and Dally laughed at me. I'm not sure why, but I hate it when those two laugh at me.
"I never said I wasn't gonna do it!" I defended my fear, sat down in the chair and pushed my hair behind my ears. "I just don't want to get in trouble for it is all."
"Johnny!" Casey called to our friend. "Sweetie we're gonna need some ice too. Oh, and a wet washcloth. Could you go get that for me?" Johnny obediently went to fetch the items as the gang sort of crowded around to watch.
I looked around and noticed Ponyboy and Two-Bit watching with big grins on their faces.
"What are you all grinning about?" I asked them as my nervousness rose. I tried to hide it, to look tuff, but I was starting to rub my hands together which was a tell tale sign that I was scared.
Two-Bit's smiled stretched from ear to ear. "We just aint seen anyone have a needle stuck through their ear and we wanted a front row seat to see it!"
"Yeah, and I want to be able to see if you pass out or something." Pony added obnoxiously as he puffed on his cancer stick.
I drawled back my response. I tended to do that too when I'm nervous and trying to look tuff. "Well ya'll better go find somethin' else to do because it aint gonna hurt and I'm not passin' out."
"Ok are ya ready?" Casey asked. "I'm gonna put some ice on the ear and then I gotta push the needle through so don't squirm."
I sat up straight and took a deep breath. I made sure to look straight ahead and concentrate on something. I felt the freezing cold ice cube on my ear and then Casey pulled it off and dried the earlobe. I heard her count, one, two, three. I rush of pain made me jump out of the chair a little and I stamped my feet on the floor to try and distract my brain from the pain.
In my ear I heard Two-Bit yelp, "whoa look at that bleed!"
Then Dally scolded Casey, "You were suppose to push the needle all the way through stupid."
"I tried but I just wasn't holding the needle tight enough!" Casey defended herself. "Johnny give me that rag so it doesn't drip blood on her shirt."
I looked over at Ponyboy who had a surprised yet concerned look on his face. Two-Bit was near by trying so hard not to bust out laughing that his eyes were tearing up.
"What happened?" I asked as I took the ice and put it to my ear to try and cease the throbbing pain.
Casey looked over at me with a frown. "Well I aint never done this before and I screwed up and didn't push the needle all the way through."
"You haven't done this before?" I asked in disbelief but I could tell from the look on her face that she was sincere in her apology and I made an effort not to get mad. I picked up the hand mirror and pulled the bloody ice cube off my ear. I looked at the lobe dripping with blood and heard Pony tease. "Oh this is the part where she's gonna pass out."
I looked over at him. "I told you I'm not gonna to pass out!" I meant it. It was time for me to step up and finish the job. I Casey hold the mirror for me. I took the wet washcloth from my shoulder and cleaned the blood from my ear. "Johnny would you please clean the needle off and give it to me."
Dally leaned over from the part of the table he was sitting on. "What are you going to do, pierce it yourself?"
I looked up at him assuredly. "Yeah, if I am going to have a hole in my ear it better be able to hold an earring." I took the clean needle and wiped my ear lobe one more time so I could see what I was doing. Then I lined the needle up and pushed it all the way through. It hurt, but it was one of those pains that doesn't hurt as much because you do it to yourself.
"Oh that was gross!" Johnny said.
"Just one of the things broads do to look good for us." Two-Bit patted Johnnycakes on the shoulder.
"That was pretty tough Scout. I aint never seen a girl shove a needle though her own ear before." Dallas took a drag on his cigarette.
I smiled because being called tough by Dally was a nice compliment. I wiped the ear a second time and Casey cleaned it with rubbing alcohol again. Then we slipped in one of the simple gold earrings from my mom's jewelry box. I tried to see in the mirror how it looked but the blood was still bubbling out from the hole. I pinched my sore ear lobe with the washcloth and waited for the bleeding to stop. "Casey why don't you do the next, but don't screw it up!"
"I don't know." Casey looked at me apprehensively.
"Give me the needle, I'll do it." Dally said as he gently pushed Casey aside and clenched his cigarette with his teeth. I looked at him in his blue jeans and white t-shirt. I pondered whether I trusted Dallas Winston to push a piece of steel through my flesh. Then a thought crossed my mind, with a rep like his he has probably stabbed at least one person before so he had more experience then Casey! Dallas sat down on the chair directly in front of me. "Just push it through right?"
Casey took his cigarette and handed the needle to him. "No not just through, the hole needs to be even with the other one so her ears don't look crooked."
I looked at Ponyboy's eyes to ask him if he thought I was crazy to let anyone in this gang try to pierce my other ear. Pony kind of read my mind and shrugged his shoulders up to let me know that he wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not. I looked back at Dallas who had the needle in his hand and was waiting for Casey to use the ballpoint pen to mark the spot on my ear where the hole should go.
I pulled the washcloth away from my ear. "Has it stopped bleeding?"
Two-Bit leaned forward from where he was standing. "Yeah, I think it has."
I held the washcloth in my fingers as Casey put the ice cube on my second earlobe to numb it. When she pulled the ice away I looked at Dallas who struck my earlobe with the needle like a strinking snake. In an instant he pushed the needle halfway through and then pulled it out the back of my ear. I cringed at the initial pain. Casey pushed the earring through the hole and without a drop of blood the ordeal was over and my ears were pierced.
"Well looky there Dally!" Two-Bit teased. "Casey'll have you doing bouffants and fingernail painting by the end of the summer. Next time you gotta go before the judge you oughta tell him your ready for beauty school!"
Dally just smiled. "Hey! Let it be known that I aint ever afraid to use a piece of steel on anyone, at anytime for any reason." Then Dally let out one his signature laughs where you can actually hear him saying ha ha ha!
