Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders or Keeping the Moon.
oOoRikku4EveroOo: She's not going to leave Dally. Why would I do that?
ZELINDA: Yes he does have a crush on her, it's so cute. I'm glad you think they were in character. I love the "vitameatavegemin" episode too. It's such a good show. I hope you like this chapter, but the next chapter is the cutest.
Stef: Of course Aunt Candy likes Dally now. How can anybody not like Dally eventually? I promise I won't spend all my time writing, LOL. You sound like my mom. "You're spending too much time in front of that computer!" I hope you like this chapter.
Sodapop's#1gurl: Hello my fellow Soda lover. I'm glad her aunt likes him now too. I don't think it's a bad thing that you pick up little details. I like Darry too (except when I watch the movie I think of Johnny from Dirty Dancing which is kind of funny because I can't picture Darry dancing). I hope you like this chapter!
TWbasketcase: The detail about how Roxie feels about Dally that you asked for is in this chapter. I'm going to look for Drugstore Cowboy the next time I go to Blockbuster. I found out that he's in that new Lindsey Lohan movie about Herby. I may just have to sit through that just to see him, even if he's older now and may not be as sexy. I think Alec would be the better choice for her but I still like Kevin. I can't help but laugh every time I watch him play the bongos along to Respect. It is very nice to talk with fellow brat pack fans. I wish the Brat Pack would come back…except Judd Nelson isn't hot anymore and Anthony Michael Hall is all beefy and not the little dork I love. I think my reply is longer than your comment. I hope you like this chapter!
Gracie: I'm glad you liked the last chapter but my personal favorite is the next one...just because…well you'll find out when you read it. I don't want this story to end either but I can't drag it on forever, then you would probably get sick of it. I'm flattered that you think I'm talented writer. I bet you are too! My next story has already been planned and I just need to touch up a few things and then it can be posted.
Cutiepiepink angel: I hope you like this chapter and my next story, when I put it up.
Babygurl33: Yes I would love for you to be my beta-reader for my next story. I wrote you an e-mail about it. I kind of need your opinion on some things before I put it up. I'll tell you more about it when I send it to you.
Author's Note: As you might have already guessed this story is coming to a close. The next chapter will be the last one. I would like to give thanks to babygurl33, my beta-reader. Without her this story would be very crappy. LOL. I would also like to thank TWbasketcase for being very supportive of this story and for talking with me about the Brat Pack, LOL. And finally I want to thank everybody who reviews, and the people who just read this and don't review (I know you are out there because my story has gotten over 1000 hits). Anyways one to the next to last chapter...
Chapter Fifteen
It was the night of the eclipse. It felt like everything that had happened that summer had built up to that one moment. There was something magical in the air and I think we all felt that it was a special night.
Aunt Candace ran around like a chicken with its head cut off to make sure everything was right for her little party. She had invited Curtis's of course, and Olivia and Trisha. Two-Bit, Steve, and Johnny were coming along too as well as Dally, now that Aunt Candace didn't think he was a thug.
I had slipped out while Aunt Candace was making macaroni salad and gone over to Trisha and Olivia's house to get ready. Olivia scrunched my hair so it was curly and wild, and, according to her, very becoming. I only wore a little mascara and lip gloss, nothing too fancy. My cheeks were pink with sunburn so it didn't make sense to wear blush. I still had the bandage on my forehead but it was either the sort of ugly bandage or the hideous mark from where my head had met the pavement. I wore the pretty pale blue sun-dress that I had folded into the bottom of my suitcase. I had never worn in it before but somehow in my subconscious I had known that I would need it when I was packing two months ago. It was sleeveless and cinched in at the waist. I liked the way the fabric felt cool around my knees when I moved. Plus I felt confident in it; Trisha had told me that confidence is the key to being beautiful.
I was overcome with butterflies from the moment I put my dress on. I realized as I watched Trisha and Olivia do their makeup that sometime that night I would be telling Dally how I felt.
"So you're positive you're going to tell him tonight?" Trisha asked as she curled her eyelashes in front of her mirror. I nodded and sat down on Trisha's unmade bed with my legs curled under me.
"It's a really romantic night to do it." Olivia said wistfully as she brushed her hair. "I wish that Mike and I hadn't…" she said began softly, putting the brush down on the vanity but Trisha cut her off.
"Olivia, don't think about him tonight. Let him go," Trisha said taking Olivia by the shoulders and giving her a gentle shake.
"I know. I just wish I had someone to share this with." Olivia said trying to blink away the few tears that had collected in the corners of her eyes.
"You do have someone to share it with!" I piped up. "You have me and Trisha and Aunt Candace. And you have Ponyboy, Soda and Steve, Two-Bit and Johnny, and Dally. And Darry…" I said smiling slyly.
Olivia's jaw dropped. "How did you know?" she asked.
"People can always tell when you like someone, even if you yourself can't figure it out." Trisha said going back to curling her lashes. "I knew Roxie liked Dally weeks before she realized it herself."
"So what are you going to do about him?" I asked Olivia. She bit her bottom lip and glanced at one of the pictures Trisha had tacked up around her mirror. It was of the Curtis boys, a cheesy snapshot taken a few years back, judging by how young the boys looked. Olivia smiled softly as she studied Darry in the picture.
"Should I tell him like Roxie's telling Dally?" she asked Trisha.
"Sure you should. What have you got to loose?" Trisha asked as she inspected the work she had done on her eyelashes. Olivia and I raised our eyebrows. It was so easy for her to say. Trisha, noticing our looks said, "Don't worry Ollie, if you cut your hair like you had it in Jr. High he'll be all over you."
"That was a nice cut!" she protested. "If I have do that then the next time you go out on a date you have to wear your glasses and that dorky frog necklace you always had on." Trisha threw her head back in laughter.
Frog necklace…where I had I seen that before? I thought as I looked up at Trisha's pictures around her mirror. Then I saw it…the yearbook picture, the one I had noticed when Trisha was dying my hair. She had on dorky glasses and a frog necklace around her neck. It couldn't be…Trisha had said that she was her cousin.
I looked over at Trisha with her blonde hair and effortless good looks. The beautiful girl. So that's how she knew. I got up off the bed and hugged her.
"Um…I love you too Roxie…" she said in a baffled way as she patted my shoulder. I laughed. So the secret was true…any girl could be beautiful if she just believed.
"Wow Olivia, you look really beautiful…" Darry stammered as he entered the backyard. I looked over at Olivia and winked, before I went into the kitchen to help Aunt Candace.
"Thank you." I heard her say softly through the screen door. I elbowed Trisha who was piling watermelon onto a platter. She glanced out the screen door to Olivia and Darry.
"Looks like you may not be the only one to confess your feelings tonight," she said smiling. I laughed as I went back outside with a stack of paper plates.
"Your boyfriend's here." Olivia who had made a polite excuse to leave Darry's side, whispered in my ear as I set the paper plates on the picnic table. I looked up to see Dally entering the backyard with his leather jacket slung over his shoulder. His eye wasn't blackened anymore but you could faintly see the cut on his lip from where it had split open.
"Shut up." I muttered back to her. "Or I may accidentally have to let something slip to Darry…" Olivia covered her mouth with her hand.
"You wouldn't!"
"Better keep your mouth shut then Ollie." I said teasingly. She playfully smacked my shoulder and then left to go find Aunt Candace. I was organizing the plastic utensils into separate cups so they could easily be grabbed when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped and turned around to see Dally.
"I didn't scare you did I?" he asked smirking.
"No…you just surprised me that's all" I said blushing as he looked me up and down. I self-consciously started to cross my arms but I stopped myself in time because Trisha had always scolded me for doing so.
"I don't think I've ever seen you in a dress before Roxie. You look nice…" Dally said.
"Thanks…" I said smiling, wondering what I should say next, before I was thankfully whisked away by Aunt Candace who needed me to help in the kitchen.
"Dally?" I asked over the noise of the radio that Steve had turned on. It was dark, past midnight, and only about ten minutes until the eclipse was due to start. I was sitting on the back steps of Aunt Candace's house with Dally. Two-Bit and Trisha danced wildly in the center of the yard while, to my happiness, Olivia shyly asked Darry if he would like to dance and Aunt Candace was spinning Ponyboy around the entire perimeter of the yard.
"Yea?" Dally asked back loudly as he laughed at Ponyboy. I bit my lip. It was now or never but I couldn't do it here in front of all my friends.
"I have to talk to you. Come on." I said, trying to imagine that I was Trisha. I grabbed his hand and pulled him up off of the steps and through the house. I led him through the front door and out onto the street, away from the noise and commotion of the backyard.
"What is it Roxie?" Dally asked, cocking his head to one side, making his hair fall into his eyes. I loved it when that happened. I wondered what it was about Dally that really made me like him so much. I mean I wasn't the type of girl who just liked a guy because he looked sexy when his hair fell into his face. Hell if I was that type of girl I would be mooning over Sodapop instead of spending all my time thinking about Dallas Winston. And Ponyboy had been right; Dally wasn't charming and handsome like Soda. Nor was he as funny as Two-Bit. And certainly he wasn't as good of a listener as Johnny was. No, Dally wasn't super handsome and charming, or incredibly funny, or even good at listening. And yet there was something about him that made my heart skip a beat when I saw him. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but it was but I could see it in his face. He was proud and he was gallant. But there was something else…it was the little things like the way he smiled only about once a week, the way his laugh sounded when I said something funny, the way that he had protected me from Josh.
I took a deep breath and sucked up my courage. "I just wanted to tell you…thank you for defending me from Josh. It was really brave." I said as I shouted as many curse words as I could think of in my mind. I was such a chicken. Here was the perfect opportunity to tell him and I back out of it.
Dally furrowed his eyebrows. "You're welcome Roxie. But you were brave too. To get in the middle of us when you could have gotten even more hurt then you did…"
"I'm not brave…" I said, taking another breath. "I'm scared of everything. Most of all I'm scared that I'm never going to feel again what I feel when I'm with you, right now."
Mwah ha-ha! Yes I am being evil and leaving you with another cliffhanger even though I said I wouldn't. Don't hurt me :cowers in the corner:. But I think you can all figure out what's going to happen next… I'll give you a dedication if you can guess the movie I paraphrased the last few sentences from!