Author's Note:
Wow! Not as many reveiws last chapter but I'm still happy with the ones I am getting! It feels good since I've never gotten this many reviews in all the stories I've ever written, lol! You guys rule, like seriously! You have no idea how good it makes me feel that you guys read this story. I LOVE YOU ALL REVIEWERS AND READERS!
Maggie coughed a little when she finally came to. Her stomach and head were aching something awful but she felt better none the less. She slowly lifted her head up off the pillow and noticed she was in Soda and Pony's room and Soda and Pony were lying on either side of her. She smirked but winced when it sent a dull pain through her lip. She let herself fall back onto the pillow and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. It was still dark outside which meant she had to have only been asleep for a couple of hours. She slowly got herself to her feet holding on to the foot of the bed to keep the dizziness away. She breathed in deep for reassurance before letting go of the bed and taking a step towards the door. She smiled when nothing happened and she didn't get dizzy. No matter how much her lip her she just couldn't keep from smiling. She took slow tiny steps the rest of the way to the door until she got to the living room. She looked around and found Steve on the couch and Dallas in the chair. She walked slowly over to the couch and dropped herself down near Steve's feet, hoping she wouldn't wake him up.
She sat there for a couple of minutes before closing her eyes. She let sleep take her after a few more boring hours of sitting there like that.
"Maggie, hey Maggie!" she woke up to the sound of whispering. She let her eyes slowly flutter open and found herself face to face with Ponyboy.
"What's up Pony?" she asked, her voice a little hoarse.
"Just wanted to know how you got in here." he told her as he rested a hand on her knee.
"I walked." she said bluntly and coughed a little. Pony nodded.
"You want something for breakfast? I'm the first one up." Maggie nodded but then shook her head.
"Technically, I'm the first one up."
"And technically you got a few busted up ribs, too." a new voice said from the hallway. Maggie looked over to see a sleepy Soda, shirtless and stretching in the hallway. She nodded finally.
"Just some eggs would be fine, Pony. And a glass of water." Pony nodded and went to the kitchen. Maggie closed her eyes again, still a little tired.
"How long was I out?" she asked Soda, letting her eyes flutter back open.
"Couple days." was his short, tired reply.
Maggie stared at him in disbelief. "Really?" Soda nodded and smirked a little.
"Your gonna have to come to work with me and Steve today. Darry has to work and Dally and Two Bit aren't going to be here so someone's going to have to look after you." Maggie snarled.
"I don't need looking after. Besides," she started as she leaned up a little, "I'd rather stay home and sleep a bit."
"Well, you can sleep in Steve's car or somthin'. Darry's not going to let you stay here by yourself." Maggie sighed and nodded again. It was at least worth the try.
"Here you go." Pony said as he handed her a small plate of eggs.
"Thanks, Pony." Maggie said softly as she sat up a little bit more and began eating her eggs little by little.
An hour later Maggie was walking to the car next to Steve and Soda, ready to go to work with them. Her whole body felt shaky and her stomach still hurt something awful, but she didn't complain. She knew it wasn't really that bad; she had just taken a beating. She sighed heavily before climbing into the middle in between Steve and Soda. She watched as the house and Darry quickly disappeared and other housed came into view. Memories flashed through her head when they passed by the Shepard house and she had to fight not to shutter. Then she saw Johnny's run down, nasty house. She felt a flood of pity come over her. She could hear the yelling from in the car and Steve even had the radio on. She wondered if Johnny was home or if he was in the lot sleeping like he did sometimes. She didn't know why he didn't just go to the Curtis' and sleep there. He knew he was always welcome and it was a lot warmer there.
"Maggie...Maggie." Maggie shook herself back to reality and looked over at Steve to find that they were already at the DX.
"Sorry." she said softly as she scooted out of the car. She walked slowly behind Steve and Soda and waited for Soda to unlock the place before going in.
"You can find some place to sleep I'm sure." Soda told her as he unlocked the register and got ready for opening.
"You can sleep in a car that comes in if you want." Steve told her as he started to the garage.
"That sounds good." Maggie said as she followed him in. There was already a car waiting to be finished and she decided to go ahead and crawl in the back seat. She opened the door to find the interior in the car at its peak and was happy it was disgusting like some cars. She crawled in and layed herself down, her legs stretched out and her hands at her sides.
"Comfy in there?" Steve chuckled as he got the tools he needed and started to get to work.
"Mmmm hmm." Maggie replied and closed her eyes.
About 20 minutes later Maggie sighed and sat up slowly. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't make herself sleep even though she was about to fall over from tiredness.
"Steve," she said loudly as she leaned back in the seat. "Who taught you how to fix cars?"
Steve gave a small grunt before appearing beside the car. He slide in beside her and sighed. "Believe it or not my dad taught me. Before he turned into an old drunk ass." Maggie smiled a little.
"How old were you?"
"I was about 8. I taught myself half I know but the other half I learned from him."
"I can remember, when I was about 6, my dad taught me how to do a cart wheel. It was before him and mom started all the fighting." Steve nodded and looked down at the seat, not wanting to meet Maggie's eyes.
"I can remember about 4 years later on the same day, I was cowering in a corner in my room after I had just heard a vase smash on my bedroom door."
"Nobody's families perfect, Mags." Steve told her as he turned more towards her.
"Yeah, I guess not. But don't you ever wonder what it would be like to actually have 2 parents that aren't drunks or attics or who don't fight over money? Who just fight about little things like what color their going to paint the living room." Maggie smiled a little at the thought.
"I bet Pony and Soda and Darry knew what it was like." Maggie said after a few seconds. "Wish I had got to meet their parents."
"Their parents were great. They still had their fights but they were great. Especially Mrs. Curtis, always trying to keep us boys on our toes and in school." Steve grinned at the memories.
"Its a shame, you know? People like that have to die. Especially when they had you guys to look after. You guys to take care of." Maggie could feel her eyes burning at the thought of it. She quickly whipped at her eyes and laughed a little. She didn't even know what had brought that question up in the first place. It just kinda popped into her head and she asked it.
"You know we're having a rumble?" Steve asked, suddenly all excited.
"Yeah?" Maggie asked as she turned her body towards him, sitting in Indian style.
"Yeah. We're having whenever you get better. Socs versus Greasers. We're gonna have the Shepard gang, the Brumely boys. The whole nine yards." Maggie nodded. She wasn't so sure if it was a good idea or a bad idea. She had complete confidence in the Greasers, but she didn't think it was right to have a fight over her. But, she kept her mouth shut. She knew all the guys would be excited about it, not to mention how much they just wanted to fight.
"Steve?" Maggie asked after a few minutes of silence.
"How do you know when you like some one and when your just attracted to em?" Maggie blushed after asking. She was just trying to talk about something and the whole Tim thing had been bugging her for a while. Plus the fact that she was starting to feel something for someone else too.
Steve looked into her eyes with his deep chocolate brown ones. Maggie held his gaze, transfixed on him for the time being. Steve ripped his eyes away from her and grunted.
"Like I would know?" he asked softly.
"Well, I figured you and Evie..." Maggie trailed off and looked down at her feet.
"Look," Steve said coldly as he turned back to Maggie, "Just cause I'm dating Evie doesn't mean I like her like that. There ain't no wedding bells in out feature. So, no, I wouldn't know how to tell the difference."
"Steve," they both heard Soda yell, "Evie's here." Maggie smiled coldly at Steve before looking aways and out the windows, anywhere but back at Steve. She felt Steve climb out of the car and looked up to see him walking to Evie. She watched as he pulled her to her and gave her a deep passionate kiss. She felt a shock of jealousy run up and down her spine and rest in the pit of her stomach. She was suddenly getting that feeling of wanting to be where Evie was, wanting to be right there in front of Steve giving him that deep passionate kiss that Curly had given her. Steve looked over at her, his eyes cold and his lips still locked with Evie's. Maggie looked away quickly, not wanting Steve to see the hurt in her eyes. She climbed out the other side of the car and left through the garage door.
When she finally got outside she leaned on the closed garage door and closed her eyes. She didn't know what was going on with her but for some reason she was feeling really emotional and she didn't like it. She pushed herself off the door and started walking in no particular direction for a while. Only stopping when the cold was too much to bear and she had to head back inside.
"Hey, Soda." she said softly as she walked over to the counter where Soda was sitting on a stool, reading a magazine.
"Hey, Mags." Soda answered in a bored tone of voice.
"I thought Sandy usually came with Evie." Maggie said as she leaned against the counter. Soda looked up at her sharply, hurt in his eyes.
"She's in Florida with her grandma." he managed to chock out. Maggie nodded, she wanted more then anything to ask why but she didn't want to upset Soda more then he was already.
"Is it safe to go in?" she asked as she pointed to the garage. Soda just nodded and went back to his magazine.
"Ok." Maggie muttered before heading into the garage. She found none other than Tim Shepard standing next to his black T-Bird talking to Steve. Evie was over in the corner, eying Tim as he stood next to Steve. Maggie snarled at her and made her way over to Tim.
"What the hell happened to you?" Tim asked, his voice rough, as he got a look at Maggie.
"Socs." Maggie said softly as she stood next to him.
"How many?" Tim asked as he pushed her bangs aside to get a look at her black eye. A chill ran up and down Maggie's spine but she tried not to let it show.
"Bout 6. One of them had some damn big rings." Maggie said and sucked on her split lip a bit. She looked up at Tim to see him nod at her and the memory of Tim standing shirtless in front of her flashed through her head and she blushed. Tim chuckled coldly, making Maggie blush some more.
"What wrong with you car, Tim?" Steve asked coldly from over by Evie.
"Its got a nasty oil leak." Tim told him as she turned to him a little more. Steve nodded and walked over to Tim's car.
"I'll have it done by tomorrow. You can pick it up then." Tim nodded.
"I"ll see you later Maggie." he said before leaving. Maggie let out a breathe and fought back a smile.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
I've estimated and I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up with about roughly 30 or so chapters. MAYBE! I still have to fit the romance in there and I have a big scene coming up soon involving the rumble. I still have lot of plans for this story so keep reading! PLEASE!