I roll my eyes at Joan Darcy's unwavering glare at me, it's nothing malicious, but rather one of heated intensity, waiting for me to break information about Karen Hill.
It's information I ain't about to supply.
She continues to watch me as I turn in my time sheet to Bev, who takes it real graciously.
"Sylvie, I don't know quite what we would do without ya around here." She pants, squeezing into the space behind the counter.
Without a smile, or even a hint of any kind of emotion, I turn and walk out of the diner, wrapping Dal's jacket tighter around me.
Sure as hell, Dallas Winston leans against the wall of the diner, puffing on a smoke like his life depends on the damn thing.
"Hi honey." I smile, feeling somewhat content for the first time today.
"Doll." He smirks, taking the weed out of his mouth and offering it over to me before lighting a new one for himself.
I take it graciously, pecking him on the cheek, which seems to be an ego boost he don't need. He pinches my waist, dangerously close to inappropriate and takes my hand into his own. His hand dwarfs mine, and I revel in the comfort that his presence is to me.
Puffing away on my cancer stick, I watch as the sky turns dark.
"It's kinda beautiful out here." I muse, not expecting a response at all from the man next to me.
"Jesus, Juliet, don't go being sap on me. I thought you got past that." He jokes, suddenly pulling my body flush to his.
The cigarette in my hand drops to the ground, and I look direct into the eyes of Dallas Winston. We stand in the middle of a street made from pure hell, but all I can see when I look at him is pure heaven.
"You'll be the death of me." He whispers, a certain breathiness plaguing his voice.
"Shit, just kiss me, you big sap." I smirk at him, and like all he needed was permission, his lips meet mine furiously.
I could melt.
His hands trail over my waist, pushin' the boundaries as usual. I don't expect much more from the likes of him anyhow.
Gravel crunching breaks me from my trance, and I hit Dally until he stops his assault of my lips, his arms automatically pushing me to the side of him as he stares down the boys who stand in front of us.
I shiver, suddenly uncomfortable in front of the boys who used to swear to be forever.
"Damn, Sylvia, I didn't know you'd become a common whore."
I flinch at Tim's words, shrinking back until I can't get much closer to Dallas. Dallas stands taller, tilting his head back in a way that usually means trouble. I clutch real nervous like at his shoulder, holding him back, but what good can I honestly do against Dallas Winston when he's mad as a bull.
"You got a real nerve about ya." Dallas calls to Tim, taking a threatenin' step towards him.
"And here I was thinking it was you with a nerve." Tim smirks, but even from where I stand tucked crudely behind Dallas, I can see the pure malice glint in his eyes. It ain't a pretty picture.
"Why don't you come over here and find out." Dallas instigates further, and I look at the group in front of me.
Danny and a boy I ain't ever seen before stand to the side of Tim, watching us closely with Rudy and Curly further down the street. It's five against two, one really, because what am I going to do. I could probably land a good one on Rudy, but it'd only be because he's too nice to beat on some girl.
"Big talk for little game." Tim frowns, his hands curling to fists, I flinch back.
The tension is unbelievably thick. I wish I could just melt to the ground, sooner or later something will have to happen. With these boys, there's no doubt a fight won't ensue.
Rudy's eyes suddenly snap to something off to behind of us, and I turn slowly. Johnny Cade and two other boys I've only seen in passing stand close to us, ready to fight. I ain't even sure they know what they're fighting for, but they don't look opposed to a good slug.
"Hey scarface, I'd get out of here if I were you." One of the boys calls, breaking into a fit of laughter as he approaches us. The broken booze bottle in his right hand draws me aback, but I remind myself that it's better to have him fighting for us than against us.
"Who you callin' Scarface, Matthews?" Curly calls to him, but a small smile plays on his lips anyhow.
"I think he means your big oaf of a brother." The other boy with Johnny nods.
Almost immediately the one with the bottle, Matthews, breaks down into a fit of laughter.
"Hey, good one Stevie." He slaps the boy's shoulder, leaning over and pointing at Tim.
I flinch, knowing that Tim won't take any of these pokes all too well. I'm proven right when he spits on the ground in the direction of the two boys.
"Rudy, get her home, her right home." Tim grunts, motioning to Rudy "This is between Winston and I."
I shudder, hanging on to Dallas tighter. Rudy takes a step towards me, but Dallas easily advances, and he moves back.
"Johnnycake." Dallas calls, keeping his eye on Rudy "take her to Buck's, don't leave her until I'm back." He shoves me towards Johnny, but still holds me upright when I near fall over.
"Sylvia, come here." Tim calls, motioning to Rudy, but I keep on stumbling backwards until I'm caught by Johnny, he holds to me, tugging me backwards.
I tremble, my body pulsing as I stare at the scene slowly unfolding. Dallas advances on Tim, I know he ain't about to throw a first fist, but he likes to instigate until he gets a fight out of someone.
"We have to go, Sylvia." Johnny mumbles to me, gently taking my hand as he tugs me slowly away from the fight.
I let myself get pulled along, and as we move further away from Dallas and his gang.
"Run." Johnny suddenly stutters, and I look back, realizing that Rudy is after us.
I trip forwards, my feet slapping against the pavement as I pick up my pace. I quickly stop when I realize that Johnny isn't following behind me any longer.
"Johnny." I hiss, turning back to him.
"No, go." He commands, which feels so foreign coming from Johnny Cade.
I keep back to him, slowing when I reach a few feet from him. We're far enough away from the boys to make any of them out but Rudy.
"I ain't leaving you behind." I glare, facing Rudy's approaching outline.
"Dal is going to have my hide, you should go." He mutters near silently.
My hand flutters to Karen's necklace, and I silently pray to whoever for the strength of Karen Hill. She wouldn't be afraid, she was never afraid especially of the likes of Rudy. If anything else, Rudy would be terrified of her, hell, he probably was.
"Sylvia." Rudy hollers, and I stand my ground, staring him down.
Johnny looks like he's either going to faint, or fight, and honest I feel the same. The explosion of circumstances has made my head spin, and my lungs squeeze in a way I never knew possible.
Rudy's footsteps match the thud of my heart, but I can barely hear them, or anything really. The air barely meets my lungs, expelling quicker than ever before. The world around me fails to straighten as I stare out. Black dots of anxiety threaten the edges of my dim grasp on reality.
Johnny turns towards me, his eyes wide as he stares. He seems to say something to me, but I can't even make it out.
Rudy's face flashes in front of me, but I can't seem to get him straight. Vaguely I hear him telling Johnny to land one on him and run.
The sound of a fist meeting a cheek sends a sickening shock through me, and I stumble to my feet. The air trapped in my lungs exhales so quickly it hurts, and I run.
I don't look back, I don't look forward really either. I just run. No one follows me, but I continue to run. The streets around me blur to one. My feet smack against the gravelly pavement of the streets, and my heart pounds into my head.
I slow when I start to reach the old plot of land some big wig started building on at the edge of town before the money well dried up. The big wooden structures still stand shamefully casting dark striped shadows across the ground.
A few years ago, before the Soc mentality really caught on, a few of our hoods were caught for some kind of homicide out here, but now it's as empty and forgotten as it could be.
Carefully, I step into one of the small house shells, moving cautiously over to a place where two walls seem to be put up. The walls face the outside of town, a place I ain't gotta worry about watching.
I sit with my back pressed into the corner, suddenly wishing I had Dal here with me. I have no doubt he'd be puffin' away, his arm draped around me, ranting on something or another. His eyes would sweep over the empty plot every few moments, probably thinking I wouldn't notice.
It's far too cold out in the open, and I tug at my uniform, wishing it could give me any more warmth. My heart still pounds wildly, but my breathing slows as I watch the cracked gravel leading back to the boys.
I shudder when I think of the beating one group is getting, and how one of the boys had a broken bottle in his hand. Weapons and blades aren't terribly uncommon around here, and they never end well.
The prospect of Tim and his gang winning scares me horribly. They fight as though I'm just a toy in the toy chest. I find my heart aching for Karen, knowing that if she was here she would have all the right things to say. Probably to both me and the boys. She always kept Curly on such a short leash. He always treated me well because of her.
From what I've seen, and heard from the likes of Joan, he's been a right mess since she left, but I think all of us are. Some days I sit and stare out at the train tracks behind our house, wondering if maybe I could just catch a glimpse of her in a passenger car, headed to some big city ready to make it big. I like to imagine her that way.
When I first met Karen, Ronald Stevenson was on my case about the braids my mom put in my hair that morning. It wasn't no secret that she liked her morning whiskey. Karen Hill had stormed on over and told him off in front of all his friends, using words I had never even heard of before.
Somehow, despite everything the school tried to beat into her about her place, she never believed anything they said. Her mom taught her that she mattered, and that she was important, and she tried her darndest to beat that into me as well.
I always thought she was the coolest girl in the grade, and eventually I guess she decided that I was alright too.
Footsteps around the lot startle me back into alert, and I quickly look around for their owner. Standing slowly when I can't find a source, I carefully step around on the beams, hoping that whoever is out here is random, not Tim.
The lot is silent, and I shakily let out a breath.
I'm about to turn when I feel two arms snake around my waist. A scream automatically leaves my lips, and I start to beat at the leanly muscled arms around me.
"Hey, hey, relax Jules." Dallas' voice instantly makes me stop squirming and I lean into him, breathing heavily.
"Don't, don't you dare." I wheeze out "don't you dare do that to me again."
"No, never Sylv, I ain't gotta do that ever again." He soothes in a manner nothing like Dallas Winston.
"The cops could have come, you could have been put in the cooler again. No more." I plead, and he turns me in his arms so that my head is buried in his chest.
"You ain't gotta worry about that. I can keep myself out of trouble long enough." He laughs "the cooler here ain't nothin'"
I take a deep breath, looking up at his icy eyes. He stares down at me, real perplexed like, waiting for me to say my piece.
"The cooler is a thing, and I swear it by my heart Dallas Winston, if you get arrested, I ain't waiting for you."
He just laughs louder, and holds my tighter in the empty lot. The day has bested me, and with hooded eyes, I look up to Dallas on the verge of tears again.
"Alright, alright, damn woman, no cooler." He rolls his eyes, adjusting me in his grip "let's get you home."