I do not own the outsiders, yo. Sorry I've been keeping you waiting for so long for an update, I'll try not to make a habit of it! So without further ado… (:
"Dally's dating a Soc!" I heard Steve announce to the gang as I trudged through the screen door behind him. All of their gazes automatically shot to me.
I rolled my eyes.
"She's not a Soc," I said.
"Okay, okay," Steve said, dismissively waving off my comment, "So apparently she's -how did you say it?- on the fence?"
"She's neutral," I corrected him, pulling out a smoke and lighting it.
"Neutral?" Soda asked incredulously.
"On the fence?" Pony echoed.
I simply shrugged and blew a lungful of smoke out.
Darry looked like he could barely believe this.
"That's great for you, Dal," he said, "What's here name?"
"Hallie," I muttered, "She's new here. To Tulsa, I mean."
They nodded silently, not knowing what else to say. I didn't know either. I guess this was a fairly.. foreign subject -you know, me having an actual girlfriend. And she wasn't even a greaser. But, true to his character, Two-Bit did not let the awkward silence go uninterrupted.
"She got a sister?" He piped up with a goofy grin.
Everyone laughed, relieved that the mood was back to normal.
My lips formed a smirk around my cigarette as I shook my head. But then I stopped. Huh. I didn't know if she did have sisters. I guess I don't remember her saying anything about any siblings, though. Oh, well.
"When do we get to meet her?" Soda asked.
The rest of the gang looked at me expectantly. Obviously, Soda had not been the only one who'd wanted to know the answer to that.
I blinked at them.
"I don't know," I said truthfully.
"Soon, hopefully," Darry said politely, "Any girl of yours is welcome here with us."
I didn't know if I wanted to thank him or smack him for always being so overly generous. Also, for referring to her as 'my girl'. The idea hadn't exactly sunken in yet and I didn't need him being so… open with it. So I just shrugged at him.
"You been dating for long?" Pony spoke up. I was surprised. He hadn't talked a whole lot ever since the incident. He kept to himself even more these days.
"Nah," I said, "Only since last night."
"She cute?" Asked Soda.
I thought for a second, picturing Hallie's dark hair and skin, bright green eyes, and curvy body in my head. Cute? Ha. Hot, maybe. Sexy even. But cute? That's the understatement of the year.
"Yeah, she's good looking," I nodded with a smirk, earning a couple of hoots and hollers from the guys.
"Yeah, yeah," I said, quieting them down. I was eager to get the topic of conversation off of me and Hallie, "Anybody up for a movie tonight? My treat."
We all smirked, knowing full well that none of us ever actually paid to get into the Nightly Double. Saying 'my treat' after we offered was kind of like our private joke.
"Pony's got homework tonight," Darry said, crashing the mood, "And Soda has work early tomorrow. Sorry Dal, but we're out for tonight."
I nodded and looked to Steve and Two-Bit.
"Sure," they both said together.
"One one condition," Two-Bit added.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
"You need to bring your new lady.. And any possible female, blonde relatives of hers," said with a rueful smile.
My eyes hardened. It was making me mad how much they wanted to meet her. It really wasn't a big deal either way, and I know I was overreacting, but I couldn't help but be irritated.
I shoved my cigarette box into my pocket and crossed my arms over my chest.
"You seem so sure that she-and any possible blonde relatives- would even want to meet you in the first place," I said.
"Come on," He said sitting back on the couch and crossing left leg over the right, "I'm a charmer. The ladies love me."
This finally broke me. I laughed out loud, along with the rest of the gang.
"Sure, Two-Bit," Pony said.
"I am!" Two-Bit insisted.
Our laughter was interrupted by knocking on the front door so I turned around to open it. I was surprised to see a small, familiar-looking, little girl standing there on the Curtis' front step.
She pushed right passed me and walked into the living room.
"Keith!" she yelled. Two-Bit stood up off of the couch, obviously surprised at her presence and we all chuckled at the use of his real name.
"Rachel?" He said, furrowing his eyebrows down at her, "What the heck are you doing here?"
She stood firmly and crossed her arms.
"You were supposed to be home a half an hour ago to make dinner, and Mom said unless I found you dead on the side of the road, you are in big trouble when you get home," She said matter-of-factly.
Two-Bit rolled his eyes and groaned.
"Okay," he huffed "Bye, guys. I guess we'll have to catch a movie some other time, Dal." And then he led his sister out the front door, holding onto her tiny hand.
"What was mom thinking, letting you walk out in the streets by yourself?" I heard Two-Bit say to Rachel as they stepped off of the porch.
I turned to Steve.
"We still on?" I asked.
"Nah, man," he said, "that reminded me - my old man needed me home for chores tonight."
I nodded and then before I could stop myself, I looked over to the spot on the floor next to Ponyboy.
"Johnn-"
It slipped out before I could help myself and it did not go unnoticed by everyone. It had been an automatic reaction to invite Johnny to the movies with me, but then realized -too late, of course- that Johnny wasn't here. Ever again.
The guys looked down at their laps and played with their hands, nervously. No one ever brought this up. Ever.
"Uh, I'll catch you later," I mumbled before dashing out the door.
I went at a constant walk/run until the Curtis -and Cade- house was out of my sight. Then I stopped to take a breath. My eyes closed against the harsh sunlight and my lungs gasped for air.. And smoke. It was then that I realized my cigarette had fallen out of my mouth quite a while back. I must have been to upset to notice. So, deciding that it was silly to go back and search for the dropped cigarette and realizing that my Kools box was empty, I looked around for the nearest convenient store. That's when I spotted David Mary's Grocery Stop. Seeing the old, poorly lit sign on the front of the building reminded me of the night I had met Hallie for the first time. The paper grocery bags she had been carrying had the David Mary's logo on the front of it. The thought of Hallie suddenly sparked my memory. I still needed a movie date for tonight. And who would be better than my pretty, cute-hot-sexy, on-the-fence girlfriend?
Okay, so it's short. Don't kill me. It's like, the middle of the night right now, and let me just say, I am exhausted. Longer chap next time? Yes? Okay. Welp. Reviews are highly encouraged, as always! Tell me any theories, guesses, or opinions you have about my story - I'd love to hear! Thank you always for reading.
-Amanda