Well, hadn't planned on updating this, but hey.

For Davey. Just because your momma loves you :p

Disclaimer: The usual

Chapter 4

Another day at the Dingo

/Layne's POV/

Working the day shift at the Dingo had what you would call...perks. Seeing as how the big rushes were at lunch and dinner, the rest of the day was very slow, and very boring, which meant that the staff could do almost anything they wanted to pass the time. For the most part, we all brought things to do, but I always found it to be a waste of time. It wasn't so bad during the summer, seeing as how the school kids were always popping in with classes out, but today the weather couldn't make up its mind. It was both hot and raining and no one seemed to want to go out in it.

It wasn't so calm inside, either. It seemed like days like these just brought out the worst in the staff. Mainly, Sevrin Winston. She'd been snappish and irritable lately, which definitely reflected how much she had been fighting with Dallas. It was a wonder Charlie was as happy and light hearted as he was with that going on right down the hall.

As much as I usually thrived on her company, today I would have rather had her anywhere else.

"Hal, I swear to God, if you don't get that order for table three on the grill in the next two seconds, I am going to beat you with a stick!" She yelled, letting the galley door swing shut behind her with an audible 'bang'.

This was just one of the many moments she had today. Hal was her whipping board, for the most part, and I didn't think the guy's nerves could take much more.

"I got it going, Sevy!" Hal hollered back.

Sevrin stiffened, turning right back towards the door, and pushing it open again.

"Do NOT call me that," she snapped, and Hal banged something together at her words, like he was trying to either drown her out or hide behind the noise.

I glanced down at where Lou, Sam, and Pete were waiting for their third refill on coffee. Lou had a wince on his face from the shrill tone and I sighed, filling the cups before I started towards her.

"Sevrin," I called, earning a glare. I met it with a raised eyebrow and waited.

"It's not my fault he's way behind," she defended.

"Exactly," I replied calmly.

"But it is my problem," Sevrin replied like that was obvious.

"Sevrin, seriously?" I sighed, thinking that the weather was really getting to me, too, if I was standing here and entertaining this. "It'll come when it comes."

Getting angry, especially when it was with Hal, never got you anywhere around here. Sevrin sent me a rather pissy look before walking back into the kitchen, again. Kathie came out a moment later with a couple plates of food and offered me a shrug.

"Apparently she's on break," Kathie offered. "Poor dear needs to get over herself."

I smiled a little. Pregnant again, Kathie had a perspective on Sevrin that could only come with having a nearly five year old son and sore feet. At four months, the August heat was worse on her than usual, but she never lost her kind disposition. I did feel bad that she had to work long days in this place. But I was glad she was here. Four years ago when Sevrin had been off with baby Charlie, and Kathie still wasn't back from having baby Tyler, Josie and I had worked our tails off trying to keep this place going. Believe me, I much preferred the tension over the dead tired feeling I had at the end of the day.

It would have been alright, had Chris hired anyone new, but he was less than sympathetic about pregnancy. Men. They just didn't get it until they'd had kids of their own, like Darry. Darry was very sympathetic towards Sevrin, especially with how loud and obnoxious she was when she was pregnant with Charlie. It was good, especially since we would have our own family some day, and remembering my own mother, I knew there was a possibility I could be worse behaved than Sevrin.

"So, how are the boys?" Kathie asked.

"Well, Aries looks like he didn't eat for a month, and Pony looks so grown up."

I still wasn't impressed with how thin Aries had gotten, but Ponyboy was the shocker. He was taller, more defined, and he looked like he was a man. I hadn't expected that. Maybe he had grown up a long time ago, but I had never noticed. Aries, though, he still looked sixteen and young. Maybe it was because he clearly needed some mothering while he was gone. I just hoped College would do for him what a few weeks away had done to Pony.

"They're not little boys anymore," Kathie offered.

"I guess not."

"Now that they are all grown up and leaving home, have you and Darry started thinking about marriage?"

I glanced up at Kathie sharply. She and Todd were like Sevrin and Dallas – married because there was a baby on the way. However, Kathie and Todd were very much still in wedded bliss, thus baby number two was on the way. However, like every other married friend of ours, she was starting to prod about our personal life. Everyone figured that we'd been living together for four years and that with the boys grown up, we should make everything official. I loved Darry, but I just wasn't sure if he was ready. He'd given up college for Soda and Pony, but now that they were both going to be out of the house, maybe he could finally get some time to take classes at night or by mail. As for me, I was happy just to have what we did.

"We are practically married," I pointed out.

"Not on paper," Kathie pointed out.

Paper. I was really starting to hate how much society relied on paper. Money, property, intelligence, family, marriage...Paper caused too many problems.

Sevrin chose right then to come back in, still looking like she was going to hit someone, but at least she seemed like she could fend off the urge now. Her hair was tied back and she looked like she was ready to face everything.

"I need to get rich," she declared, walking past us so she could tend to her new customers.

That was Sevrin's big thing lately. Instead of reminiscing about her past with the rich family she had been raised in, she wanted to get back to that point. Being married to Dallas, I doubted that would ever happen. He was not impressed with money, and he loathed trying to be something he wasn't. Dallas wouldn't be able to live with money. It would change things too much. Dallas wasn't a big fan of change. But he was even less a fan of Sevrin being overly pleased with something she didn't deserve. Like I said before, Sevrin was good for Dallas, but Dallas was also very good for Sevrin.

"Not in this job," I told her. "But I hear there is good money in stripping."

Sevrin sent me a look, and I knew if I hadn't have been her best friend, she would have killed me. After living with Dallas for four years, she could more than hold her own.

"I hear there's a lot of money in decorating, too," Sevrin sniped back.

"If you can call your arrangements decorating," Kathie offered with a shrug, disappearing into the kitchen.

"You know, I can't wait until she pops that monster out," Sevrin growled. "Then I can really pop her one."

"I'm sure she's pretty sick of it, too," I told her.

"Yeah, well, that makes all of us."

Sevrin went over to the window, grabbing the order Reese was just about to chime up. She marched past me and made her way over to a far table. I sighed, wondering if something was going to be thrown by the end of the day, before grabbing a fresh pot of coffee.

Even in this heat, there were three people who drank only coffee all day. Lou, Pete, and Sam were sitting in their usual booth, coffee cups waiting to be refilled. I carefully poured out three cups before Lou nudged a fourth at me.

"Come sit down," Lou ordered and I did, leaning back into the vinyl booth beside him.

"I swear, this place has the chattiest, most dramatic staff in the entire city," Sam commented dryly.

"Why do you think we keep coming back here?" Pete offered, making the other two nod.

"Thing's will slow up once Kathie has her kid and Sevrin makes up with her husband," I offered, taking a sip from my cup.

"Marriage that young is hard," Lou offered.

I glanced at Lou out of the corner of my eye. He was in his thirties, Pete and Sam, too. They sat in here like old men, day in and day out, like they had no cares or ties in the world. I knew that they were partners in some oil business, and it was profitable enough so that they could be here every day. They talked business most of the day, and I wondered if this was their office. If that was the case, they were geniuses. No rent and plenty of food on hand, plus company.

"You sound like you're sixty," I commented, taking another sip from my cup.

"Some days, my wife makes me feel that way," Pete offered and Sam hummed in agreement.

"Your wife is a blood sucking bat," Sam stated.

"Would explain a lot," Pete conceded.

Lou kept quiet. I had learned over the years that he was divorced with three kids. I didn't know why he was divorced, or why he was still single, either. You could tell a lot about a man by how well he treated his mother and his waitress. I had never met his mother, but I knew he was more than good to his waitress. He was attractive, kind, and had money. I suppose that there were just some hurts you didn't get over in life.

"Keep that in mind, Layne," Sam offered.

"When are you getting married, again?" Pete asked and I felt like sighing.

You knew it was a long day when Pete, of all people, started to gossip about my love life.

"You'll be one of the first to know," I assured him.

As it was, I had been asked about marriage a couple more times before I walked in the door that evening. I was really getting put off the whole subject. What would they do if I never married? They'd have nothing to gossip about, then.

Choc greeted me when I came through the front door at five thirty. I was a bit early, but I wasn't complaining. The dog normally barked his fool head off when anyone came in, but he had obviously been deeply asleep with how he was yawning and shaking out his limbs when I walked in. I ruffled his ears and tossed my jacket over the back of the couch before making my way into the kitchen.

Darry was at the stove, stirring something, with Pony and Aries on either side of him. I smiled a little at the sight, everything from the day just melting away.

"You're early," Aries offered, causing the other two to glance my way.

"It smells like I'm just in time," I told him.

"It'll be a few minutes. You should set the table."

I glanced at Ponyboy. He was blushing a little, and I shook my head with a grin. Yeah, he was really growing up.

"Yes, sir," I replied, moving to the cupboard for some dishes.

By the time I had them set out, the boys were moving everything from pots and pans into bowls so we could eat everything at the table. I sat down between Darry and Ponyboy, glancing across the food laden table at Aries. They were all looking pleased with themselves for the most mismatched meal I had ever seen. And that was saying something after living with Soda for as long as I had.

The table had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans on one end. At the other was pasta, a green salad, and a plate of cheese and mustard. Clearly, Darry had let the boys pick, and they had clearly both had very different opinions about dinner.

"Well, this is a very interesting looking meal," I pointed out, glancing at the smiling faces of Pony and Aries.

"The boys have some news," Darry offered, scooping green beans onto his plate.

"I got hired back at the drug store," Pony offered, piling mashed potatoes on his plate.

"That's wonderful," I told him, thinking he would appreciate some money for when he was away at school.

"Aries?" Darry prodded.

Aries shrugged, passing me a bowl full of fettuccini. "I got a job, too."

"That's wonderful," I offered. "Where did you get a job?"

Aries stared at his plate for a long moment before answering. "The Country Club."

I blinked. That wasn't so bad. But the look on his face plainly said it was. I knew exactly what was bothering him about that. He was Greaser. They were Socs. Not to mention how our friends would tease him about this. They could be quite merciless when they wanted to. It was going to be a hard summer for him.

"That sounds like a good paying job," I told him, trying to coax some of the anxiety from him. My brother was miserable to be around when he moped like this. "Lots of tips."

"Yeah," Aries offered in reply.

"Give it a chance. If you don't like it, I am sure we can find something else," Darry offered diplomatically.

Darry knew better than anyone – except perhaps Sevrin – that you didn't always like your job. That was why it was called work, instead of fun. Aries should have been used to that, too. He had been a dishwasher at the Dingo for his first job, then he had tried his hand at making sandwiches at the Deli, and finally he had worked as a landscaper last summer. The Deli had probably been the worst job, as Two-Bit had come by almost every day making the oddest and most complex sandwich requests he could manage to think up.

About the only job Aries ever liked to do was tutor during the year. He had branched out to accept college students, claiming he liked the challenge. I just hoped actual college was a challenge for him. I hated to think what would happen if he was bored there.

I frowned a bit, chewing thoughtfully on a mouthful of pasta. College. He needed to make a decision about that or he wouldn't be going this year. And worse than having him bored at college would be having him bored here. Still, I wasn't going to push. It was his decision, and I couldn't make it for him. Darry, however, was another story completely. He was more excited for them to go to college than they were. If he didn't get it together soon, Darry was going to have a serious chat with him about what life was like when you didn't get the chance to go to school.

I just shook my head and went back to my meal. There was no chance that this was going to get solved tonight.

It was a few minutes later that the door opened, and Two-Bit sauntered into the kitchen. He beamed when he saw us all.

"Well, it looks like I picked a good time to stop by," he pointed out.

"Hey, Two-Bit. Go grab a plate," Pony invited.

"Don't mind if I do, kid."

Two-Bit grabbed a plate and plunked himself down between Pony and Aries. He took one look at what was for dinner and chuckled.

"Man, I love dinner here," he finally offered, shaking his head, and piling his plate high with chicken and pasta.

"We aim to please," Darry replied, passing the potatoes down because we all knew Two-Bit was a mashed potato nut.

"So, Curtis Clan – fill me in on the latest gossip."

Aries looked back at his plate, Darry sent Aries a long look, and Ponyboy shrugged a little.

"What's to tell? Same old around here," Pony offered. "How about you? You do anything interesting today?"

"Nothing I think is proper dinner conversation," Two-Bit replied with a wink.

"Layne, you want anything else?"

I glanced over at Darry, only then noticing my plate was empty. That just went to show how engrossing conversations around here could be.

"I'm alright, thanks," I told him, picking up my plate and the empty bowl of green beans. "I suppose Two-Bit and I are on dishes tonight."

"Nah, Aries and I'll do it," Pony offered, getting up to take the dishes from me, even though he still had food on his plate.

Aries stood as well, picking up his own abandoned dinner. Two-Bit sent the pair of them a look – raised eyebrow and all. Darry just shrugged in return, working on his own dinner.

"Well, more for me," he finally stated.

I shook my head and watched as Aries set his dinner on the floor for the dog to finish, and Pony ate the last few bites from his plate while he leaned over the sink. No one could claim that they weren't unique.

"So, Dracula decide on a school yet?" Two-Bit asked around a mouthful of chicken.

"Not that he's told us," Darry offered.

"Man, for a kid that smart, it should have been easy."

I frowned a bit. Leave it to Two-Bit to point out the things that were worrying me the most.

"It'll all turn out," Darry told him.

I nodded. It would eventually all turn out. Everything always did in this house, especially when Darry said it would.

Another chapter down, haha. Believe it or not, I found the plan for this one! Yes, it survived the epic coffee spill of '10. So expect more of this in the future!

Any comments are welcome and flames accepted.

See ya in the funny papers!

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