Yes, I'm back with more! I know, I'm playing favorites, but hey! I'll mention that reviews are at the bottom and let's get on with the show before I get to jabbering.
Disclaimer: I own my guys and S.E. Hinton owns the Outsiders
Dedication: This goes out to Jhon and me. Yes, kind of selfish, but I think our 17th deserves a dedication. So happy birthday, big brother. And happy birthday to me, too!
On with the show!
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Soda's POV
"Duke sure has taken a liking to you," River commented "It usually takes him a couple weeks to loosen up around new people."
"We speak the same language," I shrugged, hanging up the pair of overalls I had been wearing for the last week
"I speak that language pretty damn well, too," she reminded "Want to grab a burger before we head home? It's Brand's night to cook and he's not my favorite chef."
"Sounds good," I answered, nodding
"By the way, I have you working tomorrow night," she commented, "Scott wasn't impressed, but the boss seems to be enjoying the business all you boys are bringing in
I liked the Texaco. The cars were what I was used to and I liked the people. Duke was real friendly and we seemed to be getting along. I wondered how he and Jimmy were related; they acted so differently, but he reminded me of someone from home and that made it better in my mind. Tom always seemed disappointed when Ponyboy didn't stick around and talked his ear off when he did. It was kind of funny that the quietest guy around was taking to the quietest one in the family.
Scott, now, he bugged me. I hadn't seen him smile once in the last week. In fact, whenever I had seen him, he was running from the room before River could let into him about whatever was bugging her. I'd never understand why Dally and Steve had liked the hotheaded girls. They were nothing but trouble, if you got on their bad sides.
River drove us over to a place called "Al's". It served pretty good food and I was hungry. Working on cars may not seem like strenuous work, but you could get a good work out bending over cars and straightening up for tools and rushing around after customers. I guess River was pretty hungry, too.
"So, did Mrs. Keens give you much homework?" She asked, driving with one hand and eating with the other
"How can she give you homework in Art?" I shook my head
"How can she even walk through doors at her height?" River shook her head "No one knows the answers, but they still happen and there is no changing them."
"What if she wore high heels?" I countered
"Now, that's why I'm not passing Ideology studies," River paused "Summer could do that—SHIT!"
River slammed on the breaks and cars swerved around us while I grabbed the door. She shoulder checked quickly and turned into the lane that led back towards the garage. She cursed softly and drummed on the steering wheel when we came to the first red.
"Forget something?" I asked
"Yeah. J.C. isn't picking up the squirt tonight, so I have to," she groaned "Half an hour ago."
"She probably hasn't even realized you're late yet," I tried to reassure her
"She's a smart kid," River pointed out "She'll know."
I couldn't argue with her. Summer was a pretty intelligent little kid. River managed to get us there in record time and I waited in the car for her to go in and get Summer. When she didn't come out as quickly as she should have, I got worried. When she finally did come back to the car, she was alone and she looked very pissed off.
"Well, she already got picked up," River said, starting the car
"As long as she got home, right?" I asked
"It just bugs me when my father changes his plans and doesn't tell me," she sighed
We were quiet for a minute before she turned on the music. It helped me to relax and I hoped it was doing the same for River. It was a very long ride back to the ranch. It was going to take a long time to think of it as home, if I ever did. When we got there, J.C. was in the driveway, his arms full of groceries. It looked like he had barely beaten us back. I was kind of hoping he would be a while. River wasn't happy with him and she was the type who spoke her mind.
"Hey, kids! Just in time to help me with the groceries." He smiled pleasantly, stuffing a candy bar wrapper into his pocket.
"Are you sure you aren't going to change your mind about that, too?" she asked
"Not that I know of. I haven't changed my mind all day," he answered "Except about firing the staff."
"What about Summer?" She asked
"I think I'll keep her," J.C. said, confused "Is there something on your mind?"
"Yeah," River said grabbing a paper bag
J.C. sighed glanced over at me. I wasn't about to be in the middle of it, so I shrugged and grabbed a bag. We followed River into the house, J.C. munching on something from one of the bags and me, I just following him.
"It's about time."
J.C. stopped dead in his tracks and I had to side step to avoid crashing into him. I looked around him to see something I never thought I would see in this house. There was a woman sitting at the kitchen table, a woman in a cocktail dress. She didn't look impressed by the way she was pursing her red painted lips, but she wasn't showing off her legs for no reason. It was anything but a turn on, in my opinion. Reminded me of an old time cigarette add. Wouldn't sell much, now, but Two-Bit would love to see up her skirt.
"No, no, no, no! Lupe! Lupe!" J.C. yelled
"Si, Senor?"
"Did you let her in the house?" J.C. asked the maid very slowly
She was a Spanish lady who lived in town, but she didn't speak English very well. All she knew how to do was clean and he apparently hadn't questioned that when he hired her. She came twice a month and made the house liveable. I liked her just fine since I had only met her that morning.
"Oh, Si!" she smiled "Esposa."
"No! No esposa!" J.C. pointed to his bare fingers "Divorcio. Esposa go bye-bye…Adios!"
Lupe smiled at him as he used hand signals to show that she was gone. I found it kind of funny. He gave up, looking chest fallen at the failure of his attempts.
"Leave the help alone, Jason," the woman said and J.C. bristled
"This is my house, Corrine. You aren't supposed to be anywhere near it," J.C. said setting his bags on the counter
"I'm not supposed to do a lot of things," she informed him and walked over to where I was standing "Another one of yours? No, he's too old to be one of yours."
"Leave him alone. It's bad enough you harass me," J.C. ordered
"Corrine!" Summer came running into the room, picture in hand
She held the picture up for Corrine to see, but the picture was completely ignored and Corrine didn't even look at Summer.
"Honey, we talked about this. It's Mommy," Corrine said sweetly
"River and Rain isn't calling you that," she answered
"Well, I'm not their mommy," she clarified
"Thank the stars for that." River rolled her eyes, putting things away
Corrine patted Summer on the head and sat back down at the table. The squirt looked a little upset her mother hadn't paid her much mind, but J.C. headed that one off at the bend.
"Come 'ere, princess." J.C. picked her up "I found something at the store for you."
"You did?" her eyes lit up
"Yep," he answered "It's on the front seat of my car."
He set her down and she tore off for the front door. J.C. smiled and Corrine rolled her eyes.
"Sure, buy her off," she drawled
"Why are you here?" J.C. finally groaned out
"I picked up Summer from play school," she informed him "And then I helped myself to your bourbon."
J.C. looked over at River who was glaring at Corrine.
"You didn't have to, I was on my way," River snarled at her
"You drank my bourbon?" J.C. groaned, "That was a gift."
"A cheap one, too," Corrine added "Was it from Nicole or Gina?"
"Neither. It was from Meredith," J.C. answered
Corrine snorted a laugh and drank more of what was in her glass. Her gaze returned to me and I wondered if I should be feeling comfortable with that. A minute later the squirt came in ahead of Rain and Ponyboy with a balloon in one hand and a sucker in the other. Ponyboy had track tryouts today and Rain said he had nothing better to do, so he waited on him and gave him a ride home. Needless to say, Ponyboy looked confused and Rain didn't look impressed.
"Great, all we need is for Brand to come home with what other vagrants you've collected," Corrine stated
J.C.'s jaw tightened a bit and he looked like he wanted to leave the room before he killed her and I didn't blame him. I wasn't sure what a vagrant was, but I don't think it was right. So we were all quiet and she looked a little bored now that she wasn't getting a rise out of J.C. She sighed and stood up, picking up her purse.
"Come say bye to Mommy, sweetie."
Corrine put her arms out to Summer, but she just stared at her with big eyes, sucking on the red colored candy. Corrine glared at J.C., as if he had planned it that way, and turned up her nose to him. That's how she walked out, nose in the air and shaking her hips more than any normal woman would. When she was gone, J.C. looked over at the schedule on the wall that told who did what on what day and rubbed at his jaw. I don't think any of us knew what to do, so we all kind of just did nothing.
"Daddy?" Summer asked and he looked down at her, smiling "Can I go watch the TV?"
"Yeah, babe. You go and do that. Brand will be home in a bit and then we can have dinner." He nodded and she rushed off to watch TV
He looked at the rest of that and smiled.
"Well, that was Corrine. Hopefully you never meet Gloria, if you thought she was bad."
J.C. shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled out of the room like nothing had happened at all. We heard the door to his office slide shut and a car horn outside and Lupe appeared in the kitchen again.
"Good Night?" she asked in her poor English
"Yeah, good night, Lupe," Rain nodded as she disappeared down the hall and out the door
"That good for nothing…" River trailed off and I was sure she meant Corrine
"Hey, like he said, at least it wasn't Gloria," Rain reassured her
"How many times has he been married?" I ventured, sitting on the counter now
"Well, there was Faye and then our mother," Rain started
"Then came Gloria, and it's a good thing she left before we did anything too horrible to her. I don't need a murder on my record," River added
"Then there was Holly. I liked her. She was a show girl," Rain explained
"And she did like any show girl would and took off on him," Brand put in, coming through the door
"Right, but he didn't learn his lesson," Rain agreed "He annulled marriages to show girls Pam, Gina, Nicole and Rachel. That was just before he met Corrine."
"I still think she drugged him into it," River said, making to help Brand with dinner "She wasn't his type at all."
"The next one won't be either," Brand told her
"You cynic," River accused, grinning
Brand shrugged and Darry watched the both of them closely. I wondered what he was looking for, but I never knew what he was looking for. That was the one thing Darry even held over Ponyboy; no one could get into his head, no matter how much they tried. I'd tried, but it wasn't too important to me. As long as I could talk to Darry, I was happy.
Needless to say dinner was a strained event. J.C. ate in his office, Brand ate in the garage while River and Rain shoved their food around their plates looking bored. Ponyboy packed his away like he hadn't eaten in a week, which was typical. Darry didn't really eat. He looked like he was thinking on something, still. I hoped he found the answer to whatever he was looking for.
"Hey," Rain said suddenly "Do you know if Harris is having his annual Septemberfest?"
River shrugged, finally daring to take a bite of whatever we were eating. It looked like it might contain eggs, but I couldn't tell. I was glad that River had suggested we make the stop before coming home.
"Harris?" Darry looked interested
"Yep. Tim Harris. He's pretty funny, but he's also pretty odd," Rain answered, thoughtfully
"He's not that bad, just as long as he keeps to hosting the party. He got drunk last year and looked up a few skirts and got his parents mad at him," River explained "But that was the only year they were in town for it and they hadn't seen nothing when you look back at all the stunts he pulled."
"Like what?" I asked
"Well, he tried to steal a Lion from the Zoo one year," River said
"Borrow. He only wanted to borrow it," Rain corrected
"Then there was the year he decided that we were all going on a treasure hunt," River went on
"The treasure being a Keg that everyone had to chip in on," Rain ended "He always comes up with something, so this year he'll be doing something different. Never anything flashy or expensive, unless he's in the mood to blow cash, that is. You'd swear he was born dirt poor, by the way he acts. Dresses in thrift clothes, drives an old souped up 'vette and is about the only person I ever met that never has anything. Always bumming cash and cigarettes."
"When is this Septemberfest?" I asked, curious
"Sometime this month or it would be called Octoberfest," River pointed out "You want to know, have Brand ask him. They know each other and got to university together. In fact, Darry could probably get that answer faster than Brand could."
Darry looked up at the sound of his name and nodded at that. I wondered if he had paid any attention to what anyone had said. He looked like he was thinking hard again when he looked up at Rain.
"What does BJ stand for?" he asked
Rain looked taken back by the question and shook his head, smiling.
"There's a rule around here: If you want to know Brand's real name, you ask ol' Brenda-Joy," Rain answered
I started to laugh when I absently put a piece of whatever dinner was in my mouth. I nearly gagged and River laughed at my expression.
"This really is terrible."
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Ok, the end! Fini! No more! For this chapter, anyways. I hope everyone enjoyed. Next chapter will be interesting, in my mind at least. Now, on to the reviews!
Keira: No more insane work schedules! I know, won't happen, but hey! You'll see about Brand. He's definitely a character and Darry will find that out, I guarantee. Bert, actually, but J.C. don't care. Not like him? We've had this discussion. Thanks and hope you enjoyed. I know, lame, but hey! I'm entitled!
Nittanylizard: Thanks1 I love that, too and I knew you'd be the one to pick up on that and the friends bit. You'll see with that one. Brand is kind of guarded to new situations and the like, so yeah. I've never been, but it sounds like pure torture. Oh, feel free to tell me anything that I put in there about college/university that is wrong. The only person I know that could help me out with that is long time dead, so flying by the seat of my pants. The Ex's! Now that would make for an interesting story. River and Rain touch on them in this chapter, so you get a bit of an idea for them. Yes, to be that rich. I'm a little licensed with him in that respect. I know rich people who aren't like that at all, but it would amuse me greatly. Anytime and I hope you enjoyed this very long thankie as well as the chapter!
Taurus: Hahaha! You're not the only one to ask about Brand, so you'll have to wait and see! Oh! That makes me smile. I'm glad you like her. Air headed, huh? You'll have to explain that one to me later. Hahaha1 Yep! Finally! Glad I could help. Have they re-marked your boshed scores yet? Actually, I didn't even think of that until you mentioned it, believe it or not. Pam is Jhon's favorite, though. I should have remembered that. Thanks again and hope you enjoyed. I want chocolate now! You're mind powers are getting strong!
Rock: Thanks! I like having fun! Glad I could help, I guess. I know you'll pass, so not worries on my end. More? More? More? I'll get right on it! Plenty of praise! Thanks a bunch and hope you enjoyed!
Merry W: Well thank you! I'm glad that you think so because I thought so, too! I just get bored of the sister stuff, you know? I'm glad you enjoyed and hope you do with this one, as well!
Ale-Curtis-Carter: Thanks1 I will and hope you enjoyed!
Two-BitGortez: Thanks! Hope you enjoyed!
Any comments at all are welcome and flames are accepted.
See ya in the funny papers! Tens