Author's Note: I have taken some time for research and to refine this fic from the very first chapters. The only major change I've done with the old chapters is that I deleted the old chapter 14: Unfinished Projects. Nothing important happened in that chapter because I decided to drop the only plot point (Lola's bicycle) that had. It did contain most of the interaction between Clint and Larry though, but that's not too important even though I thought it was pretty fun to write.
Other changes have been simple grammar correction and the like, nothing that affects the plot.
Chapter 24: Daddy Issues
The camaraderie of Johnny Vincent and Norton Williams went way back. When they had been little, they had possibly been the most revered duo among their peers and the most notorious duo among their peers' parents. Norton had been the muscle, Johnny had called the shots. Johnny had been the one to come up with outrageous plots and Norton had been there to hit the brakes when things had gone too hairy. Times had changed, however: despite being in the same gang and being around each other a lot, the two had found the time and space to grow apart from each other.
Maybe it was because of Lola or because they had both developed their own interests over time, but Norton didn't really get Johnny like he used to. In fact, he sometimes wondered why he still followed the guy's lead at all. But, as silly as it may sound, Johnny was like a B movie: no matter how well you tried to explain the plot and the premise, it sounded stupid yet when you actually saw it, you'd get sucked in. Johnny too had the remarkable quality of attracting people around him and making everything into a show he ran. He was a star and you had to see it to believe it.
Right now, though, Johnny was the absolute last thing Norton wanted to think about. He stood outside Blue Balls Pool Hall in the middle of a cold March night, listening to his fellow greasers' agitated argument. Ricky was shouting at Hal, Hal was threatening to kick Vance's ass, Lefty tried to calm Ricky down while still agreeing with him which annoyed Hal further, Lucky was sort of lost and his eyes were begging Norton to help. This had gone on for a while and the black youngster felt the frustration and anger build up in his head, threatening to burst out any minute. He was a time bomb, ticking away.
See, while Norton was very much an authoritative person, there was one very good reason he wasn't the leader of the greaser clique: he was no diplomat. He had no tolerance for people shouting. He could handle simple confrontations with little effort, but when conflicts became complicated and involved negotiation, there was a definite time limit after which he'd throw his hands in the air and say "Fuck it, I'll just pick a solution and force everyone to like it". Unknown to many, that was the reaction of the occasionally re-emerging seven-year-old Norton Williams, retaliating to his parents and siblings fighting.
Sadly, the time for that Norton to show his face was just about now.
"SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP!" the formidable youth roared. He moved in to push Hal back and practically toss the much smaller Vance away from each other, after which he stopped to glare at the startled fellow greasers. Everyone became quiet.
"I've had it with his bullshit! He's got to learn to stand on his own goddamn feet. Until he's sorted this out on his own, nobody's doin' anything. Nobody!" the boy hissed while taking deep breaths. His rising and falling chest and shoulders made him look larger and all the more intimidating to the other youngsters, most of whom took a step back from their lieutenant. Ricky Pucini, however, didn't.
"You gotta be kiddin' me!" he hollered.
"Shut your goddamn mouth Ricky! If I see you or any single one of you goin' to him, I'll smash your teeth in, capisce?" Norton snarled and turned his enraged glare to his junior.
"But dude, any guy needs support when shit like this happens! We're all brothers, right? Right?" Ricky continued even though Lucky and Vance, who were just outside Norton's field of vision, were gesturing him to stop. Nobody wanted the second-in-command of the greasers to go berserk.
Norton stepped closer to the lean brunette, scowling threateningly and pointing his finger at him. With an ominously calm and collected voice, he said:
"If the guy can't understand the proper use of a goddamn rubber, I say he's deserved this shit and a lot more. We ain't his nannies and the quicker you meatheads understand that, the quicker I'll stop kickin' your asses for actin' like timid old spinsters."
Then, he turned to look at all the greasers.
"We've done enough. Now scram, all of you, unless you want me to drive a hammer into your ass sideways. Nobody speaks about this to the 'boss' tomorrow. He better pull through on his own or I'm through with him", he growled.
Hal, Lucky, Vance, Ricky, and Lefty eyeballed at each other for a moment, gauging the possibility of others resisting their common oppressor, but nobody had the balls to say or do anything. After it became clear that Norton wouldn't leave the Blue Balls Pool Hall before everyone else was gone, the lower-ranked greasers started to split into different directions. Hal stormed off into the direction of their tenement hideout, probably to calm himself down, Lucky and Lefty went to the direction of the underpass, and Ricky started marching without seeming to have a particular destination. He mostly just wanted to get away from everyone else. Vance had no idea what to do or where he wanted to go, but after receiving a warning glare from Norton, he too scurried away.
"Hey Ricky, wait up!" he yelped and ran into Ricky's direction. After catching up with him, he slowed his trot down to match his pace and took a look at the taller greaser's face to assess his mood.
"You okay?" he checked, wondering if his company was welcome.
"Who, me? I'm fine, friggin' swell. It's all roses 'n' rainbows!" Ricky ranted venomously, his back hunched and his hands stuffed deep in his pockets.
"Hey... Dontcha worry about it. Norton's gonna come around. Johnny too", Vance comforted with a surprisingly friendly tone.
Ricky glanced at the unusually non-prickly thorn in his flesh and cocked his brow. He had assumed that the redhead had come to piss him off some more. Upon seeing that he hadn't, he let out a breath to release his tension and slowed down so he didn't seem like he was trying to shake Vance off.
"I'm sick 'n' tired of Norton shovin' us around. Startin' to remind me of my old man", the youngster said bitterly.
"Yeah? Well, me too", Vance agreed, digging his cigarettes from his pocket and lighting a smoke.
The two walked in silence for a moment, both looking nowhere and going nowhere, except forward.
"Hey, you still gonna go have that talk with Peanut? I think you better forget it until Norton cools down, just sayin'", Ricky commented.
"I guess you're right. I just hope Hal's not gonna spill the beans after tonight", Vance said with a huff of smoke. The silence returned and the two boys were immersed in thought.
Vance couldn't believe how fast the situation had changed. It had only been during the afternoon that Lola had paid the auto shop area a visit and it was now the middle of the night. Some two hours ago, the greasers had gotten the word that Johnny, who they had thought to be off having a good time with Lola, was actually smashing a bar. Their bar, the only place that the greasers could get liquor from. Who knew if they were welcome there anymore.
The gang had quickly dispatched to bail their leader out and had managed to do it, but with considerable damage done to the greasers' bodies and egos. Vance had a black eye and serious bruises on his knee, for instance, but poor Lefty had gotten another cut to his face from falling on top of shards from broken bottles. He could've poked his eye out with that. The greasers had also been so close to being caught by the cops that it was no laughing matter at all – they would have to keep things very hush-hush for a while.
After they had managed to throw the cops off for a loop and gotten Johnny to safety, the sobbing and raging drunk of a clique leader had told the greasers the news that had made him go berserk: Lola had gleefully told him she was pregnant. Whether it was because it was true or because he wanted it to be true, Johnny had insisted that it was his prior to passing out on the makeshift bed at Blue Balls Pool Hall. Everyone was thankful that he had done that, because he had been hysterical about the possibility that Lola's grandmother would force her granddaughter to get married to Johnny on the spot.
Vance was still in a shock about this, not sure what to think. It was especially jarring that Lola had simply disappeared from the bar. She, if anyone, should have known what Johnny was like when he was drunk, yet she had chosen to tell him the news at the bar. Things didn't add up.
The redhead shook his head. He had his own problems to deal with, he certainly didn't need any of this as well. What had happened to their shitty but still light-hearted and whimsical lives? Where were the greasers going?
That was a very good question considering the circumstances, actually.
"... Ricky, where are we going?" Vance suddenly asked.
The two greasers came to a halt and looked around. Both had been too immersed in their thoughts to notice, but they were standing at the train tracks near the bicycle park. It was dark and cold, which made the two only feel more rotten.
"I dunno", Ricky shrugged.
"Yeah. That's what I thought. C'mon, let's head back to the campus. Maybe this crap don't seem so bad in the mornin'", Vance said, his voice far less hopeful than his words.