A/N: Hey there! I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the first chapter, it feels great to get such positive feedback from all you wonderful people!
After this chapter is when the ball is really gonna start rolling so I hope you enjoy this one!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders, wahhh :(
Corrilynn could feel her knees shaking as she lifted the cake from the front seat of her truck, and then started walking up the driveway and into the yard of the Curtis' house. The dogs across the street were barking up a storm, and an angry old man could be heard shouting for the poor mutts to shut the hell up.
Her palms were sweating, and she wasn't sure if it was because she was nervous about seeing the hunk of a man that was Darry Curtis, or because she was nervous that Ponyboy wouldn't like her cake. She might curl up and cry if he doesn't, after all she'd stayed up the greater part of last night molding fondant and perfecting icing flavor. Not that he would have to know that.
Darry didn't open up the door, but Ponyboy did and when he saw Corrilynn waiting at his doorstep with what looked like a massive cake in her hands he felt himself freeze up. "Hey Pony, happy birthday sweetheart!" She smiled at him and pressed a kiss to his cheek while she looked him over. "You just keep shootin' up like a weed, stop growin'!"
"C'mon in Corri, want me to take that for you? An I ain't grown much, you're just real little." He stands aside and gestures into the house while holding out his other hand to take out the cake.
"Naw, that's fine. Wouldn't want ya to drop my master piece." So Corri went a bit above and beyond. Not because Darry Curtis was a hunk or anything (though she'd be lying if she said he wasn't) but because Ponyboy Curtis was a sweet kid who came by every Sunday at the same time for his 'sample cupcake' with Johnny Cade, and they'd been coming in every Sunday without fail for almost five years, and she'd started making extra-large cupcakes special for them rather than the mini ones everyone else got.
She wasn't real close with Johnny, well enough that he would say 'Hi' and was more than comfortable with having a conversation with her which is more than most people can say, but Ponyboy Curtis had wormed his way into her heart. He talked to her about everything. Losing his parents, problems with Darry, Sodapop's girlfriend Sandy, Dallas Winston gettin' locked up all the time… hell, she knew every single person in their little gang almost as well as she knew her brother!
Pony was a real special kid, that was for sure, and whenever she had the chance to talk to him she made sure he knew it. He came in for a bit almost every other day after school, and she'd feed him either lunch or something sweet while complaining that he had no meat on his bones. He'd then break out his English homework and ask her for what little help he needed while she worked on her orders in the back of the bakery, often interrupting his studying to force him into sampling a frosting or a cake. Not that she had to ask him more than once anyway… They were always delicious, but Pony had to say her chocolate buttercream frosting is his absolute favorite.
She knew the Curtis' struggled with money, and decided to hang the ten-dollar limit, and made Ponyboy a cake that would make a rich Social wince at the price-tag. The cake was completely chocolate, Ponyboy's favorite kind of chocolate actually, with a fondant topping made of white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate that made the cake look like a movie ticket. She'd pre-cut the cake too, so all they had to do was dish it out. The cake itself was a rich milk chocolate with melted chocolate chips in it and a nice chocolate buttercream frosting holding the two sheets of cake together.
"Hey Corri! Whatcha got there, looks like a mighty big cake!" Johnny's voice caused all the others to look at the smiling baker, including Dallas who looked like someone pissed in his cheerio's the second he saw her, and Darry's eyes widened at the sight of the box. He was pretty damn sure the cake they'd decided on wasn't nearly this big.
"You'll just have to wait an see, cupcake!" She grins at him and winks, then looks over to Darry who is now shooting her a concerned look.
"Miss, I'm pretty sure that cake is-"
"Mighty heavy, your right, why don't you show me where I can put it down?" She shot him a smile, but a threatening one. One he hadn't seen since his mom passed away. A smile that said 'shut the hell up before I make you, ya dig?'. Darry was impressed.
"Uh… sure. Right in here, let me take-"
"Nope, just keep walkin' buddy! Don't need you actin' all macho and dropping my cake. I'd have to kill ya." He perched a brow but didn't say anything further as the two of them walked into the kitchen.
"I'm really sure this cake is a lot bigger than what we decided on, Miss Corri."
"Don't you worry about that Mr. Curtis, just consider it my present to Pony, ya dig? I don't want to hear another word on it." She set the cake down on the table and then turned with her hands on her hips to fix the oldest brother with a stern glare.
Darry wanted to argue, because he'd seen the cakes this size and knew how much they'd cost, and wasn't ready to give up an arm and a leg for a cake this big. However, arguing with a woman wasn't something he was well versed at and before he could utter another word she smiled then turned on her heel and walked back into the sitting room.
"We don't want the charity…" He mumbled before walking after her into the sitting room where she was now hugging Pony while he started talking to her animatedly about some book they were reading in school. She talked about it with just as much exhilaration, and Darry suddenly realized that the cake wasn't charity. She made it special for Ponyboy because the two were close, even though Pony never mentioned her before.
"Well, I better get goin'. I expect to be seein' you two at the bakery in the mornin', and don't be late!" She pointed a finger at Johnny and Ponyboy with a wink, then went to walk out of the house.
"Well hold on now, Corri why don't ya stay a little? I'm sure you could spare a minute to sing happy birthday to Pony with us, can't ya?" The looks of surprise on everyone's face would have made a real good picture, and then Corri looked down at her watch.
"Well I guess I can stay for cake." She grinned sheepishly as Ponyboy laughed.
"I specifically remember someone saying 'if there's cake, I'm there' only just last Sunday!" She swatted at Ponyboys head as he started the introductions, showing her around the place to the bathroom and going into the story, which ultimately led to the story of how they met.
"Well, Johnny and I were walking up Main Street after church one Sunday, and we heard this woman shouting like a crazy lady at a bunch of kids and chasing them out of the bakery. She had a wet rag in her hand and she was swingin' it around, real crazy like… like a madwoman or somethin'. Thing is, it was a bunch of Socs, and she was shoutin' at 'em 'til she was blue in the face." Pony grinned as she swatted at him before ducking and continuing. "They hopped into a 'stang and took off like a bat outta hell, and she stormed back into the bakery. We saw this sign on the window, 'free samples on Sundays' and well, it was a Sunday so we went in and saw her talkin' to, aw you ain't gonna believe it, Curly Shepard who had a nice fat lip and his nose was bleedin'. She gave him the rag and then looked over at us before she just walked into the back without sayin' a thing. Like she knew we weren't gonna give 'er no trouble."
Corri had laughed at this, and then continued herself. "I came back up with my cupcake tray and locked up the store, let them three just eat all the cupcakes when Pony started talkin' to the Shepard kid. He comes in every once in a while now. Came in with his kid sister the other day actually. Curly left and Pony and Johnny stayed, and kept comin' back every Sunday like stray cats. We may be pretty good off now, but it wasn't always that way and I hate them Socs when they come in with their heads all high actin' like they own the joint, like if their Daddy quits comin in and buying their birthday cakes I'll go outta business or somethin'." She laughed, but it was real bitter and her eyes hardened before she relaxed and patted Pony's knee.
"Pony here is a real good kid. Helps me out and runs back and forth to the market for me every now an then, and I help him out with his English homework when he comes in an I'm baking. Ya'll should be real proud." She stands up and stretches, her flour smattered jeans and nearly white black shirt spreading apart and revealing a thin stretch of tan skin. "I think it's time for some cake."
Darry wasn't sure what it was, but for some reason that black shirt with the flour covering it looked real attractive when she stretched. And that grin on her face when she asked if anyone else wanted any cake was the kinda grin he wanted to steal away with his own lips, hands on the small of her back while he pulled her small but curvy frame in closer to his.
"Hey, you in there Dar? C'mon, Pony's waitin' for us!" Sodapop smacked Darry on the shoulder before trotting into the kitchen, where Corri was holding a candle as Steve lit it, shouting at Two-bit that he could cry all he wants no one's sticking a single candle in her cake.
"Kill the light Darry, would ya?" Soda shouts over all the yelling and as soon as Darry flicks the switch everyone starts singing.
"Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ponyboy, Happy birthday to you!" But Corri doesn't stop there, she starts shouting out numbers like a lunatic while jumping, her brown locks swaying and the breeze blowing a sweet scent over to him that he tried to decipher as the hot wax runs down her fingers. She practically screams the number when she hits fifteen and Pony shouts out "STOP!" He goes to blow out the candle but she covers his mouth and snaps at him to make a wish and shut his eyes while he's at it. He does as she asks, and Pony opens his eyes and blows out the candle, leaving Corrilynn to toss it into the sink and start running the water to kill the heat on the string.
Everyone has a second to take in the cake which looks like a movie ticket, the whole thing written in fondant other than Ponyboy's name which is written in icing. "Alright kid, we'll make a guinea outta you yet. Take your pointer finger and smear your name with it. Your hands better be clean Ponyboy!" Ponyboy laughs and smears the frosting as though it wasn't the first time he's done it, and Darry is suspicious that it isn't…
Corri starts cheering and hugs Ponyboy, plopping a kiss on his cheek and shouting happy birthday in his ear before she hands him and knife and guides his hand to the pre-cut section of cake. "Alright, first slice goes to the birthday boy. Where's the forks?" She stabs one into Pony's slice of cake and then sends him on his way as she starts dishing out slices like a pro, which in a way she is, with Darry waiting for his slice last. "I really appreciate you doin' all this for Pony, but you don't-"
"Save it Curtis. I love Pony like a kid brother, if I wanna make him a cake and make a fuss outta his birthday I will." She dishes out her own slice and then bites into it, slipping the fork from between her lips and letting her tongue slide out over them to catch the spare icing. She probably doesn't know it but she makes Darry's blood run hot as he watches her do that, then she pats his shoulder and walks out to join the others.
Darry gulps and shakes his head before following behind her, muttering about 'women'.
"You sure you can't stay a little longer, Corri?" Ponyboy is asking the woman who ruffles his hair as she fishes her keys out of her pocket.
"Nah, I gotta be goin' kid. Gotta be up nice an early in the morning. Happy birthday you brat, I'll see you an Johnnycake in the morning! Don't be late!" She says her goodbyes to everyone then walks out the door, Darry following behind her to her car and silently opening up her door for her as she hops into the car.
"Thanks again, Miss. I really appreciate it."
"Don't worry about it." She smiles as she turns over the engine, the truck roaring to life beneath her fingers. "You can call me Corri, y'know."
"Only if you call me Darry." Darry finds himself grinning, nothing crazy but more than his usual facial expression.
"It's a done deal. Ya'll should all come by in the morning! I'll have a whole batch of muffins and cupcakes." She grins at him and her eyes crinkle, shining in the rapidly decreasing sunlight.
"Sounds like a plan." She holds out her hand for him to shake, and Darry feels a small piece of paper slip into his hand. He idly wonders where she got the paper to slip him her number, but grins none-the less, watching as she pulls away and rounds the corner before he looks down to his hand and sees a ten-dollar bill instead of the piece of paper with her number on it he'd been expecting.
"Son of a- Hey!" But it's too late, and he can hardly even hear the healthy rumble of her truck after she's out of sight and around the corner. "Sneaky broad…"
A/N: So I feel like this chapter really gives you a little bit more insight on the type of person Corri is. She's my kinda gal. hahah. Gosh I crack myself up.
Okay, anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, and leave any questions, comments, or concerns in the review section please! (: