Disclaimer: S. E. Hinton owns 'The Outsiders'.
Darrel got up to get the door when the knock came. He didn't know many people who cared to knock so figured that he outta get it. He didn't recognize the smiling face who appeared at the door but Soda obviously did, "Hey Kate!"
"Kate" peeked in the doorway and Darrel stepped out of the way.
"Kate Johnson." She extended her hand to him as Soda walked up behind her, "That's Darrel, my brother."
Kate nodded, "I know."
Soda examined her for a moment before deciding how to phrase his question, "You looking for Dal?"
Kate shook her head and began digging in her purse, she handed him a blue envelope and by the weight of it, he figured there was a card inside. "I'm throwing a party for my brother's ninth birthday." She paused, "Well not really a party, just a cook out. But I don't know many people here yet so I'd love it if you guys could come."
He nodded and gestured at the envelope, "This for all of us?"
She began digging in her purse again before pulling out three more matching envelopes. "I got one for Steve, Two-Bit, and Johnny. But that one's for you and your brothers."
"You want me to give those to 'em?"
Kate waited a minute before nodding and handing over the invitations, "Sure, thanks Soda."
"No problem. You told Dal about the party?"
Her eyes went a little wide, "I haven't told him I invited you guys yet, if that's what you're asking." Soda grinned at her and she calmed down, "I was gonna stop by the school tomorrow and let him know though."
"Fine by me."
Kate pulled her purse back on her shoulder and smiled at him, "Well, I'm working a night shift today so I outta get going. I'll see you around."
He hitched his thumbs in his jeans and smiled at her. "See you around."
XXX
Kathy was eying Kate curiously as she waited for a response.
It took Kate a while to put the words in the correct order in her head. "I don't fight over guys." Kathy cocked an eyebrow at her and Kate shrugged, "I did it 'cause she hit me first. I've done enough begging people to stay, if they wanna leave then they can leave."
"Including Dallas?"
Kate squinted like Kathy wasn't understanding her point. "Dallas left me once, I don't doubt he'd do it again."
Kathy began looking a little worried. "You think he'd leave Tulsa?"
"No, he cares too much about those boys. If it was anywhere but Tulsa, then yeah, I think he would." She made eye-contact with Dallas, Steve, and Two-Bit as they walked out of the school. "Two-Bit gonna care you skipped last period?"
Kathy shrugged, "He ain't the boss of me."
Kate smiled but knew that the situation went both ways, they both had each other wrapped around their fingers.
Two-Bit grinned at them, "Ladies."
Kathy tucked herself in Two-Bit's arm and Kate nodded a greeting to Two-Bit. Dallas and Steve were standing back a little and she walked forward. She glanced at Steve and he smirked, "Looks like you're in trouble Dal. I'll catch y'all later."
Kate laughed a little although that wasn't exactly true. She was most likely the one in trouble.
"What are 'ya doing here?" He almost sounded upset at the fact that she was there.
"I needed to talk to you."
He glanced behind her, "How'd 'ya get here?"
She raised an eyebrow, "I drove?"
"Since when?"
Kate rolled her eyes, "Oh Dallas. My life didn't stop when you left." She shrugged, "Bobby taught me how to drive."
Dallas narrowed his eyes slightly but not enough that anyone else would really notice, she was used to paying close attention.
Bobby was her ex-boyfriend and her brother's right hand man. They hadn't been together for a while now but Dallas never seemed to appreciate the fact that he was always around. But with Bobby being the second in Daniel's gang, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
Dallas let it go and stood up a little straighter, "So what do we gotta talk about?"
She perked up a little, "I'm having a cook out for David's birthday this weekend."
"That's this weekend?"
"Well, his birthday's Monday. But the party's Saturday."
He smirked slightly, "So are Kathy and I gonna be the only two making an appearance?"
Kate rolled her eyes, "I invited your friends too." She watched him cautiously for his response. She wasn't exactly sure if this counted as crossing the line into his "space". They never did have a group of friends to share back in New York.
He didn't answer and Kate continued, "That okay with you?"
Dallas shrugged nonchalantly, "It's your call, babe."
Kate smiled at him. One of those genuine smiles where he could tell that he had done something to please her.
XXX
Dallas didn't miss the way she gulped when Soda asked her to hold his beer. There was a moment's hesitation before she closed her eyes and nodded slowly, "Sure, I'll hold it for you."
Soda sent Dallas a curious look as he cocked his eyebrow. Dallas avoided his eyes and Soda hopped down the steps. Darrel was having a hard time getting the grill working and the rest of the boys were gathered around him trying to figure out what was wrong with it.
Kate waited until Soda wasn't looking for her to set the beer down on the porch steps.
"Where's the kid?"
Kate looked at him as if she wasn't exactly all there. "Inside, playing hide and seek or something with his friends."
"That what he roped Pony and Johnny into doing?"
Kate grinned, "They're the seekers." She paused, "Johnny, is that the one with the problems at home?"
Dallas stiffened as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah."
Kate dropped the subject but he noticed the now evident frown on her face. They fell into an awkward silence as they watched Steve get the grill going. "My mom wanted to take David with her, when she left."
Her voice sounded far away and he turned to look at her. "Yeah?"
It wasn't that he didn't believe her, he just wasn't sure how else to answer. This seemed like another one of those times where she was gonna let something spill that she didn't necessarily want a response for.
She nodded again, "It was right after Daniel died. I told her she wasn't taking him and she got pretty upset."
"What'd she do?" Kate's mother never was one for laying her hands on Kate, but she also never stopped her boyfriends from doing it either.
Kate looked away from him, "We fought."
Dallas scoffed, they fought?
Kate shrugged, "She hit me and I hit her back." She stopped talking then but Dallas could tell that there was more that she wanted to say. "She messed me up pretty bad with all of her shit. I wasn't gonna let her do that to David."
"That when she left?"
Kate looked back at him and nodded, "We both cooled off and went to bed, but when I woke up she was gone." Dal pretended like he understood although he really didn't, he never understood anything when it came to her mother. "There was just something different about it this time, something more final."
"That why you keep saying she ain't coming back?"
"Last I heard she was in California anyway."
Dallas gulped and eyed her closely, "What happened to Vince?" Vince was her grandfather, but definitely more like her father since her own dad got himself locked up when she was still in pre-school.
"Things got pretty bad after you left. The docs said he still had two months left." She proceeded cautiously, "But he died a couple days later."
It was weird that Dallas actually felt a little bad about Vince's death. He was right up there with Mr. Curtis when it came to good men in the world. He never hesitated in taking Kate and her two brothers in once he figured out the extent of how messed up their mother was.
Kate had been with him since the first grade, but he got diagnosed with Alzheimer's her freshman year of high school. Out of all the people in the world to throw that disease at, Vince was the last person who deserved it.
"He's in a better place now though. He was in a lot of pain towards the end." He wondered how long it took her to get to the point where she was accepting of everything that had happened. It was as if she read his mind, "I spent a lot of time being angry about everything. I guess I sorta lost myself sometime after."
David came running through the door then, presumably to safety, which had been decided as the grill.
Kate smiled at the boy and it no longer phased him with how happy she got at just the sight of David. "It took me awhile to get it together. If it weren't for him," She gestured towards David, "I don't think I woulda made it."
He felt the pieces of the story coming together and everything started to make sense. There was still a small part of him that wondered how badly she had lost herself and remembering how she reacted to the closeness of Soda's beer, he figured it had been pretty bad.
Kate was oblivious to Dallas's thoughts as she stood up and grabbed a coke out of the cooler. "Go wash up, sweetie. Dinner's almost done."
David headed back inside and gathered the few kids he had invited from school to wash their hands. Kate was back to her usual self as she smiled and chatted with Darrel. The rest of the boys gravitated toward the grill and Kate sent them inside to wash up as well.