Author's Note: Hello my dear readers. Thanks once again for your readership and reviewing. I hope you enjoyed the last installment. We are approaching the end of this story. The final installment should be this Friday.

There is a language warning for this chapter. A little harsher than normal.

Chapter 19

Steven sat down comfortably on his motorcycle and turned on the ignition. He revved up the engine and turned his head to face the brunette standing beside him. She wore a small smile and the wind blew behind her hair as the sun was setting behind her.

"You sure you want to be my girlfriend? I'm still one fucked up guy," he spoke with a snort at the end and grin on his face.

"And I'm one abnormal artist—"

"Extraordinarily unique," he gently corrected and kissed her cheek.

She cupped both of his cheeks and returned a slow gentle kiss on the lips. She pulled back slowly letting the contact between their lips last as long as possible. Her brown eyes met his eyes and she smile warmly at him. "Does that answer your question?"

He nodded his head slightly as she continued to hold his cheeks. "I'll see you on Monday?"

"Yes," she whispered then took a step away.

He grinned and winked at her as he rolled back from the driveway. He looked over his shoulder one last time before riding away.

Shay Residence
Sunday, May 1980

Steven sat up in his bed and scratched the back of his head as he heard the relentless knocking on his bedroom door. He looked over to his clock radio to see that it was Sunday and approaching noon. "I'm getting up!" he shouted in an annoyed voice. He threw the sheets off of his legs and wobbled to the door in a white undershirt and boxers. He opened up the door with one hand as he wiped an eye with his other hand. Steven snorted out a breath and smiled at the raven haired girl on the other side of the threshold of the bedroom. "Hey Ruby."

"Hey Steven," she replied with a smirk as he allowed her to enter his room. "Where were you Friday night and yesterday?" she asked as she walked past him.

He shut the door and turned to her. "Not even a good morning?"

She smiled warmly and replied, "Morning sleepy head." She then kissed him on the cheek.

He just groaned as he ran a hand through his hair. "God, how are you so cheerful this morning?"

She took a seat on his bed and crossed her legs. "I'm just so eager to find out what has happened to you over the last two days."

"I was with Taylor," he replied with a smirk as he took a seat in his desk chair across from her.

"You were?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and bobbing her foot of her top leg up and down.

Steven yawned for a moment before replying, "Yes, I took her out for some pizza and spent the night over at her house."

Ruby blinked at this and the smug look on her face disappeared. "You spent the night over at her house?"

Steven smirked. "Yes I did. It was very nice."

"Were her parents home?" she asked in a concern tone he hadn't heard from her too often.

"I assume her father was. Her mother is deceased," he replied in a quiet tone.

The surprise look on the girl's face then shifted to one of guilt. "Sorry."

Steven shook his head. "That's just how it is Ruby. Nothing either one of us can do to change that."

The paler girl pursed her lips and looked down for a moment. In a more cheerful tone then she probably felt, she joked, "You're still here, so obviously he didn't kill you."

Steven smiled as he replied, "No he didn't. He seemed to approve of me. It just tells me how lousy his assessment of me he has."

"Or he's absolutely right about you."

Steven laughed out loud, "Ah, under that dark wicked exterior is still that sweet girl that still sees what isn't there."

Ruby laughed in a mischievous manner, "I see you just fine Steven, but the answer I want to know is: 'Where did you sleep?'"

"Next to her on a sleeping bag in her… own little world, for lack of a better explanation, which I'm not going to try and give you. It is something she shared with me and not opened to discussion."

"Okay, fair enough. I assume you two didn't…"

"What makes you assume that?"

"Because of whom you are. You may be a guy, but this it's not about sex." Ruby smirked and continued, "Besides, if it was, you could have had me."

Steven chuckled for a few moments before catching his breath. It took a few more breaths to make sure he was calm and met her eyes. "I know and I would have treated you right."

"I know you would Stevie," she replied with a smile. The smile then turned into a mischievous one as she asked, "So where are you two now?"

He shook his head and smiled. "She's my girlfriend now."

"Your girlfriend?" she asked and her mouth dropped open.

"What?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "You said I should try and give happiness a chance. That's what I'm doing."

She did something he hadn't heard in years: she giggled.

"You find this funny?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

She shook her head and her raven locks bounced off her shoulders a little. "I find this… delightful."

"I'm glad you approve," he replied with a half smile.

"Someone has to watch out for you," she shrugged a shoulder and winked an eye. Her tone turned more serious when she asked, "What does your father think?"

Steven blew out a breath. "Haven't told him and I don't plan to unless I have to. All he knows is she's a friend at the moment."

Ruby let out a breath and shook her head knowing where that discussion could go when it was out in the open. "Well you know I won't be saying anything to the grouch. I'll cover you as long as I can."

"Thanks," he answered with a grateful smile.

She got up from her seat off of his bed and walked towards him. She pulled him into a hug and whispered into his ear, "I'm happy for you Stevie."

He embraced her back and patted her on one shoulder. "Thank you Ruby."

It was Monday morning when Steven pulled up into the school parking lot with Taylor riding on the back seat and holding unto his waist. Once he brought the motorcycle to a stop and turned off the ignition, he turned his head slightly and she kissed his cheek before getting off the back of the motorcycle.

More than a dozen students caught site of the couple and were surprised at what they saw. They almost in an instant started whispering among themselves and discreetly pointing at the pair as they told others who had not seen them arrive together.

As Taylor was putting away her helmet, Steven whispered with a smile on his face, "I'll see you this afternoon."

After securing the helmet in the saddlebag, she smiled up at him. "'kay," she replied and kissed him on the cheek, before turning and heading inside through a side entrance.

Steven put down the kick stand and hopped off of his bike. He raised the corner of his mouth as he saw some of the group of friends killing time before the bell rang. He approached them slowly. Ruby and Glenn were sitting on his Charger with his armed wrapped around her waist. Bobby was leaning against the front of the car on Ruby's left side. He was a scrappy hair cut dark headed boy and about five foot six with athletically lean body. He wore darker colored blue skinny jeans and a black shirt with a torn near the hem of the shirt and a black jacket. He used to be on the football team before he blew out a knee in last year's season, so he became a punk similar to the ones just coming out of Europe at the time. Andrea was a first-generation African-American girl with a small afro with a lithe frame and a beautiful smile. Her nickname from the group was "African Princess" because of her air of dignity she carried and respect she was immediately given in any new environment as if she was royalty.

Glenn chuckled as Steven stopped in front of them. "So you and Taylor?" He turned to his girlfriend. "Did you know about this?"

Ruby cocked an eyebrow and smirked. Glenn shook his head knowing he would never get a straight answer from her on this matter. He knew whatever happens between she and Steven would stay between those two. She had made that quite clear before they started dating along with the fact she wouldn't put up with any jealousy on his part and showed him where he could go if he didn't like it. The raven haired girl even made it a point by pointing to the window of her second story bedroom not the door.

"So have you and Taylor… you know," Bobby asked with a raised eyebrow.

Steven set his jaw tight and stared coldly and the dark headed teenager. Bobby was quickly smacked upside of the head. He rubbed the back of his head and shouted, "Oww!" He turned to look at Ruby glaring at him.

"Why did you do that?"

"You were being stupid," she snarked back at him.

He glared back at her from the insult.

"Keep staring and I'll take your eyes out," she hissed.

Bobby caved pretty quickly and looked away. Ruby eyed him for a few more moments to make sure he complied. Steven snorted out a breath and shook his head. Ruby had just put Bobby in his place and now Steven didn't have to worry about anyone else for that matter. She had the advantage of being the Alpha Female of the group.

Steven grinned as he spoke, "Taylor is my girlfriend. That's all I have to say on that matter. Pass this on to the others if you would: I want it to be made clear to everyone else in school that it is just as foolish for them to bother her or her little brother Barry as it would be to bother anyone of us. Are we good on this?"

Ruby answered immediately, "We are clear. Right everyone?" The three other's immediately nodded knowing better than arguing even if they disagreed in the first place.

Steven chuckled and shook his head.

It was lunch time and Taylor was quietly eating her bagged lunch when Ruby approached her once again and took a seat across from her. The brunette smiled at the raven haired girl even as she was chewing part of her sandwich.

She grinned at the brunette. "So you and Stevie are together?"

Taylor nodded with a smile as she swallowed her morsel of food then a sip of her straw from her milk carton.

"You're going to treat him right, right," she stated as half a question and the other half as a statement with an edge in her voice.

This time, however, Taylor was not fearful of the act the girl was putting on, but comforted that there was someone looking out for Steven.

It was a soft and almost caressing voice to Ruby's ears as she heard the question, "How long have you known Steven?"

Ruby grinned before replying that the girl actually verbally responded to her, "He used to pull my pigtails when he wanted to give me a cookie before recess. We go back… far enough back to remember what he was like before… what he is now."

"What was he like before now?"

She looked down at the cafeteria table and started picking at it with her fingernail as she spoke, "He was this sweet and caring boy who wouldn't think ill will of anyone. He's a smart kid and could put the nerds to shame if he would just care again. He was always happy and it seemed nothing could bring him down."

"Was it just his mother dying? He told me he lost her last year after he figured out my mother passed away," Taylor quickly supplied how she knew that.

Ruby shook her head and some of her raven locks bounced on her shoulder before meeting the brunette's eyes. "They were close, but it's not just that his mother died, but his a… how do I put it? His 'worldview' broke and thus breaking him."

She blinked and gave the paler girl a perplex look. "I can tell he's broken, but I'm not sure what you mean by the other part."

Ruby let out a breath and let her eyes wonder for a moment in trying to figure out how to answer the brunette. "Okay, the way he looked at the world came crashing down on his head. He was raised and thought that everything that happened was for a reason; good or bad, there was a reason behind it. Something akin to God's master plan for the world, but his mother dying caused him to question if there was a purpose to everything happening and a number of things he thought were true. It caused him not to see a point in a lot of things. He went too far in thinking that if everything didn't have a meaning then maybe nothing had a meaning or purpose, so he downward spiraled into what he is now. He's still struggling with the idea that there is meaning and that sometimes shit just happens. I've tried my best not to let him give up completely on life and that some things are important even if others are meaningless or just happened. The only thing he held on to was that truth and honesty was the only things he could count on. That's why he'll never bullshit you. Then you came along and now… I think he'll final find a balance again."

"He's a good man," Taylor insisted.

Ruby let out a small laugh. "I know." After calming her laugh, she looked directly at Taylor and stated, "He'll treat you right the best way he can."

The white bandana wearing girl nodded and in a small quiet voice, Taylor asked, "Do you love him?"

Ruby smiled and without a hint of regret or hesitation, she replied, "Yes, he's my friend and he's always stuck by me through thick and thin, even when I decided to start looking and being 'this'," indicating her pale look, dark locks and dark attire, "I'm not leaving him now. Is our closeness going to be a problem?"

Taylor smiled warmly at the teenager sitting across from her. "No, Steven's a good man. There's nothing else that needs to be said: that's my answer."

"Beautiful and smart, he did well," she replied with a smirk and started laughing.

Taylor joined her warm laughter a moment later.

Steven was walking with Ruby down the hall as they were heading for their last class of the day when he saw three teenagers that he recognized from the other night at the pizza place hassling Barry at his locker.

"I know them," Ruby pointed out to Steven as the pair approached the group. "They annoyed me at lunch on Thursday."

"They did?" he asked with evident concern in his voice.

Before he could say anything else, she replied, "I took care of it. Don't worry about it."

Steven nodded hesitantly and trusted that she was telling the truth and that he didn't have to deal with them on that matter. However, he approached the group and they immediately noticed his presence with Ruby standing a few feet behind him.

"Barry, get on to class. I'll deal with this," Steven instructed with a nod of his head.

Barry nodded his head and grabbed his last book before leaving the group. The group of freshman allowed the boy pass fearing at least for the moment of what Steven could do to them. Steven looked directly at the lead freshman. "I know you; you're that guy that I had got acquainted with the Pak-Rat machine. I'm going to cut to the chase: you will leave Barry Dorfman alone or I will deal with you and then all of your friends right now."

"You don't scare me Shay," he spoke with a hint of fear in his voice.

Steven just smiled at hearing the fear then slammed his palm hard against the locker to the left side of the boy's head. "That's fine, just makes us even when I pound your face into the ground."

The boy looked past Steven's shoulder and smirked. Steven turned slowly to see a teenager about his age and only slightly taller crossing the six foot mark in height and slightly more muscular than Steven. The long haired teenager stepped back from the freshman and approached the sandy blonde hair boy. Another audience had gathered to watch what Steven was going to do again. Steven only had to lift his head slightly to meet the other guy's eyes. "Who are you?"

"I'm his big brother. They call me 'Tiny'," he replied with a big grin.

Steven chuckled. "Is that in reference to the size of your dick?"

He growled at the long hair teenager. "I'm going to mess you up and then," he raised his hand and pointed a finger at Ruby, "I'm going to take care of that bitch."

Steven flashed a quick look of utter hatred at 'Tiny' before immediately dropping to one knee and jabbed as hard as he could with his left fist into they guy's crotch.

The slightly taller teenager let out a grunted noise for a moment as he bent over just to see Steven's right fist come up to give him an upper cut. He flung backwards and smacked face first into the hallway floor.

Steven stood up and shook his right hand and hissed, "Damn it. I finally just healed up." After a few moments, Steven looked to Tiny. The boy appeared to be out cold from either the punch or the contact with the ground.

He looked back to the freshman and approached the younger brother of Tiny. "Now, as I was saying: you leave Barry alone, you never bother my friend over there again and never even look at Taylor Dorfman funny again or I and my friends are going to show you why no bothers us at this school. Make sure you pass that on to your brother when he wakes up and tell him if he comes looking for me, I won't fight fair again. Do you understand?"

All three nodded, but the first one answered, "Okay, never going to bother anyone ever again."

"Make sure you don't," Steven whispered coldly.

The three then ran off to wherever they needed to be.

Steven then looked across the gathered students and spoke out in a determined voice with a harsh edge. "Yes, I am dating Taylor Dorfman. She's my girlfriend. She is off limits to your taunts, harassment or anything other dumbass thing you think you can pull on her. They finally let Evan out of the hospital a few days ago and now 'Tiny' here is on the floor, so if any of you have a problem with that, well… you can go fuck yourself."

Surprisingly most of the people there started shaking their heads before going about their business. Steven had gotten his message across loud and clear: do not fuck with him or the Dorfmans.