A/N: I'm glad that y'all like the last chapter. So without further ado, chapter 8.
TIMELINE: Chapter one was one day. Chapter 2 and 3 were the next day. Chapter 4 is a week after chapter 3. Chapter 5 is three weeks after chapter 4. Chapter 6 and 7 are a week after 5. I hope this is more helpful than confusing.
DISCLAIMER: I still don't own The Outsiders.
Jacquelyn sat on the Curtis' sofa with her legs crossed and her elbows on her knees as she watched the two eldest Curtis brother's carefully. The oldest was leaning against the wall across from her with his arms crossed over his chest. The middle brother was sitting on the arm of the chair next to the sofa. They were talking amongst themselves about her. However, she'd lost focus on the conversation and just settled with sitting with her legs crossed and attempting to follow the conversation. After a few moments, she even gave up on that and took to inhaling the scent of Darry's old work shirt that hung loosely on her torso. She'd been sleeping in the shirt for the past two days, and she'd feared that the scent of tar and sweet was gone but it remained.
"Jacquelyn?" Soda's voice said to her, pulling her from her tar scented trance. She turned her hazel eyes to his brown ones. "You wanna go get your stuff?"
Her thick brown eyebrow arched at his question. "I beg your pardon?"
"Have you not been listening?" Soda questioned with a goofy grin on his lips. The girl shook her head. "Ponyboy had an idea yesterday. Instead of you going back home, or looking for your own place, you can stay here."
Her hazel eyes flicked over to Darry's blue-green ones instantly. She hadn't expected him to be looking at her when she did. In fact, when she met his blue-green eyes, she looked away startled. After a second, she looked over at him again. She could see him weighing the options in his head. The financial burden of another person. The way the people from the state would look at it. However, when put against sending her back to her house, none of that mattered.
"Stay here," she echoed her eyes not leaving Darry's.
"Yeah."
"Can I?" she questioned to Darry.
He shrugged his broad shoulders, and dropped his hands to his pockets. "Yes, Jacquelyn." He looked over at the clock and then back towards her. "Get ready, so I can take you to grab your stuff."
Jacquelyn pushed herself off the sofa and started towards the bathroom. She ran her fingers through her dark brown hair and sighed. For the past two days, she'd been trying to hide the discoloration on her face. Steve had called his girlfriend, Evie, over to help with the task. However, it was impossible, the marks were dark for the makeup do even cover them a little. She brought her hazel eyes to the mirror in front of her. The bruises looked worse than they did when she'd come in earlier to brush her teeth. The pale ivory skin around her eye was an angry purple, and that purple continued to just below her cheekbone. The bruises on her neck were also an angry purple color. However, that was the worst of it. The bruise on her sternum was yellowing, as were the ones on her arms. There were a few that were the purple color, but that was minority of them. She swept her hair back from her face and sighed. She then trekked down the hall to Darry's bedroom. She grabbed her black capris and red sweater from the chair and tugged them on. When she appeared in the living room, Soda was gone and Darry was sitting in the recliner with his hand over his eyes.
"Are you sure it's okay?" she questioned as she sat on the arm of the chair.
Darry dropped his arm from his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure." He looked over at her and brought his hand up to her chin. Gently, he moved her face with his thumb and index finger, eyeing the bruises on her face. "They look better," he mused. He brought his index finger up the bruise on her cheek, and she flinched away from his touch. "Sorry." He pushed himself out of the chair and grabbed the keys. "You ready?"
"Yeah," she said slowly as she stood and tailed him outside to the truck.
The brunette unlocked the front door to her father's place, and slowly walked in with Darry all of five inches behind her. She could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck, and it sent chills down her spine. She noted that the lights were still off, as she made her way to her bedroom. Once they were secure in her bedroom, Jacquelyn closed the door behind them and pulled two suitcases, one average sized and the other more of a travel bag, from under her bed. Realizing that it was going to be impossible to pack in the dark, she pulled open the curtains allowing the light from outside to enter the room. She stood in the middle of the bedroom for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to get what she needed out. After that moment was up, she started walking around the bedroom strategically packing clothes into her suitcase.
All of twenty, thirty minutes later, the brunette zipped her suitcases. She turned over her shoulder and pulled the quilt off of the bed, unzipped the larger suitcase and tucked it away. Afterwards, she dropped little things into the suitcase. A photo album from her bed side table drawer, her hairbrush, a necklace, a small teddy bear that Darry instantly recognized, and a name tag. She then slipped out of the door and down the hall into the bathroom. When she returned, she dropped her toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, two smaller toiletry bags, and shampoo into the bag. Darry was grateful that she'd remembered the shampoo. Her citrus scent had faded and he would never admit it to anyone, not even himself, but his missed it. She grabbed her jacket off her bed and tossed it over her shoulder before she zipped the bag up and handed the heavier one to Darry. The brunette then reached over her bed and pulled the curtains shut.
She opened the door and walked out of her bedroom, closing the door behind her. She then tailed Darry into the living room, only stopping to pick up the car keys on her way out. It was her car after all; they, her old man and old lady, handed the keys over to her as a graduation present. The brunette looked over the living room, one last time before Darry called her name. She looked her shoulder at him, a smile playing her lips, as she walked towards him and out of the door.
That night, Jacquelyn sat with her legs crossed on Darry's bed, in her flannel pajama pants and one of Darry's too-big t-shirts that she'd grown so fond of, as he prepped his clothes for work the next morning. He pulled out a shirt that was folded so neatly it looked like something out of a cartoon. He then pushed that drawer shut, and then pulled open the drawer that held his jeans. Again, his jeans were folded so perfectly that she could barely fathom how that was even possible. He must have realized that she was watching him, because he looked over his shoulder with an amused look on his face.
"Can I help you?" he questioned as he pushed the pants drawer shut and then sat on the bed. He pressed his back to the headboard and swung his feet on to the bed. Jacquelyn leaned back against the headboard as well, before she tucked herself against Darry's side. "
"I was just watching," she told him. "I don't think that I've even seen clothes folded that perfectly in my whole life," she teased. "I'm not sure how you're gonna live with me."
Darry paused for a moment, taking in her statement. Somewhere in his mind, he was enjoying the feel of her body tucked against his. He was enjoying the fact that they had been sharing a bed for two days. He was enjoying having her around. However, there were other things that he needed to focus on. Bills and work. He didn't have time to enjoy himself. "You're gonna fold your clothes," he told her.
"I can't promise that they will look like that," she said. Darry rolled his eyes. "I don't even know how that could even happen."
"What?"
"How that shirt is folded so perfectly," she exclaimed playfully. She pointed at it dramatically, "Look at it. It looks like servants from the Queen of some far away land folded them!"
"A far away land?" Darry questioned. "What land would that be?"
"The magical land of Maine," she responded immediately.
That was something that Darry had always admired about her. She was capable of making up the most incredible things. Sometimes, most the time, they were incredibly silly. However, it wasn't the seriousness of what she said, it was the fact that those answers come so quickly. She even thought about them, she just said them. She never worried what other people would say about it or her, she just lived her life the way that she wanted to.
"I see," Darry mused.
The brunette bit on the side of lip for a moment before looking over at him. "Are you sure you're okay with this?" She asked. She wasn't quite sure how he really felt about the whole new living situation idea. She had asked him several times and he never really answered her.
"I told you I was," he replied. He could feel her watching him through narrow eyes. He ran his hand over his face and looked up at the white ceiling. "Look, I don't want you to go back there, that's the last thing I want for you. I was not opposed to you finding your own place. However, that would mean that you needed a place to stay until you did. Then it didn't make sense for us to put you out."
She wasn't quite sure that she understood. Her moving in made sense. Her thick eyebrows knitted together. "So you didn't me to move in?"
"I didn't say that," Darry said as he reached over and turned the lamp on the bedside table off.
Jacquelyn reached over and turned the light back on. "What did you say?"
Darry rolled his blue-green eyes and looked down at her. "I said that it made sense."
"Which means?"
"It made sense," Darry said exasperatedly. "It made sense to have you here."
"To who?"
"To me!" he said finally. Jacquelyn looked started at his outburst. "It made sense to me to have you here. It's easier to look out for you, if you're here."
The brunette thought of a moment, before she pulled the blanket back and tucked herself under it. If her safely was his main concern then she could deal with that. However, for some reason she didn't quite believe that that was only reasoning for having her stay with them. She felt him settling into the bed under sheets.
"You could have just said that," she told him before she rolled over on her side and pressed her body to his.
No matter how many times she did this particular action, chill always ran down Darry's spine. The two of them had been sleeping this way, with her curled against his side and his arm around her, since she'd her first night. The first night it took him some getting used to. As she exhaled on to his skin, his hair stood on end and sent chills over his entire body. The next night, wasn't as bad. The chills came when her small hand fisted against the skin of his bare chest. It might not have been the action itself, but the way that she did it so subtly, as if she was so comfortable with it. When he came home from work the day before, he took off his work belt and shoes, and the made his way into the living room. She was lounging on the sofa reading the paper. He greeted her as he sat next to her, and she was quiet for a long moment. In fact, she never actually greeted him. The next thing he knew, she'd sat up and had her side pressed against his. She thought nothing of it. It was almost like it was a natural process for her.
"Oh my."
Those were Gina's first words to Jacquelyn when she walked into work after four days of not coming in. Jacquelyn's cheeks tinted pink at her words as she ducked her head, trying to hide her face. The bruises had started to fade. It took her forever to cover the purple on her skin, but she'd finally managed to cover it. For the most part. They were covered just enough to get by, but not enough for people to not notice. Jacquelyn made a beeline for the back room where she clocked in. When she turned around Gina was standing in behind her.
"Oh. My!" Gina exclaimed as she took a good look at the brunette. "What-? Where-?"
"Don't worry 'bout it," the brunette told her as she attempted to move around her blond friend.
"Where are you staying?" the blond asked finally.
"With a friend," Jacquelyn replied. Gina glared at Jacquelyn, letting her know that it wasn't enough. "I'm okay, honest."
"Can you at least tell me where you are staying?"
Jacquelyn shook her head as she grabbed a box of records and ducked under Gina's arm to make her way to the front of the store. Gina tailed her, continuing to ask where she was staying. Jacquelyn started to place the records in their appropriate location. After she finished with that box, she looked over at the time. Seeing that it was time to open, she flipped the open sign and unlocked the door. As she ducked under the counter to open the register, Gina appeared next to her.
"What Gina?" the brunette sighed while she opened a roll of nickels.
"Where are you-"
"With Darry Curtis and his brother," the brunette answered without letting her friend finish. She counted the dimes in her drawer quickly, before opening another roll of dimes and pouring them into the compartment.
"Your ex," Gina replied. Jacquelyn nodded. The blond leaned against the counter as Jacquelyn closed the drawer and a customer walked in. The two girls greeted the boy as he walked over to the rows of records. They were quiet for a moment before Gina spoke again. "Well, why didn't you tell me?"
Jacquelyn shrugged. "Darry just kinda placed himself in the situation."
That was the truth, right? She hadn't told him to show up at her house like some knight in shining armor or anything. She'd never do that. He had just appeared in her doorway like a knight. Not that she wasn't thankful.
"Oh," Gina said. "You still could have called me."
"Didn't want you to worry," Jacquelyn responded.
"Didn't work." Gina replied as she looked at the bruise on her friend's face. "You old man did that?" The brunette nodded. "You should have let Darry kill him." Jacquelyn chuckled. "What happened?"
"This is not the appropriate place to discuss this," Jacquelyn stated, as the boy walked up to the counter with a record in his hand. "Hey. That's fifty cent." The boy gave her exact change as she bagged it. "Have a nice day."
"So?" Gina started slowly as she looked at the brunette. Jacquelyn arched her eyebrow. "What happened?"
"I didn't play the electric bill," the brunette told her blond friend. "Look I don't really wanna talk about it much more than that."
Gina nodded, understanding, but she didn't move from her spot leaning on the counter. "What?" Jacquelyn sighed, knowing that she wanted more.
"You kissed him yet?"
The brunette pushed the blond from behind the register and rolled her eyes. "I'm not discussing this with you right now."
"You're right," Gina agreed. "Over lunch is more suitable."
When Jacquelyn walked into the Curtis residence, she was startled by the flurry of motion going on. Ponyboy was arranging the pillows on the sofa, trying his best to his the rips in the fabric. Soda was sweeping, well attempting to, he was actually just sliding around in his socks with the broom in his hand. The brunette placed her shoes in the closet by the door and walked into the living room. As she did, Darry called her name. When she looked over in his direction, he tossed a rag to her.
"Polish the table," he told her before turning back to clearing off the kitchen table.
The hazel eyeed girl started on the task at hand, hoping over the small pile of dirt as she went into the kitchen. She pulled the bottle of polish from its place under the sink and made her way back to the living room. Ponyboy had cleared out of the room, giving her the space around the table. She uncapped the bottle and poured the polish on the cloth. While Soda finally got to sweeping, she polished the table in the living room until it looked brand new. The smell of lemon filling the small room, and competing with the smell of bleach coming from the kitchen. Ponyboy opened the window in the living room, reliving her from the mixing scents. When Darry looked over into the living room, he nodded in approval, saying something along the lines of the table never looking that good. By the end of the day, Jacquelyn had polished the table, mopped the floor, washed and folded three loads of laundry, bleached the bathtub, and straightened up the medicine cabinet.
When she walked into the bedroom that she and Darry shared, she flopped down on the bed and exhaled. She sat up quickly, her brown hair flying over her shoulders, when she heard a floorboard creak in the room. A tired looking Darry Curtis sat on the bed. He offered her a mug and when questioned about its contents, he told her it was tea. The brunette took the mug from him and took a long sip, as he relaxed into the pillows behind him.
"The lady from the state is coming tomorrow," Darry told her, clarifying why there was the flurry of cleaning. The brunette nodded as she brought the mug to her lips. "She wants to talk to you," he revealed after a moment. "You know, to see what's going on and if you're a good figure to have around."
"What do I do?" she asked carefully.
"Answer her questions honestly," Darry said with a shrug of his shoulders. He winced slightly as he tried to roll his shoulders, an attempt to relax the muscles. Jacquelyn placed the mug on the bedside table and pushed on his side. "Hmm?"
"I'm gonna massage out the knot in your shoulders," she told him. "So you can sit on the floor or lay on your back," she told him. He looked at her for a long moment. "Move it, Curtis!" she demanded, trying her best to sound at least a little intimidating. It didn't work, and Darry laughed as he pushed himself into a sitting position on the floor. The brunette pushed herself over to the edge of the bed and then placed her legs on either side of Darry's body. She then slid her hands under the fabric of his shirt, her thumb running along his back to find the knot in his back. Once she did, her fingers started to knead against his skin. "You worried?"
"Hmm?" he replied.
"About the lady from the state?"
Darry shrugged, and she could feel his muscles flexing and relaxing. "I always am."
"I get paid tomorrow," she told him, as she pressed harder on the knot. "I can go to the store after work and grab some stuff. Just some basics, eggs, milk, cheese, bread."
"Would you?" he asked as he looked over his shoulder at her. He would have never asked her to do that. It just wouldn't have been a thought he had. He'd been taking care of his brother's for ten months or so, he was nowhere near being an expert at the task, but he was doing alright, and he'd never asked anyone for money. He just wasn't in the place to own anyone anything.
"Yeah," she replied.
Suddenly, he reached up and took her hand from under his shirt. His fingertips hooking with hers, until he was able to turn her hand over and lace his fingers between hers. His actions were slow but purposeful. He brought her hand up to his lips, pressing his lips to her hand in a silent thank you. The brunette slipped down to the floor beside him, and then moved so that she was sitting in front of him. Their clasped hands falling on her knee.
Looking up at her, he swept a strand of her dark hair from her hazel eyes before letting his hand fall from to the floor. Her hazel eyes greeted his blue-green ones when she looked up. Unconsciously, she licked her lips as he watched her. Her eyes feel on the open door for a moment, but then realized that Soda had taken Ponyboy out, she thought for a moment but couldn't remember, somewhere for the night. Probably the drive-in with the boys. When her hazel eyes met his again, she titled her head to the side a bit, curious as to why he was watching her so intensely. As if he was trying to read what was going on in her head.
"You know you could just ask," she told him quietly, her voice barely above a whisper, as she shifted in her spot a little.
"Huh?"
"What I was thinking? If you wanted to know you could have asked."
Darry watched her for another long moment, before shifting in his spot as well. Their shifting caused them to be closer. His azure eyes searched her face, and she felt oddly self-conscious while he did, and she licked her lips again, dragging her teeth along her bottom lip as he watched her. She supposed that was his undoing. He reached his hand across to her cheek, his thumb absentmindedly running over the raised scar on her cheek, and his lips pressed to hers. This kiss was different from the first. The first had held a bit of innocence. This one was something more. His hands tangled in her dark hair as he pulled her closer. He kissed her long and hard; the citrus scent from her hair engulfing him. This kiss was more desperate. He was desperate to feel her smooth lips against his; desperate to touch her; desperate to feel her touch; desperate to tell her. He'd never been good with words, especially with her, he always worked off his actions. When she was upset, he made her feel better. When she was sick, he took care of her. When she wanted something within reason, he tried his best to get it for her. He loved her now as he loved her then. He loved her, and he was sure that he hadn't told her enough. He was desperate to tell her that he loved her, but couldn't find the words to tell her.
She pulled on the front of his shirt, making their bodies touch. She could feel how much he wanted this. How much he wanted her to know that he wanted this. She knew that he wasn't the best with words, never had been, and if it was possible he got worse when his parents died. She watched him keep everything locked up, until it just came out as him being angry. But he wanted this, whatever this was, he wanted it. Who was she to deny him anything? Her hands slipped under his shirt, her hands pressing against the warm skin under his work shirt.
He tugged her closer, because the amount of contact she'd initiated wasn't cutting it for him. He felt her body fall forward as she shifted her position. His skin burned under her fingertips. His body seemed to be over responding to her touch. Any part of his skin that she touched sizzled. He hoped that she was able to understand his actions, because he wasn't quite sure that he did. His hands slipped under her shirt, caressing the warm skin beneath. The brunette let out an involuntary gasp as his fingers touched her skin. If her dragging her teeth across her bottom lip had undone him, then he wasn't sure what her gasp did to him. He pulled her closer, her legs on either side of his body. His hands settled on the curve of her side as her fingers clasped behind his neck.
Every part of her body tingled. From the roots of her thick brown hair to her toes. Everything tingled. The brunette found her fingers working at the buttons on the front of his shirt. Once she'd gotten to the last button, she trailed her fingers along the contours of his chest. As her fingers trailed along the ridges of his muscles, he said her name. The husky, breathy tone of his voice undid her. How easily he'd said it; how easily her name had slipped off his lips pushed her to the edge. Now even her eardrums tingled. She was quite literally putty in his hands. She pushed his shirt from his shoulders, her hands coming to clasp behind his neck again. The cool air of his home chilled her skin, as he pulled his University of Tulsa Football t-shirt from her body, leaving her in her loose flannel pajama bottoms and black bra.
Jacquelyn pressed her hands against his chest and her forehead to his. They were both panting, their chests rising and falling in sync. His blue-green eyes met her hazel ones, searching. A smile found its way to her lips, at least she was pretty sure that it did, with her body tingling the way that it wasn't she wasn't quite sure if the smile looked the way it should. She knew what he wanted. She knew exactly what it was. However, she allowed him to search her eyes for it. His hands stay on her hips as he waited. He waited for her. He waited for her to say what he'd been trying to say to her for days.
"I love you too."
When she said it, his lips were on hers again. His fingers expertly unclasping the clasp of her bra. When his action was complete, she shrugged the offending article of clothing off. It was then that he picked her up, her legs secure around his waist and dropped her on the bed. Her laugh was music to his ears. He pushed the bedroom door shut, although he knew his brothers weren't going to be home anytime soon. He pressed his lips against her neck as his body hovered over hers. Then his lips met hers, effectively stopping her girlish giggles, and furthering the actions that lay ahead for that night.
A/N: Yay! I'm sure that this will make some of you really happy. It only took forever to get here, right? Well we will just see what happens next, won't we?