A/N: Hey there! Here's the next chapter. I really hope that you guys love this chapter. I'm gonna start updating once a week, just because I've got school and other commitments and all that jazz. Thank you all for the reviews. I'm glad that y'all like that Jacquelyn told gave Darry that 'You can't stop living because you lose someone' line. I spent a lot of time thinking about that line and like trying to see if I wanted Jacquelyn to give him that advice or not. Glad I made the right choice. Anyway, enjoy this chapter.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Outsiders.

"You are late," Gina Fields told the brunette was she ran into the record store. The brunette rolled her light eyes in acknowledgement as she darted to the back room to clock in, only three minutes late. When Jacquelyn turned around, Gina was standing right behind her with her hands on her hips. Gina tapped her foot as Jacquelyn sighed. "What were you doing?"

No matter how hard the brunette tried, she could not stop the smile that spread on her lips. She rocked back on her heel and looked at her blond friend from under her eyelashes. She bit her bottom lip and ran her fingers through her thick dark hair. Her face was absolutely glowing. Her eyes were brighter. Her skin had cleared dramatically since her first day back at work two and a half weeks ago. What was once a giant purple mark was now a faded yellow one, and it was nearly gone.

"What have you been doing?" Perhaps rewording there question would help her get a response. However, Jacquelyn's cheeks blushed a light pink and she pushed her hands into her pockets. She looked down trying to hide her smile, but it had nearly taken over her face by this point. "Darrel?" Gina questioned with a smirk on her lips.

Jacquelyn looked over into her friend's baby blue eyes and laughed. "Go away," she teased as she tried to duck under her friend's arm to get out of the back room. Gina was not budging. "What?"

"You got another love bite," Gina mused as she looked at Jacquelyn's neck. "Right, there." The blond pushed aside her friend's dark brown hair and touched the red mark on her neck. "It's fresh."

"What of it?" the brunette asked as she swatted Gina's hand away from her neck. Gina said nothing, it was just a matter of time. A matter of time until the brunette across from her cracked and told her everything she needed to know. After a moment, Jacquelyn laughed, as she touched the mark on her neck. "I don't know what it is," she started as she picked up a box and made her way to the entrance of the backroom. Gina stepped aside, feeling secure that Jacquelyn was going to keep talking. "I feel like we are kids, Gina," she told her as she started placing records on the shelves.

"Can't keep his hands off you?" Gina questioned as she walked up beside her, assisting in placing records on the shelves.

The brunette laughed and shook her head. "Not that." She paused, both her sentence and her actions. "Well, yeah that too." The blond beside her laughed, and she swatted her arm with a plastic covered record to make her stop. "Not just that, just everything."

"Young and in love."

"I guess you can say it like that," Jacquelyn said with shrugged. She propped the box against the wall between her outer thigh. "I think that we're just kind of reveling in the fact that we have this second chance." She thought a moment. "He drove me to work this morning," she told her, letting her voice trail off.

"And?" Gina pushed.

"That's where that mark came from," the brunette revealed. Gina whooped with laugher and Jacquelyn face turned red again. "It's not funny." Gina laughed even louder. "Stop it."

"Did you leave him with anything?" Gina asked with a wink. Embarrassed, Jacquelyn took the box to the back room to get away from Gina. As she walked away, Gina's laughter resumed. "Hey, honey," the blond called after the brunette's re treating figure. "Your sweater is on inside out."

In response, Jacquelyn reached back to touch her shirt. Feeling the tag, she darted into the back room, but not before give Gina a less than ladylike gesture. Gina's response was laughter, as the brunette tugged her sweater off and turned it right side in.

The day continued just as it had started. Gina spent her time teasing the brunette behind the counter and making inappropriate gestures and doing equally inappropriate action behind the customer's backs. The brunette tried her best to ignore her, and it seemed to be working. Until Gina ducked under the counter, and started to whisper into her ear. The brunette became flustered, giving incorrect change and stumbling over her words. Finally, Jacquelyn managed to push the blond away from her and to the other side of the counter.

"I want to meet him," Gina announced as she leaned against the counter. She'd just turned the 'open' sign to 'closed' and locked the front door. Jacquelyn looked up from the dollar bills in her hand, continuing to mouth the numbers as she looked at her friend. Gina pushed a nickel around on the counter before she spoke again. "I mean, if he's gonna be marking up your body and all," this comment did what it was supposed to do, caused Jacquelyn to blush, "I wanna meet him." Gina watched as the hazel eyed woman placed the ones back in the register, wrote down how many there were, and took the nickel from under Gina's finger. She then started on the fives. "Are you going to say anything?" Again, Jacquelyn's hazel eyes met her blue ones, as she continued to count money. When Jacquelyn finished the fives, there were only six, Gina reached over and closed the register, almost closing Jacquelyn's fingers in it. "Talking to you."

"I'm working," the brunette answered as she went to open the resister again. When she did, Gina closed it. She placed her hands on the counter and look at the clock. "He'll be here at six," she said, her tone slightly exasperated. "You may meet him then." Gina did some sort of anxious dance and in response the brunette slowly opened the register. "It's all of three minutes."

"Ten," Gina corrected as she looked over at the clock. "Do I look okay?"

Jacquelyn looked up from the quarters in her hand. "What are you trying to do?" The blond was pursing her lips and leaning against the counter. Suddenly, the brunette felt oddly insecure. There was this curvy blond pursing her lips and leaning against the counter. Then there was her. She wasn't not curvy, but when put next to Gina, she might as well be a beanpole. Gina's eyes popped under her thick makeup. If Jacquelyn did anything more than eyeliner and a light amount of mascara it didn't look right, she couldn't quite pull it off. Gina's blond hair was always perfectly curled. If the brunette even waned to attempt to curl her hair, she would have to start a week before the event. Instead, she just kept it straight. She hadn't realized that she was nowhere near as beautiful as Gina. Not until she asked. Jacquelyn rocked back on her heels and bit her lip. "You look fine." She watched as Gina adjusted her sweater. It was the same sweater that Jacquelyn was wearing, but it looked completely different on her. Gina managed to fill the sweater out to its fullest. Jacquelyn wasn't that lucky, granted she was luckier than most but not as lucky as Gina in the breast department.

Gina pushed away from the counter and unlocked the door. Had her hips always swayed that way? Jacquelyn closed her hand around the quarters and sighed. Her hazel eyes looked upwards as she tried to relax her hand and tug her thoughts from Gina. Gina swayed to the back room, singing some something or other. Slowly, the brunette went back to counting the quarters in her hand.

"Hey," his voice said to her as he leaned against the counter. A smile played on Jacquelyn's lips as she looked up at him from under her eyelashes and continued to count. "Almost done?"

Jacquelyn nodded as she continued counting. "Gimmie… one… second," she dropped the quarters into the drawer. She then moved so that she was standing across from him and leaning on the counter as well. The brunette leaned across the counter as he leaned down towards her.

"Jacquelyn," Gina called to her as she walked from the back room. The brunette rolled her eyes and looked over towards her friend. "I-" Gina looked up at the two in front of her. "Oh."

The brunette ducked her head, hiding her blush. "Gina, Darrel. Darrel, Gina," she introduced as she watched Gina sway over to Darry.

"Hey," Gina said as she came to a stop in front of him, pushing her right hip out and extending her right hand. "It's nice to meet you!" The smile on her lips was bright as she looked up at him. Jacquelyn gripped the edge of the counter tightly as Darry shook Gina's hand.

"The pleasure's mine."

What did that mean? The pleasure was his. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the scene before her. They we still talking, but she was not longer listening. She was just watching the body language. Gina was leaning towards him and laughing. Then Gina's blue eyes were on her and she had no clue what was going on.

"Jacquelyn," she said to her.

"Hmm?" the brunette replied shortly, focusing on the space between them.

"What are you doing?" Gina asked gesturing to her hands.

Jacquelyn released the counter from her death grip, flexing her fingers to get the blood flowing again. Darry caught her gaze, his blue-green eyes questioning. The brunette looked away, her eyes focusing on the space between Darry and Gina. "Nothing, nothing," she replied distantly.

"Okay," Gina said slowly her eyebrows lowered in confusion. "Anyway, I just wanted to meet you because you Jacquelyn here can't stop talking about you."

The brunette rolled her eyes as she opened the resister and pulled the drawer out. She ducked under the counter and made her way to the manager's office. She could hear Gina still talking about something or other as she unlocked the then office door. Jacquelyn quickly opened the drawer on the desk were she stored the cash register drawer, slipped the cash register drawer in to the desk, shut the desk drawer and locked it.

"You played football," Gina was saying as she walked back to the two. Darry was nodding, a smile on his face. If anything, Gina knew how to find exactly what someone wanted to talk about. "In high school?" Darry nodded. "That's awesome." Jacquelyn leaned her back against the counter between the two and brushed her hair behind her ear. "What did you do in high school, Jacquelyn?"

"Nothing," the brunette answered after a moment.

"That's a lie," Darry said.

"What did you do?" Gina asked as she bounced on her toes.

"Uh, tennis," the brunette said as she ducked her head.

"Tennis?" the blond asked. She arched her light eyebrow and scrunched her nose.

"What?"

"Tennis? I can't see you playing tennis. I can't even see you in a skirt," Gina laughed.

"She was pretty good," Darry supplied.

Gina continued to laugh and Jacquelyn scrunched her nose as she looked up at an Elvis poster on the wall. "That's funny. It's such a rich girl sport and you're not a rich girl."

"Thank you."

"Aw, I'm just yankin' your chain," Gina teased as she brushed her hair over her shoulders. "I'll see you tomorrow, J. Darrel it was real nice to meet you. Don't be a stranger."

Jacquelyn nodded as she pulled the keys from her pocket. "We're leaving too. Ready?" she questioned to Darry as she started towards the door. He nodded as he stepped in front of her to pull the door open. The brunette slipped out of the store, Gina behind her. When Darry closed the door, she slipped the key into the locked and locked the door swiftly. Once she turned around, she saw that Darry was climbing into his truck and Gina was standing behind her with her arms crossed over her chest.

"What's wrong with you?" Gina questioned. "You were acting like I was going to up and steal your boyfriend." Jacquelyn looked down finding something very interesting with her shoes. "Christ, Jacquelyn," the blond laughed. "Wow! Look, he's good-looking, but I don't even think that he noticed me." Jacquelyn snorted. "I'm serious. That boy only has eyes for you."

Jacquelyn rocked back on her heels and sighed. Maybe she was being a little oversensitive and overreacting. Maybe she was right. A smiled played on her lips. Gina probably was right. She was always right. "Alright, I'm sorry," the brunette told her. "I'm being silly."

"Yes, yes you are," Gina teased as she started backing away from the brunette. "Now go and enjoy your boyfriend."

The brunette looked over at her friend and frowned. Boyfriend. For some reason that word seemed odd. When Gina had said it before, it just kind of went over her head, but now she was really thinking about it. She hadn't ever really thought about them as being like that. However, that's what they were. She was his girlfriend, and he was her boyfriend. "Alright, yeah. Goodnight."

"Hey," the blond called as the brunette started to walk towards the truck. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"That borders on nothing," the brunette teased before jumping into the car of the truck. "See ya'," she called from the safety of the cab as the blond flicked her a rude gesture.

After waiting for Gina to get into her car and pull out of the lot, Darry back out of the parking space and pulled out on to street. The brunette relaxed back into the passenger side seat of the truck and inhaled deeply. The scent of warm tar fill her nose. She closed her light eyes allowing the scent to engulf her. Darry looked over at her in the rearview and the corners of his lips involuntarily turned up. He could see her physically trying to relax, and for the most part she was succeeding. However, no matter how hard she tried she could not manage to relax her eyebrows. He reached over and ran his thumb along the wrinkles in her forehead. One of her hazel eyes snapped open as she watched him.

"What's wrong today?" he questioned as if it were typical for something to grate her nerves.

The brunette was suddenly embarrassed and self-conscious. She attempted to sink back into the seat and disappear. It was until he'd questioned her that she really realized how stupid her train of thought had been. She cleared her throat. "Nothing."

He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Well, I know what's wrong, I just wanna see if you're going to tell me."

"Why do I have to tell you if you know," Jacquelyn groaned, burying her face in her hands. Darrel didn't comment he just waited until she wanted to talk. The brunette leaned her shoulder against the window. "I was jealous," she mumbled under her breath.

"Why?"

"Did you not see her?" the brunette asked, her hands making the hourglass shape

"I saw her."

"Well then that's why," Jacquelyn exclaimed, her face twisting on confusion. "What the heck do you mean why," she scoffed.

"I also saw you," he told her as he switched lanes, catching her eye in the rearview mirror. A blush crept over her cheeks.

"Yeah, and?" the brunette said as she looked away from his blue-green eyes.

"I saw you," he repeated as if that was going to change anything. The brunette willed herself to meet his gaze in the rear mirror.

He saw her. What was that supposed to mean? As her eyes watched his in the rearview, she realized what it mean. He saw her. Sure he'd seen Gina Fields. She was impossible to miss with her blond hair and blue eyes, but he saw her. He only saw her. Gina was right. He had looked at her, but he hadn't looked at her. In the simplest terms, he only had eyes for her.

As the truck pulled to a stop in the driveway, Jacquelyn leaned against the window and looked over at him. "Well, that makes me feel better. Did you like her?"

"Gina?" he questioned.

"Yeah. Who else?"

"I think she's alright," he told her. Jacquelyn looked at him with her eyebrow arched. "What?"

"Anything else?" she pushed.

"She's the ugliest woman that I've ever met," he teased.

The brunette narrowed her hazel eyes and looked over at him. He was teasing her, yes. However, that was what she wanted him to say. She'd wanted him to say that, but she'd wanted it to be the truth. Yet, she knew that there was no way that anyone could looked at Gina Fields and think that she was the ugliest woman they had ever seen or anything near it.

"I don't like being teased," she told him.

He chuckled as he leaned across the seat and took her face in his hands, "Jacquelyn," he said to her, in a tone that forced her light eyes to look at him. "I saw her, she was pretty." The brunette's forehead creased. "And but then there's you." He kissed her softly, his lips just brushing against hers.

As she got out of the truck she realized what had just been said. Darry wasn't one for words. She never figured out of he wasn't comfortable with voicing his feelings or if he was because he didn't know how to say the things he wanted to say to her. He'd always hopped around what he wanted to say to her using metaphors and riddles. This time there wasn't a metaphor or a riddle. He had, in his own way, called her beautiful. And more beautiful than Gina Fields at that.

"What are you doing?"

She looked up at Darry, who was standing on the porch with the door open. He was watching with his eyebrow lifted. The brunette bounded over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He returned the hug with the arm that he wasn't using to hold the door open.

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome," he said.