OMGGGG. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH. I LOVE YOU ALL. REALLY. THANK YOU GUYS FOR REVIEWING. I NEVER EXPECTED TO GET AS MANY REVIEWS AS I DID, BUT I'M SO HAPPY THAT YOU GUYS LEFT ME FEEDBACK. SERIOUSLY. THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT. :D Can we do it again for this chapter? :)

Thank you to the guest reviewers too! I wish I could have sent you guys a PM too like I did with the others.

I had a bit of trouble getting into this chapter, so I erased everything and started over. Now, we have this! I'm not too sure if funerals were conducted any differently back in the 60s compared to how they're conducted nowadays, and although I did a bit of research before writing this, I mainly based it off of what happened at my grandfather's. If there's any inaccurate information, I'm really sorry!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders


I'm not quite sure what time Mom drops me off at the funeral home, but I'm well aware that several people are already here. If I didn't know any better, I would say that I'm extremely late, and if that's the case, I'm going to end up feeling really bad.

Mom heads back to the house, leaving me alone, once I let her know that I'll probably hit Steve up for a ride after the visitation is over. I smooth my skirt down nervously, looking up at the big, brick building in front of me. A few people stand on the front porch, chatting away, and it eases my anxious stomach a bit when I realize they don't even notice me.

Inside the funeral home, several middle aged couples are loitering around, talking freely amongst themselves, and it makes me feel extremely out of place. As far as I can see, I'm the only teen, and the fact that I don't spot my boyfriend or any of his friends is enough to give me thoughts of running home.

But I can't do that to Steve.

He needs me, and it'd be pretty low of me to leave him alone during a time like this. If roles were reversed, I know he'd be by my side the whole time if I asked.

I take a deep breath, swallowing hard and struggling to remain calm. I've never done well with a large crowd of strangers; nerves always become too overbearing for me, and if I don't calm myself down soon, I'm probably going to have a panic attack.

Mr and Mrs Curtis' guest book is full of signatures, and although I never had a chance to get to know them, I write my name anyway. I've heard my parents talk about how you're suppose to, and it'll give me a few extra moments – moments to hope that one of the boys find me before I have to go on a hunt for them.

My plans ends up failing, and like before, I'm still very well on my own.

I venture out into the main room of the home, searching high and low for at least one person I recognize. There's a fairly large crowd of people gathered around, so it makes the room appear so much larger than it actually is. Due to this, I find myself slipping and squeezing through different adults, and when I reach the perimeter, I find Johnny and Ponyboy sitting on one of the couches, talking quietly and keeping to themselves.

I can't help but smile, and without hesitating, I start walking towards the red velvet couch. Ponyboy's eyes find me before Johnny's, and he looks genuinely surprised to see me here at his parents' visitation. "Hey, Guys!" I greet. Despite the sad setting, I can't help but feel happy – happy that I'm not longer alone. "I don't know anyone else here. Do you two mind if I hang out with you for now?" Pony shakes his head.

"No, knock yourself out," he says. I plop beside Johnny, letting my eyes venture out to the crowd. "How come you ain't with Steve?" Ponyboy inquires curiously, leaning forward. He looks at me, and all I can do in response is shrug. "I think he was lookin' for you earlier."

"Well, Ponyboy, I cannot find him, so if he really wants me, he'll continue looking," I answer, looking back at him. Pony starts to grin and even Johnny chuckles a bit. "How are you and your brothers doing? I'm really sorry for you loss, Pony. From the way Steve talked and from what I saw, your parents were really loving and caring."

"Yeah, they were," Pony tells me sadly. "We're doin' better, I guess. It's still real hard, and everyone really misses them." He wipes at his eyes, sighing quietly. "I really miss them. I wish I would have given 'em a hug or somethin' before they left that night." Johnny stares sadly at the ground, and when Ponyboy whimpers a bit, he wraps his arm around him.

In a matter of seconds, I feel incredibly bad for even bringing them up.

"We all miss them, Pony." Johnny shares, pulling his friend into his side. Ponyboy cries silently, and Johnny continues to comfort him. I feel guilty and out of place. I didn't intentionally mean to make him cry; it was an accident.

"I have to go the bathroom," I mutter, rising up. "I'll see you guys later." Neither one of them say a thing to me, so I set off – set off into an unfamiliar place with a bunch of unnamed strangers, and when I'm in the center of it all, I realize I made a big mistake.

People fail to move out of my way when I say excuse me, so I resort to squeezing past them. Even though I tried to be polite about it and failed, some of the adults shoot me nasty glares, but most of them merely apologize before jumping back into their stories about Mr and Mrs Curtis or the latest going on in their lives.

Outside the main room, there's a smaller, connecting room. A couple couches are pushed off to the side, and a few people are loitering around. There's a hallway off this room, leading to what looks like a coat room, and on the other side, there's a door and a bathroom.

I start for the bathroom, figuring it'll give me a couple minutes to stall, but before I can reach the room, the door open, Sodapop comes through – laughing and having a grand time.

It surprises me to say the least.

"Well, hello, Miss Eileen," Soda greets. "Steve was wonderin' if you were ever gonna get here." Two-Bit squeezes past his friend, desperately trying to see who Soda is talking to. When he sees me, he starts grinning.

"It's 'bout time you got here, Eileen. Your boy was freakin' out, and he was on the verge of a meltdown." Two-Bit shares. In the back, I can hear Steve grumbling something, and overall, it doesn't sound like he's too pleased with his friend's antics.

"Let her through," Steve tells them. Two-Bit steps out of the way, and with a sweeping gesture, he ushers me through. On the other side, Steve is waiting for me, with a box of cigarettes and his lighter in hand. "I'm goin' out for a smoke. Wanna come?" I hate the smell of smoke, but I agree to go with him anyway.

"Why are you wearing jeans?" I ask curiously, following him out the funeral home's back door. "You didn't have any nicer looking pants?" He takes a seat on the steps, lighting up and ignoring my questions.

"Chill out," he finally says, sticking the cigarette between his lips. "I only got one pair of dress pants, and I was savin' them for tomorrow. 'Sides, Darry said it'd be okay to wear jeans."

"Okay, but did you have to wear the rattiest pair you have, Steve? You can't tell me you don't have any that aren't covered in holes and grease." I look up at him, waiting to see if he realizes I'm giving him a hard time or not. He pulls the cigarette out of his mouth, exhaling smoke.

"Nope, I don't. They're all dirty."

"Then do your laundry."

"I don't know how."

"Then how does your laundry get done?" I ask, looking up at him. "Because your dad doesn't strike me as the type to do it." Steve shrugs his shoulders, putting the smoke back in his mouth.

"Dunno, but it gets done. Guess he's been slackin' lately cause it ain't been done in forever." My face scrunches up in disgust.

"Steve, I'm coming over this weekend, and I'm going to teach you how to the laundry, okay?" He shrugs his shoulders. "Can you pick me up though?" Steve rolls his eyes.

"I guess since you seem so damn sure that I need to be taught."

XxXxXxX

Steve starts to tell the guys goodbye once everyone at the funeral home is gone. He starts to grin while throwing his arm around my shoulders, and as casually as he can, he says, "I'll catch ya guys later. I have to take this hooligan home, and I don't need to be late to give her dad more of a reason to hate me."

"Her dad hates ya?" Two-Bit asks. I frown, nodding my head slowly. Two-Bit starts to laugh – much to Steve's dismay. "It's a shame you weren't able to woo her daddy too, eh, Steve?" He teases.

"Shut the hell up, Two-Bit." He turns towards Soda, and lets him know he'll be at the house around 9:00 tomorrow morning. Sodapop nods, and with a final good-bye, the two of us leave.

"What time does the funeral start tomorrow?" I ask.

"I think it's starts at 10:00," Steve replies, holding the door open. "You comin' over with me? Soda said that Sandy and Kathy are comin' over, and we're all gonna ride to the funeral home together."

"If you don't mind coming out of your way to pick me up." Steve rolls his eyes, wrapping his arm around my waist. He pulls me to a stop and plants his lips on top of mine.

"I've told you before that I don't mind." He says, pulling away seconds later. I start to smile as Steve starts walking towards his truck with me right by his side.

XxXxXxX

When I open my front door the next morning, Steve is standing on our front steps, and I'm rather amazed at how well he cleans up. He notices my shock and starts to smirk. "I clean up nicely, don't I, Doll Face?"

He's clad in a long sleeve, black button up shirt along with gray dress pants. His hair is still greased back, but his face and hands look cleaner than ever. Even the collar on his shirt is sitting down, and all in all, Steve Randle looks very nice.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprise," I smile. "But Steve, you look really nice. I never thought a greaser like yourself could get so cleaned up." He shakes his head, reaching for my hand.

"Come on or we're gonna be late."

I take a seat on the couch, in between Sandy and Kathy, and we talk amongst ourselves, waiting for the guys to get finished. "Wow, they take longer than girls to get ready." Kathy whispers. Sandy and I laugh, and Sandy nods her head in agreement.

"I picked out my outfit last night, so it only took me half an hour," she shares. "It's been takin' Soda at least 45 minutes. I had to help him choose what to wear, and even after we picked an outfit, he had to ask for Darry's approval."

"Two-Bit's mother had to choose his outfit. He kept trying to wear a Mickey Mouse shirt underneath a black dress coat. I've never seen his mom come so close to knocking him upside the head."

Steve moseys into the front room, and my face falls upon seeing him. Beside me, Sandy and Kathy are laughing, and it takes me everything I have to not hit him. His shirt is halfway untucked, and his collar is standing up. "What in the world did you do to yourself?" I ask incredulously.

"I was screwin' 'round with Soda in the kitchen." He answers casually, taking a seat.

"You better fix yourself, Steve. We have to leave soon," Steve rolls his eyes while the two girls start giggling and making comments about how I sound like his mom. "Come here." I stand up from my seat, and reluctantly, Steve climbs to his feet.

I start to fix his shirt and collar, and in the midst of it, Steve decides to kiss me. I'm a little embarrassed that he felt the need to do it in front of everyone, but either way, I kiss him back – rougher than intended. Steve starts to smirk, and when he pulls away, I'm fully aware that he wants to make a comment.

I ignore his reaction and fix his collar, and once I'm done, it's time to head to the funeral home.

XxXxXxX

We arrive at the funeral home before everyone else. Steve helps me out of his truck, and with my hand in his, we follow the other boys – and girls – into the building. "Are you going to be okay, Steve?" I ask quietly. He squeezes my hand, nodding his head slowly.

"I'm fine." He replies. Like yesterday, the caskets are still open and untouched. Soda and Pony hold each other, crying silently as they stare down at their parents. Darry stands behind them, stone faced and not displaying any emotion.

Each of the boys mirror Darry's face, and personally, I wish they would stop trying to act tough. Personally, I wish they realized, in situations like this, it's okay to cry – greaser or not.

Once the boys have their moment of silence, they claim their seats while Darry goes to greet the guest. Soda continues to comfort his younger brother, and I wish someone would say a word.

I understand that funerals are sad, but the silence is killing me.

Sandy takes her seat behind Soda, and I can see the look in her eyes. She craves to reach out for her boyfriend; she craves to hold him and to make him feel better. Instead, she leaves him to his brother.

Kathy sits behind Two-Bit, and she stares at the floor like it's the best thing in the world. It doesn't look like she's as anxious to comfort Two-Bit, and it definitely seems to me that she's better off in her own world in this situation.

Steve watches me, making certain that I sit right behind him. When I do, he turns back around, and like Kathy, I don't feel the need to console Steve. It appears that he's better alone, and if he wants any consoling, he'll come to me.

I hope.

By the end of the service, I'm in tears. It was done beautifully, and the pastor was phenomenal. From what I know, it sounds like he summed the two up perfectly. He announces that the funeral will now move to the cemetery, and once he's finished speaking, people start to stand up.

All of the boys hesitate; none of them move, and the sight shatters my heart. I set my hands on Steve's shoulder, squeezing gently. Kathy reaches for Two-Bit's hand while Sandy wraps her arms around Soda's neck.

One by one, the boys all begin to rise. They head towards the caskets, looking at the loved parents one more time. Aside from Ponyboy and Soda, Johnny cracks. Tears start streaming down his cheeks, and he whimpers quietly. From the other side of their gang, Dallas watches him, but he doesn't move towards him. Instead, Steve slings an arm around him, whispering something along the line of, "It'll be all right, Johnnycakes."

A couple tears dance down Two-Bit's cheeks, but other than that, nothing more happens.

Considering there's two caskets, Darry decides they'll need eight pallbearers – four for each parent. Sandy offers to be the remaining pallbearer, leaving Kathy and me alone. Steve looks incredibly nervous leaving his precious truck with the two of us, and he's reluctant to hand the keys over to Kathy.

She merely rolls her eyes, telling him that he's worrying for nothing.

We head out the backdoor and to his truck. Kathy looks at me with wide eyes, and something tells me this isn't going to be good. "Do you know how to drive?" She inquires. I shake my head, biting my left cheek. Kathy sighs. "Neither do I. I've never touched the driver's side of a vehicle ever. Do you have any experience with driving?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I've driven my sister's car for a little before, but I've never dealt with a truck, and Steve will kill me if I mess up his truck at all." Kathy starts to grin.

"I think you're better fit for this job," she explains. "You've at least had a bit of experience, and if you end up messing up anything, he won't be nearly as mad at you since you're girl." Kathy tosses the keys, and wordlessly, we climb into the cab.

Once they're finished, they all climb into the family car offered by the funeral home. Nervously, I start up the truck, and I'm thankful we won't be going fast. "If you don't relax, you're going to manage to kill us both." I ignore her comment, and putting the truck in drive, I follow behind car, and I can't believe it.

I'm actually driving a vehicle.

At the cemetery, the boys, and Sandy, bring the casket into a small shelter. Mr and Mrs Curtis are placed on top of a table, and this time, the funeral guests gather around them. Kathy walks off to find Two-Bit, and with the keys in my hand, I go to find Steve. He looks at me sternly, silently demanding a report of his truck. I roll my eyes handing him the keys. "Calm down, Steve, I didn't cause any damage to your truck. It's like it was before."

"It better be." He replies, but he appears to relax, and as the second part of the funeral starts, he throws his arm around my shoulders – holding me close to him.

The pastor starts to give another speech, but to be honest, I'm not too sure what he's saying. As hard as I try, I can't pay attention, but when Steve lays his head on top of mine, it brings me back to my surroundings.

I look around the building, and it looks like it's hit everyone. Two-Bit is crying harder than he was at the funeral home; Soda's face is buried in Sandy's shoulder; Johnny and Ponyboy are sitting on the bench, holding each other tightly, and even the almighty Dallas Winston has a couple silent tears dancing down his cheeks.

Still, Darry looks as though he's trying to remain strong for his brothers – and even the gang – and he refuses to let any tears fall. But I can see it. I can see the tears coating his eyes, but nothing more happens.

I pull out from underneath Steve to see what's going on with him, and like everyone else, he's crying. He looks broken, so I hug him tighter. "It's finally hit that they're actually gone," he whispers, laying his head back on top of mine. Steve holds me close. "I can't believe it."

Outside the building, dark clouds start to roll in, and off in the distance, a rumble of thunder emerges.

But as cliché as it is, the weather is perfect, and it doesn't feel like the sun is mocking us with its happiness.


WARNING: Now that the Curtis parents have been laid to rest, things are going to start calming down, and I'm going to make it my goal to include more romantic moments between Eileen and Steve, but I feel I should warn you... This isn't the end of the drama. I have more ideas planned, but I'm not going to throw new pieces of drama in each chapter (I think I already said this last chapter?); I don't want to overwhelm you guys! Just know, that more drama is to come. If that wasn't true, drama wouldn't be one of the genres for this fanfic. :)

Yes, this includes more elaboration on the whole situation between Eileen and James. :) & wait until Steve finds out. ;)

Please review! I will really appreciate any feedback given!

PS - If anyone wants a story about Sandy and Soda that's not like the rest, you should check out my one shot, Stick Around. I'm pretty proud of it, and I would if you guys checked it out. :)