For The Love of a Greaser
Chapter 17
I'll Never Hurt You
His eyes seemed to burn a hole through my very soul as I backed away; those cold, icy blue eyes making me shiver. They were cold and hard, laced with something dangerous from alcohol. I seemed to freeze in my spot as he got closer and before I knew it I was on the ground.
"Hey there Greaser," he purred, slowly running a hand over my face, his fingers tracing my lips.
His words echoed through my mind.
Hey there Greaser. Hey there Greaser. Hey there Greaser.
It just kept repeating over and over again.
"You're just another piece of trash," he whispered coldly into my ear, his breath on my neck.
I shivered terribly, trying to contain my fear, while at the same time trying not to get sick from the nasty smell on his breath. It didn't help matters much with the fact that I was being held down, my arms pinned above my head, and my legs pressed painfully into the ground.
"Why don't we show her what she's missing?" came the slurred sound of his voice, his hands moving over my front and gripping my shirt, pulling me slightly closer for a moment as he stared into my eyes.
Buttons went flying as he tore my shirt open, tearing it. Almost immediately afterwards his lips were on mine, crushing, bruising them. All I could do was struggle, tears falling from my eyes, my legs kicking around furiously as I tried to get free.
T
I had no clue how long I'd been asleep, but I woke up with a scream, tears falling as I cried. I couldn't even close my eyes without reliving what had happened. It was a constant nightmare that I just couldn't rid myself of.
"Abigail?" Darry called, running into the room, worry painting his face.
"D-Darry," I choked out through sobs.
I just couldn't take it. I couldn't take revisiting those images in my head.
When I looked up at him, I found him to be a bit closer, but still hesitant. It was clear that he was afraid of scaring me, afraid of having a repeat of earlier.
"Darry…" I crocked, reaching a hand in his direction.
He was right by me within seconds, holding my hand as he sat down on the bed, pulling me to him. On reflex I stiffened at the close contact, but I kept hold on his hand, not wanting to let go.
"Stay with me?" I asked between sobs.
"Are you sure?" he inquired, not wanting to make me uncomfortable.
"I need you," I told him, holding the back of his hand against my face as I leaned over, curling up a bit.
My stomach still hurt and now more than ever with the way that I'd been crying. It hurt even more as the fabric of the shirt I was wearing stuck to the wound on my stomach, pulling the skin when I moved at times. It was only made easier for the fact that it was one of Darry's old shirts, a shirt that was so big it was easier for me to put on and fit into without problems of moving my arm too much.
"I'll never hurt you," he cooed, moving a bit closer.
I kept myself still as he did this, closing my eyes in an attempt to calm myself.
"I know that," I breathed, slowly laying back down on the bed. "Just…give me some time," I begged, letting out the air I had been holding in.
"They scared you something afoul…didn't they?" he asked quietly, laying down beside me while keeping about a foot between us.
"Yeah…" I nodded, opening my eyes and staring up at the ceiling.
The now darkened white ceiling stared back at me making me sleepy. Unfortunately, I still had no desire to sleep, but that didn't stop the dreaded fatigue from kicking in.
"Darry?" I whispered, slowly turning my head to look at him.
"Yeah, Abigail?"
"What if…what if Dally h-hadn't been around?" I whispered, biting back tears as my thoughts went back to everything that had happened.
"Hey now," Darry started, placing a hand on my cheek despite my flinching. "Don't start thinking about 'what if's'. I might have lost you if not for Dally," he said, gently stroking my cheek with his thumb. "He was there, simple as that," he told me.
"I know, but…I…I can't stop thinking about it," I cried, pinching my eyes shut. "Every time I close my eyes I-I see it. It just won't leave me alone," I choked out, my body shaking as I cried, jarring my stomach and shoulder.
"Shh…" he cooed softly as he pressed his forehead lightly against mine. "I-it'll be alright," he told me, trying to reassure me of things.
"Darry…" I breathed, tightening my grip on his hand.
He gave me the best smile that he could and pulled me to him. Even when I tensed, he still didn't let go and I was thankful for that as I began to sob into his chest, soaking the white wife beater that he wore. He just held me there, rubbing my back in an attempt to comfort me. I was so uncomfortable and yet at the same time I wasn't. I was happy to be in his arms, to have them wrapped around me keeping me safe, but it scared me at the same time. Those guys had really screwed me up and it was slowly starting to tear away at my sanity.
"It'll be alright," he whispered, stroking my hair as he buried his face in the side of it.
After a few minutes of this, I felt something wet on my skin causing me to pull away slightly and look up. I was slightly shocked upon seeing his watery eyes.
"Darry," I whispered, the corners of my lips tugging up into a small smile.
He was a truly caring man at heart, even if he didn't always show it flat out. Although, he never seemed to lack kindness and love when it came to me. That's why the other guys gave him strange looks at times because he wasn't normally like that, at least not in that manner or degree.
"I'm the one that's supposed to be crying," I joked lightly, making him smile as a result.
I tried to hide a yawn as I laid there next to him, but failed miserably, only resulting in a gentle laugh springing from Darry's throat.
"You should sleep," he told me, brushing a bit of hair out of my face.
"But…" I started thinking back to the nightmare.
"I'll be right here when you wake up," he promised.
"Alright," I whispered, giving him a small nod as I closed my eyes.
Although, even with him there next to me I couldn't fall asleep. I kept opening my eyes every few minutes, each time finding Darry's big blue eyes staring back at me.
"Darry, this isn't working," I sighed, groaning as I looked up at him.
He ran a hand through my hair and gave me a small smile.
"I want you to try something," he said, pulling back slightly. "You ever been to the country?" he asked.
"No… No I haven't," I replied honestly. "Why?"
"My parents used to take us there on the weekend, me, Pony, and Soda," he told me.
"Must have been nice," I said quietly.
"It was…" he sighed, closing his eyes. "It was just the five of us, just us and the and the open sky," he said.
"What was it like out in the country?" I asked, looking up at him.
"Well, it's quiet all around, just the green grass and blue sky," he said.
"Yeah?" I smiled a bit as I closed my eyes, envisioning the quiet.
"There's nothing for miles around, just the land and quiet," he said, sighing at the memory of it. "In the morning, you can sit there and watch the sun come up, watch as all the colors paint the sky," he whispered, his voice drifting through my mind.
I could picture the sun coming up as I laid in the soft grass, a light breeze blowing and cooling my skin.
"Tell me about the colors?" I whispered, letting out a small yawn.
"The darkness blue fades away, slowly turning to purple and pink. They're subtle at first, before growing brighter, mixing with orange as the night breaks away turning into dawn."
T
"You can even hear the birds chirping as they start their day. You can feel the dew on the grass," he said, smiling at the thought of it.
When he opened his eyes, he found Abigail's to be closed, her breathing calm and even. She was actually at peace as she laid there with him, her breathing coming out in soft cycles of warm air. Her features were calm and poised, gentle and innocent. She was at peace and nothing could change that.
"Sleep well, Abigail," he whispered, kissing her forehead. "I love you."
T
I woke up to the rays of light shining in from the window, drawing me from my sleep. I yawned, rubbing my eyes as I opened them, before jumping back slightly with a start.
Darry was laying there asleep, eyes closed, chest raising and falling. I felt ashamed for jumping back, but it was on reflex. I didn't mean to, it just happened. I was just glad that he wasn't awake to see it.
"I'm sorry Darry," I whispered, reaching forward and placing a hand on his cheek.
I could feel the light stubble on his face, the faint scruff bristling against the skin of my hand. It was then that I leaned forward, pressing my lips lightly to his, before pulling back quickly. It was a bit of a struggle to do that, but I felt I had to, to show him that I loved him even if he was still asleep. After that, I left the room, going downstairs and into the kitchen. I figured that the least I could do was fix breakfast, that way I could thank Soda and Darry for trying to help me last night. I just wish that I could get Dally over in order to do the same thing. Although, I had a feeling that it was going to happen.
"I just hope he didn't do what I think he did," I said quietly, pulling eggs from the fridge while turning on the burner.
I cracked the shells against the side of the skillet, dropping the contents in the skillet, the sound of it bubbling soon following as they began to cook. While I waited for this, I pulled plates from the cabinet, along with a few cups and set them on the table. After that, I went back to the eggs and turned them over, waiting a few moments for the other side to cook. Once I found it sufficiently cooked, I picked the handle of the skillet up with a hand towel, moving back over to the table and sliding them onto a plate that I'd placed in the middle of the table. I practically jumped out of my skin when I heard Soda's voice, turning around to face him.
"How ya feelin'?" he asked, keeping himself at a distance as he spoke.
"I-I'm doing better," I stammered, moving away to grab the milk out of the refrigerator.
"You know, one of us could have handled the cooking," he chuckled, sitting down at the table and grabbing a plate.
"W-where's Ponyboy?" I asked, setting the bottle of milk down in front of him on the table.
"He's still sleepin'," he told me, pouring himself some milk before raking a few eggs onto his plate. "Mmm, this looks good," he grinned, before shoveling some of it into his mouth.
I just shook my head, before placing some bread in the toaster, going back to the stove after a moment.
"With the way that you're shoveling it down, I'm going to have to made more," I pointed out, earning a merry laugh in return.
I shook my head once more, before emptying a few more eggs into the skillet, the popping sound nearly making me jump. If something like this made me jump, I could only imagine how much worse things would be when I left the house. Unfortunately, something would eventually set me off and I'd be right back in the same sticky mess that I was in before.
"What's wrong?" I heard Soda ask above the crackling and popping from the skillet.
I glanced over at him for a moment, trying to bite back a few tears.
"It's nothin'," I told him, rubbing my eyes in irritation.
He didn't say anything after that, merely going back to his food instead. When the eggs were done, I brought them over to the table, putting them right with the rest of them. I then went over to the toaster, pulling the toast out and tossing them onto the plate with the eggs.
"You got work today?" I asked, pulling a stick of butter from the fridge for the toast.
"Nah, me and Steve are taking the day off," he said.
I froze slightly at his words. That meant that Steve would be over here before too long, probably the same with Two-Bit. That also meant that they'd see what happened to me.
"Great…" I muttered, letting out a sigh.
"Hm?"
"Nothing Soda, it's nothin'," I whispered, running a hand through my hair. "I'm gonna go wake Darry up," I said, walking out of the room and back upstairs.
Soda didn't say a word as I did that, staying right where he was.
"Darry," I called, walking into the room.
He was still sleeping on the bed when I walked in, the sound of faint snoring meeting my ears. I couldn't help, but to laugh at this, finding it sort of cute and amusing. I'm not really sure why I found it amusing, but I did.
"Darry," I called, walking over and nudging him a bit. "Darry," I sung, shaking him a bit, but all he did was groan slightly and turn over from his side onto his stomach.
I sighed as I shook my head, walking over to the other side and crawling onto the bed next to him.
"Darry," I nudged, but still got no response. "Come on," I sighed in exasperation, poking his cheek with my finger.
I laughed as I watched his face twitch slightly.
"Come on you big lug, wake up," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "Darrel, I'm giving you to the count of three to get up," I stated. "One…" I started. "Two…" I rose an eyebrow. "Three. That's it," I said, getting up off of the bed and walking back downstairs.
Soda was still at the table finishing up his breakfast.
"Hey, Soda, do me a favor and kick your brother out of bed," I said, walking back into the kitchen.
"Who? Darry or Pony?" he asked, giving me a questionable look.
"Who did I just try to get up?" I asked, giving him an obvious hint.
He just grinned at me and stood up, walking over toward the bathroom with his empty cup in hand.
"I'm gonna have fun with this one," he chuckled, quickly going up the stairs once he had it filled with water.
A minute later, I heard a yell and then a loud thump. I could only imagine what he had done to Darry and the scene in general.
"Damn it, get back here!" Darry yelled.
Soda was just laughing away as he glided down the stairs and into the kitchen, quickly hiding behind me with the grin of his plastered upon his face.
"H-hey!" I stammered as he gripped my shoulders lightly, startling me in the process.
"I swear, when I get ahold of you," Darry started, walking into the kitchen.
He stopped though upon seeing Soda hiding behind me, giving him a hard look.
"I told you to get up and I tried waking you, but you wouldn't get up," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "All I did was tell him to kick you out of bed."
"You mean by having him throw water in my face while I was sleeping?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Hey, I never said that, I just wanted you up and out of bed," I told him. "And you," I started, moving away from Soda a bit. "You should probably still run," I said, moving up against the fridge as Darry sprung forward to grab him, both of them running out the back door.
"Can on Darry, can't you take a joke?" Soda laughed as Darry caught him, tackling him down to the ground and wrestling around with him.
This is the first time that I'd actually seen him loosen up with one of his brothers. Even though he was annoyed with Soda, he was at ease, messing around and wrestling with him like any other good natured brothers likely would. It made me smile knowing that he could loosen up with them at times and have a good time. I knew that he was different with me compared to how he was with them, so it made me happy knowing that I got a chance to see him like this as I watched from the doorway, leaning up against the frame.
"You know, I worked hard to make all that food, it'd be a shame for it to sit around and get cold," I called, allowing a small grin upon my face when Darry stopped all of a sudden.
"Wait, you made breakfast?"
"Who else?" I shrugged turning back around only to be met by Ponyboy standing there, a shocked look on his face.
"Glory howdy, what happened?" Pony asked, hesitantly stepping forward.
I'd completely forgotten what my face must have looked like, causing me to take a step back.
"Ponyboy, don't stare," Darry said, getting on his younger brother as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
Ponyboy gave him a look of uncertainty as he glanced at me again, rubbing the back of his neck. Before anyone could say anything though the phone rang, leaving us all silent as Darry walked over and answered.
"Hello?" he answered, pressing the phone to his ear. "Dally?" I watched his face change a bit in slight surprise. "You what? We told you not to," he groaned.
That was my cue to come forward, taking the phone from his hand.
"Dally?"
"Hey there princess, how ya feelin' man?" he asked, his voice a bit strained.
"Fine," I said quietly.
"Now, we both know that's a lie," he pointed out.
"You asked, I gave you an answer," I shrugged. "Now, what did you do?" I asked, wanted an answer out of him.
"Got hauled in man, cops caught me," he said.
"What did you do?" I repeated, wanting a straight answer.
"I found the guy that did that to ya man," he told me. "I beat the shit outta him man, but one of his buddies ran off and called the damn cops on me," he spat.
"Dally…you would have been more use here," I whispered, admitting my feelings.
"Hey, don't worry man, I'll be back in a month or two. Three tops," he said. "Just try not to get into anymore trouble."
"Next time I see you, I'm going to smack you," I said flatly.
"Go right ahead," he chuckled.
I just sighed, pressing my forehead against the wall.
"Thanks Dal…" I whispered, before handing the phone back to Darry.
After that, I walked out back, going and sitting on the trunk of one of the busted cars out back. Whenever Sodapop wasn't working down at the DX working on stuff down there or hanging out with Steve, he was in the back working on either of the two broken down cars. Steve would occasionally help him with it if he was in the mood, but as long as he was doing something with his buddy Soda, he didn't really seem to care. Even with my technically short time with everyone, I had still come to notice the Soda and Steve were practically glued to each other and going everywhere together just about. Whenever I was Steve, he was always with Soda. Just then, almost as if irony was striking me down, I heard Steve inside the house.
Voices were going back and forth trying to explain things, explain what happened to me. It bugged me to no end knowing that I was the subject of choice. I knew that the guys needed to know what happened, but it still bugged me that they were finding out. Hell, it'd be even worse whenever Eden showed up.
I had allowed her to go home with a friend yesterday and she'd spent the night at their house. She'd yet come home.
I turned my head when I heard a car driving up toward me, looking over to find Two-Bit in the driver's seat as he pulled up and parked beside the house. He froze the moment he saw me, his jaw dropping at the sight.
"Lordy… What in tar nation happened to ya?" he asked, trotting right over to my side.
I just looked away and pulled my knees up to my chest.
I didn't want to answer him, I didn't want to answer his questions. Hell, I didn't even want to think about it. Just the question in general made me think back to last night, causing a shiver to run down my spine.
"Steve, get back here," I heard Soda yell, before Steve came walking out back.
He came right over to me causing me to flinch and move away, nearly falling off of the car. He grabbed my arm though before that could happen, but pulled my shirt up a moment later, looking at the marks on my stomach.
"Get off!" I yelled, pulled away only to fall off this time, quickly picking myself up afterward as I held my shoulder. "Just…d-don't touch me," I choked out, moving away from both of them.
"Come on Abby," Two-Bit tried, moving toward me a bit.
"The hell do I have to do to get you people to leave me the hell alone!" I choked out, backing up into the other car.
"You okay babe?" Two-Bit asked, his eyes now filled with worry.
Before I was completely against the car, I fell backwards, falling down onto my butt. Tears started falling and I couldn't stop them. It was even worse because everyone could see my tears as they came to stand around me.
I yanked away though, flinching when I felt someone place their hand on my shoulder, only finding out afterward that it was Darry.
"I-I'm sorry," I said, noticing the hurt look on his face.
He just shook his head though, crouching down in front of me before looking at the guys.
"We can't let this happen ever again," he said, placing a hand on my uninjured shoulder.
"What the heck happened?" Two-Bit asked.
When he asked this, I stood up, quickly wiping my.
"I'm tired of questions," I mumbled, before quickly walking back into the house.
I stopped in the doorway though, glancing back at everyone.
"I'm going back upstairs… I made plenty of food if you guys want it," I said, moving back inside.
Okay everyone, that was chapter 17. I hope everyone liked it. This one was definitely easier to write than the last one. Please remember to REVIEW and MESSAGE me with your thoughts, ideas, opinions, etc. I always loving hearing what all of you have to say. It makes me happy and keeps me writing. Thanks again everyone! :)