For The Love of a Greaser
Chapter 33
Sparky
The next few days came and went, until Christmas was practically upon them. This also left everyone scattering around decorating the house and cooking. This would be their first Christmas together. It would also be Abigail's first Christmas to truly celebrate. She was with people that truly cared for her. She had Darry who loved her dearly, she had Soda and Ponyboy whom were like brothers to her now, she even had the rest of the gang. Plus, she was free from her father and even her nightmares for once. To be honest, she'd been able to sleep soundly for the entire week without any problems whatsoever.
"Hey, Abby, catch," Soda called, tossing an ornament her way.
He laughed as her eyes went wide, watching as she scrambled to catch it, cradling it in her hands.
"Are you nuts?" she cried, holding the small glass ball in her slender hands.
He just grinned at her before laughing, looking between his brothers. For some reason, Soda liked having her flustered at times. Darry didn't really appreciate it much, but there wasn't much that he could do about it either though.
"You better not break anything Soda," Darry warned, tightening one of the screws at the bottom of the small tree.
He didn't need it falling over by accident and breaking anything, so he was always checking things over.
"Come on Darry, I'm just havin a bit of fun," he chuckled, tossing a strand of garland at him.
Darry gave him a flat look at this, pulling the thick strand off of his head.
"Just keep pushin it little buddy and see what happens."
"Yeah, sure, like you'll really do somethin," Soda joked, pushing at Darry's buttons.
Abigail just tried to ignore them, going back to putting stuff on the tree. They had at least two boxes full of Christmas stuff to go through yet, giving them plenty to do.
T
As they kept up with everything, Abigail was reminded of when she was a child, decorating the tree with her mother. She was now doing it with Darry and Soda, while Eden and Ponyboy stuck to the kitchen. In a way, she found it odd how normal she felt about it, being happy in this house. It wasn't even hers, but she felt at home inside its walls as if she'd been there forever. Perhaps it was just the occupants of the house, but she knew it was more than that. The house was filled with something that hers hadn't been. It was filled with a sense of security and warmth. Even with the Curtis' parents gone, she could still feel the love that had been left behind.
"Hey."
At the sound of the voice, Abigail jumped, turning toward Darry. He had a warm smile on his face as he looked down at her.
"Yeah?"
"Just seemed like you were thinkin about somethin," he commented, running a strand of lights around his side of the tree, before handing them off to her.
"I was just thinking how different it is now. You know, spending Christmas here, my first on with you guys," she said, a small smile pulling at her lips.
"You haven't seen nothin yet," Soda chuckled, tacking a bit of decoration onto the mantle.
Abigail looked over at him for a moment, before looking back toward Darry, and then toward the kitchen.
"Don't worry, they're not goin anywhere," Darry chuckled, resting a hand on top of her head.
She gave him a small smile as he ruffled her hair a bit, pushing it out of her face. She always enjoyed his attention, even if she fought back a bit at times or retaliated. She still loved it all the same.
"Here, try this on for size," he said, suddenly placing a wreath over her head.
"Hey!" she squealed, feeling the edges scrape and tickle her neck.
It felt strange having something like that around her neck, very strange.
"Darry, it's itchy," she whined, scrunching her nose up.
She then pulled it off from around her neck and placed it over Darry's, watching him chuckle a moment later. He didn't bother taking it off though, merely going back to stringing the lights. This made Abigail roll her eyes, before shaking her head. Sometimes Darry just didn't make any since at all.
Before too long though, they were getting on the dog for messing with the tree. They didn't know what he was trying to do exactly, but it looked like he was trying to eat the lights.
"Stop that," Abigail cried, trying to pull him off, but he didn't listen.
Instead, he wagged his tail and continued scratching near the bottom of the tree.
"Stop that!" Darry yelled, but like before, he didn't listen.
Instead, he started chewing on the lightens, and before too long the sound of electricity was heard in the air, along with a small snort from the dog. Everyone stood there, looking down at him as his fur stood on end, before he wrung himself out. He then sat there wagging his tail again, a happy look on his face.
"Well, I think I know what to call him now," Soda chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sparky."
"You've got to be kidding me," Darry said, shaking his head as he bit back a small chuckle.
Leave it to Soda to come up with something, no matter how fitting it may be.
"Come here, Sparky," Soda called, patting his legs.
He was knocked down a moment later with Sparky on top of him licking his face.
"Alright, alight!" Soda cried, trying to push him off.
Abigail and Darry merely laughed at this, Eden and Ponyboy joining them as the two watched from the kitchen.
"Get 'em Sparky," Soda said, pointing toward Abigail and Darry.
"Oh no," Abigail said warily, watching as Sparky turned toward them.
They didn't know why, but Sparky had a habit of obeying Soda. He rarely listened to anyone else. Granted, he liked everyone well enough, only going as far as grumbling around Steve.
"Soda, call him off," Darry ordered, placing Abigail behind him.
"Uh-uh, I wanna see this," Soda grinned. "Get 'em," he repeated, watching as Sparky lunged for them, causing Abigail to trip and fall backwards.
Unfortunately, Darry ended up landing on her as Sparky laid on top of him.
"Soda, you better run," Darry called, try to get off of Abigail, only to be knocked back down.
"Soda, you're dead," Abigail cried, trying to push Darry off of her leg.
It's not that he was overly heavy or anything, but just the fact he was sitting on it wrong was the problem.
"Pony, get in here," Darry said.
Ponyboy came over right away, pulling Sparky by his collar until he got off, finally letting Darry get off of Abigail.
"Finally," she groaned, earning a small snort from Darry. "Hey, you were sitting on my leg wrong," she pointed out, rubbing her leg.
It didn't feel good having a full grown man sitting on her like that. Maybe a child, but not someone as big as him. After all, he was bigger than either Pony or Soda. Darry was the biggest out of all of the gang.
"You know, I think we should just tie Soda up and decorate him instead," Darry suggested, eyeing his brother as he helped Abigail up.
"Aw, where's the fun in that?" Soda asked.
"Plenty," Darry said simply, slowly moving toward Soda.
Within seconds, they were rolling around on the floor, Darry catching him in a headlock. Soda got out of it though, rolling around until Darry was against the floor on his stomach.
"Come on you two, stop it," Abigail said, standing out of the way with Ponyboy and Eden.
"I don't think so," Darry breathed, manuvering around until he had both arms behind his brothers back. "You give up?"
"Never," Soda grunted, kicking out his feet until Darry let go, flipping him back over.
"Okay, that's it," Abigail started, pulling a whistle from her pocket that they'd been trying to use for Sparky.
She blew into it a moment later, breaking the two apart, hands over their ear.
"Man, that's loud," Soda groaned, looking up at her to find her with her hands on her hips.
"Well, I did tell you guys to stop it," she pointed out. "After all, I really don't think we need anything broken right before Christmas."
"We could always open the presents now, that way they don't break anything," Ponyboy suggested.
"I don't think so kid."
Abigail knew what he was trying to do, Eden had tried the same thing once the other year, and it didn't work then either.
"You can wait til tomorrow like everyone else Ponyboy," she told him, moving back over to the tree to switch out the strand of lights that Sparky had ruined.
"I'll still never understand why we waited so long to put everything up," Eden commented, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, first off, this is their house Eden. Besides, I've been working and Darry wanted me to be able to help," she explained.
"Someone could have still started on something," Eden complained pointlessly.
"Well, then I guess everyone in this house is just lazy then," Abigail concluded, dropping the strand of bad lights onto the floor with a thump.
Eden grumbled after a moment, before walking back into the kitchen.
"Did we do something wrong?" Soda asked, moving to sit up.
Abigail shook her head, grabbing a new strand of lights from the box by her feet.
"Not really. I think she's just a bit tense because things are different this year," Abigail started, wrapping the new strand of light around where the others had been. "Christmas had always been spent at our house. Even though the last four years it's just been the two of us, but it's what she's used to," she explained.
As Abigail said this, she remembered how they'd decorated their tree every year. All the pretty ornaments, shining glass, and cutouts that they had made. She could still see the little white angel that they had used for the tree topper in the back of her mind. It was something that her and her mother had made together. It was long gone now though, likely burned to ashes in the ruins of her old home.
"This one will be one of the best," Darry promised her, shoving his brother lightly with his foot before getting up and joining her. "This year, you guys won't be by yourselves."
Abigail smiled at this, looking between the three brothers who were smiling at her.
"You're right. That's why, I already have the greatest of gifts," she told them, looking over at the tree.
"And what's that?" Ponyboy asked.
"All of you," she smiled. "I have a real family now," she told them.
"Aw, that's so sweet," Soda exclaimed, before grabbing her in a big hug and spinning her around.
"Soda!" she cried, her face turning a bit red.
"Soda, put her down," Darry instructed.
"Do I have to?" Soda whined, holding her close.
"Yes."
"Fine," he sighed, finally putting her down on the ground, watching as she stumbled just a bit.
Darry grabbed hold of her a moment later, steadying her. She was grateful to say the least, giving him a small smile.
"Man, were's the mistletoe when you need it?" Soda chuckled.
"I think it's in the box," Ponyboy stated, turning around to go back to the kitchen.
Soda just turned to grin at them, riffling around in the box.
"You've got to be kidding me," Darry breathed.
"Soda, do you really enjoy watching me kiss your brother or something?" Abigail asked, raising an eyebrow at him in question.
"Whoever said you'd be kissin him?" he grinned, finally pulling the mistletoe out of the box.
"Seriously, Soda?" Darry asked in exasperation.
Soda still held that grin on his face as he looked at the two.
"Come on, Abby, it's all in good fun," Soda laughed, holding the mistletoe over his head.
She rolled her eyes at this, but still walked over and kissed him on the cheek.
"There, happy now?" she asked.
"Very."
"Now, give me that," she said, taking the piece of greenery from his hand, before turning back toward Darry.
There was a certain look on his face as he stared at her, pulling her toward the dining room. He then took the mistletoe from her awaiting hand, easily tacking it to the top of the frame above their heads. That was their moment and they took it, coming together with a kiss.
Yay! Chapter 33! I REALLY hope that everyone liked it? The few scenes with Darry and Abigail and Soda's little stunts? Please, don't forget to REVIEW and MESSAGE me with your thoughts, opinions, ideas, and feelings on this chapter/story. I LOVE hearing FEEDBACK. It helps me write and keeps me happy. Thanks everyone!