The first chapter was similar to one of my one-shots, but this chapter is completely original. I hope you all enjoy! Favorites, reviews, etc. are appreciated!

(Darry's POV)

The moment we got back to the house and walked through the door, the guys were already bugging me about calling Kate.

"Are you gonna call her right now?" Two-Bit asked loudly.

"We just got home, Two-Bit," I said as I pushed Johnny's wheelchair to the couch. He was finally at the point in his recovery that he could stand up and move from the chair to the couch on his own, but that didn't stop me from hovering as he did.

After the trial, the state looked into Johnny's living conditions at his house, and it was determined that it wasn't the best environment for him to recover in. After some heated conversations with the state, some lawyers, and his parents, the state allowed me to take custody of Johnny so he could recover at our house. I was surprised and grateful to learn that Johnny's medical bills would be taken care of, but even if that wasn't the case, the gang and I would've done anything to keep him from going back to his parents' house. With money not being a concern for his recovery process, we all just focused on helping Johnny in any way we could.

Once Johnny was settled on the couch, I moved the wheelchair to the side of the room and sat down in my recliner. I realized the four of them were still looking at me expectedly, so I had to say something just to get them off my back. "She works until five. I'll call her later."

"Call who?" Dally asked, suddenly walking in from the kitchen with a beer bottle in his hand. Steve was following him, also holding a bottle. I bit back a groan of annoyance. Great, the whole gang is here to bug me about a girl.

"Kate Miller," Two-Bit replied with a huge grin on his face as he sunk into the chair. "She's a waitress at the diner we were just at."

"That name sounds familiar," Dally said as he sat next to Johnny. Dally wasn't the nicest or most gentle person, but I noticed how careful he was in order to not hurt Johnny when he sat down, and I had to fight a grin off my face. Dally's a big softy when it comes to Johnny.

"Ain't that the girl from school Darry liked?" Steve asked from his spot on the floor.

"It certainly is!" Soda said, throwing his arm around Steve while giving me a smug look. "Darry here was too nervous to ask for her number, but she gave it to him anyways."

I wished that I could've said that wasn't true, but it was. Even though I had liked Kate for years, I never gathered enough courage to ask her out. Technically I still hadn't, considering she's the one that gave me her number without me asking.

I first met Catherine Miller freshman year of high school. We sat next to each other in class, and I immediately thought she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. Her auburn hair fell several inches past her shoulders, and her eyes were mostly a striking shade of green, but there was a thin ring of brown around her pupils. Even though I immediately found her attractive, I didn't do or say anything about it; I just kept my feelings to myself and focused on school and football.

As high school went on, I had several classes with Kate, and I began to understand that she was different from other girls in the best ways possible. She wasn't a Soc or a greaser; she was simply a teenage girl that wasn't put into a group by society, and I was jealous of her for it. Kate didn't wear too much makeup or dress in a particular way like Soc or greaser girls did. Unlike most of the other students, she somehow got along with practically everyone too, being able to talk with Socs in one class and then sit with a bunch of greasers in the next. No matter who she was with, she always acted the same, not changing her attitude or personality just to fit in. She was always herself.

She wasn't always the most outgoing person, but similar to Two-Bit, Kate could get anyone to laugh from her smart remarks or jokes, which happened just about every day in the art class I had with both her and Two-Bit. I don't think any of the students took that class seriously, which drove our teacher insane, but I'd see her grinning when Kate and Two-Bit bantered back and forth in the middle of class. Even in classes without Two-Bit, Kate would be able to use her intellect and sarcasm to get anyone to laugh.

Everything about Catherine Miller was alluring, but I pushed my feelings aside since I knew no girl could be that perfect and want to go out with a guy like me.

"She must've seen that look in his eyes," Two-Bit said with a smirk.

"What look?" I asked, feeling even more self-conscious than before.

"That look… you know, with the puppy dog eyes," Two-Bit said with a wave of his hand like it was obvious. "The 'I think you're pretty and I want your phone number but I don't know how to ask for it' look."

I glared at him, but he wasn't bothered. In fact, Two-Bit seemed to think it was even funnier since I was angry because he started laughing at me.

"Darrel Curtis is scared to talk to girls?" Dally asked, his eyebrows just about reaching his hairline.

"No," I stated. Just her. Just Kate.

"How did you date those girls in high school?" Steve wondered. "No way all of them gave you their numbers without you askin' for them."

"Some girls did, even if I was already dating someone else," I admitted with a grin. I would never two-time a girl, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel good to know there were multiple girls that liked me or thought I was handsome. "It was easier in high school than it is now."

Even though I never pursued a relationship with Kate, I did date a few girls during high school. It was mostly due to the peer pressure I got from my teammates, and the girls I dated obviously already liked me since they'd hang around at the field after football or by my locker in the hallway, so asking them out was pretty easy. Most of those girls were nice enough, but I never had a strong connection with them. I had a feeling some of them just wanted to say they dated the school's quarterback, while others were looking for more of a physical relationship than anything, which wasn't the kind of relationship I wanted. After all of those relationships didn't work out, I practically gave up on dating all together. I spent the last half of my senior year focusing on my grades, hoping to earn a full-ride scholarship to a university, and when that didn't happen, I threw myself into work so I could earn enough money for college. Then when my parents died, I had to take care of my brothers, and any hope I had for a social life immediately went down the drain.

Soda studied me, and I had a bad feeling about what he was thinking since he was really good at reading the minds of the people he was close with. Then, to my dismay, he asked the question that I was trying to avoid. "If it was so easy for you to get girls in high school, why didn't you ever ask for Kate's number back then?"

I opened and closed my mouth a few times as I tried to figure out what to say. Because she's different. Because I already knew the other girls wanted me to ask them out, but I never knew if Kate felt the same way. Because out of all the girls I've ever met, she's the only one that made me nervous. "I don't know," I settled with, even though it was a lie.

"Kate's different than most girls," Two-Bit told the guys after a brief pause in conversation. "She never drooled over Muscles like all the other girls in school did. That don't mean she doesn't have the hots for him though," he added, wiggling his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes while I felt my face heat up. I was surprised to hear that Two-Bit has also concluded that something was different about Kate Miller. Something that drew me to her.

"So she likes to be difficult… make it a challenge," Dally implied. I didn't like the tone of his voice, especially not when it was used when talking about Kate. "Those girls are always-"

"Dallas," I said harshly, effectively cutting him off. I didn't entirely know where he was going with his train of thought, but I knew I didn't want to hear it, and I didn't want my youngest brother to hear it either. "Enough."

My short flare of protectiveness must've been entertaining, because all six of the guys looked at me with expressions of varying amusement. I decided I had enough of the conversation, so I got to my feet and went to my room, where I planned on waiting until I knew Kate would be home from work.

I decided to call Kate at 5:30 so she would hopefully have enough time to get home from work. I also didn't want her to wait all night, wondering if I was really going to call her. What if she doesn't really care if I call? What if she ignores my call? I shook my head, trying to get the negative thoughts out of my mind. She wouldn't have given me her number or told me when she's off of work if she didn't want me to call her.

Once I was sure the guys were busy in the living room and were being too loud to hear me, I used the phone my parents had put in the bedroom to dial the number Kate gave me. I sat on the bed, extended my legs, and rested my back against the headboard. After two rings, there was an answer.

"Hello?"

"Hi, uh Kate? It's Darry," I said awkwardly. Glory, was it always this hard to talk to girls on the phone?

"Hi Darry. I'm glad you called," Kate said, sounding genuinely happy. I could picture her smiling as she spoke, and I found myself grinning like a fool. She's glad I called. "I'm sorry if I was a little too forward when I gave you my number…" she trailed off, sounding a bit nervous herself.

"No, don't be," I was quick to say. "I'm glad you did. I wanted to ask you for it, but I guess I was too nervous." Darry you idiot, you don't tell a girl you were nervous.

"Really? You were nervous?" Kate asked incredulously. I was still picturing her smiling, showing off her perfect teeth. "After all those big football games I've seen you play in, I didn't think you could get nervous."

I smiled at that. There were a lot of high-pressure games that made some of my teammates more tense than usual, but those were the games that I always performed best in. I loved the feeling of carrying the team on my back while the crowd cheered us on, and it didn't make me nervous at all. I was never fazed when the defense started closing in around me to try and tackle me into the ground, or even when they did manage to sack me.

"Football's one thing, but talking to a pretty girl is a different story," I said before I could stop myself. I felt myself blush once I realized what I just admitted out loud. Glory, and she was worried about being too forward?

Thankfully, I heard a soft laugh. "That was a pretty smooth line," Kate said.

I subconsciously let out a sigh of relief, then a chuckle. "Thanks."

There was a brief pause as I didn't know what to say next. I wanted nothing more than to keep talking with her, but my brain just couldn't form a sentence. For a moment, I was worried that Kate had already decided that she didn't want anything to do with me, but to my surprise, she spoke up.

"It's been a while since high school huh?" Kate said, leaving me to steer the conversation in the direction I wanted it to go.

"Yeah, it has," I said. I forced myself to sound calm, despite the tension I felt in my gut. Just say it. She already gave you her number without you asking. Don't make her do all of the work. "Speaking of which… would you- would you like to go out sometime? We could catch up and see what we've both been up to the past couple years."

The pause was probably one second long, but it felt like eternity as I waited for her answer.

"Yes Darry. I'd really like that."

I wanted to jump to my feet and throw my hands in the air like I just scored a touchdown, but instead, I remained sitting on my bed with a smile plastered on my face. It took me a moment to remember that I had asked her out, but I still had to figure out when and where.

"Would you like to…" I trailed off, trying to think of a place to bring a girl on a date. If I had as much money as any Soc, I could take her out to a fancy restaurant, but as much as I'd love to, it just wasn't a possibility. I settled with the first thing that popped into my mind. "Would you like to go to the drive-in on Saturday? I can pick you up."

I remembered going to the drive-in a lot when I was in high school. Sometimes it would just be me and my friends sitting in the seats they had for people without cars. We'd watch the newest movies and eat what we swore was the world's best popcorn. Other times, I would bring a girl there with the truck so we weren't forced to sit directly next to other people and potentially get bothered. It was pretty well-known that most of the couples that showed up in a vehicle weren't necessarily planning on watching the movie, instead opting to participate in other extracurricular activities. It made for several misunderstandings with me and most of the girls I brought there because I truly just wanted some privacy to watch the movie with them, maybe make out a little, but they always had other, more intimate, things on their mind. I never understood why anybody would want to do something like that in public, and stuff like that made me feel somewhat like an outsider in high school.

Then it hit my like a ton of bricks. I just offered to pick her up to go to the drive-in… she must be thinking that I had something specific in mind.

"I'm sorry, that's not… I don't mean it like that," I said quickly, trying to prevent another misunderstanding. My heart was racing as I scrambled to crawl out of the hole that I had just dug for myself. I am really bad at talking to girls. "I meant I could pick you up instead of us meeting there. Nothing else. I don't… I didn't mean-"

"It's okay Darry," Kate said politely, laughing softly. "I get it. I know what you mean and what you didn't mean."

I let out another sigh, and I felt my heart start slowing down to its regular rhythm. "Thank God. The last thing I'd want you to think is that I'm… that I'm like that."

"I appreciate your concern, but don't worry; that's not the impression I ever got from you," Kate said. Her voice was soothing, and it was even more comforting to know that she didn't think I was the kind of guy that expected that from a girl on the first date. "I'd love to go to the drive-in. What time on Saturday works for you?"

"I work until six that night, so I could pick you up around seven if that's okay," I offered, still trying to calm myself down from my earlier fumble. I knew I had to give myself enough time to shower and look presentable after work, but I also didn't want to make things even more awkward than I already had if I picked her up too late; it would give her the wrong impression yet again.

"Seven on Saturday sounds perfect," Kate said, sounding sincerely excited. "Do you have a pen and paper? I can give you my address right now."

After writing down her address, along with "Saturday, 7pm" on a piece of paper, I set it down carefully on my nightstand next to my wallet. As soon as I set the pen down, I heard a shout from the living room, then a loud thud, making me groan in frustration.

"Is everything okay over there?" Kate asked, sounding a little concerned.

"The guys are wrestling or something in the living room," I told her. Then I heard a yelp, followed by a sound of something hitting the wall. "I'm sorry, I think I need to go take care of it. I don't want them to break anything, or each other."

"From the sounds of it, you have your work cut out for you," Kate quipped, amusement thick in her voice. "I'll let you go. It was nice seeing you today, and thanks again for calling. I'll see you on Saturday?"

"Yeah, I'll see you Saturday," I confirmed. "Good night, Kate."

"Good night, Darry."

After I hung up the phone, I sunk into my bed and stared at the ceiling to give myself a moment before dealing with the gang in the other room. Well, that could've gone better, but it went well enough. I have a date with Kate Miller. I felt like the biggest loser for how stupid I sounded on the phone, and I hoped that I could figure out how to talk to Kate like a normal person by the time Saturday came around.

Another shriek from the living room meant I had to get my mind off of Kate and turn my attention to the guys.

"Nothing better be broken!" I shouted as I got off my bed and walked towards the living room.