Stay Wild: A Curly Shepard Love Story

- Chapter 4 -

Ella Rae's Point of View

My black skirt swirls around my knees with a red Coca-Cola shirt tucked into the waistband. I smile and move to my vanity where I keep my makeup, quickly covering my lips with gloss and my eyelashes with mascara. I hear the door open and close and I'm sure it's Curly. My parents are never home right now. 

"Hey, princess!" Yep, that's Curly for sure. I smile and open the door. 

"Be right down, " I call. I know he smirking without even seeing him. I really like how I look right now, so I hope he likes it too. For once, my hair is down, but I slip a hair tie on my wrist just in case. I don't think I've ever had my hair down around Curly. I like it out of my face, but I want to look beautiful. 

With one last smile to the mirror, I open my door and skip down the stairs. Curly's waiting at the bottom, closing his lighter and shoving it in his pocket. He looks up at me with a shit-eating smirk, licking across his teeth. 

"Looking good, princess." I roll my eyes. He's never called me Ella Rae before, which isn't that bad actually. Everyone calls me Ella Rae and it's too long and formal. As much as Curly annoys me sometimes, he sure cam make me smile any day of the week. 

"Come on." Curly nods at the door and I smile, joining him outside. The whole way to the dairy queen I catch Curly watching me with a smile as we talk. Even when we stop talking, his eyes are constantly sneaking glances at me. 

When we order, Curly gets a fudge sundae and I get a swirl cone.  "Come on," Curly nods at the curb as he sits down on it. I sit next to him, tucking my skirt beneath me. 

"What movie's playing?" I ask, licking the vanilla side of my cone. Curly shrugs. "Don't know, we don't have to watch the movie, you know." I nudge his side, but I can't help but laugh. He laughs too. As many dirty kokes as he made, he never actually tried anything, which is totally against what people say about him. 

When people heard I was helping him out I got nothing but warnings about that boy. 

"You know he fights a lot?"
"You know his brother runs a gang?"
"Do you know why he was in the reform?"
"He used girls all the time." 

But from what I've seen, Curly isn't totally how they think. For as many dirty jokes he makes, he makes just as many sweet ones. 

"We'll see about that," I reply. 
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I'm sure Curly just paid the 50 cents to go through because I was there. He probably doesn't know that I've seen him sneak in the back before. I wouldn't mind it, I know Curly ain't rich. I'm not either. 

Curly and I took our seats in the front and as soon as we sat down his arm was around my shoulders. The movie had already started, but I'm glad we spent so much time at the Dairy Queen. We got to talk more than we would at a movie. 

When the movie is almost over, we decide to leave to beat the crowd. Curly's arm never left me always either around my waist or around my shoulders. On our way back to my house, we see our old elementary school. 

"Come on," I say, grabbing his hand that was on my hip. I drag him behind the school to the play structure. I know my parents won't give a damn where I am or when I'll be home. Curly and I climb into the structure and lean on the cold metal bars along the sides. 

"I remember this place," Curly mumbles. "I hated it here." We both share a small laugh. 

"I did too I guess," I reply with a small smile, looking down. 

"What do you mean? You had it made? Look at all those friends in those pictures," Curly replies. I shake my head. 

"When we're little we're all friends. I remember I was so excited that you and Ponyboy we're gonna be there because you two were the funniest people I knew." I scoff to myself. I was such a dork. 

"You guys were the life of the party, but you never talked to me again. I liked you, a lot. I thought you were the coolest." I can't believe I'm telling him this. Why would I tell him? I don't feel like that anymore. He's a real good friend, but I can't think of a guy like him as anything other than a player. 

"Well I'm sorry, little me must've been real dull," Curly laughs back. "You liked me? Really? You musta been the only one." He laughs and I shake my head. "That why you agreed to help me?" 

"No," I reply. "It wasn't that, Curly." 

"Then what was it?" I shake my head yet again and shrug. 

"I don't know, maybe it was because I just wanted to help. Maybe I was bored. Maybe it was because nobody else would. I'm not sure, Curly." I sigh heavily and swallow, finally looking back up at him. His eyes are curious, eyebrows furrowed. 

"Maybe it was because I wanted to see what you were like now, if you were still the kid I knew." Curly nods and curls his lips in, pressing them together. 

"Well, I'm not if that changes anything. You figured out how I was, so why do you keep helping?" 

"Because you're a good person, Curly." I could tell by his expression that nobody ever told him that before, or at least not in a long time. "You're not just the dirty hood that people say you were." A small smile appears on his face. 

"But I am, darling. That's all I was and that's all I'll ever be, Princess. I'm not like you." 

"Come on, Curly, you're smart and you're funny and you're-you're Curly Shepard damn it." I laugh. "You can do whatever you want. You can be whatever you want. Come on." I stand up and grab his hand, pulling him up. I drag him down and over to the swing set. 

"Haven't done this in a while," he chuckled.
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"We should proudly get you home," Curly says, high above me on the swing set. I nod. It's pretty late. The moon is high in the sky, but neither of us have a watch or a clock to check. I slow myself down, dragging my feet on the wood chips. Curly flips off of his, almost falling. We both bust out laughing, but she. I stand, I stumble. 

Curly rushes and grabs my forearms against his, holding me up. I back up against the poll and Curly's face is an inch from mine. I can feel his breaths and he can feel mine. His lips capture mine and push me even further against the poll. 

His knee presses against both of mine, holding me in place while on of his hands moves to my waist and the other to my neck. I grab my jacket and slide it down his back, smirking into the kiss. He caresses my jawline with his thumb. 

I didn't think I'd be ending this night with a kiss, especially like this. 

His hand moves down and grabs my butt. I smirk and jump slightly onto my toes and Curly laughs, breaking apart for a quick second. 

"Not so innocent, eh."