Stay Wild: A Curly Shepard Love Story

- Chapter 6 -

Curly Shepard's Point of View
*Friday*
I lean on the doorway into Ella Rae's bedroom. She has her back to the door, sitting at a little desk with a bunch of makeup stuff on it. I smirk and step inside quietly, not that she would hear me with her radio as loud as it is. 

I creep in behind her and wrap my arms around her, lifting her off of the bench. Ella Rae squeals and I laugh as I set her back down. She smacks me and shoves me back with a smile dancing across her lips. Ella sits back down. 

She says something, but my mind doesn't process it. All I can focus on is how cute she looks in this dress, man. Wow. It's red and fitted, right and short. I wouldn't have thought she owned something like this. I woulda bet my life she didn't. Damn, she's beautiful. 

"Curly," Ella Rae snaps sternly, but laughing slightly. 

"Hm?" I hum back, feeling a slight redness to my cheeks. She just laughs and shakes her head. "You're a terrible listener, Curly Shepard." I smirk. 

"I think I'm a pretty good listener when it comes to things I'd like to hear." I hesitate and lean towards her ear. I can feel her tense, but I see her smile in the mirror. "Like, I don't know, maybe you moaning." Ella Rae elbows me teasingly and I crack up, stepping back and sitting on her bed. 

"You said you were gonna be here at 7," Ella Rae says. I look at her clock. 6:44. I shrug. 

"Close enough, right?" She rolls her eyes and I bite the inside of my cheek. She looks really cute when she does that. Just wait until all of the guys see her. Their eyes are gonna be popping out of their heads. She didn't need to look this good. If any guy puts any moves on her, I'll crack their skull. 

"Curly!" Ella Rae shouts, making me snap out of it. I look at her. "What?" 

"Can you listen to me for one second?" I shrug. 

"Depends what you're saying, princess." She rolls her eyes and stands up, grabbing my leather jacket from next to me on her bed. 

"Let's get out of here." 
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I could tell Ella Rae didn't want to be here as soon as I opened the door and I felt bad. I made her go and now I have a sudden compelling feeling to take her home. She doesn't belong in a place like this. 

"I'm gonna get a drink, alright." Ella nods and steps off to the side. I see familiar faces at the bar, but I just get a beer for each of us. I know there's gonna be fights tonight just based on the rougher crowd and I'm here for it. I haven't gotten in a real fight in a little while. 

I find Ella Rae right where I left her. I crack the beers open and hand one to her. She immediately takes a pretty big swig of it. I hope she actually does have fun tonight. She's already swaying side to side to the beat on the music, tapping her foot in the same way. My arm snakes around her waist and my palm rests on her hip. 

"You got a cigarette?" She asks after a couple of minutes. I pull one and a lighter from my pocket. I hold her beer while she lights it. Exchanging her drink for my lighter, I notice a hair tie on her wrist and Inonly then realize that her hair is down. It looks real nice down,but she really only wears it when she goes out places. 

"You look good, princess," I mumble, looking straight out into the crowd. I don't need her to know I was watching her like that. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her smile and look at the ground. Golly she's gorgeous. She's gotta be one of the prettiest greasers in Tulsa, if I could even call her a greaser. 

"You're not too bad yourself, Shepard." 

I venture off a little bit later, just to see what she'll do. I see her getting shuffled away by 3 girls I know by Sandy, Evie, and Sylvia, girlfriends of the Curtis outfit. I run into their boyfriends at the bar with Ricky and some others guys I don't care about. 

"Borough that chick, huh?" He shouldn't be talking, he's the one with a big black eye. I nod, lighting a cigarette for myself. 

"Got a problem?" He shakes his head. 

"Which chick?" Dallas asks. I shrug and nod towards his girlfriend in the corner. I notice him smirk. "Doesn't seem like a party type." I shrug again. She didn't seem like a whole lot of anything before I met her real well. 

"She a greaser?" Sodapop asks. I shake my head. "Soc?" He seems astonished, by I shake my head. I've never met her parents, so I can assume they're working all the times I'm around. They wouldn't like me much if they were around. 

She's never said anything about her parents, that's kind of weird. I've never seen food out or anything that even hinted that someone lived in the house other than Ella's room. It's strange. Do her parents even live there?

Ella Rae's Point of View

"Curly's coming over here," Sandy says. "He looks mad." I turn behind me and she's right. I look back at the table and tuck my hair behind my ear. Whats he mad about? This is a party, he's supposed to be having fun. 

Curly puts a drink next to my hand and leans down next to my ear, whispering, "I'm going outside." I can tell by his tone that it wasn't just for fresh air. I stand up next to him and grab the unopened beer. 

"I'm coming with you." I turn to the girls and offer a small smile. "I'll be back, watch my seat?" They nod and I follow Curly outside. Oh my God there are a bunch of guys out here, none of which look particularly happy. Oh God. Curly joins Tim and I see them talking lowly to each other. 

Without even thinking, I find myself biting my nail and lip. I shouldn't have come out here. Curly winks at me quickly before some guy launches himself at him.  I flinch and close my eyes. I keep them closed, only opening them briefly to see if he's decently okay. He was each time, at least I think he was. 

I keep them open when I hear cheering and laughter.  Curly's standing up from kneeling and he goes in for a handshake with Tim, but it's more of a low five. Then he turns to me and runs up the stairs to where I standing by the door, grabbing my waist. He drags me into the building and pins me against the wall, kissing me hard.