Trouble |The Outsiders|

14. Bad For Buisness

"Abigail...We gotta get to work."

She shivered as the covers slid back off her shoulders. Abigail groaned in response, Sodapop only laughed. "This isn't fair, five more-"

"If you're asleep for five more minutes, I'm not gonna be able to give you a good morning kiss."

Begrudgingly, Abigail tore her eyes open and forced herself to sit up. She dug the heels of her hands into her eyes as she tried to shake away the fatigue, her attempts were useless. She could feel Sodapop approach her side of the bed and his fingers as they drew delicate lines down the length of her spine. He radiated warmth as Abigail leaned into his touch. "Gimme a kiss," she murmured into his DX shirt. While his chest shifted with laughter, he leaned down and pressed his lips to the tip of Abigail's nose. "C'mon now," he teased, "Darry made some coffee."

It was a cold morning on November twenty-ninth. You could see your breath linger in the air, frost clinging to the thin branches of the trees as they bend and twist in the wind. Inside the Curtis house, eight boys moved around each other chaotically. Ponyboy was scrubbing the dishes, getting more water outside of the sink than in the frying pan he was cleaning, Johnny did his best to help dry them. Steve was rubbing his face tiredly white raising a piece of chocolate cake to his lips, barely holding back a sneeze.

"That's what you get for goin' to the Drive-In without a jacket," Darry chided as he passed Abigail a cup of coffee. Darry then moved to the front door, pushing past Dallas and Danny, and began to pull on his work boots. He spat out a few instructions as he fumbled with his laces, mostly saying that'd he try to be home early tonight, and reminding the gang to wear their jackets and gloves, if they had them. They all agreed with lazy smiles and tired waves as Darry pulled the door open and disappeared into the Wednesday morning wind.

Abigail frantically downed the last sip of her coffee as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and took a step towards her brother. The bruises on his face had faded by now, but the corner of his nose was still a little green. None of his teeth seemed crooked or broken, which was another thing she was grateful for, but the young girl saw something different in his eyes.

It was the same intense look she saw in Dallas when they passed socs on the street, or when Johnny came into the house in the middle of the night with another bruise or scar. It was the same look she saw in Steve when his old man kicks him out every other week, only to invite him back with a stack of one-dollar bills.

Any child-like innocence those eyes once held died the night Abigail was cast out onto the street, her world confined to a backpack. His eyes were dark and heavy, full of spite and mistrust. Danny popped the collar of his leather jacket with one hand, the other clutched a school book he'd never read. The pink scar on his lip stuck out, but not as obvious as it did a few days before.

"Turn around," Abigail ordered while she pulled her jean jacket onto her shoulders. Before Danny could even argue, she reached for his shoulders and turned him around herself. Nearly all of Danny's hair was combed back, except for one piece that curled upwards. It had always been like that. No matter how hard he tried, Danny could never get it to lay flat. "Your hair," she muttered, "Two-BIt! I need your head!"

The eighteen-year-old came walking out of the kitchen, a beer bottle grasped loosely in his fist. "Anything for you, m'lady," he said while tipping his head forwards. Abigail combed her fingers through his rusty-red hair until her fingers were coated in a thin layer of grease. "Thanks, Two," she added while combing down her brother's cow-lick. Danny nodded, a thin smile playing at his lips as he turned back around. Abigail smiled back at him, he hadn't noticed she's slipped a dollar into his pocket. Ponyboy came out of the kitchen, his own books tucked under his arm.  "We should probably get goin'," he reminded the gang, "unless we want Darry bashing our skulls together."