Scottish Gold (An Outsiders Fic)

Chapter 4: The Next Morning

Chapter 4: The Next Morning
Cookie's POV

When I woke up the next morning with an aching back and the morning sun in my eyes. I yawned and stretched softly and rolled to my side, where a tall man in front of me with his arms crossed in a disapproving fatherly manner. He was the largest man I had ever seen. I jolted awake, sitting up quickly and feeling my spine crack all the way up my spine. He stood at least six feet and his biceps flexed to the size of my head.
I blinked hard to get the haze out of my vision before opening my mouth. "Howzitgoan? Ye must be Darry. Two-Bit and Pony told meh 'bout ye o'er this past week. I dinnae see ye at the party." I said, trying to smooth over whatever he wasn't happy about.
His face went into one of confusion for a millisecond before it snapped right back to the disapproving look. I blew air into my cheeks to make them bubble up before letting it out. Then clicked my tongue a few times in an attempt to make the awkward silence less silent.
"Who are you?" Darry asked me, tilting his head and looking at me with that same parent-like look.
"Ahm Cookie. Ahm a Scottish exchange student from Edina." I told him hoping that that would make him content. It didn't.
"Why are you here? In my house?"
"Dally was pure steamin'. I wasnae goin' tae let him go dander off on his own. He could've gotten hurt or gotten battered witout a square go." I replied.
Darry exhaled and gazed over Dally's squirming boy on the couch. His facial expression told me that he did not know what I said. I have gotten very used to that look.
"She said that I was really fuckin' drunk and she wasn't gonna let me go for a walk on my own. That I could have gotten hurt or beaten up without a fair fight." Dally's sore voice said from the couch. I turned to him, beyond impressed, and so did Darry.
"I picked up a bit of your slang last night during the drinking game. You tell a lot of stories when you are drinking." Dally justified.
"Gotta throw people off somehow or else ye lose the game." I said shrugging.
"I don't think ya were losing." Dally shot back.
"Well, Ah proved mah point, Ah could drink ye under the table any day." I laughed before standing up to stretch. I had slept in a seated position and now all of my muscles were sore. I clapped my hands and took in my surroundings.
The living room I stood in was rather small. Nothing like the living room of my host parents. They had a small box TV across the room from the old beaten up brown couch. On the left side of the room also sat in an armchair with that kid, Sodapop, who was still sleeping in it. It looked like it had been well used. Other than that there wasn't much else. The walls had a couple of picture frames hanging on them, but it wasn't anything flashy.
"So, you were keepin' an eye on Dally?" Darry asked me. I almost felt like I was under interrogation.
I nodded before hitting Dally's legs to make him move and took a seat on the couch in their place. Dally glared at me, but didn't say anything.
"Well, we ain't no homeless shelter, so get on your way." Darry tried to wave me off.
"Oh, cut it out Darrel! She ain't causin' no harm! She carried me here and even watched over me while I slept. She digs okay."
Darry stared at Dally in slight shock for a moment, but quickly hid it with an angry face. He just glared at me.
"So he wouldnae die." I added, hoping it was smooth things over.
"Alright. Well then, I gotta get to work. You two be outta here by the time I get back. Maybe she can keep ya out of trouble around town, Winston." Darry said as he left the house.
I raised my eyebrows and looked over at Dally confused, "he gave up after that? Mah host parents would have sooner thrown a stranger out." I told him. It was the truth after all. They were very welcoming to us, but I doubt they would be the same to these boys that I hoped were becoming my friends.
"Yeah, Darry is like that." Dally shrugged while lighting a cigarette he got from his pocket. "He's a nice guy. He's just been a bit on edge lately." His voice had a sense of finality to it so I didn't bother asking why. I figured that it must not be my place to ask, or his place to say. We sat there a moment just staring at each other. I took in his face. He had a nice set of blue eyes and an elfish kind of face, but it wasn't weird, it was handsome. I could tell he was a good soul, even if he seemed to act like a dick.
"So, wit's yer problem? Ye got a stick up yet arse?" I asked. I figure it would provoke him or something to enhance the desired effect, I poked his leg over and over again to make it even more annoying.
"Nah. I'm just tuffer than these boys 'round here." He said shrugging his strong shoulders. "I ain't one of those pansy types."
"Tougher? Than these guys? They're pansies?" I asked as Two-Bit walked through the front door, "Naw. Two-Bit's tougher than ye by fae. Ain't ye Two-Bit?" Two-Bit froze solid and looked over at Dally. Dally was glaring at him really hard and I just smiled a mischievous smile, knowing I probably started something a little dangerous. Turning to Dally, I batted my eyelashes and widened my eyes. "Did Ah say something wrong?" I asked innocently.
Dally looked at me and the anger left his features, leaving something softer almost... worried. I could tell this boy was gonna be easy to mess with, due to fragile masculinity that Americans seem to hold at a high power, and I knew I was gonna have fun doing it. I wondered where Vikki was when I did not see her knocked out in the living room like the rest of us. I really hoped that she did not take the walk home.
A door creaked open, somewhere in the house, which we nearly had to strain our ears to hear, had answered my question. Vikki came tip-toeing out of the dark hallway and her face fell into relief when we locked eyes. I was glad that she was safe, but I also knew that if it came down to it, my older sister could handle herself.
"Vikki? Wit are ye daein' 'ere?" I asked.
"Who's the broad?" Dally whispered to me and I batted at his arm, telling him to go away. The expression on Two-Bit's face showed that he was nervous for me because of the way I was handling Dally.
"Vikki! I didn't know youse was here." Two-Bit greeted with his wide and silly smile. "When did ya turn in? I was lookin' for youse last night after the fuzz busted the party."
"Soda said Ah could stake oot 'ere." Vikki said. "Ah dinnae ken if ye were awake yet."
Vikki was wearing the exact same outfit from last night, except it was a little more wrinkly. She was probably looking forward to some clean clothes and a warm shower. I'm sure she is in a rush to get home because of that fact. Vikki would never shower at a house full of boys, just a door's thickness away.
"Were ye just aff tae lea me?" I puffed.
"Aye, that wis th' plan." Vikki laughed.
"Oh, I saw you in the parking lot earlier, that's how I know you." Dally shaking his finger at Vikki. I glanced at him, rolling my eyes. It honestly took him that long to remember her. It appears he isn't the brightest of the bunch, even if he is the tuffest.
Vikki stopped, to process the idiotic thing Dally let come out of his mouth and she polietly nodded and said, "Aye, Ah was there. We talked some."
"Where wur ye aff tae gang?" I asked.
"Oot tae breakfast. A'm, starving." Vikki responded.
Soda groaned and rolled around softly on the recliner. A blanket tucked around him tight and his elbow hanging over his eyes.
"Oh jobby, are we talking tae loud?" Vikki asked, worried that she might wake up Sodapop. I could tell she liked him. I knew she would after meeting him. He is definitely her type. All cliche and handsome and shit.
"Nah, man, but let's wake him up anyway." Dally said, propping himself up on his elbow and shouting through a cupped hand, "Soda! Sooooooodaaaa!", and Two-Bit joined him.
Soda's face scrunched and he groaned again in grief. Vikki and I tried not to make a sound, and let him get only mad at Dally. "Wakey wakey, pretty little dumb dumb!"
"Dally, just wait for me to get up and I will go over there and beat your ass." Soda said groggily, smacking his lips and rubbing his closed eyes like a child. He stretched his arms up over his head and the blanket slipped a bit to show his naked chest. I could see Vikki's face tinting a little red at the image before her and I let out a little giggle.
"Try me, bitch." Dally challenged.
I started laughing and only laughed harder when I noticed the pile of clothes on the floor by the chair. I recognized them as the ones that Soda wore the night before and I could already tell what was about to happen. It almost happened in slow motion: Soda ripped the blanket off and jumped off the chair, letting the blanket fall to the floor while I screamed, "keep edgy!"
But it was too late, Soda had already jumped and tackled Dally off the couch and rolled around on the ground. In his mind, he thought it was wrestling. In Dally's mind, he thought it was terrorizing. I could see the look of utter disgust on his face.
"Get off of me!" Dally shouted, trying to pry Soda off of him. "I am not fucking into this!" The whole scene was almost as if it was a page from a book or a scene from a comedy movie. A scottish comedy movie that is, as far as I've seen Americans don't make nude jokes.
This was the exact moment, Soda realized what was wrong. His clothes were still in a pile from the night before. He must have felt a breeze that he wasn't used to. Maybe he was used to the breeze in that area, I don't know what he does in his free time... and if it was this, I kinda hoped never to find out.
"In the name of the wee man!" I yelled.
I looked at Vikki, who had her jaw to the floor, and her hand covering the gap as she tried not to laugh at Dally's expense. Then she looked at me and both our resolves broke. I am sure people on the other side of town could hear us laughing like a drain. We laughed so hard that my chest ached and my lungs screamed for air. At one point my laughter went silent because I ran out of air.
"Keekin' good, Soda." Vikki laughed through the hard the continued to cover her mouth, "should we leave the alone?"
"Come on, Soda! There're ladies in the house! Come on, girls, you don't need to see this." Two joked, comically trying to block our view of Soda and Dally. He stepped closer to me and looked at me with a cheeky smile.
Soda jumped up so fast and quickly grabbed the blanket to cover his hips down. He looked around the room, and noticed that me and Vikki were in the room, witnessing his nakedness and everything that had happened.
Dally, still on the ground, nearly frozen in fear, pointed at me and Vikki and said, "you broads oughta not say a fucking word or I will deny and cut you."
Soda seemed to have the same thought, but was frozen in embarrassment. Not going to lie, that was not the first time I have seen a naked man attack an unsuspecting man in daylight. And I don't think that it will be the last.
"Ye'r gey confident, Ah must say that." Vikki said in between her spurts of laughter.
"But you shouldn't be." I added, like I would to my brothers when they used to try and show off. It kept their egos at bay.
"Cookie!" Vikki shouted, smacking my arm.
"Quit yer whining, it was a joke. Soda, ye hae a gey crakin' bahookie." I said with subtle hand motions and Vikki found it hilarious, nearly falling on the floor out of laughter.
"What's a bahookie?" Soda asked, probably afraid of the answer.
Vikki pointed to her butt, because she was laughing too hard to talk, and Soda's face flushed. I could tell that he wasn't expecting us to have this kind of reaction.
"Hey!" Dally shouted to get my attention, "what about my bahookie?"
"Gimme a reason tae see it." I said in a jokingly, flirty way while still being completely serious. I definitely would not mind seeing this boy's ass anyday.
Soda discreetly tried to put on his clothes back on from the night before, but after trying to hide a couple sniffs he ended up balling it up in his hands and walking toward the hallway. He got to where Vikki was standing, and flashed her a movie-star worthy smile which made her blush and step out of the way. She looked at me and mouthed "wow", and tucked some of her tangled bed head behind her ear. I rolled my eyes at her antics and she glanced back at the hallway, watching him disappear into his room. Did she not just see him sniff his clothes and figure that they were too dirty to wear again because of the smell? Is that what all lads do? How bad did his clothes smell?
Shaking my head at my sister's odd choices, I felt Dally's day old liquor breath on my neck. "Your hair really this red? Or is it dyed? How can I find out if it's really this red?" He joked in my ear.
I turned to whisper in his ear. "Trust me. It's red. Checking will cost you at least six dates." I laughed and at nipped his ear lobe before standing and leaning against the wall next to my sister. I was the queen of flirting and looking innocent afterwards. It's a gift. Even Vikki asks for my advice. Taking a ciggy out of my pocket, I lit it and put it between my lips taking a puff. Vikki faked coughed and took a few steps to the side, which earned her a, "dinnae be sae stuck up" from me, which earned me an eye roll.
Dally sat on the couch looking at me in slight shock. He had probably never met a girl who would be such a tease to him and leave like I just did.
"Wit did ye do tae 'im?" Vikki asked, watching Dally's face go all confused.
"Nothing." I said innocently while batting my eyelashes. Acted like I couldn't hurt a fly, but Vikki knew better. She knew that I was probably gonna have Dallas kissing the floor I walked on by the time we leave and head back to Scotland. I smirked at Vikki as Dally shook his head. Rebuilding his composure.
"A'm off tae get breakfast. Ony requests?" Vikki asked, finding her shoes and sliding them back onto her day old outfit. I thought for a moment and looked over at Dally. He shook his head and I turned back to her, making a thinking face to buy me more time.
"Aye." I answered, "Ah want some scan. Onything fried will do. I'll pay ye when ye come back wi' the scan. And bring back some clubs." Clubs is a Scottish brand of cigarettes, my favorite. I haven't been able to find any here in America yet, and I am down to my last couple boxes that I brought from home.
"Ah dinnae ken why ye smoke those bloody things." She told me with a disgusted face.
"Calms meh down." I told her. We've had this conversation before. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the door handle.
"A'richt. Cheers for letting us use yer bit. See ye later." She said to Dally, shutting the door behind her softly. I could tell she wanted to get out of here.
"Ain't my house!" Dally shouted to her through the closed door. The walls were quite thin so she must have heard him, but didn't acknowledge it. I shook my head at my sister. She was a weird one. Or maybe I was. I didn't know which it was, but one of us was definitely weird. It runs in twos in our family. At least that's what father said. The first was always weirder than the next. If only I could introduce these guys to my older brother Hamish. Now that guy is weird. Even weirder than Two-Bit.
"How long are you in town for?" Dally asked, leaning back and stretching his arms across the back of the sofa with a lazy smile and a ciggy hanging from his lips. He looked very attractive like that..
"'Til June." I said, taking another drag of my ciggy. I moved and leaned back on the couch, using his head as a pillow. Dally paused for a second before slightly shrugging and allowing me to rest there.
"I can't imagine being away from all my boys for nine months." Dally said. "Especially Johnny."
"Who's Johnny?" I asked, letting the thin smoke escape my lips and curl up towards the ceiling.
"Johnny's my boy." Dally said, with a slight happy smile.
"Yer bairn?" I asked, wondering if maybe we might have something in common.
"I guess." He said.
I looked at him confused for a minute. He had a bairn with someone? He looked no older than me. Was the mother still around? Was he with her?
"Who's th' maw?" I asked, trying to get answers to the many questions rolling in my head.
"I don't know her name." Dally chuckled.
"Dae Ah ken her?" I hoped not. I liked Dally too much to pretend that I wouldn't fight her for him if I knew her.
"Ken?"
"Have I met her?" I explained.
"Probably not. She is usually drunk or high off her fucking ass. If you see Johnny's dad, then you know she's probably on the other side of town." He answered.
"His da?"
"Yeah, that's what I just fucking said."
"Ah thought ye wur his dad."
"Me? Fuck no. I ain't got no kid. That I know of anyway." He said, "No, Johnny is a good kid. He looks up to me, I aint got no fucking clue why. But he does, so I've been tryin' to steer him clear away from all that I do. It ain't a good place for a kid like him to follow in my footsteps."
"Dae ye ken ye would have been a good barra if ye did the right things?" I asked, pondering how everything I have done in life and was brought up with has lead me to this moment. I had done some that was right and much that was wrong, but I like to think that I am a good person. Sure, I can be a bit rough around the edges but I do my best to take care of people.
Dally chewed on the thought for a solid thirty seconds, probably imagining what his life would be like if he did the right things. If he was a good person or not. His answer: "nope".
"Why not?"
"I wouldn't trade it. It toughed me up. I don't want Johnny to get tough. Don't tell anyone I said this, but he just aint a tough kid. He would snap and break under the pressure. He just aint it."
"Oh." I said. It made me curious about what I did to have Dally open up to me like this. It seemed to me that he was a pretty closed off person. Maybe it's because he wants to be seen as tough so he acts differently. Maybe me kicking his ass at Coins made him think that I already see him as weak and that ain't gonna change so he has decided not to act all tough. I don't see him as weak though. Caring for people is the strongest thing a person can do, it means they aren't afraid of getting hurt when it all goes south.
The familiar creek of the door filled the silence and Soda walked out of the hallway, rubbing the back of his neck. First, he froze looking at me leaning back on Dally's shoulder. A small smirk made it onto his lips, but not long enough for Dally to notice before it was gone. "Where's Vikki?" He asked as he scanned the nearly empty room.
"Left, to get breakfast." Dally answered.
"Oh. Alone?" He asked worriedly, heading to the door. "Where did she go?"
"The Dingo's is open, but so is Savoy." Dally said, "she didn't say where she was going."
"Okay, man, thanks." Soda said, slightly sarcastically, grabbing his keys and headed out the front door. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was going to go off to find her. He was probably worried that she was going to be walking around by herself in the east side of town looking like a Soc. I knew my sister could handle her own though, she was always having square goes at Hamish and winning, even when he actually tried to win. She may be little, but she muscles of steel. I would bet big bucks that she could win any fight against any of these bozos. Perks of growing up with rowdy brothers.
"That was pure weird." I said as I heard a truck start up nearby and peel out of the neighborhood. He wasn't wasting much time trying to find her.
"He's always weird. I'm just glad he didn't offer to make us breakfast." Dally said with a relaxed look.
"How come? Is he an ill cook?" I questioned.
"He's okay." Dally shrugged.
"He seems to be graftin' mae sis. Should Ah be worried for her? Ah dinnae ken him that well." I said with my eyes narrowed. I just don't want what happened to me to happen to her. Vikki's sweet and innocent, I don't want that to change. Like Dally doesn't want Johnny to change. We're kinda the same I guess.
"Soda's a good guy." Dally said. "He's just going with this girl he has been going on and off with for about a year now. Last I hear, they were on again, but they could be off. I don't pay attention to his soap opera life anymore."
"How come dae they keep breaking up?" I said curiously, tilting my head to the side.
"Beats me." Dally shrugged. "Once was because she got bored of him, another was because he got boozed up and she caught him flirting with another girl, that's one reason why he ain't allowed to have fun and drink no more. Another time she poked fun of his cooking which he took quite offensive, and another was because he tried to grow out a bread which she stated was "repulsive". I know last time it was because she cheated on him, but he forgave her a couple days later. I think she's cheated on him three times now. But Soda? He's a real good kid, I can promise you that. But he's like a puppy-dog, ya know? Following wherever she goes, no matter how many times she beats him. It's hard to watch. No one in the gang has takin' a likin' to her."
I am not one to judge others, but Soda's current girl seemed very controlling and manipulative. No one deserves that.
"That's kinda rude." I said, "she must be one doolally boot." I figured I wouldn't like this girl if I ever met her. Hell, I'd probably try to have a square go at her in the street for being such a funt.
"Look, Cook, you're on exchange to learn and live our culture, right? Let's start by you actually learnin' the fucking language so I can understand ya," he told me with a smirk.
"A've only bin 'ere a week, ye bahookie." I said, flipping him the bird. "A'm aff tae need time, but if ye want ye can teach me. Ah swear to be a good wee student for ye." I told him batting my eyelashes flirtatiously.
He cleared his throat before opening his mouth, "I would never say this to his face, but Ponyboy is actually kinda smart and I bet he will tutor ya." Dally said.
"How come ye wouldn't say that tae his face?" I asked, letting him brush off my flirtation. Lads can be bampots.
"He don't need an ego boost." Dally said. I laughed, shaking my head at him.
Dally looked at me with a funny look on his face. I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a joke, but I didn't care. The rest of the boys kinda seem like they are afraid of him, like when Two-Bit wouldn't talk back or when I was informed about his multiple visits to prison, but I wasn't afraid. I wanted to find out what made this handsome lad in front of me tick. I wanted to know him. More than I wanted to know any of the rest of the lads.
"You are definitely an odd one, Cookie Jamison." Dally told me.
"Maybe. Or maybe Ahm the sain one and yer weird."
"Sure," he chuckled under his breath, but he looked down and his smile was gone. I didn't see it again for the rest of the day.