As I pulled myself inside, I noticed the girl on the corner of her bed, looking utterly confused. I was expecting fear and anger in her eyes, but all she was showing was a face full of questions.
"What the- where- who- why- what are you doin' in here!?" She asked, getting up and locking her door. I wondered why she did that, but I didn't ask. "Eh... Well, ya see... Uhm..." I stuttered, looking at my bleeding shoulder. "Oh my lord, you're the guy they're chasin'!? C'mon, don't just stand there!" She said, rushing to fetch something under her bed. I knew she was wearing a dress, so I couldn't help but look. She was so thin, yet kinda curvy. I looked away quickly, knowing this was a bad time and a bad place to be checking girls out.
She pulled out a first aid kit and took out some bandages, then ordered me to take off my vest and my white T-shirt, which wasn't really white anymore. She poured a bit of running alcohol on a piece of cloth then gently disinfected my bullet wound. It hurt quite a bit, but it wasn't as bad as having a bullet graze your skin.
I only then noticed that there was some music playing. I recognised The Rolling Stones' style of music, which made me think out loud: " Satisfaction?... You listen to this?..."
She looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, got a problem with that?"
"N-no, I just... I just never heard a girl listen to this. Especially not a soc." I corrected myself, startled. I said a soc, but she sounded just like a greaser girl!
"Well you do now. And stop moving, this is harder than it looks." She muttered. She looked irritated about something, I didn't know back then.
I stayed still until she was done wrapping the bandage over my wound. I tried not to look at her, but it was hard. I was in her bedroom after all.
I finally glanced at her for a second. She wasn't looking at my chest like any other girls would do. She was concentrated on finishing her job she had started. Then I realised what was happening: I had just got shot at by a soc, but another soc was patching me up. "W-wait... Why the hell are you helping me?" I asked.
The look in her eyes stayed no different. But I knew she was thinking, since she stopped for a second. "Not all "socs" are heartless, gr-... Do you want me to fix you or not?!" She mumbled. I remember how she never said the word "greaser".
"There. Don't do big movements until it's healed, alright?" "Thanks, doc." I said with a chuckle. She snickered and looked down. "I guess I better get goin-" "are ya crazy!? Look outside the window!" Flora said, pointing at the flashing blue and red lights in the streets. "It's fine, I can make it ou-" I tried to say. "No. You might in the east, but you're in the rich kid's street, and there's no way you can make it out at night."
She took one of the two pillows on her bed and a blanket. "You can sleep in the closet, it's big enough for you to fit in. Just be quiet alright?"
I was still startled at what was happening. "Hold on, why-" I again tried to speak. She looked at me with a slightly annoyed look. I quickly closed my mouth, not wanting to tick her off. I swear, I seriously thought she was a greaser that got in this house before me. I opened her closet and was astonished by the amount of disks she had. "Yup, that's a soc alright. Always having more then what they need." I thoughts with a sigh as I sat against a wall and reached in my pocket for a cigarette. I took my lighter and looked up at her. "She's helping me, so I suppose I could offer something back." I thought.
"Hey" I said loud enough for her to hear me. "Care for a weed?"
She looked up, her dark hair covering parts of her face. "I uh..." She said hesitantly. "Uhm..."
"I see." I chuckled. "Let me try that again. Care to TRY a weed?" I said, handing out the box. "Well... I guess it wouldn't hurt to try..." She said with a shrug. "Cmon." I said, patting the place beside me. "Ya know I don't bite."
Flora let out a "Tsk" before getting up to sit beside me. I lit up the end of the cigarette and passed it to her. She still look kinda puzzled, so I took one for myself. "Look, it ain't that hard." I said while taking a deep breath of it before letting out the smoke. She then did the same. I remember that the first time I smoked, I felt so dizzy and choked up, but Flora didn't even flinch. She looked relaxed once the white smoke was all out. "Thanks..." She said. "I needed something like this..."
"Yeah, you kinda looked all tensed up, so I figured you probably wanted some. What's troublin' you?" I asked after taking another breath.
"Oh nothin'. Just everybody else around me are just big dummies." She sighed then crossed her arms, the cigarette in between her index and middle finger. "Ya don't have to tell me twice..." I mumbled, looking at my bandage.
"By the way, I'm Flora. Thought that would be a good thing to know." She said with a tiny grin.
"I'm Taffy. " I answered. "For real?" She asked with a chuckle. "Well... No, but that's what the gang calls me. It's not really tuff, but it's better then being called somethin' like bubblegum."
She laughed a little. I liked her laugh. It wasn't booming like Two-Bit, nor high pitched like the girls at school. It was just nice.
"Yeah. They mostly call me like that because of my hair. " I added. "Again, it's better to be called that than bubblegum to
this matter."
Flora laughed again. God, that was nice to hear. I laughed a little as well. I may not had looked tough in front of her, but I didn't care much. I bet she wouldn't of cared at all if I was like Dallas Winston or even like Johnny Cade.
"Wow, you're really givin' me almost all I ever needed today." Flora said before breathing in her weed. "Well what else did ya need?" I asked her, curious. She took a deep breath of her cigarette before saying quietly "... An arm around me and some good sleep..."
I thought about it for a second. She was cute, and she did help a lot. I saw how her eyes were closing little by little. I took her cigarette and put my arm around her shoulder. "Then sleep. I'll be gone tomorrow morning, so we might as well get even now." I said, kinda flirty. I saw Flora blush, and it was cute. She closed her eyes and quickly drifted to sleep, slowly sliding to the side, her head on my legs. It was weird to have a girl sleeping on me, especially when it was at her house. But I was tired too, so I put the blanket on us and listened to the last tunes of the Rolling Stones before closing my eyes a well.
~~((DISCLAIMER: I do NOT encourage the smokage of cigarettes or any herbal substances for that matter. I'm not even a smoker myself.))~~
