Chapter 4

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I glanced back at Steve, who was bent over a car, looking at the engine. His muscles flexed as he twisted something into place. I watched his moves carefully, noticing that his eyes flicked to the ground (near my feet) every so often, then he'd smile to himself and keep working.

When I realized he could see me starring (from the corner of his eye) when he did that, I moved my head to face the opposite direction of him. I clenched my jaw in embarrassment.

"Hey, Arabella?" Soda called.

"Yeah?" I said, without looking at him.

"Will you run inside and grab me a Coke? Get one for Steve too if you would, babe." He said.

"Okay." I stood, not making eye contact with Steve on my way inside. I smiled to the boy behind the register who I never bothered to remember his name.

"How are you?" I asked.

His hazel eyes widened at me talking to him.

"G-good, you?" He said, nervously. I reached into the small cooler and grabbed two Coke's.

"Good, thanks." I said. I walked out of the gas station and handed both the Coke's to Steve, not looking at him. I sat back down and didn't look back at Steve and Soda until three hours later, when we left.

I walked beside Soda, steering clear of Steve, who was on the other side of Soda. Soda walked ahead of us.

"I'm going to pick up Ponyboy from school, catch ya'll later." He called back to us. I shifted awkwardly toward Steve and kept my eyes ahead of me.

"Why are you doing that?" Steve asked. I glanced up at him starring at me then looked away.

"Doing what?" I asked.

"Ignoring me. You haven't looked me in the eye sense we left the pharmacy. What's wrong?"


"Nothing's wrong." I lied. I couldn't tell him that I'm starting to have feelings for him. It would destroy our relationship.


"Then look at me." Steve begged. I hesitated, but looked at him straight in the eyes.


"Happy?" I asked. He bit his bottom lip and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer

.
"Yes." He whispered. I grinned as my heart skipped a beat. I looked away to keep him from seeing my blush. I guess I could do worse.

~

"Arie! Arabella, baby, wake up!" I jerked up and grabbed the arms of the person that was shaking me. It was Steve. I forgot he was crashing here for a while.


"You were having a nightmare." He said. I looked in his eyes. I never have nightmares. Ever.


"I don't even remember it." I admitted. Steve gave me a reassuring smile.


"Well, whatever it was, it was just a nightmare. It wasn't real." I nodded. "Goodnight." He kissed my forehead and turned to walk out of the room.


"Steve, wait!" I called out. He stopped, his hand on the door.


"Yeah?" He asked.


"This may be awkward, but will you stay with me? You know, until I fall asleep." I explained.


"Sure." He nodded. He shut the door and crawled under the covers, beside me. His arm wrapped around me and held me firmly as I drifted off into sleep.

~

"Arie? Arabella, we need to-" Soda's voice cut off and I sat up to see why. He starred at me with wide eyes while he stood at the door.


"What is it?" I asked, still groggy from sleep. Soda fast-walked to the opposite side of the bed that I lied on and jerked Steve, who had not woken up, out of the bed by the collar of his shirt. I tried to put the pieces together, then it all came back to me.


I jumped out of bed and ran to Soda's side as he pushed Steve against the wall.


"Soda, it's not what it looks like!" I shouted. Soda punched Steve across the face. Hard.
I tried to put myself between them.


"How could you do that? And to my kid sister?!" Soda yelled at Steve. He punched him again.
I slipped in between them.


"Soda, nothing happened, I swear! I had a nightmare last night and he stayed with me." I told him.
Soda brought his fist back, again.


"Soda! Stop." I demanded. He looked from me to Steve, then released Steve's shirt collar.


"Sorry, man." Soda shifted around, awkwardly. "It looked. . . You know."


"Don't sweat it." Steve grinned. "If I had a kid sister and I walked in on you and her like that, I would have done the same."


"I'll just, uh. . ." Soda scratched the back of his neck. "Go outside. I'll see you at work." Soda walked out of the room. I looked at Steve.


"I'm so sorry about that." I told him, reaching into one of my drawers for a towel. I took out a white towel and rubbed the blood off his cheek. She gave me a small smile.


"It's okay." He said. I pressed the towel to his mouth. Then, I cupped the towel around his hand and pushed his hand into his mouth.


"Hold that there while I go get ready." I told him. I walked away with a smile on my face because I could feel Steve's eyes on me. Yeah, I could do way worse.

~

"Steve, why don't you take the car out for a test drive while I go help this customer?" Sodapop asked, tossing a key to Steve, who caught it with one hand.


"Sure." Steve said. He turned to me. "Wanna come?" I smiled and nodded. Climbing into the car and getting buckled up was as esay as breathing. Trying to keep calm while Steve drove was a completely different story as soon as he went off-road. He was slinging mud everywhere and, lucky me, I accendentely left my window open. Yep. I looked like a monster.

When the car started swerving, I looked to my side to see Soda unbuckling his seatbelt and steering with his knees. I laughed, unbuckled and lifted my hands in the air, letting a scream of excitment slip out of my mouth as Steve turned a corner. The excitment soon ended.

Suddenly, I saw a tree get closer and closer to the front of the car until I heard glass shatter, a pain in my head, and blackness overcame me.

(Steve's Point Of View)

I looked to my side, expecting to see Chloe by my side. But, when I saw an empty seat, I paniced.

"Arabella?" No answer. "Arabella?! Ara-" I stopped when I saw her body lying on the hood of the car. She was on her back and I could see blood pouring out of different parts of her body.

Shoot.

She didn't see me put back on my seatbelt.

So she kept hers off.

I unbuckled and climbed out of the car, falling to my knees, at first, then regaining my balance and running to the side of the car. Blood gushed out of the marks on Arabella's beautiful face, but it only got worse as I looked all the way down her small figure. Her left leg was crushed between the tree and the car. How that happened, I have no idea.

"No, no no no..." I pushed her hair away from her face to look at how pretty she was. How could I let this happen to her?

"Help!" I yelled as loud as I could. "Someone, please help!"

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Soooooo, Here's my update :) I know, I know. It's really short and it kind of jumped around a lot (I didn't like it either). Don't worry! The chapters will be longer and they won't skip around to much in the future chapters.

Well, what did y'all think about the whole Steve point of view thing? Did you like it? Do you want me to do more point of views? Let me know in the comments! :)

Next chapter coming soon! :)

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