Soon enough it was New Year's Eve. Soon it would be 1878, and we were all going out to celebrate. We were all dressed in our best, and John had bought me a brand-new dress. It was long, royal blue, and flowed beautifully, and it had a pattern of jewels over the top. (see media) I loved it.
While we were waiting for John and Billy, Chavez entertained us all by artfully throwing knives at a suspended wooden bucket of water. Then out of nowhere, we heard gunshots, and Chavez' bucket was shot multiple times. We all went for cover, and I looked cautiously to see where it came from.
"Billy!" That idiot was sitting on the roof, laughing his head off. "Don't look all proud of yourself, that wasn't funny!" All the others came out, looking, like me, both relieved and annoyed.
"Yeah, it was," Billy managed. "You should've seen the looks on your faces."
I rolled my eyes, but found the kid's laughter contagious.
"Regulators!" I jumped, and Billy stopped laughing. John could look pretty damn mad when he wanted to, and I guess right then he wanted to. Then he smiled. "Let's dance."
The party we went to was a huge outdoor event right in the middle of town. There was drinks, snacks, a roast pig, a bonfire, a band, space to dance, and a LOT of people, almost the whole town. As soon as we got there, everyone did exactly what you would expect them to do. Billy instantly found himself a pretty girl to dance with. Charlie, Steve, and McCloskey went straight for the drinks, Doc seemed to disappear, and Dick melted into the crowd near the food. I stayed near John, slightly intimidated by the sheer amount of people around me. Before long, John's lawyer and close friend, Alex McSween, and his wife Susan came over to talk to him.
"Hi, Honeybee," Susan greeted me, and I smiled at the nickname she had given me nearly 4 years previously.
"Hi, Susan," I replied. "Hello, Alex."
Alex said hello back, then turned to John, who said something about the Santa Fe Ring, which immediately made me want to puke out of sheer NOPE. The thought of the Ring terrifies me. I slipped away to find Doc, who had been searching for someone to dance with.
"Hola, hermano."
"Buenas noches, Bumblebee. Enjoying yourself?" he asked.
"Kind of. There's a lot of people here, it's slightly intimidating," I answered truthfully.
"Well, you can stick by me if you want," he reassured me.
I looked up at him gratefully. "Thanks, Doc."
After a few minutes, a boy walked up to us. "Hi there," he said to me. "My name's Jacob."
"How can I help you?" Doc asked him.
"Well, if you were in acquaintance of the young miss, I wondered if I could interest her in a dance."
I looked over at Doc. "Can I?"
"Of course," he replied with a good-natured smile.
"Thank you, sir," Jacob said respectfully. He took my hand and pulled me toward the dance space. The band was playing a lovely slow song, and I found myself grateful that Doc had learned how to dance from our mother when he was younger, and passed the skill on to me.
"What's your name?" Jacob asked me.
"Phoebe," I answered quietly, shy.
"That's beautiful."
"But everyone calls me Bumblebee," I added, drawing a laugh. It was a nice laugh, soft and real.
"Well, allow me to say you look dazzling, Phoebe." His every syllable flirted. (A/N I'm sorry I know I stole that from TFIOS but that is one of my favorite lines from that chapter.)
"Thank you, Jacob." As we passed by the fire, the light threw his brown curls and freckled face 6 inches above mine into relief. He was pretty good-looking, if I'm honest.
I looked around as we danced, and saw Doc dancing as well, with a pretty Celestial girl I saw standing near Murphy previously that night. She was wearing a traditional Chinese dress, and pale makeup.
"You're a friend of Doc's?" Jacob asked, pulling me back to us.
"He's my brother. How do you know him?"
I've seen him around town with Mr. Tunstall. I've seen you around, too. Are you a Regulator, as well?"
"Yes, and proud of it," I told him. And it was true. At that moment, we passed Billy, who was dancing like a loon with a girl. Not far away, Steve said to Charlie and Jay, "He ain't all there, is he?" Charlie shook his head and took another drink from his cup. "Maybe not, but he's over there dancing with a pretty girl while we're over here pulling our tallywaggers," he said. At 11 years old, I had no clue what that meant. Still don't.
Too soon, Jacob had to go with his father, with a promise to find me as soon as he could. I later found that Doc's dance partner was not willingly with Murphy. She was house entertainment, taken as payment when her mother, who ran a laundry service, accidentally ruined one of Murphy's shirts. Doc told me later that she seemed frightened of nearly everything, and her name was Yen Soon. It was so beautiful, I loved it.
About half an hour later, I saw one of Murphy's men walk up to John, who had his head down, and push him. "Hey, watch it!"
"I'm awfully sorry," John apologized, always the gentleman, even though he knew it wasn't his fault. Charlie, however, stepped in front of the man defensively.
"Come on, you and me," the man said.
No," Charlie said. "You and I. Isn't that right, John? You and I?" John agreed that yes, Charlie was right. Charlie took off his jacket and handed it off to John. Let's just say Murphy's goon didn't stand a chance. I heard Billy mutter "Pugilist," to himself.
At the end of the night, Jacob and I were dancing together again. It was after the guns had gone off, and it was officially the New Year. Around 2:30 in the morning, there came a yell. "Regulators!"
I groaned. "That's me."
"Don't go!" Jacob whined, only half joking.
"I have a little gift for you, though," I told him.
"Oh, really?" he replied.
"Close your eyes," I told him. He did, and I kissed him and ran away.
"Hey wait!"
I paused and half turned, teasing. "Yes?"
"I have to return the favor!" And he did. I walked back to where the others were.
"Why is your face so red, adeezhí?" Chavez asked. That was an old nickname he had for me, the Navajo word for "little sister".
"It's not, ánaaí" I replied defensively, using the word for "big brother".
"Actually, it is," Charlie teased.
"Nobody asked you, Bowdre!" I exclaimed, embarrassed, hiding my face.
Ugh, you guys must hate me. It's been, like, 23456549003855 years since I last updated, but here's the next chapter. I'm going to start a new thing in which anyone who leaves a review will be mentioned. See you peoples next time!
Thank you to everyone who reads this!!!! I love you all.
XOXO, Emma
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Young Guns: The 7th Regulator
FanfictionThe original Young Guns 1988 movie, with a twist. Doc Scurlock has a sister named Phoebe, aka Bumblebee.
