Cut My Lip

Sixteen

On Saturday evening, we all went out to a bar and met some of Annie and Dally's cousins. "Are these the German or the French ones?" Soda asked her.

"Honestly, at this point we don't know. We never speak either when it's just us, it's only around their parents and our grandparents."

"Why?"

She shrugged, and I could tell she didn't want to answer. Dally introduced us to their cousins. I wasn't sure I liked them- they were loud and rude.

Dally seemed to fit right in with them, however, as did Soda, Steve, and Two-Bit. Me, Annie, Pony, and Johnny all stayed together at a table in the corner.

"I ain't too fond of any of 'em. I told him this was a bad idea..." she sighed, casting a weary glance over at them. "You think we got a bad rep, we ain't done anything half as bad as them. They're in gangs because they want to be, they kill people 'cause they think it's fun, they steal for the hell of it, they jump kids when they're bored. It's all dads side. I hate all of 'em."

"They're very... loud." Pony said, trying to be polite.

"No, no, you can say how you really feel. I probably agree with you."

"They're obnoxious and rude and could stand to learn some manners." He blurted out, and she nodded.

"Yup."

I held her hand, and she smiled tiredly at me.

"Dally and them get along good." Johnny commented, and Annie nodded.

"Only 'cause he's had a few drinks. We should probably start getting them home. It's almost midnight."

"What, are you Cinderella?" I joked, and she sighed.

"I wish."

Annie seems to be doing a lot of that lately, I thought as we started walking to her grandmothers house. Why is she always so down?

I decided to ask her about it after my brothers fell asleep.

.

It was almost two before Pony and Soda were fully asleep on the floor. They'd let me and Annie take the bed, and they made a bed on the floor with blankets.

Annie was curled up into my side. That struck me funny, too- how she slept. She always curled up tight and didn't move- almost like she was scared to. Sometimes she would wake up crying. When I asked Dally about it, he said it was because of what happened in prison.

When I asked him what happened, his eyes got real dark and he didn't answer.

The rest of that day, I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I thought I knew what had happened to her, but I prayed I wasn't right.

I was going to ask her why she'd been so quiet lately, but she seemed to be sleeping peacefully and I didn't want to wake her up. So I just kissed her forehead and went to sleep myself.

.

We'd been home for about a week now. Everything was fine until I got home one day to see Soda hugging Annie, who was crying into his shoulder.

"Woah, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Dally is gone and my grandma died!" She sobbed, pulling away from Soda.

"Aw, I'm sorry, doll," I frowned. "And I'm sure Dally is somewhere around here. We just saw him yesterday."

Soda gave me a look, like he knew something that she hadn't told me yet. She snatched a piece of paper up off the end table and handed it to me.

Heya, Annabelle. Did you miss us? Your brother sure did. We'll be seeing you soon. - V

"Who's V?" I asked.

"Vincent. Me and Dally were part of his gang when we first got outta prison 'cause we didn't have anywhere else to go. But when his best friend died trying to save us from gettin' shot, he lost his freakin' mind. Said that it was all our fault. That was when we got outta New York. He told us, before we left, that if we ever showed our faces in NYC again he'd..."

Annie's face got even more pale than it usually was, which I didn't think was possible.

"Oh, god, he's gonna kill Dally!" She sobbed.

"Annie, you can't know that," Soda said, but he didn't sound convinced, then he sighed. "Alright, fine. Is he in New York, or do you think he'd stay here?"

"... probably here. He'd want to confuse me."

Steve walked in with Two-Bit. "Hey, guys and gal, what's goin' on?" Two-Bit asked.

"Dally got kidnapped by a gang that they used to be in and now we're goin' on a rescue mission." Soda said.

"No way, this is a 'me' thing, not a 'we' thing." She protested.

"Umm, this is absolutely a 'we' thing." I argued.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes, and that's final."

Annie seemed to get tired of arguing with me. "Fine. Just... get in my damn car. Steve, break into Dally's car, steal his heater."

"Shit, Annie, this is that serious?" Two-Bit asked.

She nodded, taking Dally's switchblade off the end table where he'd left it and pocketing it. "Come on."

sksksks I have so many unpublished chapters iM SORRY