Trade Mistakes

21

"So... you're dating Mark Jennings?" Darry asked.

"Yes." I replied. "And if you're gonna get mad at anyone, get mad at Soda, he told Dally and Two to let me go on the date,"

"Ooh, she called you out." Steve elbowed Soda, who narrowed his eyes at me. He made the 'I'm watching you' gesture before he and Steve left.

"Okay. That's fine." Darry said simply, and me, Pony, and Johnny just stared at him.

"Wh- what?" I asked.

"What?"

"You're not gonna say somethin' like, 'what the hell, Elizabeth, this is a terrible idea, break up with him' or somethin' like that?" Johnny asked suspiciously.

"No. I don't care that they're dating- well, obviously I care- but Lizzie is smart enough not to do anything stupid with him. And if he does something to her, then I'll kick his ass."

The three of us exchanged glances. "Wow, that was not the answer I was expecting but it was definitely the one I was hoping for."

"I can always ban you from dating him..." Darry offered.

"Nope! No thanks!" I assured him.

.

That night, I was walking with Johnny and Pony to the arcade. They were going to play some games, and I was going to meet up with Mark.

He was waiting outside, smoking a cigarette.

"See ya later," I said to Pony and Johnny as they went inside.

"Hey, baby," Mark kissed me and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me close to him.

"Hey," I leaned into his touch. "So, how was your last day?"

"It was good. Can you believe Angela Shepard made a play for me?" He asked, putting his cigarette out. "And she knew I'm datin' you, too. I never liked her, even when she and Bryon were datin'."

"She did? I thought she married one of her brother's redneck friends."

He exhaled loudly, raising his eyebrows slightly. "She did."

"Mm. Go figure."

"Whatever, enough about my day. How was yours?"

"Pretty good, actually. I have my classes for next year worked out, and my brother is home now."

Mark smiled. "Oh, he is? That's great!"

"Yeah. We're all glad he's home. He went out with some of his buddies to celebrate. He'll probably end up drunk."

"You wanna stay with me tonight, then?" He offered, and I frowned slightly.

"I don't know. I really don't like Bryon. I'm not gonna stop you from hanging out with him, of course, but I'd like to minimize my time around him, after what happened..."

Mark's POV

After what happened? What had happened? I could feel her tensing up against me.

"Did he so something to you? Did he hurt you?" I asked.

"No, no, nothing like that," Lizzie rushed to tell me. "Just... you remember that night M&M died? He wouldn't let me get in the car and drove off and then I got jumped. I dunno, it's stupid."

"No, it ain't. I won't make you go around him if it bothers you."

She looked relieved, and she relaxed slightly. "Aw, I thought you were gonna freak out or something,"

"Aw, I could never freak out on you, babe." I kissed her temple and she blushed. "C'mon, let's do something."

"There's a drag race at six on the edge of the north side, I kinda wanna see that go down. Should be a pretty good mix of Soc's and greasers, I don't think there'll be too much fightin'."

"Lizzie? My Lizzie, into drag races? Since when?" I pretended to be shocked, and she elbowed me.

"Oh, shut up." She laughed.

.

We went to the drag race, and we both got fairly tipsy.

"Hey, baby, why don'tcha come with me? I'll show ya a real good time." Some guy slurred, putting an arm around Lizzie's shoulder. He was drunk off his ass.

"She has a boyfriend." I growled, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her towards me. I held her real close to my chest, and she turned to see what the other guy would do.

"You?" He scoffed. "Come on, girl, I'll show you a real man."

I let her go and made myself stand up as straight as I could. "I said she has a boyfriend, so back the hell off."

He grabbed her and kissed her neck and she tried to pull away. "Stop!"

I was seeing red, and my face was hot with anger.

I pulled her away from him again and slammed my fist into his face. "She said 'stop', you dick!"

He tried to hit me, but I kicked him down. I kept punching him, over and over. My knuckles were raw and bleeding and his face was black and blue and red and Lizzie was yelling for me to stop but I didn't. I couldn't.

Someone pulled me off of him, and he was laying still, knocked out. Bryon was holding my arms back and there was a whole crowd.

It was easy to spot Lizzie among all of them, she was easily the palest one there. Her eyes were kind of wide and she looked afraid.

"Let me go, man," I muttered.

"You gonna hit him again?" Bryon asked.

"No, I swear,"

He let me go and I turned and looked at him. When I turned back to ask Lizzie if she was okay, she was gone.