reckless 【 the outsiders 】

twenty-four

They take the pregnant women off the floor at eight and a half months at Leigh's work. She'd been fired from her other job for "withholding the information" but she knew it was just because she was an unmarried pregnant woman and her manager was heavily religious.

Leigh was at nine months finally and she was so ready for the kid to leave her body. She wanted to go back to work and go out with Dallas again and not be thirty pounds heavier. She also wanted to hold her kid and actually see her, feed her, clothe her. They still hadn't asked the doctor for the sex but neither of them needed to know.

They bought some baby stuff: clothes, toys, a little crib, bibs, food, formula (she was scared to breastfeed). They put most of the stuff in Gigi's old empty room (with the exception of the food and milk which was in the kitchen), but Leigh wanted to keep the crib with them.

❁

"Should we paint the room too?" Leigh wondered, sitting the clothes in the closet and the toys in a corner on the floor of the empty room.

"Who's gonna do that?"

"Us! Like they do on TV."

He shook his head and sighed. "What's wrong with this?"

"Come on, white is so boring."

"Then you can add stickers or somethin' to the wall. We can't paint walls."

"We can paint the walls if we give the apartments notice and--"

"Don't matter, we ain't gonna do it anyway."

"Fine," she groaned, "You are so boring." Dal had brought the box with the parts of the crib up to the room as well but Leigh had another idea. "Can we have the crib in our room? Just for the first few months?"

"Why? So it'll be that much easier for it to wake us up?"

"So if she starts cryin', it'll be easier to get to her." Hoping she'd change her mind later on, he simply shrugged and moved the box into their room. "Great!"

❁

Their friends also got them some stuff: Two-Bit and Odalis (which Leigh thought was weird because she liked her but didn't know that Odalis felt the same, as they'd only hung out a couple times) both went half on a stroller and a cute Minnie Mouse diaper bag. Dorothy came back to visit and picked out a few outfits as well, she was delighted to know she'd be the godmother. Darry even got them something, one thing he knew they'd need as much of as possible, diapers.

Dallas couldn't wait either, he'd been more excited than he thought he could be about anything involving a kid. He was even showing it differently. He wasn't as passive, around Leigh and his friends at least. Leigh was hoping he'd cry when he saw his baby girl but she knew it was kind of a long shot.

They eloped soon after getting the cheap rings, it was Leigh's spontaneous idea. Odalis got them discounts on much nicer Tiffany wedding bands and they thought it was crazy the way she did that for them.

❁

"So, I'm one of the few people who have been here for a few years so I get special discounts on everything," Odalis explained, walking them over to the wedding bands, "They want us only wearing Tiffany jewelry so we all get discounts but I'm one of the few who has the most. Thirty percent on everything, fifty percent on eight things, and eighty percent off of any purchase once every six months, that's when we get rid of everything old and get in new stuff."

Leigh was listening while Dally looked around, half listening to what she was saying but just waiting for Leigh to pick something out. "That's crazy, eighty percent off? I wanna work here."

"Yeah, I got this tag charm with a K and a gold tag with an O for that dog tag chain Two-Bit's been wearing a lot. Was supposed to be two-fifty, not that bad for two medium gold tags, but it went down to fifty bucks." Odalis noticed a man walk in and smiled at him, motioning that she'd be with him in a moment. "So, um, anyway, I like you and I share a name with him so I figure I may as well help you out. Pick out anything you want from one of these two displays, eighty percent off."

"You're kiddin', right?"

"Nope," she shook her head, a little smile on her face, "any two rings you want, they'll be eighty percent off."

"My god, we owe you big time, Dallas." Leigh pulled Odalis in for a hug and the dark-haired girl chuckled.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not gettin' anything else any time soon."

❁

Leigh noticed that Dallas's friends had all changed a lot in the time she's known them. She didn't think they liked her at first but it was crazy how much you realize people notice you when you're having their friend's baby. One time Johnny and Ponyboy went over while Dally was at work. Leigh figured they'd leave but they actually stayed and they talked to her, played cards with her, which she was doing anyway, made it a fun day for her.

It worked the other way around as well. When Dorothy visited, she actually spent a whole day with both Leigh and Dallas. Got to know new, slightly more responsible Dally. The other Smithie friends she had, V and Bugsy, also got rid of their first impressions of the guy, though it was extremely awkward for all parties involved.

It was crazy how much was changing but they convinced themselves they were ready for it.

edited 12-30-21