Where Do We Stand?( An Outsiders Fanfiction )

22

Disclaimer: I do not own S.E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders” or Taylor Swift’s  “22”. All rights go to them. Enjoy! Xx – K

Chapter 15: Twenty – Two

We're happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time.

It's miserable and magical, oh yeah. 

“Bridget! Bridget, where are you?” I shouted out while pacing threw the living room. This party was going to hell. There was way more people than invited. People were passing out and going absolutely crazy. I was looking for Bridget everywhere. One of her friends was just puking n the floor, and Bridget needed to come handle this.

I finally gave up on trying to find my sister. I hated this party. I could just go over to Buck’s and party with Dally, but it was cold out and I wouldn’t be able to get a ride.
Bridget didn’t let me invite anyone from the gang to this party because of last time. That just made everything more boring. They knew a party was going on because all of them, except for Dally, were over at the Curtis’s. I decided to go round them up and bring them over here. Bridget was nowhere to be found so what’s the harm?

“Hey guys!” I said walking into the house.

“What? The party got boring?” Soda asked.

“No, I wanted to see if y’all wanted to come over to it.”

I could tell all of them look at each other and think about time. Soon enough all of us were out the door. Darry didn’t come because he had work in the morning and he didn’t wanna fall asleep on the job. Understandable, but I wish he would have come. I’m surprised he let Pony come, though.

            When we walked in, the party was still in full force. Two-Bit and Steve headed toward the drinks, Johnny and Pony went to the quietest spot they could find, and Soda stayed with me.

Right when Soda and I were about to start a conversation, some lady ran over to me.

“Are you Bridget’s sister?”

“Yeah, why?”

“She’s a damn mess. Her friend is helping her but she keeps asking for you. She’s in the back bedroom.”

“Okay, thanks.”

            I headed to the back bedroom. Soda was right behind me. We walked in to one of my sister’s friends trying to pick her up off the floor. Bridget was rambling on like a drunk lunatic, but then I realized that, right now, she was a drunk lunatic. Flashbacks of my mom started racing through my head. Bridget was finally off of the floor and waddling towards me.

“Having fun, sissy?” Her breath also brought flashbacks of my mom.

“Bridget, what’s gotten into you?”

“Vodka. Lots and lots of vodka.”

I couldn’t stand drunk people. “You’re acting like mom, Bridget, and you need to cut it out.”

            I turned around real quick after the sudden realization that I couldn’t handle her right now. I needed to find Travis and fast. Right when I turned into his room, he was coming out of it with some girl.

“Travis, do you know that Bridget is totally wasted?”

              Yeah, I’ll go try to help her.” He moved to the side of the doorway to let the girl out. When she walked out, she kept her head down, but I recognized that auburn hair right off the bat. I didn’t say anything to her because I didn’t want to embarrass her, but when I saw Lori on Monday, I would definitely be talking to her.

            Travis walked down the hall to the back room where Bridget was. I was right behind him and Soda was right behind me. Travis slightly moved my sister’s friend to the side and picked up Bridget. He threw her on the bed and sent me to go get water.

            When I was walking to the kitchen, I could hear Bridget talking and Travis trying to calm her down. I had never seen Bridget like this.

            I was filling a cup with water when I heard the door swing open. The crash of the door and the wall made me jump and drop the cup. I looked at the door and it was some biker guy that looked ready to jump on someone. Soda tensed up, like everyone else in the room. He saw me and immediately headed towards me.

“Are you Scarlett?"

I glanced at a still tensed up Soda, then back to the guy, “Yes. Do you need something?”

“Yeah, I’m Mark. Where’s Bridget.”

“I’ll take you to her. Soda, will you get me a glass of water?”

            Soda nodded and I started leading Mark down the hall. Bridget was still rambling on about her job to Travis. Mark looked at her and sighed. He introduced himself to Travis and asked if he could be alone with Bridget. Travis exited and closed the door.

“Where’s dad?” I asked Travis.

“Night shift.”

Soda was heading down the hall with a beer in one hand and some water in the other. Travis took the water and took it to Bridget.

“I thought you didn’t drink, Soda?”

“Oh, this is for you. Thought you might need it…”

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

“Wanna go talk somewhere?”

My eyes turned from Soda to the closed door, then back to Soda. “Yeah, sure.”

            We sat outside on the porch. At first we were talking about work and school and then branched off into other things.

“So, where’s your boyfriend?”

“He’s at Buck’s.”

“Probably bangin’ some broad..” Soda mumbled.

“What was that?”

“C’mon, it’s Dally.”

“So? We really like each other, Soda.”

“Yeah, well… just don’t get your hopes up.”

“I know…”

“Wanna go back inside?”

“Not really, but sure.”

            We got up and walked inside. The party had definitely died down. Half of the people had passed out and the others were just conversing with people. The music was still going, but someone turned it down. The gang was all sitting at the dining room table playing solitaire.

            Me and Soda watched the guys play when we all started to hear two voices yelling. Travis immediately appeared out of the hall and motioned for me to come over to him. The guys noticed I tensed up and Two-Bit and Steve walked to Travis with me.

            Travis looked cautiously at Steve and Two-Bit, then looked at me. “Bridget is about to get the shit beat out of her from that guy Mark.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know! I guess she said something he didn’t like.”

The four of us headed down the hall and opened the door Bridget was already getting a black eye and had a bruise shaped like a hand on her forearm. I had no idea what to do so I just started yelling.

“STOP IT! STOP HURTING HER!” Mark paid no attention to me and through her into a wall.

I ran to them, but Bridget had collapsed on the floor. She had a few bruises, but that was it. I started throwing punches at Mark as hard as I could with Steve trying to hold me back. Mark pushed me back and my head hit the corner of the nightstand.