"I heard you got a job at the power plant."

Tim knows that voice. He picks up an extra bottle of Coke and turns around with a smirk. "Well, now, where'd you hear that?"

She smiles slightly at him and Tim has to admit, once again, that she's not bad looking. "Ponyboy told me."

He sets the bottles on the counter and leans against it as the cashier rings up, facing Cherry. "And why would Ponyboy tell you that? You been asking after me?" He picks up his change and the Cokes, handing one to her. She looks at him for a second, then takes it.

"Of course not," she replies. She's not looking at him, concentrating on opening the bottle. "It's good you were able to find a job."

They leave the store as Tim takes a swig from his own bottle he'd opened with ease. "Yeah, figured I'd try goin' straight, see if it's all it's cracked up to be." He surveys the parking lot. "Where's that nice, red car a' yours?"

"Oh, I came with Marsha." She gestures to the right, glancing over, then stops and looks over properly at the empty parking space. "Marsha?" Her voice rises as she calls, a slight note of alarm edging it. Her sigh's more of a huff. "Not again."

Tim raises an eyebrow. "That happen often?"

Sighing, Cherry shakes her head. "Only when she runs into Randy and his friends. Then the two of them take off together."

Smirking, Tim's other eyebrow joins the first. "I reckon you're gonna be needing a ride, then?"

She looks incredulous. "My father would shoot me if I came home with a greaser." Realizing what she said, she winces. "No offense."

Tim shakes his head. "No, darlin', I get it. Can't have Daddy's little girl hanging around with trash." He turns to saunter to his car, but stops as she calls after him.

"Look, you know I didn't mean it like that."

He glances halfway behind him, tilting his head slightly. "You want that ride or not?"

He can hear the smile in the little breath she huffs out and he climbs into his car, Cherry following a few seconds behind. He puts the car into gear and reverses from the parking lot, shifting as he reaches the main road.

"So, you an' Pony've been talkin' about me?" He shifts up, using the hand holding the bottle that he'd been hanging over the side to steady the steering wheel, and she shakes her head softly.

"He mentioned it when he was talking about a kid named Curly."

Tim chuckles once, silently. "Of course. They get into a lot of trouble together."

"Oh, you know Curly too?" He glances over at her. She's facing him, leaning slightly forward.

He smiles slightly. "Curly's my kid brother."

Surprise laces her tone. "I didn't know you had a brother."

"Sure do," he replies, "Sister, too." He takes another swallow, finishing off the bottle.

"I didn't know that." The surprise is quieter now. "I've never seen them."

Tim snorts. "Like you'd know it if you did."

She's quiet for a minute. Tim pulls into some nice street in Soc territory and pulls over. Cherry glances at him, then gets out.

"Thanks for the ride and the Coke." She leans over the door. "Sorry about what I said about you and my father."

Tim shakes his head. "Don't worry about it, Cherr." He shifts the car back into gear and rolls away.

Yeah, I put two 'R's on 'Cherr'. I think of Cherr as pronounced like 'chair', while Cher just makes me think of the singer and the French pronunciation. That's the explanation for that. And somehow Curly snuck into this fic too. Anyway, I'm not too sure how good this is because it's a first draft and it only took, from start of the idea to now, including the time I was nowhere near my computer, three and a half hours. I hope it isn't too rotten.

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