Disclaimer: Hinton owns and I'm jealous.

"I… need a drink," Patty slurred as she stumbled out of the house, and giggled as she tripped. "Wow, I'm clumsy."

Evie let out a frustrated breath and flipped her hair over her shoulder. It was starting to get longer and the perm she once had was long since faded out. For a moment she was reminded of her ex-best friend—the lying whore—and it made her scowl. Sandy was the only one she trusted with her hair, but no, she just had to get sent away to Florida.

Most days she didn't think about it. Most days she didn't think about how Sandy had lied to them all. If Sandy could have or should have told anyone… it should have been Evie, shouldn't it have been? They could have straightened it out together, just like they always had. But instead the whore blamed her—Evie of all people, and for an act like that! If there was one thing in the world that Evie was proud of, it was the fact that Steve was her first and her only, despite the rumors that had flown around the high school.

"Evie?" Patty giggled, leaning against a boy. "I met someone…"

"No shit, Patty." Evie rolled her eyes. This Patty chick could be fun to gossip with, but she ruined most parties Evie ended up at with her. The poor girl was a lightweight and was constantly finding a new boy to hang on. Normally Evie wouldn't have minded, but Steve being away at war was really starting to take its affect on her. She didn't even have Sodapop to hang around with anymore—he was gone too. At least while he had still been around she could use him for a date when there was nothing better to do.

What could she say? She missed the guy—ever since that one night in the cemetery when they talked about their parents they'd been relatively close. And when Sandy left, they became closer. Of course, it was only a friend thing between them and they'd only hung out one-on-one after Steve left, but still… she missed him. Steve though… Steve was the one she really missed. She missed being held and kissed. She missed the quiet murmurings in her ears when Steve tried to make unbuttoning her blouse more romantic. She missed the way he smelled, and the way his brow furrowed when he concentrated on rebuilding an engine. She missed the way he made her feel. She missed having her boyfriend around.

An arm snaked around her shoulder and Evie immediately shrugged it off. "Watch it, buddy; I've got a boyfriend."

Patty giggled… again. "Oh, Evie… you're so silly. Steve…"—hiccup—"Steve's halfway 'round the w-world. You ain't got nothin' ta worry 'bout."

"Besides," added the boy on Patty's arm, "you were hangin' 'round with Curtis for the longest time."

Evie scowled. "You actually think somethin' happened between me and ol' Prince Charmin'? Hah! You're funny."

"That's why I like him so much!" Patty interrupted drunkenly, stumbling over an imaginary stick. "Hey, hey… hey Evie, are you gonna to come to the bar with us? Bobby said he could get us free drinks 'cause his daddy's the owner. Didn't ya, Bobby."

Bobby nodded and held onto Patty tight, making it so she wouldn't fall.

Evie rolled her eyes and fell into step with the two of them. "Will it make me forget the two of you?" she muttered, knowing they wouldn't hear her.

It probably wasn't the smartest thing for her to do—go to a shady bar on the roughest side of town with a drunk girl that she couldn't stand and some loser of a boy who's name she barely knew. She did it anyway. If Steve could be halfway across the world shooting down gooks, barely taking the time to write to her, she could do something stupid. She was tired of waiting for letters that didn't mean anything.

They had to have been walking for about twenty minutes before Evie finally spoke up. "You do know where we're going, right?" she snapped.

Bobby shot her a look. "'Course I do. It's just down this alley."

"Well, don't your daddy just know the greatest places to hold a business…" she muttered angrily, hesitating at the mouth of it. What if her brothers ever found out about this? She'd be skinned alive even at the age of nineteen. Her brothers would not be happy to find their little sister going into a sketchy little bar with a boy she didn't know. They wouldn't be happy to find her going into a sketchy little bar with a boy she did know.

Patty let out a giggle. That was getting on Evie's nerves. Twenty minutes of drunken stumbling, "accidental" flashing, and a whole hell of a lot of giggling made Evie never want to hang out with Patty again. She was done after tonight.

"Hey Evie," Patty called, her voice high and giggly, "you comin'?"

Evie lifted her chin. If her brothers had taught her anything about shady places it was to act like you knew what you were doing—walk with confidence.

"Yeah," she called back, "I'm comin'… I'm comin'." Evie walked into the alley over to where the two of them were and followed them inside. The place wasn't as shady as Evie thought it was. The only person she saw that was older than thirty was the bartender handing out drinks, and she assumed that he was Bobby's old man. Everyone else was in their twenties, hanging around. They didn't look like the wealthiest of people but that was okay because Evie wasn't the wealthiest girl either.

"Bobby…" Patty cooed from somewhere to Evie's right. "Will you teach me how to play pool?"

Evie rolled her eyes again. That's right, Patty, she thought, give him an excuse to feel you up.

"All right, baby," came Bobby's reply.

Evie rolled her eyes again and walked over to the bar, sitting down on a stool. Everyone else seemed to be playing pool, making out in a dark corner, or be mingling at a table. That was just fine with Evie—she was alone most of the time anyway now that both Steve and Sodapop were gone, Sandy was a whore, and all her other girl friends had boyfriends to hangout with on Friday nights. Sure, Evie had a boyfriend, but she didn't physically have him and that bugged her something awful… especially tonight. God, she needed a drink.

"What'll ya have, Miss?"

Evie looked up at the bartender. He was middle-aged, that was for sure, and skinnier than she would have expected. "Rum and coke, please." She slapped some money on the counter and looked him in the eye. That's what Eddie had told her to do when she wanted a drink and didn't want to mooch off someone with an I.D.

He smiled, and set about making the drink, setting it down in front of her when he was done. "Thanks," she mumbled and drank half of it.

God, she wondered, what am I dong with my life? Drinking alone in a shady bar in the part of town she never went—what the hell was she thinking? "Steve'll have a field day when he finds out about this…" she muttered to herself.

"Talking to yourself at a bar is never a good sign." A handsome young man—not much older than herself—suddenly occupied the stool next to her.

She stared at him long and hard, willing him to just go away. He didn't. He just cracked a smile and ordered a beer. Evie turned back to her own drink. Soda was going to flip when she told him about this! First she's talking to herself and then a stranger hears her! Oh, it was going to be a good laugh between the two of them. She smirked, imagining the response she'd get from the guy and absently twirled the ring that hung from the chain around her neck.

"Who's the lucky guy?"

Evie turned to face the guy next to her. "What?"

He took a swig of beer and motioned to the ring she was fiddling with. "The ring—you got a guy or what?"

The world seemed to stop for a moment. She hadn't thought about telling Steve at all… "Uh, yeah."

He swallowed another mouthful of beer and smiled. "You don't sound so sure 'bout that. Trouble in paradise?"

Evie shot him a look and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I don't even know you," she snapped and downed the rest of her drink.

He stuck out his hand. "My name is James."

Evie took his hand, and shook it, unsure about the feeling it gave her. Was that an omen, or was it butterflies? "Evie," she replied and felt herself smile for the first time that night.

"So where's your guy if you got one? It's a little late for a lady to be walkin' around these parts without a date, don'tcha think?"

"I can handle myself, thank you very much."

James leaned in and whispered, "Still doesn't answer my question, thank you very much."

"He's in 'Nam. Happy now?"

"I had a brother go over there last year…"

"Yeah? I've got one of my brothers and a friend over there too. Where's he stationed?"

James took a swig of his beer and looked straight ahead. "Dead in a box, six feet under the Earth, that's where."

Evie felt the blood drain from her face and motioned for the bartender. "Another rum and coke, please."

James scratched the back of his head, watching the bartender make her drink for her. He slid the money for it on the counter. "Look, Evie… I'm sorry. You got a guy over there, and family…"

Evie shook her head. "Steve doesn't sugarcoat it for me, you know. I know what happens." She felt tears prick at the back of her eyes and took a long drink. He used to write her about how much he loved her. He used to write to her about silly things, stupid things…

"Who's Steve?"

"My…" she started, but stopped and looked down at the ring. It taunted her. He barely writes you, it said, and when he does it ain't like it used to be.

What were they nowadays, anyway? She poured her heart out to him in her letters, but for months now, all she'd been getting were updates on what he was doing. She wanted to know he was safe, not how many people he had killed.

"Your…?" James prompted.

Evie pulled the ring, breaking the chain. "My ex-boyfriend," she whispered.

The words were echoing in her mind… and when she got home later that night, she knew exactly what to write in her next letter. It wasn't completely true, but she was going to make sure it came true. She had, after all, given James her number.

Dear Steve,

I hate doing this in a letter, but…

A/N: This corresponds with Choking on the Difference and the first universe of Sinker and Suds and Talks of Old Loves. (There's two different endings, hence the first universe.) I wanted to show that Evie wasn't just a bitch, even though Steve apparently thinks so.

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