AN- Thanks to all my followers Kennyboo, DeaDea96, HelloMrSunshine, Jolienolastname, Missy Sparkles, Snowbro, SuaveSwayze, Theonlyredhead, TigerrChan, XAllThatGlittersIsn'tGoldX, XxChesireSmilexX, Yeastbaron, gnarley,only girl on the outside, GreaserGirlie, Oninja, Shedaises, phoebequintero, NOGUNNOFUN, firegirl97, and sammyxxjames. Sorry it's taken me so long to update! I've been very slumpy about the story lately.

Chapter Eight

Darry's POV

"Holy Shit… Your momma's psycho!" Two-Bit sputtered, laughing through a mouth-full of beer.

"Wow. Really?!" Marilyn rolled her eyes, then snatched the beer bottle out of his hands and took a swig herself. If Jill could look any more astonished then she already was she managed to do it.

"Gimmie that!" Jill grabbed the beer bottle away from Marilyn and kept it from both of them. "Stop joking around! What are we going to do about this?!"

"First off, what do you mean 'we'? No one here is a part of this, they don't need to be and I don't want them to be. Second... nothing. I got my stuff, what's the issue Jill?"

"The issue?! I cannot wrap my head around how you can be so calm about this! This is serious Marilyn."

Marilyn stood up to tower over Jill, "What do expect me to do about it? You'd be outta your damn mind if you think I'm gonna call the cops. You'd be even crazier to think that I'm going back there to work things out with mommy. Things are fine they way they are, we're done talking about it."

"I'm just… I'm worried about you Mary. Are you sure you're okay?" Jill asked her friend, raising her eyebrows sympathetically like girls tend to do.

"Honey, I'm the last person you need to worry about. I've gone through much worse than this. I promise you I'm fine." Marilyn answered, putting an arm around Jill's shoulders, and yet again I saw another side of Marilyn Montgomery that I wasn't expecting. I thought Jill was crazy for having a friend like Marilyn but right then I actually think I saw what Jill saw in her. I could tell how much Marilyn cared about my little sister, could see how much she wanted to take care of her and protect her, and how Jill felt the same way about her. Of course at the same time I realized that meant that I really did have to deal with Marilyn now, and everything else that came with her. Seeing Jill like that I knew I had to, if my own sister cared enough about this girl to do all this for her, I knew I could too. Then seeing Marilyn like that, made me really want to.

"OKAY, now that all this girl stuff is outta the way, let's go have some fun!" Steve whooped, breaking the silence that was beginning to settle on the room.

"Shut up Steve!" Marilyn teased, pivoting around to punch him in the shoulder. Steve faked pain and dramatically grabbed his arm, which of course got all the other guys laughing. I was the only one to see Marilyn turning around, a grimace on her face, hand pressing into her new injury.

"You alright?" I took a little risk and put my arm around her.

"Yeah…" She paused, "I'll just punch him with my other arm next time!" She smiled and all the pain fled from her face. "Um, Darry?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for asking, thanks for…" Marilyn swallowed a few times like her throat was dry before she continued, "being there." She leaned into me and gave me a small squeeze before detaching herself to go join Jill. Maybe this really wasn't going to be as bad as I thought it was.

The next few weeks seemed to be the most blissful time of my life. Our whole house ran like clockwork, every day Ponyboy and Jill would go to school then Marilyn would go to work with me. Sometimes if I got off early we would take drives around the town or go see Steve and Soda down at the DX, then I would take her to work and pick her up when her shift was over. Marilyn surprised me every day, this girl that I thought was so hard and tough completely opened up to our little family and became a totally different person. Not only did she act like a big sister to Jill, she was already best friends with all the guys. And I know what you're thinking, but it wasn't like that all, if any of them were getting any action we would all know about it. She just made me smile every time I saw her, and she always made me laugh, I hadn't been this happy since my parent's accident.

It was a Friday night and I was waiting in my car out in the parking lot of the strip club. I felt creepy for being here every night and always hoped that no one would ever recognize my truck but I was too worried about Marilyn walking home at three a.m. to not show up. Normally she came out right on time but when I glanced at my watch it showed that she was ten minutes late. I didn't think too much of it and watched the back door, expecting to see her strutting out any second now. Ten minutes slowly turned into fifteen, then even more slowly to twenty, when my watch finally told me she was half an hour late I decided to go in and see what the deal was.

I walked around the front of the building and easily passed by the snoring bouncer. My eyes initially wandered towards the stage, trying to see if Marilyn was just working overtime and had forgotten to tell me. There were definitely one, or two, things that made me want to keep looking for her on the stage but I could tell she wasn't there. I started towards the back where the dressing rooms were when someone called my name.

"DARRRRRRYYYYYY!" The voice hollered, sounding very slurred. The voice seemed to be coming from the bar so I changed my path and went over. There were more people around than usual so I had to wedge my way to the stools in front of the counter. I felt my body stretch as I twisted around and around trying to look for a familiar face, the one that belonged to the voice that called my name. I was already so frustrated I was about to give up after just a minute or so, when a flourish of blonde hair caught my eye. Just as quickly a loud crash caught my ears by surprise, I jerked to my right to see what had happened and wasn't happy when I saw the flash of blonde hair again.

I knew in a second who it was and instead of wedging my way through the crowd I was shoving them out of my way, each person like an annoying fly I had to bat away from my face. Marilyn was rolling on the ground in a hysterical fit of laughter, she had two guys on the floor next to her doing the same thing. I reach down and grab a fistful of the guys' shirts, one for each hand, and haul them to their feet. I push them away from me and they soon have the fate of the rest of the crowd I had to get through to get here.

She's on the floor still and for some reason I can't think of anything to say. I just stare at her in disbelief, how did I not realize something like this was going to happen sooner or later? Her hair is in snarls, matted in some places and sticking out on end in others. She has her leather jacket on but she still wears her "uniform" underneath, well, mostly. The straps are off her shoulders and the top is rolled down so it basically looks like she's wearing just a bra and an awkwardly shaped skirt. For a moment all feel is sadness and a certain pity for her. That doesn't last long.

Like a shockwave the anger hits me from every direction, I breathe it in through my mouth and feel it seeping into my pores.

"Someone looks mad." Marilyn says, looking up at me through the hair hanging in front of her face. She begins to laugh but she keeps her teeth together so it sounds like a mixture of a cat hissing and someone choking on their food. I wrap my hands around her wrists and yank her to her feet, she sways but stands upright. But before I can get a word out of my mouth she grabs one of the guys who fell down next to her and smacks his lips with hers. That's when I notice the lipstick smeared across her face and realize she's probably been doing that a lot tonight. I feel something bubble inside me other than anger but the feeling is so new to me I have no idea what it is or how to act on it. So I focus on the anger again.

My hands find the collar of her jacket and I pull her towards me, not really caring if I hurt her or not.

"I thought you said you didn't drink." I growl, leveling my eyes with hers.

"I don't," she giggles, "you don't have to drink to feel this good!" Marilyn hollers, throwing her arms in the air. The others follow, whooping and shouting, thrusting their beer bottles into the air. "Guess what I did?" she asks me, eyebrows raised. The answer is obvious but before I even think about answering she leans in close and whispers into my ear, "Hint, I'm not high on life…" she giggles again and I can feel her spit on my ear.

"Hey! Is that your girl man, because I could definitely use some of her lovin' tonight!" A man yells at me, which he's much too close to be doing. I see how he's looking at her and that odd feeling bubbles up inside me again. I want to punch him until he's unconscious, but a small ounce of logic creeps up on me and I know it will just cause an even bigger mess. I find myself turning around and swiftly zipping up Marilyn's jacket all the way up to her neck.

"Let's go." I say to her in a low voice. Without waiting for her to agree with me, or even acknowledge that I said something to her, I bend down and set my forearm behind her thighs and lift. Unlike the last time I did this to her she is completely willing and I think she even finds it fun. If it weren't for the drugs this would be a much different story. I can feel her chest moving from laughter against my back and for a second I see a different picture in my head. We're not fighting like we always do. I'm not forcing her to do anything that she doesn't want to do. She's laughing because she's having fun, not because she's hopped up on drugs. In an instant the picture fades and we're back in the dark, dirty parking lot we started out in.

"Wha-what are we doing?" Marilyn asks, eyes wide with confusion. "We need to be inside, that's where all the fun's at silly!" She smacks me in the shoulder and tries to make a break for the door.

"No." I pinch the back of her jacket and pull her back to me.

"What do you mean no?"

"I mean we're going home. Now."

"Why do always do this?!" She grabs at her hair and pulls, "You always gotta boss me around and shit, well you're not the boss of me mister!" She points a finger at me and looks like she's got more to say, but her eyes drop to her finger. She begins to inspect it intently and slowly her laughter starts up again.

"You are high off your ass." I mutter, dragging a hand over my face. I think I'm actually glad she is though. Even though she's mad at me, Marilyn is much easier to deal with this way than when she's sober. As much as she tries, I really don't get much resistance when I guide her towards the car and buckle her into the passenger seat.

She tilts her head back and almost instantly falls asleep, so the ride home is quiet. I pull up to the house but let her rest for a few more minutes before I pull her out of the car. She moans groggily as she sits up but she's awake enough to walk up the front steps and inside by herself. I know because the nap did her good and when I reached for her she slapped my hand away and responded with a curt, "Don't touch me." Good old Marilyn.

We parted ways in the living room, she flopped face first onto the couch without another word and I could already hear her snoring as I creaked open the door to my room.

I woke up a lot later than usual the next morning and was thankful I didn't have to work today. My feet stuck to the floor as I walked through the kitchen to the fridge, I stopped with my fingers stretching for the handle. Something seems off. I turn from the fridge and go into the living room, no Marilyn. Instead Jill is sitting on the couch, nonchalantly munching a piece of toast. I don't know where Ponyboy is, but I know that Soda would be at work by now.

"Where's Marilyn?" I ask my sister, only slightly suspicious, still hoping everything is fine.

"She left." Jill answers without looking at me.

"When?"

"Last night."

"Why?"

"Don't ask me." She shrugs.

"Too late." I say, gritting my teeth. Why does she seem like she's holding something back?

"I don't know," She responds in a tight voice, "I guess she just didn't want to be here anymore." I can tell she's fighting to keep her voice cool.

"What did you do?" I take a step closer.

"Nothing!" She almost yells at me, shooting to her feet as she does so. My sister is a terrible liar and has already given herself away in more ways than one.

"What did you do?" I ask again, taking another step towards her.

"Why do you even care?" Jill explodes, "Why does it matter where she is? You don't even like her, we all know it! You should be happy right now, just let it be Darry!"

In a way I know she's right, everything would be so much easier if Marilyn wasn't here. Maybe I should be happy she's gone, but I'm not. I don't want things to be easy, I want Marilyn.

I yank my shoes on my feet and run to get my jacket from my room.

"Where are you going?" Jill screams at me from the living room.

"I have to find her." The door slams behind me and I pause for a moment. "I have to find her." I repeat to myself. My feet barely touch the ground as I begin to run.