Cut My Lip

Five

Annie's POV

It had been three days since I'd taken that beating from the Soc's, and I was still in pain. My head had been hurting for two days straight.

I'd been taking aspirins every few hours and I felt sick and sluggish. Everyone kept trying to talk me into going to the hospital but I refused and said I was fine.

I just wanted to curl up and sleep forever. I felt like I had a hangover that wouldn't go away.

I'd spent ninety percent of my time sleeping in the most random places. My car, Dally's car, the lot, the Curtis' house, Tim Shepard's place, the park.

On the third day, I was still tired, but I pushed the feeling out of mind and went job hunting.

.

"A waitress?" Dally laughed. "You got a job?"

"Yes," I said coolly. "And you should get one, too. Stealing won't solve everything."

When I said that, I glanced over at Two-Bit, who pretended not to notice and took a drink of a bottle of beer. I lit a cigarette and leaned against the fence as I took a drag.

"I never said it would." He said, shaking his head. "But you get stressed out so easy, I don't think this'll work out too good on your part."

I shrugged. "It might."

"But it might not. I've known you for eighteen years, Anne Margaret Winston, and I know that this job won't be good for you."

"But I'll get paid, and gettin' paid is good for anybody." I drawled.

"If you say so."

.

The standard women's uniform at Charlie's Diner was a pale yellow dress with a white collar and an apron. I didn't mind it; hell, I looked good in it.

But the male clientele always had something to say about how I looked in it.

I just ignored them and went on working. I had my sleeves rolled up and kept cigarettes there, and I always had matches on me.

Of course the gang had to come in on a busy night and were in my section. "Ooh, who's the hot blond?" My coworker and a new friend of mine, Lauren, asked me.

"Dallas?" I laughed. "He's my brother. Trust me, he might look like a 10, but his personality makes him a 3."

"You two look a lot alike," she realized slowly.

"We're twins." Was all I said as I grabbed menus and walked over to them. "Say a word and I'll kill you. What do you want to drink?"

"Damn, Annie," Steve whistled and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Drinks. Hurry up, we're busy."

I wrote down everything in a small notepad and handed it off to Lauren, who poured the drinks while I seated a few more customers. "Say, uh, Annie, who's the gal behind the counter?" Dally asked.

"No. You'll break her heart, I know you." I raised an eyebrow as I set their drinks down.

"Says who?"

"Says me." As I said, I saw Dally and Johnny make brief eye contact before they both looked away.

.

I took my break when they were all leaving. I went out front with them and smoked a few.

"Some of those customers really treat you like that?" Johnny asked, and I sighed.

"Yeah. I usually just ignore 'em."

"None of 'em have ever actually done anything, right?" Darry asked, and I shook my head.

"No."

He nodded, and even thought it was dark and I wasn't looking right at him, I could tell he was staring at me.