Kaleidoscope- a Cherry Valance fanfic

52 Pickup

"Did I say you guys could play on my grounds?" Dally asked the children. 

I snickered a bit behind him, knowing what was about to come. One thing Dally and I had in common was our disdain for children. We used to hang out in parks a lot back home and while we were there we would silently make fun of the kids behind their backs. Sometimes we couldn't hide it, like when they fell face flat on the ground after coming off the roundabouts or when they fell off the swings.

"No," they replied silently, shaking their heads.

"What're you doing here? Gimme those cards, will ya."

The kids collected their cards and handed them to Dally, avoiding eye contact.

"You guys know how to play 52 pickup?"

"Yeah," they all mumbled, their voices slightly quivering and their eyes still glued to the ground.

"What? Hey, don't get- don't get wise. I don't like little kids. I don't like 'em. I just-" Dally began, throwing the cards to the ground.

"Get outta here before I kill you!" Dally yelled before taking off running behind the kids. I followed, chasing them while laughing.

Once they were out of sight, we stopped running and went back to walking. Dally threw his arm over my shoulder.

"Just like the good ol' days, huh?" he asked, ruffling my hair.

"Yeah, yeah," I answered, pushing his hand off my head, "I'm thirsty"

"Come on," he said, dragging me.

Soon we arrived at a small convenience store. He looked through the window and then back at me.

"You remember what to do?" he asked.

"Wha- ohhhh" I said, not knowing what he was talking about at first.

Dally gave me his jacket and I slid into it, considering it would conceal the drinks better. He walked straight to the front desk, asking the cashier for a pack of cigarettes. The cashier was a young girl, probably my age. Dally began flirting with her and I could tell she was into it. I walked to the back and picked out a drink for myself and a beer for Dally. I was never fond of the taste of beer. I hid them in his jacket and made sure to look inconspicuous. I then walked straight out of the store, the girl not even realizing I had walked in, to begin with. I walked a block and then stopped. After about two minutes, Dally was back. I handed him his beer and we kept walking.

"Hey, that plan works a lot better now that you can look over the counter," I joked.

"Shut up," he said, shoving me slightly.

I followed Dally for a couple more minutes until we arrived at a race track. The place was already filled with other greasers. A couple of people greeted my brother, paying no attention to me.

"Stay here, I'll be right back," he told me.

I nodded and kept looking around the race track. 

"Hey," a deep, unfamiliar voice greeted.

I turned my head, expecting some sleazeball greaser, but was faced with a handsome man. He was taller than me and had dark, grease-free hair. His eyes were dark green with long eyelashes. He had a muscular build and a small scar on his right cheek. He also held a helmet in his hand, which led me to believe he was one of the drag racers.

"Hi," I replied.

"Are you Dally's girlfriend?" he asked.

"God no, he's my brother"

"Really? Well, in that case, I'm Christian, but you can call me Chris."

"I'm Y/N"

"Pretty name"

"Thanks"

"What brought you to Tulsa?"

"My brother, I guess"

"Cool. You go to Will Rogers?"

"Yep, started there a couple weeks ago. Do you go there? I don't think I've seen you."

"No, I dropped out. Wasn't really benefiting me, ya know?"

"Mhm. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

"I'm 17, what about you?"

"16"

Someone tapped his shoulder and whispered something in his ear.

"Hey listen, I've gotta go, the race is about to start. Do you think you'd wanna go out sometime?" he asked. I was a little shocked, but he seemed nice enough and he was really attractive. One date wouldn't hurt, right?

"Sure" I shrugged.

"Cool, here's my number," he said, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to me.

"Good luck out there," I said, pointing at the tracks.

"Thanks. How'd you know I was a racer?"

"Well, the helmet you're holding sort of gave it away," I laughed.

"You're observant, I like that," he smiled, before walking away.

Truthfully, I was flattered. I couldn't tell Dally about this, though. They were sort of alike, which means he wouldn't like me dating Christian. Dally soon returned and we watched the races. Once they were over, it was about 9 PM, not too late. We were both hungry but agreed to just go back to the Curtis house for dinner. We got back and told the gang about our day. At around 11, we had all finished eating and everyone had left. I walked into my room and dialled Christian's number. My room had its own phone, like Darry's. On the third ring, someone picked up.

"Hello?" It was Christian, thank god.

"Hi, Christian. It's Y/N"

"Oh hi. I'm glad you called. So you wanna go out?"

"Yeah, I do."

"When?"

"Uhh, what about Tuesday? You pick the place, though."

"Okay, is the Dingo alright with you?" he chuckled.

"Yeah"

"I'll meet you there at 6:30 Tuesday, then."

"Okay"

"Good night"

"Good night"

He hung up the phone. I collapsed onto my bed with a sigh. I quickly fell asleep, thinking about how our date would go. I was excited, to say the least. What could go wrong?