"Fine. But you owe me a whole night of cuddling."
The lights were almost blinding as they flashed in and out of my field of vision. The pounding ache in my skull caused by one too many beers the night before didn't help matters, and neither did the blasting of a multitude of different noises in my ears. People, drunk on booze. Flashing lights of the club. Flashers. What some people called music. They all mixed together to add to my painful headache and the fact that I just wanted to go home.
Darry and I had never been huge fans of the clubs downtown, especially when they had more of a resemblance to the "roaring 20's" than to the 60's, our current decade. I'd only come to satisfy Darrel, who'd come just to satisfy Soda, and so on. Two-Bit, of course, was at the root of the whole outing that included everyone in the gang except Ponyboy and Johnny. They'd refused to come.
So here I was. Sitting alone on a barstool on a Saturday night while the rest of the gang was around doing who-knows-what.n I'd assumed pool, and my guess was confirmed when my companions staggered over while trying to mark each other with the blue chalk that was supposed to be used on pool sticks.
"Hey, darlin'," Darry slurred as he practically fell onto the stool beside me. "What've you been up to?"
I smiled and shook my head at how obviously drunk he'd gotten. "Oh, y'know...kissed that guy right there until he started making moves to get me to go home with him."
I gestured at a random guy across the room in a blue polo shirt, certain it would be obvious I was joking.
"He did what?!"Darry shot to his feet, his hands already formed into fists as he glared past Steve and at the guy I had pointed out. My eyes widened as he turned to me and I realized he hadn't caught that I'd been speaking sarcastically.
"You cheated on me with a Soc?" he muttered, not so much mad as in disbelief.
I jumped to my feet beside him and put both of my hands on his shoulders. "No, Darry, I would never. I was joking when I said that."
"Really?"
"Really," I nodded. "I'm sorry, it seemed like it would be funny until I said it."
It probably would have been funny if Darry hadn't been too drunk to realize I wasn't being serious. I'd rarely ever seen him get drunk before at all - I was surprised he'd picked up more than a single drink - so I wasn't used to how he was acting.
I was about to continue to apologize when Darry wrapped his arms around me, kissing my forehead in the split second before he did.
"I love you, (y/n)," he mumbled into my hair. "I love you so much."
I gave a confused look to Sodapop and Steve, who'd been standing behind Darry. I definitely wasn't complaining about how much affection he was showing, but he almost never showed affection in public. It just wasn't like him. Not to mention the fact that a few seconds ago he was worried I had cheated on him with some Soc.
'He's wasted,' Soda mouthed when I tried to pull away and Darry didn't budge.
'Obviously,' I mouthed back.
"Darry, let's get you home, love," I spoke gently, rubbing his back as I did so.
When I managed to pull him off of me, I noticed he was frowning. "No...no, let's stay here."
"I thought you didn't like these types of places."
"I like home less. I'll have to parent my kid brothers and go back to work and-"
"Shh," I placed a finger over his soft lips before eventually briefly pressing my mouth to his. Though I knew he missed his parents and hadn't quite been ready to quit football and take care of his brothers, I also knew that the responsible and well-mannered Darry wouldn't want any more drunken honesty to come out.
"You don't have to worry about that, okay?" I tried to reassure him, using my fingers to turn his chin towards me and away from the ground. "It'll just be me and you. No work. No parenting."
He nodded, offering a pearly white smile. "Okay."
I smiled. "Y'know what? Me and you are both gonna call in sick to work tomorrow and spend the whole day with each other."
His forehead creased and the usual Darry came back, if only for the moment in which he answered me.
"As much as I'd love to, I can't afford to do that, (y'n). You know that."
I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him a quick peck on the nose. "It's just one day."
"Sweetheart, I-"
I crashed my lips against his to keep him from continuing to speak. "I don't wanna hear a 'no' from you until you've at least thought over it and considered the major hangover you're inevitably going to have tomorrow. But in the meantime..." I took both his hands in mine and started to tug him in the direction of the door. "Let's go home."
He smiled. "Fine."
We walked - or, rather, stumbled, when speaking of Darry - hand in hand to the exit of the club. I couldn't help but notice how oddly close he stood to me - I tripped over him quite a few times. It wasn't that he didn't usually like physical contact that made it weird. He loved showing affection through holding hands and such, just not so much to where it's awkward and made onlookers uncomfortable as I'm sure he did earlier with Sodapop and Steve.
It took longer than it should've to make it back to the Curtis house. Even though it was just the two of us, we had to stop multiple times along the way because Darry had to throw up. The more disgusting side of his drunkenness had fortunately passed by the time we made it in the front door of the house, though.
"Alright, Darry," I said softly as I led him to the couch, gently rubbing circles on his back with my free hand. "I'll get you some water."
He barely nodded in acknowledgement as he laid down on the sofa and I headed into the kitchen. There was no noise from the living room while I grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with cool water from a pitcher in the refrigerator.
"(Y/n)," Darry called as I was putting the water pitcher away.
I hurried back into the living room, sitting next to him with the drink in hand. "Yeah?"
"I..." he shook his head, glancing down briefly before continuing. "I want to take off tomorrow and be with you, but...I can't afford it. I have to take care of Pony and Soda so they don't get sent to an adoption home and..."
He trailed off. I worked my way between his legs that he had sprawled out on the cushions and laid my head on his chest, careful not to spill the glass I'd just gotten. As I'd hoped, he wrapped both of his arms around me, tenderly kissing my forehead as he usually did when we were laying like this. The wild look had somewhat gone from his eyes, but his words were still slurred and his voice louder than usual.
After many moments of laying like that in silence, I finally had a response to his previous statement. "I'm only saying this because you're not in the state to continually refuse, but I'll make up for the money you would get paid tomorrow. I can pay for it."
I bit my bottom lip as I looked up into his disapproving gaze. "(Y/n), no. I can't let you do that."
"Sure you can. You just don't want to."
He shook his head. "I can support myself and the other two just fine. I don't need help."
My shoulders tensed as I hurried to clear things up and tell him what I really meant. "No, no, no, Darry, that's not what I was saying - I know you don't need help. I just..." I sighed, trying to think of how to put what I wanted to say into words. "Think of it as a deal. You skip work to spend time with me, and I make up for it by paying for what you missed."
Even though him staying home was definitely something I would enjoy, my enjoyment wasn't the only reason I was pushing this idea. Darry had been stretched pretty thin recently, and going to work all day after the night he'd just had, especially with a hangover, would only make him feel worse.
"But that's not fair to you, baby," he objected.
I chuckled at how bipolar he was acting before replying, "Darrel Curtis, if I hear one more refusal from you, I swear I will tie you to this couch and never let you up."
It took a minute, but he finally smiled. "Fine. But you owe me a whole night of cuddling."
I grinned, excited I had finally convinced him. "Deal. When do you want it?"
He pressed his lips firmly together and pretended to think for a few seconds before answering, "Now's good."
"Is it?" I laughed.
"I think so," he laughed in return.
"Well, in that case..."
I untangled myself from Darry's strong grip so I could set the glass I'd been holding down on the coffee table, grabbing his hands immediately after, eager to lead him to his bed so we could cuddle in a more comfortable place than the hard couch. He was just as eager to follow, crawling onto the bed once we got there. I wasted no time in re-tangling myself in his arms.
"I love you," I mumbled into his chest, my voice light.
"I love you too, (y/n)."