Chapter Text
Marcia
Marcia giggled as Trip placed another kiss on her cheek.
“Trip c’mon!” She urged, trying to convince him to let her go so they could find their friends. Trip, of course, ignored her, and continued to pepper a trail of light kisses down her neck. She let out another peal of laughter, before finally ducking out of the way and catching his arm. She dragged him towards their friends, ignoring his groans.
She finally spotted where Cherry and Bev were and gently pushed Trip away. He left without protest to go take a football from Chet.
“Hey!” Marcia called as she went over to her friends.
“Hey Mar!”
“Marcia, I love that dress!” Bev complimented.
“Thanks! Your makeup looks so good.”
Cherry sighed, “Gosh, this has been the longest week of my life.”
“I know! School just started, and we already had that horrible trig test!” Marcia agreed.
Bev nodded along, “Right? I hate that teacher so much.” The other girls made noises of consensus.
As Marcia scanned the surroundings of the drive-in, she noticed a boy watching the three of them. She identified him immediately—Marcia had a talent for knowing everyone, and everything about them that was worth gossiping about. It was Dallas Winston, who had recently been released from prison. She didn’t like the way he was watching them, half mocking, half angry.
She hurriedly returned her attention to her friends. Cherry, on the other hand, had just been distracted by Bob.
“Did he-?” Cherry cut herself off with a disappointed sigh. She made her way over to where her boyfriend was standing, and Marcia took her and Bevs distraction as an excuse to once again scan the crowds of teenagers for… and there he was! Two-Bit Mathews was standing against a car chatting with his friends, wearing a pair of overalls with a broken strap and laughing his head off about something. Marcia caught his eye and waved excitedly at him, which he responded to with a huge smile, the one that always drove Marcia crazy.
Their moment was interrupted by a pair of hands on her shoulders turning her around.
“Marcia…” Bev warned with a glare.
Marcia just responded with a lighthearted laugh. “Bev c’mon, it’s not that serious! There's nothing wrong with a little flirting.”
“There is when it’s with a greaser , and when this thing that’s ‘not serious’ happens every single week!”
Marcia just waved her off, and moved her attention back to where Cherry was standing. She was facing away from Bob now, and he was trying to hug her, but she pushed his arms away and moved back towards them. Despite the fact that Cherry probably had every right to be angry, she merely held a mildly annoyed smile on her face.
“He brought booze again! Even after he promised me he wouldn’t!”
Bev and Marcia tried to comfort her, but Marcia just couldn’t understand why Cherry was still surprised by this. It happened every week! She truly didn’t know why she hadn't dumped Bob yet. She always talked about how sweet he was and she had that dainty promise ring on her hand to prove it, but anytime Marcia saw the boy he was just a total jerk.
“It doesn’t matter! We’re here, the week is finally over, and I’m gonna have some fun no matter what!” Cherry declared with confidence.
Their conversation was cut off by a large car roaring and swerving through the drive-in, making the three girls practically leap out of the way to where their boys were to avoid being run over.
“Dirty fuckin’ greasers,” Marcia heard Trip mutter under his breath. She instinctively pressed herself against him, but he didn’t even look at her, too distracted by talking to Paul. She herself was busy watching Two-Bit walk up to the driver of that newly arrived car.
“Hey- I'm gonna go get some concessions, alright?” Trip asked, starting to move away from Marcia with hardly a glance spared in her direction. Marcia nodded vaguely, pushing him away. Her focus was still on Two-Bit, who now was swaggering near her. He wasn’t looking at her, but Marcia wasn't about to waste this opportunity. She started towards him, but before he could see her she felt hands pulling her back.
It was Bev. Again.
“Marcia, what did I just say?”
“Bev…” Marcia began to protest, before realizing she didn’t really have anything to say.
“Are you really gonna try and flirt with that trash whenever Trip isn't around?”
“I’m not gonna try, I just am. ”
Bev rolled her eyes, exasperated. She never had much patience for her friends' jokes.
They kept on standing together for a moment. Marcia sometimes wondered if she really should stop flirting with Two-Bit—she’d waited days by the phone before she finally accepted that he wouldn’t call. Why would she waste a second thought for a boy who’d done nothing but make her cry?
But for some reason, she just couldn't resist him.
She finally spotted Trip walking back over, popcorn in hand. He grinned when he saw her, and set the popcorn down on a bench so he could come and greet her with a hug. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she felt his hands move to her waist.
“Hey there,” she greeted in a teasing voice.
“Hey.”
Just then she heard the sounds of the movie starting, and pulled away from him slightly to go find some seats. As she made her way to the benches, Trip following her, she saw that boy again—Dallas Winston.
“Hey baby,” he called out as she walked by.
Marcia just brushed past, ignoring his comment. Trip turned back towards the hood, unwilling to let that slide.
“What the hell did you just call my girl, huh?”
Dallas laughed, unbothered. “I called her baby.”
Trip moved forward as if to start a fight, but Marcia dragged him backwards.
“C'mon babe, he's not worth it,” she urged.
Trip glared at Dallas, but followed Marcia, resting an arm around her shoulder. They continued towards the front of the benches when they were intercepted by Cherry.
“Oh, hey Cher. Where's Bob?” Marcia asked as she scanned the crowd for his insufferable face.
“He left. Hey, do you wanna sit and watch the movie with me? I have an extra coke to share.”
Marcia glanced up at Trip, and he nodded nonchalantly, already starting to walk away.
Marcia turned back and accepted the coke from Cherry, then they made their way to the front row of seats.
“So, what happened with Bob?”
“I was talking with Chet and he got mad.”
“Just because you were talking to your friend?!”
Cherry sighed, “he gets jealous, you know he does.”
Marcia nodded, biting back all the cruel comments she could be making.
“But it doesn’t matter, it’s not my idea of a good time to sit and watch him get drunk anyways.”
The girls looked up at the screen for the start of the movie—it was called Cool Hand Luke or something, and it had Paul Newman in it. He sure was a doll.
They were interrupted by a voice from behind them.
“Cherry. Pssst, Cherry!” Marcia whipped her head around to see who was talking, before seeing that it was Dallas Winston. Oh god . “Hey Cherry,” He continued, with a wave in their direction. “You hear them cicadas earlier? The way they was surging? They say you can tell how hot it’s gonna get by how loud the cicadas are.”
“Just ignore him!” Marcia warned Cherry.
Dallas sighed. “Romance, ain't it? So many songs been written about it. And poems. And like… sonnets-“
Marcia turned around again, exasperated. “Sonnets are poems!” She knew she was breaking her own rules by responding, but Marcia never could keep her mouth shut.
“You’re so exactly right!” Dallas agreed mockingly. “Sonnets and poems. Same species.”
“Genre,” Cherry corrected coolly. Marcia looked at her sharply.
“Genre! Correct again! Shakespeare and… Percy Sledge.” Cherry quietly laughed at his joke, the only sign of it being the small shake of her shoulders as she covered her mouth.
“What’s going on Cherry? You too good for me or something? Too high and mighty to talk to a greaser?”
Marcia turned around again. She hated seeing her friend harassed like this. “Can’t you take a hint? She’s not interested!”
“ Let her speak for herself! ” Dallas responded in a high pitched voice, surely trying to mock Marcia. She hated it.
Dallas still continued on. “Why don’t you tell me why they really call you Cherry-?”
Marcia gasped, first turning to look at Dallas and then to look back at Cherry, taking her hand and trying to comfort her.
“C’mon Dal! Take it easy on her.” One of the boys sitting in front of Dallas had spoken up. He was a nervous looking kid, with dark hair and a denim vest. He was watching the floor and his leg was bouncing up and down.
Dallas didn’t seem to appreciate this protest, and turned to the other kid next to him. “Who the hell does he think he’s talking to? Have you lost your damn mind?”
“She’s just sitting there minding her business!” the dark haired boy defended.
“Is that what she’s doing? She’s just sitting there minding her business?” Dallas mocked. He began to creep around the benches. “I bet all the money in my pocket she’s not that innocent. She might look a certain way, but don’t be fooled.”
Two-Bit
Two-Bit was lying on the ground with Ace resting on his chest, when he felt someone shove his leg off the bench above him that it’d been resting on. He and Ace collectively rolled over, trying to see who the hell it was. To no one's surprise, it was Dally.
“Look at you,” he was saying, “pretty as an oil painting.”
Two-Bit glanced over at the girl he was talking to. She was a big time Soc—long red hair that lay in perfect curls on her fancy beaded sweater. Two furrowed his brow, looking back and forth between Dally and this girl, trying to figure out what was happening. Judging by the cool look on her face, Dally was clearly trying to flirt with some girl who wasn’t interested. And the fact that Dally was the complete opposite of Soda when it came to flirting didn’t help all that much. Two shook his head and leaned back down to the ground, where Ace was now lying next to him.
It wasn’t that Two-Bit could judge him for flirting with a Soc—if you could call that flirting—Two-Bit flirted with Soc girls all the time, but he only did that with girls that flirted back.
By which he means: one girl. After the first time they talked a few months ago when she gave him that phony number, he’d expected that to be it between them. But after a few weeks of her giving him hurt glances at the drive-in (which he didn’t want to unpack. Why was she hurt by him? Was there a possibility it was her real number after all?) It turned to smiles, then waves, all of which were returned. And now it was something they did every week—sneakily flirting with each other for fun.
“Get lost, hood,” The redhead finally said in response to Dally’s ranting.
Dally clutched his chest in mocking shock, “Oh! So now I’m a hood?”
Two snickered a bit, and turned back to Ace. Good ol’ Dally, that idiot really didn’t know when to leave something alone. As Dally went on with another teasing rant, Two-Bit noticed who was next to the redhead.
Marcia.
She was just sitting there, sipping on her coke and watching Dally speak with a distrustful eye. She was beautiful.
“Tell me something Cherry, what's really going on underneath all that cashmere?” Dally said. “Do you even know? Is there an actual heart beating under-”
“I said beat it!” and suddenly the contents of the girl's coke was covering Dallys white shirt.
The entire drive-in went silent, as every teenager in the area turned in shock to watch what would happen next.
Dally looked at the girls for a moment, exhaling smoke from his cigarette. Sensing the tension, Two glanced over at Ace, and together they moved to go sit on the bench behind them.
Dally finally turned on his heel and stalked off, the sound of the Socs mocking him followed him as he went.
Two-Bit looked at Ace, and they started giggling quietly. Of course Dally’d chose the wrong girl to go talk to and he’d end up with a soaked through shirt. He deserved it, if you asked Two-Bit, and it wasn’t like it did him any harm. He had to admire that girl's guts though, most people’d never treat a ‘dangerous hood’ like Dally in that way.
Two leaned down, smoking his cigarette. His gaze fell on Marcia. It wasn’t his fault—she was sitting directly in front of him, where was he supposed to look? It seemed like she was now talking to Pony and Johnny, who were sitting on the other side of the bench he and Ace were. And then they stood up. Two-bit watched them, confused, as they walked up to the girls bench. And why the hell were they walking like that?
They slowly sat down next to the girls, leaning forward. Were they trying to look cool? ‘Cause if so, Two felt bad for them. But hey, Ponyboy was only 14, and Two wasn't all that good at looking cool at that age either.
He turned his gaze down to the ground and stamped out his cigarette on the bottom of the bench, then tucked it behind his ear.
Ace nudged him. “Why’d you think they’re sitting up with those girls?”
“Who knows. But they seem nice enough.”
“D’you know them?”
“Not really. Well… that girl up there's named Marcia, but that’s all I know.”
“In the green?”
“Yup.”
“So that's the girl you’ve been obsessing over for months.” Ace studied her with shock.
“I’ve hardly been obsessing.”
Ace rolled her eyes, “Sure.”
Two-Bit laughed and shook his head. His gaze returned back down to the ground.
“Hey Two—look at that!”
Two-Bit’s gaze snapped up, to see Ponyboy Curtis and that redhead Soc walking towards the concessions stand. Who would’ve believed it?
Marcia
Marcia kept her gaze on her best friend and that boy—Ponyboy was his name—as they walked away from the concessions stand. She herself was waiting in line to get another coke, as she’d finished her first one. Now that Cherry wasn’t there, she wasn’t sure who she’d watch the movie with, and she’d lost track of where Trip was. She kind of wanted to sit with that kid Johnny, he seemed sweet. But he was too scared of her or something, because he immediately rushed away from her to go greet that girl greaser who was friends with Two-Bit.
As she stood in line, she felt an arm come over her shoulder. Her head snapped around, then she realized it was only Trip. She grinned, bringing his arm further around her and leaning in.
“Hey baby,” he greeted.
“Hey.” She grabbed a coke from the concessions stand, then led Trip over towards where his car was parked.
She set her coke down then leaned against the car, and he leaned over her.
“So, I saw you talking to those boys with Cherry.”
“Mhm,” was her only response. She wished she could find some way to stave off the argument that was clearly coming. It seemed like there was always some sort of fight between them nowadays.
“Marcia, why the hell would you sit with those greasers? I told you, those people are bad news, you shouldn’t be hanging around them.”
“Trip I was hardly ‘hanging around them,’ they'd just stopped some guy who was harassing us and so we were being polite.”
“What guy was harassing you?”
“It doesn't matter, he left.”
“Baby, of course it matters! Who was it?”
“Dallas Winston.” Marcia admitted.
Trip scoffed, his eyes blazing with anger. “Of course.”
“Trip…” Marcia said softly, her hand stroking his face. He sighed, and leaned into her touch, and Marcia knew she’d been forgiven.
Sadly, he noticed that Cherry was still hanging out with Ponyboy immediately after.
“What is she doing walking around with that greaser kid?” Trip scoffed, his eyes trailing Cherry and her unlikely friend as they walked away from the concession stand. “I can’t believe her.”
Marcia hated when Trip got like this, just itching for a fight. She didn’t understand why they couldn’t even spend one calm night together. But she just sighed, and gently placed her hand on Trips cheek, attempting to bring his eyes back to her.
Marcia tried to keep the exasperation from her voice, “Trip calm down, they aren’t doing anything wrong.”
“I’m sure Bob would disagree.”
“Well that's on Bob then! He ran off and left her alone, it’s not her fault.”
“It is her fault, she was flirting with Chet.”
“She was talking with Chet! Trip, please just leave it,” Marcia urged, running her hand through his hair. He finally let out a resigned sigh, and gave into her once again. She was lucky, that didn’t always happen. She pulled herself up so she was sitting on the hood of his car, then slid her arms around his neck, bringing his lips in to meet hers.
This was really her favorite part of the drive-in. When he wasn't drinking and they weren’t arguing, they could just make out for a while. On days when he didn’t flinch at her touch it was the best way to forget all of their problems.
Two-Bit
Two-Bit was laying on his back near some of the benches at the drive-in, propping himself up on his elbows as he looked up at the big movie screen. There was a Soc in salmon sitting on a bench a little bit in front of him, and Two-Bit was lightly throwing handfuls of gravel at the kid to annoy him.
He glanced over and saw Ace, who was sitting on the ground on the other side of the benches, trying to get his attention. He laughed and stopped messing with that guy, sauntering over to his friend.
“Buy me a coke, will ya? I’ll trade you this beer I got from Steve,” Ace offered as she hopped up and took his arm to drag him over to the concessions stand.
“Yeah ok,” he agreed—not like he had a choice. They were hanging out at the stand and sipping on their drinks when they heard a booming voice in the back of the drive-in.
“CHERRY! What the hell are you doing hanging around this ignorant piece of shit!?”
Two-Bit jumped up to see a drunk Bob Sheldon screaming at the redhead Dally’d been messing with, and across from the redhead? The youngest Curtis. Two raced over to Pony’s side in an instant. There were teenagers crowded all around them, Marcia in particular was standing in fearful anticipation. Two-Bit tried to ignore her presence, instead watching Bob.
“Is there a problem, Robert ?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“You greasers don’t know where your damn place is. Opie Taylor here was moving in on my lady.”
“We were just talking,” Pony retorted. His face was cold, but Two knew him well enough to see how uncomfortable he was.
“You were just talking?” Bob looked at Cherry. “Is that what that was?” He made his way over to his girlfriend. “Cherry, get in the car.”
“How much have you had to drink?” Cherry asked quietly.
“Enough to know we’re done here,” he responded. Cherry shook her head and stepped back.
“It’s pretty clear the lady doesn’t want to ride with you…prom king,” Two-Bit interjected with a laugh. Bob stared at him in disbelief.
“You wanna fight?” He challenged, ”Just me and you?” He took off his letterman jacket and handed it to his girlfriend without so much as glancing at her. His friends all started to gather around closer. “Man to man?”
Two-Bit wasn’t one to chicken out of a fight, and definitely not one with some Soc who was drunk out of his mind, but there was something nagging at the back of his brain knowing that Marcia was standing there, watching him. He couldn’t help but take a moment to wonder what she’d think if he fought Bob. He remembered a few weeks back when she’d gotten into an awful fight with her boyfriend because he showed up to the drive-in all busted up. She’d been yelling at the top of her lungs about how she didn’t want him to get into fights.
Against his better judgment, Two-Bit glanced over at her. Marcia did a double take when she saw that he was looking at her, and her hazel eyes were begging something from him, but he didn’t know what. He snapped his gaze back down to where Bob had drawn a line in that gravel before he could give her a moment's more thought.
“Step up to the line, sugarbush,” Bob challenged.
Two hesitated, but he heard those boys making fun of him, and Two-Bit Matthew’s had never been afraid of a fight. It didn’t matter what some pretty girl thought about it. Two dropped his can of beer in Pony's hands and raced towards Bob, but he stopped when he heard a loud interjection.
“ENOUGH! I’m not going anywhere with anybody!”
“Sherri Elaine Valance, get in the car!” Bob screamed, shocking Two-Bit. Calling his girlfriend by her full name? That was sure to help.
“Bob, we’re done,” Cherry exclaimed, throwing his letterman jacket at Bob's feet. There was a pause, palpable tension rising through the air.
“What do you mean we’re done?” Bob protested, “What does that even mean?”
“It means she’s done Bob!” Marcia yelled.
“Eat shit Marcia!” Bob retorted, and Two-Bit was feeling more ready than ever to put this motherfucker in his place.
“Stop it! Just stop—it’s over, ok Bob? This is over!”
Bob stared at her in shock. “Did you just break up with me?” he asked in disbelief. “Is that what just happened? Cherry, get in the car. NOW!” He moved towards her threateningly with a final dangerous plea. Cherry crossed her arms and planted her feet. Once again, Two-Bit couldn't help but admire her bravery.
Bob looked at her for a last moment, before turning back around and coming towards Ponyboy- Two-Bit caught him and shoved him backwards. He was close enough to see that alongside all the anger, there was heartbreak in Bob's eyes.
Marcia
“You’re fucking dead, loser!” Bob yelled at Ponyboy. Marcia wished she could move, but Trip had been holding her back ever since she had interrupted Bob, his arm snaked around the front of her waist.
Bob finally started to leave, their friends following suit. Other than, of course, Cherry.
Marcia still couldn’t believe Cherry’d finally had the guts to break it off with Bob. She knew how much she loved him, but Marcia still thought that this was a long time coming.
Trip grabbed Marcia’s hand and started dragging her behind him to follow their friends, snapping Marcia back to reality. She tore her hand out of his, stepping back. He stared at her for a moment, and she wondered if he’d have the nerve to start a fight. But maybe with the air of break ups flying around, he wasn’t in the mood to risk anything. He let her stay without a word. That would be a fight to face tomorrow.
When Marcia turned away, Cherry was already making her way towards her. The two friends met, then Cherry's attention turned to Ponyboy. She squeezed Marcia’s hand before stepping away to go up to the boy. Marcia just stood there, stuck.
Once Cherry had talked to Ponyboy, Marcia ran up to her and together they hurried away.
Cherry stayed over at Marcia’s house that night. They spent the whole evening curled up on her bed, Marcia trying to comfort her crying friend as best she could. Her mind wouldn’t stop going back to Two-Bit standing up for them. Well, certainly he was just helping out his friend, Ponyboy. But he’d helped Cherry as well, hadn’t he? She sighed. Why was that what she was worried about? Her boyfriend was probably mad at her, and her best friend was nursing a broken heart!
At around 3 am Cherry finally fell asleep. Marcia covered her with a blanket, gently brushing some of her red hair out of her face. Marcia then stood up, her stomach in knots, and went down to the kitchen to make herself some tea. She had this odd feeling in her gut that something was really wrong. She didn’t know exactly why, but she hoped that some tea would help her calm down enough to fall asleep.
She was just heating up the kettle when she heard a frantic knock on the front door. Her stomach dropped, and she immediately ran to open it, confused and terrified about who could be at her house this time of the night. When she saw her boyfriend standing there, his face blank, it was like time stopped.
She remembered him choking out what had happened. She remembered falling to her knees in horror. She remembered Cherry coming downstairs, having been woken up by the commotion. She remembered watching her best friend's face as Trip told her what had happened. It was something she never wanted to relive—she’d never seen grief like this. The screaming through sobs was a sound Marcia was sure would stick with her for the rest of her life. She remembered holding her best friend as waves and waves of tears wracked her body. She remembered seeing Trip, sitting with his back against the front door just staring ahead of him, unable to process what had happened.
Something broke in all of them that night. What do you do when a life is taken from you so soon, so quickly? He was only 17 years old. Marcia really hated him sometimes. She hated the way he’d get drunk and get all the boys into trouble. She hated the way he acted like he was better than everyone else. He used to try and get along with her, but eventually he gave up and either ignored her or was flat out mean. She knew he hadn’t deserved Cherry, but she also knew how much they loved each other. The way Cherry used to talk about him…and now he was gone. It didn’t matter that he could be so horrible, he shouldn’t have died. No one should die that young.
Trip eventually left, without saying a word. But Marcia sat there, holding Cherry until the sun rose.