Take Me Back to Where We Started

"Get up. Jesus Christ, you threw up all over my jacket." I slowly opened my eyes and saw a not-so-friendly face standing over me. "Get up." As much as I didn't want to, I pushed myself up off the ground. "What the fuck am I supposed to do now?" I looked down and saw throw up on the wood floor and on the jacket, which I now knew was Dallas's. "If you get me a sponge or something I'll clean it. I can take your jacket and clean it for you, too." He shook his head then walked out the door. I soon realized that I was still drunk, which I was happy about because it was better than being hungover. He came back with a wet sponge and some paper towels. After a few minutes the floor was clean, but his jacket wasn't. "I"m uh…really sorry about that." He lit a cigarette, then sat down on the corner of the bed. "Yeah, well. You should be." "I'll take it with me and clean it, then I'll give it to you or Two Bit or something." "Can't you just go run it under the water in the bathroom or something?" He asked. "No. It needs to actually be washed. I'll get it back to you, don't worry." "Yeah, whatever. Two Bit is down stairs waiting for you." I got up and grabbed his jacket. "Thanks for letting me sleep here." "I didn't let you. You let yourself. I tried getting you out, but obviously that didn't work." I said thanks again, then walked down the stairs.

"Man, I thought you died or something until Dally came down stairs this morning and told me you were in his room. He really let you sleep on the floor?" I rubbed my head. The hangover was starting to kick in. "Yeah, I guess. I don't really remember what happened to be honest. But is there anyway we can get a beer or something. I'm trying to avoid this hangover." He laughed. "You and me both. We'll grab one from Buck, then I'll walk you home." Two Bit went behind the bar and grabbed two beers from a cooler. After that we began walking towards my house. "Heard you threw up all over Dally's jacket, huh?" He started laughing. "How'd you get up there anyhow?" I rubbed my head, trying to piece together last night. "I went up looking for a bathroom and I ended up in his bedroom. I was probably so annoying. Tell him I said sorry, alright?" He laughed again. From what I knew of Two Bit, he laughed a lot. "Yeah, I'll tell him, although I don't think he cared all that much." I finished my beer, then threw it on the side of the road. "He seemed pretty pissed this morning." "You know," Two Bit said. "You're a lot different than most of the Soc's that I've had the misfortune of knowing." That made me laugh. "We're not all bad." "Well, when your friends stop coming over here and pounding us for no reason, I'll believe it." I hated how just because I was from the other side of town and my family had money I was grouped in with the rest of the Soc's. It made me upset when I thought about it. "I don't like it either. I think it's disgusting. Hell, I'd rather hang out with you and your friends than my own." We were at the DX Station when I stopped Two Bit. "I get it if you don't wanna walk the rest of the way. I think I can make it by myself from here." He nodded his head. "Here, give me your hand." I grabbed a pen out of my purse and wrote my number down. "Call me sometime." "Seriously?" I laughed. "Yes, seriously. Thank you for walking me home and everything." He nodded, then turned around and walked away.

It only took me a few minutes to get home but I was dreading seeing my father the whole way. I opened the front door quietly, hoping that he was sleeping on the couch or something. He wasn't in the living room so I tried creeping over towards the stairs. "Where do you think you're going?" I sighed, then turned around. "Have a good night last night?" I walked back downstairs once I realized that it was my brother, not my dad. "Yeah, it was alright." "Where'd ya go?" He asked. "Just to Bob's. He was having a party." Lying came easily to me. Probably too easily. "That would make sense, because you stink of alcohol. But I was at Bob's and I didn't see you there." Shit. "Yeah well…" I coughed to try and give myself a few extra seconds to think of something. "Caitlin's boyfriend broke up with her so we left early. We went back to her house and drank, then fell asleep. How was Bob's though?" He turned his attention back to the TV. "It was alright. Cynthia came with me. I learned that she's not big on drinking." I got up and went to the kitchen. Cynthia was his new girlfriend that my parents wouldn't stop reminding me about. "What? Not big on drinking? She must be weird." I heard him laughing from the living room. "Not everyone is an alcoholic like you, idiot." I started making myself a sandwich when I heard the door open. "Hello?" I heard my Dad's voice. "Shit." I left everything on the table and darted up the stairs and right into the bathroom so I could wash the alcohol smell off of me.

After I took a shower, I went into my room, hoping that I could sleep for a couple of hours. I had just laid down when my phone rang. I rolled over to the side of the bed and grabbed the phone off of my nigh stand. "Hello?" "Hey, it's Trish." Shit. I forgot that I completely blew her off last night. "Oh, hey." "Where were you last night? We came to pick you up but your brother said that you already went out." Somehow, I came up with a story to get my way out of this one. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. My mom wasn't feeling well so I had to go out and get her a few things, then I stayed home and took care of her all night. I meant to call you but I was too busy. I'm sorry." Nope, I wasn't sorry at all. "Don't worry about it. Tell her to get well soon. Anyway, you wanna come over tonight? I'm having a few friends over since my parents won't be home." I began coughing. "I would, but I think my mom gave me what ever she has. I'm not feelin' too hot. See you Monday?" "Yeah, sure." Trish hung up the phone. I put the phone back on the nightstand and rolled over.

"Come on, get up. Dinner's ready. Cynthia's here, so brush your hair or something." I rolled over and saw my brother standing over me. "My hair is seriously going to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend?" He walked out of my room without responding. I decided to brush my hair, not for my brother or his girlfriend, but so my mom wouldn't have another thing to bitch at me about. I walked down the stairs and saw a blonde haired girl sitting at the table next to Paul, my brother. She had perfect ringlets in her hair and her makeup was perfect and her clothes were perfect and everything was about her was perfect. I walked over to the table and sat down. "Nicole, this is my girlfriend, Cynthia. Cynthia, this is Nicole." I smiled. "Nice to meet you." She just smiled back.

Throughout the course of dinner my mom gushed over her hair, and her outfit, and her shoes, and her makeup and the list goes on and on. "Nicole, I always try to get you to cut your hair and wear it like this. You would look so pretty." I rolled my eyes. I had pretty long brown hair and I usually tried to get it as straight as I could. "It wouldn't look good on me." I tuned the rest of their conversations out and focused on eating my steak. "That Dallas Winston was down at the station again today." I heard my Dad say. My eyes shot open. I'm almost positive that I told Dallas I was "Tom's" daughter. I didn't know Dallas, but he seemed like the type of guy who didn't like police and I figured he would tell my Dad that I slept in his bedroom last night to piss him off. I waited for him to start screaming at me, but he never did. Finally, Cynthia was leaving. I said bye then went and sat down on the couch. As soon as the front door closed I heard my dad call my name. "Fuck." I said to myself as I got off of the couch. "Where were you last night?" He asked. I went over and sat down next to Paul at the table. "Why?" He sat down across from us. "Somebody got brought into the station today for fighting. Dallas Winston? That sound familiar to you?" I could feel Paul staring at me. "Yeah, you talk about him a lot at dinner." "Yeah, well, that son of a bitch told me that you were with him last night. I didn't believe it but I wanted to hear it from you. Were you with him last night?" I started laughing. "What, Dad? Dallas Winston? No, I was not with him last night." He nodded his head. "But how did he know that I talk about him at dinner table?" I tried thinking a way out of this one, but I was stuck. "She couldn't have been with him last night. She was with me at Bob's. Did she tell you the news? Randy and Nicole are dating!" I snapped my head to the side and stared at my brother. "What, really? That's great. Randy's a good kid. He comes from a good family. It's about time you got yourself a nice boy." My dad got up and walked away from the table. "What the fuck, Paul?" He rolled his eyes. "I knew you were lying earlier. Caitlin was at the party all night. You weren't finding a way out of that one. I had to help you." I slouched down and leaned my head against the back of the chair. "So, you were with Dally Winston?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess." "What do you mean you guess? You don't go seeing him again, do you hear me? I know him and he's nothing but trouble." I nodded my head. "I wasn't like with him, ya know, like we didn't do anything. I just passed out in a room at Buck Merrill's and he happened to be sleeping in there too." "What the fuck were you doing over there? Haven't I told you about that place? And I don't care where you were or what you were doing, you don't go anywhere near Dallas Winston again. I don't wanna sound like Dad but I've had friends who fought that kid before and he's nothin' but a hood." I rolled my eyes. "All of the Greasers that I've met aren't at all like what you describe them as." He got up from the table and walked over towards the stairs. "I love you, but you're a fucking idiot."

I spent my Sunday mostly by sleeping and eating. Between the two, I acted out a fake telephone break up between me and Randy. I fake cried to my Dad for a couple minutes, then told him that I needed to go lie down. It might've been a little much for a one day relationship, but it worked. I realized around ten o'clock that night that I had homework but I decided that I would do it at school the next morning.