Winter came to an end and spring arrived. With it came warmer weather and everyone was officially able to put away heavy coats.

The process with the court was long and difficult, but, so far, I had the system on my side. My lawyer was hard at work putting a case against my grandparents. With as much evidence as we had gathered, they figured I'd definitely get custody of Greg and Claire. Our first official court date was going to be at the end of the month, April.

I was still without a job, but, thanks to my savings and Soda's mechanic job, we were getting by. We were able to pay all our bills on time and Soda and I were both really happy. I was the happiest I'd been in a long time.

One morning, just a few weeks before our first court appearance, Sodapop and I sat at the table, drinking coffee and searching for jobs.

"What about this one?" Soda asked, shoving the 'Help Wanted' ad my way. It was for a CPA job.

"Don't you have to have college degrees to be an accountant?"

He shrugged and took the paper back.

"There's gotta be something. I've gotta get a job. I'm going crazy."

"I know. I watched you scrub the bathtub twice this week."

"Well, you know how I am without something to do. I go nuts."

"It'll be okay, Candy. We're gonna find something, alright?"

I nodded. "Hey, why don't we go out tonight? It's Friday. We could do with a night away from home. We don't have to drink or anything, but we could just go bowling or something, you know?"

I gave him a small smile. "Yeah, actually, that sounds like a lot of fun."

"Alright," he replied, giving me a grin back. He glanced down at his watch before standing up from the table. "I gotta go to work, babe. I'll see you tonight, okay?"

"Alright. Have a good day." He leaned down and kissed my cheek before heading out, leaving me alone, except for Whiskey, who was currently taking up as much room on the sofa as he could. I started to collect up breakfast dishes so I could wash them.

After everything was clean, I plopped down on the couch. Whiskey let out an irritated-sounding huff and got up to move farther away from me.

"Wow. I saved your scrawny little ass as a kitten and feed you until you're overweight and you can't even sit next to me? I get no thanks?"

He just blinked at me before curling up and falling asleep again. I shook my head and flipped on the TV. I flipped through all the stations twice, but there was nothing on.

"Ugh," I groaned. I hated not having a job so much. I decided to go for a walk so I got up and put on a clean pair of jeans and a The Doors t-shirt. I slipped a light jacket on and then headed outside. It was so nice out; I was happy that spring and its nicer weather was finally here.

As I strolled down Maple, I turned onto Richland and headed toward town. I was so entranced in the nice spring day that it took me a minute to realize the commotion going on a little way down the street.

Some guy and a girl were on the side of the road, their Volkswagen was broken down by the looks of it. I walked toward them, figuring I could help out a little. I knew enough about cars that I could probably find the issue.

As I got closer, I saw that the whole front end was smoking.

"Damn. We come back for one weekend and this is what happens," the girl was saying. She had bright red hair and was about my height and skinny. It didn't take much more than a single look over to tell that she and her guy were hippies.

"Hey, guys," I greeted. The pair turned to me and smiled.

"Hey," the guy said.

"Need some help?" I asked.

"Yeah. Our van broke down and we need to get clear on the other side of town."

"Alright. Mind if I take a look?"

"Yeah, that's groovy," the guy replied, shrugging simply. I rolled up my jacket sleeves. The guy went around to pop open the hood and as soon as he did, a giant cloud of smoke wafted into the air.

"Jesus," I coughed, taking a step back. As soon as it cleared, I moved back toward the car again and looked inside. Immediately, I could see it was the radiator. I could see it was hot as hell and it stunk so bad. The surface was so hot, you could have fried an egg on it.

"It's your radiator," I said. "By the looks of it, I'd say you probably have a coolant leak."

"Can we make it across town?" the girl asked.

"I doubt that. If you go too far with it this bad, you could really mess up the radiator and the whole engine. It'll overheat. Could start a fire. I know a body shop not too far from here, though. My boyfriend works there. He knows a helluva lot more about cars than me, so he could probably fix it up for you guys."

"Groovy, man," the guy said.

"Hop in, you can show us where it is," the girl offered and I shrugged and got in. I told them directions to the shop and they pulled in. Sodapop and one of his coworkers were standing outside smoking. The three of us jumped out of the van.

"Hey, babe!" Soda said, perking up instantly.

"Hey," I replied.

"What's up?" he looked around me at the smoking van.

"Uh, well, it looks like they've got a coolant leak. Their radiator's pretty messed up."

"Okay. Let's take a look, then. Tommy, wanna pull it into the garage?"

"Sure thing," the guy, Tommy, replied. He flicked his cig onto the ground and ground it up with the toe of his boot. While Tommy and Sodapop pulled the Volkswagen into the garage, I stood next to the hippies.

"How you know so much about cars?" the guy asked me.

"Oh, well, my boyfriend and best friend-- they used to work at the DX. Long time ago. I hung out around there sometimes and I got pretty good with cars."

"Hey, you look really familiar," the girl said as the guys began to work on the car. The guy seemed to be trying to see what the actual issue was, but he looked as though he didn't know much more about cars than how to drive them. As I looked at the girl, I could see that her features were quite familiar to me, as well.

"Oh! I got it! Randy, this is the girl that beat up Rosie Dunn in sophomore year. Carrie, right?"

"Candy," I corrected. "You probably remember Sodapop, though. And our buddy, Steve."

"Oh, yeah. I missed those guys. They stopped working at the gasoline station and it just wasn't the same."

"Yeah, they just got home from Vietnam about five months ago."

"I'm Cherry, by the way," she said. "And my friend Randy." She pointed to where Randy Adderson stood and I remembered all those years ago when his friend Bob had started all that drama with Ponyboy and Johnny. I knew Randy and Pony had made amends, but I also knew Ponyboy wasn't interested in reliving those memories. 

"Oh, yeah. I remember you guys," I said cautiously.

"Yeah. So, you're dating Sodapop Curtis now?" Cherry asked, raising her red brows. She looked back to where Sodapop was and then back at me. "He looks so different now." She sounded hesitant. I was hoping she wasn't going to be one of those "go to hell, you baby-killer" types of people. But she didn't seem to be. I didn't know Cherry Valance all that much. I wasn't sure what I was expecting from her.

"Yeah. We've been going for a few months. We started going when we reunited after he got home."

"I always knew you guys would end up together."

For some reason, this shocked me. I turned to her and she seemed confused by my look of surprise.

"Oh, come on. I don't know any two people who know each other like you and Sodapop do. You know, even when all those girls flirted with him, it was always you and that Sandy that lit up his world. Everyone could see it. In the end, I guess it was you. It's not like I know you guys all that personally, but I'm glad it was you. I never really trusted Sandy."

I blushed. It took a lot to make me blush, but that comment did."Yeah," I said slowly. "I am, too."

'''

It took a while before they found and fixed the leak. Just like I had said, it was a coolant leak. I didn't have to stay there, but I was making good conversation with Randy and Cherry, which never would have happened eight years ago. They were telling me all about California and all the ways they'd learned to expand their mind; some I'd rather not experience for myself.

Once they paid for the service, they hopped in their Volkswagen, bid us goodbye and a 'thank you' and they left. I never saw Cherry Valance or Randy Adderson again.

Sodapop came over to me and smiled. "I want you to come meet someone."

I let him take my hand and drag me into the garage and over to a small office in the corner. He pushed the door open and pulled me inside where a huge biker-looking guy was sitting at a desk.

"Jesse, this is my girl. You said you've been needing a new mechanic. She's good with cars."

"Oh, I--"

Sodapop ignored me and continued talking. "Sometimes she used to help me and our buddy Steve when we worked over at the DX. I think she'd be really good."

Jesse looked up from some paperwork looking unamused.

"No offense, but a girl? I've never had a girl work in my shop before. Usually you women do good at paperwork."

This angered me. I puffed out my chest. "Let me work on a car, then," I said. "What're you so scared of?"

"Nothin'. I've just never had a girl in my shop. She correctly diagnosed a coolant leak, so what? Anyone could have smelled and identified that shit."

Sodapop set his jaw impatiently. "Yeah, but she knows cars. She used to help work on them and she knows every make and model. She used to be an office manager over at the Buick Place."

Jesse looked at me. "Used to be?"

"I, er, quit," I said. "I'm going through court stuff right now to get guardianship of my siblings."

Jesse nodded slowly.

"Just think about it, man, okay? She needs another job so we can get those kids with us and you said you needed a new mechanic."

"I know, I know." Jesse huffed irritably. "Give me some time to think, 'kay? Come back in a few days and I'll let you know."

"Okay," I said. "Uh, thanks."

I turned to Sodapop. "Um, I guess I'm gonna head home."

"Okay. I'll walk you out." Soda and I left Jesse's office; Soda closed the door behind him. We left the garage and stood outside. The spring air was really refreshing after being in the old tire smelling garage for over an hour. Soda lit a cig.

"So you really think I should work here?"

Sodapop nodded. "I don't know why I never thought about it. But you're really good with cars. I think with some proper training and such, you'd be a really good asset to the team." He said 'team' so fondly it made me all jittery. Working in a garage? I'd never done it; but Sodapop was a patient guy and a great teacher-- hell, he'd taught me how to drive. It wasn't a job I was necessarily aspiring to have, but it was a job nonetheless and a pretty good one. Sodapop made good money there and with our combined incomes, it would be like pie raising my brother and sister and paying for school and whatnot.

Maybe with some extra cash, I could go back to college, even if just at night or on the weekends. I could get a degree in mechanical works like Steve or something. I wasn't sure, but the opportunity was giving me all sorts of ideas.

"I'll keep pestering him," Soda grinned. "He'll eventually give in."

I smiled at him. "Thank you," I said.

"For what?"

"Just... for everything. I don't know what I'd do without you."

He didn't say a word as he pulled me into him. He smelled like a mixture of sweat, gasoline, and cologne, but I didn't mind.

"Alright. I'll be home at five. You still wanna go bowling?"

"Definitely," I replied. "I'm probably going to go to the store. I think we're out of milk. You need anything?"

"Um... I think we're out of peanut butter, too. Oh, and could you get some chocolate milk?"

"Okay. See you later, then."

"Bye. Love you."

"I love you." I leaned up and kissed him on the mouth. He tasted like Crest and cigarettes. I started to walk off, then Sodapop called me again.

"Hey, babe?" I turned to him. "Be careful, okay?"

I gave him a look but nodded. "I always am." He gave me one last little smile before stamping out his cigarette and walking back into the garage. I headed back home.

'''

helloooo. I'm back. Sorry I was gone for so long, but I kind of needed a break from writing. I haven't been super great mentally lately, mostly because I haven't had a day off work since the New Year. Anyway, I'm back and hopefully I'll get this ball rolling and have this finished soon. Hope y'all forgive me :) xJ