<Dally's POV>

I wake up in the Curtis living room with Skyler asleep on my chest, her hair flung around my neck. Never once after my mother died did I think that I would go soft, especially for a girl. I accept that Johnny is a weak spot, but with Skyler it's different. I love Johnny as a close friend and someone I need to protect, but I love Skyler as family, someone I would finally commit to. I don't want to go soft, I don't plan on it ever happening, yet with Skyler I accept that I've changed. With the rest of the gang asleep around us I stand up while holding Skyler by her waist against me. She gasps and I cover her mouth. "Don't wake them up, come on," I say gesturing her to follow me. I don't know why, but I lead us upstairs into Darry's room which consists of a couch instead of a bed.

"What are we doing in here?" She asks. I walk close to her and grab her hips.

"I wanted us to be alone," I tell her.

"So we have to be alone in Darry's room?" Skyler asks rolling her eyes.

"Awe come on babe, you know you can't take it."

"Take what?" Skyler asks once again rolling her eyes.

"Me."

"You?"

"Me... you can't take me," I say seductively.

<Skyler's POV>

His forehead might as well say 'fuck me.' All he wants right now is to have sex.

"Or is it you can't take resisting me?" I ask teasing him.

"Awe come on Skyler Elizabeth, you know you want be bad," Dally says, grabbing my back and pulling me close. He starts to kiss me, but I push him away.

"Dallas stop, I'm not in this commitment for just sex," I demand.

"Then don't think of it as sex," Dally whispers by my ear.

"What am I suppose to think of it then?"

"Making love," Dally says grabbing the belt loops of my jeans.

"How is it you always get me to fall for you even when I hate you?" I ask.

"Because you want me as much as I want you." With that we start to kiss hard and stumble over to the couch that serves as Darry's bed. I fall on top of him and purposely tangle my fingers in Dally's greasy hair tendrils. Leaning my head back, I close my eyes as Dallas kisses my neck and pulls off my shirt off, allowing him entrance to kiss from my neck down to my hips. I pull Dally back up to my face by the belt loops in his jeans then discard of his pants. He does the same to me as I clutch his back and continue to kiss him.

We throw off the rest of our clothes, discarding any barriers between us. "Dallas?" I whisper. He looks up at my eyes.

"Yes?"

I put on the straightest face I can accomplish. Taking a deep breath I say the words, "I love you Dallas Winston." Dally smiles as me and then we finish what we had started. I try desperately to be cautious of his side, but it seems no matter how hard I try it always ends up with Dally yelping in pain between kisses. He keeps quickly whispering it's okay, but I feel so bad that I'm hurting him.

Being our clumsy selves, in the middle of sex- making love rather- we fall off of the couch and erupt in chuckles before lamely continuing. Dallas lays over me as a place my hand on his chest. After its over, I flip myself on top of him and rub the pink skin around the slash wound. Dallas sighs as I do it, and I don't stop even when we kiss again. Later we get dressed before anyone notices that we were gone.

We walk back downstairs and find everyone is still sleeping. As we sit at the kitchen table I turn my head towards all of them. My eyes flick quickly to Soda and Chris. Dally catches me staring.

"What is your obsession with them? You're like an emotional mother," Dally claims. I roll my eyes and laugh quietly.

"I guess I just like how free they are," I inform him.

"You are such a mom," Dally says laughing. I burst out in giggles.

"Then I guess your a father, besides you act like that with Chris anyway," I say. Dally puts his head down and continues smiling.

"Does that make me a softie?"

"Nope," I say, popping the p. I walk over to Dally's chair and sit on his lap. "You have no idea how grateful I am for you guys." Dallas pecks my lips. "Oh Dallas what are you going to do next week?" He looks at me confused.

"What's next week?" Dally asks.

"That time of the month, which means no sex for you," I explain. His facial expression doesn't change.

<Soda's POV>

I wake up to Dal and Skyler's voices. As I listen to Dally's pathetic confusion about Skyler's period I nudge everyone else awake and tell them to be quiet. They listen with me.

"I'm still not following," Dally claims. Skyler rolls her eyes.

"You know when a girl figures out they aren't pregnant," Skyler leads on. Dallas still looks confused so the rest of us shout in unison.

"She's on her period next week numbskull!" Dally and Skyler jump, they must've thought we were still asleep. Then Dally's cheeks turn bright red.

"Ya I knew that," he claims. Chris rolls her eyes.

"Ya sure ya did Dal."

"Oh shut your trap Chrissy," Dally yells. Skyler for some reason can't stop laughing. Of coarse this just makes me burst out in endless laughter as well. I grab the collar of Chris's shirt and pull her to my face to kiss her. We lock lips and kiss for a while until Steve pushes us apart and sits between us. He throws his arms around our shoulders.

"Oh Steve what would we do without you," I ask chuckling. Steve smirks.

"The real question is what would we do without you," Steve says.

"Everything would go wrong," Chris replies. Chris and I each kiss one of Steve's cheeks, then there is a white flash. Darry smiles at his new photo of the three of us.

"Really Dar?" I ask shrugging my shoulders.

"When y'all are old and wrinkly you'll thank me for taking the pictures of your young selves," Darry says smiling.

"To bad you're already that old," Chris shoots back. Darry shakes his head and walks away.

<Chris's POV>

"Come on guys lets go out, bye Dal," I shout as Steve, Soda, and I walk out the front door. He doesn't even glance at me because he's to busy whispering to Skyler. I smile and roll my eyes as we close the door.

"Where are we going my love?" Soda asks putting his arm around me.

"I don't know, why don't you ask Chris," Steve says chuckling like Two-Bit. We laugh with him and then Chris answers me like intended.

"We're just walking."

"We'll just walking has to end up somewhere," Steve says frowning and kicking a pebble.

"How bout we just go hang out at the DX?" Soda suggests.

"Sure Soda lets go," I say. We take our time walking the streets that are illuminated by the bright afternoon sun. Once we make it to the DX, Steve leads us behind the counter and we sit in a circle hidden from the view of the other workers.

"So guys when's the wedding?" Steve asks. I blush a furious red color.

"As soon as you stop sitting between us," I shoot back. Steve shrugs and a frown replaces his giant smile.

"Lucky for you that wish is coming true," he says. Soda and I stare at Steve with wide eyes.

"What do you mean?" Soda asks worried and confused. Steve pulls a small envelope from his pants pocket and places it in Soda's hand. I peek over Soda's shoulder and read. My heart drops and tears form in my eyes, and I make no effort to hold them back. Im not going to be cliché and say, but we all held ourselves together for our best friend. No. That would be lying. We let our tears form waterfalls down our cheeks.

"I got the letter yesterday, I'm going to Vietnam in two weeks," Steve explains, his voice cracking and then completely shattering like a glass plate against a wall. Except that plate represents our world, our happiness, and the wall is the war.

"Oh Steve," I mutter through my tears. "I'm so sorry." This is all I can manage to say without screaming. Soda just stays silent with red eyes and a pouted lip. I pull both of them next to me and squeeze them tight. We form our tight hug and we don't let go. I wish I could just stay in my friends embrace forever, but whether I like it or not, Steve is leaving and who knows if he'll make it back from hell. I start to cry louder and almost sound like I'm screaming. Steve starts to cry a little more when he looks at me.

"Shh, Chris, don't cry for me, that goes for you too Soda, I'm going to try, I'll try as hard as possible to come back for you guys, I promise," Steve swears, calming down a bit. I just clutch his back tighter with Soda.

"Steve, you have to make it back, we need you, I need you," Soda says with teary eyes.

"Stop it Sodapop, I'm coming back, no one would dare hurt this beautiful face," Steve says playfully, trying to lighten the mood. I smile, but all I can feel is utter disappointment in the world for making Steve leave.

I would never forgive the earth if one of my best friends didn't make it back. We need him, all of us. Darry, me, Soda, Pony, Two-Bit, Johnny, Dallas, even Skyler needs Steve to lighten the mood.

Because loosing Steve is like loosing a vital organ. Loosing Steve is loosing part of our lives forever.

A/N IM AN EVIL MOTHER FUCKER! AND THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF THE PAIN THAT IS COMING YOUR WAY! I'm at the point in the story where everything that can go wrong will go wrong so bring some tissues and breathe. It only gets worse from here...

Have a nice day/night my little sad spoons...

Stay gold and pray for Steve💛

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