<Skyler's POV>

The train drops me off at a town called Moore, Oklahoma. Its about an hour and forty two minutes from Tulsa. I step off the train and walk in tired strides. When I head to town it looks practically abandoned compared to Tulsa. The first thing I do is go to a tiny motel that smells of cigarette smoke. Its a good thing the prices are cheap, because my budget is pretty small. The women hands me a key and leads me to my room.

"Have a nice stay," she says then walks away carelessly. The room consists of one twin bed, a small dresser, and a desk, along with a small bathroom. I sit on the bed, which squeaks loudly, and start to think about my plan. I get a job, make money, buy a small house, have the baby, than give the baby up for adoption. Being a mother has never once been a concern of mine. Not once in my life had I given pregnancy a second thought. Yet, here I am with a small boy or girl growing inside of me. Dally hates children, he told me so.

I flush the thoughts away and decide to take a shower. The warm water runs down my body, soothing the cuts and healing my mind. My mind relaxes, and for the first time in the past two days, I am completely calm. All of my problems seemingly flow down the drain with the luke warm water. When I step out of the shower I have nothing, but my bloody clothes to wear. An idea pops in my head. Instead of using my limited money I go to the laundry room of the motel and steal a few shirts and pants. Before I can get caught, I run out of the room and back into mine to change into the clean clothes.

Now to find a job, something that will give me money and take my mind off of Dallas. I walk out of the motel in my new clothes that are a little baggy on my boney body. As my feet carry me aimlessly down the nearly empty streets I find a small diner with a help wanted sign in the window. I nervously push through the door and walk to the counter. Putting on a fake smile I try my hardest to be polite.

"Hey, I noticed your help wanted sign and I'd like to apply for a job," I say. The girl waves over a guy with a cigar hanging out of his mouth.

"Talk to the manager," she says, quite annoyed with my presence.

"What do you want?" The manager asks me.

"I'd like a job," I announce to him.

"That's grand, your hired as a waitress, you work Monday through Thursday from 12:00 to 6:00pm, have fun," the guy says sarcastically. I mumble an okay, pick up a uniform and walk out of the diner. They seemed real professional. I walk back to my motel room and lay on the bed.

"Boy, for one night of fun with Dally, this sure is going to be a big price to pay," I say aloud to myself. Oh great, now I'm thinking about Dally.

What would he say if he found me. He hates me and I know it. Yet, for some reason all I can think of is the way he puts this fake tough face on when really inside he's one of the best people I've ever met. The way he loves Christina more than anything and the way he dealt with my problems before I was his girl. I miss the beginning of our relationship when everything seemed okay. Everything went wrong right after Soda and Steve were drafted. Oh no.

I'm a horrible person. I left Chris. Soda and Steve are leaving her, and Dallas is probably an emotional wreck. All she has is Two-Bit, Johnny, Pony, and Darry, and God only knows how bad Pony and Darry are going to be after Soda leaves. I can't believe I just left without thinking about how it would affect Chris.

<Soda's POV>

2 days till Soda and Steve leave for Vietnam.

I walk around aimlessly after I've finished packing a small suitcase for Vietnam. The gang has been sleeping here for days, trying as hard as possible to hang out a lot before our two days are up. I've talked to Steve a few times about if he thinks we'll be sent into intimate battle. He shrugged it off and told me we'll have to wait and see.

I walk into the family room and see everyone is still here. Mickey is on TV and there are 6 plates with a piece of chocolate cake on each of them. Chris is sitting at a table with Steve playing cards. My eyes drift naturally to Dally. He has not moved from the chair he is sitting in ever since he came to our house a few days after Skyler left. At first he made it his main priority to find her and was running rapidly around Oklahoma. When he realized he wouldn't find her he sat in that big chair and didn't move. He just stared at the flashing TV with his hand on his chin. He hasn't eaten all that much besides a few swigs of beer and bites of cake, nothing to keep his body healthy. For some reason anger fills me up. I go to Dally and drag him out of the chair and into the hall where no one can see us. I push him up against a wall and point sternly at him.

"You need to get your shit together Dal," I whisper angrily.

"Why?"

"Because we are all leaving and your sister, my wife by the way, needs you, she needs her brother," I tell him in a stern tone. He looks at the floor.

"I need Skyl-"

"Don't you even! You don't make everyone else around you miserable because you lost track of someone Dal! Steve and I are going to war and I don't know if I'll be back, Chris needs you... Skyler would've wanted you to take care of your sister, so get your shit together and comfort your family," I say, as I release his collar and walk back into the living room with angry strides. Dally just stands behind me, seemingly oblivious to the world. When I make it back to everyone I quickly join Steve and Chris at their card table. Pony and Darry have occupied themselves by watching the game as well. Towards the end of the night, everyone has joined in except for Dally. As we begin a new game I force Dally to play.

As the game goes on, he seems to forget more and more about Skyler. He even smiles for the first time since Skyler left. Finally I feel a little better about leaving Chris with Dally.

A/N boring chapter my lovelies, I apologize. I'm trying to set everything in place and if you think Skyler is coming back soon... you're wrong, sorry😁😁 I'm trying to really show how long the time feels for the characters. I bet you spoon feels are threw the roof. Not really nothing happened in this chapter.

Stay gold💛

Vote and Comment.