reckless 【 the outsiders 】

eighteen.

Everyone close to her could see the obvious change that Leigh Sawyer had made. She no longer spent her off days doing nothing all day long and she could barely sit still anymore. She surprised her entire family by announcing that she'd gathered enough money to move out. She'd been planning it for a long time now and been saving up her checks for months. At first, it was more surprising that she wanted to. Dorothy had decided she was going to go to college: Howard University in DC, to be specific, so Leigh couldn't have her as a roommate. She was over a thousand miles away and the girl had no idea how she'd live without her best friend but they'd still write to one another. Gigi, instead, moved in and even she began taking on some of Leigh's 'California woman' characteristics.

Leigh decided that since she had nothing else to do with her day, she may as well fill her time and had taken up another job. A part of Winston couldn't stand that, or any of this 'new Leigh'; it seemed like she didn't care about him anymore. Not to mention, he had no job, very little money of his own, and was perpetually in trouble with everyone while she had two sources of income and sorta knew what she wanted to do. He wondered if that was why she was so uninterested in him lately.

He didn't wanna, but Dally knew he'd have to say exactly what he was thinking to get exactly what he wanted to know.

❁

"Well, lookie here. I finally get to meet Leigh's guy," Gigi says when she sees who it was knocking at her door. She wondered for a second if her tiny shorts were a little inappropriate to open a door in but was already getting ready to close the door. "Genevieve Mills, call me Gigi. Leigh ain't off 'til seven, hon'."

"Yeah," he quickly replies, stopping the door with his hand, "I needed to--uh--I needed to talk to you."

"Oh yeah? Well if you're lookin' to buy, I ain't sellin' no more." She went to close the door a second time but Dallas kept it from closing yet again.

"What? No."

She was surprised, she knew it was no funny business but she wasn't used to people coming to her for things, especially people who didn't know her well. "Oh, well then what do you need?"

"Don't tell Leigh, alright?" She agreed lazily, letting him into the apartment, sensing this could take long. The ginger couldn't wait to hear what this guy was gonna say. "What's up with her? I mean she don't really hang out with me no more and she's cool around me but when we ain't together she forgets all about me." Just saying it made him wanna hit himself, he thought he sounded stupid.

"Aw, you worried she ain't into you no more?" She giggled, taking a seat on the weathered suede couch, covering her legs with the fluffy blanket which had been left close enough for her to grab it. Despite the obvious discomfort in the boy, Gigi kept an upbeat attitude. "Don't even begin to think she loves you any less. She's just livin' with her new LA attitude."

"Well, I don't care for it."

The girl shrugged. "You gotta get used to it. Now, people like to underestimate my intelligence but I know stuff. It's all scary to you right now because she's changin' and you ain't," she profiled. Gigi never told people but she was very into psychology. It was the only thing she read books on. Leigh was the only one who knew she wanted to become licensed in social work. "You ain't lettin' yourself grow 'cause you're supposed to be all bad and you're scared."

She noticed his demeanor change into the one she was used to when she'd see him on the street--cold and tough--but he wasn't fooling her a bit. She knew he was no less worried than he obviously was before. "Quit talkin' about me like you know me. You don't know me, alright?"

"Oh but I do, hon'. I got plenty of friends like you; the only difference is that they ain't got girls like Leigh." She pats the couch beside her and crossed her legs energetically as Dallas went to have a seat. "So you wanna know what you have to do to get Leigh to pay more attention to you."

"I guess."

"She's becomin' independent and gettin' herself together; now, she ain't sayin' it 'cause she loves the hell out of you but she thinks you need to get your shit together. Get a job or finish school or somethin'," Gigi suggested. He heard the way she said Leigh loved him but that was something neither of them had said to one another yet. It gave him a feeling in his gut he couldn't describe. "You'd probably be the one livin' here if you had started doin' that a while ago but she never says nothin' so I ain't surprised. She's not gonna push."

He felt better hearing what he needed to do but now he had another problem. "Nobody around here'll help me."

"Yeah, that's how it works, babe. You gotta help yourself. It's the real world."

She heard him mumbling and couldn't hear what was being said but knew he was already defeated. Gigi didn't wanna get too integrated into his life but seeing Dally already discouraged made her wanna help the guy out. Not to mention it'd help her with some social work experience. "How 'bout I help you out--"

"Why?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes, "'Cause I need some social work experience and helpin' a hood like you is perfect." Gigi cut off Dally before he could reply to her joke, "You're not gonna be mad that I said that 'cause I'm tryin' to help you."

"Why are you helpin' me? You don't even know me."

Shrugging, the redhead told him her real reason, "Well, I've known Leigh for a while and she don't date. But she's been goin' steady with you and it's made her real happy and if y'all break up, she'll be a real annoyin' roommate, I know it."

He didn't know if he'd completely trusted the girl and wasn't even sure if he wanted a job but it was really on his mind now. One thing was for sure, he wanted Leigh in his life for as long as possible and if that meant a little change, he would be willing to try.

edited 12-29-21