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bearsinpotatosacks · 2 years ago

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Rage Rising - Chapter 1 - A Grease Fic

Kenickie’s been antagonising Sandy for a while, but when something goes wrong in his personal life, it all comes to head with Danny.

Words: 3244

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The group sat around the fire, the embers flickering up away in the early spring breeze. Half hearted laughter blew away along with it as Sonny and Doody made an attempt at humour. Danny tried to make his reaction genuine, yet struggled, as their humour hadn’t evolved past elementary school and was starting to wear down his patience.

He tightened his arm around Sandy and smiled. The fire glowed on her skin, made the light blazing in her eyes intensify as her body shivered slightly in the cold. An instinct, a hidden one from years before when his Dad tried to teach him the ways of women, told him to take off his own jacket and place it around her, making her grin when he did.

She seemed more comfortable after a few months of being at Rydell, now the drama of her first getting here, the dance and the drive-in had settled he could see she was getting close with the group. Well, apart from Kenickie.

He knew why. The arrival of Sandy had changed everything they had and had been building up. Years of trust gone down the drain because of some unspoken rule that they couldn’t be friends while Danny was with her.

They weren’t just friends, though. He remembered the nights spent by the racetrack watching the drivers train. The lights shone on his face the same it was on Sandy’s now, but he gave him butterflies as they kissed in silhouettes, she radiated comfort as he tried to bury the past.

A car rumbled along the dirt track, they weren't too far from the town but far enough out that the lights in houses were distant and the road petered out about half a mile away.

Headlights lit up the trees, turned them from black to vibrant green before the car turned and stopped beside Danny's and Rizzo's.

Danny knew that fresh paintwork, the shabby bumper and tired flat top roof. It was Grease Lightning. So, it was Kenickie.

He hadn't seen him much lately, all his time had gone into the car. Danny had helped of course, they were all helping, but it was always with the others. They didn't seem to be alone anymore. Every time Danny suggested anything, fixing the car, going to Frosty's or just hanging out, Kenickie'd shrug it off.

Suddenly he could handle the car alone, wasn't hungry, like you needed to be hungry to go to Frosty's, or he'd just outright make some snide comment about Sandy needing him.

He thought he wasn't being obvious with how little he liked Sandy but he definitely was. His face had become scarce at group hangouts like this, ones where Sandy came. Even Rizzo was being more civil than him, and she could be a real bitch sometimes.

Kenickie lit a cigarette with his overdramatic lighter and slammed the door behind him. He scanned the group, his eyes landing on Danny before switching to Sandy, then back again. His hand lingered in his pocket as he put his lighter back, tension sprung tight in his jaw.

Sandy, being her usual naive self, waved at him. Her face dropped when he scowled. He dropped himself near Rizzo. The gang stopped in their antics, stared at him before he raised his hands and pulled out his cigarette.

"What?" He said.

"Nothing," Rizzo said, then added under her breath. "You're just the Jack Ripper of the mood that's all."

Kenickie must not have been fully paying attention, as he just scowled, again. He usually would spit something back at her, that was their strange dynamic when it came to flirting, yet, when he saw Rizzo's face, he wondered if they were fighting again.

She just rolled her eyes and turned to Sandy. Danny wouldn’t say they were friends, Rizzo would talk enough shit behind her back to make that known, but it had decreased of late. She was being civil a lot more, not directly antagonising her like she did at the start. Maybe Frenchie had talked to her, she was the only one who really seemed to be friends with everyone lately.

“So-” Rizzo said with one of the fakest smiles he’d ever seen, like he said, they weren’t friends, “Frenchie tells me that you two went on some kind of date?”

As she said that, she glanced at Kenickie. Danny didn’t even know what they were fighting about now, he couldn’t keep up with them before Sandy and certainly couldn’t now. From what he knew, Nick was trying to be supportive about Rizzo being pregnant, so why was she annoyed?

"Oh, yeah, we took a trip over spring break to a racetrack in-" Sandy pondered for a second.

Danny filled in the blank, "Sonoma, near San Francisco."

He moved his gaze away from Kenickie deliberately. That place was special to them. When Nickie first got his licence, because of course he got it first, he always drove when they 'borrowed' people's cars, they took a long weekend away to San Francisco. The school would've raged if that was their first time skipping school, but it wasn't, so no real fuss was put up for them.

It wasn't glamorous. As two poor sixteen year olds, they couldn't afford the ritz, or even a hotel. They slept in the car, under the stars and were thankful for the California weather.

"Sonoma?" Kenickie said, almost a whisper.

"Yeah, it was great, although I don't know much about racing," Sandy exclaimed.

She must have been oblivious to the shadows running across Kenickie’s face, but Danny wasn't. He saw him go through the stages of grief in a single moment before darting up and breaking the scene.

With his locked on the fire, he said with words seething rage, "Danny, can I speak with you for a second."

He knew what this would be. It had been building for a while. Since Sandy came into the picture they just hadn't been the same, and despite them both trying to keep it under wraps, some things just couldn't stay unspoken for long.

~~~~

Kenickie tugged Danny toward the wooded area away from the light of the fire, not too far so they’d be in complete darkness, but far enough away that they wouldn’t be heard. And he needed to make sure they weren’t heard.

After they’d gotten far enough away, Kenickie could finally let go of everything that had been driving him crazy for the last few weeks, no months. He could barely speak. Anger was flooding his system, more than he thought he could feel for someone so close to him. But under that, beneath the layers of viscous red was something much worse, something he was almost afraid to feel because it would mean so much more than just a girl stealing his friend. It was heartbreak.

“Sonoma?!” Was all he could get out at first. “You took her to Sonoma?”

“What, like it’s illegal?” Danny spat back

The look on his face told Kenickie he didn’t mean it. But he didn’t care.

“It was a date, I wanted to take her somewhere special, somewhere where we wouldn’t get disturbed by a certain group of teenagers,”

Maybe he was a little right about that? That night at the diner may have been a little disruptive, but maybe he wanted it to be? Danny being with Sandy was the whole reason he was so angry lately. He wanted nothing less than to ruin every moment they had, maybe then she'd leave him alone.

"Fine, but Sonoma? That place is almost a seven hour drive away, you couldn't think of somewhere closer?"

"Didn't you hear me? I wanted somewhere far away."

"San Francisco, then?" He said. "Why Sonoma?"

He stepped closer, close enough that he could see the distant flames flicker in Danny's eyes. Clenching his hands at his sides, he fought the urges to pull the lapels of his jacket, the one they spent hours trying to stitch with their insignia. He knew that part of him he was afraid of, the part being denied because of Sandy, would take it too far.

"You know what that place means to me, to us,"

As he stabbed his chest with his finger, he thought back to that weekend. Stolen car, beers bought off a fake ID, watching races without a ticket. The stars glittered so brightly as they talked about girls. In a moment of impulse, they said some bullshit about practicing kissing for girls and their lips met. Cars raced past, the wind picked up and something undoubtedly began. Something Danny couldn't just deny now he had a new girlfriend.

"I know, okay?" Danny said.

Honesty was wrought all over his face. It didn't stop everything else Kenickie wanted to say, but hesitation began to spring.

"I know we can't do this-" he gestured between them. "But just, don't pretend that we've never been more than friends."

He glanced around at the floor, "Sandy may be a cover for something, but don't make me feel like I made it all up. I get it, sometimes I wonder if me and Rizzo are real, I do feel things for her, or if it's all a cover up-"

"Sandy’s not a cover up." Danny said, confused. "I never said she was a cover up."

Kenickie ran a hand through his hair. By the way Danny's face went from reminiscing about to the past to noticing the cold hard present, he'd fucked up with that last comment. He pushed him away. Kenickie’s anger at each him finally matched.

"But that's just what you want, isn't Nickie?"

Was he a wimp if that nickname made it hurt more? Only Danny ever called him anything other than Kenickie.

"And you're fed up because you're not getting what you want, like you always do."

Sentimentality was gone. He thought of the letter in his pocket. That's why he actually came here, not to shout at Danny, but to finally get a chance to talk to him alone. Now they were here, rage rising, full of anger.

"Get what I want?" Kenickie snapped. "When have I ever got what I wanted? My mom walking out on me, is that what I wanted? Having a dad that doesn't give a shit, is that what I wanted?"

"My dad's in prison, you're not the only one who's had a hard life, alright?"

Both of them were heaving now. His hands were shaking, partially from anger, partially from hurt. They'd never fought like this.

"And why are you going on to me about not being there? You're the one avoiding me at all costs!"

He looked away. Sure, that was true, but he had his reasons. Danny didn’t have to say it in a way that made him question everything. Not that he would tell him that, he couldn't trust him anymore, not after everything that had happened.

"Why would I want to spend time with you when all you do is talk about her?" He bared his teeth at him. "Oh, Sandy’s parents invited me for tea, they really liked me, running track's not so bad maybe Sandy’s onto something."

He pulled away, running his hand through his hair again, one of his nervous ticks. Whoever said talking about emotions must've never actually done it. All he was feeling was shaky, guilt flooding his system but satisfaction at seeing Danny's face before he came up with something to say.

"You're changing too much. I don't want to be around you because you're boring, becoming like everyone else. Clubs, parents, the Danny I remember was there for me when I needed him, answered the phone or rang me back because he knew what it meant."

"Well maybe I don't want to hold your hand like some baby anymore!"

Thwack! Danny recoiled from the punch and stumbled back a few paces. Blood trickled from his nose. He swiped it with his finger as he looked up at Kenickie.

More guilt flooded his system, almost making him forget why he did it. Even during their worst fights, it never got to that point. It had always been them. Their bond was strong and consistent, sometimes the only consistent things in each other’s lives. But now that was gone, Kenickie felt he was spiralling. The only thing keeping him tethered was the car and Rizzo being pregnant, even if it wasn’t his.

Then the anger came back and he remembered that was exactly why he did it. Danny had always been there, rain or shine, girl or no girl. If he rang him, a mess, in the night, he’d pick up or have a better excuse than ‘I was having dinner at Sandy’s’. If he knocked on his window, he’d let him in. Now the world had turned on its head and couldn’t make out which way was up.

“I’m not a damn baby Danny and you know it,” he spat. “You’ve always known it. If there was anyone who’s been through shit, it’s us, so don’t go saying that me needing you is me being a baby. You know I needed you and now you’re feeling guilty-”

He pointed at him and as he kept his gaze at where they'd kicked up dust from their scrapple, “Well, good, but don’t go blaming me just because you can’t handle that your changing is pushing everyone away.”

Tears sprung now. Everything was going to shit. Just when his life seemed to be going well, Sandy came into the picture. And, sure, he knew she wasn’t manipulating him and he knew that their friend group wasn’t breaking apart but it was so much nicer to have someone to blame. Because he’d gotten tired of blaming his dad, he knew he’d never change, and couldn’t blame a mum that wasn’t around. Blaming Danny and Sandy was the closest he had to getting something to change, even if it hurt deep down.

The tears blobbed down his face now. He tried to rub them away but the dam was open, he couldn’t stop it now. Reaching into his pocket, he thought he might as well show him the letter. They’d come this far, why not tell him what he’d intended to in the first place.

“You know, I actually had a reason for talking to you, something serious.” He tugged the crumpled letter out of his pocket and flashed it at Danny.

“My mom wrote, Dad got to the letter before I did, he was drunk out of his mind by the time I got home from working on the car and you know what he gets like when he’s drunk,” he said, keeping his eyes on the floor. “And I called you because you get it, except now you don’t.

“You don’t get it, you call me a baby for wanting some support in my shitty life but instead you’re with that bitch-”

“Hey!”

“You’re with her and you don’t care what else happens as long as everything’s fine on your own little planet, well for the rest of us, maybe it ain’t!”

He couldn’t take this anymore. His feet carried him away, out of the wooded area and back toward the fire. He didn’t feel like staying, though.

“Kenickie, wait!” Danny called after him. “I’m sorry, okay?”

He turned around, fully aware that everyone was watching them but suddenly not caring, “You’re sorry? You’re sorry? Maybe you should show it by thinking of something else but you and your girlfriend, Rizzo’s pregnant, Frenchie left the school and came back, and I-”

He held his tongue about the letter. Mentioning his mum was something he rarely did to the others. They thought he was aloof and blasé about it, not that he’d cried when he’d found the envelope opened by his dad on the kitchen table just because that tiny little connection he still had with his mum, wherever she was, may finally be broken.

He stood in close, tapping his chest, “-I needed you, and you weren’t there, so don’t bother next time, okay? I don’t need you, not anymore.”

He knew that was an exaggeration. It was a good way to end an argument but what was he going to do on Monday, or in the shop with the car. He needed him and he knew it but he couldn’t let him know that, at least not yet.

~~~~

“Kenickie,” Danny called after him as he climbed into his car. “Nickie, wait, please!”

The group was speechless as the car pulled away, its headlights illuminating them for a moment before the tires screeched on the dirt path. They just left to watch Danny. He stood like some lost kid waiting for his mother to come back. He left his gaze on where the infamous ‘Grease Lightning’ had been parked.

Sandy broke the silence, “Maybe I should talk to him, it looks like what Kenickie really said really hurt him.”

Rizzo placed her hand on her arm and gave her a look she evidently didn’t understand.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said.

“Why? They've been fighting since I got here, they don't seem like good friends from what I've seen,”

It was in times like this that it really showed that Sandy was the new girl. Most of them had known each other their whole lives, or at least more than a year. Frenchie had moved here in her freshman year, Rizzo wasn't proud of how she’d treated her at first, but as their group slowly formed, everyone eventually got along. Until now, of course.

Rizzo turned to face her fully, "Look, Sandy," she started. "Danny and Kenickie have been friends for as long as any of us can remember, and they've been all each other has had for almost as long."

"Has Danny told you about his dad?"

She knew that information was sensitive. Usually she didn't care about keeping secrets but even she knew there were some things you didn't spout carelessly.

"Yeah, he's in prison, isn't he?"

Rizzo nodded, "When he got sent down, Danny went straight to Kenickie’s house, still in his suit, and practically dragged him out the house."

Sandy took the information in with wide eyes.

"And Kenickie-" she wasn't sure whether to tell her, but Sandy didn't seem the type to heartlessly tell people's tragedies. "Well, don't tell him I said this, but his mom walked out, dad didn't take it well, whenever things get a little much, including the day his mom walked out, Kenickie could always rely on Danny."

"You being here has disrupted that, and I know you probably didn't mean it, it's just that Danny's never been with a girl as seriously as you have, so there's less space for Kenickie in his life," she said, then added. "At least that's what Kenickie thinks, anyway."

Sandy didn't respond for a little while. There was a look on her face was confused Rizzo. After trying to decipher it, she realised it was her being pensive.

"Maybe someone should talk to him, then," she said, as if it was that simple.

But as Rizzo watched Danny trail about without purpose, she wondered if it actually was. They were all so tied up in their own complicated worlds, preconceived ideas and places in their group made fixing things seem impossible. Maybe someone new was exactly what they'd needed after all?

Not that she’d admit that to Sandy.

I've had some ideas for grease for a while and @caveiratimida encouraged me to write this! My general ideas are that Danny's dad is in prison for GBH, Kenickie’s mum walked out on him (with his sister that he doesn’t tell anyone about). Also, yes, they do have thing, or did before Sandy.

Thanks for reading!

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