Lean On Me

Sharpshooter

Disclaimer; I own nothing.

"Ponyboy Curtis, what were you thinking? Of all the stupid things to do, you go and get yourself mauled by a dog?"

He winced at the sound of Darry's voice, sinking farther down in his seat. This was the worst. Darry didn't sound the least bit concerned by the damage -which consisted only of a few deep gashes and a bruise here and there, but they were still in need of stitches and hurt quite a bit- the eighty pound dog had done to him. No, instead he was laughing at Ponyboy's stupidity. Anger would have been better than this light, cheerful voice of Darry's.

"God, wait until I tell her this one …" Darry shook his head, trying to keep a smile off his face.

Ponyboy let out a huff, resting his elbow on the car door so he could prop his chin up on his fist. "I told you, the guy was messing with Cathy's cats, I couldn't stand around and do nothing." He glared out the window. "And y'know, you don't have to always tell Faye when I mess up."

Just the mention of his girlfriend's name made Darry beam with happiness, reminding him there was a light at the end of the long, dark tunnel that was his day. She kept him sane, and if it weren't for her he would have probably killed himself long ago.

"We're going out tonight." Darry cast a glance towards his brother. "You don't mind, do you?"

Ponyboy's shoulders sagged. Thinking of the dark house he'd have to stay in alone, or not so alone in if their house guests decided to show themselves, almost made him wish he were back with that dog. "Why would I? I love being alone in a haunted house."

"You could always see what Steve or Two-Bit are doing."

"Nah, they're probably busy," Ponyboy said, picking absently at a finger nail. "It doesn't really matter, they don't seem bad. I've got homework, anyway."

Darry nodded, pulling into their driveway. He didn't believe a thing about the 'extra terrestrial,' but even he had noticed the presence of other people in their house, people who could only be seen as quick shadows on the wall, or a figure caught out of the corner of the eye. It didn't bother him too much, but Ponyboy had been pretty spooked after the first night he had a run in with one of them.

"Hey, do we still have some of that leftover chicken?"

Darry followed his kid brother inside the house, listening to Ponyboy go on about how starved he was. Darry hoped all the eating Ponyboy was doing meant he was going to grow, but so far nothing had happened. Ponyboy was still his little 150 lb., 5'6 self.

"Pony, you'd better hope that job comes through."

"Why?" Ponyboy looked up from the Twinkie he'd been unwrapping. The two of them hadn't brought up his hopeful employment at the local record store since he'd been interviewed, and he'd been successfully keeping his mind off of it so it didn't eat a hole away in his stomach.

"Because," Darry said, grabbing the Twinkie out of Ponyboy's hands," You keep eating all the food I can afford." He finished unwrapping the snack cake, sending his brother a warning look. "And stay away from my Twinkies."

Ponyboy rolled his eyes, going back into the kitchen to hunt for dinner. It was depressing to open a cub board door, expecting it to be full of food, only to find bare shelves and cobwebs. If he did get that job, the first thing he'd spend his money on was food; he'd stock up so much they wouldn't need to go grocery shopping for months, and he'd get his own Twinkies. Or maybe Oreos …

"Guess its tuna fish and bread tonight, again." He slammed the last cub board door shut in frustration, How was it he always got stuck eating tuna and bread? At least they had milk to wash it down with, instead of just water. No, wait, he was supposed to pick up milk on his way home from school, but he went with Cathy instead …

"Damnit."

Ponyboy grabbed the half a loaf of Wonder Bread off the top of the refrigerator, sitting down at the kitchen table with a thud. He shoved a piece of the bread in his mouth, his cheek resting on the cool table top. The pain of his bruised jaw distracted him from the rest of his aching body, and the tears in his flesh that had stopped bleeding, but still burned. Maybe if he just imagined the bread was an Oreo, it would taste better.

"Hey, you okay?" Ponyboy stared sluggishly up at his brother, who smelled lightly of cologne.

"I'll manage."

"Okay, well, get to bed early." Darry frowned at his brother. It seemed whenever Darry got to have some fun, he was letting Ponyboy down. Well, he wasn't going to stay home and play mother all the time; he wanted to have a life outside of work and Ponyboy. Darry left the house, eye brows furrowed in frustration. He'd have to talk to Faye about this, maybe her feminine opinion on the situation could help.

Ponyboy lifted a hand in farewell as the front door was slammed shut. He shoved a final piece of bread in his mouth, about to get up to get some water, when the telephone started to ring. Maybe it was Cathy? He jumped up, hopeful it was her.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Crazy P!"

Nope, not Cathy.

"Terry, I thought I told you, you can't keep calling, you're going to run up our phone bill."

The voice on the other line laughed - - a deep, rippling sound that loudly echoed into Ponyboy's ear. Instead of pulling away from the sound though, he listened contentedly. It had the same sound as his father's laugh had, and it was comforting to hear.

"I know, I know. Listen kid, I just wanted to tell you …"

"Tell me what?"

"You're hired! The boss couldn't call, so he told me to."

"Really?" Ponyboy's hands gripped the telephone tightly, a smile spreading across his face. "That's great! When's my first day?"

"Next week after school let's out. You need a ride?"

Ponyboy bit down on his lip, trying to calm himself. "Yeah, I do. You care?"

"Hell no. I gotta pick up my kid sister anyways."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Hey, you know you're one lucky cat, right?"

"Whaddaya' mean?"

"The boss must have seen over twenty kids, but he chose you out of all of them. Might have been because I kept talking to him about you, but man, for him to not hire another brother … You'd better just thank your lucky stars."

"Yeah, I'll do that. Well, I'll see you next week, then."

"Yeah, okay Crazy P, see ya'."

"Bye." Ponyboy hung up the phone, grinning to himself. He had a job! He needed to tell someone, anyone. Maybe he'd even call Two-Bit, or Steve. Oh, Sodapop would flip!

Ponyboy took off to his room, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. He started jotting down his letter, his excitement almost visible through his words. Jesus Christ, was this ever great! It was going to be Camel and Oreo heaven for him! Well, maybe not so much Camel heaven, he'd started cutting back on the smokes, but it would still be heaven.

Ponyboy stopped, his head jerking up at the sound of a car door being slammed. It sounded like it was coming from the front of the house, and sure enough, when he checked outside the window, a cab was sitting out on the street. The odd thing was, the driver was the one walking to the house, something in his hand.

Maybe he was going to ask for directions. Ponyboy opened the door before the man had a chance to ring the doorbell. They stood staring at each other for an awkward moment, before the cab driver took off his hat and held out the envelope that was in his hand.

"You the family of a … A Curtis, Sodapop Curtis?"

A/N:

Don't fear, this shouldn't be a cliche 'Sodapop dies in Vietnam' fiction.

'Cause first off, Sodapop doesn't- Oops, nevermind.

Well, let me know if you loved or hated it.

-big thanks goes out to my beta, Queen Jane!-

- Sharp