Ok. So I had to post this random one-shot of a musing. More may follow. Let me know what you think.
Thanks!
XXXXX
1) He's a tag along. Steve noticed this from the minute the kid could crawl. Always following Sodapop around with a glazed smile on his face. And Sodapop actually encouraging it. Steve never mentions the small tidbit that it was he who bribed Ponyboy with some Life Savers to play hide and seek when in actuality no one was playing the game. Sure, he was only ten at the time, but Steve knew what he was doing. He still remembers the look on Mrs. Curtis's face when they thought the kid was missing.
2) Ponyboy's smart ass comments that just drive Steve crazy. Steve never sees them coming but when they do, they flow fast and loose. One day, after seeing Ponyboy exit the bathroom with two different colored socks on, he comments to Sodapop that, "Pony has nothing in his head but air."
The kid gives him an amused smile. "At least it's better than hubcaps." Sodapop laughs.
Steve leaves soon after that. If he had to put up with the brat anymore he'd probably end up saying things he couldn't take back.
3) That he's included in family functions that center around Ponyboy. The track meet is an agonizing event. Steve sweats in the hot midday sun as Two-Bit chugs a beer. He can't even talk to Sodapop; Soda's so enraptured watching his brother that he barely acknowledges Steve. The kid rounds the corner, makes it to first place and the crowd just roars.
Sodapop barely notices Steve leave.
4) His quiet confidence. When he returns from the concessions, Soda is leaping and hollering, tugging at Ponyboy's arm. "Glory kiddo! You made it to State!"
Darry claps him on the back, telling Ponyboy that he's proud. Ponyboy blinks once and then just shrugs, smiling in embarrassment. But Steve sees the swagger underneath and wonders how the hell he manages to hide it so well.
Noticing Steve's return, Ponyboy nods at him, raising an eyebrow Two-Bit style. "You get bored?"
Steve burns inside. Again with the comments.
5) 16. The age that he is now. Because for all that it is, Pony is still the youngest, he is still the smartest. He brother's still hover and Ponyboy still pushes. Steve wonders how long it will last. Deep down he knows it will always be like this.
Soda and Darry…they're Ponyboy's.
6) Walks home alone. The day after the track meet, Pony meets Sodapop and Steve at the DX. The talk, discuss Soda and Steve's plans for the weekend – without Ponyboy – and when Ponyboy goes to leave Soda volunteers Steve to walk back with him.
After all, Steve is off at four.
7) The arguments they always seem to have about nothing in particular. Half of the time, Steve feels that the kid isn't trying to be particularly snotty and is merely curious, but all the same, Steve's hackles rise and the shouting match begins.
Ponyboy stomps off, leaving Steve to contemplate if what he says was really all that bad.
8) The eerie way that Socs gravitate toward the kid, like he is a goddamn magnet.
9) The kid's yell for help. Steve has to admit it's not as scared as it should sound. It's strong, confident. A yell that knows someone will come.
10) The fact that Steve goes to him. That he's expected to, no questions asked. Steve high tails it down the street, turning right into the alleyway. Pony's there, backed up against the wall, staring down three Socs.
11) His smirk. The relieved smile that spreads across Pony's face upon seeing Steve, as if he knew Steve would come. As if he's glad Steve is there. Steve curses his predictability. Ponyboy says, "It took you long enough." His green eyes – no longer worried – take on a relieved gleam.
Steve barks a warning to the Socs and they back up.
12) Ponyboy's gullibility. His innocence. The moment the Soc offered up an apology by way of shaking hands, Steve should have known. Yet, unconcerned, Ponyboy takes the Soc's hand.
13) The knife Steve didn't see. The one soc who is shaking Ponyboy's hand, who looks like he just stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting, grasps Pony's palm and pulls the kid into him. "Truce?" Their bodies hit with a smack, the Socs hand disappearing into Pony's side.
Ponyboy's eyes go wide and then he drops to the ground. His hands burn with the red flowing from the wound. Steve reaches them as the Socs flee. He wishes he could pursue but has more important matters at hand.
14) The stickiness of the blood. He and Ponyboy's hands are coated with it. "Get this out of me," Ponyboy hisses, tugging the knife out, pushing Steve's hands away.
They shake.
15) The belief that Ponyboy feels he is well enough to just jump up and begin walking. He doesn't even give Steve the chance to give him a once over. "Stupid kid," Steve thinks, helping Ponyboy stand on all ten toes. He's fine for a moment and then the kid sways and goes down.
He looks up at Steve, a goofy smiled plastered on the face. "Darry's gonna brain me." His hands clutch his side.
Steve shrugs his jacket off and kneels down, pressing it to Pony's side. He pats Pony's back. "It'll be OK kid."
16) Sheer relief at knowing the kid will be fine. The wound's shallow, the nurses say. Steve doesn't trust himself to speak. He can only think of the fight and that he was there too late.
17) The phone calls he has to make on Ponyboy Curtis's behalf. Soda's panicked as usual and Steve knows he'll run all the stop signs on the way to the hospital. He stresses the fact that Pony's fine, just needs stitches, but Darry won't hear any of it either. Darry's curt with Steve, questions lingering underneath his calm demeanor.
18) The wave of craziness that hits when they all walk through the door. Pony's brothers throw Steve question after question while he answers only what he knows. Steve refrains from telling them that their brother better not be so trusting or he'll never make it when he goes to college. He doesn't want Darry to bust a vein.
Then, when they actually see Ponyboy, you'd think he was missing a limb, the way Darry and Soda fuss. Ponyboy rolls his eyes and shoots Steve those curious looks of his.
Finally, Darry turns to Steve and thanks him for the help. Steve says it was nothing, but knows it was everything to them.
19) The comfortable silence that ensues from now on between Steve and Ponyboy. Because Steve shouldn't care. The kid's home and he's fine. So, Steve doesn't understand why he asks how the kid is, why he brings him a milkshake from McDonald's.
Ponyboy's lips twitch, like he wants to laugh.
20) Ponyboy sure can run. At first it hadn't looked like he would make it. The stitches are too fresh, Ponyboy too pale. Soda shifts anxiously, asking Darry if he really oughta be running right now.
Steve fists grip his jeans; he wipes his brow as he leans forward on the bleacher.
Then Pony put out a burst of energy and rounded the finish line with a gust that would've made Hermes proud. When the kid wins the state championship, hugging his brothers and getting his photo taken for the local newspaper, Steve tries to tell himself that the tightness in his chest is from the annoyance of Ponyboy's smug smile.
Not pride.
XXXXX
Please review!! Pardon the typos.