Ponyboy's POV

Darry's been acting weird lately. Sodapop thinks its stress from work but I don't agree. He's been dating this one girl for a while now. Her name's Hope and she's 21 years old. Hope has real light blue eyes and long black hair which she usually braids. Soda says that she reminds him of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Hope works as a waitress in this little diner down town; nothing fancy.

Darry and Hope went to high school together but they didn't start dating until the year after they graduated. Neither of them went to college for family reasons: Hope's mom died of cancer so she works to support her family and Darry takes care of Soda and me. I like Hope; she works hard and spends a lot of time around our house. When she's around, she keeps Darry inline and doesn't let him holler at me which is nice. Hope is a real nice girl and she can connect with anyone. I don't think there's anyone who hates her. Darry won't shut up about her so I guess he really does like her.

Soda and I were sitting on the floor, eating what was left of the chocolate cake he made. It was almost dinner time and Darry said he was cooking tonight. "Man, I really wish he'd show up already. He should have gotten off work twenty minutes ago." I said in between my chewing. Soda sighed and stood up, taking the plate to the sink. "Yeah, I hear ya man. He's probably picking up Hope from work." I finished my piece of cake and brought my plate to the sink too. My stomach was growling loud enough that Soda could hear it.

Just as I was about to complain about the time, the front door swung open. In came Darry and Hope, laughing about some joke. Hope was wearing Darry's leather jacket; guess it was cold outside. "Sorry about that guys. I picked up Hope form work and we were having fun and got carried away. I'll still cook you guys dinner okay?" Darry walked in and opened the fridge, pulling out ingredients.
"It's alright. Say Pony, how many times is it now?" Soda asked, titling his head. I shrugged. "Gotta be at least the fifteenth time this month." Darry closed the door with his foot and stood still.

"Alright shut your traps! I have a life too, you little-!" Darry started shouting but was cut off.

"Darrell Curtis!" That shut him up good. Hope turned to us. "I'm sorry boys; it was my fault. I had to work overtime and I didn't have a ride home so I had to call your brother. I'm awful sorry about making you guys wait for dinner." Hope had this face of utter disappointment on her face. She really meant it too, which I thought was weird. To me she's the only person in the world who cares about everyone's feelings. Not even Soda's like that.

"It's fine, Hope. " Soda said, sitting down at the kitchen table, waiting for his food. Darry whipped us up something real fast and we ate it in even less time.

Darry and Hope sat down on the couch, cuddling or whatever you call it. Me and Soda just sat down on the ground, watching TV. The show was about horses so Soda was fully engulfed in it. I didn't really want to watch it, so I tried eavesdropping on Hope and Darry's conversation. Hope was talking about her day.

"There weren't a whole lot of customers today until around three. That's when I was forced to work overtime. But the beginning of the day was fun! Laura's dad owns the place so she's got a lot of money. She painted out nails for us which was nice. Oh Darry, I hate dragging on about my day. How was your day, love?" Typical Hope; She hated to bother people. Darry really liked to talk to her so it really wasn't bothering him.
"Good, I guess. Think I pulled something in my back though." He strained and I think he pointed to a spot on his upper back. That's usually were he hurts himself. "Say, Tomorrow I'm working on the office building next door to the diner. I bet you could see me from the window."

"I'll be looking for you." I could hear them kissing behind me. It felt weird . . . I don't understand how anyone would want to kiss my brother. He's good-looking but his eyes are so cold and mean. I didn't think he was capable of love until he met her.

I felt a little awkward so I stood up and fixed my shirt. "Well, I'm tired so I'm gonna go to bed." Soda got up and nodded. "Yeah me too. You staying over, Hope?"
"Oh it's up to Darry. I don't want to be a burd-." Darry cut her off. "Yes, she's staying the night."
"You got clean sheets?" Soda teased him. Darry rolled his eyes and motioned for us to go upstairs and leave him alone.

A/N: it ain't much of a story so far. It'll pick up in the next chapter. Review please (: Also, I tried to make her character like a worry-wart who is overly nice with everyone. A Little Mary-Sue ish, I know. Still working on that (: Title of this story was based on L.O.V.E Girl by CN Blue and the chapter titles are from the lyrics. It's not a songfic tho!