Pony's eyes shot open and sweat was caked on his skin, yet another nightmare this week. Pony had been having nightmares about his parent's deaths and just terrible scenarios such as Soda and Darry neglecting him and leaving, the worst the young greaser ever had them. Pony didn't even know what triggered it, but yet he did: Johnny's death just a week ago.
Ponyboy lightly sat up so he didn't wake Soda but his body was shaking uncontrollably, fumbling to just sit up. The boy looked at the ceiling but started hearing loud noises, noises from the accident ringing so loud in his head, and horrible images started flashing in his head.
"AAAA!"
Pony couldn't take it anymore and screamed out in fear, the boy was awake but he was still shaken as if he never did wake from the nightmare.
Soda shot up from the bed and saw Pony shaking. "Pony!? Are you alright?" He pulled him into a tight embrace before a word could slip out of the boy's mouth.
Pony's lips started trembling, he couldn't make a sound, but the teen didn't need to as he saw Darry bust into the room.
"Pony!? What happened?" Darry yelled out as he ran his hand comfortingly over his baby brother's back.
Pony looked up at them and clutched their shirts, a droplet of sweat coming down his forehead, the boy's heart was beating radically. Pony tried his hardest to speak but only whimpers came out, tears starting to flow from his eyes.
Soda ran his hand through Pony's hair, trying his best to calm him.
Darry looked at the boy in worry, wondering what has been happening to him. Darrel knew it was Johnny's death and possibly Dally being admitted to the hospital, then going to jail, it was a lot to handle. "I think he's having a panic attack, just be calm."
Soda looked at Darry and back to the boy, he smiled at Pony and whispered. "You're alright, you're ok, it was just a dream Pony, we're here for you."
Pony relaxed a bit, still feeling overwhelmed, his chest pulling in all directions. "I-I'm o-ok." He croaked.
Darry smiled and continued to rub his back. "That's good, we're always here for you Pon, you're fine."
The two brothers let go of Pony and Darry went to get a pill for him, the boy always needed one during a nightmare episode to calm him down and go back to sleep.
Pony lightly breathed, but he really just wanted to cry more than anything. Pony still couldn't cope with Johnny's death and the boy was 100000% sure Dally was dead until just a couple days ago when they a got a phone call that Dal was in jail and his gun shot wounds were healing. Dallas fell apart and that's saying something if it's Dally, the toughest of Tulsa. Even looking at him could get you killed. Dally had gotten himself into a lot and Pony never understood why. Arrested over ten times, now trying to get killed, losing his mind, and getting arrested in one night. Pony tried to stop thinking about it, he felt more panicked by doing so, but the boy couldn't stop. Pony had feelings for Dally, but he always concealed it, it wasn't hard because he only realized the attraction the last time he saw him after the rumble. Dally was straight and that's fact, Dally would beat him up for even saying he was gay. Gays weren't exactly accepted, society looked down on that, there were barely any out there. Dallas was just very attractive in a way to him and as emotionless and hard as Dally is, Pony's heart would dance and flutter whenever talking to him, or even when his sharp brown eyes looked at him.
These feelings, again, had started just last week when he was driving him to see Johnny after the rumble, he just...cared and seeing him that way made him feel warm inside, he could sense it despite the pain he was in at the time. Pony was embarrassed to say he had probably drawn Dally more than 50 times in his notebooks, there was just something about him when he was mad or looked like he could beat someone. He used to find that only when he was angry but seeing him broken up, bloodied up, gave him a new perspective. Dallas had a light to him.
"Pony."
Darry's voice brought the boy back to life as he looked up at him. Pony gladly popped the pill in his mouth and Soda carefully put the glass of water to Pony's mouth.
Soda smiled at Pony and fluffed his hair one more time. "Go get some sleep Pony, you need it."
Darry embraced Pony in a tight hug before leaving him to sleep, Soda and Darry had to go to work later.
Pony let himself down lightly on the bed and hoped for a good nights sleep, but with Dally and Johnny on his mind, he knew that wouldn't be easy.
The next couple hours Pony kept looking up at the ceiling thinking, about his parents deaths, what the future looked like. The boy's eyes let one more tear slip out, nothing would ever get better, all was hope was gone, sure Dally was alive, but Johnny wasn't, if Pony just went home from the movies and stayed there, absolutely none of this would've been happening, it was all his fault.
Pony's eyes then started to sag and feel tired, he passed out before he knew it with the only hour he had left to sleep before Darry woke him up.
The phone rang and a loud conversation continued when Darry picked it up, Pony shuffled around looking to the window, the bright blue sky pierced his vision. There went the boy's precious sleep, he knew he at least got an hour or two of sleep, and without a nightmare. As little as it seemed, it was a relief to Pony.
Pony stood up and pulled on a shirt before he walked down the stairs to make breakfast. Pony saw Darry still talking on the phone with a serious face, he was curious what was going on but brushed it off for now. The boy grabbed a pan and some eggs, cake didn't sound amazing to the boy at the moment.
Pony cracked the egg open and turned the heat up, letting it sit, he started to listen to Darry's phone conversation.
"Ok. We'll have a room ready for you next week, please stay for as long as you need it. Please don't strain yourself, your really banged up. Alright, bye."
Pony arched a brow at Darry. "Who was it?"
Darry ran a hand through his hair. "Dallas. They're letting him out early and he'll be staying for a bit. I'm surprised he can even talk, he sure is a trooper."
Pony's heart raced. "When's he gonna be here?"
"Not until next week, Pon. I know he'll fight taking any medicine or help, but he knows he needs it. Just be "gentle" around him, I know you two are both emotionally and physically damaged right now, him more than you. As of three days ago he was gonna die and it seemed like a given."
Pony nodded, he was kinda scared to see Dally after all that had happened but seeing his face would make the boy so happy again.
Soda walked in with his DX uniform on, putting his dishes in the sink. "Pony you should hurry up and get ready for school. You only have a few weeks left ya know."
Pony sighed, its like he forgot about school. He wasn't doing the greatest in school either. At least it was the last week, only a few weeks left, he did get a great grade on his essay, and was ending english class with a C. It wasn't what he wanted, he was normally an A student but with what had all happened, he shouldn't have even been going to school, but life continues, Darry would still have forced him to go.
Pony scrambled his eggs up and quickly put it on a plate, gobbling it up. The boy practically threw the dishes in the sink and pulled on jeans, Dally coming next week gave him something to look forward to, he knew his mind would be thinking about only him these next couple days of school this week. Pony threw his backpack over his shoulder and opened the door, ready to face the day.
Dally was staring at the hard, grey floor as if someone had painted a work of art on it, he didn't have enough energy to be picking on the guards like he constantly would in jail. Dallas sighed and leaned his head back on the stoned wall, he had a horrible migraine and his arm got even more messed up than it already was from the rumble. Dally was still losing blood, but he was tough, he didn't care. All Dallas wanted was to die rather than be sitting in this cold isolated room with this deep pain in his heart.
"Dallas Winston?"
Dally's head whipped around and he stared at the guard in front of the bars.
"Yes?" He answered in a clearly annoyed tone.
"I'm here to confirm that you are staying in the Curtis household starting next Monday."
Dally chuckled in a monotone voice. "Yeah."
The guard was writing more information down and looked back at him. "Please be aware mister Winston that you will have daily check-ups from an officer to see that your not causing trouble. If you weren't injured, you'd be serving a longer sentence."
Dally closed his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you can just shut up and leave now."
The guard growled and walked off, leaving Dally to his own thoughts again.
He glanced at the stained wrapping on his arm, it had blood stains, some old and fresh on it. Dally's face was still sore in some parts, he knew he wasn't in good condition but he wanted to be in pain, the greaser lost all his care when Johnny had died. Dallas didn't want to be at the Curtis house, he didn't want any contact with anyone anymore.
Pony tapped his pencil against his desk, his science teacher giving a lecture on something about chemical compounds, Pony wasn't sure cause his mind was thinking about a million things other than that. He glanced at the clock and every second that went by seemed like a millennia. In a couple of weeks school would be over with. A couple weeks. He grabbed his pencil, sharpened it, and started drawing Dally on a blank sheet of paper in his binder. Pony drew him the night of the rumble, with the jean jacket sleeve ripped above his elbow, the bandage covering his whole forearm. Pony put a serious look on his face, the sharp dangerous look he showed after the rumble. He started drawing Dal's brown locks radically spread around his forehead, but as he got more in detail the bell rang, taking him aback. He scrambled to get his books, papers, and bag together, and practically ran out the door of the classroom to get to lunch.
Pony dropped his books off in his locker and got into the cafeteria, he didn't feel like eating today so he just sat at the table in silence. Two-Bit slid right next to the boy and inspected his face.
"You're not lookin' too good pone. You ok?"
Pony shrugged. "Yeah, I've just been thinking a lot..."
Two-Bit quirked an eyebrow, "what about?"
Pony ran his hand through his hair. "Stuff."
Two-bit chuckled. "You'll have to be more specific."
"I've been thinking about Dally... He's coming on Monday and staying with us to recover... I'm just concerned about him I don't know, if I see him, I think I'd cry. He was almost successful in killing himself. How could I not think of that and the whole situation whenever i look at him?"
Two-Bit squeezed Pony's shoulder to comfort him. "It'll be ok. It will be scary to think of seeing ol' Dally at first but everything will be ok. I think you need Dally's company just as much as he needs yours, you two and Johnny were all tight with each other and Dally, I know he is a very cold person and I know you think it'll be impossible to talk to him comfortably, but you two are the only ones left that truly understand each other. You have me and your brothers as well it's just...Dally could actually be a lifeline to you just as you could be his in recovering from all this."
Pony looked down and felt something deep in his heart. He was right, he had never looked at it that way. But Two-Bit, Soda, Darry, not even Dally himself knew how he truly felt for him. Pony would have to try, he knew Dally wasn't the closest to him no matter how hard he wanted them to be that close.
RING
Pony shook and stood up, the lunch period went by fast. Too fast it seemed, but he just needed to go through 2 more hours and have the weekend, then Dally on Monday.
'Dally, you're the only thing pushing me through all this.'
The boy thought to himself as he walked into his math class, sitting down. He opened his binder and took his homework out, he didn't really bother Darry to check it. It might've been the end of the year but he had experienced much more than the average 14 year old boy to care.
RING
Pony sighed and the teacher immediately got on the chalk board and called on people to do the problems from the homework on the board. He only caught something about equations, his mind already dazed off. The boy suddenly took out his notebook and continued drawing Dally, continuing on drawing his silver necklace, making sure everything he did before was perfect. He was lost in the eyes of the drawing, he kept making it more and more realistic, becoming mesmerized by the drawing.
"Ponyboy Curtis!"
Pony's head shot up and he saw everyone looking at him and laughing. His cheeks turned a crimson red.
"I have called you for the fifth time mister. You seem to be distracted, what are you doing?"
Pony's heart thumped out of his chest as she walked towards him, the boy was too stiff to move his pencil away from the paper.
She inspected the paper. "Very detailed." She snatched it from his hands. "But a complete distraction. Now please pay attention and do number 7 on the board, perhaps I'll let you off easy if you get it correct. You'll get your drawing back at the end of the hour."
Pony's cheeks had never felt more hot, he heard people's whispers about him, especially from the socs calling him stupid, weird, or whatever else they could think of. He walked up to the board and shakily wrote down the work he did on the board, he wasn't even sure how to do math right now he was so flustered.
The teacher was slowly scanning the board and nodded. "Looks like you got lucky. You may sit down now."
Pony walked down the row of seats as fast as his legs could take him. He let out a sigh of relief, but his cheeks remained stained pink. The boy continued checking his answers on the board before he felt an eraser thrown at his head, he growled, not paying much attention to it.
"Your head still in the clouds lil' greaser?"
Pony shivered as that was whispered into his ear, he could only try to ignore it, the boy couldn't afford to be in trouble. If Darry had to go in for a conference or something, he wouldn't be happy and Pony personally wanted to stay on his good side, not stay like they were before.
A soc from the side chuckled. "Maybe he put in too much hair grease today that he slipped and hit his head into dream land. Who was he drawing anyway?"
Pony felt tears prick his eyes.
'Relax pony...only two more weeks of this and your free. Dally should keep you happy the last two weeks...but that's only if he's not being rude.'
Pony passed his paper up when they were being collected, he just wanted to leave this place.
The math teacher stood in front of the classroom and assigned some book work for the weekend, leaving only 10 minutes of class left to do it.\
Pony pulled out his math book and started writing them out on lined paper and tried to solve them, only getting 5 out of the 30 done. The boy closed the book, placing the paper in to keep his place. He had 3 minutes left till freedom. 3 minutes that felt like forever.
RING
Pony was about to walk out the door, but his math teacher patted his shoulder.
"Here you are. I must admit you are a good artist." She handed him his drawing back.
Pony smiled. "Thanks."
The boy ran out of the school as fast as he could. The cool breeze messed up his platinum blonde hair, and he breathed in the fresh air. School became such a weight on his shoulders after all that happened, not even a week was not long enough to recover. The boy walked on, staring at the random leaves that flew by and the flowers blooming. Pony loved nothing more than a beautiful day, days like these, with all life threw at ya it's hard to enjoy simple things sometimes. He wish he had Johnny to talk about these things with, but he had no one now. Oh Johnny...he'd give up anything to see that dark skinned face with messy black bangs.
Pony suddenly heard the low rumble of a car and he looked over, a group of socs were following him while he was day dreaming. Again. Great. The boy's heart started to beat frantically and he tried to get away from them, picking up the pace when walking. Perhaps Darry was right, he needed to use his brain for once.
"Hey greaser, weren't you the friend of that snot who killed Bob? Yeah we're really happy he's dead now, ain't that right boys?"
Pony saw them all shaking their heads in unison, he was getting angry, no one talked about Johnny like that. "Why don't you just back off?"
The socs started laughing and kept following him. "What's a small thing like you gonna do? I can see you shaking." Everyone suddenly got out of the car and started pining him to the ground.
Pony gasped and started to struggle, making strained noises, he couldn't escape. Pony also couldn't yell for anyone either, no one was home. The boy knew he was in a terrible predicament.
The socs started laughing, soon punching and kicking him. They spat out insults at him "greaser" "so pathetic" "hood" being just a few of them.
Pony tried to fight back but there must've been 5 of them on him at once. Someone was holding his shirt so he had a plan, he bit the socs finger quickly and as he yelped in pain, he forcefully stood up and kicked one soc in the shin. He was about to escape until another soc grabbed his sweater and he could hear the stitches pop.
The socs spat on him and one kicked him roughly in the stomach, the pain being continued by a hand trying to rip his hair out. "Well boys, I think we've taught this little greaser a lesson. And isn't this the second one? Pathetic indeed."
Pony panted on the grass as they drove away, he let some bile escape him and he began to sit up. He breathed in slowly.
'nice going Pony.'
He started to run home as fast as his feet could take him which was pretty fast considering he was on the track team.
Pony's hand touched the cold handle and the boy pushed it open, the feeling of his home making him feel better. Pony slammed the door shut and stormed off to the bathroom, his face felt pretty sore and bloody. Pony raced up the stairs to the bedroom, throwing his backpack on the bed. Once he got in the bathroom, he turned the light on and shut the door. Bloody gashes everywhere, bruises, and he thought his healing face from the rumble was bad, now these were just major add-ons. Pony grabbed a clean washcloth and started running it under cold water, putting it up to the gashes.
"Ah!" He growled, it stung as he placed it on his face, 'what will Darry and Soda think of this...' Pony started to wet it again, ridding the dirt from his face, he thought the Socs would've cooled it after all that happened, perhaps they were still pissed they all lost in the rumble and the greasers won. Once his face was cleaned up, he sat in his room doing his homework until Soda and Darry came home.
Homework, however was a hard thing to do with Dally and Johnny on his mind. He never realized how much those two meant to him. They were his universe. But one of them were gone, and with half of a universe that had become dull to look at, it didn't seem right.
Pony looked down and started plugging his math equations in, it was Friday and he didn't care if he got answers wrong, he just wanted the weekend with no worries in his mind, he could be thinking about Dally coming over. The boy sighed, Dally. Was he gonna be ok? Pony was scared and he didn't understand why. It was just Dally. Dally who he had developed feelings for.
CLACK
Pony's eyes turned into saucers, Soda was already home. He must've lost track of time. The boy pulled out his homework and started doing a few more problems.
"Pony!"
Pony sighed. "Yes?"
"Come down here!"
The boy rubbed his temples, well he had nothing to lose. Well, his acceptance from Darry, walking alone and jumped for the second time. Pony trudged down the stairs and walked towards the smiling Soda.
He was about to smile seeing the sight of his brother, but the moment he caught a glimpse of Pony's face, the smile suddenly vanished and the happy look in his eyes turned to hurt. "Pony? What happened to you!? Are you ok?" Soda asked frantically, pulling his younger brother in a hug.
Pony sighed and felt like crying, but he didn't want to look weak, but oh how we wanted to get everything out. The soft smell of Soda and his warm skin made him feel at ease. "Some socs jumped me...I thought they were supposed to stay away S-Soda."
Soda lightly ran his fingers through Pony's hair. "Shhhh Pony, they know where they're supposed to stay, this will be fixed, just relax."
Pony gave his brother one last tight hug before he let go. "Darry's gonna yell at me. We were doing so good and I messed it all up Soda, I'm so sorry!"
Soda looked at Pony and kneeled down to him and ran his fingers through the boys platinum blonde locks. "Shhh sweetie it wasn't your fault. We all thought they were gone. Darry just doesn't take things lightly. He'll be mad at the socs more than anything, not you."
Pony put his head down. "I guess. I just hate seeing him so disappointed. Disappointed in me."
Soda ruffled his hair and stood. "It'll be ok. You can talk to me anytime, whenever you need it Pony. Darry and I love you and as your brothers, we'd do anything for you."
The boy smiled. "Thanks Soda. I'm gonna start working on homework."
Soda nodded to him. "I suppose I should start cleaning this place up a bit for Dal on Monday."
Pony looked over at him upon then looked away, going upstairs to his room. The boy opened his book and began on problem #8. He rushed through the equations, not really checking for mistakes, his notebook and drawing stood out as if to distract him, but the blonde haired greaser knew what he had to do. Pony's hand kept moving at a steady rate and found himself on #23 already.
'Seven more...just seven.'
The boy was overjoyed to almost be finished, the past couple days were rough cause he'd just got back into school and had to catch up. Now, he was on top of things again. Pony's eyes darted to the clock, 5:30...Darry would be home any second. The boy's brain hurt as he finished the last seven problems.
CLACK
Pony jumped, not expecting it, but it was right on time. He threw his book in his bag and organized everything for Monday. Now all he had to do was think about Dally and whatever he was gonna do this weekend.
Darry walked in the house and his eyes widened, it was so clean he thought he had walked in the wrong house. He peeked his head around and saw Soda wiping down the windows. "Nice job, kid brother."
Soda looked over at him and stuck his tongue out playfully. "Hey, Darry. I just thought Dally would like a clean, organized space to recover, plus I got off of work a bit early. Steve took care of the station."
Darry smiled and ruffled his hair and looked around. "Hey where's Pony?"
Soda's face became pale. "He's in his room doing homework...Dar?"
Darry turned his attention back to Soda. "Yes?"
"Don't get mad at Pony ok?"
Darry quirked an eyebrow in worry. "Why would I?" He walked to the end of the staircase. "Pony?"
Pony stuck his head out of his notebook, trying to write a short story. He felt a lump in his throat. "Yeah?"
"Come down here! I'm about to start up dinner."
"Ok" Pony yelled down to his oldest brother. The boy cautiously went down the steps, he was shocked to see more space in the house, organized cubbies, vacuumed carpet. He walked into the kitchen. "Woah Soda!"
Soda turned over to him. "Ya like it?"
Darry turned around, facing Pony and his eyes widened. The boy's face had bruises and scratches all over it, as if the bruises and gashes he had before was already enough. "Pony! What happened?" The older of the two brothers cringed inside, that came off in a bad way.
Pony backed up and put his head down . "...Just some socs."
Darry sighed. "Pon...tell me what happened."
"I got jumped. The socs act as if the rumble didn't happen. Please...don't be mad at me."
Darry frowned, the socs would never understand. He didn't want to make Pony feel bad, no matter how much he wanted to scream at him, he still cared about Pony and they were brothers. They had to stick together. "Pony...I'm not mad at you. Are you alright?" Darry stepped forward and lightly ran his finger across Pony's cheek.
Pony's heart fluttered, Darry wasn't mad? The boy rest his hand Darry's forearm, the arm that was outreached to him. "I'm alright."
Darry pulled Pony into a tight embrace. "I'm glad, Pon. I'm sorry this happened to you..."
Pony hugged back tightly, not many times did Darry ever hug someone. "It's fine, Dar."
Soda smiled, glad Darry could be accepting. He couldn't hold back. Soda ran towards the two with open arms and made it a group hug.
Pony chuckled and so did Darry.
"Well I better start dinner. You two sit at the table, we need to discuss something." Darry stated while grabbing a pot and filling it with water.
Soda was confused. "What about?"
"Just about Monday, we'll probably have company for 5 weeks if you didn't know." Darry cranked up the heat on the stovetop as he put noodles in the pot. He then walked over and sat at the table. "I was on the phone with Dallas this morning and you both know he needs some place to stay and sort stuff out. Ol' Dallas doesn't show any weakness, but I think he is stressed and just beaten. I couldn't imagine being in his shoes, and you two need to help him with anything he may need. I know it can be scary seeing a friend who was intentionally dying right in front of you, not to mention one that is naturally a cold, tough person, but it'll be ok."
Pony was staring into the wood of the table, he just wanted to see Dally and know he was with him. Two-Bit made him realize that Dally really was the only person that understood his pain. He'd never gain the confidence to talk to Dally about feelings though. Dal wasn't the type of person to listen to your problems and hold your hand.
Darry sat back at the table after checking on dinner and continued his spiel on Dally. "Dally will be getting checked up on by the police everyday so don't fret seeing a police car here. Dal should be in jail for much longer, but he was let off very easy, he was injured badly so they allowed him to stay somewhere safe and reliable. Obviously where he actually lives wouldn't be a good place to have the cops check up on. Other than that, I think Dal will be set. This first week he's gonna need a lot of rest. He's sick and still injured."
Soda sat back in the chair. "Dar, you talk as if Dal is a completely new person, I'm sure he'll be fine within the first few days."
Darry sighed. "If you think so. Johnny meant a lot to him, he probably doesn't even want to be here if you think about it."
Pony bit his lip. "He'll be ok, right?"
"As long as he's with us and doesn't go out of the house doing anything stupid." Darry had a feeling he would do something eventually, but put it in the back of his head. He finished dinner and started putting the spaghetti on three plates. Darry took two to the table for Soda and Pony, then sat down with his.
"So how's school going Pony?" Soda asked.
Pony shrugged. "I'd like the last day to come faster...too much homework." The boy started scooping his dinner into his mouth.
"Have a crush on any girls?" Soda asked.
Pony didn't know what to say, Dally was the only person who stuck out in his head. "A girl in my english class is kinda cute...but not really. What about you?"
Soda blushed a bit, making Pony curious. "Mmm, I'm still looking."
Pony smirked to himself, he'd ask him later on tonight, the boy had a feeling he found someone or might've started to feel stuff for someone. "How was work Darry?"
Darry shrugged. "Same ol' same ol'."
CLACK
Pony looked over in surprise, Two-Bit walked in the door, his mouth hanging wide open. "You could've knocked."
Two-Bit looked up at them. "Is this the same house?"
Soda shook his head. "Yes it is."
"Wow. Well, I see it was a bad time to interrupt. Had to hang out with my sister for a bit." Two-Bit stuck his head in the fridge grabbing a beer.
Darry shook his head. "Nah. We don't mind."
Two-Bit looked at Pony. "Pony, ya wanna go out for a bit later?"
Darry's big brother instincts kicked in. "Where are you going and what time will you two be back?"
Two-Bit shrugged. "To get a coke or something. It should only take an hour."
Darry sighed "I guess you two can go. Pony, is your homework done?"
Pony shook his head as he stood up and put his dishes in the sink. He slipped his purple sweater on and walked out of the house with Two-Bit.
"Pony you seem tense, what about?" The teen looked at his friend in curiosity.
Pony shrugged, "Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah."
"Do you think Dally could ever, I don't know...feel for others?" He frowned, hoping it didn't sound corny.
Two-Bit was taken aback by this question. "Well Dal cared about Johnny...anything can happen."
Pony felt another question tugging at him. "...Do you think Dal will ever try to kill himself again?"
Two-Bit stopped walking and looked and Pony. "I'm not sure. I mean, I know he's unstable and stuff, he's lost someone, he's been hurt, he's not in the greatest situation but killing himself...I know Dal's miserable here now but...he's tough...maybe we take that for granted, but we can just hope he doesn't."
Pony looked down at the damp sidewalk. "Yeah... Thanks."
Two-Bit and Pony continued walking to the station to grab a coke, talking about school, life. Pony's heart grew more and more needy for Monday to come.
Pony looked up when he felt Two-Bit tap his shoulder, the boy saw they already arrived. He walked to the door and pulled it open, Two-Bit following just behind.
Two-Bit went to get two cokes and handed one to Pony. The two sat down on a bench outside and started to sip their cokes.
"Pony?"
Pony looked up at Two-Bit. "Yeah?"
"What happened to your face? I didn't want to ask in front of Darry just incase."
Pony sighed and took another swig of his coke. "I got jumped by some socs on the way home today. Darry wasn't that upset at me."
"Didn't those socs learn to stay out of our territory?"
Pony shrugged. "Guess not."
"You'll be ok, Pon. I know this past week has been rough. A lot happened and now this."
"It's all my fault. Johnny...if I just would've stayed home but I ruined everything. I brought this on myself and I deserve everything the socs are doing to me." A tear slipped down his cheek but he wiped it off as soon as it fell. With Johnny gone he found himself letting off steam to Two-Bit, hopefully he didn't think less of him.
Two-Bit wrapped his arm around Pony's shoulders. "Listen, you did nothing wrong. Don't beat yourself up for any of this, if all this happened that was how it was supposed to go, there was a purpose for this, but it's not because of you."
Pony sobbed. "But Johnny...I didn't want him to leave, none of us wanted him to leave. So why was he taken from us!? It's not fair..."
Two-Bit sighed. "I bet Johnnys looking down at you right now, wishing he could tell you to be happy. Johnny wouldn't want you sad about his death forever, Pon, he'd want you and Dal to move on, he wouldn't want to be a burden."
Pony put his head in his hands. "I know...but I just want him back, I miss every conversation we had together, I'm not even asking for much. I just want to give him one last hug and tell him how much I'd miss him..."
Two-Bit looked down and rubbed Pony's shoulder. "Johnny knows you miss him, Pon. He knows how much you care, none of us asked for it to be this way. But it is."
Pony sighed and leaned on Two-Bit. "Two-Bit...thanks for talking to me. With Johnny gone...I'm just glad I have someone I can talk to." The boy hugged Two-Bit, feeling like if he let go of any of his friends, they'd be gone.
Two-Bit was taken aback but returned the hug. "You'll be ok Pony...this will all work out."
Pony pulled away and finished his coke, throwing it into a nearby trash can. "Hey Two-Bit...are you doing anything tomorrow?"
Two-Bit looked over at Pony, throwing his coke out too. "No."
The blonde greaser ran his fingers along the fabric of his jeans. "Do you wanna go to the movies?"
"Sure, as long as nothing pops up." Two-Bit took out his switchblade and started playing with it. "It's gettin' cold out...maybe we should start heading back."
"Yeah..." Pony sat up and the two greasers crossed the street, not in any rush to get back to the Curtis household. The boy smiled, it was the weekend, Dally was coming soon, what did he have to worry about? The boy's feet started to freeze as they were inching his street.
Two-Bit looked at Pony. "You should've worn something heavier, Pony. It's been getting cold out lately."
Pony only shrugged, he was disappointed to find they were already home. The boy opened the door, finding the house even cleaner, boy, if a soc came in their house he would have a heart attack on the spot. Of course they weren't the richest but this place was at it's highest point now. Pony looked over and saw Darry flipping through the newspaper like normal.
Darry looked up. "Your back just in time."
Pony chuckled. "I wasn't gonna do anything bad, Dar." He was about to go to his room, but he turned around before he did. "Night, Two-Bit. I'll see ya tomorrow."
Two-Bit waved. "Bye, Pony." He waved to Darry and Pony and left, shutting the door behind him.
"Are you hanging out with Two-Bit tomorrow, Pon?"
Pony was in the middle of running upstairs and he stopped. "Yeah, just going to the movies tomorrow night." He dashed into his room and looked at the clock, only 9 but he felt exhausted.
"Hey Pon..." Soda said softly, he had been taking a nap.
"Hey Soda...you alright? Your usually not tired this late."
Soda just brushed it off. "Yeah, don't worry about me, how about you? Your bruises and scratches feeling ok?"
Pony chuckled and hopped onto the bed next to Soda. "I'm fine Soda, you always worry about me but I'm worrying about you. What's been on your mind?"
Soda shrugged. "I've just been thinking about things...I got a bit tired of thinking and slept it off."
Pony fumbled with the comforter, suddenly something in his brain clicked, at dinner he asked him if he was dating anyone. That had to be it. "Soda, are you dating anyone?"
"I thought I told you at dinner."
Pony smiled. "I know you have someone in mind at least...I saw the blush on your face, Soda."
Soda's blush returned. "Ok so there is someone... We're not dating I just have feelings for this person, I think they might like me back but I'm not sure."
"I knew it! Do I know this person? What's her name?" Pony pushed.
"You do know this person but, I'm not gonna give you the name." Soda knew Pony loved him more than anything and he loved him back, he was just hesitant to admit something to him. He didn't know if Pony would grasp it.
Pony sighed. "I understand...maybe you should make a move on them. It's not Sandy again is it?"
Soda laughed. "No no no. I might...I'm just a bit scared too."
"Well you deserve to be happy, you should ask her out." The boy walked over to turn out the lights, Soda was tired, he was tired from last night's nightmare. Pony hopped into bed once more and pulled the covers over himself, keeping Soda under the blankets too.
Soda and Pony rolled over to face each other, continuing their nightly chat.
"Thanks Pon, you should probably get some sleep, you didn't get much last night." Soda gave his younger brother a kiss on the forehead.
Pony smiled. "I'll try." The boy turned over and slowly felt his world turn to black.