"Curtis, I need to talk to you."
Darry peered over the edge of the roof that he was working on - it was a house just across the street from Mr. Clemens's main office, and Darry suspected that he was doing one of his Soc acquaintances a favor - and was met with the sight of that said boss, Mr. Clemens. He didn't know what Mr. Clemens had to say that couldn't wait ten more minutes until the workday was done, but he called back down, "Alright. I'm coming down, sir."
One of Darry's coworkers, Sean, looked up just as Darry was about to make his way down the ladder. "I'll hope he doesn't lecture you for an two hours about parking your truck in the wrong spot again, man," he joked.
Darry gave him a good-natured smile and replied, "That was one time, Sean, and almost six months ago!" before he carefully worked his way down the ladder. Mr. Clemens stood at the bottom and turned around, saying, "Follow me, Mr. Curtis."
Darry did so silently, and he found himself being led into his boss's office.
"Take a seat," Mr. Clemens instructed him monotonely once they were inside, sitting behind the desk and folding his hands on top of it.
"Yessir," Darry instantly replied, sitting down opposite of Mr. Clemens. "Is there something you wanted, sir?"
"Not that I wanted, Mr. Curtis, but something that is necessary. I'm going to have to let you go," Mr. Clemens said bluntly. Darry stilled, speechless, and slowly comprehended what his boss meant.
"You mean you're firing me?" he asked in shock, hardly able to believe what Mr. Clemens had just said.
"Unfortunately, yes. I found another guy who has more experience than you and-"
"And I was the obvious one to let go because I'm a Greaser?" Darry interrupted angrily. "I told you about my brothers, sir, and they're gonna get taken away if I don't have a way to make money!" he exclaimed, feeling betrayed. He'd thought that Mr. Clemens may be the only Soc on Earth who sympathized with Greasers sometimes, but clearly, that was not the case. At least Mr. Clemens had started to look a little uncomfortable.
"Look, kid. I don't have to explain all my reasons for letting you go. Just know that I have them and that's it. Now, here's your paycheck," he said roughly, placing an envelope in front of Darry.
Darry, deciding to let the 'kid' comment slide as there were much more important matters to be dealt with, tried to convince Mr. Clemens not to do this one last time.
"Sir, Mr. Clemens, I think I'm a decent worker. I always show up on time and I always work my hardest. Can't you just keep me? I don't have any other skills, and I don't know how long it'd take me to find another job. You've met my brothers, Soda and Pony, before. Do you want them to be sent away to who-knows-where?" Darry tried.
Mr. Clemens, however, did not budge.
"Mr. Curtis, I cannot keep you here. Have a good day," he said dismissively, standing up and leaving the room, letting the door shut behind him. Darry stared at the closed door and let it all sink in. He didn't have a job now. They were already behind on the bills, and his only real talent was roofing. It would take a while to get a new job, and he didn't even know who was hiring.
"Shit," he cursed, letting his head drop into his hands. He didn't curse a lot, but this was an occasion that he felt he had the right to curse in. What will I tell Soda and Pony and the gang? The state is coming to check up on us in two fucking days, and the social worker will find out that I was fired.
Darry decided to focus on not having a mental breakdown, and he quickly shoved the door open and made his way to his truck. Instead of going home, he made the decision to go ask around town to see who was hiring; maybe if he could get another job before the social worker arrived, the state wouldn't think anything of it.
Shoot, who was he kidding? Finding a job in two days? He'd had to search for over two weeks to land this roofing job.
Pushing the negative thoughts aside, Darry climbed into his truck and drove out of the construction site.
Meanwhile, both Pony and Soda were already home, hanging out with the rest of the gang. The TV was turned on and Mickey was on, but no one was really watching it. It was one of those rare nights where everyone was actually together at once, so Darry's absence became even more noticeable. Darry tended to come straight home when work was done since he was always exhausted, and he'd been doing so even more lately. He'd been working longer hours this week. For this reason, Pony nudged Soda and asked, "You know where Darry is?"
Soda, who had been in the middle of a card game, stopped playing even though it was his turn and turned to Pony. "He's probably just getting groceries or something. I wouldn't worry."
Pony shrugged, ignoring Steve's complaint of, "C'mon Soda, focus!"
"He always does that on Saturday nights. Today's Friday. He's never ever not been back by now on a Friday," Pony pointed out worriedly. He felt Johnny put a hand on his shoulder as a soothing gesture. Soda still didn't seem the least bit concerned.
"I don't think it's anything you should be concerned about, Pone. Maybe he's found a girl or something and is finally going on a date!" Soda said teasingly, turning his attention back to the game. Two-Bit laughed at what Soda said.
"Superman? A date? That'll be something to see," he said with a grin, slamming a card down with more force than necessary.
Pony didn't have any interest in their conversation once it changed to who the best-looking broads in town were, and so he struck up his own conversation with Johnny, who was the only other one not playing cards with Soda, Steve, Dally, and Two-Bit.
"What do you think about where Dar is, Johnny?" he asked his best friend.
"I honestly don't know, Pony, but if you're worried about him being in trouble or something, don't be. You know he can hold his own just fine."
That didn't make Pony worry any less. The range of possibilities of what could have happened to Darry seemed endless and just kept expanding. It wasn't like Pony was trying to overreact, but he was well aware that the state was sending the social worker over in two days, and now was not a good time for Darry to change things up, wherever he was.
An hour had gone by and Pony was just about to pester Soda again - he'd asked Soda when they should go look for Darry about six times by now - when the door opened, and there was Darry.
"Darry! You're back! Where-"
"Not now, Ponyboy," Darry interrupted, sounding completely worn-out. He didn't return the greetings or exclamations of "Yeah where have you been?" of the rest of the gang, either, and instead headed straight to his room. The quiet shutting of the door seemed to echo through the now-silent house. Soda gave Pony a look and said, "I'll go see what's bothering him. He probably just had a hard day at work."
Pony stood up. "I'll come. I told you something was probably wrong!" he said in an accusatory tone.
Soda smiled apologetically at him. "I know, I know. Now let's go," he said, disappearing into the hall with Darry's bedroom.
I haven't forgotten about my other stories, and this is the last new one for a while until I put more chapters up of the others! My apologies if you've been waiting for an update on those. I'm mid-way through a chapter or two of my other stories, and thank you for reading!! I've been super excited to write something like this for a while and I can't wait for y'all to see the next chapter of this ;)
