Like a Big Brother
I walked into Two-Bit's house and was suddenly overwhelmed by the smell of alcohol. He had to have been extremely drunk last night, I thought, or he wouldn't be snoring on the living room couch. I knew he was going to have an awful hangover once he woke up, so I decided to make some breakfast for him.
As I was finishing up the scrambled eggs, I heard the couch creak and felt heavy footsteps walk into the kitchen. Two-Bit groaned and put his head in his hands as he sat down at the small table. I walked over to him and placed the eggs in front of him, and he finally seemed to realize that I was there.
He smiled. "Hey, Ellie, whatcha doin' up so early?"
"Jus' helpin' you out," I replied. Suddenly I remembered why I was really here. The thought sent shivers through my whole body. I clearly saw the two teenage boys yelling at each other in my mind, and I began wondering if talking to Two-Bit would help me or hurt me. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, something I saw Darry do regularly. Two-Bit turned to look at me, concern written on his normally smiling face.
"What's wrong, kiddo?" he asked. His tone was comforting, but I was still unsure on how I was going to bring up the topic I wanted to discuss. He made his voice a little quieter, which was like a signal for me to start talking. "You know you can tell me anything."
"Soda and Dally got into a fight last night," I said. Two-Bit was like a brother to me, but even though I knew I could always talk to him, I still felt a little awkward. It was like I was ratting them out or something, and I didn't feel too good about it.
Two-Bit continued to stare at me. "A fight? With who?"
"Themselves."
"Over what?"
"Over me."
"What do you mean, over you?" he asked. I didn't want to continue this conversation anymore. It wasn't helping ease my feelings over the situation last night.
"Umm… I'm not sure how to explain this," I replied. Calm, calm, I thought to myself. Just let it out. You'll be okay. I looked up at the ceiling. "Alright, a bunch of Socs followed me while I was walkin' back home with Soda, but I didn't want to start anything, so I just kept quiet. I didn't tell Soda, 'cause I knew he was gonna tell them to back off, but then we went around a corner and there were more waiting there. I thought they were gonna jump us, but Dally came outta nowhere and started beatin' them. They ran off, but then Soda started telling Dally that he should've jus' left them alone. Dally started yelling at him, sayin' that I could've gotten hurt if he hadn't helped us out. That made Soda real mad 'cause he doesn't want anything to happen to me, and they were arguing back and forth about my safety and all. It jus' got me upset, I guess."
After my speech, Two-Bit sat silently for a long time. He finally spoke. "I thought you meant they were fightin' over you in a different way," he said. He grinned up at me. I had to smile at his small attempt at humor; that was just classic Two-Bit. The smile left my face when I thought about Dally's voice: You better watch out for the kid, Pepsi-Cola, or she's gonna be dead faster than you can say "careless!" Why did Dally suddenly care about my safety, and why did he come to save Soda and me when he knew that Soda could hold off a group of Socs just on his own?
I must have shivered, because Two-Bit said, "There's a blanket on the couch if you want it." He got up and walked over to where I was standing, placing his hands on my shoulders. "Don't worry about it sweetheart, they'll forget 'bout it soon. Soda can't stay angry at anyone for long, and Dally knows that Pony won't be happy when he's still mad at Soda. And we both know that Dally hates to anger Pony." He smiled at me, and I smiled right back at him. It wasn't often that he used pet names like "sweetheart" or "honey" or anything like that. Two-Bit walked out to the porch.
It was good to have a big brother figure in my life, even if that big brother was currently falling down the porch stairs.
