Missing

Chapter 1

Dear Darrel,

I'm writing to you as soon as possible like I promised. Not that there is much to tell. The flight here was long. I slept half the time, which is whyI can't understand why I'm so exhausted. It must be something about flying.

My mother looks so different then I remember. It's weird, you know. She's my mom, I'm supposed to know everything about her, but she is such a stranger to me. She keeps talking to me in Vietnamese. I can barely understand a word; I haven't spoken the language since I was a kid. Tom's been translating for me.

I'm too tired to worry about that now. All I feel like doing is crawling into bed.

I wish I could call you.

Love, Cole

"Hey Darry," Two-bit bounded through the door.

Steve was sprawled out on the couch watching television. He glanced up at Two-bit and grinned. Ponyboy had gone to the movies with some pretty middle-class brunette; just another thing that Darrel had to keep an eye on.

"Any news from the other side of town?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Two-bit sat on the coffee table, "They want a fight, a rumble, this Friday."

"Knives?" Darry questioned, "Chains?"

"Nope, they'll keep it clean," Two-bit replied.

"We'll be there then," Darry said, "Did you talk to Tim?"

"That's where I'm headed next. Curly's out of the cooler, so we'll have a good number."

"We're still short," Darry sighed.

Cole,

There isn't much new here either. It's been raining for the past couple of days and I haven't been able to work except on my own house. We found a leak in the ceiling above Pony's bed. I woke up in the middle of last night to find him in bed with me, stealing all the blankets. I patched the hole while he was on his date.

Yeah, that's right. Pony has a girlfriend now. My youngest brother has a girlfriend. It's just so strange to me. I worry about him without my dad here. The girl seems harmless enough, though.

Soda arrived in Vietnam last week. We just got a letter from him. He says that he's alright. I hope he is. God, I worry about him everyday.

I saw Anne today. You know, your Anne, from the diner. I told her that you'd left. She said that she quit the job at the diner soon after you did. She's pregnant, did you know that? It caught me off guard when she told me, but she's as cheerful as ever.

I miss you,

Darrel

"Cole, there's a letter for you!" Auntie Lynn knocked on her door.

Cole scurried to the door and swung it open, earning a suspicious look from her aunt.

"Thanks, Auntie Lynn," Cole said as she took the letter and made to close the door once again.

Auntie Lynn stopped her, though, by placing her foot in front of the door.

"You're mother wants to see you," She said, "She's up in her room."

"Alright," Cole said, but she couldn't help but be a little disappointed. Just the sight of Darrel's messy scrawl on the envelope made her heart throb in her throat.

Dear Darrel,

My aunt made me meet this boy tonight and kept chattering until I agreed to go. I assure you I did not do anything scandalous. I went over to his parents' house for dinner with my brother as my chaperone. It was torture.

I'd kill for a burger right now. Maybe you should just mail me one. Fries, too. Man, I want some fries. My aunt says it's a shame how Americanized I am. She always sighs when she has to translate for me. And she wonders why I don't touch my dinner.

Ugh, I hate fish. Save me.

Love, Cole

"How'd it go?" Darry questioned when Pony got home.

"Good, I guess," Pony shrugged and took a Pepsi out of the fridge.

"That's all?"

"Yeah," Pony answered.

"Don't worry so much, Darry," Two-bit said from the couch, "the kid's still in one piece, ain't he?"

Darry nodded reluctantly.

"Mumma, you wanted to see me?"

Cole's mother smiled as she entered. She looked up from the book she was reading in bed.

Dark eyes stared into Cole's. Her mother seemed so young, this surprised Cole. She hadn't expected her mother to remain so beautiful. All of the sudden, Cole was ashamed of her own sharp features and her steely eyes. Cole felt overpowered by her mother; outshined.

"Yes, come sit."

Cole obeyed.

"My beautiful Cossette," Her mother's elegant fingers stroked her cheek, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too," Cole said, although she felt strange saying that to someone that she had never really known.

She couldn't even remember actually missing her mother; missing the idea of her mother, maybe. For a minute, she believed that she had never missed anyone before, but then she corrected herself. She missed Darrel.

Her mother said something to her in Vietnamese, but Cole didn't understand so she just shrugged.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

Cole's mother smiled.

"That's alright, Cossette," she said, "Do you like that boy, the one that you visited the other night?"

"He's nice, I guess," Cole said off-handedly.

"That's good," her mother responded and something about the way she said this raised Cole's suspicions.

"Why do you ask?" Cole wondered out loud.

"I'll tell you," she said and she leaned closer to Cole like she was about to share a bit of schoolgirl gossip, "His family is very good friends with ours, Cossette, and we have arranged for you two to be married."

A/N: Please Review! I'll love you forever (really, I will)!

-Avenging Angel