I sat down immediately; feeling the sting in my backside. Even through the extra layer, with my jeans - it'd hurt. I glanced up at Soda, with tear filled eyes, and bit down on my bottom lip.
"You stay here, Pony. I'll be back in a bit." Soda gave me one last look, and turned to leave.
"S-soda?" I asked quietly, sniffing.
He stopped, turning back to me. "Yeah, Pony?" he asked.
I swallowed hard, as some tears made their way down my cheek. "C-can... can we not tell Darry about this, please Soda?"
Soda walked back to where I was seated, and placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Pony, you know as well as I do Darry'll find out whether we tell him or not, if he doesn't hear it from us, he'll hear it from somebody else... you know that. But listen... you do know what you did was wrong, right?"
As I nodded yes, a few more tears fell.
"Ok, well... I'll tell him that I've had a talk to you. But, I know he won't be very happy about it, so I can't make any promises, ok? And... you are to stay here until I'm finished," his eyes made direct contact with mine. "Do I make myself clear?"
I nodded again, knowing he'd made himself very clear. I knew in future I'd have to try and listen to Soda more.
"Good, and next time you decide to start talking back to me like that, I won't hesitate in tanning your backside again. Is that understood?"
I bit down on my lower lip again, nodding. "Y-yes, Soda," I said quietly.
He pulled me up from my seat and wrapped his arms around me. "Good, I've gotta get back to work, but I'll come and get you when it's time for lunch."
I nodded against his chest, content with his comforting embrace. He slowly rubbed soft circles on my back as he held me for a minute longer, before placing a kiss to the top of my head.
"You ok, now?" he asked, unwrapping his arms from around me.
I nodded, "Yeah."
"Alright. I'll be back soon, ok?" I nodded again, and watched him leave the room.
I took a seat in the chair again, sighing. I only had half an hour to waste, before lunch. I found some paper in the office desk drawer and a grey led pencil and occupied myself with drawing a picture of a bridge with a little stream running through it, with mountains on both sides.
The time only seemed like minutes, before Soda re-entered the room again, letting me know it was lunch. I sat the grey led down next to my drawing, to come back to later on, and followed Soda out the door.
Soda headed for the garage, to find Steve. I continued past the pumps over towards where a large stack of tyres sat leaning up against an old metal fencing, that surrounded the edging of the DX station. I climbed up, almost half way, then sat down on the edge of the black rubbery ring. I pulled my pack of smokes from my pocket, then found my lighter. I held my smoke to my lips inhaling a deep breath, and watched as Soda and Steve strolled casually over towards me. Soda climbed up, taking a seat next to me, and handed me a wrapped sandwich and Pepsi; that I guessed were from the DX fridge.
"Thanks, Soda." I placed the wrapped sandwich on the tyre beside me, and flicked the tab on the Pepsi, taking a long drink.
"That's k," he said, giving me a light smile, then unwrapped his own lunch.
Steve remained standing on the concrete, facing us. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out his own pack of smokes, lighting one up. I could tell by the looks he was giving me, that Soda must have filled him in on what happened earlier, but he didn't say anything, and that I was thankful for. The next few minutes we ate in silence, but that silence didn't last long.
"Hiya Greasers... how's it hangin'!?" Two-Bit said with a cocky grin, coming over towards us.
However, the grin was quickly wiped from his face as Soda started in on him. "Two-Bit, I should kick your ass!" He was taken back by - I'm sure mostly surprise, maybe shock - he steadily took a step backwards. But a split second, a small smirk appeared, overtaking the moments hesitation.
His response, comical. "I'm innocent, I swear." He then placed his hands up in a surrender pose, before he started rambling on, and on.
"It was her... I knew it... it was that good lookin' blond broad," he paused, thinking, "I think it was... no, I'm sure it was, Amy... no, Amanda..." thinking again, "anyhow, did she come by here, cause I swear I didn't do anything..."
Steve snickered, clearly amused.
Soda cut in, before Two-Bit embarrassed himself further. "Two-Bit, Shut up!" Soda sounded on the edge of his patience, Two-Bit pretended to zip his mouth shut. "You left your damn beer lying around our house, Ponyboy here found them..."
I interrupted him, I couldn't let him go off at Two-Bit like this, he wasn't even there to begin with, "Soda please don't, it wasn't ev-"
He didn't listen, instead he shushed me.
I hung my head, feeling terrible. But Soda didn't let up. "He drank it Two-Bit, we could smell the beer on his breath. Don't be surprised when Darry catches wind of this, and tries to knock your damn block off. Cause I can tell you now his gonna be pissed."
"Yeah, but who's to say it was my beer? Kid could have got it from anywhere. Where'd ya' get the beer, Ponyboy?" I kept my head hung, and bit my lip. I couldn't answer, or look at him. I was to blame, that he was copping this.
Two-Bit sighed heavily, putting his head in his hands. "Seriously kid," now it was his turn to scold me, but I deserved it. "what you tryin' to do? Get me killed or somethin'? Cause I sure ain't' itchin' to have to deal with your big brother 'bout this."
"I-i'm sorry, Two-Bit." I swallowed, hard.
He sighed again, but lighter. "Ok... it's ok, we'll figure this out." He paused, rubbing a heavy hand across his forehead.
"Maybe, Darry won't find out..." But after a moments pause, he added, "who am I kidding... Darry always finds out. You know, I have a good mind to tan you myself, kid." That caught my attention. I lifted my head, getting a good look at him; his normally cocky self, now etched with worry, and disappointment.
"If you weren't Darry and Soda's kid brother, I would."
Soda placed a reassuring hand to my knee. "Don't count on it," he told Two-Bit; though his tone was light, I still caught the warning behind it. "either way, we need to get back to work. Ponyboy," I turned to look at him, "hang around. I finish at three, till then stay outta trouble." I nodded, and rolled my eyes as I turned away from him.
"Hey, I saw that," he warned, giving my knee a good slap. Then made his way down from the tyre stack, and heading with Steve to the garage.
It was still yet another two hours before Soda finished, and that I was finally released from my confinement - though to be honest I wasn't much looking forward to going home either, and facing Darry.
I bummed around with Two-Bit while I waited, with him now cracking jokes - I think I was more humoured watching him laugh at his own joke, then the actual joke itself.
"Hey! Hey Pony, listen to this one. Why did the cookie cry?"
"I don't know, Two-Bit?" I said, shaking my head.
"Because his mother was a wafer so long," he laughed, "get it... a wafer." At the sight of him laughing so hard, I couldn't hold back. I had to laugh in spite of myself.
After the guys shift ended, we turned to leave.
The walk home was silent... maybe I should correct myself - I was silent, the guys around me not so much. Soda and Steve were caught up in some conversation, that I hadn't caught, and Two-Bit hadn't let up on his lame attempt at jokes - earning himself the occasional scowl, from both my brother and Steve. My mind had wondered away from their conversation long ago, as my brain conjured up every possible thing Darry may say... or worse, do... admittedly I was a little scared.
I let out a light sigh, as we met the old front gate to our property. I lagged back, as we headed up the small path to our front steps, with both Soda and Steve messing around, taking playful punches at one another. Soda ducked a punch, then had Steve in a tight headlock. I followed them up the porch steps, and into the house, with Two-Bit trailing close behind. It suddenly dawned on me that I still needed to get the rest of the place cleaned before Darry came home. I hadn't done much before leaving, and I'm sure the washing machine had long since finished.
"Shit," I said without realising, and felt a solid slap to my head.
"Oww!"
"Watch your language, Pony," Soda warned, as I rubbed the sore spot. Then I noticed him glancing at the dishes piled in the sink left from breakfast, before he turned to me with a raised eyebrow, questioning.
"I know, Soda," I said, with a hint of attitude.
He raised both eyebrows, with a warning. I knew he'd caught the attitude, but the way he looked at me wasn't necessary. I knew I had to clean up, and get it done. Cause as it stood; I was already in trouble, and didn't need to add anymore to the list.
"Well then, go and do it. Before Darry gets home." His voice was calm, collected, but held authority.
I headed for the laundry, and pulled the washing out of the machine to hang up to dry, then went to start on the dishes.
The television in the living room was now turned up to it's maximum capacity, and I could hear the guys in the lounge, wrestling, and knocking into things.
I grabbed a dish from the hot soapy water, scrubbed it, rinsed it, then onto the next one, "One dish, two dish, three dish, four... wash, wash, scrub, scrub, then there's more," I sang to myself quietly, while washing a glass cup.
What I didn't realise, was that Two-Bit had walked into the kitchen, stood right behind me, wearing a mischievous grin. Without warning, he grabbed me around the waist, lifting me up, then roughly dropped me back down; making the sudsy glass slip from my fingers, and shatter across the kitchen floor. Soda and Steve raced in, upon hearing the smash.
"TWO-BIT!" I yelled, angrily.
...
Bella Lilac
