Disclaimer: the usual
/Pepsi's POV/
Buck Merrill's parties are famous for booze, chicks and trouble. Darry, Soda and I have threatened Ponyboy within an inch of his life if we catch him within three miles of this place. I think that suited him just fine, but it made all of us feel better knowing he wasn't going to be coming around here, even to look for me. If it wasn't for Dal and the fact that I work for Merrill and the Slash J, I wouldn't come around here either. Hank Williams is constantly played and Buck is not exactly my best friend. Dal and me just work for him and order him around.
Boy I missed Dallas! He's in the cooler again, this time for smashing all the windows at the school. We all knew Two-Bit did that, but Dal took the blame without even batting an eye. He's one cool son of a bitch. He and I really faked these nights. No action, unless you were planning on getting drunk or seeking some lady company in one of the bedrooms.
Now, I know I may drink, swear and even steal and lie on occasion, but I'm not one for one-night-stands. Call me old fashioned, but there's a girl out there for me. I wanted something I wouldn't brag up the next morning. I wanted a girl who was mine, a gal who liked to talk and go to movies andwas willing to put up with my family.I definitely wasn't going to find her here. Believe me, I'd tried. The girls you met here were one-night-stands and if they did turn out to last longer it wasn't' even worth it. Dally met his girl Sylvia here. She's the type that would turn on him for a fling the moment he got thrown into the cooler. Probably has already, the damn, two-timing bitch. Dally may be a borderline hood, but he deserved a gal that was at least loyal.
Like every party, well more like every public place, I've managed to find myself surrounded by girls. Soc, Greaser, they were all girls and they all seem to forget class to flirt with Soda and I. It's not intentional, on our part, but it happened almost every time we left the house. I looked into the face of a curly blonde haired girl. She was wearing too much make up and reeked of perfume. She was definitely easy, especially if she planned on finishing that drink. She was also clinging to my arm like there was no tomorrow! I swear, I'm gonna have bruises with her fingerprints on my arm for a week! Not only that, but she'd been too close for comfort all night and she wasn't even my type. Two-Bit's type yes, mine no. I got nothing against blondes, but it's like I said, there's a girl out there I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with and I'm waiting on her. None of these girls would be her. They all look the same, smell the same, laugh the same and it was kind of sad. No individuality; just carbon copies. I looked at the girls around me. Blonde Sylvia, curly blonde Sylvia, brunette Sylvia, red haired Sylvia. Different girls, but the same type. Never find a quality girl in this place.
I looked down at my wrist only to remember I don't own a watch. Great. I found the clock on the wall and nearly cursed when I saw it was quarter after one. Shit! Darry was going to rip me apart and wake up the whole neighborhood doing it. Lovely, just great. I had school tomorrow, too. Congratulations Pepsi-Cola Curtis. You signed your own death warrant.
I hurried an apology to the girls and left them, with only their pouted sighs following me. I couldn't help but grin. It was nice to be missed. I wandered around for a minute before spotting Buck at the bar. He was a slow, dumb, blonde, Hank Williams digging cowboy and he was drunk... Perfect.
"Buck," I said to get his attention
"P.C...How's it going? Enjoying the party?"
Yep, he was drunk; he only had the nerve to call me P.C when he was drunk. When he was sober he wasn't much wiser, but he had enough sense to know when he was in dangerous territory. If I wasn't already late for my own funeral, I may have clobbered him.
"Yeah, great Buck. I want the keys to the T-bird," I answered
"Why would you want that? The party's not over yet! Are you going on a beer run?" he slurred
"Quit asking stupid questions and get me the keys."
The only way to get what you wanted from Buck was to bully him. He may be older than us, but both Dally and me could boss him around easily and he'd do what he was told.
"Ok." He handed me the familiar key ring and grinned stupidly
Buck lost his two front teeth in a fight not too long ago. Who ever did it sure wasn't doing him any favors with that move. I snatched the keys and headed towards the back door. Damn, this place was crowded! I was going past the stairs when I ran into someone I hadn't expected, but what she was doing was expected.
"Sylvia. Long time no see," I greeted
"Curtis!" She immediately dropped the hand of the guy she was with like it was red-hot.
I could see the gears in her brain turning as she tried to figure out which twin I was. If I was Soda, she maybe able to pull the cute card and sneak around the fact she had just come from one of the bedrooms with some guy. Now, if it was me, she was going to get it and Dally was going to hear about it. I knew she was hoping I was Soda.
"All on your lonesome?" She asked getting closer to me
"You should be, too," I answered and she figured out which one I was pretty fast
"That's nice." she was smiling forcibly now
"I figured you smarter than to bring a guy here when you know I'm hanging around," I answered
"If you'd mind your own business, I wouldn't have to," she snapped all smiles gone
"Might not be my business, but Dally would just love to hear about this," I said lazily
"You wouldn't dare!" she snarled wide-eyed
"Oh, wouldn't I?" I asked "I've tried to tell him about you since day one and every time you cheat on him you manage to cute your way back into his good books."
"Cut the crap, Curtis." She knew that being frank would get her farther than the cute act would "What do you want?"
"You out of my sight," I answered
"Pepsi-" She started
"You're two-timing my best friend, again. When he gets out of the cooler either you tell him or I will. Either way, it's over and you can go back to being the town tramp. I just hope Dally is restrained enough to not let himself beat some sense into you," I said in a low voice
"I hate you," she hissed
"Good. I can take any woman's scorn." Where the hell did that come from?
"I swear, Pepsi-cola Shawn Curtis, if you tell him, I will make your life a living hell." She was smiling now
"I can't wait." I smiled back
"No, I will really make it hell," she said making every word articulated "If Dally finds out I'm two-timing him, he'll also be finding out his best friend was the one I was two-timing with."
"Sylvia, you're an evil bitch, but not too smart. Good luck with that one, babe," I said walking out the back door. I had not time for this
Merrill's T-bird was in it's usual spot and I was glad I didn't have to go searching for it. I didn't know what time it was, but it was late enough for Darry to have a coronary. Boy, was I in for it.
Right then I didn't want to go home. I seriously considered crashing at Merrill's (if you can sleep over the Hank Williams it wasn't a bad place to crash). Was I scared of Darry?
When Darry yells I either feel angry or helpless. I know ninety percent of the time I deserve to be yelled at, but I can't help doing things that get me into trouble. I know he only yells because he's worried and stressed and frustrated at his situation, but some days I just want to beat it out of there.
When Darry yells at me I get scared. I don't know why. Maybe it scares me that one day I'm gonna scream and shout back and I'm gonna make tracks. When he yells at Pony I just get mad. I know the kid isn't perfect and Darry worries, but no one should ever yell at my kid brother. I know it's stupid but all the yelling scares me in some way. It scares the hell out of me that I have no control, that I'm helpless to stop him. It scares the hell out of me that I may not keep my cool the next time he yells and it scares the hell out of me that I can feel so lost. I'm a Greaser! I don't cry, let myself be scared of anything or show any weakness. I'm a Greaser. Why was I acting like this?
If I was scared, I sure as hell wasn't going to show it. I started up the piece of junk Merrill called a car and turned towards home.
I walked in at two to find Darry out cold in the chair with the lamp on and the paper open on his lap. I shook my head and closed the door silently behind me. I folded the paper and put Darry's feet up on the coffee table before covering him with a blanket Mom had Knitted years ago. She was a damn good knitter and I had some good quality sweaters before I grew out of them. Where they were now, I couldn't tell you, but hopefully they would make there way to someone who needed them. I marveled at how deep a sleeper Darry was before heading off down the hall. Soda was in his bed, out cold, still in his DX shirt. He was a good guy, great brother and damn good listener. I smiled and gently shut his door. He was a deep sleeper, too.
I went down the hall, to our room to find Ponyboy out cold with a book open on his chest. He loved to read. I shook my head, again. The power bill was going to be high this month if we kept leaving lights on. I would shut it off in a minute, after I'd changed out of these clothes. Ponyboy hadn't bothered.
I sure hoped he slept through the night. I was too tired to be any help to him if he had one of those nightmares. Since the funeral he's been having these dreams, nightmares, that leave him screaming bloody murder and scared to death. It scared us all, I get the feeling Darry most of all, because Pony couldn't remember and we had no way to protect him. Ponyboy and I had always been on good terms, but when those dreams started he had really latched on to me. I think I kind of latched on to him, too.
It seemed to help when he slept with one of us, so I volunteered to let Pony sleep with me. Soda wanted to and it would have been easier for them to share a bed, but I was hell bent to protect him. These dreams, I realized, I couldn't stop or protect him from, but my presence made them easier to deal with and they came to Ponyboy less often. I was glad I could at least do that much, but it still pissed me off that I couldn't do more. I'd stuck up for him his whole life and protected him as much as I could, but I've felt like I've failed over the last few months. I felt so helpless and so lost. I missed my parents and how things used to be. I missed the way Darry and I got along before and how we never ran out of hair grease. I hated that things had changed and I wished now more than ever that Dallas was out. He always had a way to get my mind off things. Like this one time, when we were at the Dingo and Dal just had to set his meal on fire. It was funny to watch that waitress panic and Two-Bit swore we were nuts. We'd had some good times and had some more on the way. I drifted off to sleep thinking about the good times.
I woke up not four hours later and found sleep was not going to come back. Great. Today was just going to be great. I sighed and rolled out of bed. I was awake enough to catch myself before I hit the floor. I really didn't want to wake Ponyboy up. He hadn't slept a full night in a long time.
The house was quiet. I know it was only six in the morning, but it's nothing like it is the rest of the day. Our house is just naturally noisy and to have it this way would normally give me the creeps, but this morning it was nice. It's a rare thing when I'm up before seven, but when I am, I enjoy the quiet and the alone feeling I get or I get freaked out and wake someone else up. I'm weird that way. I like to be alone, in the quiet, sometimes. Then there's other times when I just can't stand it, because I rarely am alone in the quiet. I was going to make the most of this.
I crept out into the living room and found Darry right where I left him. He must have been tired if he wasn't up by now. I grabbed a towel off of the clean laundry pile I was supposed to take care of yesterday. It was rare I ever got a shower in the morning, with Darry, Pony and Soda being up before me and using up all the hot water. I liked to shower at night, anyway, but I was going to enjoy the change. When I had finally had enough of the shower, I got out and tried to make myself look presentable. We were still out of grease, so I was going to have to make do without. When I was finally done I was hungry. Not just hungry, but starving. It had been yesterday morning since I'd had anything to eat.
I was gonna have to wake Darry up soon and the others, if they were going to make it on time. Not before I had on a pot of coffee and some of my special double chocolate chip pancakes. I didn't want to row with Darry this early in the morning, not when it was already such a good day.
"It's six thirty. Are you sick?" Darry asked pouring a cup of coffee
"Nope, just not tired," I answered
"Really? I know for fact you got less than five hours of sleep," he stated
"I'm surprised I got that much," I confessed
"Well, if you had have been in by curfew you may have got more," Darry said pointedly
"Yeah, but I honestly lost track of time," I answered and passed him a plate
"You really scared me last night, do you know that?" he asked and I didn't answer "I was worried sick that you were lying in some ally somewhere or dead in the street. If I had have been awake when you got home, you would have got it good."
"I'll try not to do it again." I couldn't promise him anything.
"You'd better not. The next time you're out past curfew--"
"Yeah, I know. You'll beat my head in," I sighed
"Pepsi, I would never hurt you. You just...You scare the hell out of me when you do stuff like this."
"Right. Pony and Soda should really get up, if they want to eat this morning," I said leaving Darry in the kitchen with a weird look on his face
I know he was trying to tell me something, but to tell you the truth, I didn't want to hear it. I wanted out of this house. For the first time in my life I wanted to go to school. I was starting to think Darry was right when he said I was sick. I actually wanted to go to school!
Well, another long chapter! Here's hoping everyone enjoyed.
Flames are accepted, butI prefer if you e-mail them. Seriously,Jhon chews out reviewers.I don't but I apparentlyhavea conscience, so save the hassels.
Night everyone!
See ya in the funny papers!
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