Chapter 2: Your Cheatin' Heart
Chapter 2 Summary: "But I have promises to keep,/ And miles to go before I sleep..." ~Robert Frost. Promises are tricky, especially when they are broken. Danny is heartbroken when Sodapop fails to keep his promise and puts Ponyboy in life threatening danger.
Author Note: I know Sodapop may seem out of character in what happens and his actions/words but there is a reason for this that will be revealed in the next chapter. Thanks for the reviews so far, only 2 so far, so PLEASE R&R =) Like always, I don't own the Outsiders, etc.
The slumped body was leaned up against a shelf and unmoving. Soda slowly knelt down, "Danny", he whispered, as if he was afraid of waking her up from some sleep. Danny groaned and looked up at Soda. He grabbed her arms and helped pull her to her feet. We were all relieved for one that she was alive but also that she didn't look too beat up.
"What happened here?" Darry asked, down to business-like.
"I'll tell you, but I have to get Jesse first." Danny said, her full strength back.
Jesse. I had almost forgotten about him having been there. Danny led us to the bathroom where a chair was propped against the handle to seal it shut. Danny nearly threw the chair out of the way and flung open the door. Jesse had been pushing at the door with all his strength and nearly fell over when it opened, but Danny scooped him up in a tight hug.
"They didn't hurt you too bad, did they buddy?" She asked, letting him go.
"Nah," Jesse said scrapping his shoes on the tile, "they just got me by surprise is all. If that one guy hadn't come up behind me, I would've kicked the other in the – "
"Jesse!" Danny firmly interrupted. "I'm sorry to ask, but could you guys please help me clean this up? My shifts almost over and my boss will be back any minute. He'll flip if he sees the place like this"
"Just tell him what happened," I suggested.
"I can't," Danny responded too quickly.
"Why not?"
"I just can't okay?"
"What's going on Danny?" Soda asked worriedly, "Why can't you – "
"Because I'll get fired! That's why! Okay?"
"Fired?" Darry questioned suspiciously, "Just because you got jumped by some punks?"
"That ain't fair" I added.
"Well, life's not fair," Danny snapped, "so deal with it kid."
Soda moved closer to her and took her hand reassuringly, "Hey, it's okay. Just tell us what's going on, please. You're scaring me."
Danny let out a sigh. She grabbed a broom, dust pan, and garbage bag and handed one to each of us.
"Fine, I'll ya. But in mean time, your helping me clean."
As the five of us hurried to make the store spotless, Danny began retelling the events of the evening.
"It's been going on for awhile. Greasers will come in here to make moves on me. Socs will come to mess things up so I have to clean more and call me names. Some Soc guys came in earlier tonight, hassling me and hitting things off the shelves on purpose, all right in front of customers and my boss. When they left my boss pulled me aside. I thought for sure he was going to send me packing right then and there for causing disturbances to other customers.
'Look,' he began, 'your mother was a dear customer here, and a dear friend to me. I hired you on that basis. Maybe it was a mistake. I can't have hoods and punks coming in here every day, disrupting my business and driving away my customers. I'm trying to be nice here, Danny. I let your brother hang around as long as he doesn't cause trouble. I give you flexible hours due to your circumstances. I don't want to let you go but if this keeps up, I will have to. Find some way to tame your friends or find a new job.'
After that, he left. Told me he needed to run a few errands and would leave to store in my care for an hour or so. Well, turns out those no good Socs had been waiting around outside. When they saw him leave they came in and started calling me real foul names. One of them said that they would never buy something contaminated with greaser trash like me, and then spit at me. There were four of them, big kids too. I could take one or two of them, but not all four. I went for the door but was blocked by one of the boys holding Jesse by the arms and covering his mouth. 'I think this kid is so scared he has to go to the bathroom' I had said, 'what do you think, boys?' With that, two of them shoved Jesse into the bathroom and blocked the door. They told him, and me, if anyone screamed, they'd kill me. I didn't believe their bluff but before I could let out anything, they grabbed me and shoved me hard against the counter. 'My boss is coming back any second now.' I warned them. 'Besides, my boyfriend and his brothers are coming to pick me up. They should be here real soon'. One of the boys, he was obviously the leader, just smirked. 'Well then, I guess we'll just have to make this quick. Besides, I know all about your little relationship with that Curtis kid. Sodajerk or something? You two are a perfect match. What goes better with greaser trash, than more greaser trash? We'll be finished with you before they get here, don't worry darling.' I tried to fight as hard as I could but it was no use. They threw me on the floor. Suddenly, bright headlights lit up the windows and those four tough guys went running like a bunch of scared mice."
"Damn Socs," Soda muttered.
It wasn't like Soda to swear. Just like he never drank, he hardly swore either. Only when he was real upset or real angry. Right then, he was both.
"It's fine," Danny said with a fake smile, "I'm okay, Jesse's okay. As long as we can get this cleaned up and I can keep my job, everything will be fine. I'm used to it."
"But you shouldn't have to be used to it!" Soda exclaimed. "None of us should. It ain't right. It just ain't. Those Socs are gonna pay for this, Danny."
"And what exactly do you plan on doing, little buddy?" Darry questioned. "You gonna take all four of them on yourself?"
"I'll help!" Jesse shouted, going to stand by Soda's side. "Come on Soda, we can take them. No one messes with my big sister!"
"Alright, cool it Jesse James." Danny warned. "No one is paying for anything. I'll beat the tar out of anyone who comes near me or Jesse any day, but revenge is stupid. You fight back, they fight back. Pointless. Let's just go home, okay?"
We drove them home and no one talked about payback again.
After their first date, things really began to spark between Soda and Danny. They talked non-stop. Darry even had to take the phone away from Soda one night. They became so mushy that is upset my stomach. I didn't know which Sodapop I preferred. The one who made out with every girl in sight but then barely talked to them afterwards, or the one who obsessed over Danny, but never kissed her, at least not make out kissed her. After a month or so of them dating, I finally sat down with Soda and asked him why they weren't all over each other like most boys and girls I saw, especially because it was Soda. He was hesitant to share at first, but with the right look, I can get Soda to tell me anything.
"She's a Christian, Pony," He started, "and not like the rest of us who sometimes go to church but don't pay attention or go to pick up nice girls. She doesn't like Jesse cursing or anything like that. She doesn't drink, like me, so that's okay. We both just love to get drunk on plain old living. She's not super strict or anything. I mean, heck, she still hangs around all of us and has the attitude of a greaser. But um," He was hesitant again and getting nervous, "she won't, she won't go all the way, at least until marriage, she says."
"Wow, Soda." I didn't know what else to say really. "Do you think you're going to marry her?"
"Golly, Pony! I'm not thinking about that yet! We just started dating!"
"Well, do you love her?"
"Yeah, yeah, I think I do. I mean, it's early and everything, but, I don't know."
"What are you going to do?"
"Well, I already promised her."
"You what?"
"We talked about it and I promised her that I would wait and wouldn't push it."
"Gosh, do you think you can do it Soda?"
"What do you mean by that? Of course I can! It's no big deal, anyway. It's all different with Danny. We can just sit and talk for hours. Usually I would get bored with other girls. Heck, I can't even talk with Steve that much and he's my best buddy."
The two of us just sat on the porch for awhile. Soda was probably thinking more about Danny. I was thinking about her too. Man, was she ever hard to figure out. I couldn't help but think there was more from her past she was hiding from us. One minute she was snapping at me or acting tough with Steve, and the next she was giving Darry and Soda back massages after their long days at work and sharing writing ideas with me. I couldn't help but think there was more to Danny. I saw her as a sweet, caring girl who put on masks of toughness and calmness. She always acted cool, but I was beginning to think she was just scared.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the screen door screeching open and Darry's voice telling me it was getting late and I should go to bed. As I got up to go inside, Darry came out and took my place on the steps. I could sense they were going to have one of their "talks" and pretended to make walking noises, but stayed behind inside to listen. I wasn't a sneak or anything, just curious. They were silent for quite some time until Darry finally cleared his throat nervously.
"Listen, Soda, I heard you talking to Pony. I heard about you and Danny."
"Well, geez, Darry, what'd you go and do that for?" I could tell Soda was embarrassed. "Don't tell the guys, okay? They poke fun at me enough for not drinking."
"I hadn't planned on it. But Ponyboy asked a good question. Can you do it, Sodapop? This isn't a game or anything. You jump from girls like a frog on lily pads. Are you sure you're ready for this kind of commitment?"
"Whoa, whoa! Who said anything about commitment? We're not running away and getting married."
"I know that Soda, but you made a promise. Can you stick with it? Because if you can't, you need to tell her, before it's too late. She deserves that much."
With that he got up and came inside just as I ducked into the hallway and slipped into my bedroom. I threw the covers over my body just in time for Soda to open the door and plop down beside me. My eyes were closed and he assumed I was asleep. He lay on his side, fidgeting with his hands and mumbling the word 'commitment' over and over. As he drifted off to sleep I heard him murmur one final word, 'Sandy'.
I was worried about his decision and if he could go through with it or not, but it was my brother and I trusted and supported him. It was odd to think about really. Most girls were all over Soda, even fighting to get with him. Don't get me wrong, my brother isn't some trash that'll go all the way with anyone. But he also isn't afraid of make out sessions. I had always hated that. One time I had walked in on him and Sandy in our living room. Their faces were pressed against each other. Soda had one hand running through Sandy's hair and the other placed on her upper thing. I nearly puked as I cleared my throat and told Soda to put a sign on the door or something. He told me I was just jealous that I didn't have a beautiful girl like his Sandy and she blushed. I just shook my head firmly and plainly stated, "no siree Bob! I don't want a girlfriend if I have to do that stuff with her. Gross." They both had just laughed and warned me that I would grow up and see things differently. I couldn't have disagreed more at that time.
The worry got even worse when Soda and Danny started going on fewer dates. Soda kept having to work late or got more hours. That was good for our income, if it was true. Like I said, I trusted Soda, trusted him more than anyone else, but something was up. A girl that used to go to my school, Katherine, started hanging around the DX a lot. Lots of girls hung around the DX, well, hung around Soda at the DX, but Katherine was different. I saw them talking a lot and she would constantly put her hand on his shoulder. I thought maybe it was a girl's way of flirting or something, or that she needed the support after standing in high heels all the time. I like girls and everything now, but I still know jack about them. Rumors spread quickly and it didn't seem like Soda did much to stop them. I tried to confront him a couple times about it but he just told me I worried too much and then clammed up. Even my usual expressions that had never failed me before with getting him to share were useless. Finally, one day when the whole gang was hanging on our front porch, Danny came nearly running up. She stared directly at Soda, pushing past the rest of us without even a glance or word. She was pulling Jesse along by the hand, right close behind her as always. This time though, she seemed to be pulling extra hard.
"Jesse, go inside, now."
Something was definitely wrong. Her voice was different than I had ever heard it before and Jesse obeyed on the first command without hesitation, also different than I had ever seen before.
"Sodapop Curtis," she said fiercly, "we need to talk, now."
"Guys, could you give us a minute?" Soda asked nervously.
"No," Danny said, raising her arm for us to stop, "they can stay. After all, we're all family, right? Isn't that what you told me when we first met, huh? No, they can stay, I want them to."
I had never seen Danny like this. Danny was sarcastic, stubborn, and a little rough around the edges, sure, but she was genuinely sweet and kind. She only said mean things when they were absolutely necessary and very rarely used any sort of tone like this with us, especially Soda. She loved him. Her eyes were different too. Blazing, like when she would talk to her brother, but also, hurt. Beneath the bitter anger, inside the hard shell, Danny was sobbing.
"What did you think? I was stupid, that I wouldn't notice? I've heard the rumors and I've seen you two together."
Katherine. We all knew instantly that is who she was talking about because we all had been wanting to talk to him about it too.
"Tell me, Soda. Just tell me the truth. Did you two go all the way?"
Soda looked down at his shoes, over at us, and then back at Danny, "Yes."
I saw Danny's eyes light up with fire and felt her insides fall to pieces.
"How could you do this to me?" Danny asked, half pleading, half angry.
"I don't get it. What's the big deal? It was only one time, one night"
"The big deal? Maybe it's nothing to you or your buddies or society itself, but the big deal is that you made a promise to me. I gave you an out, Soda. I told you that if you couldn't handle it, to tell me straight off and we'd stay good friends, nothing more. From the minute I moved her I have had guys fighting to be with me and to go all the way with me. But I chose you. I chose you and was going to wait for you."
"Fine, I'm sorry. Let's just forget about this and go back to how we were."
"No, we can't Soda, I can't just forget and pretend nothing happened, maybe you can. I can easily forgive and forget but the problem is that you really aren't sorry. I can tell, Soda, and you're not sorry one bit for what you did. Maybe you didn't want to hurt me but you don't think you did anything wrong and you're not sorry and until you do and are, we can no longer be together."
"Well, fine! You have so many guys lined up at your door it should be no problem for you to move on."
"Is that what you think? That's what you think I would do? Then you don't know me very well Sodapop Curtis, you don't know me at all"
I caught the faint glimpse of a tear sliding down her cheek as Danny turned and hurriedly left the house.
"I don't get it" Sodapop said, turning to us, "what's the big deal? Come on guys, you're on my side right. Steve, Two-Bit? At least you can understand, right Tim? She couldn't expect me to actually go that whole time without anything."
"Maybe, but then you shouldn't have promised" Tim said, stepping forward. "Look kid, I'm no perfect boyfriend, but if I had that girl looking at me like she looks at you, loving me like that girl loves you, I would do anything for her. That one right there, that one you just let walk out the door, well she's one of a kind. She loves you no matter what. She puts up with all of us and a whole lot more. She doesn't put her hand out for money every five minutes like most broads and is loyal. You can't ask for anything better. That girl has been through hell, and you just pushed her in further." With that, he turned and headed out the door.
It was weird how Tim could actually be so smart and caring sometimes. If he saw Danny on the street as a stranger he would be a whole different person, talking dirty and trying to get up real close to her. But he cared about Danny something fierce, like a kid sister, we all did. As the rest of the gang simply shook their heads and went their separate ways, I took a moment to examine my older brother. I knew he was wild and loved girls, but I also knew that he loved Danny, more than anything. I couldn't figure it out.
After that, Soda started hanging out with Katherine more and more. He even brought her over the house a few times. I didn't like her. It wasn't that she was bad person or anything, she just wasn't Danny. Danny was cool with me hanging around Soda sometimes when they went out, Katherine couldn't stand it. She would gesture to Soda if I asked to tag along and Soda would make up some reason why it had to be only the two of them. Katherine wouldn't hang with the gang either. She called herself a "lone wolf" and got into more trouble than almost Tim. Her appearance was nothing like Danny's either. Her eyes were a hard, cold green and were covered in black lines and dark shades of purple and blue. Her lips were always stained a deep crimson, to the point I was beginning to think they were like that when she was born. Her leather skirts and pants were always too tight and paired with heels the color that matched her lips. Her shirts rarely covered her stomach and did hide not much else. Finally, while Darry was out working and I was stuck at home, Soda took me to The Dingo with him and Katherine. She was not happy, but I didn't mind. When we got there, my stomach nearly dropped to my feet and I wanted to turn around and run.
"Well, look who it is, and with your new girlfriend? How sweet." Danny stood up straight in the booth and didn't once look at Katherine. "Hi, Ponyboy" She said, turning to me with a genuine smile. It amazed me how quickly she could change her tone and mood and quickly remembered how much I admired and missed her.
"You said you had a line of guys at your door" Soda started defensively, "didn't realize you would pick an ape face like this to be your boyfriend".
Soda had addressed the fact that I was trying to avoid, the fact that had made me want to run. Danny was sharing a booth with a Soc. I readied myself for the boy to jump up at Soda for the insult and was willing to back my brother up at any second. When he didn't, I nearly scratched my head.
"Jason isn't my boyfriend. He's my friend."
"He's a Soc!" Soda hollered, "His mind is probably only on one thing."
"Oh, because you would know all about that, wouldn't you, Sodapop Curtis? Jason isn't a Soc, he's a nice guy who didn't bail on me when I lost my step-father's money and who doesn't hurt me."
The words "hurt me" visibly stung Soda and I was hoping on the inside he would apologize right then and there, that he'd get down on his knees and beg Danny to come back to him. I frowned when he simply grabbed Katherine's hand and walked out the door. I gave Danny a long, sad look and she returned it. Suddenly, I remembered Katherine's car and that they were my ride home and turned to follow them. I reached the parking lot and searched for the yellow Mustang everywhere. When I couldn't find it, I ran back through the door to find Danny and the Soc's booth empty. I searched my mind for a solution and remembered the payphone by the bathrooms but also remembered my empty pockets. I sighed and returned outside to begin the lonely walk home. I wasn't exactly thrilled to risk my life walking by myself but wasn't about to sit at The Dingo waiting for Sodapop to realize his mistake or end up waiting until night and still having to walk home, but in the dark. I smoothed my hair back and shoved my hands in my jean pockets, trying to look tough as I passed by cars of Greasers and Socs. I thought I was in the clear when I was only steps away from my neighborhood. My house was still a slight walk away and dusk was setting in, but getting jumped in your own neighborhood is unlikely and you have your gang right there to bail you out if it does happen. I breathed a relieved sigh a minute too soon and heard the rev of an engine behind me and felt the warm glow of headlights on my back. The cherry colored Mustang roared passed me, so close I had to duck to one side. I had been in the situation enough times to know what would happen next and that running was useless. I was fast and could reach my home in record time if I really wanted to, but wasn't about to succeed in beating a bunch of determined Socs in a tuff car like this one. I backed up as the three tall Socs stepped out of the vehicle.
"Hey guys, you're out of your territory, this is my neighborhood, you better beat it," I said shakily but trying to hide it and sound tough.
"Your neighborhood?" One of the boys who I guessed at 17 or 18 laughed, "they must not like you too much, letting you walk all alone like this. You got to be more careful, Greaser, you could get hurt."
"I'll scream," I warned, "I'll scream and my gang will all come running."
"No," a different boy interrupted, "we won't give you the chance. Get him!"
He was right. Before I could react, let alone scream, I realized they had slowly circled around me and suddenly tackled me to the ground. One of the boys clamped his hand over my mouth as I felt fists pound against my face and body. I winced as a shoe collided with my ribs, and then my legs, again and again. I'm not going to be able to walk again, I thought. This Soc is going to beat my legs so bad I'm not ever going to walk again. At least, that is what it felt like. I could already feel blood running down my face and mixing in my hair. Everywhere hurt, but oddly, I wasn't afraid. I think I was becoming numb to these attacks so much that they didn't surprise or scare me anymore. The boys hand slipped to my chin and I quickly bit it as hard as my jaw would allow and let out a deafening scream for help. The boy gave me a blow to the chin and placed his hand back over my mouth, muffling my screams. I turned my head and could see my friends' houses less than a mile away. I imagined the guys just sitting around inside one of them, goofing off, not ever noticing me getting pummeled in their backyard. A fist collided with my face, forcing it to the other side and I could no longer see my neighborhood, I could no longer see hope. I was sure I was going to die. In that moment, I cussed out Katherine under my breath and imagined her and my brother cruising around, having completely forgotten about me. I thought at least maybe Soda would dump her once he realized she was the cause of my death. Another slam to the ribs brought me back to reality and I suddenly heard one of the Soc's voices. It was muffled and I realized there was blood in my ears, along with the ringing.
"Car's coming! Let's beat it!"
The three jumped up and retreated into their car, flying off in the opposite direction of my neighborhood. Before I could see what they were running from, my head throbbed and the sky along with everything around me went black.