There was no funeral for Mr. Cade. He was cremated by choice of Mrs. Cade because it was cheaper that way.
"Pony, I think you and Johnny ought to go do something," Soda whispered to Ponyboy in the kitchen. Johnny was sitting on the living room couch looking bored instead of somber.
"I guess. But Darry said he wants the house cleaned, don't you want me to help?"
"Ahh, don't worry about it. Go cheer up Johnnycake. I can handle cleaning the house."
Pony shrugged and entered the living room.
"Hey, Johnny,"
Johnny looked up without amusement.
"Wanna go see a movie or go on a walk or something?"
"Yeah. Sure."
"Cool."
Johnny stood up and Pony opened the door for them to leave.
Soda swept the kitchen, wiped counters, washed dishes, fluffed pillows. Nothing too difficult.
His and Pony's room was a different story, though.
There were pairs of jeans strewn about, empty hair grease bottles, school papers scattered around.
"We're pigs!" Soda exclaimed aloud to himself, grinning. Just as he was about to get started cleaning their room, the telephone started to ring.
"Curtis residence, what can I do you for?"
"You can do me for anything, babe," a sultry voice emitted.
Soda grinned, becoming aroused, and hopped onto the couch to lay down, "Hey, Sandy,"
"Can you come over tonight? My parents are out of town, so you don't have to worry about them."
"Come on, Sandy, you know your parents love me anyway."
"Yeah, but I don't think they'd like you so much if they knew what we did when they're not around…"
They were both laughing when Darry came in the front door looking beat as ever.
"Hey, Dar, how's it going?"
"Just great. I see you cleaned up…Except this notebook here," He reached toward a notebook on the couch.
Soda quirked an eyebrow, "Whose is that?"
Darry shrugged in return and tossed it to Soda.
"I'm gonna go get some water." Darry muttered.
"Okay, I'll start dinner in a bit!" Soda said inspecting the cover of the notebook.
"Gotta go Sandy, I love ya."
"You too, Pepsi,"
Sodapop noticed that there was no name on the notebook. "Hmm….." He flipped through the first few pages and smiled, recognizing Pony's art. There were drawings of sunsets, poems, sketches of the gang. He noticed towards the back of the notebook the sketches were predominantly becoming drawings of Johnny. He was about to flip the next page when Darry called from the kitchen.
"Soda! Why in the Sam Heck is your DX shirt in the dishwasher?!"
"The clothes washer was all full!"
"That was an interesting movie I guess, right Johnny?"
"I guess," He shrugged.
"Want to go to the park now?"
"I kind of just wanna go home…I mean your home,"
Pony frowned, "Well alright."
They walked on towards the Curtis' house in silence.
As they were walking, Johnny reached and grabbed Pony's hand. Pony blushed and looked up at Johnny, who was blushing as well.
When they got home, they went to the backyard. The sun had already set, but it was still sort of light out.
Pony and Johnny went to sit on a wooden beam in the back. Probably one of Darry's roofing supplies.
Pony reached and wrapped an arm around Johnny and Johnny leaned into him. Pony lightly kissed Johnny's head, and grabbed onto him tightly. They sat there rocking gently back and forth, listening to the commotion going on inside the house.
"Pony?"
"Yeah Johnnycake?"
"D-…Do ya like me?"
"Yeah, 'course I like ya'."
"No, I mean, do ya' like like me?"
There was a silence.
"I mean, well, yeah," Pony stuttered. Johnny pulled back blushing a bit.
"I like you too,"
They leaned into each other to kiss when Steve burst out the back door. They withdrew.
"Dinner's ready, kid and other kid," Steve called out good naturedly and went back inside.
They were both shaken, not only by Steve walking out on them like that, but from the realization of what they'd almost done.
"Say, this food is pretty good. I guess I can tell who didn't cook tonight," Steve gave a pointed look towards Soda.
"Awh, Steve shut the hell up, like you could do any better," Soda lightly slapped Steve's head.
"C'mon guys, I think we know who the real master chef is around here," Two-Bit motioned to himself.
"Two-Bit, you can't cook ice, man," Dally retorted.
Darrell just rolled his eyes at the immaturity. Couldn't they just enjoy a meal in peace and quiet, just once?
Through, all the banter, Pony and Johnny stole shy glances from each other as their feet lightly rubbed each other under the table.
"Dally, you can't cook air,"
Dally rolled his pale blue eyes, showing a little character, "Cook air? What the hell does that mean, dumbass?"
"It means I'm an artist of culinary arts, and you're not!"
"Hey, I'll tell you who a real artist is," Soda said coming into the kitchen with a notebook. He had on a white t-shirt. His hair was freshly greased and combed.
"Where you goin', little man?" Darry looked up at his brother, admiring his trademark Curtis hair.
"Oh, I'm goin' to see Sandy,"
"Going to see Sandy, eh?" Steve chortled.
"Going to fuck Sandy, yeah?!" Two-Bit hooted, and Steve hollered.
'Two-Bit, Steve, have some decency, will you," Soda complained, smiling and blushing.
Dally just smirked up at Soda. Soda dug well to him. Pony and Johnny were in their own world.
"Anyway, you want a real artist, you should see Pony's work," Soda handed Steve Pony's notebook.
"Huh?" Pony questioned coming back to reality.
Steve began flipping through the notebook, "He's alright, I guess,"
"Where'd you find that? Soda, where'd you find that notebook?" Pony questioned frantically.
"Uhh, you left it on the couch," Soda said as he was leaving, "I'll be back later, I might sleep over, bye!"
Pony went to get up and get his notebook, and Johnny was panicking too, because he knew what was in the notebook.
"Pony, what the hell is this?"
Pony was too late. The blood drained from his face as Steve stared at him bewildered. Everyone else at the table looked between the two, confused as ever.