SIX
The rest of the week passed slowly but I always felt like I was running to catch up. I didn't work on Friday though and took the time after school to catch up on all of the work I had been neglecting. Now that the gang knew about my job they were all being supportive.
Darry was insisting that I stay on their couch instead of in the lot so I would get a good nights sleep, Two-Bit was always willing to pick me up, and even if it was just to check out the waitresses, I still appreciated it, and both Pony and Amber offered to help me with my schoolwork until Darry overheard them dividing it up and told them he would knock their heads together if I didn't do my own. I appreciated the sentiment though and as we sat across from each other, Amber caught my eye and smiled.
She had a date with Fred that night, he had been picking her up for school and dropping her off after cheerleading practice too. There were a lot of rumors going around school that they were going steady, only Pony and I knew that she was only using him as a distraction, a desperate attempt to get her mind off of Dallas. Maybe Fred knew too, but I doubt he cared much.
I hadn't seen Dally since he drove me home from the Dingo, he hadn't been hanging around much except with Two-Bit and Steve, I could only assume he didn't want to take the chance of running into Amber. We heard from Curly Shepard that he'd been running with Tim, going to Buck's and getting himself into all kinds of trouble. It was typical Dally, and I wasn't much concerned about him.
Amber heard the stories too, and it showed on her face – every day that week she looked more drawn out and tired. Pony told me she hadn't been sleeping much, and that night over dinner, I had watched her push her food around her plate, keeping her head down and staying quiet. Soda tried to fill the silence, but Darry could barely crack a smile after straining his back that day and being told he'd have to take the weekend off and Pony always had trouble being happy when he knew Amber wasn't. Besides, he had missed curfew last weekend and Darry was making him stay in for this one.
In a last ditch effort to save dinner from being a complete disaster, Soda nudged me, "so what are ya'll up to tonight?"
"Johnny and I are staying in," Pony said with a cross look at Darry who returned it with enough malice to make him look away
"I'm going out with Fred," Amber all but mumbled before pushing her chair back and bringing her plate to the sink as the door slammed and Steve let himself in.
"Hey Soda, Darry, kids," Steve said with a mocking glance in mine and Pony's direction,
"hey what are you doing?" he asked running over to Amber who was about to scrape her plate of food into the overflowing garbage can.
Looking disgusted she handed the plate over to him wordlessly and left the kitchen
"What's with her?" Steve asked, sitting down at the table and scraping the bowl of mashed potatoes clean before mixing them with the rest of the food on his plate.
Soda ignored his question and clapped his best buddy on the shoulder, "so what's doin' Steve?"
"Nothing," he said, his mouth full to overflowing, "Just came to see if you wanted to go to the drive-in tonight, Evie's cousin is in town and she's been begging me to set her up with someone, she's a pretty hot broad so I thought I'd give you first opportunity."
Soda looked to Darry who shrugged and got up slowly on account of his back, moving into the living room and sinking down into the beat up arm chair.
"Let me just go grab my jacket," Soda said as he too stood up and moved into the hall, running into Amber who was coming out of the bathroom. Taking her face in his hand he turned it upwards, "Smile honey"
Amber smiled, but it seemed to cost her some great effort and as soon as Soda turned his back to her, her shoulders sagged and she retreated into her room, closing the door behind her.
A few seconds later, Soda came loping back into the living room as Pony and I were clearing the dishes, "Ready Stevie?" he asked poking his head into the kitchen where Steve was shoveling the last of the food into his mouth.
"Yeah, let's go," he said, standing up and leaving his plate on the table for us to clean up.
I didn't miss Pony's scowl in his direction, and I don't think Steve did either, but he chuckled loudly as he joined Soda by the door saying, "man, this is gonna be a night to remember."
"Amber! Fred's here!" Soda yelled as he opened the door and was greeted by the sight of Fred climbing the porch stairs.
Standing aside, he let Fred enter the house, shaking his hand amiably as he passed, "have a good night, Fred. Bye Darry, See ya Pony, Johnny!" he yelled into the kitchen. Pony and I waved from our spot by the sink and a few seconds later the door slammed and the house was quiet.
Fred may not be the smartest kid, but he was smart enough to be scared of Darry who looked menacing even from his sitting position. After a few minutes of awkward silence between them, he turned to us in the kitchen and came in to say hi.
We were in the middle of talking about the latest fight between Jessie McShay and his girlfriend Sharon – a couple where their fights were nearly almost both physical and public, when Amber came in.
To her credit she had fixed herself up so that she no longer held that tired look so obviously on her face, and if I hadn't known better, I might have thought she was excited about her evening.
"Ready to go Fred?" she asked him
He turned and smiled at her, "sure am."
"Bye," she said to me and Pony before making her way over to Darry who fixed Fred with a piercing look when he said, "have her home by eleven."
I was always allowed to have her out until twelve.
Bending over, Amber gave Darry a hug and then they were out the door leaving me and Pony alone in silence.
We finished up the dishes pretty quick and Darry retreated into his room for the night leaving us to our own devices.
"Want to go over to the convenience store and pick up some popcorn and Pepsis?" Pony asked as we began channel surfing in hopes of finding something decent to watch that night.
I lit a cigarette, "sure, so long as it won't bother Darry."
Pony shook his head and pulled a sweatshirt on over his plain black t-shirt, bending over to re-lace his tennis shoes. It looked like he was itching to get out of the house, even if it was only for a few minutes, so I followed him without protest.
It was warmer outside than I had expected and I felt hot under my jacket, but it was a short walk and we were moving fast. Neither of us would forget the night when we didn't walk fast enough and Bob Sheldon died because of it.
We went to the nearest store, one we were lucky to even be allowed in what with how much merchandise Two-Bit usually walked out with under his jacket and headed into the back where they had coolers full of drinks. Piling a few into his arms, Pony turned to head towards the front of the store but smacked into the chest of a tall hood who had been lurking behind him.
"Where do you think you're going little man?" he asked looking down with a look of scorn across his face.
Pony didn't have time to react before Two-Bit appeared from behind the magazine rack, his coat pockets looking bulky, "Leave him alone Jim, that's Darrel Curtis' brother, you don't want to be messing with him."
"What do you know, it is little Ponyboy Curtis," the boy said, straightening Pony's rumpled shirt so that he nearly dropped the bottles he was holding.
Pony's face was a flushed red by now but he managed to recollect himself, "Hey Jim, hey Two-Bit."
Jim Watson was the leader of the Cooper Street Cougars, our gang didn't run with his much, but we saw them during rumbles from time to time. Jim had gone to school with Darry but they'd never really been friends – Jim always thought Darry was a bit of a sell-out even if he was smart enough not to say so to his face. Still, there was respect between the two because there was respect between the gangs. We'd never had a problem with the Cougars, they preferred to concentrate on rolling socs, not greasers and we preferred to stick to ourselves, shoot, we didn't even have a gang name, we were more friends than anything else.
"So what are you boys up to?" Two-Bit asked as he checked the front of the store to make sure no one was watching before he took a pack of gum and slipped it into his jeans pocket. Two-Bit doesn't even chew gum, it's just fun for him to see what he can get away with.
"Nothing…" Pony said as the bell above the door jingled and Dally walked, scoped the place out and then loped over to where we stood, not even pausing before he pushed a kid who looked about twelve out of the way.
"It's about time you made it, Winston," Jim said sarcastically, earning a real mean look from Dally who all but growled at him to shut up.
"Play nice now, guys," Two-Bit said with his normal care-free laugh. "So boys," he said, turning back to me and Pony, "We're off to indulge in a night of drinking, pick up some chicks," he said wrapping an arm around my neck and giving me a noogie until I managed to squirm out of his grasp, "want to come? It'll be good for you."
I opened my mouth to reply but Dally beat me to it, "Come on now Two-Bit, you know King Darrel would never let one of his precious siblings out for a night like that."
Next to me, I felt Pony go rigid and his face hardened uncharacteristically. He may not get along with Darry all the time, but he sure as heck didn't like anyone making fun of him either.
"We gotta get home, maybe next time Two-Bit," I said, looking at Dally only a second before walking to the front of the store, followed by Pony. From the back of the store I could hear Two-Bit ask Dally what he meant by a comment like that, but we didn't stick around to hear the answer and just beat it out of there.
Our walk back was quiet; I could tell Ponyboy was bugged by what had just happened but he didn't say anything until we were approaching his house.
"Johnny?"
"Yeah Pony?" I asked, taking a deep drag of my cigarette and holding the smoke in as long as possible before letting it out again
"Do you think things will ever get back to normal?"
"Shoot Pony, what is normal?"
"I don't know," he said lighting another smoke for himself and staring at the fresh burning embers. I wondered if he thought about the church much, and saving those kids, or about whether they appreciated their second shot at life. I know I did.
Sitting down on the porch stairs he took a drag of the cigarette and looked up at the sky,
"you know I love Amber," he continued, "and I'm so glad to have her here and all, but things have been so crazy since she came. Damn-it Johnny, Dallas Winston, she had to fall for Dallas Winston?"
I could hear the pain in his voice and I was almost afraid to use my own for fear that he would hear the same.
"Things have been changing long before she showed up," I said slowly "even before Bob and the church. I think we both knew the gang wouldn't stay together forever – Darry is going places Pony, we both know that, and Soda is too good for this kind of life. And me and you, we're splitting as soon as we can, ain't we Pony?" I sighed and continued when Pony remained quiet, his eyes fixed on the stars above us, "sure things are a little messed up now, and I hate it too, I hate feeling weird around Dally and having Darry be worried even more than usual, it's just not natural for us. I don't know why Dal is acting so mean to us now, all I can figure is, he really does care about her." I almost choked on those last few words and they finally brought Pony's eyes from the sky to me
"Do you really think he does, that he even can?" he asked me doubtfully.
"Do you remember what you wrote about Dally putting the flames out on your back after pulling us out of the church?" I asked
He nodded, "I couldn't believe he cared or not whether he had killed me."
"Dallas can care, Pony – I would be willing to bet that he would care if he wasn't so afraid of it. Dally didn't grow up with people caring about him like you and Soda and Darry did…" I trailed off
"He told me, when we were going to see you in the hospital after the rumble, when we thought you were dying that when you care you get hurt," Pony said and I could see him remembering that night and an almost understanding enter his eyes
"Believe me Pony, I'm not thrilled with the fact that Amber loves him either," I said with a wry smile "but who knows, maybe she is what he needs, maybe she'll save his life."
"But will it ruin hers?" Pony asked quietly.
"I guess that's what we're here for," I said "to make sure that doesn't happen."
Pony put out his cigarette and stood up, "thanks Johnny."
"Anytime," I said with one last look at the stars before following him into the house.
That night we worked out way through two movies, seven Pepsis, a pack of cigarettes and nearly an entire chocolate cake by the time Amber can home. We could hear her bid farewell to Fred from the open screen door and I tried to keep myself from wondering if she would kiss him goodbye.
A few minutes later she was in the house, and strewn across the armchair Darry had abandoned some hours earlier.
"Ponyboy, pass me a cigarette," she requested.
"Did you have a good night?" he asked, handing her the fresh pack he had just opened and offering her a light.
Inhaling deeply she shrugged, "it was alright, we went to play miniature golf but there were a lot of people from school there and it turned more into a 'whose there with who.' Fred kept trying to act like we were a couple and got mad when I wouldn't kiss him, but I'm not doing anything just to inflate his ego," she ranted.
Pony and I exchanged a look, like maybe we wouldn't have to take care of her after-all if she maintained that attitude. I almost felt sorry for Fred, but not quite.
"So did you two move at all tonight?" she asked, kicking off her shoes and curling up into the armchair so that her skirt rose a few inches revealing more of her slim legs
I quickly readjusted my line of sight back to her face, "neah, we stayed in," I said, I knew neither Pony nor I would want to tell her about running into Dallas and his plans for the night.
"What aren't you telling me?" she asked peering at Ponyboy who really couldn't keep a secret from her if he tried.
He sighed, "we went down to the store and ran into Two-Bit and Dally, they invited us to go out with them to some party…" he said carefully
"Figures, all Dallas knows how to do is get drunk and Two-Bit is no better either," she said scathingly, but with more hurt than anger.
"I'm sure it's not a big deal," Pony offered "probably just Buck's place or something."
"They could be going to church and find a way to get into trouble," she said standing up and putting out her cigarette with far more force than needed.
Amber isn't stupid, she knows what goes on at Buck's place despite Darry's warning that if he ever found she'd been there she'd never see the light of day again, and she'd heard more than enough stories from Two-Bit about his escapades every weekend to be able to put two and two together and know that Dallas wasn't going to be engaging in any game of checkers tonight.
"Amber..."
"I'm going to bed," she said cutting him off and leaving the room before either of us could speak.
A few seconds after her door clicked shut, a muffled scream drifted into the living room causing Pony and me to crack up, Amber could say she didn't care all she wanted, but we knew the truth.
"I guess I'll go to bed too," Pony said "you gonna stay here tonight?"
We both already knew the answer, so he threw a blanket onto the couch for me before saying good night and disappearing. I was pretty sleepy myself from a long week of working and it only took me a few minutes to drop off into a dreamless sleep.
I woke up to the banging of the screen door and waited while my eyes readjusted to the darkness so I could make out the figure stumbling its way across the living room. The clock on the wall read 3:26 which really meant it was 4:26 considering no one ever bothered to switch it ahead for daylight savings. It could only be one of the gang coming in this late and that drunk and I figured it would be Two-Bit who got hollered at for coming in too late and waking his kid sister with his noisy drunkenness.
"Who's there?" they asked and a chill went down my spine when I realized it was Dally.
Sitting up I tried to wipe the sleep from my eyes, "It's me Dal, Johnny."
"Johnny?" he asked coming closer so that I nearly choked on the smell of alcohol and cigarettes.
I nodded, and he put a hand on my shoulder, whether to steady himself or not, I don't know.
"What are you doing here Dal?" I asked
"I gotta talk to the kid," he slurred "I mean Amber, you know who I mean."
"I don't think that's a good idea right now Dal, Darry will skin you alive if he finds you with her, especially right now."
"Aw Darry can go to hell," he said moving clumsily past the couch and toward the hall, "and so can you if you try to stop me."
I sighed, you couldn't argue with Dallas Winston when he was sober, let alone drunk – he wouldn't hesitate to hit you in either condition.
"Ok, Dal," I said sinking back onto the couch.
He disappeared into her room and I waited for the explosion of voices, for Amber to storm out and demand he leave, but I heard nothing and after half an hour of straining to hear anything, I tried to get back to sleep, but found that I couldn't.
I drifted off sometime during the 8:00 news and woke up to the sounds that I had been expecting the night before. Darry had been getting ready to go to the store to buy groceries for the week when he had walked into Amber's room to find Dallas sprawled across her bed dressed only in his boxer shorts. Amber was already dressed and dropped her hairbrush in surprise at the intrusion
"What the hell is going on here?!" Darry roared so loudly that Pony and I both crowded around to see the action.
Dally sat up in bed looking groggy, "Darrel, what are you yelling about?"
Darry's face was clenched with anger which he looked like he was desperately trying to control, "I asked you a question Amber, what the hell is going on here?"
Amber looked to Dally, maybe to see if he was going to explain, finally stand up to Darry and tell him that he wasn't going to take no for an answer, but he didn't say anything.
"Nothing Darry," she said catching Ponyboy's eye "Dallas showed up here drunk last night and needed a place to sleep because Johnny was on the couch, I let him sleep here and I stayed with Pony," she lied flawlessly.
Darry turned around fixing his gaze on Ponyboy who didn't hesitate before saying, "that's true Darry, she slept in my bed last night since Soda stayed at Steve's"
"So what are you doing in here now?" Darry asked, turning back to Amber, his face returning to its normal color.
"I had to get dressed, you can't expect me to spend all day in my pajamas can you?" she asked with just a hint of sarcasm.
"Alright," he said, looking suspicious, but even Darry couldn't argue with that story especially since Dallas still looked drunk and mildly confused. "I'm going to the store, Dallas get up and get dressed. Ponyboy, Amber, do your homework, Johnny you should too if you don't have to work."
"Thanks Dad," Pony mumbled as Darry walked towards the front door. I had to smile, it wasn't unusual for Darry to get carried away and tell everyone in the gang what to do. I didn't mind much, it was nice to have some direction in life.
The screen door slammed and the innocent face disappeared off of Amber's face as soon as she knew Darry was gone.
Bending down she picked up Dallas' jeans off the floor as he got out of bed, "When the fuck are you going to step up?!" she screamed throwing them at him so hard that he stumbled backwards.
Storming past us Pony and I quickly stood to the side as Dallas pulled on his pants and followed, stopping her from leaving through the front door by grabbing her wrist
"What the hell are you yelling for?" he demanded
"Dallas, you may think this is a game, but it's not," she said evenly, jerking her wrist out of his grip, "You can't tell me you hate me one day because it's easier than telling Darry that you don't care what he thinks, and then a few days later stumble into my room blind drunk and tell me you're sorry and that things will be different when you have no intention of changing anything. You're a coward," she spat
"Call me that again," he said menacingly, his bare chest heaving with anger at her words.
"You're a coward, you disgust me," she said again getting more worked up "you can't even apologize without being drunk. If I put a few beers in you and take you to see Darry then will you tell him the truth? So you hate me Dallas, fine, I hate you too!" she screamed "I don't know what I ever saw in a hood like you!"
She was gone before any of us even realized what happened, the screen door slammed shut behind her but she was already halfway to the lot by the time Dallas came to his senses.
"God Damn-it!" he cursed, whirling around and slamming his fist into the wall so hard he broke the plaster and the skin over his knuckles.
I felt myself jump at his violent reaction unsure of what to do or say – Pony looked the way I felt and we both just stood there waiting to see what he would do next.
To my surprise his shoulders sagged slightly and he retreated into Amber's room, reappearing a few minutes later fully dressed, he left without another word.
