"So that's the famous Maddie," Sodapop said as more of a statement than a question.
Dallas nodded and leaned against the wall. "That's her… that's the one. Can I ask you somethin'?" he asked.
Sodapop tried to hold back his smirk. "Ya just did…"
That earned a glare from Dallas that burned holes into Soda- at least his smirk faded. "Watch it, Curtis…"
Soda laughed. "Alright, alright… what's your question?"
"How did it feel when you loved Sandy?"
That's when Soda froze. He hadn't talked about Sandy for a few months- especially with Dallas. Even while he was still with Sandy, Dallas never asked about relationships, maybe the first time he was dating Madeline, but that was the last time he ever really talked about love.
If he was being brutally honest, Soda hadn't thought about Sandy in months- not since his first date with Cherry. The biggest shock of all to him was that Soda felt nothing when Dallas had mentioned Sandy. It's like he didn't really care about her at all, at least not in a romantic or amorous way anymore. If he was being honest, he liked that feeling and hadn't felt that way in a long time.
The thing was, for Dallas' question, Soda couldn't remember what it felt like when he was with Sandy. To be honest, he couldn't remember why he was even in love with her. He did kinda feel bad that he was thinking the way he was about her, though- really only because his parents had made sure to teach him and his brothers that you treat girls with every ounce of respect that you could find within yourself.
Soda, who still hadn't given Dallas his answer, didn't think of Sandy when he thought of the word love anymore. To some extent, he kinda thought about Cherry. He couldn't tell too much, at least not yet, but that's how he felt.
"Um…" Soda said as he still thought of answer, but nothing came up.
-/-/-
Ponyboy had been mad at his older brother Sodapop for going out with Cherry Valance. Sure, had had kinda let go of any feelings he had for Cherry, but still. He didn't really know why and couldn't really figure out why, but the thought of his older brother going out with her just irked him the wrong way. Deep down, he wished it hadn't bothered him so much, but he just couldn't face Soda with those harbored feeling and everything going on. In a whole, Ponyboy was confused to some extent about how he even felt.
Darry had talked to him about the whole thing, telling him to drop the whole argument with Soda. It didn't take long for Ponyboy to realize that his oldest brother was not on his side, which didn't fully shock him, but it did annoy him to some extent.
"You gotta let this go, Ponyboy," Darry told him with a stern tone, "Soda and Cherry are goin' together and there's nothing you can do about it. You got that?"
-/-/-
Steve was in the garage at the DX working under a car. Soda wasn't in the garage and hadn't been for a while now. Where the hell is he? he thought. He got up from under that car and headed out of the garage and toward the front of the building. When he peaked outside, he saw Dallas and Soda talking like civilized people. He turned around and peaked inside and saw Cherry and another girl with red hair, who he guessed to be Cherry's older sister that she would tell Soda about.
Before he could slip out, Steve heard his name get called out by Cherry. He cringed a bit, wishing he hadn't even peaked in to see who was there. It's not that he didn't like Cherry, kinda. Like he had told her, he wasn't her biggest fan, but he had actually grown to somewhat like her- as a friend of course. She really wasn't terrible, she was actually pretty nice and she made his best friend happy.
Steve turned back around and started toward the main area of the DX where Cherry looked at him with a small smile, the other girl with a weak smile. She must've been Cherry's sister, there was too much of a resemblance. "Hey Cherry," he said, trying to sound as friendly as possible.
"Hey Steve," Cherry smiled, "This is my older sister Madeline. She's dating Dallas." The second part about Madeline was said quieter than the first.
Steve's eyes widened for a moment out of disbelief and he looked at Madeline. "You're Maddie?"
Cherry gave a confused look and looked at her sister, while Madeline's cheeks turned a bit red and she looked down and a small smile formed on her face. "Uh, yeah… I'm that Maddie," Madeline said quietly with a slight chuckle.
"Since when does anyone call you Maddie? I called you that one and you cut my hair!" Cherry still looked confused.
Madeline gave her a weird look. "We'll talk later," was her answer.
Steve suppressed a laugh. "Alright then… anyway, it's nice to meet you, Maddie."
"Madeline," she corrected with a slight smile.
"Oh, so Dallas can call you Maddie but no one else can?" Steve teased.
"Who can Dally call Maddie?" someone said from the front door. When they all looked up, they saw Two-Bit.
Cherry still looked a bit confused. "My older sister Madeline," she answered.
"Ya know that broad that Dallas went out with a while back? Maddie?" Steve asked his friend.
Two-Bit nodded, "Yeah, I remember her. I mean, I never met the broad, but I remember the name. Why?"
Steve pointed to the older Valance sister. "This is her," he said.
Two-Bit's reaction was the same as Steve's and he looked back and forth between Cherry and Madeline. "You're… and you two are… gosh," he said with a slight confused look.
Cherry's face contorted, showing she was even more confused now than before. When she couldn't take it anymore, she yelled, "Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?!"
-/-/-
After Madeline finally explained to her little sister what was going on, she left the DX with Dallas. Cherry decided to stay with Sodapop since his shift there would be over really soon. Becca wasn't around so Steve just hung around, going back and forth between talking with Cherry and Soda and going in and out of the garage since the DX was pretty empty. Two-Bit had left the DX and decided to go out and look for Kathy.
"So when we went to Buck's that night when we first started going out, and Kathy and Kat mentioned something about Dallas' old girlfriend, Maddie…" Cherry started.
Soda gave a questioning look. "Yeah?" he said.
"Was my sister Madeline the Maddie they were talking about?"
Soda shrugged. "I guess so… I mean, before they broke up that first time, none of us had ever met her before."
Cherry nodded in understanding then changed the subject. "So, uh… how's everything going between you and Ponyboy? I know things were kinda on the rocks with you and your brother," she said hesitantly.
Soda frowned and looked down a bit then shrugged, "He's talkin' to me but only when he has to I mean, Darry talked to him but it didn't do too much good, I think."
Cherry hesitated. "Maybe I should try talking to him," she suggested quietly.
Soda looked up at her with wide eyes. "Oh, uh, I… I don't know. I mean-"
"It's no problem, Soda. I actually feel responsible for the whole problem between the two of you, and to be honest, I'll feel better talking to him myself. Who knows, maybe he'll actually talk to me," Cherry said and shrugged a bit.
Soda sighed, "Fine… but I'm staying with you the whole time while you're with him."
"Maybe in the next room or something with Darry. Ponyboy might not talk to me then if you're in the room."
"Alright," he nodded hesitantly.
I don't like how this chapter looks on my laptop all typed up but it was fine in my notebook and I don't know why but whatever.
Ok so I start college courses tonight with my school and I'm only a junior oh my gahd I'm so nervous. I mean, my mom said she was gonna help me but still it's really nerve wracking since I'm only a junior but the thing is, I'm a junior. It actually just hit me last week while I was talking with my best friend Sara and I mentioned about me being a junior- which means, including this year, I only have two years of high school left till I go to college. I'm gonna graduate in two years and I'm gonna be eighteen years old in two years, I'm gonna be an adult oh my gahd.
Ya know what, no, I'm gonna focus on now with slight plans for the future. I'm only turning sixteen next month, I still don't have to worry.
Sorry about that, I had a mini freak , updates might be slow cause of college courses and stuff so yeah. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Peace from all the hippies of the world. =^-^=