Chapter Thirty-Five
You're like brothers. So any family of his is family of yours.
"D.J, can we go yet?" Riley Mathews, Two-Bit's son is chomping at the bit to leave the house and D.J Curtis (Dallas Johnny Curtis to those in the know) turns impatient eyes on Sodapop.
"Dad, can we go yet? I can see Bonnie later."
Lily catches the end of his sentence as she comes out of the kitchen. She puts her hands on her hips and gives her son a look.
"You haven't seen your sister in more than three months. The least you can do is stick around and say hi."
D.J rolls his eyes and runs a hand through his messy blond hair. He's got Lily's sharp nose and accusing green eyes.
"Not my fault she's too busy partying at college to come home more often. And if she's been gone three months, what's one more day anyhow?"
Lily looks ready to give D.J what for when you interrupt.
"Give the kid a break," you tell her. "It is his birthday an' all."
Lily's glare transfers from D.J to you, and you feel both D.J and Riley smirk at you from across the table.
"Soda?" Lily demands but Soda only shrugs and gives her a sideways smile.
"Come on, Lil. It is his birthday."
D.J and Riley don't need telling twice. They hotfoot it out of there, yelling their goodbyes.
"Tell your Dad to come see us!" Soda shouts after Riley, but the only response is the sound of the front door banging shut.
"Well, thanks a lot, the both of you." Lily attempts to scowl but her eyes are smiling.
"That's your mouth, not mine, sweetheart." Soda reaches out and pulls her towards him.
"No, it's not!"
Both you and Soda give her a look.
"Alright, well, maybe it is. But you were the one who insisted on calling him Dallas. We were asking for trouble right there."
Soda laughs.
"What can I say? I thought the 'Johnny' part would even it out."
"Yeah, real smart, Curtis. You staying for dinner, Steve?"
"As long as you're cooking and he ain't." You jerk a thumb at Soda who even after all these years can't cook a decent meal without his hands twitching for some food colouring. Lily laughs and heads back into the kitchen.
Soda watches her leave with a smile before he looks back at you.
"You remember my sixteenth birthday?"
You do.
"How are we gonna get him in the house?" You'd asked Dallas, as the two of you half dragged, half carried Soda into the Curtis yard.
"The house? You can take a hike, Randle. You didn't say nothing about the house." Dallas promptly dropped Soda in his front yard. Soda pop fell to his knees as you and Dallas started bickering.
"You wanna leave him out here because you're scared of Mr Curtis?"
"I ain't scared of no one," Dallas said. "But I ain't doing no bed side delivery. What's your problem? We always leave Mathews on his front porch."
That's true, but that's different. Mathews could sleep anywhere.
"Two-Bit's Mom ain't never half as mad as Mr and Mrs C will be-"
"Yeah, I'd say Mr C is pretty darn mad right now."
Even Soda raised his drunken head at the sound of his father's voice. Dallas swore under his breath as Mr Curtis came walking out onto the front porch.
"Guess there's no need to ask if you've been drinking."
"Ask us no questions and we'll tell you no lies," Dallas quipped.
Mr C did not look amused.
"Well, at least one of you has still got their wits about you. What happened to Soda?"
"Kid don't handle his liquor too well. But don't worry, we're working on it."
You wished Dally would shut the hell up. This type of banter usually works with Mr Curtis. He'd usually hit Dallas back with something equally sharp but right now you can tell he ain't in his usual kind of mood.
"Dallas Winston, turning up with my kid drunk is one thing. Promising me you're gonna continue getting him drunk is something else."
"Hey, no one forced him to do nothing." Dallas was already back tracking across the lawn. He was usually all for confrontation but not with Mr and Mrs C. He never wanted to piss them off.
You started to follow Dallas but Mr Curtis' voice stops you in your tracks.
"Steve, you got somewhere to stay tonight?"
Soda's old man don't miss a trick. He saw the mood you'd arrived in when you'd picked Soda up. Knew you needed somewhere to lay low for the night.
"Not really."
"Then get your ass back here. Help me get this boy in his bed before his Mama wakes."
"You're not gonna tell her?" Soda's only contribution since his Pops arrived on the scene.
"I don't think so. I can't say I didn't do the same now and then when I was your age. But don't you boys make this a habit. And don't tell your Mom I said that."
"No, Sir." You and Soda chorused.
The two of you dumped Soda onto his bed and you made your way down the hall to the living room while Mr C helped Soda undress. You were just getting comfy with the couch blanket when Mr Curtis appeared in the doorway.
"You need anything, Kid?"
Just a Dad like you, you thought. Aloud you said;
"Naw, I'm good."
"I heard what you were saying to Dallas out there. About not leaving Soda outside. You're a good friend. I know my kid's safe with you."
It wasn't even that much of a compliment because you knew it was the truth. But it made you feel warm inside. And you never forgot Mr C's words.
Soda is laughing at the memory. You guess you never told him what Mr C had said to you. It's one of those rare moments that feels nice to keep to yourself.
"Wonder what D.J's getting up to right now," you muse.
"I doubt we gotta worry about him turning out like me. He's Lily, through and through."
You consider this. D.J is impatient, sarcastic and street smart. He takes a while to warm up to people and people take a while to warm to him. You guess in that way, he is more Lily than Soda.
"I don't know," you wonder out loud. "He likes an engine like you do."
"No," he laughs. "He likes an engine like you do. He's way more into cars than I ever was."
Funny thing to say really considering the two of you are still in the auto mechanics trade. You run the DX except it's sign now reads 'Randle and Curtis'. But you get what he's saying, you suppose. Cars, for Soda, is an interest and a career. For you, it was always your life's passion.
You taught D.J how to drive, Bonnie too. The two of them were steering your old Chevy from your lap as toddlers and between lessons from you and Soda, the two of them passed their drivers tests first time. You couldn't have been prouder.
"I need a smoke," you say, getting to your feet.
You walk outside, holding the door for Soda to follow you and sit yourself down in a porch chair. They have a nice house, Lily and Soda, a family house. It's in a run down neighbourhood, you guess, but Soda takes care of the place real good.
You could afford a house probably, somewhere close by, but a family house like this needs a family to go in it. That's why you've always stayed in the apartment above the DX.
"You should really cut that shit out, you know," Soda says as you light up a Kool. He's been saying the same thing for over a decade, ever since it became common knowledge that smoking is linked to cancer. You give him the same answer you always do.
"I'm gonna die anyhow."
You ain't afraid of death. You dream about it all the time, of seeing Evie, of being the man you were before she left.
She's the reason you never married or had kids. She's the reason you never last more than a couple of months with any woman. Evie was always the only one and that suits you just fine. Soda's more than happy to share his family with you, just like he shared his parents and his brothers.
"What time's Bonnie back?"
"An hour ago," Soda says. You chuckle. She's Soda's girl, alright. Sensitive, happy go lucky but would forget her head if it wasn't screwed on. But she's smart, like Ponyboy smart, and that just makes you admire her even more. You love D.J too and you know it ain't right to have favourites but you've always had a soft spot for Soda's first born.
"She's coming," you say, hearing the rumble of her car engine from a few houses down. You know Soda don't hear it or see her but he perks up immediately, automatically trusting your instinct. And sure enough, Bonnie Curtis rolls into the driveway. With a guy sitting beside her.
You and Soda stand up in unison and you see the guy automatically check you both over. But his glance is nothing to the death stares you two are giving in return.
Bonnie climbs out of the car, blond ringlets bouncing, her smile wide.
"Dad!" She's never been embarrassed of affection in front of her friends, the same way Soda never has. "Uncle Steve!"
She hugs you both and then turns to look back at the strange guy who is leaning a little uncomfortably against the car.
"This is Charlie. We go to college together. Is it okay if he stays for dinner?"
"Dinner's fine," Soda says in a low voice. "But he ain't staying the night. He can find a motel."
"Dad…" Bonnie rolls her eyes. "Charlie, come say hello to my Dad and Uncle."
The kid comes over as bravely as he can, reaching up to shake both of your hands. He's as tall you are with dark brown hair and quick brown eyes. You squeeze his hand a little longer than necessary but he gets the point.
"Which one of you is Bonnie' s Dad?" Charlie finally wrenches away his hand.
"Doesn't matter," Soda says through a wide forced smile. "You hurt her and the result will be the same either way."
"Dad, give it a rest." Bonnie gives him a playful shove. "Come on, Charlie, come inside and meet my Mom."
"Sure." Charlie starts to follow her and then turns to stop in the doorway. "It was nice to meet you, Sirs."
Soda slumps down in his chair and snatches your cigarette from you.
"Hey, what happened to 'you should quit that shit'?" You demand.
"I'm gonna die anyhow." He casts a look towards the house, "I don't like him." You shrug.
"He's not so bad."
"Why? Because he called you Sir?"
"No." You nod at Bonnie's car, sporting brand new winter tyres. "Take a look. No way she's responsible for having those put on."
"I still don't like him," Soda grumbles.
888
After dinner, you wonder back out to the porch and look up at the sky. These are the times when you miss Evie the most, when Soda and Lily are bantering in the kitchen, when D.J and Bonnie are preoccupied. But preoccupied or not, somehow Bonnie Curtis ends up in the chair beside you.
"You thinking about Auntie Evie?"
You nod and stare up at the sky. Bonnie reaches over and puts her hand over yours.
"I know you get a hard time for not settling down with anyone else but I think it's romantic," she tells you. "I bet you were real romantic to her when you were dating."
You sigh, wishing it were true.
"Not really. I guess you don't know what you have 'til it's gone."
"You ever get lonely?" She asks softly and you can't help but tell her the truth. She has that affect on you.
"Sometimes."
Bonnie shakes her head.
"You shouldn't, Uncle Steve. You have Dad and Mom and D.J. And you have me."
"You're too busy with college and your boyfriend to spend time with your sad old uncle," you tease but her face grows suddenly serious.
She widens her brown eyes in indignation. Even at twenty-two she has a little of Ponyboy's innocence. You don't know how she preserved it being brought up with her streetwise parents in a neighbourhood like yours, but she has. The same way Ponyboy managed to.
"I'm never too busy for you."
"I'm kidding, Kid."
The two of you watch the sky together for a little while.
"So? What do you think of him?"
She's trying to sound casual but you know she cares what you think, that she wants you to like him.
"He pay for those tyres on your car?
"Paid and fitted them."
"Then he digs okay," you admit.
"Don't suppose you could have a word with Dad, get him to see that too?"
You smirk.
"I can try. Ain't promising he'd listen."
"Trying's good enough. Better get back in there, check that he isn't interrogating him or something. Night, Uncle Steve.'
"Night, Kid."
888
Soda is asleep on the sofa when you hear the racket outside. You're sitting up watching the television but the noise outside seems loud enough to wake the dead.
"Curtis, for Christ's sake, be quiet!" Riley Matthews hisses from the porch.
When the door swings open, you and Soda are standing in it's doorway, arms folded.
"Holy Sh- Hey Mr Curtis-Mr Randle…" Riley is backing away from the door while D.J is leaning over the porch rail.
"Don't Hey Mr Curtis me," Soda says. "D.J, you better not be puking on that lawn."
"Might be a little late for that…" Riley mutters.
"So this is what comes to…I let you out late for your birthday and you get wasted." Soda puts a hand on his son's back.
"Please, Dad. Save the lecture for tomorrow." D.J wretches and spews over the porch rail and you wrinkle your nose in distaste.
"You'll feel a hell of a lot worse tomorrow, buddy," his father says sternly.
You feel slightly amused by the irony of it all. D.J drunkenly puking outside the house like Soda had done all those years ago. Apparently Soda is not appreciating the nostalgia.
"When you're done puking, you can get up to bed. And first thing in the morning, you'll come out here and hose down that lawn. We clear?"
For once D.J doesn't argue.
"And if you ain't down here by 9am, I'll tell your Mom the whole sorry story."
"You ain't telling Mom?"
"Not if I don't have to."
D.J looks so relieved that his face begins to regain it's usual colour.
"Oh, thanks Dad. I'll clean up, I swear."
You turn your attention to Riley, who is backing up towards the porch stairs.
"And what about you, Mathews? You sick too?"
"Who me? Nah!" Riley waves the proposal away as if it's amusing. "I'm just gonna mosey on home. Call you tomorrow, Curtis!"He yells at his friend. In the blink of an eye, he's disappeared from sight.
"That kid…" Soda muses.
You shrug. It's what you would have done at his age. At least he saw D.J to the front door. You used to leave Matthews on the porch, ring the bell and beat it out of there. If you were really drunk and feeling brave, you'd hide in the bushes and watch Mrs Mathews haul him up the stairs for kicks.
"It's like the cycle goes on and on," you tell Soda with a smile. "Don't you feel a little hypocritical telling him off like that?"
Soda shrugs helplessly.
"I'm his Dad. What else can I do?"
"And you're really not gonna tell Lily?"
Soda looks shocked.
"Course, I ain't. I may be a hypocrite but I ain't a rat!"
The comment causes you to start laughing and when he joins in the two of you can't stop. Finally you take a walk to the edge of the porch to catch your breath.
"Aw, look, Baby Mathews left his liquor behind."
The bottle of bourbon is perched at the bottom of the porch stairs. Riley probably had to set it down to help D.J up the steps.
"Finders, Keepers"- you start.
"-Losers, weepers."
The two of you open the bottle and swig straight from it like a couple of eighth graders who've raided their Pop's drinks cabinet.
"You drop Charlie Big Potatoes off to his motel okay?" Soda asks you after a big gulp of bourbon.
"Nah, I let him crash at my place."
"You what?" He demands. "We don't even know this kid!"
"No, but Bonnie does and it ain't like I got much to steal anyway."
"That girl's got you wrapped around her little finger," Soda complains and you laugh out loud at his audacity.
"You and me both, Sodapop. Who repainted her room before she came back?"
"She didn't even notice," he grumbles.
You elbow him.
"She will. She just ain't the most observant of kids. Head in the clouds. Bit like her old man."
He pushes you and you shove him back so hard his chair topples over. Maybe he'd have made less noise if he hadn't been trying to save the bourbon.
Footsteps in the house are hurriedly followed by the screen door swinging open.
"Really, you two? I thought it was D.J and Riley out here, not two old men getting drunk and fighting like school kids."
"Who's she calling old?"
"Beats me," Soda responds. "But you're the oldest."
The two of you start laughing again while Lily clenches her teeth.
"Soda, unless you wanna stay over at Steve's tonight, I suggest you come up to bed."
"Can't stay at Steve's," Soda tells her seriously. "Some horny adolescent that wants to steal my daughter away is up there. I can go, but I can't promise he'll be seen alive again."
"Steve?" Lily turns pleading green eyes on you and you throw up your hands.
"Go on, Curtis. No room on your sofa with me here anyway. "
He laughs and shakes your hand, winking at you as Lily leads him back into the house.
You stay in your seat watching Tulsa's night sky and wondering if you and Evie would have had a house like this, a family like theirs, a relationship that was as solid.
You like to think so. Evie was always a certainty, something you ain't had much of in your lifetime.
You think about D.J and Riley coming home drunk, remembering again Soda's sixteenth birthday when you Dallas, Soda and Two-Bit had used fake I.D to get in some crummy bar off East Street.
It had all been going just fine until the cops had shown up. The four of you ducked out the back door with two other shifty looking fellas. Dallas, Two-Bit and the two other strangers were over the back wall in a flash but Soda was too drunk to manage on his own.
You had laced your hands together to give him a boost up and even though he'd grabbed the top of the wall he didn't have the strength to pull himself up.
"Jesus, Curtis, get a move on!" You could hear Dallas hissing from the other side.
You grabbed at Soda's legs and pushed him up as far as you could.
"I got you, Soda. I got you." You supported him steadily until he got his knees on top of the wall.
The back door opened then and you just about had time to hoist yourself up after him before a burly cop grabbed your ankle. But before you had a chance to react, you heard the cop shout out and you were free.
The next thing you remember you were running, the four of you laughing wildly until Soda had to stop to puke.
"Oh, man, Steve. I hope that cop didn't get a good look at me." You were standing a respectable few feet away while Dallas and Mathews sat across the street smoking weeds.
"Not the end of the world if he did," you assured him. "I dont think they cart you off to McAlester for underage drinking."
"How about kicking a cop in the face?" He wretched again and you suddenly realised why the cop let go of you mid climb.
"You kicked him in the face? Jesus, Soda, what'd you do that for?"
Soda gasped between vomiting.
"Cause I got you."
He had, he did and he always would. That, like Evie's love, has always been a certainty.
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