Soda's POV
I yawned as I awoke to the sun streaming through the open curtains and rolled over. Wait a minute, that couldn't be right. I opened my eyes to check that I did in fact have the whole bed to myself, Pony wasn't here. Which means he either hasn't come home yet or he passed out on the couch. I sighed as I got up, praying it was the latter.
After checking the lounge for Pony I walked into the kitchen to find Darry sitting at the table with his morning coffee.
"How are you feeling this morning?" he asked me. Strange, he seemed in a good enough mood.
"Pretty good." I was going to make a remark about the fact that I'd been home early but decided not to remind him that I was home and Pony wasn't. "You?"
"Fine. You didn't wake Pony up by any chance did you?"
"Uh, what?"
"I'm waiting to discuss last night with him."
"You didn't wait up for him?" If Darry had gone to bed maybe he didn't yet know Pony wasn't home. I might still be able to cover for him. He looked at me and frowned.
"Of course I waited up for him, I always do." Damn. "Especially since Sam was out too." Oh man if the lovebirds had gotten a room at Buck's I was gonna kill them both. "So did you wake Pony?"
"Uhhhhh...not exactly."
"What do you mean 'not exactly'? It's a simple enough question Soda, is Pony awake or isn't he?" I turned my back and pretended to get some toast so I wouldn't have to look at him.
"I dunno." There was a pause before he answered and I winced at his tone.
"And why is that?"
"Because Pony isn't in bed, I don't think he came home last night."
"Of course he came home I waited up. It was almost 2 hours past curfew but he eventually made it, Sam and Two-Bit with him." I spun around.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure!"
"Well he's not in bed."
Darry looked at me for a few seconds before getting up. I watched from the kitchen doorway as he went down the hall and peered into my room, then came into the lounge room.
He stood looking at Two-Bit passed out on the couch then suddenly his eyes narrowed and he muttered something that sounded like 'no way' and stormed down towards Sam's room. Suddenly I knew without a doubt where Pony had spent the night and what Darry would find when he opened that door. I raced down the hall after him.
"Darry wait!" I tried to stop him but I was too slow. I was right behind him as he slammed Sam's door open and knew there was no trying to hide it anymore. Sam and Pony were lying in Sam's bed, lips locked.
Pony's POV
It took me a second to remember why I was in my old room when I awoke in the morning. I tried to be quiet as I looked over at Sam who was still asleep. I rolled over slowly, trying not to jostle the bed too much. I didn't envy her the hangover she'd have when she woke up.
"I want to die." I heard her quietly grumble.
"Hey, sorry. I was trying to be quiet and not wake you, how do you feel?" I whispered.
"Do me a favor and kill me." I laughed quietly and she rolled over to face me. When she opened her eyes I laughed again.
"You look like a raccoon." I wiped under one of her eyes with my finger but the blackness remained.
"I'm really sorry about last night."
"Don't be. Everyone goes crazy at Buck's."
"You didn't."
"Well no but I've been there a hundred times, next time I'll just have to keep a closer eye on the amount of alcohol you consume." She scrunched up her eyes and rested a hand on her forehead.
"Please don't mention alcohol to me right now."
"I know what will make you feel better."
"What?" she asked without opening her eyes. I leaned down to brush my lips lightly back and forth against hers.
"This." I whispered and she smiled against my lips.
"You're right that does help, but not completely. I think you might have to try harder." She wound her hands in my hair and opened her mouth to meet mine. Within seconds I'd lost myself completely.
I leaned down and snaked a hand to grip her hip. She moved to grip the back of my neck, a move I loved, and I squeezed her hip in response. And that, unfortunately, was how Darry and Soda found us seconds later as the door slammed open. We still had the sheet over us but I think Darry could fill in what was going on underneath. Everything was completely still for a few seconds, all of us just looking at each other before I turned to Sam.
"This is gonna be bad." And then the shit hit the fan. Darry stormed into the room closely followed by Soda, both were yelling. I jumped off the bed to stand in front of it, shouting as well, and Sam sat on her knees on the bed, more pleading than yelling. I couldn't make out much of what anyone was saying.
I heard a lot of 'I'm sorry' coming from Sam and I think Soda was trying to calm Darry down, who looked like he was about to explode. I was trying to explain, to think of a reason why we were caught in that position. I didn't make a lot of sense but it didn't matter anyway, no-one was listening.
"ENOUGH!" Soda finally bellowed loud enough to be heard over the noise. "Sam, lets you and I leave so Darry and Pony can talk about this. Quietly." he added.
"No." Soda looked at Darry as Sam climbed off the bed. "She stays, Soda, this concerns her too. I'll talk to the both of them." He all but pushed Soda out the door, into a gawking Two-Bit who we'd obviously awoken, and shut the door behind him. Sam and I stole a glance at each other as Darry sighed, then turned to glare at us. "Explain yourselves."
"I'm sorry, Darry." Sam blurted out. "That was totally irresponsible and you shouldn't have to walk in on that happening under your roof. I'm sorry, it won't happen again really. I'm truly sorry." she stopped suddenly and Darry turned to me.
"Well?" he glared at me and suddenly something inside of me snapped and I glared back at him.
"Well I'm not sorry." I saw Sam put her face in her hands and sit on the edge of the bed. "Well I'm not! I'm not gonna stand here and apologise for kissing my girlfriend." Darry looked shocked but I continued, "That's right Sam's my girlfriend, she has been for the last few weeks and I'm not sorry for it. They were some of the best weeks of my life and I won't say it'll never happen again cause it will, a lot if I have anything to say about it."
"The last few weeks?! You've been dating for weeks and I'm only just now finding out?! How long have you been fucking?!" Suddenly he turned on Sam. "and after I fed you and put a roof over your head this is how you repay me?!" Sam looked like she was about to burst into tears so I stood in front of her.
"Don't you dare turn this around and blame Sam! It's my doing as well, and besides we haven't slept together!"
"What were you doing in here all night if you weren't having sex then, huh? Jesus Christ, Ponyboy, how stupid do you think I am?!" he ran his hands through his hair.
"It's none of your business what I do with my girlfriend behind closed doors!"
"It damn well is when it's under my roof! What if she gets pregnant? Then what are you gonna do?!"
"You really think I would have taken advantage of her last night given the state she was in?! Screw you, Darry, I wouldn't do that to any girl! And there's no risk of her getting pregnant because WE ARE NOT SLEEPING TOGETHER!"
"I SAW YOU TOGETHER JUST NOW!"
"GET YOUR EYES CHECKED THEN!"
"DON'T YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!"
"We were just kissing, Darry! No matter what it looked like we have no plans to go any further just yet."
"That's right you don't and you won't because she's outta here!"
"What?" I was shocked.
"You heard me! Think what would happen if the State found out about any of this, you can still be taken away, Pony!" I was enraged.
"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK WHAT THE STATE CAN DO! I'm not letting you kick my girlfriend out onto the streets!"
"This is my house, you'll follow my rules!"
"Then maybe I don't want to live in your house anymore! If Sam goes then I go too!"
"Fine! Pack your shit and get out then! You've got nowhere to go!"
"I don't care! It'll beat staying here with you!"
"SHUTUP BOTH OF YOU!" We turned to see Soda standing in the doorway, looking furious. "Nobody is going anywhere, not you Pony and certainly not Sam! We all know that! You're just angry! So angry that neither of you have noticed that Sam isn't even here anymore." I looked around and saw Soda was right, Sam was gone. Shit.
"I'm going to find her." I tried to leave the room but Soda pushed me back.
"She's fine, she's gone out for a while with Two-Bit. But by the time she gets back y'all are gonna have this sorted. Darry, you can't stop them from being together, not when they dig each other as much as these two do. Pone, you gotta understand that there will be new rules now, rules that I never had cause I never lived with any of my girls. Now I'm going out for a bit, don't kill each other while I'm gone." Without another word he turned and left. Darry sighed and sat on the bed, rubbing his face with his hands. With a great effort he composed himself and turned to me.
"Soda's right, as usual, Sam's not going anywhere, it was just the heat of the moment talking." I crossed my arms over my chest.
"I know I have nowhere else to go, I just didn't want to let you win." Darry permitted himself a small smile.
"You're stubborn, Pone. Sometimes I wish it could be Dad dealing with your pigheadedness. Maybe then as your brother you could have told me about Sam."
"I wanted to tell you, Darry." I sat down on the bed next to him.
"Then for the love of God why didn't you, Ponyboy?"
"For fear of the scene we just had! If we told you and you had forbid it, we would have gone behind your back to be together. We would've known we were doing the wrong thing. By not telling you we didn't have that guilt seeing as how you'd never really told us we couldn't be a couple." Darry snorted.
"As sneaky as that is I know you're right. I'd like to say I would have calmly discussed it with you but I know I would have been furious, probably even more so to stop you from even wanting to try anything. This morning, as angry as I was I knew I'd lost you, that you were both already in too deep. I know if you'd come to me beforehand I would have squashed any chance of that happening."
"Why? We're not hurting anyone. Is it really that bad that Sam and I wanna be together?"
"No. And yes. You're 17, you have every right to have a girlfriend, you have for a few years now, but you live with Sam. She's in my care for however long she chooses to stay. I don't want her getting hurt."
"Neither do I, Dar. But no matter what you may think we haven't gotten that far."
"I believe you. Despite your reputation around town I know you haven't had that with any woman."
"We're happy the way we are now, just enjoying each other's company."
"Yeah well when you do decide to step it up, and you will, promise me you'll be careful. I'd like it if you came to me to talk about it but I'm not that optimistic."
"I promise to be careful. I told you I'd never hurt her. And maybe I will come to you, despite what you think you are still my brother." I smiled at him and he smiled back and clapped my shoulder.
"I know."
"Try not to forget it, please? Now that I'm getting older I need you to be my brother first and my parent second."
"I'll try, Pone. I can't promise to just up and forget my parental responsibilities, but I will try and ease up."
"Thanks." I stood up and stretched. "I guess I'll see you later tonight then."
"Whoa, where do you think you're going?"
"To find Sam."
"No way, you're grounded little buddy."
"What?!" He grinned.
"That's right. What, you didn't think this heart to heart," he gestured back and forth between us, "would change anything did you? You still went behind my back and you still slept in here together last night. I think I remember saying something about that her first week here. New rule number 1; you stay in your own beds."
"Well if it's a new rule then it wasn't in effect last night and we shouldn't be punished."
"Nice try but you're still grounded, 2 weeks. Be thankful it isn't longer considering your antics last night, I haven't forgotten about that you know." He got up and headed for the door.
"Awww, man! What about Sam?"
"When she gets home, she'll be grounded too. Oh and Pone?" he paused at the door to look back at me. "Go and have a shower, you stink of Buck's" He grinned and left. Sam and I might not be able to share a bed but we were at least still allowed to be together. That was definitely something.