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Things were a lot different nowadays for twenty-four year old Sodapop Curtis. Gone were the days of always looking around town in search of the most fun or most dangerous action with his best friend Steve Randle by his side. Everything from drag races, to putting fireworks into people's mailboxes to straight up fistfights. Those days were over as he now had a family of his own that depended on him. That meant that regardless of how boring things could sometimes get, Soda vowed to never allow himself to get mixed up in that kind of stuff again. He had way too much to lose.
During their senior year, his then girlfriend, now wife, Sandy Weisman's parents had moved to Florida. Sandy wasn't ready to go, she wanted to graduate with all her friends so she was allowed to stay with her grandparents while her parents headed to Florida on the condition that once she graduated she finally come down to live with them. Well, after two years went by after the graduation and Sandy still hadn't made the move and now her parents were becoming impatient.
The truth was, Sandy didn't want to move. She had fallen so much in love with Soda that she could see herself spending the rest of her life with him. Then all of a sudden, one day Sandy discovered that she was pregnant. It was the hardest phone call she ever had to make, calling up her parents telling them that she was pregnant. Once she finally told them, her parents were now adamant about Sandy coming to Florida right away because she was going to need a lot of help with the baby. Sandy then started crying saying she didn't want to move because she was scared that she'd never see the baby's father again. Fear then turned to relief when Sandy was told to bring him with her.
The next step was telling Soda.
At first Sodapop wasn't sure. Not about becoming a father, that he was ecstatic about. It was the idea of moving, leaving his family and friends behind. Sandy then told him something he didn't know. Her parents were pretty well off. They offered to get the two of them an apartment, help get Sodapop a good job and finically support them until they got on their feet. That all sounded good, but Soda still couldn't make a decision until he talked to his mother.
"It's your life," Linda had told him, "You don't have to stay here forever. If there's a good opportunity somewhere else, go after it. Even if it is away from home."
And he did go after it. He moved with Sandy to Florida, Kevin and Samantha; Sandy's parents had gotten them pretty good apartment with a nice view of the ocean and Soda got started working right away at a car dealership, 'Blue Water Sales'. The owner was old and looking to retire and his father-in-law told Soda that if worked hard enough that he would end up running the whole damn thing. Sure enough, that ended up happening. He was in charge of a car dealership.
When Daftney was finally born, Darryl and Linda drove down to see her. Sodapop's heart beamed with pride as he watched his mother pick up her first granddaughter and gently rock her back and forth, his father hugging him, telling him how proud he was to see Soda doing as well as he was doing. As someone who had never accomplished anything while growing up that wasn't eclipsed by Darry or Ponyboy, it felt really good to have some of the spotlight solely on himself for a change. Everything was going great; there was just one thing missing. Little did Soda know that thing was coming sooner rather than later.
One day he answered a knock on the door and found himself staring at the face of his childhood best friend, Steve Randle.
"Steve!" Soda yelled, taking completely by surprise as they two of them launched themselves at each other, embracing in a tight hug. "What on earth are you doing here?"
It was then did Steve explain that he was moving to Florida too. He and Evie already had a boy they named Christopher and now Evie was pregnant again, this time with a girl. He needed to make more money and had opened a car repair shop in Tulsa and two more in Texas. He now was going to open a new one here in Florida.
"You sell em', and I fix em up," Steve smirked.
"That isn't the real reason you decided to move here," Soda teased. "You know you missed me."
Steve scowled but didn't deny it.
At the moment it was late on Friday night, Sodapop was talking to Steve on the phone as they both had tomorrow off and were making plans to get together.
"When's the last time you've been in a drag race?" Steve asked.
"No drag races, Steve," Soda responded.
"Man, have you gotten boring."
"I've gotten responsible. Anyway, I've gotta go to sleep. Believe me, there are tons of things we can do. My father-in-law has a pretty nice boat, maybe we'll take that out."
"A boat?"
"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."
Soda then hung up on the phone only to look over at the kitchen entrance to see Daftney walk into the room in her pink, footie pajamas.
"Oh, honey," Soda as he got off the chair and bent down to his knees to took look at her, "Why are you doing up so late?"
"I can't sleep," Daftney replied.
"Come on, let's get you back to bed."
Daftney pouted, crossing her arms as her father picked her up. "But I'm not sleepy!"
Soda thought for a moment
"I'll promise I'll read you for favorite bedtime story."
Daftney immediately perked up, "The one with the funny voices?" She continued looking up at him with her bright blue eyes that were full of hope causing Soda to laugh.
"Yes, the one with the funny voices."
Once they got to Daftney's bedroom, Sodapop laid her down on her small bed and tucked her in. He then carefully took a seat in the small chair that his daughter used for 'tea time' with her stuffed animals. But before he could begin the bedtime story, Daftney asked;
"Daddy, when am I going to get a little brother or sister?"
Soda shrugged.
"Well, I'm all for it. You'll have to ask your mother that one."
He then cleared his throat and prepared to tell the story when his daughter spoke again.
"Daddy? Can I ask you a question?"
"Yes, princess."
"How did you get your funny name?"
Sodapop playfully narrowed his eyes.
"You think there's something funny about my name?"
"Yes."
Soda chuckled a little as he shook his head.
"Well, my name is kinda your Uncle Darry's fault."
"How?"
"Well," Sodapop took a deep breath as he began to explain. "When your Uncle Darry was first born, he never slept. Ever. He would sleep maybe an hour throughout the day. Newborn babies aren't supposed to do that. They're supposed to sleep. Anyway, by the time my Dad came home my Mom would hand Darry over to him as she was exhausted. It was hard for my Dad, because he worked a tough job."
Soda then looked over at Daftney and saw that she was starting to fade.
"Anyway, one night my Dad was so tired that he wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. He had to get a bottle of milk for Darry but instead of filing the bottle with milk, he filled it with Pepsi-Cola."
Soda then laughed a little as he remembered the story he was told by his mother and what happened next.
Darryl Curtis Senior carried baby Darry back to their bedroom. Linda was laying on her side, almost asleep when the bed dipped as Darryl took a seat on it.
"Okay Darry, open up," Darryl instructed. "Some nice milk for you."
Linda just so happened to open one eye as she watched as the bottle approached the baby's lips. She then quickly sat up as she saw that the contents of the bottle contained anything but milk. Linda lunged over and slapped the bottom out of Darryl's hands. It went flying across the room and nailed the wall, the content going everywhere. Baby Darry began giggled uncontrollably at the sight but Darryl looked over at his wife in shock.
"Linda, what in the world has gotten into you?!"
"You were about to give Darry soda to drink!"
"I was not!" Darryl incredulously responded then got up to examine the spilt beverage. He opened his blood-shot eyes wider and realized. "Oh...maybe I was."
"Yes, you were."
"Oh, a couple of sips of sodapop wouldn't have killed him."
Linda shook her head.
"Really? A sodapop, Curtis? It has caffeine, we have enough trouble getting him to sleep as it is."
Darryl smiled. Back in their senior year of high school when Darryl had pursued her and she always brushed him off by simply referring to him as Curtis. 'Get away from me, Curtis,' he heard time after time until he finally won her over. Even now sometimes, when she got mad she would call him that.
"Goodnight, sweetheart,"
Darryl fixed a new bottle and came back into the room, this time sitting down in the rocking chair as he fed Darry. Darryl tried biting his bottom lip but that failed as he couldn't help but begin to laugh.
"What is it now?" Linda asked.
"Sodapop Curtis," Darryl said before laughing again. "I like that name."
By this point, Daftney looked nearly out as Sodapop finished telling the story.
"So, that was how my name came to be," Soda finished.
He then reached out a brushed a little of her hair out of her eyes before leaning down and giving Daftney a kiss on the forehead.
"Good night, princess."
Soda then got up to leave the room when to his surprise Daftney asked in a sleepy voice;
"How did Uncle Ponyboy get his name?"
Sodapop took a deep breath
"That's an even longer story."
Once Soda made it to his bedroom he laid down next to his wife, who to his surprise was awake also.
"Where have you been?" Sandy asked.
"I was telling Daftney a bedtime story."
Soda then turned off the lights and pulled the covers over himself. Sandy smiled as he moved closer and wrapped her arms around her husband, placing her chin on his shoulder. He could hear her breath into his ear. Sodapop smiled.
"Sandy? Do you...want something?"
"No...I just need to tell you something."
Soda waited for a few seconds, wondering what-
"I'm pregnant."
