"Hey, Stevie, why do I smell-"

Pony caught Soda's gaze, his middle brother's thought left hanging, as the two registered one another's presence.

Soda was quick to pull Pony into his arms, the smile on his face so wide that it was barely contained, as he embraced the little brother, who had surpassed him in height.

Steve stood by the stove, cooking a pile of French toast, as he watched his best friend bask in the moment of reunion. "Damn, you two act like it's been years, instead of a few months."

Soda, his head resting on Pony's shoulder, looked at Steve, whose grin couldn't hide its own mirth. "How would you be about it if you didn't see me for a few months?"

"Touche, buddy. Touche." Steve took the French toast to the table just as Pony and Soda broke apart. "Breakfast is served. I'll get the syrup from the fridge."

Soda sat down, as Pony did the same, each serving themselves two slices of French toast. "So when did you get here, Pone? I had no idea you were comin' home yet."

Pony reached for the bottle Steve had placed near his plate, adding syrup to his breakfast. "That was the point. Darry knew though, so I was with him last night. When I got here earlier this morning, I wish I'd had a camera to capture the look on Steve's face when he opened the door. It was priceless."

Steve took his turn with the syrup, then passed it to Soda. "Yeah, I was grumblin about who the hell could be knockin' at 7:00 on a Saturday. I was ready to swing that door open and give 'em what for."

"But instead, he gave me a cup of coffee. So what's new, Soda? Darry said there's something he was leaving for you to tell me."

Soda cut up his next slice of French toast, as he shared a look with Steve from across the table. "Oh. Um, I guess he must mean about me and Penny breakin' up."

"You and Penny broke up? Why?"

"We just want different things, Pone. Nothin' bad happened or anything, and I think if we had tried much longer, it would've ended up hurtin' a lot more."

"What do you want that's not the same?"

"I want to be here in Tulsa, and she doesn't. But, actually, it ain't just about what we want. We both need different things. That sums it up a whole lot better cause this is stuff that really matters."

"So if she doesn't want to be here, is she going to live somewhere else?"

"Yeah. She took a job in Oklahoma City, and she'll be living there soon. It's not real far away, but this is about so much more than the distance. We could make it work, but our relationship would be stuck with no way to grow."

"I'm sorry, Soda. I know you've loved her for a long time."

"I'm all right. Definitely better than I was about it. You can even ask Stevie here. He's seen me fall apart a couple of times lately, so he can tell you I'm not like I was at first."

Steve nodded in affirmation, as he took another slice of French toast. "Yep. I'm his witness. We're pretty much even on emotional moments for this week too. So are you guys going to spend the day with Darry or what? I think I'll head over to Katie's in a few hours and take her out to lunch."

Pony's ears perked up at the sound of a female name, curiosity quickly setting in. "Who's Katie?"

"My new girlfriend. Hey, come to think of it, she needs to meet you and Darry. And Keith too, whenever I get a hold of him again. We've only been officially dating for a couple of weeks, but talking and heading in that direction for quite a bit longer. It's not really serious yet, but I have to admit I'm wanting it to be."

Soda watched Steve, unable to get their conversations from the night before out of his mind, as he listened to the hope in his best friend's voice. "Yeah, Pone. Steve's real smitten with her. I've never seen him like this before. He's fallin' head over heels for Katie, and I don't think anything can stop him."

"Yeah, it was pretty great to see the look on Soda's face when he saw Pony in the kitchen with me. Those two have always been close, so it's a big deal whenever he comes home."

Katie sat across from Steve in the cafe' the pair had chosen for lunch, adding salt to the French fries that had accompanied her chicken sandwich. "What a fun morning. How did they end up with names like that anyway? I've never heard of anybody being named Sodapop or Ponyboy. Is it supposed to mean something?"

Steve took a swallow from his glass of Sprite, as he chuckled, realizing he'd grown so used to his friends' names over the years that he hardly even noticed their eccentricity. "No. Pony likes to say their dad was an original person, so I guess that must've been true. I even forget that his and Soda's names are unusual because I've heard them for most of my life."

"Is it ever hard being friends with Sodapop?"

"Huh? Why would it be hard?"

"Not because of him personally. I'm just wondering if he must've gotten teased a lot as a child."

"Oh! No, he actually didn't. Or, if he did, it wasn't much of a problem anyway. Anybody who knew him growing up heard his name as a kid, and it probably just became normal. Some people are surprised by his name, but that's about as far as it goes. I think I could say the same for Pony. The only ones who ever gave us a hard time as kids were the rich guys from the other side of town, and that was just about social class."

"Yes. I feel like I've heard of that since I've been in Tulsa. Socials, Greasers, and gang fights?"

"Yep. That's it in a nutshell. It's pretty much over now, but the rivalry was bad back in the day. We lost two buddies because of it."

"Really? How?"

"Some drunk guys jumped Pony and our friend, Johnny one night in Crutchfield Park. They tried to drown Pony in the fountain, and Johnny fought back."

"He murdered one of the guys? I think I've heard about a murder in that park before. You know those people?"

"Yeah. And it wasn't murder. It was one hundred percent self-defense. Pony would've died if not for Johnny doing something."

"What did he do?"

"He stabbed the guy that was holding Pony under the water. He saved his life."

"Why did he have a knife?"

"A lot of us carried them. Greasers got jumped, and it was a good way to make the Socs back off. Johnny had already been hurt really bad once, so he started keeping a blade on him too. Obviously, we're not sorry he did. I can't even stand to think about what would've happened if Pony had drowned that night."

"So what did happen? You said you lost two friends."

"Yeah. Pony and Johnny were terrified the cops would get them, so they took off. Our other buddy, Dallas, hid them in a church in the middle of nowhere. Nobody but him knew where they were. Darry and Soda were crazy that week. We all were. Pony and Johnny were just kids. Plus, Darry hadn't had custody of his brothers for even a year yet, so social services still had an eye on them."

"How did you find them then?"

"We didn't. The church caught fire when some little kids were playing in it. So Pony, Johnny, and Dal ran in to save them. A beam fell on top of Johnny and broke his back. He died in the hospital the next night. Dal got burned too, but he was fine. Pony was okay from the fire, but a mess from everything else."

"Wow. Where were you in all this?"

"Just around. Mostly with Soda as much as I could be. Dal couldn't take Johnny dying, so he tried to rob a store, then pulled an unloaded gun on the cops. With his record, they had no problem shooting him down. We all saw it happen too. He died right there in the street. He was only seventeen."

"You saw your friend get shot? Why would he pull a gun on the police?"

"Because he knew they'd kill him. He didn't want to live without Johnny. I'm sure now too that he didn't want to live with the memories of the fire or watching him die either."

"Oh. I don't think I can even comprehend actually wanting to die or acting recklessly enough to cause it myself."

"Yeah. It's, um, quite a concept. I wish Dal hadn't done it, but I understand why he did. The grief was really blinding for him. We all loved Johnny, but Dal didn't have much else in the world. And I probably don't have to tell you I'd lose my mind if I saw Soda die like that."

"No. I can definitely surmise how bad that would be for you. You've seen so much death already, it's hard for me to wrap my head around it."

"That's true. I have. I think it's part of the reason for, you know, some of what I told you about last night. My flashbacks started happening less than a year after Johnny and Dal died. Soda's parents passed away only eight months before that happened too, so there was a lot of stress in a really short amount of time. It took everything in me to be able to recover from it and take care of my friends too, so that old trauma had the perfect chance to come back and bite me."

"That sure is depressing. There's been a lot of sadness in your life."

"Um, yeah, there has. But, about that" Steve paused long enough to glance around the cafe', seeing that no one else was seated close to them. "What I told you last night, are you okay with it? Is the fact that I was abused going to be a problem?"

"I don't think so. You said you're doing much better now, right?"

"Right. I think talking about it again just got to me, so I want to know that you and I can keep seeing each other. I don't want you to be uncomfortable or anything, and I want to make sure you don't see me any differently. I've struggled a lot with my self-image when it comes to what happened, and sometimes, that kind of shows up again."

"I don't see you differently, Steve. You didn't do anything bad, and I want to keep dating you. Perhaps I can even help set you free from all this focus on the past. You aren't a child anymore, so it's time you totally let go of it and become your own person."

"I didn't tell him yet, Darry."

"You need to, Pone. Especially since you already told Steve."

"I know. I'm just worried it'll upset him. Then, if I don't get accepted, it'll have been for nothing."

"There's no way you won't get accepted. Who in their right mind wouldn't want you? You have every academic qualification there is."

"I know. I'll tell him about it in a couple of days, all right? For now, I just want to enjoy being home with my brothers."

"Hey, preacher guy, the burgers smell great! I get first dibs!"

Samuel stood in front of the grill, flipping one of the burgers over, as he sent Steve a thumbs-up. "They'll be done soon. Hang on to your hat there, Steve!"

Steve ventured over to the other side of the backyard, as the aroma from the grill made his stomach rumble. He found Nicholas and Soda near the table that was set with chips, a tray of vegetables, and a few drinks. "Hey, Soda, you seen Katie here anywhere?"

Soda nodded in the direction of the swing set and playhouse, where he could see Katie talking with Emily, as the little girl went on the slide. "She's over there, Stevie. Playin' with Emily."

"Oh. Looks like she likes her too."

Nicholas felt Steve's arm go around his shoulders, his eyes then turning to his son. "Things still going okay with you two?"

Steve leaned closer to Nicholas' ear, keeping his voice low. "I told her, Dad. About the abuse."

"All right. I thought you might soon. How are you then?"

Steve felt Soda come closer to his other side, also looping an arm around his best friend's shoulders, as he watched the woman he believed could love him playing with the child he considered his niece. "I'm okay. We've been doing a lot of talking, and I think I've finally got something special."