*Thanks so much to Keira for all her great suggestions. Many things in this chap and ones to follow were her ideas. So, once again THANKS KEIRA!*



Two-Bit, Steve, and Ponyboy looked up when Darry and Sodapop came walking back out. They both seemed calm and that probably meant everything was ok. At least for them moment.

Soda followed Darry and helped make some sandwiches and then came back out and sat down next to Ponyboy. He looked at the cover of his book absentmindedly.

"Hey Sodapop, what's going on?" Two-Bit asked.

Soda sighed annoyed. He did not want to get into right then. They would ask him a thousand questions and want to know about everything that had happened. "Forget it." Soda said. "It's a long story."

"I'm listening." Two-Bit said.

"Well I aint telling it. I don't wanna talk about it right now, ok?" Soda said resting his head on one of the pillows and looking in the other direction. He ignored the surprised look that Ponyboy was giving him. Sodapop was unusually grumpy.

"Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Two-Bit said. The tension in the room was making him feel uneasy and he was hoping he might make someone laugh. Everyone was acting to serious.

"It aint that." Soda said.

Darry walked out of the kitchen with a bunch of sandwiches and cokes and they all ate. All except Soda. He wasn't hungry. If he was he couldn't tell because he hurt to much to notice. He didn't eat much at dinner either. He stayed quiet for most of the night. This had everybody worried because Soda was never quiet. He would always ramble on about one thing or another, never sitting still. The usual amount of energy that Soda had wasn't there.

Steve sat and watched his friend. He sure hoped Soda would tell him what was up soon. There was no doubt that it was about Samantha but WHAT about Samantha is what he wanted to know. That's what Two-Bit, Steve, and Ponyboy all wanted to know. Steve tried to think of things that might have gone wrong. Maybe Soda and Samantha had fought or maybe he saw Tom again. He recalled Soda telling him about meeting Tom at the club. He hadn't been very happy about that experience.

Steve and Two-Bit left in the early evening. Steve had another date with Tina and Two-Bit had said he wanted to go pick up some action.

***

Later that night Ponyboy laid in bed and looked over at Sodapop. He was sound asleep. He had been for an hour. Pony sighed irritated because he, himself couldn't fall asleep. He was to curious to sleep. What had happened? Why was Sodapop so upset? Darry'd even warned him not to mention it to Sodapop so it must've been something really bad right?

Pony finally gave up on sleeping and got out of bed. He could hear Darry in the kitchen doing dishes. He walked out to find him because he really wanted to know what was going on.

"Darry?" Ponyboy asked. Darry looked up from the dishes.

"Hey, it's late kiddo. You ought to be in bed."

"I was, but I wanna ask you something." Ponyboy said. He was really worried about Sodapop and he hated to be left out of stuff.

"All-right, what's up?" Darry asked.

"What's wrong with Soda? He hardly talked at all tonight. He didn't eat very much either and he didn't do any more than say hi to me. Is he mad at me?"

"No, baby. Of course he isn't mad at you." Darry said. "It has nothing to do with you. There's something else he's upset about."

"What?" Ponyboy asked.

Darry put the plate down that he was washing and dried his hands off. "Well…" He started, unsure of what to say. "Samantha wasn't exactly what he saw her to be."

"Why? What happened?" Ponyboy persisted.

"She's married." Darry said. "Sodapop found out when he went over to her house this afternoon. Apparently this guy named Jack was there."

"Married!?" Ponyboy asked shocked. Ok, that was unexpected. How bad could this situation get? Soda was upset enough when Darry had forbidden him to see her. Now this too?

Darry nodded and turned back to the dishes. "Don't ask him about it, ok? Just wait for a little while. He's really upset. That was probably one of the last things he was expecting. I don't know why I didn't see it. I wish I'd thought of that. It really isn't all that surprising. She's twenty- eight years old. I should've figured there was a possibility that she'd be married. She's a gorgeous girl. I don't imagine that it would be hard for her to find a guy."

"Does he love her?" Ponyboy asked wondering how Darry knew she was gorgeous.

Darry paused. "He claims to."

"Is he gonna get all depressed again?" Ponyboy asked. "Sodapop aint no fun when he's depressed. He doesn't ever wanna do anything."

"I dunno." Darry said. "I hope not." He glanced over at the clock. "Ok, enough questions. Go to bed."

"But it's only midnight and I'm not done asking you stuff yet."

"You've got school tomorrow." Darry said.

"You're up, and you've got work tomorrow." Ponyboy argued. "Plus, I can't sleep when I've got so much stuff on my mind. It takes forever and when I finally do fall asleep I get nightmares. Not really bad ones but they certainly aren't enjoyable."

"Do you have an excuse for everything?" Darry said annoyed.

"Not everything." Ponyboy smiled. "But, If I stay up for a few more hours I'll be to tired to dream anything."

"Not a chance." Darry said, finishing up with the dishes and walking out to clean up the living room.

Ponyboy followed. "How do you know if Samantha's gorgeous or not?" Ponyboy asked.

Darry sighed. "Because I've seen her before."

"When?" Ponyboy asked getting really interested.

"Don't worry about when." Darry said, picking up a cigarette butt from the table. "What is this?" He said looking at Ponyboy. Pony didn't say anything. "If you havta smoke will you do it outside please? You know I don't like you smoking in the house."

"Sorry," Pony said, "but when did you see Samantha?" He changed the subject.

"Remember when you went to the movies with Two-Bit and then you came home and something seemed wrong?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you'd just missed Samantha and Sodapop on the couch by five minutes."

"They did that?" Ponyboy asked wide eyed. He'd always thought Sodapop was way more responsible and had better morals than to do that before he grew up and got married!

"I don't know." Darry said. "He said they didn't but I don't know what to believe anymore." Darry paused why was he having this conversation with Ponyboy anyways? "Why am I even telling you this? Go to sleep."

"I don't want to."

"To bad, you're going."

"Fine." Ponyboy said smiling. "I'm gonna go brag to Sodapop that I lost my virginity first."

"WHAT?!" Darry yelled in utter shock about what his baby brother had just told him.

Ponyboy burst out laughing. "Darry, you should've seen your face. You actually took me seriously? You'll fall for anything, won't you?"

Darry sighed relieved but angry at the same time. "That is not funny, Ponyboy."

"You're right. It's hilarious!" Ponyboy laughed. "Man, the look on your face. I wish I had a camera.

"Don't scare me like that. You've been hanging around Two-Bit to much." Darry said.

"Well, Two-Bit always makes people feel better with humor and since we're feeling so bad. I thought I'd try it."

Darry rolled his eyes. "If you aint gonna go to bed you may as well help me finish up these chores. Or if you want you can finish all of them for me seeing as your not a bit tired."

"Uh, no thanks." Ponyboy said. "Suddenly I feel overcome with exhaustion. Goodnight." He turned and ran off to his room.

"Works like a charm." Darry said to himself.

"I heard that!" Ponyboy yelled running back into the kitchen.

Darry sighed. "No you didn't."

"I did to!" Pony yelled.

"Fine." Darry said. "Would you keep your voice down, please?"

"Oh, sorry." Ponyboy said. "Is Sodapop gonna be all-right though?" He asked getting serious again.

"Yeah, he'll be fine in a while. He needs some time." Darry said, but he was just as worried as Ponyboy was.

"Ok, enough questions. Go to bed so it doesn't take me a half an hour to get you up tomorrow morning. Don't worry about Sodapop he's gonna be all- right." Darry said.