Plans and Talks

AN: Thank you so much to every one who reviewed! And I do welcome constructive criticism. NOT FLAMES!!!! Anyway, later days.

Disclaimer: The characters from the Outsiders novel belong to S.E. Hinton, I only own Annie, Chip and their Mom.
We finally arrived at my aunt's house after wandering around for about ten minutes. Which wasn't exactly all my fault. Chip had written down the wrong address. So we had this big fight about whose directions were right. Sandy had given ME the right address, thank god. But when we finally did get there they were actually standing out there waiting for us so that helped a lot.

They threw us this big welcome bash after we got settled in. I didn't eat that much though, which is really strange for me. I usually eat like a horse. It was really bugging Chip. He kinda caught me off guard when I stepped out of the shower and he was sitting right there on the bathroom sink. I almost had a heart attack.

"What the hell are you doing in here? You almost gave me a heart attack!'' I yelled at him. He turned to look at me, concern written all over his face.

"Are you alright Annabelle?" he asked. And I could tell that he was really concerned. He very rarely called me Annabelle. Always called me Annie.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" I asked him suspiciously. He had this really bad habit of being able to read my mind. Must be a sibling thing.

"Well you hardly ate anything tonight and ever since we left that DX station you've been really quiet. With the exception of that minor disagreement that we had in the car. Now I know you well enough to know that you're not ever that quiet unless there's something real important on your mind. Look, I know it's probably none of my business, but you are the only baby sister I got. And I'm just trying to look out for you."

I just kinda looked at him. Where had this come from? I was trying to think of something to say to him but I really couldn't find any words.

"You're right, it isn't any of your business. But. Can you wait till I'm dressed? Then we can talk, ok?" I asked still having no idea what I was going to say to him. But I was getting kinda uncomfortable standing there in nothing but a towel, even if he was my bother.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be out back all right. You can come on out and talk when your ready." He turned away and left the bathroom.

I towel dried my hair and put it up in a loose ponytail on the top of my head. Then I walked out of the bathroom and across the hall to the room me and Chip shared. It was Sandy's old room. There were two twin size beds with a nightstand in the middle. It had one closet but Chip never hangs up his shirts so that was all mine. There was a set of drawers on the wall in front of the beds, and a vanity in the corner.

I walked over to the closet and got a pair of jeans and a button up shirt out and put them on. I found a pair of shoes and put them on to. There was a full-length mirror on the closet door so I took a quick glance at my reflection and then went to find Chip. I found him sitting on the back porch swing smoking. I walked up behind him then walked around and sat down beside him. I still didn't know what I was going to say, so I just started talking.

"You of all people should know that I haven't exactly had the best luck with men in the past. The present really isn't that different. Sandy and I had a pretty long talk before we left. Most of that talk had been about her ex. Sodapop Curtis. She told me practically everything she knew about him. Which let me tell you was a lot."

He looked over at me confused.

"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked me softly, as if he didn't care but knew what was coming. "I met him today. He called me Sandy."

"An honest mistake. I mean, you've gotta admit you two do look a lot alike. Almost like twins even." He stated the obvious.

"I know." I sighed and he must have picked up on the tone in my voice because he looked at me sharply, his eyes narrowed.

"Annie," he said cautiously. "You don't, you didn't. Did you?"

I looked down and nodded my head slowly. I couldn't trust myself to speak. I knew if I said one word I would start to bawl in spite of myself.

"Oh, Annabelle not again. I don't think that I could go through something like that again. You remember what happened last time you fell in love like that and got hurt. You promised me it wouldn't happen again. What with the whole Jase thing. It really scared us. " He reached over and pulled me into a big hug. It was my undoing. I started to bawl uncontrollably and I could feel the tears streaming down my cheeks.

"I don't why I did it." I said through my tears. "It's just, every time I fell for someone I always got hurt. I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to get away from the whole love fiasco. It was supposed to be perfect. We were gonna get married. Move away, have kids. But then he left me for that two-cent whore and I broke. I didn't want to live like that anymore. I didn't want to live. And it hurt, it really hurt. But when I was on a high it was just like every little problem in my life just melted away. And I loved it. but I hated it too. I couldn't help it, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." He said and pulled away to look me in the eye. "Love has this funny way of sneaking up on people when they're least expecting it. Now you be strong for me, ok? I don't wanna se that happen to you again. So just be cautious. You never know, this guy might be the one."

"And if he's not?" I questioned him.

"Then we'll beat his head in together. How does that sound?" He asked sarcastically.

"Sounds good to me." I said happily. We both got a good laugh out of that.

"We should probably get back inside." Chip said, getting up and extending a hand to me. "Yeah, we probably should head in. what time is it anyway?" I asked, taking his hand. He looked down at his watch.

"Almost mid-night." He said pulling me up. And we headed inside for some much-needed rest.

* * * * * *

The next morning I got up earlier than everybody else. I went over to the closet and pulled out some low-cut jeans and a tight white T-shirt. I went over to the vanity and picked up a brush. I had just finished brushing my hair out when I heard Chip starting to wake up behind me.

"Morning sleeping beauty." I commented at the way his hair was standing strait up. He turned to glare at me but stopped. Instead his eyes got really big and his mouth dropped open.

"Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" he asked disbelieving.

" Why whatever do you mean dear brother. I am you sister." I said to him in an overly sweet voice.

"And who are you aiming to kill, dear sister?" he asked dazedly.

"Ok that I didn't get. What do you mean 'who am I trying to kill'?" now I was confused.

"Well let me see. Low-cut form fitting jeans, tight white T-shirt. And your hair, let me see," he walked up behind me. "I know this style. Two small sections at the very top pulled back and the rest full and covering your ears with slight curls at the ends And, and," he sniffed. "Vanilla. You might me aiming to impress, but," he took my hand and pulled me up off of the stool and spun me around once. "With your figure and your pretty face. Your looks are liable to kill. And the way vanilla smells on you won't help this poor man's case at all."

I had to giggle. Sense when had my brother become such an expert at predicting me.

"Well I should hope he wouldn't die at the very sight of me. It would be most unfortunate." I said while trying successfully not to laugh. Chip however was not so fortunate. He burst out laughing and let go of my hand to hold his stomach. It was contagious. Soon we were both rolling on the floor laughing. I was the first to recover.

"Well that was fun." I said getting up off the floor and still smiling. I helped Chip up too.

"You have the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. This man truly is a goner. And if he doesn't see what I see, then he's not worth it." He said.

"We'll see, I hope. You wanna go get some breakfast while we're up?" I asked.

"Sure why not? What did you have in mind?" He asked. I knew what he had in mind, ham and eggs. But I wanted to try something different.

"Cinnamon rolls, what do you think?" I asked.

"Well it's different. And where are we going to get these cinnamon rolls?" He asked cautiously.

"The local café." I said and grabbed an over shirt and headed out the bedroom door to the bathroom.

"Right" I heard Chip say before I closed the door.

(Authors POV)* * *

Soda sat at the table eating and thinking. Which is not a good thing to do at the same time.

"Hey bro., are you alright?" Ponyboy asked him. He had been sitting there for about ten minutes just staring into space. Soda had barely got one hour of sleep last night. He just lay there staring at the sealing. Thinking. About what he didn't know. But he hoped his brother would come to a conclusion and soon.

"Yes." Soda said. Plain and simple. Just yes.

"Yes what Soda?" Ponyboy asked him. "Huh?" He asked as if coming out a daze. "You just said yes. Yes what?" He asked eagerly. "Oh nothing. I was just thinking." He said dismissive. But Pony would not be swayed. So he found a round about way of asking the same question.

"Come to any particular conclusions?" he asked. Soda looked at him as if trying to read him but couldn't.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did." He answered. If his brother was trying to break him he would make it very difficult for him. Lately Soda hadn't been exactly telling him everything. He had been making him figure it out for himself.

"Really, and that conclusion would be to what thought?" he asked politely. Soda got defensive.

"You really think I'm going to tell you that?" Ponyboy looked at him innocently.

"Yes." He stated simply.

"Ah. Very good. I will tell you. Later, right now I have to get to work." Soda said as he got up to leave.

"Ah come on Soda tell me. You barely got one hour of sleep last night and now you just sat there staring into space for about ten minutes and you don't have to be at work until nine today so don't play the dodge. Talk to me."

Wow, he was really insistent on this. It must really be bugging him. He walked back over and sat down.

"Now, talk to me. What's been on your mind?'' he asked more calmly.

"Well, yesterday I had the usual rush around noon you know. Well just as they all left, up walks this girl. She looks exactly like Sandy. She even smiled like Sandy. As it turns out, she's Sandy's cousin from Florida. Her name is Annabelle. And I've been thinking a lot about it is all."

"That's not all." Pony stated simply. "You're leaving something out and I wanna know what it is." He added at his brothers questioning look.

"Well, I might like her a little I guess." Soda said in a small voice.

"Ya don't even know her," Pony said

"Which is why I'm going to get to know her. It's Sunday so there won't be any girls there at noon. Hopefully she'll come back."

"And if she doesn't." he asked.

"Then I wait till tomorrow"

"And if she does show." Soda looked at him.

"Then I guess I'll just play it from there." He said offhandedly as he walked out the door, going over his makeshift plan in his mind.

A/N: end of chapter two. Hope you liked it. Oh and. Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Just click the little button that says submit review and have a nice day!