I walked inside the house just in time for dinner. We had lemon pepper chicken with mashed potatoes. It was good. There was absolutely no conversation, but Ponyboy every time he looked at me and smiled. It was as if he knew something that I didn't.

"What?" I asked after he smiled at me for the one hundredth time.

"Nothin'," he said, but he didn't convince me.

After dinner I went to my room. After a while Soda came in my room.

"Hey you know it's really nice outside," he said.

"And I care why?"

"Well, maybe you and I could um.go for a walk."

"Well, I guess since it is with you I could go. I mean we barely spend anytime together or by ourselves."

"Yeah, so let's go."

We went to walk around the park, hand in hand. It had been a beautiful evening, one that was probably the best in my life. It was an evening shared with the one I loved. I wished the night would never end.

After what seemed like endless hours we stopped by a fountain. It wasn't the fountain that Bob had been killed in. It was a much bigger and more beautiful fountain. It had lights all over the fountain and it was lovely. There was statue in the middle of the fountain that through out water from its mouth. It was what looked like Cupid.

"Coke, I love you so much. I love you more than I have loved any other person. I always want to be there for you. I want to be the one you spend your life with until the day you die. I guide you in everything you do. I want to be the one that makes you happy, and so I ask," he bent down on one knee and said, "Will you marry me, Kaitlyn?" He had in has hand a box with a diamond ring on it. It was beautiful.

"Yes, Sodapop Curtis. I will." I gave him a smile and he smiled back. Then he got up and gave me a kiss.

"I love you so much," he said.

"I love you too."

That was one of the best moments in my life. A night I will never forget.

A year later was our wedding. We got married in a beautiful garden. It was a big, yet wonderful wedding. Everyone we knew was there, everyone but Steve. We hadn't heard from Steve at all. I don't think we ever will. It's quite surprising how one day you can be best friends and one thing happens and that friendship goes away. Soda said that I wasn't responsible for them not being friends anymore, but I can't help thinking that it was.

"Well hello, Mrs. Curtis," I heard a voice from behind me say. I turned around and it was Belinda.

"Oh, hey!"

"Well, Congratulations. You got him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well.I've been after him for years."

"But you've only been here for two years."

"That's where you're wrong my good friend. I was here before you, but when I heard you were here I kinda didn't want to see you so I didn't go out as much. I saw you every once in a while, but I never talked to you, considering you were always with a whole group of girls behind you and two or three guys around you. I didn't think I was ready to talk to you. I mean I knew you were my friend and all, but after what I had done to you I didn't think I could talk to you. When you were in the mental hospital, and Soda was single again I went after him. He wouldn't take notice in me. He talked to me as an acquaintance nothing more. He was always talking about you, or most of the time. I think he might have loved you even when he was with Sandy. From what I heard is that he only went with Sandy to forget about you. He loved her, but you were there too. He decided that he would marry Sandy, and hopefully through time get over the fact that he probably would never be with you. You were totally all over Dallas Winston, and that upset him, but he didn't show it. He knew that he would never get you, so he chose another path. When Dally was alive though I aw that there was chemistry between you and Soda. Very, very little, but some. Of course, you didn't show it, as you were totally sprung about Dallas. I had tried for years to get Soda, whenever you weren't around I would flirt with him, but he just took no interest in me." She stopped, and then said, "You are truly lucky to have him. I don't know him to well, but I mean you had to marry him for something more than his good looks."

I smiled and then said, "Thanks. I not only thank you for telling me how lucky I am but for also telling me what had been going on. I never would have known this without you telling me. By the way what did you do to me before I came here?"

"You don't remember?"

I shook my head.

"Well, I think we should keep it that way, but I truly am sorry for what I did."

"Forgiven, forgotten. Where's Crystal?"

"She couldn't come. She sends her regrets. She had to go to California because her grandmother is sick and possibly dying."

"Oh. Well I hope everything goes all right with her."

"I hope so too. Well, I wish you the best in the future."

"Thanks. Well come on and enjoy yourself. I have to go talk to the other guests."

"Okay, bye."

It was quite surprising her say all that stuff. I hadn't known for several years that she had been here. I hadn't known that she had been after Sodapop for a long time, even longer than I had. I hadn't known that he could have loved me when he loved Sandy. I hadn't known a lot of stuff, but now I did.

The years went by after that special moment in time. We still had a strong marriage, and we had a little boy that was now three years old. We named her Stephen. We were also had a little girl named, Alexis. She had just turned two. We no longer lived in Oklahoma, but in Malibu, California. We lived in a beautiful house by the beach. It was often peaceful especially during winter, when it was to cold for any one to go to the beach. You could hear the ocean waves hitting the ocean shore. We were no longer greasers, but we weren't Socs. There were none of those here in California. We were of course in the high social class. It took a lot of hard work and dedication, but we managed to pull it off. I was a successful lawyer and well Soda became an engineer. He had to go back to school of course, but he finally found something he enjoyed and was very good at.

"Hey, Soda. I'm gonna go take a walk at the beach. Take care of Alexis, will ya?"

"Okay," he called out from the other room.

I walked out the door and took a nice long walk around the beach. It was such a nice day. There was almost no one there because it was kind of cold, but it wasn't that cold. I walked for about twenty minutes when I saw someone familiar. He looked up at me and I knew who it was.

"Hey," he said.

"Haven't talked to you in a long time. I don't see why I should start now."

"You just talked to me, and so there's no harm in talking now."

"Why are you here? Did you know I was here or something?"

"No, but I came here because I wanted to see what the ocean was like. I like it, but I'm not staying. I'm moving to Australia. I think there I may have better luck than I did here."

"What makes you think that?"

"I don't know. I just have a feeling."

"Well I wish you luck."

He looked down at his feet and then said, "I wish I could've had that luck back in Oklahoma."

"Why?"

"Maybe I would've been able to have you. If I had realized that you would have changed after Dallas died, well, maybe I wouldn't have dated Evie. Maybe then I wouldn't have changed. I don't know why I did change, but getting out of there helped me change back, but now I just can't go to Soda. I shouldn't have changed and then maybe I would still have my best buddy. I might have also had you."

"Maybe, but there's no point in thinking about it now. It already happened and you can't change that. Besides, you might still have had Soda's friendship, but you would've never had me."

I turned around to leave, but he grabbed my arm to hold me back.

"Say hi to Soda for me."

"How did."

"I knew you guys were married long ago, but it doesn't matter how. Not anymore."

He let me go, and he left. I walked a little more and then sat down right next to the water. I sat there thinking of what had happened in the past. I remembered when I thought that something bad would happen to me in my future. I remembered what I felt in the mental facility. It had been tough years long ago. It was the time of losses and disasters. That had passed now, and it was a wonderful life, nothing like I had expected, but the things I had gone through will be the memories that I will never forget. .

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*