~Chapter 27~ Hiya! Heres chapter 27! Yay! Oh and Thank you so much for the review Caity! I never aspired such a review like that..and to be compared to S.E. Hinton's writing..wow..thank you! Anywho, you all know who and who I don't own, right? Right! So I guess on with the story.
(****Soda's POV****)
I sat there on the ground, with a bawling Riley in my arms. Ponyboy was staring down at us from where he was standing up. "Uh, Pony, can you go get Darry, or Two-Bit so we can get Riley back to the house?" Pony nodded and walked off towards the house. I actually just wanted a chance to talk to Riley alone, which is why I had asked Pony to leave.
"Riley, sweetie, stop crying." I held her even tighter when she started to shake.
"Soda I can't." She said with soft voice and you could tell she had been crying. She tried to wiggle out of my grip and reach for the gun but I wouldn't let her. Why was she trying to reach for the gun when she wouldn't do anything with it? If she was going to kill herself she would have done it when she had the chance, not now. Not after she dropped the gun and fell into my arms.
"Riley, why did you want to kill yourself?" I asked and saw a slight tear run down my cheek. I was crying. That's how much I cared about her. I couldn't stand the thought of her hurting herself, it made me miserable.
Riley just shook her head. "Soda, look at me. I'm a mess."
"No, sweetie, you're not." She wasn't really except for the cuts on her arms and the tears on her face. "And even if you were, I know that's not why you would want to kill yourself." I hugged her.
"You're right." She wiped a tear from her eye. "Its just, my life is so messed up now. And then you said you don't trust me and Soda," Her eyes dropped to the ground. "I love you, Soda." My mouth dropped open. I had been expecting it, yet when she said it outloud it just seemed to shock me. "But, I know you don't love me, that..thats why I want to kill myself..and with Dallas..he didn't help."
"Riley. No. You've got it all wrong. I do." She looked at me confused.
"You do what?" She asked still crying.
"I love you. I always have…its just I had Sandy, and oh god Riley." I said this last part in shock when I glanced down to Riley's side. Blood was seeping through the side of her shirt. "What did you do?" I asked lifting her shirt up a little to see where the blood was coming from.
"Those guys, Carter, and Josh and Matt and Skylar. They, when I stuck up for Ponyboy, one of them stabbed me in the side a little. It was numb but now it hurts like hell." I saw her wipe another tear from her face. "I hope I just die from this. Right now."
"No, Riley, don't say that. Didn't you hear me? I said I loved you."
"But you don't trust me." I heard her whisper.
"I do. Now I do. You stuck up for my brother, and Riley I always did trust you. I was just pissed." I slowly took my shirt off and pushed it up against Riley's side. "It'll be ok," She was still sitting in my lap and was leaning up against me. "Trust me Riley. When things are this bad, they can only get better." I said this from experience. After my parents died I didn't think things could get any better but they did. Things can only stay bad for so long and then they have to get better. It's a rule.
"I don't know Soda." She cried some more and buried her face in my chest.
"Ok, come on." I said slowly helping her get up and then getting up myself. "We need to get you to the hostpital."
"No. I'm not going to the hospital. I don't care if I die, so don't take me." How could she still want to kill herself, eventhough she knew she wouldn't kill herself if she had the chance.
"Riley. We are going to the hospital." I insisted.
"No." She bent down and moaned a little then she came back up with the gun and pointed it at her head.
"Riley, baby, don't. We've already been through this, don't do it."
"Don't take me to the hospital."
"Fine, just come on Riley, and please drop the gun." She dropped it and slowly walked over to me. I put my arm around her waist to steady her walking and we started to walk toward my house. All the while she was sniffling and crying, and I didn't blame her.
"Please Riley. Tell me you won't do anything stupid anymore. No more cutting, no more using a gun or trying to use a gun, no more even thinking about killing yourself. I would just die if something happened to you Ri. I love you and I wish I would have told you sooner, but I didn't and I'm sorry. And it has nothing to do with you being a Soc; I like you for who you are not what you are." Oddly enough I saw a little smile begin to form on her face but then it turned right back into a frown. "Stop frowning, smile." I said as we entered my house.
Pony and Darry were there and they glanced at me then to Riley. "I was just getting Darry." Pony told me as I gently helped Riley lay down on the couch. I nodded my head.
"Well, we're here now so no need to get him." I looked at Darry who looked a little worried when he saw the blood on Riley's shirt and the fact that I didn't have a shirt on. "Can someone get some bandages or something?" I asked pleadingly. Riley kept moaning everytime she breathed in. It must have hurt. In about a minute Darry came back with a washcloth and a bandage.
I poured a little alcohol on the cut to clean it out and she practically screamed, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. Then I wiped it off with the wash cloth and put the bandage on her, which wasn't big enough to cover her whole cut but it was all we had. So it worked.
"Soda." Riley said to me once everyone else had left the room. "I'm sorry, for everything. I know that I messed your life up too, and I'm sorry for ever entering your life. None of this would have happened if I didn't know you."
"Riley, no. This isn't your fault. I mean even if I didn't know you, I'd be destined to meet you someday right, I mean if we love each other."
"I love you," she said reassuringly.
"And I love you." I kissed her softly on the lips. She pulled away.
"I can't do this. Not now. I-I'm sorry Soda, I've uh..I gotta go. Its just we can't do this, later maybe… but now. You can't just not trust me one minute and then trust me the next minute. That's not how it works." She got up off the couch slowly, her side still hurting. What was she doing? Was she leaving me now? I had just told her that I didn't trust her and she tried to kill herself, and now she was telling me that she couldn't be with me. Not right now. What the hell was that about?
She walked out the door and I didn't even try to stop her. I was kinda shocked, actually. I loved her and she loved me so what was the problem? It wasn't Sandy, and I know she didn't have a boyfriend, maybe she just didn't want to be with me.
I felt a tear slide down my cheek again. "Wow. This Riley must be really something if she makes you cry." I looked over and Darry sat beside me.
I nodded my head. "Yea, she is something. You've met her before. She's that Soc that's always at the DX and that hangs out with us a lot. But I guess you wouldn't know cause you're always at work."
"Stop crying, Soda. Why are you even crying anyway?" he wondered.
"Darry, have you ever been in love?" I know that was a stupid question, because if he had loved someone wouldn't they be together?
"Yeah, actually but she didn't love me back." I perked up a little, willing to listen to his story.
"Will you tell me?" He nodded his head.
"Will you stop crying if I tell you?"
"Maybe." I said and gave him a tearful grin.
"You know that girl, that I went out with for about two years, Shelly Brendan?"
"Yeah, who could forget her?" I wondered. I remembered her like I remembered the days of the week. She was a greaser with long black hair and dark mysterious green eyes. Her and Darry had really hit it off.
"Well, I loved her. When we were over at the drive-in, I asked her to marry me and she said no. That's when I fell out of love. She had never really loved me, she just liked me to have a boyfriend." I wiped tears out of my eyes and nodded my head.
"See, Riley, she's not like that. She could have any guy that she wants, but she chose me. And I don't know why, I love her too. But why did we have to pick each other? I mean there are plenty of other people out there." I sighed. "But she doesn't seem to have anytime for me now. Darry I'm worried about her. Her little sister is missing and has been for a day or two now, her dad hits her, she cuts herself, she wants to kill herself, and I don't know what to do Darry."
"You do know what to do. If you love her, then fix it. Help her." I should have known that, but I didn't. I didn't know what to do anymore. Riley had confused me just as much as she was confused.
~A/N~ What do you guys think? Was this good or bad? Please Review!