Chapter 5

"Okay," Darry started lecturing Pony again. "We are leaving at around six tomorrow morning. Are you sure you're going to be okay here alone?"

"What alone? Everyone is always here. I'm never alone." Pony teased him.

"Yeah well, just be careful."

"Don't worry Darry." Two-Bit called to him from the couch. "Me and Stevie will be here to watch the kid."

"Um, right." Darry told him as Ponyboy rolled his eyes. "Okay Pony you do nothing while we are gone. You understand? Don't go anywhere. Don't do anything. Stay out of trouble. Completely. No parties at all. You got it. Don't go to any. And under no circumstances do you have anything what so ever even resembling a party here. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah, like goodie-goodie over there is gonna have a party." Steve mumbled as he flopped on the couch.

"Yeah Darry, I told you, Steve and me will be here." Two-Bit grinned. "We'll make sure that everything's okay." He laughed.

"Yeah Darry, give me a little credit, I'm not gonna have a party."

Darry looked at him for a moment before glancing at the couch where Two-Bit was grinning like an idiot and Steve was mumbling about how Pony would never do something as cool as have a party. "You know what, you're right. I know you're not gonna have a party. I trust you. Completely." He looked over at the couch. "Now you two idiots listen to me." He started as Pony laughed. "You two are not throwing any parties! Do you understand me? Say yes Darry we understand there will be no parties in this house while you are gone. Two-Bit?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got you."

"I mean it Two-Bit."

"Don't worry Dar," Pony laughed. "I'll baby-sit them."

"Oh you're so funny." Two-Bit told him as he walked into the kitchen. "Hey brownies!"

"Don't eat those Two-Bit." Pony told him. "Evie made them for Soda and Darry to take with them tomorrow. If she finds out you ate them, she'll skin you."

"She won't know if I eat one."

"I wouldn't." Steve told him. "I tried earlier."

"Uh huh."

"Are you guys ready? We're gonna be late for Evie's graduation." Darry told them.

"Yeah, if I'm late she'll kill me. We got to go. Soda come on!" He called up the stairs. "We got to go!"

"I'm coming." He told them coming down the stairs holding his shoes. "Pony you sure you're gonna be okay here by yourself?"

"Yes I'll be fine. Darry already gave me the lecture. And Steve. And Two-Bit. It'll be fine. Now let's go." They walked out towards the cars. Steve was riding with Two-Bit since Evie had his car.

"So Stevie," Two-Bit teased pulling out his keys, "what did you get the little woman for a graduation present?"

"Um…"

"Oh please tell me you got her something." Two-Bit turned to him as the rest of them thought the same thing.

"Yeah loser I got her something. I got it at the pawn shop on 4th." He pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket.

"Oh my God!" Pony uttered, his mouth hanging open.

Steve looked at him strangely. He still hadn't forgiven him for last night and suggesting to Soda to go see Sandy. "It's a necklace." He told them, opening the box.

"Oh." Pony said somewhat embarrassed. He thought Steve had actually got Evie a ring.

"Whatever." Steve said as he shoved it back into his pocket as he climbed into Two-Bit's car.

The Curtis brothers walked toward Darry's truck. "Here." Darry said handing Pony the keys. "You can drive to the graduation."

"Really?" Pony asked wide-eyed.

"Yeah really. I'm sorry we've been too busy to let you drive."

"It's okay Darry." Pony told him climbing behind the wheel. "There's been a lot of stuff going on."

"No it's not. But thanks. And be careful while we're gone. Please?"

"Yeah Dar, I know. Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

"I know you can. I know." Darry told him as he tried to hide the grimace on his face as Pony shifted gears and the clutch made a painful noise.

"Okay Pony, we're gonna leave around six tomorrow, so if you're still sleeping, well, you know. And we'll call you tomorrow night sometime."

"Okay Darry. Just be careful okay?"

"You got it Buddy. You too." He stood up and pulled out his wallet. "Here's $40 bucks. In case you need it."

"No it's okay, you guys might need it."

"I got enough money. I been putting it away to take you camping. And listen, about that. I promise we'll go camping. Soon. Sometime this summer. I promise."

"I know. It's okay Darry. This is important."

"Yeah, it is, but so was taking you camping. And we'll go. I promise. But listen, what you did, for Soda, that was really great. I just wanted you to know that."

"Thanks Darry. Now go to bed." Pony smiled at him as he walked up the steps. Soda's bedroom door was open so he walked over to it. "Soda?"

"Yeah?" He was packing clothes into a bag for tomorrow.

"Listen, tomorrow…" he really didn't know what to say to him. "Just be careful driving. And everything."

"Yeah, you too."

Pony watched him for a minute. "I hope you find what you're looking for Soda. But I hope whatever you find helps. Really."

Soda kept packing for a second. "Thanks Pony. Really. Thanks. And I hope so too."

Pony's alarm clock went off. He rolled over and smacked it to stop the beeping. 6:30 AM. What a way to start the first day of his summer vacation. He got dressed and went downstairs. The coffee had just finished brewing when Steve walked in the back door. "Hey. Coffee's done."

"Thanks." He grumbled.

Pony didn't think anything of it. Steve was never a morning person. "You want an egg sandwich?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

Pony made sandwiches and Steve drove them to the DX. They opened the station and Steve went to work in the garage. Pony waited around for cars to come in. After awhile it slowed down and Pony went into the garage. "You want any help?"

"You know how to rebuild a carburetor?" Steve said sarcastically.

"No."

"Then I don't need any help."

"Oh." Pony leaned against the car. "So I guess you're going back to hating me."

Steve stood up from under the car hood and looked at him strangely for a second. "What are you talking about kid?"

Pony shrugged. He didn't really care at this moment. "I don't know. We were finally getting along, but you're pissed at me because I told Soda to go talk to Sandy. So now you're gonna start hating me again I guess."

Steve stuck his head back under the hood. "I don't hate you. I'm just not in a good mood."

They were silent for a few minutes. "Why were you so upset about Sandy? I thought you really liked her back before."

Steve realized he wasn't going to get anything done if Pony was going to insist on having this conversation. He stood up again and grabbed a rag, wiping off his hands. "I did like her. I liked her a lot. She was good for Soda. Especially then. In the beginning."

"What do you mean?"

Steve shrugged. "Just, okay look, they had just started going out back when, well, when your parents died."

"I didn't remember that."

"Well, it was like a month or two before. And then everything went to hell. And everybody was all upset and those state people didn't know if you guys could live with Darry and it was just really bad. And during all that the only thing that made Soda happy was Sandy. And that was good.

"I liked her. Everybody liked her. Soda loved her. I knew he loved her. And when she left…" he shook his head back and forth. "She waits till you and Johnny are missing to go and tell him she's pregnant. And oh by the way it's not his." He threw down the rag in disgust. "How could she do that?"

"I don't know. I guess it just happened to time out that way. I mean I don't think she planned on doing it then to hurt him."

"I just don't want to see him get hurt."

"Nobody does. But he feels like he needs to see her. To find out the truth about everything."

"I know. I just don't trust her."

Pony nodded. "But you trust Soda. He knows what he's doing. At least he knows what he needs to do."

"Yeah. I hope so." Steve told him, going back to work.

Darry felt the bump and sat up with a jerk, not remembering where he was at first. The dashboard of Soda's car came into focus as he yawned. "Where are we?"

"Mississippi."

"Oh. You want to get something to eat soon?"

"Yeah." Soda said and kept driving for awhile longer. "Darry?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. For coming with me."

"Your welcome." Darry watched out the window as the scenery flew by. "Do you know what you're gonna say to her?"

"Not really." He said, pulling off into a restaurant. "I mean I got a lot of stuff I want to say to her. And ask her. But do I know how I'm gonna do it? No."

Darry nodded, looking straight ahead. "You'll figure it out when the time is right."

The day went by fairly quickly after that. Two-Bit came by a few times. Steve taught Pony how to change oil and a few other things. They actually got along fairly good. Better than Pony expected.

Steve slammed the hood shut and looked out the bay door. Pony was finishing up with a car out front. Some of his friends had come by for gas earlier. As well as a number of girls that sat in their little cars flirting with Pony reminding Steve of when he and Soda first started working there and they'd flirt with Soda. "Close it up." He called out to him. "Let's get out of here."

They finished up and headed back to the house. "You want to go to the Dingo and get something to eat?" Steve asked him.

"Sure. I'm starving." Pony told him, pulling a clean shirt on over his head. "Hey where's Evie? She didn't come by at all today."

"I don't know." Steve grumbled. "I guess she was doing stuff today. I'll talk to her later."

They ate dinner and came back to the house. Steve called Evie again. Pony could hear them arguing then Steve hung up the phone and walked right past him out onto the porch and sat down. Pony heard him flip open his lighter and light a cigarette.

"Here." Pony told him, handing him a beer he had gotten him from the fridge.

"Thanks." Steve looked up and saw the beer Pony was drinking from and gave him a look.

"Don't tell Darry. He'd freak." Pony gave a slight grin. "But if Two-Bit asks who drank all his beer, I'm telling him it was you."

Steve laughed. "Like Two-Bit can remember how much beer he has left."

They sat on the porch in the dark smoking and drinking beer for awhile. "So, ah was that Evie?"

Steve took a long drag on his cigarette and crushed it out. "Yeah. I guess she's pissed."

"Oh." Pony didn't know what to say. "At you?" He asked carefully.

"I don't know. Me. Everything. I don't know. She started acting weird last night."

"So what was she doing today?"

Steve shrugged. "Looking for a job."

"Oh." He said again, nodding.

"Can I ask you a question?" Steve asked him.

"Sure. Anything."

"You and Evie been talking a lot lately haven't you?"

"Yeah." He said cautiously. "Sort of. She was at the house a lot when I got home from school. So yeah I guess. But we just talk and stuff. That's it Steve. I swear."

Steve let out a little laugh. "Relax kid I don't think you're trying to make moves on my girlfriend."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay." He let out another little laugh then was silent as he looked out into the darkness. "Last night, when I showed you what I got Evie for graduation. What did you think it was?"

"Honestly? An engagement ring."

"Yeah. That's what I thought. I think that's what she thought too."

"Probably." Pony drank more of his beer. Definitely he thought.

"Yeah. She wants to get married."

"Well do you want to marry her?" Pony asked, surprised at his boldness with Steve.

"Yeah. Eventually. I mean I even started putting money away to buy her a ring. I just thought, I don't know. It's stupid."

"What is?"

Steve shook his head in the dark. "I don't know. I just thought maybe she'd want to maybe have a little bit of a life first you know? Do something besides graduate one day and marry me then next. Like maybe she'd want to do something."

"Like what?" Pony was curious. This didn't sound like the Steve he knew.

"I don't know. Something besides getting a job at the grocery store."